Ka-boom 31st

For the past few years, my wife has doubled up on our 4th of July fireworks. Half of them are saved up for New Years Eve, but I've already covered this. Once again, it's been an unusually warm (but this time, unusually sunny December), so there wasn't any snow to clear.

Doing the fireworks at the 4th of July isn't as fun. Oh sure it's cold right now, and the chance of rough weather is much higher, but... I have kids, and I want them to go to bed. My youngest is 6, and she doesn't stay up late. When she's tired, she just goes to bed, no cajoling required. But she doesn't want to miss out. The beginning of July, the sun doesn't set until 9pm. She's out like a light by then, but fighting it hard for those fireworks.

December 31? The sun sets at 4:30. She got a light show, dinner, and tucked in on time. I swear that girl loves her sleep.

The Matrix: Regurgitation

I haven't done a movie review in awhile. I normally don't have a lot to say about movies, but this one... good grief. 

Eighteen years ago, the Matrix trilogy ended. The original in 1999 was an absolute game changer. The sequels in 2003 were... meh. I liked them because I wanted to like them. The original asked more questions than it answered, and told more of a story than it actually told, whereas the sequels just answered them among a lot of action sequences. 

Like I said, I liked them because I wanted to. Beyond that they lacked the soul of the original.

But this fourth movie did nothing. It asked no questions it didn't quickly answer. The action sequences were a jumbled mess. People that died in the last movie were somehow alive (dues ex machina retconning the ending, always sucks).

It's just a mess. Nobody asked for this movie.

Left shoulder

Ah yes, injury.

I saw no reason for my shoulder to, while doing nothing, just... hurt. I honestly can't pin down when it started. It was low at first, like background noise 8 inches from my ear. It would feel worse when I did certain things, so I just didn't do those things.

That didn't work out in the long run.

I was telling this to a friend of mine (who just happens to be *a* doctor, just not *my* doctor), and he asked me to do a few little movements. See what directions things move and what hurts when I try.

Rotator cuff. Now I just need a doctor with some fancy look-inside-me gear to see just how bad the damage is. Meanwhile, what I miss the most is being able to sleep on my side.

The most overscheduled time of the year

There are many, many things that happen in December. My wife, of course, has us doing it all. But through a fluke of scheduling (accidentally buying event tickets for the wrong day), we ended up doing everything in the first week and a half.

This past week has been quiet. She admitted that it was nice 'getting it out of the way', implying it was a chore to be dealt with.

Half of it is nonsense and the other half is just pomp and circumstance. The former can go, the latter I can dress up for so it stays.

It sumps as it pumps

So.... the house again. This time, as I was going through my basement, I heard the unmistakable sound of the sump pump. At first I ignored it, until I realized the sound wasn't stopping.

The sump well was dry, but the pump was still going, and going hard. I tried triggering the switch to see if something was stuck, but it was not. I cut the power and let it cool off, but the problem persisted. It pumped, so that wasn't an issue, but the motor was going to burn out if this kept up.

A Christmas light timer makes a wonderful stop-gap measure until the issue is resolved.

So anyway, after realizing that fixing the switch inside the pump was impossible without taking the entire casing apart (and breaking the thing, because it's 50 years old and covered in barnacles), I just got a new one.

This house keeps testing me.

It starts... again.

My daughter excitedly woke me up at 4:30 to tell me it snowed.

Ok, she didn't exactly wake me up. I woke up because I can't sleep any later than that most days, and she was already awake, but it really takes the punch out of the moment.

Sure enough, there was a fresh five inches stacked up outside. Of course it's also the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, so the kids are all excited about a snow day stretching out their free time. Honestly, so am I. Sure they're a noisy bunch, but if I can stay in and let society clear away the snow (and let the sun melt some of it off), that'd be great.

I may be a morning person, but clearing snow off my car two hours before sunrise is a chore.

Unrequited time off

So in the past 2 years I've had a lot of time off. I normally enjoy having time off work, it lets me take care of other tasks that typically stack up until the weekend, I get to relax, all the normal things that come with time off. Problem I've had is that everyone else has had the same time off. The wife has been home, which is good. The kids have also been home, which is a full time job in itself.

School started, and there was no remote option. They all went right back. We walk them over in the morning. The house got quiet - really quiet. The wife's new job keeps her out 3 afternoons a week, so it's even quieter.

Almost immediately, work picked up. I went from a day and a half, right back up to nearly full time. The house is empty, the house is quiet, and I don't get to enjoy it. I know I'm supposed to be grateful, that I can take care of everything and everyone without having to rely on handouts. But honestly, the timing is terrible. 

I could have worked all summer, when life at home was at its noisiest, and had the time off when I could actually use it. I have so many odd projects that require intense focus that even with my family leaving me alone, having the house full of people derails me very easily.

The universe is out to get me.

The librarian

I keep looking for jobs in my field. 

Yea, I know it's been eight years since I graduated and I haven't heard back from a wild majority of potential employers. I had probably 10 interviews after applying for nearly a thousand jobs. Every piece of advice was either unhelpful or useless.

"Try changing your attitude" Wait what? How is my attitude going to cause someone I've never met to consider a resume they haven't looked at? Or am I supposed to be happy that nothing is happening?

Whatever. After two years I simply gave up. I moved away from my college town and came home, finding my old job and somehow becoming financially stable and relatively happy. For some reason, I occasionally look up jobs in my area that use my degree.

There aren't many.

The local water company is one of them, so every so often I'll look at the county's job openings to see if they need someone with a stale unused degree. The most recent search was about as fruitful for me as ever, but I did notice that they were looking for librarians. That's my wife's degree. I forwarded the information and forgot about it.

About a week or so later, she called me asking if my schedule could be adjusted to accommodate a new job. Turns out she applied, interviewed, and got an offer before I even knew she had done anything. Seeing as my work schedule returned to almost full time, I could shift hours around to make it work.

I began wondering that if she looked for jobs in her field, she might find one for me instead.

Parental controls

For the most part, I haven't had to curtail my kids viewing choices. They've really only had interest in age appropriate material (it helps that Netflix has a 'kids' option when setting up profiles). New movies, I usually watch with them, but otherwise they tend to stick to the various Lego cartoons and whatnot. 

Now, my kids will often repeat the jokes, attempt the tricks (with varying degrees of success), and try to dress like the characters. Normally that's not a problem. Until you get to this guy:

That's right. Captain Underpants. For the first time, I've actually had to use the parental controls to block access to this underdressed fatso because my constantly costume wearing third born son would traipse around the house wearing tighty whities and a cape.

Snap your fingers and he immediately disrobes and stands in a silly pose. To turn back, he needs to get wet. I could have chased him around the house with a water gun (much to my delight), we chose the preventative measure.

At least my wife did. I wanted to use the watergun.

Maniacs

It's November. The next major holiday is Thanksgiving, and that's over 3 weeks from now.

WHY ARE PEOPLE SETTING UP CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS?

It's two months away. Imagine setting up Valentines decorations in December. Or Halloween decorations in August. 

The war on Christmas will not stop until it ends its illegal occupation of November.

The dad tax

I don't even tax my kids candy any more. After they soak the neighborhood, they simply pile a tribute in front of me.

The first iteration of candy begging (trunk or treat), my sons stopped halfway to gorge themselves while daughter kept going until there was nothing left to be had. The boys were obviously dismayed at their lack of judgement. 

Tonight pretty much played out the opposite. We hit one half of the neighborhood, and went home as we passed by it on our way to the other half. Everyone unloaded, and daughter wanted to stay home. In the end, everyone evened out.

Except me, I just got fatter.

School pictures

Can someone tell me why school pictures operate the way they do? I get it, they line up every kid in the school, trot them through the auditorium / gym / stage / whatever and everyone gets a pic for the various school publications, but...

Why do they charge what they do, and the way they do it?

At my kids school, you pick any overpriced package, and you get no proofs. You get one retake. You can't be there to make sure your kids hair is actually straight or their shirt didn't get juice dumped on it in lunch 10 minutes before.

My point is, these photographers are acting like it's still the 70's, and they're the only one in town with a camera. Every year, I've been nothing but disappointed in the school photos. I can get a better shot on my phone in my basement. This racketeering must end.

Conspiracy theory

Some people like mystery movies, some people watch true crime dramas, I like conspiracy theories. The 1997 Mel Gibson movie wasn't bad, but I'm talking about your tightly fitted tinfoil hat reptillian overlord nutjobs.

It's pure entertainment, and it's getting harder to find.

Why is it entertaining? Simple, some of it turns out to be true. Go back to the 60's and tell people the government has secret spy planes invisible to radar, or that they're performing mind control experiments. You'll get laughed out of the room. But the SR-71 and MKULTRA weren't declassified yet, so people didn't realize that yes, it was true. That's what I find so entertaining: something in there might actually be true.

Why is it hard to find? YouTube decided to change their algorithm so it never promoted any conspiracy theory videos, while making it a broad enough category to sweep in almost anything.

They're still out there, but finding them is like panning for gold.

The apples and whatnot

Ah yes, the yearly tradition of taking Columbus day off work and going apple picking. Also visiting a pumpkin patch.

My oldest loves apples, so he's enjoying himself. The wife already made a batch of apple butter, prompting the question from my second born, "why does she always turn it into something else?"

Kid, you guys don't eat them fast enough before they go bad.

The best worst timing, or, a tale of dental convenience.

I had a dentist appointment. Or rather, a followup. I had a cavity that needed taking care of (I wasn't flossing). The appointment was in the morning, and not an hour beforehand, I was flossing. (Because I wasn't flossing before). While doing so, the floss got stuck.

It went in, and wouldn't go out. It wasn't just loose floss I could slide out, this was a flosser. 

See that guy? One of those was stuck in between my teeth. But it's just minty string, so I gave it a good pull, expecting it to break.

Nope. Turns out, it was stuck on a loose filling (remember how I wasn't flossing before?). No, I gave it a good pull and the filling came out instead. I gave the dentist a heads up, and within 2 hours of losing a filling, it was replaced.

Of all the timing.

The tree

My house came with a pair of trees in the back yard. One was a small red maple. The other was a large white maple. A gigantic, absolute monster of a tree. It was actually four trees that sprouted (or were planted) right next to each other. It was twice as tall as my house, and covered my yard. (It went well over the fence on each side, and stretched most of the length of the backyard)

I said was because I had it taken down a few weeks ago. 

On the outside, it looked healthy. Something felt off, though. The massive trunks swayed a little too much when the wind blew. The giant branches that occasionally came crashing down had no clear origin. (Seriously, I couldn't tell where they came off from) And they were big enough to cause damage. So down it went.

As the crew was chopping and hauling, I saw that some of the trunks were hollow. Others made an unsettlingly hollow clunking sound instead of a solidly reassuring thunk. 

When it came down, I felt both sad and relieved. The entire atmosphere of the back yard has changed. The stump was ground down a week later (the one they brought that day was too small) and a landscaper came by a couple days ago to grade and seed it. It's late in the season, so I don't expect the grass to fill this year. My dear wife wasn't happy to see it go. It could probably have lasted a few more years before it became a problem, but seeing the condition it was put me at ease. That tree wasn't going to last much longer, and the size of it, honestly if it hit my house it could have crashed right through the roof.

What I'm not going to miss? Taking care of the leaves. That thing held on until the end of November, then dropped them all in a single weekend. It was insane.

Caffeine

Ok I gotta tell you, weaning myself off caffeine is not easy. Oh sure, I've done it before, but then as my poor choices kick in again and I find myself unable to get up in the morning without it.

Could be worse, but I digress.

My blood pressure is through the roof, fairly proportional to my caffeine intake. So I need to cut the stuff out. 

When last I worked nights, I got out of bed by taking a dose of Excedrin with a bottle of Coke. Then I'd put myself to bed with melatonin and Advil PM. When I left that job, I flipped from being awake nights to days by simply going cold turkey. When my body was expecting the wakey wakey drugs, nothing would come and I would crash. When my brain likewise expected the sleep juice, it never came and I was wired.

All in all, it was a pretty quick way to cut my trips to the pharmacy.

That was six years ago, and my phenomenal lack of discipline is always coming back to haunt me.

The day of birth

My third born child turned 8 today. He's a behemoth, in the 90th percentile for height and weight (he's not fat, this kid is all muscle). He wears costumes all the time. Today he dressed like a pirate in school. We typically don't let the kids play video games on school days, except on a birthday. He wanted everyone to have game time, not just himself. 

He's constantly building things. I have to find building kits before he starts dismantling things around the house for parts. My workshop is littered with the remains of various projects. He's convinced I'm a genius because I know what tool to use for different jobs.

It's been less than 2 weeks and he has conquered the third grade.

School again

School started again last week Thursday. (I know, who starts school on a Thursday?) I'm still only going to work one and a half days a week, Monday and half of Tuesday. 

Nobody is buying airplanes right now, but whatever.

Thursday, we walked the kids to school. My oldest is now in the middle school, which fortunately is right next door to the elementary school (they share a parking lot) and has a start time difference of only fifteen minutes. After dropping them off, the wife and I went on a date.

We went on a date. We explored a previously unvisited park, went out to lunch, then went home and just did nothing. We basked in the quiet. 

Friday, after dropping off the kids she went out with my sister in law (both women married into the same family, they can commiserate). I didn't have anything planned, so I found myself home alone, with nothing to do.

So I took a nap.

More and more camping

Last week we had our final camping trip of the summer, packing it in at Moreau Lake State Park. We picked it because we had never been there.

It wasn't that impressive. Nothing unique that would draw us back. It's fine, but.. meh.

Bringing the kids camping is an interesting experience. They understand that there are no video games. No Netflix. As much as they express themselves on the subject, they just roll with it. They just become different people when we're out on an adventure.

But of course, school starts this week. I suppose they haven't realized that life is an adventure.

Smelly camp

My son went to summer camp this past week. It was his first time and, as far as I can tell, it went pretty much as I expected it to. He came home smelling moderately bad, and was immediately shuffled into the shower.

The duffel bag smelled like it was possessed by demons.

Musty BO mixed with... I have no idea. A duffel bag shouldn't smell like old wet shoes, yet somehow he managed. Everything was washed, very thoroughly. While his laundry could be saved, his sneakers and the duffel remain tainted.

The shoes are getting thrown out. I soaked the bag in febreeze and we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, it's his. I'll get the wife a new one.

Dumb dreaming

I don't often remember my dreams, but when I do, they're wild.

I had a time machine, but I went to the past and it broke. So I found my grandfather, who helped me repair it so I could go home. Essentially, I Back to the Future'd myself.

Many other dreams recently, I have to keep to myself. I told them to my wife, but there's no way I'm putting a record of some of this stuff on the internet. Nope. Even though (probably) nobody reads this, I can't risk that.

Synesthesia

Ok, confession time. Prepare to not believe me. 

I can see sound. 

Not all the time. Only when I'm relaxed. Like when I'm lying down and my mind is drifting, and some sound would find my ear. 

A wooden door closing on a wood frame: it's a brief sound that doesn't persist, so the image wouldn't either. It's always a red and black checkerboard. That was the first one I can remember, and it's been consistent. 

Two sheets of paper sliding across each other: glistening sand falling, but only as long as I hear it. It's never very long. 

Those are the two most common. Many others have happened.

What usually happens is I see the colors, and get so excited that my brain is no longer "resting", and it's gone. It's bizarre, and it makes me wonder how my brain is wired. But, it's fun. I just wish it happened more often.

No more time

Saturday came, and I didn't realize the next day was Sunday. I actually have something scheduled on Sunday, but it didn't sink in until I was putting myself to bed. I work one day a week right now, and I've otherwise lost all semblance of a regimen. If this keeps up when school starts, I'll be just as unmoored, but without the kids at home. 

I used to like that, but I'm not looking forward to it any more.

Silver lining

Alas, my work has slowed even more. Truthfully, it should have slowed sooner, but we were being optimistic. Now we're only working one day a week. I tell myself things will improve (we're the only company in the world that makes the parts we do, there just aren't enough aircraft being built), but it's not improving fast enough.

Supply chain issues have clogged everything. There are millions of parts that go into building a single plane, and if one of their suppliers can't get their supplies to build with, then the whole thing gets slowed down. It's like a train, unless all the cars are moving, none of them are. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the smaller companies closed due to this, and replacing them is a bureaucratic nightmare. 

One day is still better than zero I suppose.

Retro style

In the ongoing rain (just won't stop), my kids have been indoors a fair bit. They do play video games, but not the way modern society likes.

You see, I used to play games on consoles, before doing everything on my computer. When the kids were old enough to start gaming on their own, they did so on older consoles, playing older games. It stuck. I have a Wii U, and I'll spend $5 downloading an old NES title that not only makes them happy, but keeps them busy for a month or two at a time.

No way am I spending $60 on some garbage triple-A title with a slew of microtransactions, not to mention the ugly online community. Nooooooooooooooope.

Tent failure

Getting home from camp was, as it always is, a relief. First thing I did was set up our tent in the back yard so it could be cleaned and dried out, and we could waterproof it. We waterproofed it as best we could, then it rained. It didn't stop raining for a week. The rain just kept coming. The other night the power flickered. Didn't cut out, but I knew the wind was blowing the power lines around pretty bad.

Then one morning, it wasn't raining. The tent had been pulled off the ground and thrown across the yard. Poles had been shredded, tent stakes bent as they were pulled from the ground.

So yea, we're getting a new tent. This one lasted us eleven years, chosen because it was the one that was there as we were on our way out to a camping trip (turns out we stayed in the cabin, others stayed in my new tent). It's put us through many outdoor excursions, but its time has come.

Oh well.

Recovery

Wednesday morning, I felt well enough to go. Or at least I thought I did. I attempted, some household tasks, knowing that if I could manage those, I could at least make it through camp.

Having succeeded, I ventured out. I arrived at camp finding an unfortunate sight.

Everyone else had fallen ill the night before, and had spent themselves after an already rough night. Everyone was already exhausted. The boys were interested in little more than poking the campfire. My daughter wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and sleep. She was already done with the trip before I got there. I immediately became the cavalry, and really all I did was let the wife focus on the kids while I did the rest. The kids actually fell asleep before 11pm

Then the night fell. We heard countless thunderstorms to the south of us, and the sound of winds rushing in the distance. They all passed by. The wireless signal was patchy, allowing texts, but not much else. So of course I texted my brother and asked him to check the weather at camp. It was coming, and it was bigger than we expected.

So right at 11pm, the loudest crack of thunder I have ever heard tore the sky apart right above us. My wife jumped out of bed, losing her breath. The boys sat up, asking in no uncertain terms, "Why tonight, of all nights?"

My six year old daughter slept right through it. Like I said, she was done with the trip already, and the sky being torn apart above us wasn't going to bother her.

Meanwhile, the thin sheet of nylon separating us from the storm took care to remind us that we hadn't finished waterproofing (We waterproofed the *other* tent, and used what was left on the floor of this one, so yea..). The floor wasn't letting anything soak in from the outside, but the ceiling was less than forgiving.

By the time morning came, we almost gave up on the rest of the trip. Rather than quit, we took them out on the tiny lake. (The wife has an inflatable kayak, which was still in my car). Honestly that fixed it just enough. 

Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust enough.

Transmissable

Mid-week after the 4th of July: one of the best times to go camping, for reasons I've mentioned previously. The reservation was made, the gear prepared, and then we waited. 

My oldest son got sick over the weekend. Friday and Saturday he was coughing, feverish, and generally gross. Sunday, the wife and I were lounging around being lazy when he came in, gave her a huge hug..

and coughed right in my face.

Monday morning I felt amazing. I felt better than good, I was awesome. Of course it was a day off work, so when the kids were (somehow) being quiet, I closed my eyes for a bit.

Then woke up nearly unable to speak. I kept myself down, hoping it would all pass. This morning I woke up feeling worse. I tried to help the final preparation, but found myself unable to do much. By mid afternoon, they had gone to Bowman Lake without me.

At most, I can type out my sob story.

CAMP

This time last year, everyone in NYS was in the midst of their "EVERYBODY PANIC" and for some reason, I couldn't go camping.

No really, the campground was closed. When everyone was screaming "soCiAl DISTaNcINg", they oddly decided that a little used campground in the middle of nowhere needed to be closed, so I could stay home in the suburbs.

Anyway I missed out last year, and I hated that. This year I'm making up for it with 5 times as many camping trips planned. 

I just want to be in the woods, is that too much to ask?

Themes and elements

Throughout the day, I keep thinking of interesting topics to blog about, and I inevitably forget them all by the time I get to a computer. I've started keeping track on my phone, but lately I'm not always carrying that with me (which in itself seems unusual, but I'll talk about that one day), so unless I start carrying around notepads I'm at the mercy of my forgetfulness.

I'll remember those interesting things eventually.

The water falling

So far, it's rained every single day of summer vacation. The wife takes the kids out to the pool, they spend an hour or so there, and then the rain comes. It rains hard enough that they can't see the bottom of the pool, or there's lightning, or whatever. Every day, rain.

The kids are getting annoyed.

The end of the school year

New York State has a problem. Ok, that's not a fair way to start, because this state has a lot of problems, but today one of them in particular is bothering me.

The school year ends at the end of June, AFTER SUMMER HAS STARTED.

You see, the last day of school for my kids is tomorrow. (Technically it's Friday, but they're still fully remote, and the school wants the Chromebooks and iPad back tomorrow, so that's a wrap) Summer, meanwhile, started on Sunday. Why the overlords in Albany hold our kids hostage for so late in the year is beyond me.

"BUt tHE kidS NeEd ThE EdUcAtionaL tIme"

Then stop giving them a week off in February. And since we know you pad the time because of anticipated snow days (yea, it snows up here), we can trim the fat there, too. Snow day? Make 'em remote days. There, we can clip the last two useless weeks off. The kids aren't doing any learning. The high school kids finished their finals, and everyone else is just having parties, theme days, and watching movies. It was that way when I was growing up out here, and I see the same thing is happening with my own kids.

End the madness already.

Too soon

I went ahead and went on a hike on my actual birthday anyway. I was alone, and as much as I like doing things with people, it wasn't a deal breaker today. A nearby state park has some hiking trails I haven't done yet, so first thing in the morning I was out the door. The park has a pair of lakes, and most people stick to the level, well manicured trails along the lakeside. I, however, opted for a wooded trail with many ups and downs. 

My aging frame immediately reminded me of my recent trip to Buttermilk Falls, and that they weren't done rebuilding me after that. I told it to shut up and deal with it. Yesterday, when I got up in the morning, my legs were on strike. They told me plainly that I would be spending the day sitting down.

I was forced to agree to their terms.

The hike and the homeschool

I always go hiking on my birthday. I try to find a place I haven't been to yet (which, in upstate NY isn't hard). But living in the state of NY, school ends the 3rd week in June.

Yea, I know. The first day of summer comes before the last day of school. Boo.

What this means is that the kids are in school. Normally this isn't a problem, but since my kids are doing 'remote learning', they're at home while logging in to remote meetings, etc. My birthday being on a Monday, I don't have my usual babysitters. Even if I did, they couldn't take my kids through a typical school day.

So whatever, I'm going on Saturday instead.

The arbiter

Ok, so last year Facebook kept deleting and "fact checking" articles that discussed the Wuhan lab leak theory, calling it unsubstantiated nonsense. But now that government and mainstream media sources are discussing the possibility, it's ok.

I don't know why they keep trying. Social media sites have no business trying to be the arbiter of truth. I mean, at this point it's obvious it's purely political. Just let people go back to sharing whatever they want.

The island

Not just any island, but Wellesley Island, way up in the St Lawrence. My scout troop used to go camping up there every year, the weekend of Thanksgiving. Yea, it was in the cold of November, but there was a bonus.

It was dead empty. In all the years we went there, we 

1. Always had the same campsite for some reason.
2. Never once saw another camper.

I came to appreciate that. But I also haven't been up there since the 90's, so when my wife started talking about camping, and more insistently, I suggested that. And off we went. We had a nice little site on the water that our kids enjoyed, and I recognized exactly nothing. Of course, we weren't in the same campsite I used to be in, because I couldn't find it.

I looked. I certainly knew what to look for, but it's like it wasn't there. Did the roads get moved? Sure the trees have changed, but the giant hill with the big rock? Or certainly half the buildings I would have recognized.

The kids loved it. They all wanted to stay. Alas, we had to go. I opted to drive around the camp a little bit, just to see everything. It was like the old campsite we stayed in never existed. I know memory is a fickle thing, but half the landmarks I was expecting just weren't there.

Regardless, everyone had a great time. Such a great time that they all fell asleep within an hour of getting home.

It's not there

I use my phone all the time, but I never see it in my dreams. What's up with that?

Neverending rearrangement

I decided the basement needed a complete overhaul. One room was my office, and the other was supposed to be a lounge. Trouble is it never worked. The office was terribly inefficient use of space, and the lounge turned into a seldom used storage room.

3 days of painting and furniture moving later,  I think I fixed all the issues. I think. Now my office is combined with the lounge, and the other room is a sort of library. I'll let you know if I hate it.

The bed

Apparently my back doesn't agree with the mattress I've been sleeping on, and my shoulder has been working with it to drive the point home. (I sleep on my side a lot) I finally just broke down and bought a new bed.

Turns out the old bed frame had broken down as well. Trying to move things around, I realize it had broken in 3 places and needed replacement as well. Off it went.

So my new bed is in place and everything is fine, but I have my old mattress kicking around. It's an otherwise perfectly fine mattress, it just doesn't agree with me. So with some shuffling, my son ditched his twin size, and now has a much larger bed in his room. 

He still sleeps right on the edge.

Sighting

When *it* all started last year, it all closed down. Things opened gradually, and last fall my kids slowly eked their way into society. It was, however, my wife that did most of the transportation. It stayed that way until January, when other family members drove my son to such events, because I was home watching the others while the wife was doing taxes.

Today was the first day I saw some people in over a year. I was only dropping my son off, and at the location, I literally had nowhere to put my car. I could linger for only a few minutes before I had to go. 

It actually hurt to leave. I miss people.

The big green

I finally just did it. The road I live on is a slight hill, and up that slight hill is an intersection with a stop sign. Anyone coming up the road with their lights on will inevitably have their headlights shining directly into my kitchen window. Also, anyone walking or driving down the road has a clear view of the aforementioned window, and the associated deck built off of the kitchen.

I finally just tore out all the goofy decorative landscaping the house came with (yea, I'm not big on lawn maintenance), shredded everything, plus the ground it was living in, and mulched everything over. I then proceeded to plant a dozen evergreen giants.

Oh but I didn't just stick them in the ground. I perfectly lined one up so it was directly between the window and the intersection, then selected the tallest of them for that exact spot. I spaced them out on either side from there. This particular variety grows 1-2 feet per year, so if I did this first thing they'd be pretty tall by now. Therein lies my regret; I noticed this problem the first fall/winter after moving in. Should have done it the following spring. 

 I also shouldn't have waited to do this until I was 40. I was working on this for 7 hours (including hauling 24 bags of mulch) because I tried (successfully) to get everything done in one day.

Yea, I'm not in that great shape.

Cryptic moni

Everyone wishes they could go back in time and change something. Most people talk about Bitcoin, others about past mistakes or lost opportunities. Me? I would go back to the 1970's and buy one of those refrigerators that your grandparents still have running in their kitchen to this day. 

The joy of a dependable appliance is lost on younger generations. 

But yea Bitcoin. Or Etherium, or whatever other magic internet money people out there are feverishly overworking their GPU's to get. We all wish we got in sooner. My problem isn't that I'm lazy (which I am, but that's not the problem). It's that I have a hard time grasping how to do anything with it. 

OK so I go into some kind of exchange to buy it, but then it's on my hard drive? Or I trick my computer into doing math until I get 0.0000058 *coin valued at... whatever people will pay for it. Then this magic internet money wallet is on my hard drive, which I keep hearing about people losing said hard drives so that's risky. 

So yea, I could go back in time and tell my younger self to get into Bitcoin, but he'd be sitting there asking the important questions, like "what's a Bitcoin?" and "...how?" and by the time I figured it out, it would be tomorrow.

The fruity chips

Growing up, Easter got the same treatment in my household that you would expect from a religious family: full of chocolate eggs and fake plastic grass. My dad, being somewhat health conscious, insisted that we have something that at least pretends to be healthy mixed in with our sugar. Sitting among the jelly beans and peeps would be dried apricots, raisins, and banana chips.

The healthy stuff was never rejected. It never seemed out of place to me. It was always a part of Easter, so its absence stood out more than anything. The dried fruits were devoured at the same rate as the candy, but what we looked forward to was the banana chips. 

Then one year they weren't there. The teasing was legendary. The pretend moping was over the top. Theatrics prevailed. The absence of a dehydrated Cavendish could have won us a Tony that day.

I type this out with a package of banana chips on my desk, regretting nothing.

The noises

So my kids have tablets that all, according to each of them, serve different purposes. For one, it's a handheld wiki to the larger game he's playing. To another, it's just a Netflix platform. This week is spring break; everything is closed and it's been rainy and cold. So indulge they have.

My youngest son plays games on his, unfortunately it also drains the aging battery pretty fast. It's still cold and rainy outside, and everything is still closed, so when the battery dies, I have little else to throw at him. So I let him use my tablet.

 

It's not like I'm using the thing anyway. I got it for free. Besides, everyone else doesn't have the battery issue his does. But when game time is over, everything goes back where they belong. Controllers and the like get put back in their box near the TV, and tablets go back to their chargers in a closet. Except mine, it goes back into my office. It sits just behind me. So imagine it's later that evening, the kids are (mostly) in their beds and I'm in here trying to do something moderately productive (most likely goofing off, now that I can), when all of a sudden, right by my head in the middle of the night when it's dark out and I've probably been watching a spooky video I get

MINECRAFT ZOMBIE NOISES RIGHT NEXT TO MY HEAD OUT OF NOWHERE.

I love my children, but I'm not giving him the satisfaction. I know he's not doing it on purpose, but if he hears about it once, he'll certainly try.

Skype

During this entire pandemic, as the world went to working from home / remote learning, Skype has been sitting over there, alone in the corner. Installed on my computer, (came with the OS at this point) unused and forgotten. Steamrolled by Zoom, Google Meet, etc. 

Way to drop the ball, Skype.

Spring brake

The last of the snow melted off. Not the normal middle of the field snow, I mean the snow in my neighbors yard. His driveway is 120 feet long with a few extra spots on the side, and when his plow guy comes, it gets piled into a mountain. The giant pile is often taller than I am.

That's the pile I'm talking about. It's gone. Nothing left of it. We've had temperatures in the high 60's (today reached the low 70's), but it's finally gone. The ground is waking up. I had to go outside this morning, and was surprised at how the sun actually warmed me.

That part of the spring when you finally open your windows, and the fresh air finally blows out all the winter stuffiness. It gets all the places your forced air furnace can't reach. So nice.

Apocalapse

Was anyone else expecting worse? I was promised an apocalypse. World-ending pandemonium. In the US, with our 320+ million and otherwise excellent sanitation and healthcare, we lost half a million people. 

Ok, that's nothing to sneeze at (please don't sneeze on me), but far lower than what I was expecting.

India. India with it's 1.3 billion. That's four times the population in one third the space. They had 160K deaths. India, a country that's almost famous for poor hygiene and sanitation, where people are packed in like sardines. I expected much worse, yet their outcome seemed far better.

This is the most confusing apocalypse I've ever been through.

Melancholy

I have a lot of friends I haven't seen in a long time. The past year has been brutal, that goes without saying. Social media has been carrying a lot of weight, and I don't think I realized just how much until earlier today. 

It's been a year since I've seen so many people, that was obvious. But I saw the list of people I'm connected with, and saw so many names that not only had I not seen in many, many years, but hadn't so much as exchanged messages with in that time. It's become a list of people I used to know.

What really kicked off the thought was seeing one person; we were everything to each other. For years, we spent nearly every day together, we told each other everything. We didn't knock, we just let ourselves into each others apartments. Randomly sleeping over, last minute trips to anywhere. 

Circumstances took us in different directions, and it all faded away.

Last message sent: 7/18/10

Ode to last year

Since my dear wife has a birthday only once every four years, she has a lot of time to plan ahead, and a lot of clout when it comes to that day.

Last year, at the end of February 2020, we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Pocono Mountains PA. A great big indoor water park in the dead of winter. The boys ran off and did their own thing, and my daughter was tall enough to ride, but short enough that she needed an adult. I made sure to teach her that she had to scream full volume every time she entered a tunnel. I regret nothing.

I'm surprised that I didn't mention it in my blog last year, it was quite the event. Though at the time I was somewhat distracted. An impending plague loomed on the horizon. It hadn't reached home by then. During lunch that day, I mentioned the absurdity of being at a water park in the winter. (They had these giant windows lining the walls, I would walk by with an inner tube as the snow piled up a mere arms length away) My wife, in a moment of foreshadowing, mentioned that we may not be able to go in the summer.

The local pools weren't even open this past summer.

I look at pictures from that day. Crowds of people, visible smiles, and no plastic barriers separating everyone. It all feels like another world. I hate what's become of us.

New normull

So I've kept hearing "the new normal" getting pushed constantly. To be honest, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if we didn't have a daily crisis looming over us. After so long it would be strange to not have an existential threat hanging over the horizon, threatening to doom us all.

The collective societal trauma will be in textbooks for years.

Whatteen?

 My niece turns 18 today.

*ahem*

My younger brother now has offspring that is legally an adult.

FOMO

I kept hearing about the huge storm overtaking the country. A bitter chill settling in. A deep freeze like no other. Then this happened:

See that red arrow? The one pointing at the brown patch that means nothing out of the ordinary? That's me. I know a *lot* of people that live in Texas right now, and they're sharing pictures of the several feet of snow, and stories of rolling blackouts during below-freezing temps.

I was prepared, but I am not complaining. I am, however, missing out on complaining. So there.

Faker

My thirdborn child has, in the past, fallen asleep on the couch at the end of the day. It's a victory, seeing as he can be the most rambunctious and difficult to settle.

Then one night he was unresponsive. I went to pick him up and he didn't flinch as he usually does. Carrying him up the stairs, he was more limp than usual. He was still breathing, but I thought perhaps that he was, I don't know, more asleep than usual.

Once I set him on his bed and tossed his blanket on him, he hugged me and said "I fooled you!"

I had to admit, yes, yes he fooled me.

Hesitation

Ok, so a couple weeks ago, I remembered the existence of a crypto currency called Doge, essentially a meme coin. I thought about looking it up and maybe buying some for the lulz. Instead, I did nothing.

Then the WSB crowd pointed at it, and Elon Musk tweeted about it. It's up over 300%

Another couple weeks ago, I considered buying more silver. I have a couple Walking Liberty's and thought about scooping up a few more as keepsakes for my kids when they're older, but again did nothing.

Now they're squeezing on silver.

Honestly the next time a potential investment comes to mind I'm not saying anything, I'm just gonna do it.

Bored games

The morning started off with my son bringing Jenga into the kitchen. I didn't even question it, I just set it up, and we played alongside his sister. Between my old self, his 11 year old mania, and our plucky 5 year old girl, we actually managed to make a big tower out of it before it succumbed to structural integrity failure.

Later the kids turned a long deck chair cushion into a makeshift sled and bounced down the stairs over and over. Nobody was hurt, but that's probably because I wasn't going with them.

Near the end, another brought up Settlers of Canaan (not to be confused with Settlers of Catan) and we had a nice lengthy game (where the younger of our kids were paired up with the adults in teams, and instead of trying to win, we just made sure they had fun)

Everyone was happy. Everyone got along. We don't let the kids play video games on Sundays (we actually require them to interact with us and each other) and honestly it was the best day we've had in awhile.

...also it was too cold to kick them outside.

The wild ride

 All last year, I mean the entire year, people ranted about how crazy the year was. It was something new every month. The hysteria was arguably worse than the events (without a pandemic, it would have been a normal year. Covid turned out to be a multiplier), but the events were ongoing.

We're near the end of January and we've already seen TWO slices of insanity. (A bunch of red hats overtaking the capitol building, and the Gamestop stock shenanigans). 

I wonder if the hysteria this year will match.

The toe

I've been dealing with a temperamental toenail for (checks watch) 25 years, give or take. You see the nail is supposed to grow the same direction the toe is pointed, but this one likes to go sideways. In my youth, I was taken to a podiatrist who took care of it, but pointed out that it looked like it would always be an issue. He suggested, basically, cutting half the nail off and cauterizing it so this would never be a problem again. I hesitated to approve such a procedure because, at the time, I thought it would make my toe look weird.

Crap I was such an idiot.

I mean, who even looks at your toe? Well anyway, that was when I was a teenager. Now I'm (checks watch again) 40 and I've been dealing with it on my own since then, with varying degrees of success. (Without going into any detail, it's orc self butchery levels of action I'm taking).

Well it finally happened. I just can't deal with it any more. Also, I literally can't do anything about it any more. My appointment is Wednesday. I'd like to be able to just my stupid foot.

And that ends my rant about my foot.

Reformatted

I get that websites change their look from time to time, but... it's starting to grate. Facebook used to change its layout every other year or so, and it rankled people. The most recent change makes it look more like Twitter. Twitter changes it so you can't just view a tweet and its replies, it forces "suggestions" in and hides what you're actually looking for. Even YouTube, which once offered relevant videos, now has a "news" section, thus removing the You from the Tube.

I'm starting to sound like an old man when I want the internet back. I tire of algorithms thinking they know what I want (they never do) and force-fed ads cluttering everything. (I run so many ad blockers it's insane). I used to be able to find some pretty awesome playlists and keep up with friends that moved across the country. Now it feels like an arms race.

Yes I'm complaining. It's my blog, I'll write whatever I want.

Unrequited time off

So with the industry in the toilet, I'm down to working only two days a week. I get that plus partial unemployment, so we're doing alright for the time being. Meanwhile, I'm at home "helping" my wife with this school at home hodgepodge. I say helping but really the kids seem to have it all figured out. All you have to do is feed them a steady diet of chicken noodle soup and they stay put and do their work.

Credit to my wife. It took half the school year to get to this point.

With all the extra time you'd think I could take care of my dozen or so projects around the house, but I'm at a point where everything is deeply inconvenient. Not helpful. For example my furnace has an attached humidifier, which totally failed. In addition to not working at all, it's leaking everywhere. I can't do any work on it without disabling the furnace for the duration of the repair, and it's too cold to want to do that. So the air is so dry it qualifies as crispy, and there's water leaking. (It's landing on a concrete floor about 4 feet away from a sump pump, so I'm not really that worried about it, but still...)

To say nothing about the electrical, walls, upstairs bathroom, etc. Everything requires something else. At one point, the last thing will happen and they'll fall like dominoes. Then I'll retire because it took me until my golden years.