Y12 D107

 Ugh, this stupid interface changed. In the last week I have dealt with three apps changing their interface for no damn good reason. This site, Netflix on their web interface, and Goto Meeting. Enough. New isn't always better. This new interface here is shite. Bad developers. No cookie.

I didn't want to get up this morning. I could use another hour or three for sure. Very sleepy. Much sleep needed. But on the plus side, it's Thursday already. Whee.

Okay, let's see, yesterday. Taught a group of 14 most of the day. It was a moderately okay group. I had people from multiple countries - US, Mexico, Brazil, and Ireland. That was fun. Some of them were lively, others not so much. Funny enough my most lively were the ones from outside the US. Maybe my US folks are all just tired of their world falling apart. Or being on fire. Or freezing. This image from the other day just sums things up to me:

Welcome to 2020. I saw a good post the other day that said I would be happy for winter coming but something tells me this is the year we get flammable snow. Mood.

Been playing a new game. I have to switch games and genres every so often or I get bored and distracted. After playing through 2.5 Wolfenstein games, I needed something "new". I started playing Control. WTF? SCP meets X-Files. The story is out there for sure. It's a very interesting game. More importantly, playing it on the new computer is heaven. Using DX12 with full ray tracing on and it is just smooth. Reflections and particle physics are crazy good. That part makes me happy. As for the game? It's got my attention that's for sure.

Made lasagne for dinner. It was acceptable.

Dealt with some BS scheduling stuff after dinner with work. Too many people trying to manage my calendar is once again causing issues. Shock.

Today and tomorrow is a group of 6, all west coast. I am scheduled to start at 8:30am EST. But given they are all NorCal students and most of that area is on fire and looks like hell, I am going to be lenient in what time people arrive. This is going to be rough for them and I know it. We will get through it. 

We'll all get through it. Kicking and screaming.

Y12 D106

Worked on my docs yesterday but didn't do as much as I should have. I got distracted by a side project. I decided to dual boot one of my old mac mini machines. I still haven't really come up with a solution for replacing faceless Joe as a media server and though well, maybe if I use one of the minis that might work. But when I used one before it wasn't quite powerful enough and part of that was due to OS overhead. So I decided screw it, I will reduce down the OS by putting Linux Mint on there. Actually went pretty smooth in terms of install and configuration. I also was able to get it setup with a remote viewer. I won't even need a head unit with it. Less deskspace all around. I got the OS installed and configured and now just need to see if I can get plex on there and running. If so, I will swap it out with Joe and see what happens.

Watched some TV with B. New book came in the mail which I need to find some time to read. The Invention of  Sound from Chuck. It's a small book in comparison to some of his other work, but I am still excited to read it.

Had a hodge podge dinner because neither of us wanted to cook. Leftovers, salad, etc.

Three straight days of teaching for me. I am happy about that situation. Nobody to bug me for a few days. Whee!

Y12 D105

Nothing exciting to report today. It's raining outside and won't get over 65 today. Me likey. My kind of weather. I slept okay. A little rough. Some weird dreams about time travelers and just plain weirdness. Most of it a jumble.

Didn't do anything of note yesterday. I enjoyed my holiday. Watched tv, played video games, ate joe's special for dinner. Talked with the kid. Nothing exciting on her front either. Sometimes boring is okay.

Document writing today. Have another new class I am designing. Only have today to work on it this week. Have more time to focus on it next week but would like to get something put down today. At least get the structure completed. We shall see. Other than that, no pressing engagements. Can move at my own pace.

They were working on the house next door again. I really wonder what the plan is for that house. They've ripped out all the AC stuff and about once a week a work van is there, but you never see them doing anything. Like there's never any supplies being moved in like drywall or anything. Nor do they ever bring any garbage out. So what are they doing? I don't think the power has been turned back on either. It's quite strange. I wish I could get in there. The only thing I have seen them bring out are the key doors I saw at one point in the kitchen. But that's it. There's still like some basic "this looks staged" furniture in the front room. It's very odd. On the other hand, the longer I can have no neighbors, the better. Can't imagine getting some annoying family moving in there. I would rather have the weirdo drug dealers. Fun times.

Y12 D104

Yay holiday Monday!! Nothing planned, nothing to do. I also have a decent week ahead with three full days of classes. I can handle this.

Did some random projects around the house yesterday. One of the major ones was figuring out a solution for my monitor arms. When I was rearranging things for the new computer, I discovered that the clamp on the monitor arms was warping my desk from the weight. I quickly switched back to stands to let the desk not break. But the arms are 1000 times more convenient and work better for me. I needed to figure out a solution. What I did was find to solid thin pieces of wood to put on both the top and bottom of the desk and them put the clamp on that. Now, the wood pieces will protect the desk and they will go before the desk does. That was a satisfying project to complete.

What else... Hmm. It was such a bunch of little things I am losing it. Made a nice pineapple chicken for dinner. Cleaned the kitchen stove. Played some video games. Watched a little tv. B and I did some brainstorming on how to make the kitchen work better. Let's pause and discuss this. As some of you know, our kitchen is aesthetically pleasing and one of the key reasons we bought this house. After almost two years in it, what we have found however is the cabinet layout and design is less than optimal for our needs. There's places where they used bizarro world cabinet layouts and where the giant window is, they could have put it two more cabinets and better used the space. So, what we're doing is putting a stand alone pantry at the end of the kitchen. This is the biggest problem - food storage. None of the cabinets seem to work for food - too tall, too short, too deep. A stand alone pantry will give us cabinet space for appliances and the like while making it easier for us to keep track of foodstuffs. We have been trying to find one that wasn't cheap looking (like the $200 IKEA ones) but we also didn't want to spend $1000 on some fancy furniture. We found a nice one in between for $480 that will be here in 2 weeks. Hopefully it will meet our needs because at 115lbs, I am not sending it back!

That's about it. Sleeping better with the adjusted bed. Should have done that sooner.

Y12 D103

Let's start with the disappointing news - the donor's kidneys weren't viable. No transplant this time. The upside though is that this shows she's at the top of her list and the next kidney that comes along trhat matches her group demographic will be hers. After all these years to at least be in a position to receive one is exciting. I have a feeling over the next year we will have more situations like this where everyone is on red alert when one is on the horizon.  Just keep those fingers crossed.

Woke up at 4 yesterday but was refreshed. Headed to the grocery store from the hotel at 6, was home by 7:15. Put away all the groceries, unpacked, and did some stuff around the house. In my absence B decided to remove the doors from the bedroom and office closets. She replaced them with curtains instead. Don't get me wrong, they look good. It opens the room as the closet doors were those nasty rolling ones. But she left the old doors in the dining room. That was my job, moving them downstairs. Took care of that, dealt with some fish stuff, watched some tv.

My new memory sticks arrived yesterday. I now have 64gb in this bad boy. What's it going to buy me? Well, mostly for when I am doing work stuff it will help. Faster video rendering, able to keep more open (the editing software plus the app plus office apps) without impact. One big benefit is when doing customer analysis, I will be able to handle much larger data sets without issue. I plan on doing some testing, but I feel like I could easily load 1m rows of complex data without breaking a sweat. What I am going to do is take my current sample data set and dupe the rows. Get me a good solid set. Have some fun testing it.

We ordered in GOOD mexican last night. I had molcajete which while in the real world is a mortar and pestle, here it is chorizo, steak, and chicken served in a sauce with cactus and onions. Very good stuff. B had pollo poblano and was quite happy. Sad we had to eat it at home, but we were happy to have it.

I did adjust my side of the bed yesterday. I slept pretty damn good. I cranked that thing up too. Going to try it at the higher setting for a few nights and see how I do.

Nothing planned for today. Video gaming and that's about it.

Y12 D102

I slept so soundly last night. I woke up a few times but each time was from a deep rem sleep. I woke up sideways at one point. Makes me think I need to readjust the bed at home. I haven't adjusted it in a while. Could also have been the six baby pillows surrounding me the whole time. Regardless, I needed this. B got a lot done at home, I got nothing done here. Perfect. I watched an entire season + of New of Girl, played video games. Best day ever. Went to target, got some non-perishables off my list, gave myself a manicure. Ate tacos in the room. Good day.

Kidney update: so they are still waiting for the donor to die. Lovely. It could be any minute they have to go to the hospital, could also be days. Everyone is on edge. They want to have a BBQ today. I am feeling very hypocritical if I go, but I know this is important. Playing it by ear. I will definitely be following social distancing rules and wearing a mask. Especially since I have been at a hotel.

But first, groceries at 6am. Hell yeah.

Y12 D101

I'm in a hotel!! It's very odd. There's maybe 10 cars in the parking lot. I would wager at least two of those belong to employees. One is mine, which leaves 7 other guests in the hotel. I should have pushed for an upgraded room but I don't think they have anything too much better here at the ol' Hampton Inn. It's a holiday weekend and normally this place would probably be jumping, but here it is Friday and there's nobody. I'm totally okay with this, believe me. Just the fact that I am out of the house is enough.

I taught all day and finished around 4:30pm, let my students go, and did some last minute packing. I did get a really nice compliment from one of my students. We strive to not just be "instructors" and actually have real world experience with what we are teaching. It does make a difference as we can go off script, answer more technical questions, etc. Two of my students were prior students and knew what to expect, the third was a new guy, and he was the one who gave the compliment. He immediately recognized that was I wasn't just reading slides and called that out. He said it was nice to have an instructor who had knowledge of the material and wasn't just reading from a book. Bam. That's it right there. That's what we strive for in our classes. That was a nice way to end the two days and kick off the weekend.

Got to the hotel a little after 5pm, checked in, and walked over to the grocery store. That felt nice. Felt like I was really on the road. I bought rockstars, and some snacks, and food for dinner. I had a think of street tacos in my room. I also got some stuff for lunch today. The only downside is when I checked in, they informed me no breakfast. They will have 'to go' bags, but no waffle. Boo. I really was looking forward to that waffle. Oh well.

Today I am going to head over to the Target next door, get a couple of things, then sit in the room and play video games. For real. Those are my big plans. I even got up this morning without an alarm. I brought the switch with me and my whole steam library. No rush, no expectations. Now where's that to go breakfast??

EDIT -- I almost forgot the biggest news. B's grandma is getting a kidney!! After 7 years of dialysis and being on the list, one is headed to her today or tomorrow. We are very excited for this. It's the main reason we moved here. B is one of her primary caretakers and will probably end up living over there for a while to take care of things around the house. As more develops, I will let you know!

Y12 D100

In a couple of days it will be six months since I have been on the road. Six months of not leaving the house for anything other than essentials. Crazy shit man.

It felt good to teach yesterday. To feel useful again. Granted I only have three students, but it still felt good. I have one more day with them and then have 4 days without any guilt of work. Plus I get to spend some of it in a hotel. Woo. Simple pleasures man, simple pleasures.

Made tacos for dinner. Watched some tv. Started new colossus. Played for 90 minutes and was vbery impressed at the intro story. BJ seems to have gained a twang in his accent but that's okay. I can handle it. He's getting old. In the flashback seen the calendar shows 1919 and now it's 1961 so yeah, the boy is tired. He's been fighting nazis a long time now. He can have a twang.

Not much else. Need to pack up some stuff before I go tonight. Will take care of that when I am down showering. I am so excited to go to a damn hotel. How sad is that?

Y12 D99

Want to listen to a really great song? Look up Mick Gordon, The Partisan. Remake of a remake. 1943 French resistance song. Redone by Cohen in 69, but the Mick Gordon version. DAMN. Gives you chills. Where did I hear it? At the end of Wolfenstein - Old Blood. Yep. I have been killing a LOT of Nazis lately and let me tell you, it's immensely satisfying. Back in July when Steam had its summer sale I got all four modern Wolfenstein. New Order, Old Blood, New Colossus, and Young Blood. I am through the first two. That's a lot of dead Nazis. That song plays over the credits of Old Blood. After playing through the whole game the song just wrpas things up nicely. I can't wait to start New Colosuss. More Nazis to kill. If the DNC wanted to show their not a bunch of whiny bitches, they could make that their theme song.

Finished my recordings yesterday. 14 videos in three days. It's a ton of recording and editing and post production. But it's all done and I am off video duty for a while as a result. Thank goodness. That was my whole day.

Had shrimp fried rice for dinner. Basically it was a leftover melange that turned into fried rice. It worked.

Two days of classes, then I am off to the hotel, and a four day weekend. Whee!

Y12 D98

So I have blue hair now. 3rd color in six months. It came out lighter than I expected and I am going to do another 'coat' if you will to try and darken it up. I think the water was too hot when I rinsed it and I lost some of the color. Regardless, it's blue.

Recorded all day. Got five more recordings done. Four left for today and this class will be complete. I teach the next two days after that. I am starting to get full weeks again which is nice.

B and I did some rearranging in the basement. She is giving up her little cave area and we took the sofa we had down there to the curb. She's giving it up because she's not using it. The point of it was a place for her to go and smoke without the smell and everything else taking over the house. She has recently switched back to cartridge based systems and doesn't need to worry about smoke or smell and just hasn't been hanging out down there. We are rethinking what to use that space for now. I would like a tool chest with countertop. Help us clean the whole area up. But before we do that, we need to paint that whole room. It's one of the few rooms left that's the original nasty blow in paint they did down here.

Made vegetable rotini with shrimp for dinner. Bit random, but good. Did my hair after dinner. Worked in the basement, went to bed.

It's September btw. Two months until you vote. Please dear god, vote. Because even if you don't feel like your vote counts at the federal level, it does count for congress, senate, mayor, governor. These are the people who set the local policies and many times move on to larger things. Plus they will be important for keeping the president in check and we've seen how that's been working. Please vote. Don't be that person.