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What did you do this week (and weekend)?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
Almost quit my temp job the other day for a few reasons.
In the end my boss talked me down from tendering my resignation and negotiated I cut my office working days down to just one a week, which is far more manageable. I also found out my contract (which was meant to be finishing next week) has been extended until Christmas with the possibility of going permanent.
Other than that, this weekend is going to be a lot of karaoke.
Spending all of my money, it seems. I had so many expenses this week, including a payment for this term's classes and I needed to purchase a lot of pantry staples at the same time, and I'm also spending money on "mandatory" fun things. A birthday present for my husband, a swim suit for my upcoming vacation, and a few small things like that. And that has opened up the mental floodgates for more things that I can technically afford but really shouldn't buy. Particularly, my nemesis, snack food. I've been having a hard time saying no to bad food lately.
I've bought a bunch of dumb things. I was at target because it was the only local retailer who had the game my husband wanted, and I bought some very stupid accent keycaps because they were too cheap to not impulse buy. I got the gold accent arrow keys, and something that makes them especially dumb is that they are made of translucent plastic for light to shine through the legends, but there is a thin layer of paint on the back of them so it doesn't light up properly without scraping it off. But the plastic is a bit too opaque so it's not super visible even without it.
After a trip to Disneyland (which, to be fair, was actually free for me), I spent time listening to one of the orchestrations they have set up, and it reminded me of my dream to make my own. So I finally decided to do something about it and bought some magnet wire so I can experiment with manufacturing my own solenoids. I just bought some relatively tiny samples - a three pack of 100m spools - so I don't know how useful my experiments will be.
To top things off I'm considering buying a Six Flags "membership"; basically their version of an annual pass. It's actually an almost astonishingly good deal because that pass is good for more than 40 parks across North America, and four of them are within the greater Los Angeles area, with two of them being water parks. Six Flags bought Cedar Fair last year, so that includes Knott's Berry Farm and Soak City, the former of which has many cherished childhood memories. Weirdly enough, it's a better deal to get it at Magic Mountain than Knott's; the equivalent offer at Knott's is $250 and is good for 10 months, while the Magic Mountain membership is $182 for a minimum of 12 months (minimum because it's only available as a monthly payment and can continue without having to pay the $20 initial fee; it's $13.50 per month). There's even a cheaper option available but it doesn't include parking at Knott's, which is where I'm probably going to go more often because it's not in
the bowels of hellthe Santa Clarita Valley.Oh, and I'm going to the heart of LA for a showing of Jaja's African Hair Brading on Sunday, so I'll be sure to spend a lot of money on unhealthy food while I'm out there.
My wife and I have been preparing for our kids' school's trunk or treat tonight. We're going with a Pokemon theme and we've got a big Pokemon card for kids to take a picture behind/inside, a pokeball candy bowl, a cardboard pokeball, and a ton of pokemon plushes. Gonna be a lot of fun :) Pics -- https://hamstergeddon.com/shared/pokemon-trunk-treat/
I bought a Concept2 Rowerg, a top of the line and tank of a machine, rower. I enjoyed the one at the gym, but could never enjoy it in public, and it was always taken. Considering I only used the gym for the rower and the treadmill, I bought the rower and canceled the gym! I have been thoroughly enjoying it.
I'm jealous! I was considering the Rowerg at one point too, but opted for getting the Speediance Gym Monster 2 with its rowing attachment instead. It's been great, but the rower attachment is definitely not as refined as the Rowerg.
Our annual staycation happened to coincide with absolute peak tree color this year, so we've been driving around and walking in the woods ooh-ing and ahh-ing just like the out-of-town tourists. The weather has been remarkably rainy, but punctuated with bouts of sunshine that created spectacular double rainbows.
Spouse has been engaging in deep wine nerdery with winemakers when we've visited wineries during the quieter weekdays before the weekend tourist swarm. 2024 was a vintage year for the region, and those wines are starting to show up in the tasting rooms - one winemaker was so pleased with his Merlot that he did a small bottling basically unaged to show off the grapes - stellar, and ready to drink now even though I'm not a Merlot fan. [Tip - Merlot grapes have relatively little acidity or tannin (depending on ripeness) without aging in oak - they're good for blending to tame acidity and tannin harshness in other grape varietals, but they're often too fruity and flabby (low in acid) to make an interesting wine solo unless grown in a cool climate.]
Very much not looking forward to going back to work on Monday - I already lost half a day of vacation to a site-down emergency, and the next couple of weeks are jam-packed.
Pretty slow week for me overall. I finished week 3 of an 8-week onboarding program for my new job and have been asking my team for tasks to do to get accustomed to our code base, coding process, etc. I still have a lot to learn since everything is different compared to my previous job. It's a bit overwhelming but I'm making good progress and my team has been super supportive.
I also got my flu vaccine + COVID booster mid-week and have been feeling a bit lazy ever since. Finally got off my ass today and cleaned up my apartment a bit, took out the trash, and got a haircut too. Meeting up with friends for a drink tonight so I'm looking forward to that!