What did you do this week?

This week? Well, mostly I did what I usually do... not much. Between taking a quick trip down a flight of stairs last year plus the resulting 3 strokes and the ever-loving coronavirus lockdown that never ends I have discovered retirement is actually mind-numbingly boring, by and large.

On a brighter note, hello world and well met! This is my first post here. So, for the near future, pardon any faux pas on my part whilst I get my bearings.

I finally managed to deploy a small website where I can share various stuff and introduce myself to the world.
Also I applied for a long term employment contract for the first time. I can't wait for an answer and I'm a little nervous.

Basically nothing. I had my follow-up appointment with my GP re: what to do with my insomnia, but I'm not sure if the drug she prescribed is even working. It puts me to sleep, but my biggest problem are the frequent (4-5+ times per night) wakeups, and I just hope these last few days are not indicative of how well it'll do in the future.

Other than that, I tried getting my shoes repaired on Wednesday, but all the cobblers in the area - included the one I called some days before - are closed until at least next week. I hate the summer.

I finished all the currently released Halo games in the Mister Cheef Collection. We must've been starved for decent shooters back in the 00s, because ho boy, those were some forgettable stories. Surprisingly short, too, and the Flood and Brutes were a real step down in difficulty by the third game. I'm thinking of moving onto Shadow of War next. Also getting a little giddy over the upcoming update for War Thunder, which is adding some interesting-looking vehicles that include an exciting act of Japanese desperation.

I bounced around a lot. I started the week in Monterey getting some much needed R&R followed by 3 days of figuring out the fire evacuation areas.

I think this week has been the toughest for me throughout the entire pandemic. The SCU and CZU fires have wreaked havoc on my family, friends, and self in a way I'm sure those who live in Paradise, Santa Rosa, and Shasta experienced in the past few years.

I find it so depressing that it isn't sparking a national debate on the effects of climate change or adaptive management and once again we are being blamed for not "cleaning up our mess" (which federal regulations won't allow for eg. prescriptive burns).

Work work. Which is fine - though today I got to do something new and took over for our dispatcher. Usually I'm a Level 2 Ticket Closer but our dispatcher got sick and the other usual replacements were already booked up doing stuff all day - so that was kind of fun! Monotonous, but nice to switch it up a bit.

Started playing Forza Horizon 4 for the first time - I quite like that. Tried to play Flight Simulator but the launcher is a hot mess right now - so I shall just wait on that one.

Trying to set up appointments with a new doctor and got a back adjustment yesterday. I'm a bit sore now but that may also be from standing in the kitchen for so long doing a deep-clean on the fridge.

I went on a trip with my brothers and twin's fiancee to her mom's timeshare, who had points she was about to lose and went "just use'em for me." We used it as a jumping off point to Joshua Tree National Park, which is damn near uninhabitable this time, while avoiding all resort amenities. Just about everything in our environment went bad in the small ways it could, but we made the best of it. We got a hike on the Mastodon Peak Loop after realizing we didn't have enough water or conditioning to survive the Lost Palms Oasis trail (we can do 7 miles in a stretch at 1000 feet and 80 degrees, but not at 3000 feet in 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the remnants of a Mexican tropical storm). Two friends (who we know keep safe and are comfortable having around) came up for the last couple days, we all went on a road trip to the north end of the national park, through the park, and stopped at a bunch of roadside exhibits because for varied reasons they aren't able to hike. We also found the campsite my brothers and I went to as Boy Scouts on a trip I completely forgot about, and I ate dirt jumping over a knee high rock after catching my boot on it.

Even with the heat, I'd do it again, but bring those gallons of water. I also had my first hike in jeans and long sleeves (I'm that kinda white that is completely see-through, very sun sensitive), and it's something I'll do whenever I'm out in the wilderness now, at least in southern California where trees tend to be few and far between.

I bought a 3D Printer!

But they still haven't shipped it.

Most of the blame goes to their only payment processor, everyone's favorite: PayPal. They decided that they were going to authorize my credit card purchase last monday, but not actually charge it until last night.

So me and the fiance have been watching videos about 3D printing and getting our hopes needlessly high. In fact, we are going to Microcenter either tomorrow or the next day to buy some material for it (and, knowing him, he's probably going to buy some upgrades for it and expect me to install them before we even try out the stock equipment).

I've been re-engaging with our developer community on the run up to a conference, and I got my thermal camera hooked up to Zoom.

A cold front got to where I live so cope with copious amounts of cold (relatively, it's actually like, 9°C now, lol.) Sleeping with both blankets now, longing for gloves because my hands feel cold as hell, actually appreciating warm drinks, hating cold water (which I usually love), among other things.

Also they returned the results of the 2 tests they handed us (one the day after, the other a week later) and my results seem to be 9/12 and 10/12. I'm not sure if the results of a test mean anything at this point (standardized tests are hated by teachers IIRC) so OK. Either way they were either super easy or I didn't pay attention or misunderstood something.

Also, they called this (literally called "site of curiosities" also PT-BR) A "scientific divulgation" (spitting back from Google translate), which is frankly a disgrace.