Today I made the mistake to look up someone I knew while I was in high school. I was reading an article about illegal drugs, and thought about a high school friend’s younger brother who ran into some drug problems about 20 years ago. Sadly, I discovered that he died last year. I can only conjecture, but it seems, based on what else happened to him over the past few years, that drug problems led to his premature death. Learning about what happened to him made me very sad.
⚾️ For the first time in over a year I have a baseball game on in the background as I work. I hope to get by the with MLB “free game of the day” offering this year, rather than paying to subscribe to the season package. There was no free game for the season opener yesterday, though, so I’m watching a spring training game.
🎧 on, and getting into the ⌨️ zone now. Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed up till 1:30 last night, but that’s what ☕️ is for, isn’t it? 😅
I have been feeling behind at work, even though I am probably no more behind in my work than anyone else I work with. It’s been a struggle the past few days. I think I am pulling out of it now, but I’ve had to work overtime to get here.
I have been well this week, but not in the blogging mood. I am working on gaining momentum now on all my work projects and hope to get back to my personal projects—like programming—soon. I have been so into coding for work the past couple months that I haven’t even turned on my Mac mini (which I almost exclusively use for coding) in two weeks. (Shameful!!😅)
I am at a place where I am feeling more positive about the future (and specifically my future) than I have in quite a long time. I am not euphoric or anything—just hopeful. And I am trying to be more grateful, too, for my family, and for the opportunities I have now to do good things.
I am grateful that the weather has changed from snowy and blustery to warm and calm. I have been able to take a walk after my lunch break for two days in a row. It feels nice.
I am grateful I received my COVID vaccine, but yesterday’s second dose has really knocked me for a loop today. 🤒
Today i will receive my second COVID-19 vaccine. I am excited to be so close to finished with the process.
New iPhone Day
After dithering on it for several weeks, I finally ordered a blue iPhone 12 mini late Friday night. I plan to keep it for the next four years, and also plan to keep using my iPhone 7 Plus as an occasional video player/video game player around the house.
It was supposed to be delivered here on Tuesday, but it came late this morning—a couple days early. Strangely, I find myself not ready for it! I have too many things to do today, and will have to wait to open up my new toy until after the kids go to bed.
I’ve gotten to the point with my cooking that I always think that I have no idea what I am doing, but end up rejecting most recipes I find, and my dinners come out really good anyway.
Merry Christmas
I have been busy with family most of the time the past few days, mostly doing Christmas-y things. I barely celebrate Christmas any more, mostly because my wife and kids are Jewish and I have a complicated relationship with Christmas. (Couldn’t we just celebrate Saturnalia or something instead?) This year, I found some Christmas music I actually like (the “Jazz Christmas” playlist on Apple Music, plus “Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas” and Nat King Cole’s “Christmas Music.”), and plan to bake cookies and host a family dinner this evening. It’s all very nice and a lot easier than the Christmas-related travel to see family that we always did before the pandemic.
I took a required course in ethics this morning, and wish I could have just watched a few episodes of “The Good Place” instead.
My wife and I watched the Biden-Harris acceptance speeches with our daughter, who has never seen anything like it before. We are feeling excited and hopeful. I am especially eager to follow Kamala Harris’s work as Vice President in the hopes that she will be a transformative figure in the office.
A pot of chicken soup is bubbling on the stove, and some bread is in the oven. I’m looking forward to a relaxing lunch.
New Jersey made it easy for me to vote by mail this year, but I usually visit Vote Save America for the details I need.
I am trying to think of what to do tomorrow night, instead of watching (incomplete) election night results trickle in. I don’t expect the “election” to “end” (I’m not even sure where the scare quotes belong) for weeks.
Rubik’s Cube
After reading this article about Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, I ordered myself a 3x3 speed cube (not a Rubick’s brand cube).
I had a Rubik’s Cube as a child, and never solved it. At one point, I remember having solved it except for two squares, and I peeled the stickers off and swapped them. (That was sort of my “en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gord…” moment, I guess. 😂)
At this point, I don’t care if I ever do solve it on my own (there are guides to solving it that I might decide to follow), but it will likely be fun to play with while I’m on conference calls or watching TV. Hopefully it will be an object of fascination for my kids, too, and I will get them their own to play with.
I gave myself a haircut today. It seems that it takes longer to do the less often I do it. It has been hard for me to keep to a once-per-week schedule, but I like the idea of having that kind of discipline.
My AnyList subscription is expiring soon. I am strongly considering switching to Paprika 3 for my grocery list app. I already own it, it does what I need, and, most importantly, its Apple Watch app doesn’t require an annual subscription. My wife and I are going to try it out next week.
