Posts

Posted on

Pinball is back!

Well, I guess it never went away, really. But the pinball league did, for a couple of weeks. Too much going on at Birdfish around the holidays. But it’s back! https://business.facebook.com/birdfishpinball/

And I came in second, on my first night after retirement. I suppose it’s because I didn’t have to worry about getting home for work the next day. Like Dana or Doug would ever beat me in anyway. But still, it’s the principle.

Moral victory. Got a prize. The person who won was Alek. Aleksander Kaczmarczyk. One of the nicest young guys I’ve ever met. A regular; he’s been coming here for the last three years – originally, his dad drove him because he was too young to drive.

And, um. He’s the #6 ranked player in the world. https://www.ifpapinball.com/rankings/power100.php

So anyway, the prize!

A good night of pinball, with good friends. If you’ve never been to Birdfish – go to Birdfish. Here’s a shot of their back room.

And now I am going to go read something because… I don’t have to go to work tomorrow!

I may get used to this.

Posted on

The Reading List

Just finished:

  • Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. I’m a big Stephenson fan, but a few of his last have been a little inconsistent. Fall, or Dodge in Hell was just damn painful. He’s back in for on this one, and talking about a technological solution to the climate crisis. Good read. Now, that said – I just finished an audio book:
  • Reamde, by Neal Stephenson. Somehow I missed this one. I enjoyed it very much, and may have to revisit Fall.
  • All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business, by Mel Brooks. Mel’s biography. I’m a fan, and this is a great book. Memoir form from childhood to now, and goes through his productions. The Fly was produced by Mel Brooks? Did not know that. Mel Brooks and David Cronenberg. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Current

  • Invisible Sun, by Charles Stross. The last of his Merchant Prince series. Humans who can walk across alternate timelines (called ‘jaunting’ in the book, although those of us who are Gully Foyle purists know it’s nothing of the kind). Solid ending to a series started more than 20 years ago, with crazy politics in two timelines.
  • The Surgeon’s Mate, Patrick O’Brian. The Aubrey/Maturin sea novels have been on my list to read for a log time; I finally started them mid-2021. The Russel Crowe movie, Captain and Commander, had a family friend as the technical advisor, Andy Reay-Ellers.

Next Up

  • Journey To The Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel by Stephen Budiansky. It’s impossible for me to decide whether to read this or not. Hey, look, a Gödel dad joke! Up in the bucket list is Hofstader’s Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, which has been on the shelf for 20 years. I figure his biography will be a warmup.
  • Unwinding Anxiety, by Judson Brewer. Yeah, retirement is causing me some anxiety. I’ll get over it. Maybe with a self-help book or two tossed in first, though.
  • The Queen’s Gambit, by Walter Tevis. I started playing chess again a couple of years ago. ‘Pushed wood’ back in the 60s/70s, dropped it for 50 years, and then picked it up again. I finally watched the show on Netflix. Nice series, but I had no idea – Walter Tevis? He wrote a couple of books that got made into movies. Like, The Hustler. Color of Money. And… The Man Who Fell To Earth Now that is some range.

And yes. Yes, I am reading two books at once and listening to another. And that was before I retired.

Posted on

Blinkie lights

The other day, my home lights stopped working. I’m using Google Home. This was slightly more than an inconvenience, because I’ve got 14 of them, all GE. Google support said to factory reset all of them. OK, that should be easy.

  • Start with light off for at least 5 seconds.
  • Turn on for 8 seconds.
  • Turn off for 2 seconds.
  • Repeat this process 5 more times, or until the light bulb flashes. The light will flash 3 times if it has been successfully reset.

Uh huh. off-on-off six times. For 14 bulbs. Not gonna happen. I am a System Administrator, which means that I am lazy. I do not do anything twice that I can automate. I wrote an Arduino program to do it.

Times six. Times 14. But screwing in a bulb and pushing a button (and drinking a beer, the beer fridge is right behind the table) beats the hell out of on-off-on-off-on-off…

Posted on

And done.

So it’s been a wonderful run, with really good folks doing all the work. I might be back – but I will give retirement a chance first.

But it’s really weird. Had lunch at North Country; I drove home, pulled in, went to the office to check email, and… oh.

Drove down to Modern Methods, https://modernmethodsbrew.com/, sat down, pulled out my phone to check email, and… oh.

This will take some getting used to.

Tomorrow morning, I am certain I will come downstairs to the office, log on, and… oh.

Posted on

Two days to go!

I’m probably eating my last regular breakfast tomorrow, because I do not plan on getting up on the ugly side of 9AM with any regularity. So I’m going to have to start making omelets for lunch.

omelet
American omelet

Two tips:

  • Salt your eggs about 15 minutes before you start cooking them. Loosen up those proteins! https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-american-omelettes-ham-and-cheese
  • Shred your own cheese. C’mon. It takes ten seconds. You won’t have sawdust or cornstarch in your omelet, and pre-shredded does a terrible job of melting. I’ve got a go-to aged gouda that is great in an omelet. Think about it. What’s the idea behind pre-shredded cheese? You don’t want it to clump together. What do you want to do with melted cheese? You want it to clump together.
Posted on

Witcher Expansion Packs

So finished bingeing the Netflix Wither show. Really liked it, even though they can call Dandelion ‘Jaskier’ as many times as they want, but he’s still Dandelion. Sorry, I’m an Old. Cleveland plays baseball at the Jake and basketball at the Gund.

Anyway. I’ve been looking for a good PC game; I loved the entire Witcher series, and so I got the Wild Hunt expansion pack. It’s the two packs – ‘Blood and Wine’ and ‘Heart of Stone’ – and cost me a whopping $8. I’m really enjoying it so far. But I have to remember how to play Gwent!

Posted on

Four days to go!

Corey and I have a tradition of sharing a Corsendonk Christmas every year. I always buy one the year before and let it age. This year’s was especially tasty, and I suspect we didn’t drink it in 2020 because… well, because 2020.

Corsendonk Christmas Ale
Corsendonk Christmas Ale
Posted on

Five days to go!

Thursday is my last day. So what do my boss and my Tech Lead do? Take the week off and leave me in charge. I’m trying to figure out what to do in a meeting that would serve them both right!

Corey got me some great glasses for Christmas: