#188 - Neices, Nephews and a Ham

Sleep. Wonderful sleep.

I am feeling somewhat rejuvenated. A Good night’s sleep and a late morning will do that for you. I woke after nine thirty and stayed in bed a bit longer. Then around ten thirty it was time to get ready before our eleven AM departure.

We headed out onto the highway for North York to see my sister and brother-in-law and their kids. The weather did not co-operate, pounding us with sheets of rain and massive puddles.

But to be honest, we have had worse drives to their house than this. Thankfully, the traffic kept moving at a good pace despite the rain and mist that the tires threw up. We made it to their house in about and hour. The kids’ grandparents were just walking up the steps to the house as we arrived. Bubba brought some delicious pierogi to celebrate her Ukrainian heritage. She had two styles with her; one was the standard cheese and potato, and the other was a surprise. Cherry dessert pierogies. And they were fantastic!

Jon and Shannon made a smoked ham on their smoker, potatoes, Ukrainian raisin bread, broccoli, and quiche. Way more food than we could ever hope to eat in one sitting. We followed that up with ice cream and cake.

We brought some plastic eggs for the kids, and in a reversal of the norm, they hid the eggs and made us find them. Repeatedly.

We had a great time catching up with everyone and having some laughs. We had some interesting discussions about us A.I. Both Jon and Shannon’s workplaces have vastly different thought about its use. And as an artist and an aspiring writer, my views on the use of these tools are less accepting than theirs.

 And of course, the niece and nephew were both entertaining and adorable.

We left with some smoked ham and cookie leftovers. Jon gave me a twenty-seven inch monitor he no longer needed and some hand-me-down clothes for our kiddo.

I’ll use the monitor in the writing cave and plug my laptop into it to get some more screen real estate.

The drive home was unremarkable; the weather cleared, but there were still a great deal of cars on the road. But we made it home in less time than it took to get there.

The kiddo was pleased to find leftover ham in the fridge and had it as his after-dinner meal as well as a few chocolate chip cookies.

Once back, I watched some YouTube while Robyn picked up the kiddo from work. Then we watched an episode of Daredevil, which I think Robyn slept through, before we put on a new show called “Detective Hole” on Netflix. It is a Norwegian detective show and the only actor I recognised was Joel Kinneman, who is apparently Swedish American. So far it seems pretty decent, and we will probably give it a chance.

It’s just after ten PM and even though I slept in and had some recovery time, I am feeling gassed. I ‘ll likely just read a bit before calling it an early night.

We have a dinner at my sister house with her horde and my mother and father tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll need more recovery time to get through the day. All the driving and company has the effect of making a three-day weekend feel like it’s only one day off.

Luckily, I get to sleep in a bit longer as we don’t have to leave until about two o’clock. And I plan to sleep as much as I can.

The AG1 streak was blown away again. There is no real point of restarting it until all these big meals are done and things get back to normal. Probably looks like a Monday restart. But I have kept up with my writing every day, blogging, and playing chess streaks, which is awesome. 

After yesterday’s bit of sun exposure, I started taking astaxanthin again, as I find it helps me to reduce the severity of sunburn and lets me stay outside without constantly needing to find a shady spot. My pale skin turns to crispy bacon in about five minutes.

Astaxanthin is god for a bunch of other things as well and very similar to taking salmon oil or omega 3-6-9 supplements. Astaxanthin is made from the algae that give Krill and salmon their distinctive red colour.

I’ve decided to upgrade my laptop to Windows 11. I was postponing for as long as possible because the Dragon transcription software wasn’t compatible with 11.

But Windows 10’s days appear to be numbered, and I want to work out any of the kinks before I desperately need my computer. Like next week when my assignment for my mentor is due.

I don’t really like the Windows 11 interface; I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the old look. But you can’t stop progress when it comes to computing.

I am crossing my fingers that nothing gets buggered up!

There was a second video released from a camera worn by Richter, the actor who play Jack Reacher. This shows the full video and seems to reverse the idea of who is culpable in the incident where he ended up hitting a man repeatedly. The full video shows that the man who was hit was likely the aggressor and instigator of the incident. The camera also showed the speedometer of the motorcycle to be moving slow, not the racing speeds that the accusuer had first mentioned.

I installed front and back dash cams in my car for this reason. Video evidence goes a long way to catch the bad guys these days, or maybe more importantly, to protect the innocent.

Okay, it’s time to go do some reading before my eyes give out completely.

Have a good night, and if my computer update goes well, I’ll see you tomorrow.