Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Relieved

I am by no means a fan of Donald Trump - despite my deep misgivings about Biden's mental health I would still vote for him over the other candidate. However, I must admit I am extremely relieved at the Supreme Court overruling those states that had decided to exclude him from the ballot paper.

There are fundamentally two reasons for this:

  1. In a two-party system, you really can't have a situation where one party is not allowed to stand their preferred candidate. That becomes a one-party system, and that's very much not democracy.
  2. But more importantly, there was a distinct possibility that in a tight race Biden might 'win' solely on the basis of Electoral College votes garnered from those states where Trump was excluded. Which would have been an absolute disaster - the scenes from 6th Jan 2021 would have had nothing on what followed.
So I'm hugely relieved that Trump is allowed to stand. Now I only hope Americans collectively have the sense to reject him.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Disgrace

I knew the House of Commons was a cesspit, but I thought there were at least some limits - I would never have expected them to engage in base politics over as serious an issue as the situation in Gaza.

The whole edifice is a blight on our country. We need to shut it down, and start again.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Day 51: Update on Goals

Slightly late, here is my first update on goals for the year.

  • Books: By this point I should have read 4.1 books. I'm actually very close to that - I expect to finish book 4 imminently, and have read the .1 already (book 4 took longer than expected and got bogged down somewhat, so I decided to read another book in parallel, allowing me to finish the stuck book at my leisure.)
  • Blogging: As should be obvious from the fact that even this update is delayed, I've been finding it really hard both to find time to blog and find topics for blogging. So this goal already looks impossible.
  • Redecoration: There has been no movement on this goal, but that's not a surprise - my expectation is that we'll aim to tackle the bulk of this task during the Easter break, in time for Surprise!'s birthday.
  • Complete my Campaign: The campaign has resumed, and is about to start on part four (of four). However, I haven't managed to write any of it, which means they're about to hit the section I don't have planned out.
  • Update the Church Website: There has been no movement on this one, which is becoming increasingly urgent.

The conclusion there isn't good - I'm behind on just about everything, with one goal already looking lost and two becoming increasingly urgent. I have some things to think about.

#3: "Smart Leadership", by Jo Owen

Monday, February 05, 2024

The Worst Combination

I've talked before about the tendency to avoid tasks - when there's something that needs done but that you don't want to do, suddenly it becomes vitally important to reorganise some documents, or sharpen every pencil to exectly the same length, or to alphebetise your DVDs, or whatever.

But there's one combination that's even more pernicious: having two tasks you want to avoid. Because that then opens up whole new levels of avoidance strategy: you get to spend a whole lot of time getting one ready for action, then switch to the other, then switch back long enough to decide it needs yet more preparation, then back again, and on and on it goes.

Ultimately, there comes a point where you do just have to knuckle down and address one of the tasks, get it done, and then face the other. But there's a whole load of sweet, sweet temptation to wade through before that point.

Please and Thank You

The story of how we came to have an Amazon Echo 5 in our living room is almost worthy of a saga itself - initially I bought it for the kitchen as a replacement for our CD-player/radio, only to discover I really didn't like it at which point I banished it to the garage, and then find that I really wanted to leave some ambient music on to keep the dog company during the day, leading to Alexa's triumphant restoration to the living room!

Anyway, this device is now the first part of the home automation setup I talked about some months ago, and plans are afoot to start expanding the ecosystem. Because while I initially resisted getting any of these voice-activated assistants, once we had one in place it gradually started to see more and more use. We've still barely scratched the surface, largely due to my lingering disdain, but it does seem to be a good place to start.

All of which is by the by. My main point for this blog post is that we now have an Alexa device in the living room, and of course there is therefore a need to address the device and ask it to do things.

I'm also in the process of raising two small children, and one of the important lessons to be taught is the importance of saying 'please' and 'thank you'. Always and every time, nay habitually.

The upshot of that combination is that I now make sure to say 'please' when asking Alexa to do things. Hopefully Skynet will take that into account when the time comes.

#2: "Promise of Blood", by Brian McClellan

Monday, January 29, 2024

Lather - Rinse - Repeat

I know the blog has been quiet for quite some time. Unfortunately, I'm finding it hard to find things to talk about, as right now life seems to mostly be stuck in a loop of trying to survive to the weekend, then not quite enough rest to recover, and then repeating. This seems to be pretty common in January, but does seem especially tough this year.

The good news is that today I noticed for the first time that the sky was distinctly lighter by the time I left the house, so we're gradually getting out of the dark. Hopefully things will pick up soon.

Monday, January 08, 2024

The Forgotten Daughter

Over the Christmas break we took a short trip to Disneyland Paris as an extended family. Unlike a trip we took a few years ago, this was a fun adventure and one that the children, in particular, very much enjoyed. Which is nice.

On the third day of the visit to Disneyland itself (that is, not counting the day spent travelling there), young Surprise! reached a point where he just couldn't take it any more. And so, the weather being pretty ropey at that point, LC took him back to the hotel for what turned out to be the rest of the day. This left Funsize and I to enjoy our final afternoon in Disneyland together.

And we had a great time, racing from one ride to another, cramming in every last bit of fun that we could in that afternoon and evening - some new rides, a lot of repeated rides from the previous days, and even the tail end of one of the shows that we managed to catch at just the right time. Good times.

And while at the time I was rather hesitant, in hindsight I'm rather glad that the day worked out that way. For entirely understandable reasons, Surprise! requires a significant amount of our time, energy, and attention, and as a consequence he largely sets the agenda for our days. Worse, because we've then expended so much time, energy, and attention, when we are then freed up there just isn't much left. And so I'm often somewhat concerned that Funsize is just not getting a fair shake. We do the best we can... but it's a concern.

So having an afternoon like that, where Funsize was able to get some undivided attention, and where she was able to set the agenda and have things her way was very much welcome. Even if it did mean that we returned to the hotel late, and she was absolutely shattered as a result - if nothing else, it meant we absolutely got our money's worth.

#1: "Ariadne", by Jennifer Saint (which I enjoyed, though I enjoyed "Elektra" more)

Monday, January 01, 2024

Books of the Year 2023

A very short list of books this year:

  1. "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand *
  2. "Tome of Beasts 3", by Kobold Publishing
  3. "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle", by Wizards of the Coast
  4. "Tome of Beasts III Lairs", from Kobold Press
  5. "Paranormal Power", by Rachel Williamson
  6. "Cytonic", by Brandon Sanderson
  7. "Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever", by Michael Morpurgo **
  8. "Eldership", by various authors
  9. "A Woman of Substance", by Barbara Taylor Bradford *
  10. "Crucial Conversations", by Grenny, Patterson, Switzler, and McMillan
  11. "Bond: With a Mind to Kill", by Anthony Horowitz
  12. "Lion", by Conn Iggulden
  13. "Star Wars Roleplaying Game", by various authors
  14. "Guardians of the Wild Unicorns", by Lindsay Littleson **
  15. "Parenting Hell", by Widdicombe and Beckett
  16. "Firefly: Carnival", by Una McCormack
  17. "Elektra", by Jennifer Saint
  18. "Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand *
  19. "Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty", by M.K. England
  20. "The Ink Black Heart", by Robert Galbraith
  21. "The Fall of NĂºmenor", by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Brian Sibley)

That gives a total of just 21 books - it's just about possible that I may have to come back and edit this to add a 22nd, but that currently seems unlikely. This includes no rereads, and two books for Funsize/Surprise! There are five RPG related books, making up almost a quarter of the whole.

I don't think this year really had either a 'best' or a 'worst' book - there were lots of fine works there, but nothing stood out for me as in previous years. But the major milestone was the completion of The List, which was a huge deal!

Partly as a consequence of being focused on The List, and the three "doorstop" books that were on it, I now have shelves heaving with reading material - no fewer than twenty (physical) books are awaiting my attention. Hopefully 2024 will end with far fewer sitting there, and none that are more than two years in waiting!