What's on your mind?

[JonoBlade]

3 hours ago, True Belief said:

... However, when I read that General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed he had called China's counterpart General Li Zuocheng (joint COS of the People's Liberation Army) and had promised he would give him a private 'heads-up' if Trump made did anything stupid as his time to move-on approached.... 

Isn't that treason? 

+1 for practising cooking. If you're eating Chinese takeout and Dominoes you're killing yourself.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

 All these Brits and Commonwealthers spelling "practicing" with an S are going to make my yankee head explode.

 

I will confess to getting the odd Chinese takeout once every month or two because the kid really likes General Tso's chicken. Call the grim reaper tell him to come collect my ass.

 

I've gotten away from cooking every single night over the past summer because with the guys here working on my house most days they all want to take a break to eat lunch and I know If I see them all eating then I'll want to eat too. So we'll get sammies or burgers from the local deli/butchery, we usually pick from their 4 or 5 daily lunch specials. Yesterday I had a gyro with feta cheese, spinach leaves in place of the lettuce, onions, tomatoes and extra tzaziki sauce. We were busy getting windows in before it got late so my house wouldn't be left wide open so I ended up letting the bag sit on the kitchen table til after the tyke got home from school at 4:30 and then just made that my one meal for the day. If I eat too early in the day it messes me up because then I'll get hungry around 9 or 10pm and be tempted to eat stupid shit.

 

But now it's starting to get cold at night (40°F ~ 4.4°C this morning) so summer is definitely over and fall has arrived. Now I'll probably start cooking a lot more again because I have much more of an appetite when it's not hot and I do much prefer a hearty home cooked meal with lots of fresh veggies and spicy sauce. And also my kitchen sink works again now. I'll just have to learn to say no to lunch more often.

[FatherAlabaster]

We (well, mostly me) do a lot of cooking here, but since my wife got pregnant again it's been a lot more takeout. It's just getting more and more hectic and harder to keep up with the chores. Very much not ideal. If I'm really focusing on my work, cleaning gets pushed to the side, cooking becomes more of a burden, and the whole place goes to shit. I suppose life will just keep on being in flux until I'm dead, so I better get used to it...

[Thatguy]

7 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

 All these Brits and Commonwealthers spelling "practicing" with an S are going to make my yankee head explode.

 

I will confess to getting the odd Chinese takeout once every month or two because the kid really likes General Tso's chicken. Call the grim reaper tell him to come collect my ass.

 

I've gotten away from cooking every single night over the past summer because with the guys here working on my house most days they all want to take a break to eat lunch and I know If I see them all eating then I'll want to eat too. So we'll get sammies or burgers from the local deli/butchery, we usually pick from their 4 or 5 daily lunch specials. Yesterday I had a gyro with feta cheese, spinach leaves in place of the lettuce, onions, tomatoes and extra tzaziki sauce. We were busy getting windows in before it got late so my house wouldn't be left wide open so I ended up letting the bag sit on the kitchen table til after the tyke got home from school at 4:30 and then just made that my one meal for the day. If I eat too early in the day it messes me up because then I'll get hungry around 9 or 10pm and be tempted to eat stupid shit.

 

But now it's starting to get cold at night (40°F ~ 4.4°C this morning) so summer is definitely over and fall has arrived. Now I'll probably start cooking a lot more again because I have much more of an appetite when it's not hot and I do much prefer a hearty home cooked meal with lots of fresh veggies and spicy sauce. And also my kitchen sink works again now. I'll just have to learn to say no to lunch more often.

I eat therefore I cook. Or my wife does - it depends who is home and how we feel. Once upon a time we went to restaurants sometimes, now we get take-away (another British/Commonwealth usage to drive you to despair GG) occasionally but only if we can pick it up ourselves.

And the real reason I am buying into this discussion, GG, is to say maaate...'practicing' reads as practiking and that's not a word.

[AlSymerz]

Cooking became a burden for me when we had kids, damn they are fussy eaters! Our eldest stopped being so fussy around 7 and she will try most things now, but our second daughter has always been fussy. Before kids I used to cook all sorts of stir fries and other Asian dishes, we'd try just about anything back in the days when recipes came from books and not 5 minutes on the net. But that changed with kids, I don't make separate meals but the stir fires are plainer, more run of the mill meals. Steak and vegies, chicken and salad etc aren't a huge deal, but I get sick of that stuff everyday.

 

I think it's funny how different people handle the spelling differences. Some people just can't come to grips with the way words change, including online dictionaries that claim to be "Australian". But it's even funnier how confused so many Yanks get with the metric system.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, Thatguy said:

I eat therefore I cook. Or my wife does - it depends who is home and how we feel. Once upon a time we went to restaurants sometimes, now we get take-away (another British/Commonwealth usage to drive you to despair GG) occasionally but only if we can pick it up ourselves.

And the real reason I am buying into this discussion, GG, is to say maaate...'practicing' reads as practiking and that's not a word.

 

Alright Doc Mr smart guy, how do you spell that sweet stuff they spread on top of birthday cakes? Icing? Or do you lot call that something else? Or confectioner's/powdered sugar which I remember my wife always called "icing sugar" how do youze spell that one?

Take-away did seem a little weird to me at first when I married a Kiwi but that ended up being one of the ones I quickly got used to, I even use it interchangably now with take-out. And yes I agree on those rare occasions I'll always go pick it up myself, wouldn't have the patience to wait for some idiot to deliver it. Tuh-MAY-toe/tuh-Mah-toe same deal, hated her way at first but now I probably say tuh-Mah-toe just as much if not more often than our Yankee way. I love the word bludger for freeloader/moocher I use that one a lot. Jandals (NZ) I'll often still use but never thongs (AUS) for flip-flops because a thong means a G-string here, or anal floss as it were.

 

Some of the different words never bothered me at all even though I have not integrated them into my every day speech. Words like: togs for swim suit/trunks or dairy for convenience store or zebra crossing for crosswalk (although we call that animal a zEEbra) or indicator for blinker or petrol for gas or bench for countertop or lounge for living room or ring me for call me or torch for flashlight or duvet for comforter or tea towel for dish rag or biscuit for cookie or foot path for sidewalk or track pants for sweat pants or bin for garbage can/pail and I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty.

 

Some of them I simply can't/won't get used to: "lay-by" is just stupid it's lay-away. A "rubber" is not a pencil eraser it's a fucking condom! A sweater is not a jersey, sports teams wear jerseys. Anti-clockwise drives me nuts. "Nappie" for diaper drove me absolutely up the wall too as well as "cot" for crib. Soldiers sleep on cots. Pissed means angry not drunk. We already have enough creative and colorful words for drunkenness. High school is not college, university is college. A trip to the garbage dump is the "tip" wtf? Lumber is not timber unless it has been freshly cut and still has the bark on it. Jell-O is not jelly, jam is jelly. It's only "jam" if it still has big chunks of fruit in it. Ground beef or chopped meat is fine but I hate myself for ever letting her talk me into saying "mince." Rib eye steak is not Scotch fillet. (and if it was we'd say fil-lay) Beets are not beetroot, arugula is not rocket, a cantaloupe is not a rock melon and peppers are definitely not capsicums. Oh and I almost forgot, the word tires looks stupid spelled with a Y. The extra i you mob add to aluminum to change the pronunciation is idiotic.

I think the one that makes me the most insane of all the differences in speech is that she always called a chicken sandwich a burger. How does that make any sense?!? The word "burger" refers to a ground beef (mince) patty whether it's served on a burger bun or not. Could also be a ground turkey patty instead of beef, but then we'd call it a turkey burger. A chicken cutlet (that'd be a "schnitzel" to you heathens) on a bun could never in a million years be a "burger" unless you put it through the meat grinder first before cooking.

I'm sure I'll think of more after I post this. 

[AlSymerz]

I believe the changes in spelling and pronunciation were done simply to annoy some people.

For instance we don't really care if you frost a cake or ice it as long as there is something tasty on the top.

The majority of people don't care if you wear togs, shorts or bathers, just don't wear budgie smugglers because, well because it's obvious!

A convenience store, a milk bar, a corner store, no one gives a shit, you either go to the supermarket to get your grocery items or you go down to the shop to get some smokes and a drink.

Zebra crossings are a thing of the past, we have moved on to wombat crossings!

Our mantra for intersections is "if in doubt put in a roundabout", because they work!

And if we really want to confuse a Yank we offer them a biscuit or scone and some morning tea!
 

 

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Thats another one, my mother in law (who is a Kiwi by birth currently living in Sydney with some yobo taxi driver) says "tea" when she means dinner. We Yanks think tea refers to tea time like 3pm when y'all stop everything to sit down to have some tea in those fancy flowery little cups with scones n shit.

 

As far as roundabouts go, they do keep traffic moving quite well and I'm all for them, but we call them traffic circles. They're also the reason I never tried to drive in NZ as I figured it'd be bad enough trying to remember to drive on the wrong side of the road but if I had to go through a dozen roundabouts I was sure I'd get confused which lane to go in and who had the right of way and I'd crash someone's car. So I just let the locals drive.

[AlSymerz]

It's no wonder you people think we drive on the wrong side of the road, you lot put the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car.

 

[Thatguy]

3 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

 

Alright Doc Mr smart guy, how do you spell that sweet stuff they spread on top of birthday cakes? Icing? Or do you lot call that something else? Or confectioner's/powdered sugar which I remember my wife always called "icing sugar" how do youze spell that one?

Take-away did seem a little weird to me at first when I married a Kiwi but that ended up being one of the ones I quickly got used to, I even use it interchangably now with take-out. And yes I agree on those rare occasions I'll always go pick it up myself, wouldn't have the patience to wait for some idiot to deliver it. Tuh-MAY-toe/tuh-Mah-toe same deal, hated her way at first but now I probably say tuh-Mah-toe just as much if not more often than our Yankee way. I love the word bludger for freeloader/moocher I use that one a lot. Jandals (NZ) I'll often still use but never thongs (AUS) for flip-flops because a thong means a G-string here, or anal floss as it were.

 

Some of the different words never bothered me at all even though I have not integrated them into my every day speech. Words like: togs for swim suit/trunks or dairy for convenience store or zebra crossing for crosswalk (although we call that animal a zEEbra) or indicator for blinker or petrol for gas or bench for countertop or lounge for living room or ring me for call me or torch for flashlight or duvet for comforter or tea towel for dish rag or biscuit for cookie or foot path for sidewalk or track pants for sweat pants or bin for garbage can/pail and I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty.

 

Some of them I simply can't/won't get used to: "lay-by" is just stupid it's lay-away. A "rubber" is not a pencil eraser it's a fucking condom! A sweater is not a jersey, sports teams wear jerseys. Anti-clockwise drives me nuts. "Nappie" for diaper drove me absolutely up the wall too as well as "cot" for crib. Soldiers sleep on cots. Pissed means angry not drunk. We already have enough creative and colorful words for drunkenness. High school is not college, university is college. A trip to the garbage dump is the "tip" wtf? Lumber is not timber unless it has been freshly cut and still has the bark on it. Jell-O is not jelly, jam is jelly. It's only "jam" if it still has big chunks of fruit in it. Ground beef or chopped meat is fine but I hate myself for ever letting her talk me into saying "mince." Rib eye steak is not Scotch fillet. (and if it was we'd say fil-lay) Beets are not beetroot, arugula is not rocket, a cantaloupe is not a rock melon and peppers are definitely not capsicums. Oh and I almost forgot, the word tires looks stupid spelled with a Y. The extra i you mob add to aluminum to change the pronunciation is idiotic.

I think the one that makes me the most insane of all the differences in speech is that she always called a chicken sandwich a burger. How does that make any sense?!? The word "burger" refers to a ground beef (mince) patty whether it's served on a burger bun or not. Could also be a ground turkey patty instead of beef, but then we'd call it a turkey burger. A chicken cutlet (that'd be a "schnitzel" to you heathens) on a bun could never in a million years be a "burger" unless you put it through the meat grinder first before cooking.

I'm sure I'll think of more after I post this. 

I knew I would get an entertaining response if I poked you. Thanks. There are exceptions to every rule in English so the icing example holds no ice.

Most of your examples I will just smile at and accept that we in fact speak different, but mostly mutually comprehensible, languages. Some of your examples though are weird Kiwi things and I am with you on the chicken burger...

[AlSymerz]

I can accept a burger in many forms, I'll even accept a chicken's nuggets, but I don't want to see the fish that the fingers come from

[FatherAlabaster]

This chronic fatigue and intermittent brain fog is a real fucking bummer. It's been with me since we got Covid over the new year. Sometimes I can stave it off with exercise and sleep, but other days there doesn't seem to be any way around it. I have a lot on my plate, which doesn't help, but I kind of feel like my brain is being strangled from below and I could easily just spend the entire day in bed.

Lots on my poorly functioning mind right now, though:

The gallery seems to a great spot for my paintings; they've sold another, they're taking the new one, and I'm really hoping I have time to do its companion piece in the next couple of weeks so I can give them both. Illustration projects queueing up in the background.

Car is still in the shop for an indeterminate amount of time. My wife is going out of town next week and my grandma's memorial will be later in the month, and we'll need it for both of those occasions, so fingers crossed. 

Interesting opportunity just opened up for my wife's work. It's early days so we'll see how it plays out with the new kid coming along, but I'm hopeful that it could be a positive development.

The band got our masters back for the full-length earlier this week, and they sound really good. I'm hearing little things that it's now officially too late to fix, but overall I'm happy. Promo should be starting in a month or so, but the full release won't be till next February. Always feels weird to sit on a finished product. And, our first band practice since early 2020 is happening tonight. I want to be stoked about that. Hoping the brain fog lifts by then. 

Off to do more pushups and maybe have some tea.

[AlSymerz]

Grocery shopping during a lockdown was peaceful, especially when people obeyed the rules. Getting to be less obeying the rules here because lockdowns have dragged on for so long. Now it's Sunday morning, the sparrows have only just farted and I'm off to the supermarket to avoid the crowds of supposedly lockdown morons.

[Fraser]

Passed my Driving test first time with only 4 minors on Friday. Left it until the ripe old age of 33 but well happy to have it done. I think I will be the designated driver for a good while now, payback all those lifts and pickups. Looking forward to driving far and wide for gigs and wild swimming. 

[MacabreEternal]

50 minutes ago, Fraser said:

Passed my Driving test first time with only 4 minors on Friday. Left it until the ripe old age of 33 but well happy to have it done. I think I will be the designated driver for a good while now, payback all those lifts and pickups. Looking forward to driving far and wide for gigs and wild swimming. 

I was 26 when I finally passed mine, had three attempts after having an argument with the first examiner about why I thought I didn't need to indicate (I was such a dick) and then the second time I got kicked out of the house the same morning by my then wife so had a lot of trouble focusing.

Congrats man!

[navybsn]

On 10/2/2021 at 10:35 AM, FatherAlabaster said:

This chronic fatigue and intermittent brain fog is a real fucking bummer. It's been with me since we got Covid over the new year. Sometimes I can stave it off with exercise and sleep, but other days there doesn't seem to be any way around it. I have a lot on my plate, which doesn't help, but I kind of feel like my brain is being strangled from below and I could easily just spend the entire day in bed.

Lots on my poorly functioning mind right now, though:

The gallery seems to a great spot for my paintings; they've sold another, they're taking the new one, and I'm really hoping I have time to do its companion piece in the next couple of weeks so I can give them both. Illustration projects queueing up in the background.

Car is still in the shop for an indeterminate amount of time. My wife is going out of town next week and my grandma's memorial will be later in the month, and we'll need it for both of those occasions, so fingers crossed. 

Interesting opportunity just opened up for my wife's work. It's early days so we'll see how it plays out with the new kid coming along, but I'm hopeful that it could be a positive development.

The band got our masters back for the full-length earlier this week, and they sound really good. I'm hearing little things that it's now officially too late to fix, but overall I'm happy. Promo should be starting in a month or so, but the full release won't be till next February. Always feels weird to sit on a finished product. And, our first band practice since early 2020 is happening tonight. I want to be stoked about that. Hoping the brain fog lifts by then. 

Off to do more pushups and maybe have some tea.

Sounds like my life recently. Condolences for your grandmother.

The long term effects of COVID are pretty scary from a medical pov. We just don't know enough at this point, but I think that it may end up worse than the initial infection or even dying from it. I read somewhere a while back that COVID is creating a whole generation of people with long term disabilities who will require increasing resources as time goes on. The drag on society as a whole could completely alter the way we live. 

I had brain fog for years after 2 bouts of cancer treatment 9 years ago. It still comes and goes. My memory is pretty good, but I still struggle with concentration at times. I tried a few treatments back then, but they were worse than the fog (kept me from sleeping for several days at a time). Hopefully your own issues will resolve to some sort of normalcy in the near future. If you don't already, I would recommend trying some meditation. It's the only thing that helped me. 20 minutes 3-4x per week. Intense exercise can also be beneficial, but as I get older that becomes more difficult.

[Fraser]

2 hours ago, MacabreEternal said:

I was 26 when I finally passed mine, had three attempts after having an argument with the first examiner about why I thought I didn't need to indicate (I was such a dick) and then the second time I got kicked out of the house the same morning by my then wife so had a lot of trouble focusing.

Congrats man!

Thank you

I just always put off learning as I thought having the extra money was better but because of family and the wife being fed up being referred to as my chauffeur it became a necessity, happy to have it done and means I don't need to have that embarrassing chat each time someone asks what car you have or the likes. 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

My father never bothered to get his driver's license because as a teen up in Boston in the early 1950's his family didn't have a car. And then as an adult he was too cheap to buy a second car so my mother drove him to and from the train station every work day for 30 something years to catch the train into NYC. I found that incomprehensible as I couldn't wait to drive as soon as I came of age. Took my written test at 16 and had my license at 17. Just the idea of being "stuck" somewhere without the ability to hop in my car and go places on a whim or at a moment's notice gives me almost a claustrophobic feeling like I'm trapped. That's why I chose to drive for a living, I need to be out and about. Can't stand the idea of being stuck inside 4 walls all day. Unless I'm at home, doesn't bother me at all to be at home. Ever since the pandemic hit I can often go a solid week without going anywhere farther than the mailbox. I'm fine as long as I know I have a vehicle at my disposal so I could go somewhere if I wanted or needed to. 

[MacabreEternal]

We are getting a new sofa on Friday and today I spent the morning cleaning the old one ready for some charity to collect it tomorrow.  I am oddly sad to see an inanimate piece of furniture being replaced but I reckon we have had that sofa for about 8 years.  From it being too big for a house we moved into and us both refusing to change it and splitting the L shape into two "mini" sofas for a couple of years, to numerous properties where it blocked a radiator by up to half but we kept at it anyway.  Tear in the front of it got sewn up tonight by the gf and hopefully someone else will get good use out of it.

Had a horrible moment earlier when I checked in at the vets to see if my cats blood results were back and they insisted on the vet calling me back.  Not bad news thankfully but having lost one elderly cat already this year the prospect of losing another caught me really off-guard.  A change of diet to something less protein based should help her see out her remaining couple of years along with increased frequency of blood tests to check her kidneys.

Also, first time in months that I had some time off work and did not check my work phone or emails for a whole four days.  Was strangely a fight to leave the phone off but glad I did. Feel refreshed and clear headed going back to the grindstone tomorrow.

[AlSymerz]

Half the time I don't even know where my phone is. I got a power meter reader installed last week that shows how much power the house is using and when it's being using. Idea being that we can see what's using power and possibly change the way it's used. But I realised yesterday that it's been installed for a week and I haven't even opened the app on the phone to see what has been happening.

We have QR code entry on all the shops these days as a part of contact tracing for covid outbreaks. It's a massive failure and not legally enforceable, but the governments don't mind talking as if it is. We've had it in shops now for 6 months and I still haven't downloaded the app to my phone. Even if I did it would make little difference because much of the time I leave the house I don't take my phone with me.

[Sheol]

7 hours ago, navybsn said:

The long term effects of COVID are pretty scary from a medical pov. We just don't know enough at this point, but I think that it may end up worse than the initial infection or even dying from it. I read somewhere a while back that COVID is creating a whole generation of people with long term disabilities who will require increasing resources as time goes on. The drag on society as a whole could completely alter the way we live.

It's kinda fascinating that a new disease can alter our way of life not just by becoming a pandemic, which of course have had enormous secondary consequences on our behaviors and lifestyles, but then come again a second time and fuck us over with longterm effects after the disease has left the body. Scary, but fascinating. This should really be a humbling moment for mankind, but instead we're arguing over a piece of cloth over our faces or "personal freedoms" to go out clubbing.

I think the longterm effects of Covid will indeed be vast, given how many people have been infected world wide. It would be funny if American insurance companies decides that symptoms of long term covid (which are vague and general) counts as pre-existing conditions and voids you of your insurance. That would be fucking evil.

[navybsn]

And therefore the most likely scenario. Disease is fascinating. I probably should have been an epidemiologist or a microbiologist. For anyone else who finds this stuff interesting, I highly recommend the book Spillover by David Quammen. It was written in 2012, but still relevant to our situation today. Even more adventurous should check out The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett. It's at least twice as long and a bit more technical, but it's a guaranteed cure for vaccine hesitance and a frightening glimpse in what is to come for humanity especially considering the nonsense that is going on in parts of the developed world.

[FatherAlabaster]

2 hours ago, MacabreEternal said:

We are getting a new sofa on Friday and today I spent the morning cleaning the old one ready for some charity to collect it tomorrow.  I am oddly sad to see an inanimate piece of furniture being replaced but I reckon we have had that sofa for about 8 years.  From it being too big for a house we moved into and us both refusing to change it and splitting the L shape into two "mini" sofas for a couple of years, to numerous properties where it blocked a radiator by up to half but we kept at it anyway.  Tear in the front of it got sewn up tonight by the gf and hopefully someone else will get good use out of it.

Had a horrible moment earlier when I checked in at the vets to see if my cats blood results were back and they insisted on the vet calling me back.  Not bad news thankfully but having lost one elderly cat already this year the prospect of losing another caught me really off-guard.  A change of diet to something less protein based should help her see out her remaining couple of years along with increased frequency of blood tests to check her kidneys.

Also, first time in months that I had some time off work and did not check my work phone or emails for a whole four days.  Was strangely a fight to leave the phone off but glad I did. Feel refreshed and clear headed going back to the grindstone tomorrow.

 

I hope your cat does well on the kidney food. Ours loved it (even the ones who didn't need it). Unobtainable here at the moment. Good luck to your fuzzy friend.

 

9 hours ago, navybsn said:

Sounds like my life recently. Condolences for your grandmother.

The long term effects of COVID are pretty scary from a medical pov. We just don't know enough at this point, but I think that it may end up worse than the initial infection or even dying from it. I read somewhere a while back that COVID is creating a whole generation of people with long term disabilities who will require increasing resources as time goes on. The drag on society as a whole could completely alter the way we live. 

I had brain fog for years after 2 bouts of cancer treatment 9 years ago. It still comes and goes. My memory is pretty good, but I still struggle with concentration at times. I tried a few treatments back then, but they were worse than the fog (kept me from sleeping for several days at a time). Hopefully your own issues will resolve to some sort of normalcy in the near future. If you don't already, I would recommend trying some meditation. It's the only thing that helped me. 20 minutes 3-4x per week. Intense exercise can also be beneficial, but as I get older that becomes more difficult.

Thank you Navy, I appreciate all of that. I've read some articles about long-term effects of Covid on the brain. Frankly I'm finding it hard not to be scared of this getting worse over time. I wish we'd been able to get the vaccine in time to avoid it. All I can do at this point is try to make the best of it, and I'm sure meditation would help. Very hard to get centered lately and I feel my recall slipping some days, which is fucking disturbing.

[navybsn]

5 hours ago, MacabreEternal said:

We are getting a new sofa on Friday and today I spent the morning cleaning the old one ready for some charity to collect it tomorrow.  I am oddly sad to see an inanimate piece of furniture being replaced but I reckon we have had that sofa for about 8 years.  From it being too big for a house we moved into and us both refusing to change it and splitting the L shape into two "mini" sofas for a couple of years, to numerous properties where it blocked a radiator by up to half but we kept at it anyway.  Tear in the front of it got sewn up tonight by the gf and hopefully someone else will get good use out of it.

Had a horrible moment earlier when I checked in at the vets to see if my cats blood results were back and they insisted on the vet calling me back.  Not bad news thankfully but having lost one elderly cat already this year the prospect of losing another caught me really off-guard.  A change of diet to something less protein based should help her see out her remaining couple of years along with increased frequency of blood tests to check her kidneys.

Also, first time in months that I had some time off work and did not check my work phone or emails for a whole four days.  Was strangely a fight to leave the phone off but glad I did. Feel refreshed and clear headed going back to the grindstone tomorrow.

I have a 23 year old cat. Older than our only child. Most days I come home and he's sleeping but I have to check just to be sure. He's deaf and nearly blind so he doesn't always react. I'm sure he'll go relatively soon and the wife and I will be gutted. He's had a great life, but I'll miss the little dude.

I just went back to work after 3 weeks of dealing with family stuff. No phone and no emails was so nice. I spent most of the day trying to remember what the fuck I was supposed to be doing.

[Fraser]

Been over a week since my last sea swim, think I will get one in tomorrow evening before sunset.