Overloaded

The past month and a half has been a blur of obligations, medical issues, and no energy to do much else so the blog has been neglected. No promises on increasing the frequencies of posting can be made until life gives me a few breaks. The Cubs could use some breaks right now too, as I type they are down 3-0 to the Yankees and it is the top of the first inning.

Like the baseball team is experiencing, it feels like life is hitting doubles against me. 5-0 now, the Bronx Bombers are clobbering starter Anderson.

Dealing with Dad’s health problems has been most of the drain though that will be letting up for awhile now that he’s successfully undergone multiple procedures to stretch his pyloric valve. Along with a change to Nexium (insurance hates that so the co-pay is large), his heartburn and reflux have vanished. Now to see if he can tolerate solid food again.

It Sounded Good at the Time

Oh gosh, it has been far too long between posts, yet I don’t feel guilty about it this time. Too many things have been going on in too many parts of my life so something had to give… and this wasn’t the only thing.

Multiple rounds of illness involving whatever upper respiratory virus of the moment circulating amongst the local population robbed me of days then weeks. Sudden developments with Dad’s paralyzed stomach suddenly showing motility led to a highly irritating pair of fiascoes last week added to the woes. Even the weather decided to take a turn for the worst after flirting with Spring like temperatures.

My sole consolation during the past month or so has been getting into audio theory and execution more deeply. Curiosity about crossovers, frequency charts, and clearance drivers has led to a lot of mad scientist behavior on my part not always wisely executed (see multiple rounds of illness above).

Fortunately, end results have been promising with stunning increases in performance for my newly rigged up 5.1 setup in my bedroom to make the PC much more of a hifi platform. It all started with a lucky win on eBay luring me down the rabbit hole.

2017 and I’m Still Catching Up

While intentions to post were good, I failed to get anything written during the past month and a half. A great deal has happened that while not being earth shaking has been time consuming.

A few of the events in reverse chronological order:

I just purchased a new keyboard, a Motospeed Inflictor CK-104, to deal with perpetual cat hair and crumb problems. Being one of the newer mechanical keyboards with backlighting it has far easier access under the keys for cleaning. Double shot keycaps and nice Outemu blue switches made it a steal at $44 at Amazon.

So far I’ve only gamed on it without any serious typing. Writing this post is its baptism by fire…

Modifications

I find myself in the middle of December of 2016 wondering where the year went. Of course much of the elapsed time was spent being ill, yet there was even more weirdness eating up precious seconds, hours, and days. Included in the strangeness are the subcategories of politics, sports, technology, things breaking down, and celestial events. Just how many super moons can one year have?

This is starting to read like a year end post and I’m not willing to concede 2016 just yet. In the spirit of losing time…

President Elect Donald Trump and Other Post Election Thoughts

Well, Tuesday was some night for many of us and unfortunately for me, I overdid things making the upper respiratory infection that was nearly gone return. While I’m physically having some breathing problems, I can say that mentally, emotionally, and spiritually the atmosphere has lifted allowing me to metaphorically breathe easier. Time to ramble a bit for posterity.

President Trump. A year ago I was telling people to get used to saying this only to be greeted by laughter.

2016 Election Thoughts

A highly abridged collection of my thoughts on the 2016 election written without any real structure with the purpose of jogging my memory later on.

What a bizarre election. It reminds me of reading accounts of Italian or Greek elections more than an American one.

Normally there is more excitement surrounding local candidates around here, but the strange presidential race has sucked most of the attention away this time out. One of the consequences of the immense damage the autocratic Obama administration has wrought over two terms is this weird (by American standards) faceoff between a billionaire populist not wanted by his party leadership and the most corrupt candidate to ever run for the office. Both have high negatives so it has been a marathon to see which one will be the most disliked.

Chicago Cubs Win the 2016 World Series!!!

108 years since their last World Series title, the Chicago Cubs are once again champions. Being a recovering Cubs fan, I wasn’t emotionally invested in it the way I once would have, but I do wish my late mother could have seen the series.

Game 7 was one for the ages, a hard fought 8 to 7 victory in extra innings. While the Cleveland Indians had to be defeated, it was the multiple managing errors of Cubs manager Joe Maddon that they really overcame. His pitching changes and an insane 3-2 safety squeeze that ended in a strike out killing a rally were the things of every Cubs fan’s nightmares.

However, the team did not give up and took advantage of a rain delay after the ninth inning to regroup in time to break a six all tie in the 10th. Cleveland narrowed the lead in the bottom of the inning to give heart attacks to many a Chicago fan, yet the Cubs managed to hold them off.

This may have been the best game sevens of a World Series ever in one of the best series I’ve seen. It really showcased what makes baseball such an amazing sport.