What I am watching these days

It's not easy for me to watch anything on TV these days. Movies involve a babysitter and a tight window of opportunity. Our TVs are usually streaming Octanauts or PJ Mask (and whatever the next cartoon moose and squirrel find appealing). The intersection of time that I'm in front of a TV and there isn't a small child usurping it is extremely scant.

So when I say binge-watch anything these days, I mean that I watched consecutive episodes in a finite amount of time spread over a couple of days versus the more conventional definition of completing a season in an afternoon or a series within a weekend.

It's an achievement in itself that I was able to watch 10+ hours of Netflix Lost In Space. Luckily, I didn't have to rewind episodes like I did with Altered Carbon because of all the AC Universe jargon that is shoved down your throat.

I am able to stream stuff on the tablets, though.  In fact, I rather prefer it this way. The closed captioning helps my old man's hearing and it can multitask somewhat.  

• The Expanse  
• The 100
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Westworld 

Haven't seen Handmaid's Tale yet, and cannot get Westworld yet until I figure out how to get HBO without a subscription.  Maybe it will be better to wait until I can binge watch it on Prime or Netflix.

Update from the Future:  I was able to watch WestWorld because streaming services changed enough that a subscription to one gave me access to HBO.  I could also watch Handmaid's Tale but only on the main TV instead of my iPad, which I prefer.

Not doing the push ups anymore

The second half of march -- Ides of March forward -- was almost perfect.  Something like 14 for 16. And April started off stellar but then crashed and burned.  I have not done my 10 push-ups a day thing for over a month. 

Part of the reason was many mornings I'd wake up with my back sore from sleeping in a twisted position because one of the kids was sleeping with their feet kicking into my liver. 

The rest of the reason was pure laziness.  I'm should resume the endeavor, even if it's just unofficial but what are the odds that happens.  Maybe once the warmer weather arrives and I run outside more.








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HELOC process start to finish

Since we had a few things that needed doing around the house, I applied for a HELOC with Chase in February.  I knew it was a long shot but I also knew that there are $500K homes going up nearby and that the people who calculate these home values don't know Portage Park from Lincoln Park so why not.  

• Feb 9: applied online
• Feb 12-14: missed calls
• Feb 15: sent financial documents
• Feb 16: drive-by appraisal.  I actually saw some camera flashes but was on a call so I didn't go look
• Feb 21: appraisal came in $5k higher than I submitted.
• Feb 22-27: request for 2 more documents
• Feb 27: confirmed they have all they need and will reach out to schedule closing
• Mar 2: closing scheduled
• Mar 3: closing rescheduled because wife signature needed.

So it only took a month and we got a small but not trivial amount of money to help with some home repairs.  I looked into getting some type of Air Conditioning system but the costs were too high given we might not be here much longer.  Instead, I decided that the first order of business was to get the rails on the back deck replaced.


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A touch of the Writer's Block

It is probably very obvious that I haven't posted much here lately.  Usually by this time of year, I've surpassed my lowest years (2010 and 2011) of published posts.

Writing in the morning works for me because I have access to a brain that doesn't exist any other time of the waking day. Think about what the brain was doing just minutes before that alarm clock went off. It was dreaming. Creating storylines with strange plots, strange casts of characters, and no real sense of a structured plot. That's the brain you can tap into at five or six o'clock in the morning. Peak creativity. -- Chris O'Brien, Medium Rare.

I have been in a slump since the start of the year. First off, my daytime paying job has been busy, stressful and more demanding than usual.

Time for grilling

Second, I'm going through what I refer to as the Groundhog Day Phase with my kids.  Everyday it's pretty much the same thing:  Fight with them to wake up in the morning, get them dressed and off to daycare.  Then scramble to get to work at a time that is in the ballpark of "Start Time".   Hope that things are quiet enough that I can leave on time and meet my wife at daycare and bring the mini-tyrants home, feed them and fight with them to go to sleep at a decent time.  Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Finally, as the quote above suggests, I do my better writing first thing in the morning these days.  But my mornings are chaos and by the time things settle down, the day is half over and my energy and creativity are depleted.  

On a side note, I've opted to take advantage of my job privilege of flexible schedule and working from 

Home more often.     I should probably cancel my gym membership.    

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These old letters are pensieves and horocruxes

I've been working Project Ancient Letters since September of last year.   These letters have lived in a box that I've carried around from apartment to apartment, condo to house.  These old letters bring back memories long forgotten. 

Some people can look at that box and just say yeah I don't need these anymore and toss them without reading them.

Some people will re-read them but still throw them away. 

Then there's me. My original plan with these letters was to re-read them and then pitch them.   But someone suggested that I scan them which seemed ridiculous at the time.  But then I realized that I have free access to an industrial sized scanner at the office and had no set timetable so why not.  I'm certainly becoming very good at working that scanner.  If my current job doesn't work out, I guess I can find work at a Kinkos.

These letters were very much like Pensieves (or Horocruxes in some cases), transporting me back in time. 

I just scanned the last ones before the end of last year, so now comes the next phase.  Returning them to the senders that I'm still in touch with.   I'll keep a few that have some special meaning for me, at least until the next time I need to clear some clutter, and the rest get bonfired.

It's interesting how people will reference something I obviously wrote in a previous letter, or perhaps mentioned on the phone, but it is just vague enough that I cannot tell what we are talking about.  I can see traces of when my confidence started to erode and my depression setting in.

If I had the bandwidth, I'd write a post about some of the key writers.  Maybe I still will even though I've already returned some of the letters to their senders.

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