Yesterday, I felt a little down as I’m sure a lot of people do just now.
This morning, I received a postcard from a friend just to say ‘Hello’. It was unexpected and has brightened my day.
I have put it in a frame. Next time things feel a bit gloomy, I hope that it will remind me how lucky I am to have lovely people in my life.
I tried to be a great dad today, I really tried. Ella and I wanted to go on a bike ride but Abby did not. She wanted to play Minecraft together which I struggled to setup. I finally got it working an hour later and frustration had built so then some arguments between Abby and Ella. We quit playing and I made lunch. After lunch I suggest monopoly which all agreed. First go around the board Ella buys park place and then Abby said I’m done playing. Oh, one day I’ll laugh. One day.
Because of Covid-19 we are all home and we most likely will need to stay for many, many weeks. Abby and Ella are home schooling and I’m working from home. Both girls have a science component to their learning. Ella’s Science curriculum includes the following “Students are currently working on life Science concepts. Students are expected to investigate that most producers (plants) need sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make their own food”. I purchased an Arduino based weather station kit a few years ago to build with the girls. I figure now is a good time so I built it today. My soldering is below average but it does work. I’ll check it more tomorrow. Today was a long but good day..
Today was the first day of the UK living under strict limits of when we can leave our homes. It feels very unreal and cast a long shadow over what was a day of bright sunshine and blue skies.
It is hard to know how to approach the situation and I find myself darting between not thinking about it and clinging on tightly to what little bit of routine I can find. I have, however, pledged to make the most of our allowance to leave our homes once per day for exercise. So I am trying to look positively at an opportunity to up the mileage that I run every week.
As expected, it was earily quiet, although some signs of life as people walked dogs. We all gave each other space as I passed.
Tonight’s run: 4 miles.
New song added to running playlist: Pompeii, Bastille.
Went camping over the weekend with Ella, Todd and Paige. It was a good time but it sure rained. Ella and I were in the tent about 9pm on Saturday night and it had been raining for a while. The tent did ok but water started into the tent and there was lightning (no thunder). Ella gets nervous; I say she is safe with me. She says ok but still nervous. Next flash she says we go sleep in the cabin with Todd and Paige. Ok, I agree — not 30 seconds later another flash. I agree and we get dressed and pack up sleeping bags to walk in pouring rain the 200 yards or so back to the cabin. Todd and Paige were waiting up for us and the cabin was warm and dry.
So, Sunday night, I decided to login to my iMac to download photos from my camera and my 27″ 2.7 GHz (symmetry, I love it) core i5 iMac is crawling — like fall asleep waiting on a mouse click to register slow. I reboot, no help. I close all my apps so nothing is running, no help. I check thermals on the iMac and it’s at 39 C which isn’t to bad… I check dmesg and I see a bunch of io errors. Curious!?! Why would there be IO errors. I checked top and I couldn’t see anything alarmingly wrong. I get nervous because I’m working from home due to Covid-19, so I really need a working computer. I end up putting my old 2009 21″ iMac back together — it was in pieces next to my desk for several months. I decided at least I could use that 21″ iMac to work in case my 27″ doesn’t come back to life. I go to bed worn out and when I wake in the morning; low and behold the 27″ iMac is back to normal….? curious why it was slow before, was it a hardware issue or was it trying to run something? I’ll make sure I get everything important off it just in case it is a hardware issue.
My mom texted me today to suggest that we cancel her planned trip to Houston in April. I admit I was thinking the same thing but she said it first. I would worry for her health if she were traveling. I’ll work with the airline tomorrow to reschedule the trip. I told Abby and she was sad. I used the word cancel and Abby asked if we could reschedule. My mom said she was so excited to come and I know Abby and Ella were too. All in all a sad day. The world is still panicking due to coronavirus; school is canceled for a month. Restaurants, bars and gyms are being shuttered. God speed to this planet so that we can find some resistance to coronavirus soon.
The Coronavirus is currently gripping the world with fear; flights are restricted, all sports shutdown and schools are closed. It almost seems like the world is on one big time-out. Today I went for a bike ride with Ella and I saw loads of people out enjoying the beautiful day. My work has authorized global split teams (team blue and team green) to limit the effects of a spread of infection on a team. I worked from home a bit last week & it was fine. I do miss the room and the camaraderie of the staff. While I’m at home I have the girls; Ella has been really good and is getting herself cereal and such. Abby for her part is staying in her room and coming out for food, ha. The weather was very nice today; I did all my yardwork yesterday and today — mow, edge, weed, sweep up. I also cleaned up in the house and did the dishes and laundry. At least in my neighborhood folks are enjoying this time with family and loved ones. Fathers and Flashlights has officially been cancelled (the camping trip) and we got no refund! I sorted knew it would get cancelled and I started prepping Ella for that fact. Todd (Paiges dad) invited us to go with him to do our own fathers and flashlights. In many ways I think this one will be better! Anyways, god speed to the world and hoping this all blows over some time soon.
Soldier, strategist: How Hurricane Harvey redirected an Army captain’s path to a technology career in banking – Houston Business Journal
— Read on www.google.com/amp/s/www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2020/03/02/soldier-strategist-how-hurricane-harvey-redirected.amp.html
Look at that tall guy next to Jake. Lol. Great article and Jake is a great guy.