So from the last time I posted, started ramping up my bouldering at Movement Wrigleyville. Started having slightly longer sessions, and ending with a 4x4 (do 4 sends on a set with no rest, for 4 climbs). Then took a couple weeks off because my right forearm didn’t seem to be getting better, and just got back to it this week. Sent my first V4. Still haven’t landed a dyno move yet. Finally started carpooling for Lucy’s swim practices. That’s been nice. Didn’t really for Jackson’s outdoor fall practice, but starting too with indoor this week. We’ll see how long we can put off until we have to start borrowing my parents car again. Lucy’s swim team lost their head coach, again. But Lucy and her best friend on the team decided to stick around instead of switching to a bigger, established more stable team. Jackson’s team actually got a couple wins toward the end of their season. Much easier to watch when they score. Got our parkway area redone out front by JDW Landscaping. Did a pretty good job. Was able to setup the Solo Stove on Halloween night post trick or treating. Then haven’t used the Solo Stove or the parkway really since then, even though the weather seems pretty warm for this time of the year. I dressed up as Mike while Tracy was Elle from Stranger Things S4 at the roller rink. So we skated around Trick or Treat on Southport. Switched over to the Dread Pirate Roberts (me) and Inigo Montoya (Tracy) for the Thorngren’s Halloween party. Then I think back to Mike and Elle for actual trick or treating. Got the McRib plenty of times while it’s been in season, supposedly on its farewell tour. We’ll see. Still available roughly 10 days after the season ended, at least at the one McDonald’s that’s closest. Killed a bunch of bottles of bourbon, replaced them with other bottles of whiskey, decided to concentrate on Redwood Empire, Spot Whiskey, and Redbreast for my distillers. Still got a handful of others to go through, but mostly good stuff now, not so much cheap stuff anymore. Went out to a boys’ dinner at Gene & Georgetti since Whitney was in town and organized. Haven’t done that in a long time. Blaine Gala was fun. Dressed up fancy (bow tie and a scarf went over well). Danced. Reused the outfit when Tracy and I went to Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres for her birthday. The Waygu flight was amazing, best part of the meal I thought. Jackson had a birthday party at Whirlyball (bowling and lazer tag). Way too much bowling though. Got a new Apple Watch, handed my old one down to Jackson for when he goes out to play with the neighborhood kids. Works out pretty well. Tracy got an air fryer for her 15th work anniversary. I’ve been loving it for stuff. Need to get some fries to really show it off. Checked out the Winterland at Gallagher Way. The ice rink inside Wrigley Field is pretty cool, if expensive, but lots of rides and stuff. Looking forward to checking it out when there’s actually snow on the ground. My mom cooked for Thanksgiving, but we hosted at our house. Only my parents and Tracy’s parents this year. Kids had the whole week off. Lucy built a bunch of Christmas LEGO sets (Home Alone house, Santa’s Visit, Elf Clubhouse, Holiday on Main Street). Got lots for the winter village this year. I think that’s all the highlights. Otherwise just chugging along at work, watching stuff on TV. Decided to nuke and pave my devices last week, so it’s been nice starting fresh.

Party season is ramping up. Blainflix post party just this past weekend. Booze and Candy tasting next weekend. Halloween x 2. Friendsgiving. Solstice. Figure I'll make a Milk Bar Apple Pie Cake (one of the few left I haven't made yet from the cookbooks) for one of the parties we're hosting. Speaking of apple, went to Lincoln Square Apple Fest last Sunday. Jackson's been dealing with injuries, so he had to skip his soccer game last Saturday. But being an 8 year old kid, he bounced back to normal a couple days later. Taking a break from paring down the whiskey collection. Made a good dent the last month or so. Already got my October bottle, and have to start thinking what my November bottle might be. Keeping up with the exercising, not so much with the diet though. Have to get back on that horse. Still stuck on V3s at Movement Wrigleyville. Not all, but still some. And I don't feel comfortable enough trying the easy V4s if there's still V3s I can't do. I can't dyno anything. And my grip strength is still pretty poor. Maybe need to up my session times. Finally finished off Stranger Things with the family, and Cowboy Bebop (original anime). Still working through Star Wars Rebels. Started up Blue Mountain State for fun. Hard to believe Thad becomes Reacher. Also would be interested in seeing something action/adventurery in a sitcom format, but I can't think of anything. Also watched a bunch of movies that are getting sequels, like Constantine and Avatar, Rogue One because of Andor. I did also plow through Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. I actually didn't think it was that good, thought it was pretty straightforward? But still, a fun world to watch. Also made it through Terminal List. Finally watched some blockbusters, like Jurassic World Dominion and The Gray Man. Also stuff like Hustle and Lou. So been watching a lot of stuff.

Starting to lose interest in cocktails. Cancelled my Cocktail Courier and Shaker & Spoon subscriptions. Started feeling like a bit of a chore to do all that drinking. Also, feels like homework trying to decrease the size of my whiskey collection, a bottle at a time. Can't remember the last Milk Bar style cake I baked. Can't remember the last time I baked anything. Did just plough through Silicon Valley. Makes me glad I never tried to do the startup thing. Finally watched Predator: Prey. Quite enjoyable. And could totally see how they could just run the concept back in various historical periods. English knights, Japanese samurai, Aztecs, Aborigines, Mongol Horde, Sparta, gladiators, Wild West, Vikings. Although you wonder how different any of those would be, but then again, how different should they be? Kids are back at school. Jackson's walking home by himself. Not quite walking himself to school yet, but hopefully soon. Lucy's taking the bus to/from LTAC by herself (with friends). So she's riding the bus way more than I did. I feel bad for her though because she's got to use a school issued chromebook. The resolution is so bad, so 3 years ago. It's rough on eyes. I definitely couldn't go back to such a "normal" resolution. Finally doing something about the cooling in the data center. Adding a ventilation fan to the crawlspace. Hoping it helps a bunch. Just need to cut a 6" hole in the wall. Back to Apple Fitness+ core workouts, I had taken a little break. Haven't been back to climbing in a couple weeks. Think I strained something in my forearm, so trying to let that get better before heading back. I guess I should start doing V4's now, but I'm not comfortable on every V3 yet, and there's still definitely some I haven't gotten. Tracy and Lucy are almost caught up in Stranger Things, so we'll watch S4 together.

Blog Birthday post. 24 years old. Crazy. Feels like only yesterday I was amazed that it was old enough to vote. This blog has definitely seems some wild times over the years. Anyway, trying to finish off Star Wars: Rebels. Just trying to finish it off, not getting too much enjoyment out of it. Not all that invested. Finally finished off Obi-Wan Kenobi. That felt like a useless series. Saw the trailer for Andor. Now that looks good. Did 2 sessions at Movement Wrigleyville this week. Feeling pretty good. Think I'm a pretty solid V3. My crimps aren't strong enough though. Work from home setup is pretty sweet. Using daylight LED bulbs and bias lighting behind my monitor. Getting too much noise from the data center fans and stuff. Need better cooling so I can close the door. Oh, got a couple more Outlier New Way Shorts in a light blue and a maroon. Love those things. They've got a little plastic piece for the drawstrings, so you don't have to tie them anymore. Strange.