So went on a cruise last week, Norwegian Encore. Good times. Got back Sunday night, still feeling the cruise sway. Kids don’t feel it at all, almost immediately. Tried to keep a travelogue using Day One, but started to lose steam on Thursday. I’ve tried to backfill, and hopefully I fill in Memex Daily Entries, but we’ll see. Realized I should actually start just taking a picture at each new place, and of each dish at each meal, to help me remember, not to actually post anywhere. Kids really enjoyed the trip. Was really nice having a room to ourselves, and the kids had their own room. They definitely wanted to sleep in more, and having no windows in their room it was very conducive to that. Having a good buffet available for every meal was great. Soft serve machines (just vanilla and chocolate, and I always just got a twist) was good. I have finally realized I just need to use LACTAID before desserts. Much more enjoyable for everyone that way. Damajagua's Waterfalls & Buggies shore excursion at Puerto Plata, DR, was cool, Jackson and I did the biggest jump which was pretty impressive. Got super muddy at the buggies part of it when Tracy was driving. The cruise pier pool was great though. St. Thomas kayak and snorkling tour was fairly relaxing. Shopping was a little boring though. The Virgin Gorda & The Baths shore excursion at Tortola was Jackson’s favorite, probably because of all the water and rock exploring. The Choir of Man show was really good on the boat, and they’re coming to Chicago at the Apollo Theater this spring, so we’re going again. Lazer tag was fun on the boat as well. I did have to splurge and get the premium Wi-Fi package for myself. Was nice that we could all use it, but had to take turns. I did even manage to do some work. Anyway, easing back into things. Disappointed with the snowstorm that fizzled out so far today. And not sure if I’ll keep up my daily or close to daily posting again. We’ll see.

I switched over to a Kindle Paperwhite (11th Generation) from my Kobo Forma. I’d almost rather have another Kobo, but this Paperwhite is just so much faster. And I like the size. I’m still way off schedule. Not sleeping enough. Really got to try and get normal again. And I’ve still got the cruise legs. Although I wonder if it’s just because I’ve been so sleep deprived.

Picked up more sidewalk salt for the upcoming snow storm tomorrow. Wondering if this one will happen compared to the one from earlier this week. Excited if it does, but annoyed if it does because the kids have dentist appointments that I have to pull them out of school early for. Did some errands after dropping Lucy off this morning at school and after dropping her off at swim practice this evening. Getting rid of lots of mucus by blowing my nose in the shower and washing my face in the morning. That’s been nice.

Had to take the kids out of school early because of dentist appointments. Also, so far, the snow storm didn’t really happen today. Too warm, so after an early snowfall, just turned to rain. Roads weren’t that bad. Lots of kids out of school. They even cancelled after school stuff, and probably didn’t need to. Lucky I guess. Still supposed to be freezing though. Finished off Mrs. Davis. Pretty big twist there at the end, but still pretty good. Finally watched Barbie. That was dope. Started watching Marvel’s What If? Season 2. Just that first episode felt like a movie.

Out to Piece for Russell’s 20th wedding anniversary get together. Always good seeing those guys. Piece is still Piece. Beer’s good, pizza’s good. We tried sliding into The Violet Hour as a walk in, but there was a 15 minute wait, so we just bailed. Went ahead and made a birthday reservation though. About time I tried it out. Otherwise a pretty lazy day. Took Jackson to his NBGC basketball game. They won, and got a new player on their team. Tracy and I went to a Mediterranean Bakery & Cafe (she’s on a hunt for a dip we got at the Greek place in Miami), and got a bunch of random stuff.

Jackson had a soccer game this morning. Dressed warm enough. Only weak spot was my socks I think. They had a tie. Started slow, first game for the indoor season. Then went out to lunch with my parents at Avli Taverna. Pretty good Greek food. Then just inside and on the couch for the afternoon and watched football.

Wonder who else gets a cold day tomorrow. CPS has no classes because it’ll be -30 windchill tomorrow. The -14 windchill expected on Wednesday is warm enough they’re expecting classes then. Go figure. Otherwise a pretty lazy day. Did get a workout in. But otherwise couch time.

Kids were off. Took Lucy and Alex to Target for 2.5 hours, while I did some work at Stan’s Donuts in Uptown. Got some work done, and the girls did whatever girls do. Ended up taking Isabel with after Target as well. Decided I need to work through my Super Syrup, so drinking sours. Started with the standard Whiskey Sour, which was pretty good, and then tried a Gin Sour, which was pretty good. I got cocky and tried an Armagnac Sour, and wasn’t that good. Couple more base liquors to try, and maybe some combinations to try as well.

So going to start a 20 minute walk on the treadmill 3 times a day (supposedly after each meal). Hoping it helps some, while I wait for the weather to get a little better, or I just get enough courage to go running in the cold. Also tried more sours today; a mezcal with lime (not bad), cognac with orange (too sweet), and Nixta (corn) with lemon (not good). I made Tracy a filipino rum one with calamansi which was amazing. Thinking I’ll do a bunch of sours for the board party, or I was also thinking of doing the Porn Star Martini. Although maybe I should try that before providing it.

So Apple Vision Pro goes up for preorder tomorrow. All this time I wasn’t planning on it, but then I realized I’ve been a day one buyer since the iPhone. So I’ll give it a try. Why not? I’ll just put it on the Apple Card Monthly Installments. Didn’t go to Binny’s today, holding off on buying supplies for drinks until after I finish my Sour experiment. Then I should try a Daisy experiment, which might be a little bigger of a project because of all the different liquors I could use as sweeteners. I have a lot. So definitely a lot of combinations available.

So I checked out the preorder of the Apple Vision Pro when it started this morning. Couldn’t pull the trigger though. Couple hours later, figured I had missed the initial batch, no pickup window available, delivery for mid March. Checked tonight? Pickup window the day after. So I did it. And I’ll have to do some creative budgeting, and hope I can find a use case for it. First off, hoping there’s a Plex and a Jump Desktop app soon. If I had those 2, I could see spending a lot of time in it. But we’ll see if it’s actually useful. I pared down my Mastodon follows. If I was off it for a couple hours, my unread jumped to like 100. Also got my preorder of Nanoleaf Skylights, so had to go searching for lamp replacement cord to hard wire them. Also I realized I could have probably just replaced the can lights with an LED Panel light, like the one I used as a fake window. Whoops. Also, need to find a use for the Nanoleaf Canvas lights now.

Jackson had 2 basketball games today, tied the first and won the 2nd. He actually scored a basket in the 2nd too! Otherwise a pretty laid back Saturday. Lucy had a swim meet. Jackson’s friends came over for a bit while he was home.

Jackson’s team won their soccer game this morning. Starting to see some really good passing on the offensive end. Promising stuff. Some really good saves by Nicky in goal too. Had McDonald’s for the first time in a while. Didn’t actually get any drinks this time, so marginally better. Then tried to stay warm at home, watched some football. Wanted to get a car wash, but the one at the gas station was closed when I went by. Otherwise a very lazy Sunday.

Trying something out, this is my version of the Upgrade 40th Anniversary of the Mac Draft (https://www.relay.fm/upgrade/496) podcast episode. So the first Mac I used, a Mac IIsi that was a hand me down from my brother, that I brought with me to college. Installed an ethernet card and was on the internet for the first time. Favorite/Best Mac: 12-inch Powerbook G4. Great machine. If I have to follow the rules, and pick one that wasn't mentioned, the G4 Cube. Loved the concept. And the first one I bought with my own money. Favorite software: Broadcast. Another college era app for me, used Appletalk to chat to other users. At least I think that's what it was called. Not sure if it could also share files over it too, but just lots of good memories of the use of that app, specifically freshmen year. Favorite/Best Mac Accessory: I'm actually a big fan of the Magic Keyboard. I like the minimalism. I even use it for my Windows work desktop.

I guess updating this and Memex is now a habit. Ended up salting the sidewalk this morning after I drove Lucy to school, so after all the Blaine school traffic. Didn’t look too bad though. Good thing I salted last night. A little annoyed though at the salt I did get, it’s got a bunch of giant chunks that I need to break up. Still haven’t gotten around to putting my Nanoleaf Skylights up. Lazy I guess. Been meaning to take my parents car out so it can get the salt washed off, but apparently it’s damp enough that it looks ok just sitting in the garage. I’ll try and take it out and do some Amazon returns tomorrow and see if I can get a carwash in.

Started watching Reacher Season 2. Alan Ritchson seems so much bigger this season. Like Hulkish. Too much I think. And installed the Nanoleaf Skylights in my basement office. And they are amazing. So much brighter now. Like night and day. I’m really liking the Nanoleaf stuff. Might be my new favorite brand.

Did my triannual Power Red donation. Took about an hour from walking in toe walking out. Not bad. No issues. Stopped by Tous Les Jours on the way home. Yuzu Pie was great, but don’t think I have to keep going back. Maybe time to try other places again. Finally did a load of laundry from vacation. About time. Think I might have enough to do a real load of whites.

I like chopped salads. The iceberg lettuce, hard boiled eggs, French dressing, meats and cheddar cheese. It takes me back. It’s part nostalgia, and part just plain tasty. Got more Amazon Basics flannels, definitely rocking the dad look today. I like it. Definitely need to go through my closet and do a big donation of all the stuff I don’t wear. Also means I can get new stuff. All the snow’s gone, and hasn’t been replaced by ice, just rain. So that’s great for January.

Late night last night and an early morning today. Probably not as tired as Jackson and friends who were at a birthday party/sleepover last night and had a 7am soccer game this morning. Of the 8 kids there, 5 of them had a game this morning, although only 4 went (on 2 different teams) and 1 skipped. With that out of the way was a nice lazy Sunday. Ordered Starbucks for breakfast, and drove over and picked it up. Ordered The Piggery for dinner, drove over and picked it up. Watched Reacher in the morning and NFL in the afternoon/evening. Just didn’t do any drinking, wasn’t really feeling it today.

Yeah, I’m probably not doing the social site thing correctly by just posting my random musings here on my blog/musings. But I’m not looking for interaction, or to get into a conversation, I just want to put my thoughts down. Anyway, only got 2 walks in today, not my usual 3. Finished off Reacher Season 2. Just a fun show. Surprised at the nostalgic needle drop at the end of the 7th episode. Good times. I think For All Mankind Season 4 is up next, and then probably Percy Jackson & The Olympians after that. Did watch a bit of Dinner Time Live with David Chang with Tracy. That’s a fun show, at least with the 1st episode. The whole cooking while hosting isn’t an easy thing. Wonder if they’ll keep it up, or bring in Chris to help (that’s my suggestion).

Had to resort to watching For All Mankind via Apple TV+ since my Plex version was missing the forced English subtitles during the Russian dialogue. Annoying. Took me multiple tries to find a version that did. Good thing is that only the 1st and 8th episodes have this issue. Just realized you can purchase For All Mankind on Blu-Ray, but can’t buy it digitally, only available via Apple TV+ subscription. Weird. Also going to start tracking my alcohol consumption, and found out there’s a category in the Health app, and you can use a Shortcut to easily add records. And in the health app it’s got a nice little chart and stuff. Just need to figure out how to display that, if possible, in a widget.

Did an outdoor walk today. Weather was pretty nice when I swapped out Jackson’s school backpack for his sports one. Should probably start running again. Not sure if or when the weather’s going to turn freezing again. I mean it’s February tomorrow, so it should start getting frigid out again. Had to pick the kids up from their basketball game. Took them to Wendy’s after they got their soccer cards. Gina was making fun of me as the cool dad.