Yesterday, that is. Biked to and from work for the first time since I think last June. It was quite nice. I've missed it. I also miss having a server room to cool down and change in. Changing in a bathroom stall isn't any fun. I went ahead and joined the gym at work, hoping I can change/shower there, and leave clothes, especially when they're sweaty or wet. For example, I'm contemplating biking tomorrow, in the rain, except I'm not sure I'll be able to leave the clothes there all day, or if they'd dry, stuck in a locker. I definitely got spoiled by having a server room to myself. Also, I'm coming down, or have, whatever Jackson had. So mucus up in the head, cough. Hoping it'll pass relatively quickly.

Been getting off at Southport and stopping by the Amazon Bookstore that just opened up this week. I've forgotten how much I enjoy bookstores, walking around and just browsing. A couple things that make the Amazon Bookstore insteresting: 1) all the bookshelves are lit and 2) all the books are displayed showing the front cover, no splines on display. I'm looking forward to bringing Lucy, who's enjoying reading, and just hanging out there for a while. I'm probably never going to buy a physical book for myself there, because I only buy eBooks, nor will I even buy the eBook from Amazon (I purchase through Kobo (eBook) and strip the DRM so I can read it on any device I want. I've also been playing with the Amazon Fire Kids Edition to see if it'll be a good replacement when the kids current devices die. I think it might. I've played with the fancy Kindle Oasis and managed to set off the alarm on 2 different display models (the micro USB charger/alarm cable is really loose). The new Whole Foods at Ashland/Broadway also opened and Tracy checked it out yesterday. It's funny but fitting that she got excited about the new grocery store and I got excited about the new bookstore.

Fell asleep on the couch a handful of times this past week. Falling back into bad habits. Gotta break out again, and get back on a regular sleeping schedule, if I've ever had it. Been working on setting up a Mac mini (Late 2014) at work, thinking the iMac 27-inch (Mid 2010) will be dying soon because the fan sounds like it's dying. Hooked the Mac mini up to 2 27" Thunderbolt Displays, which is a lot of screen real estate. No Retina, but still a lot. Still no bike commuting to work yet, but went on a ride this morning down to Museum Campus and back. Still cold enough that it wasn't that busy. Even got a compliment on the Miyata Six-Ten. Probably need to grease as many screws and attachment points as I can, it definitely makes a lot of sound going over bumps and stuff. Started up Iron Fist. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Photos finished importing my PictureLife via SmugMug archives, and now it's just uploading to iCloud Photo Library. Doing so made me cross the 1TB Data Usage Limit for the first time they started the limit. So it's a courtesy month, which means I should just blow the top off. I'm currently at 1097 GB with 12 days left.

I think we got something like 8 inches of snow Monday and Tuesday, as determined by the height of the untouched snow on the backyard table. It was pretty good snow too, powdery. Shoveled as much from the back into a giant pile for the kids to play in. Figure it'll be all gone by Friday, except for the giant pile. Glad the kids got to play at least a little bit in the snow this winter, here in the 2nd week of March. Still uploading photo history to iCloud Photo Library. Currently sitting around 25K photos, 1.5K videos, for around 400 GB. Had to upgrade my iCloud storage to a TB. Hopefully I won't go over. I'll have to go in after it all finishes loading to remove dupes, fix dates, fix locations, remove thumbnails. Not sure how many of those there are. But it's definitely nice being able to go look at pictures again. Waiting for the really old ones to show up. We started up Hello Fresh as a grocery/meal delivery service again. They put all the ingredients for a meal into a little cardboard box that slides onto the shelf in the fridge, so much better than a brown bag of stuff that Blue Apron did. It's nice again. Trying different things.

My childhood home is now for sale. Great for my parents, no longer have to worry about a house and a yard and all the work for upkeep for a place they hardly use. So they're going to be city folk. Still want to see it before it sells, while it's empty. That's going to be weird. Probably officially I've now lived more away from that house, if I counted it all up. Up to 18, then summers in college, but then that's it. And now that I'm 40, yeah. I planned on starting to commute to work by bike again this week, then we got like a bunch of snow, so I just took the Brown Line. Maybe later this week I'll start. I'm ready though. Finally. Probably have to go down Clark to Halsted since Southport is under construction. Went out to the in-laws on Saturday, pretty relaxing. Sunday hung out with Jackson while Tracy and Lucy went to a show and lunch with Flo and family. Ended up getting hot dogs for the kids from Wrigleyville Dogs, and a gyro for myself, and it was wrapped nice and tight. First place I've been to since that place on Broadway next to the Jewel closed down all those years ago that wrapped it that tight. New favorite place to get a gyro. Also went to both Whole Foods] close by because Jackson wanted blueberry pie, and figured that was my best shot at a finding a slice. The one on Ashland didn't have any, because it's small, and also probably because they're winding down for the giant new one on Ashland and Belmont to open in a couple of weeks. So got it at the old reliable one on Halsted.

Had a vasectomy consult on Thursday. I misunderstood and thought I had a chance to also get the procedure done day of as well, as I've heard others have gotten it done. No such luck. Have to wait until May 4 to get snipped. I had taken the time off thinking I would be, so I just went with it and relaxed. Took the Miyata 610 out for a spin yesterday, fenders and racks and lights. Ended up doing 15 miles up and down the lake front. Did another 10 miles or so today, after swapping out pedals with toe clips for ones with Power Grips, they work better with the cycling boots I have. I even put the panniers on, and went up to a bit of the North Shore Channel Trail. So I should be all set to start biking to work again. About time. Legs are definitely sore, arms and back too. But nice to be out on the road again.

Going to try and get storytlr up and running. That's my newest project. Wonder if micro.blog would work with it. I uninstalled Tweetbot and Reeder already. Also uninstalled Fever and Nuzzle. Hoping I stay away longer now. Switched to getting on and off at the Irving Park station on the Brown Line. I get more space on the way in, and easier to get off on the way home. And it saves me 3 minutes on the walk, on which get to look at fancy new houses along with the headquarters of Guaranteed Rate, which seems a little weird, but cool. Photos finished importing I think the RAW and movie files. Next up are all the jpgs, of which I think there are a lot more. I also started reading Aftermath, the Star Wars trilogy novel between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Interesting stuff.

Five days into a new month and no post. And it's only the 3rd month. Trying out YNAB as another budgeting app/method. Also gave in and installed Tweetbot and Reeder again. Still holding out on Facebook. I'm gaven't fallen that far. Although 2 days in back on Twitter and RSS and I'm not sure I see what it's getting me. Maybe I need to drop them again, and I just needed a fix. Started importing all my old photos from PictureLife via SmugMug into Photos. Taking a while for the first 14K batch. I don't know what the other batch is; much bigger I think. Got the Miyata 610 all ready, I think. Stayed up way too late one night watching My Boys and working on the bike in the crawlspace. Was thinking of taking it out on a test ride Friday but it was freezing. Maybe I'll sneak in a ride this week? I need to get lights mounted. But I think it's ready for commuting work.