Missed a June post this year. Whoops. Back from an 8 night Disney Cruise for my mom's birthday. Cruises are fun. Beaches, pools, lots of eating, all good times. Lucy and Jackson got to spends lots of time with Luke. We were on the Disney Fantasy, smaller than the last couple of ships, or at least what I can remember, considering the last time was my honeymoon 12 years ago. Special thanks to my mom on her birthday present to herself. One especially cool thing was at the dinner on her actual birthday, my dad talked to the head waiter and put a special order in for pancit and adobo and rice, which we got, in addition to a normal dinner. Very cool. Did a cognac tasting, and tried a Macallan Quest Flight. Actually saw Toy Story 4 on Wednesday (5 days after release). But back to work. And lots to do. And no more vacation really for the rest of the year. Jackson had his last day at Prairieland Montessori on Tuesday. Starts up Blaine Summer Camp next week. Lucy's been out for a while. Trying to get back into the swing of things, but happy it's a short week. Easier to transition back in to work. Still not sleeping enough.

Got introduced to dominos over the weekend by Alejandro Rodriguez, Lucy's friend Alex's dad. We had a playdate along with Chris and Eliot over at the high school after lunch (played some kickball dads vs. kids) which turned into a playdate at our place which then turned into dominos and drinks which turned into grilling and dinner which turned into more dominos and drinks and the first use of the firepit and s'mores. Hammels came over, the kids played, it was a little chilly but overall a really good Sunday in the city. Alejandro, turns out, is a trained chef, so he manned the grill and did an amazing job. He's like Tracy: grills and gardens. But also had to get a domino's set for myself, and figured a good as time as any to get a mah jong set. Good summer games. On Friday, had a post girl scout's party at the house, good time since I actually got to hang out with the parents since Jackson could entertain himself at home. But that was a lot of hosting/socializing this weekend. Good though. Saturday got some empanadas and gelato after biking Lucy to tennis. Ended up getting dinner at Bulerias Tapas Bar. Overall just a pretty good weekend. Been getting up early to do meetings with my India team. First time one of my team members is leaving, so dealing with that this week. Also means I'll have to do my first hire. Also means I'm probably not coming close to sleeping enough, and it's pretty much every day, so I'm getting up that early on the weekends even though I don't have to. Not to mention I've already slept through a couple of them. Next step is to go to sleep earlier. Which I think means I have to get better at getting everything done during the day.

Started riding my bike to work again. Feel relief when I make it past where I broke my collarbone. Feels good to be moving again. And even though it's just like my third day back riding, I already gave in and went non-keto for the day and had donuts for breakfast, and a hot dog and fries for lunch. But lots of rain forecasted and not sure if I want to have wet clothes on or near me for the day at work. Would be nice if I had a place I could hang it up (like before when I was in IT Support and had access to the server room. That was quite handy. Did a bunch of touristy things last week. Thursday was take your kids to work day, so I naturally took the day off but came in anyway to get free access to the SkyDeck. Saturday during the snowstorm, went out to the burbs checking out the Knupper's reopening, but didn't stay long because it's all outdoor gardens/nurseries. Ended up at Hawthorne Gardens, which is off Old McHenry Road, which was the route I used to take going to/from Northwestern/Woodstock. So must have gone by it so many times, but first time stopping in. Quite nice. Kids got to feed the koi. Then after lunch, went out to LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago by Woodfield. Kids have been super into LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, especially all the songs. Surprisingly not that much LEGO building, but lots of playing. Did almost all the activities. My favorite part continues to be the Miniland display, which had little bits and pieces of LEGO Movie 2 spread throughout. Ended up in Woodfield killing time before dinner at Shaw's Crab House. Of course got some LEGO kits at the official LEGO Store in the mall (2x because we had to go back and get Lucy's birthday present). Also first time doing the PAB (Pick a Brick) Wall, as Lucy's currently into making her own little people, and needs joints. Definitely snowed a lot, but wasn't too bad to drive around it, and of course it was all gone by Sunday.

Finally, as of now, I am all caught up on my podcasts. I am up to date, without calling for Podcast Zero. Although I have a bunch of skipped episodes, all spoiler ones, discussing movies and TV shows I haven't seen yet. So got to catch up on watching before listening to those. But it's nice. The backlog stems from when I went to the Philippines. Didn't really listen to podcasts for those like 2 weeks, and then been playing catchup since then. Game of Thrones is back. And now only 5 episodes left. I finished up the remaining Marvel Netflix shows (Daredevil, Punisher). Slow burns but good. Binged The OA Part II over a couple of days. I really like that show. Felt new to me. Switched over to a ThunderFit ring from my titanium. Allows me to do climbing workouts on the Metolius Training Board, which are rough. I'm maybe getting 1/3 of the way through the beginner workout without help. Baby steps. And my forearms are sore all the time. Cooked up a bunch of keto goodies over the weekend. Still haven't made it a full 2 weeks. I always slip up over the weekend, either by going out, eating the kids, or reading an article about ultra premium ice cream and having to eat a bunch. Got out on the bike last Saturday and down to Lincoln Park Zoo with the family and Chris and Elliot. Also managed to be there for the PoGo Community Day, so that was my first time seeing all the people on phones and chargers. There were a lot of players. Kids on Spring Break this week. Weather seems to be trending better after the Sunday thundersnow. And started reading Annihilation, but slow going. Feels a little like homework.

Yeah, I'll probably be getting the Powerbeats Pro instead of the AirPods (2nd Generation). The AirPods never fit snugly in my ears. They worked well when I wore a knit cap, but not so much in the summer. They fall out too easily. So whenever I finally get tired of the battery or lack of battery life on the AirPods, I'll get the Powerbeats Pro and they come in black. So that's another bonus. And the 9 hour battery life. Another bonus. Case probably being too big for a pocket, that's a minus. Got my mom a new iPad mini (5th Generation) the other day. Didn't realize it has an actual home button still. It actually depresses when it moves. Maybe because they can't put a Taptic Engine in an iPad? That just seems so low tech. But it's thinner than the iPad mini 4 she has. Also, iOS 12.2 has a nice model name in the About section. Jackson's discovered YouTube on the Apple TV. Surprised I was able to keep them off it for this long. But jumped through a bunch of hoops to get us on YouTube Premium for the AdFree experience. First off, can't use G Suite accounts. Great. But need a Family account. So I sign in with my old regular Gmail account. Create a Family. Create a Kids account for Jackson. Try to create a Kids account for Lucy. Find out it's taken, because I created one a long time ago for her, actually before she was born. But it's not a Kids account. Fine. Add her to the family. Then I try and get a Family Premium subscription. Turns out I can't apply it to Jackson, because he's a Kids account. And my previous YouTube Premium account through iTunes was at the $9.99 price point. Through iTunes the Family Premium is $22.99. If I want to switch back to a single user it's now $15.99 through iTunes. Ugh. In the end, I just created a separate adult account for Jackson, added that to the Family, will sign up directly through YouTube so the Family account is just $17.99. Still. Annoying. But oh so worth it. Switched to a totallee iPhone X case. Feels great. Noticeably thinner than the Apple Leather case. Hung up a Metolius Simulator 3D Training Board finally. Had to get some plywood cut to order, twice because the first time was for the doorframe to the closet, but wanted to move it to the master bedroom hallway doorframe. But very cool, but wow am I not a climber at all. I wonder how long it'll take me until I can even do the beginner workout.

Apple News+. I'm already subscribed. Not sure if I'll use it much, but I use Apple News enough. Apple Card. I'll get one. Assume it'll become the daily driver. The Amazon Prime card gets relegated to Amazon only. The Barclaycard Apple Rewards card probably gets put out to pasture. Just another backup (like the Sony Rewards card). Apple Arcade. Interesting. Not necessarily what I think was expected, which I think is good. Makes me think of Apple as a patron of the arts, in this case the video game arts. Apple TV+. I think it's similar to Arcade. Also interesting that Apple is pushing values. Overall, I find it interesting they're pushing the + moniker. Just as Google+ is getting killed.

Forgot to mention I tried donating blood earlier this month, my usual Power Red, and I got turned away. All because I went to Coron. Apparently it's a malaria risk area of the country. If I had stayed in Manila, I could have donated. Don't think I have malaria, but something I wouldn't have thought of when planning a vacation. Not that it would have stopped us from going I guess, but I wouldn't have made the appointment if I had known. Just didn't think that I was going to a malaria risk part of the world.