I went ahead and upgraded to an iPhone X (I say X, not 10) and an Apple Watch 3 when the former showed up as available (thanks to the iStockNow notifications) last Saturday. It's pretty cool. Nice going to a smaller form factor, the OLED screen is amazing, FaceID is pretty cool, and it is faster. The more amazing speed increase is with the Apple Watch, going from the original to the Series 3 is like night and day. It actually immediately responds to input. Very much worth it. And so goes my early Christmas, Birthday, and any other gifting occasions for the near future. And a future upgrade, when it does become available, will be AT&T Gigapower. Working from home last week I saw some AT&T guys installing a big box and cables in the alley, and earlier this week I asked them what they were working on, and it's fiber. It's FIBER! That actually got me more excited than any other tech related thing. Someday soon, my guess 6 months, I'll have glorious 1Gbs up/down service. More excited about the symmetric speeds than I am about anything else. And for my Plex users, this will be great news. I won't have to throttle you. And if you want Plex access, let me know. Otherwise, I have the Miyata 610 set up as my winter bike (BarMitts and PowerGrips. If it ever does get warm again I might get to use the Raleigh Carbon Clubman to commute with. Finally replenished my sock supply, so should be good for like another 3 years. I moved away from Google Inbox back to Apple Mail on iOS and macOS. Finished off Stranger Things 2. For some reason started up How I Met Your Mother again. Kids have been watching Superstore. Jackson turns 4 tomorrow. Been to a few kids birthday parties, Jackson has his on Saturday, Friendsgiving is Sunday, hosting Thanksgiving next week. Going to be a little crazy.

I gave in a got the Raleigh Carbon Clubman. It was like 35% off, so I had to grab it. Haven't actually started riding it, just a couple times. It's definitely different from the Miyata 610. I might be partial to the old school 80's style of bikes though. Not sure how I'm going to do the bike rotation. Problem is no rack on the Raleigh, so no panniers. Which means I go back to the handlebar bag and saddlebags, which means less clothes, no laptop. And because of showering at the gym, not sure how I'm going to do the shoes. Ended up selling my 1 BTC to finance, made enough profit, but of course, the current exchange rate keeps climbing. Didn't order up an iPhone X. Tempted. I was going to just try it and see if I got a delivery on Nov 3, but I ended up sleeping though the opening of orders. Not sure if I'm going to or not. Maybe for my birthday next year? I did stick one in my cart, and put a new watch in too. That's a lot of money. Otherwise, Halloween coming up. Going as Master Wu from Ninjago, since the kids are going as Kai/Jay. Hopefully it turns out alright. Got to see if I can lego mine up (it's mostly just a real human costume). Seems like we've been doing a bunch playdates and birthday parties for the kids. nuke and paved my work iMac, took me a while to figure out how to get screen brightness and display extending to work (for a 2010 27" iMac, change the disable driver from the ATI 5750 to the ATI Radeon 5800 M). Also updated all the various Windows 10 to the Fall Creators Update.

Guess I should sneak one in before the month changes again. Did the North Shore Century again. 116 mi total (includes biking to the start and home from the end). Always get a couple compliments on the Miyata 610. Followed it up with what is now a traditional Papa John's pizza. Seemed harder than ever, but then maybe because I never do any training for it. And now I wonder if I ever need to do it again. I'm leaning towards no. Finally put garage door opener keypads for the garage, so I don't have to carry around a remote anymore. That's nice. Got a Inside Line Equipment Porteur Bag for the xtracycle, because we were brining too much stuff to the beach it was overloading the bags in the back. Worked out great going to Montrose Beach last weekend. Surprised it took me this long, it's super handy. Watched the See You at Our Place (September 12, 2017) Apple Event, not live, and I think we won't be upgrading anytime soon. Want to, but don't need to. I, personally, would want to go iPhone X, and maybe I will eventually, or maybe just wait until the next generation for those. I went on a news diet for a bit, lasted maybe 3 weeks, stopped following on Twitter and RSS feeds. Then I went back in, and just now pared down the lists. Did the same for podcasts. Limited to the stuff I really want to follow and read and hear. Oh, went to Kalahari before the school year started. That was fun. Tracy and I liked it better than Great Wolf Lodge, but Lucy likes the wolf better. Actually did some touristy things this time; a ride on an Original Wisconsin Ducks and checked out Timbavati Wildlife Park. Also took the kids to Bristol Renaissance Faire for the first time. Kind of fun. Jackson had a fit when we wouldn't get him a big wooden sword (was going to get him a small one), so I was walking around with a screaming kid. That was fun.

Back in a Subaru. Got our new Subaru Crosstrek yesterday. Evanston Subaru finally got the car in on Monday, after waiting about a month for it. Nice and shiny. And orange. Aside from all the extra space on the inside, the orange hood is going to take a little getting used to. But lots of nice bells and whistles, but mostly excited about Apple CarPlay and the Eyesight stuff. Worried about scratching or hitting, or just getting into an accident, but I already nicked it a little bit putting the carseats back in and the doors hitting the sides of the garage. So I got to be the first to put a mark on it. But planning on keeping this one for a while. Pretty roomy I think. But super nice being able to listed to stuff from the phone through the car. Took longer than guessed this morning, so had to put some additional time working tonight. Oh, and the eclipse from Monday. Next time, in 2024, that it hits the continental US, or maybe before then internationally, want to get in the path of totality. Seeing the videos of it happening via Facebook Live in Oregon? Seems unreal. And seeing the other videos and timelapses of totality since then, makes me want to see it in person. Less looking at the actual eclipse itself, but how the world looks, to go from light to dark to light again so quickly. Other than that, summer is winding down.

So what's been going on the last month or so? Since my last post was about all the things I bought, I've taking the month off from buying from Amazon, just about halfway through. Decided to go with a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek, so we're buying outright, instead of leasing. Basically reviews came out while we were waiting for the dealer trade to come through, and there's enough good stuff there to warrant waiting and buying. Parents officially sold the house in Woodstock. I managed to sneak out for a day and take some pictures of a mostly empty home. First thought it was smaller when it was empty. Also picked up some Hong Kong Chicken from Plum Garden on the way back, because who knows when, if ever, I'll be back there to get some. Just in general, don't know when I'll ever find myself in Woodstock again. My Auntie Agnes came and visited, along with Uncle Luis, Auntie Dorothy, and Cousin Ron and family. Had a family dinner at the house. That was the same week Russell crashed in the guest bedroom, and Gabe and family were in town, so it was crazy busy for a vacation week. Cousins got to play plenty, and we hit up all the usual things, Warren State Park Dunes, Cypress Cove water park, visit in the city, crazy tame deer that stops by the in-laws yard. Been watching Game of Thrones and Talk the Thrones afterwards, only a couple episodes left for this season. Lots of swimming, either at Montrose Beach or at Lakeshore Sports & Fitness first for Jackson's swim lessons, then just for fun. Got new goggles (Aqua Sphere Kayenne) which are pretty good. The Wirecutter finally did goggles, so it was their pick. Biking has been good, although this week they had a notice in the locker room at the gym that we're not allowed to leave stuff during the day. Annoying. So I had to get some hooks so I can hang my stuff up to dry/air out under my desk. Hopefully it doesn't smell that bad. But still pretty annoying.

Been doing a lot of Amazon shopping. And returns. Sorta went on a spree after I got a flat tire on the Xtracycle a couple weekends back coming from the beach. I of course didn't have the spare tube, tire levers, or CO2 inflator on me, but we were close enough that Tracy just went back home, got the car and picked the kids, the wheel, and me up. Then it took me forever to get the tire off (broke 2/3 of my tire levers) and was extremely frustrating. So I took it out on Amazon. Got a whole new set of tire levers, mostly steel core, to help with that. Finally decided to get some a real pair of swim shorts, better hybrid shorts, and settled on O'Neill Men's Loaded Hybrid Short in black and khaki. Pretty much can wear those all summer long. Finally got Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier to hopefully help with the basement smells. And then there was a lightning deal on a Drobo 5D, so I went ahead and upgraded to that. And that's an upgrade I've been putting off for a while. So much faster. Feels like a real HD now. I think Plex streaming will work better. And went ahead and am all in on Ubiquity, and got a Ubiquiti Unifi Cloud Key which I configured today. Working well. And now no need the UniFi Controller on my server. Also got a bunch of different shoe smell stuff; deodorizers, a UV sterilizer (which I think worked pretty well) and a spray that showed up when I searched for bowling alley shoe spray (which might have worked the best). Also got a FMUSER H.265 HDMI Video Encoder so I can stream any in home source to VLC, that's another finally thing that I've had on the list for a while. And then today, went car shopping, really, just went to Evanston Subaru to check out the Crosstrek. Seems to fit right. But of course, model year is ending, 2018's are like 2 months away, which will have Car Play. But we're leasing, because we'd rather have a hybrid, or even a full electric, and maybe better options available in 3 years. Also considering how little we drive, would be nice to have newer cars more often, instead of the 2005 Volvo we've got now. So slim pickings in terms of stock, and have to make a decision on the 1 color that is available in the area.

Random note, I've started just wearing the Sport Band on the Apple Watch all the time now. I was using a Nike band for a bit while biking, and switching over to a Classic Leather Buckle after biking to work and showering. But just lately switched back to the Sport Band and not switching at all. Kind of nice. Still wish there was a Charcoal Gray version. Still rocking the iPhone and iPad without cases. Still nice. All the way up to middle of Season 6 for Game of Thrones. Will probably finish up in the next couple of days. Altered my commute route, going over to Lincoln to bypass the resurfacing of Southport. Not sure when that's going to be done. Jackson hasn't been sleeping well, and not wanting to go to his swimming lessons. Not sure if more structure like at Goldfish would have helped at all. Maybe he just doesn't like taking lessons. Hard to believe the year's half over.