robotech_master

Well, here I am again. Over a month since my last entry. I guess my determination to keep journaling frequently kind of went by the wayside.

So, what can I write about. Wracking my brains to come up with anything that's happened that's worth talking about. I guess I'll just start writing and see where the post goes.

Still haven't gotten that bike battery yet. Apparently my order happened right about when the bike company ran into some logistics issues and had to change its shipper over to FedEx. And there was a matter of paperwork to ship large batteries, which could be deemed a fire hazard. They got the paperwork in, but it remains to be seen when Fed Ex will approve it. So now I'm checking the order status page every day, and giving them a call once a week or so. Still no news. It's very frustrating, but I'm schooling myself to patience. It'll come when it comes.

Work has been getting really really busy, the last few weeks. It's just about back to as busy as it was during the end/beginning of year peak season, probably in part because when traffic dropped way off at the height of the coronavirus scare they laid off all the temp workers. I really hope they're working on training up a new batch. I hope things normalize, and/or they get a new batch of temps in sometime soon. It's getting kind of exhausting.

My Lemonbrat snow leopard cloth face mask arrived in early May. It's pretty comfy, though it is also a bit warm to wear (especially with a filter pad in it). But it's very handy for going out, and I think it looks pretty awesome. I've been wearing it while out in public, like shopping at Aldi. It's good to know that I'm not contributing to the problem, plus it's an awesome fashion statement.

Continuing to enjoy the Homecoming City of Heroes game. Have written several more guides over the last month. I'm really starting to build up a rather respectable library of them, and I'm amused that now other people on the Homecoming Discord are starting to share the link for that post to newcomers even before I can. Incidentally, if any of you want to join the game, and play on Torchbearer, I'll be happy to team up!

My regular bike got a flat tire. When I ventured out to get it fixed, I noticed a couple of interesting changes in the neighborhood. For one, a nearby wine store/bar has rebranded itself as a coffeehouse (while still also being a wine store/bar, apparently). Haven't had the chance to look into it yet; it's closed Mondays. Maybe I'll stop in tomorrow.

Also noticed that a call-ahead-to-drop-your-pet-off-at-the-door veterinary clinic has opened in one of the shops that I literally live just behind. Seems like this might be just the excuse I need to get around to taking my cats in for a check-up and some shots. Up to this point, getting them to any vet anywhere would have been a major exercise in logistics, so I really haven't had them out to one since I first got them some years back. (Goodness…have I really had them for nearly 12 years now?) Given that they're entirely indoor cats, I haven't felt the need to get them shots, because they never go outside or mix with other cats to be exposed to potential sources of infection. (How about that? Even my cats socially isolate.) I suppose I'm fortunate in that they've by and large been pretty healthy, all things considered. Going to see the vet might be expensive, but I suppose that's what savings accounts are for. I guess I should look up their webpage and see what their rates tend to be, then maybe make some plans to make an appointment.

And speaking of what savings accounts are for… To my annoyance, my Moto X4 smartphone is starting to give up the ghost. I suppose it's to be expected. As I discovered when I looked up my original review of it, I've had it for two and a half years now. Funny how time flies. Anyway, it got to the point where I had to factory reset it a couple of times, and it's still not quite right—a couple of times, it's refused to wake up from sleep, and I had to hold down the power button to cycle it.

I could have filed a device protection claim with Project Fi, since I pay the monthly fee, but they'd charge me $100 or so and just send me the same phone—or if not the same phone, some other model that I wouldn't have any choice over. On the other hand, since my phone does still power on and the screen isn't broken, I could trade it in for $38 in value toward a new one. (Or yes, maybe I could sell it for a little more than that in cash on eBay or wherever, but I'm not sure that I could in good conscience sell a phone that I know is starting to go out. At least this way I get something back out of it.)

Sadly, Project Fi doesn't exactly offer a wide selection of phones. I was going to go with a Pixel 3a XL for $350, and had even started to place the order—then I looked up a review and learned that the 3a only has 64 GB of storage and doesn't have any kind of SD card slot at all. That's not good, given that the Moto X I have now with that amount is starting to run out of space with all the apps I have on it. But the only choices were that, a much-more-expensive Pixel 4, or else the Motorola Moto G Power or Moto G Stylus.

After some deliberation, I decided to go with the $250 Moto G Stylus. It's got 128 GB storage, plus an SD card slot, a bigger screen, and a fairly amazing collection of cameras for the price point. Sadly, it's missing a couple of features I like on the Moto X—it's not waterproof, and it doesn't have NFC so I won't be able to use Google Pay to make credit card payments with it. But neither one of those things is really a dealbreaker, and given how much cheaper it is, it won't take as long to rebuild the chunk I'm taking out of savings for it. And it will be nice having a 6.4" screen again. And maybe in another couple of years something better will be available at a cheaper price point.

When I was glancing back at my Facebook, trying to see if I wrote about anything I was doing or experiencing that I could recount for this blog, I just found a whole lot of news story shares about the other big story that blew up in late May—the asphyxiation death of George Floyd and the protests it prompted. Really, it's been a pretty crazy last few weeks, especially coming on top of the earlier COVID-19 panic. And it seems like all of my conservative Facebook friends have gotten even more polarized and hard to relate to. I don't know if it's time to unfriend them, given that some of them are long-time fellow Robotech fans or other people I still feel some non-political kinship to. But maybe I should start putting a few of them on 30-day sleeps just to save my sanity a little. In times like these, sanity is a valuable commodity.

And I really should try to write more about what I'm doing at any given time. Maybe return to Tweeting about it, since my tweets are at least aggregated and posted to my LJ. So it would at least be one way of chronicling my life when I don't feel like writing lengthy posts here. Because when I try to rack my brains for anything interesting I did over the last few weeks, it's hard to come up with anything. It feels like I've kind of just been existing. Staying at home, working all day, gaming in the evening. Going out to shop at Aldi every now and again.

That's part of why I hope that bike battery hurries up and comes; having that electric bike back with that super-long-range battery will give me an excuse for getting out and about, ranging farther afield from my cramped little home. I'm really looking forward to it.

So, I guess I found a few things to write about after all.

Ran across an article suggesting people should keep a daily journal of life during the Coronavirus outbreak, as a matter of record to future historians. Well, okay, sure. Though given that everything we do these days is digitally logged anyway, it's not as if future historians will be lacking for information to reconstruct how we lived and what we did. Kind of like how I'm in one of the last generations not to be embarrassed by our parents posting phone-cam photos and videos of every embarrassing thing I ever did as a kid to their social media (and thank goodness for that).

But hey, it's not as if I've ever really needed an excuse to write about things. So, my life and welcome to it…

Posted a couple of entries to TeleRead inspired by Coronavirus-related matters, last night and today—one about Macmillan abruptly ending its 8-week window on library ebooks, and another about the changes to our society that I think Coronavirus might cause. Fascinating stuff. It's kind of funny, but in a way I'm actually not terribly frightened of Coronavirus. More like a little scared (mostly for other members of my family who might be less well-adapted to this or less cautious), a little curious, and a lot fascinated.

I guess it's because Corona largely hasn't disrupted my normal routine. I was already working from home, playing from home, largely eating at home, and not venturing out unless I absolutely had to. The only major change now is that I'm going out a little less. I still spend the majority of my day ensconced in my attic with my headset, my work computer, my play computer, my cats, and my minifridge full of booze. (Which, of course, I reserve for the times when I'm not working.) I already did almost all of my social interaction through the Internet, so it's not like I'm being suddenly cut off from anything. I feel sorry for all the people who suddenly have to accustom themselves to staying home from church, or not going out with their buddies. I especially feel sorry for a friend of mine who lost his job right before the epidemic hit, and now despairs of ever finding another job with the economy tanking. I sure hope life can prove his worries unfounded.

So for me, I guess the only major change for me personally is that for the time being I don't have to put up with people telling me I should get out more. Now I can tell them they should stay in more.

I do wish that they were doing more locally to lock things down. They've closed down the dine-in spaces in restaurants and bars; they've closed public libraries; school is closed locally until May 1. And they've even closed the office building where I used to work for the next few days for "cleaning," just to be safe (putting a little added pressure on those of us who work at home to carry the slack but oh well). But I look out my window and still see cars driving up and down the streets just as if it was a normal day. Don't they know there's a pandemic on? We need to be in total lockdown.

But then, I did get out of the house today for the first time myself since, I guess, Saturday or Sunday. Went over to Chicago Beef & Dogs for a carry-out burger for lunch. (Per government orders, they're only open for delivery and carry-out, no dining-in—but this isn't a change for me either, as when I do get lunch there, I carry it home anyway.) Was glad to see the proprietor seems to be doing well. (I feel bad I've never bothered to learn his name. I just kind of think of him as "The Dude," the character from The Big Lebowski who he rather resembles.) Was a good burger. I may order something from Grubhub delivery for dinner tonight, since I get paid tomorrow and I'm still trying out their monthly-fee free delivery service. Mostly I'm eating frozen dinners I've stocked up on from the grocery store, but I need a little variety every now and then.

After work tonight I'll probably watch Picard and The Ready Room with my friend, then play some more City of Heroes: Homecoming. If any of you have been living under a rock and don't know about it yet, why yes, City of Heroes is back, and it's even better than before; instructions can be found via the link in the preceding sentence. And it's completely free, with a monthly donation window for server expenses available for those who want to kick in. I've got about 8 level 50 characters now; I could very easily have more if I wanted to take the trouble to figure out good builds for them. If you want to team up, I play on Torchbearer; my global handle is @ RobotechMaster. If you're just starting out, I'll be happy to give you a little seed Inf to get started on—but I may insist you read all the guides I wrote to find out the best ways to make use of it. 

So, for me, life goes on, the same as it usually does. I take calls from work. I noodle on the computer. I take cute photos of my cats. I wonder when will my life begin…

Any cat people here? (Looking at you, lil_shepherd, inamac :) I need some advice, and I need it bad.

Over in this discussion thread I have been talking about my plan to introduce two new cats into a currently cat-free apartment at the same time. One of them is that Bengal I mentioned, Benjamin, who the shelter operator has said gets along well with other cats. They're both very young adults—Benji's 1 1/2, and the vet estimates Diva's age at "about 2" from the condition of her teeth.

The thing is, I'm getting some conflicting advice. Some people advise the whole "segregate them into different rooms and introduce them by degrees" thing. But one of the posters, cshenk, points out that this advice is meant for introducing a new cat into a home that another cat or cats consider their territory, and that this separation in the event of two new cats can lead to both cats staking out their own mini-territories rather than getting integrated as a household. He cites (what he claims to be) considerable experience in the matter.

One of the other posters, who disagrees with him, advised me to "consider the sources" of the advice. The problem is, I don't know either of them from Adam so as far as I'm concerned their credibility is about the same. (Well, cshenk's credibility may be slightly higher—but if I'm honest with myself, I'm not sure whether that is because he writes convincingly with well-justified arguments or because I'd rather not have to mess with the whole segregation business.)

I really don't want to make the wrong decision here and ruin my cats' chances of getting along with each other. And this is something that can only be done once.