Things I did today

The news used to be the news. It was a program that lasted an hour, given to you by local anchors who told you the current events of the day. There were clips in it of other newscasters in other locations, both local and global, giving an eyewitness account. Now there's the 24 hour news cycle. You can always find the news... except most of it is opinion. And the rest is sensational. It's depressing or upsetting or both, and there's not much to do to help those far away, out. I can give monetary aid to the Bahamas after the hurricane, but I can't fly down there and help rebuild their homes or throw paper towels in their general direction. Perhaps it's best to just turn the news off. No visiting news.google.com, no watching the Late Show with Stephen Colbert or Late Night with Seth Meyers. I'm taking the rest of the month off. How will I feel in the beginning of October? Like I've lost a window to the world? Or that it doesn't matter? We'll see,

I rarely work from home. One reason is due to my current schedule - I work 4 ten hours days and the company allows for people to either work 4 10s, or work from home one day a week. The other reason is that I just don't like working from home. It's not the same setup, and I don't feel like I am quite as efficient as when I'm next to all my stuff at the office. But yesterday, I worked from home. The office closed, so most people elected to work from home. It was nice to not have any interruptions, but it was difficult to do some of my tasks with just one monitor. It'll be nice to go back into the office on Monday. The hurricane has headed north. There's a little wind and a little rain yet this morning, and by lunch the sun should be breaking through the clouds. Hopefully no more working from home for the rest of the year.

I've pulled the furniture off the porch. Last week, I bought water and canned soup. I still have the battery powered lights and Sterno cans in preparation of Hurricane Florence last year. I charged my battery packs a month ago. Also, Dorian isn't supposed to affect Raleigh much. I've been checking with the NWS periodically, and we'll just see some wind and a bit of rain. As I left work, I considered heading to the store as I'm getting low on seltzer water, however as I passed, I saw the lot was already packed full. Never mind, I don't need to add to the mayhem. I can drink regular water if need be. If the power does indeed go out, I can still use my Kindle and phone as well as real books to keep myself occupied.

I recently wrote about procrastination, and decided Tuesday that I was going to enact my new goal of not eating dinner at the TV, but instead at the dining table, and then just start doing chores straight after, only stopping after I feel I've done enough to make progress on a few projects. So, I came home, forgot all about what I said, made dinner, then started eating it at the TV. I happened to remember halfway through my meal I meant to stop doing this. My first thought was "Oh well, you've already sat down at the TV and might as well start the new idea tomorrow." Then, "No, pause the TV and get up and take dinner to the dining table and eat it there. Then follow through with what you were going to do." So, I did. I finished dinner at the dining table, unloaded the dishes in the dishwasher, put the dirty dishes in, put the dishes requiring hand washing and air drying back in the cabinets. After that, I started laundry, took out the trash, played pia

Geoguessr is a game that combines Google Street View with Google Maps as a location guessing game. They have daily challenges as well as maps for certain areas. Most are user created, and as people create more and more maps, they find odd places for Street view to be, or use 360 degree view pictures where one cannot travel down the road to know where they are. I enjoy playing once or twice a day, trying to figure out if I'm in Europe or the US or Asia, or anywhere else. Last night, mom and I played, trying to find the exact position next to a grocery store in Ridderker, Netherlands, then later trying to determine how to get out of a place that looked bombed, with rubble everywhere. We wandered through, until we found a sign written in Japanese, then Chinese. Mom and I figured this must be one of the A-bomb sites. We spent a considerable amount of time trying to decide which one we were looking at. We settled on Hiroshima. It was Nagaski. The game is very addictive and fun. An

The hurricane is continuing its track west, before it turns north to bother the rest of the Southeastern US. While Raleigh is still in the cone of uncertainty, it's looking less and less likely that it'll get much trouble from the hurricane. Of course, things can change - Just like with Florence last year, which seemed as if it was aiming for Raleigh until the day before landfall. Florence headed right for it, until it hit land, and abruptly shifted south and went around Raleigh instead.  https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2018/FLORENCE_graphics.php However, this is the most uncertainty I'm currently facing - being in a possible path of a hurricane. Things are good - I feel certain that I am effective and feel respected at my job, I am certain that I have support and community through the friends I have made in NC, and certain that my family still supports me in what I do and where I am. I'm feeling healthy and happy; able to do things that I would previously de

There are very few donuts I like. Krispy Kreme Original Glazed. Duck Donuts Maple Bacon donut. I can eschew nearly all others. Except Entemann's Frosted Devil's Food Donuts . I made myself a rule that I can only buy them when the local grocery store has them half off, else they're almost a dollar per donuts, which seems ridiculous for a non-locally produced and probably not as fresh donut (compared to local bakeries). The Entemann's half off sale happens about once a year, so I don't end up buying too many. Harris Teeter, the grocery store next to my office was running an ad that included "Select Entemann's Baked Goods" - buy one, get one free. Most of the time, it just means each item is half off instead of truly buying one and getting the other one for free. And, when it happens, they include "Must buy 1 to get 1 free". I grab a box, noting to myself that the sale presentation of the Entemann's only has a nice stack of boxes of donuts