Out of The PIT

Things have been opening up here and last night I went to my first broomball game since the pandemic started. It was nice to be out on the ice again, but soon realized how many muscles I had that did not seem to exist anymore, until today, when I certainly have rediscovered all of the aching muscles that I was missing. Good to see everyone in good health though.

 Well, it seems as if you can post photospheres via Google Maps.

I took a photosphere and want to see if it shows up.

I recently got results of my COVID-19 antibody tests and they came back negative. Mind you, the test was using blood soon after my first vaccine shot (I cannot recall exactly when I took the test, but my best guess is May 1st so less than two weeks) so maybe my system had not had enough time to build up any antibodies? The results also mentioned that not all antibodies were checked, but still, I would've expected something. In any case, my second shot definitely resulted in side effects so my body was doing something then. We will see soon enough if this is enough protection for me. I am also up for a booster. AzeMoPh anyone?

Wow, the side effects of the Moderna shot was much more severe than the AstraZeneca shot. I barely noticed anything with the first shot but the second is basically keeping me in bed. But, I have gotten my second shot, so hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be in a good position not to get COVID-19.

I got up early this morning to watch the partial eclipse. It is a pretty rare occurrence for us to get an eclipse in the city and an even rarer one to catch one at sunrise or sunset. I only heard about this yesterday, but resolved to get up early to catch the sunrise. Our house is not at a good spot for watching sunrises or sunsets. Instead, I rode down to the bluffs to get a better view. It seems as if I was not the only one, but I stayed on the top of the bluffs, hoping that it would be less busy than at the marina. The camera on my phone was not good at picking up the shape of the sun unfortunately, I was able to watch the sun rise and was surprised to see two separate points of light rising from the horizon. It explains why my sunrise calculation was off. It was quite remarkable to see the shape of the crescent sun near the horizon. However, after a minute, the light from the sun overwhelmed my phone so my pictures only shows a blob of light. Still, I enjoyed the experience, and co

I finally got around to mounting our diplomas on the wall of the office this week. It took some time to gather the momentum to try looking at putting them on the wall, which required deciding where to put all of these things, then finding the right screws and anchors to mount them. The real impetus was when I got the brilliant idea of grabbing my diplomas from my parents' place last week, which more than doubled the number of items I had to hang, which really cluttered the office, which really forced my hand in doing something about it. But after a week of measurements and gathering the right tools, I got them put up. Then MJNL told me that there were a couple more plaques to put up that were not with the rest of the diplomas. I was told AFTER I had put all the tools away. Anyway, I have a couple more plaques to mount, but this should be child's play for me now right? It should not take me years to finish this time..

I just saw this video today. It has been out for at least two years but is a great rendition of those blank VHS tapes from back in the day. I recognize many of those covers from the years we had our VHS collection. The video was made by 4096 who has other similar videos and is still active apparently. I first came across this link on FAIL Blog .

So MJNL cut my hair again last night. This time it took about half the time and was a lot easier to clean. Preparation and practice helps. I do enjoy not having my eyes poked out all the time and using a lot less shampoo. Also, sunglasses, hats, and masks should stay on a lot easier now.

I got my COVID-19 vaccine today. At least the first shot. It did not taste too bad. MJNL kept an eye out for me to get a shot soon after I was eligible, and it worked! Now my next shot is in a few months and hopefully this whole thing will be behind us by the fall.

I got a call from my ISP asking if I would switch from ADSL to cable modem. It would be cheaper and faster so why wouldn't I? I figured that I'd finally be able to take advantage of the recently laid fiber optic cable to my house from before the pandemic. Well, when I finally got the cable modem, I recognized it as the same model as the one my dad had. Over a decade ago. I was told by the tech that set up my line (from outside the house I might add) that it would continue to use the old coaxial connection as well. Well, shoot. Oh well, I plugged it in and it did connect, but wasn't particularly good. The speeds did not reach the maximum rated, but it seemed to be fine? Well, when I was called about cancelling my ADSL connection, I was told that the cable modem connection was poor and there was a chance of buffering and dropped connections. Well, shoot. They sent another tech, this time to come into the house to check the connection. Apparently the signal in the house was no

We've actually gotten a fair bit of snow this past week. I had to spend some time clearing out a path to the car, the car, and a path out for the car. Just enough to get the car out as it was still snowing and I had a list of chores and work to get through this morning. (e.g. cleaning a poop explosion.) Although it can be a pain in the back, the kids love the snow, so I try to enjoy my only real exercise I've been getting this winter.