Yuck

 Orange heat warning. The weekend was hideous and today is no better. The warning has to end soon. I hope we have all found cool shelter. Meanwhile, the test driving continues. I've tried out a Sentra, a Venue, and a Niro. Soon I'll be revisiting the Civic. The last time I settled behind the driver's seat of a Civic was 2008. I'm hovering between the Venue and the Niro.

 Been doing a lot of reading. Have any of you read 'Notes from underground'? The protagonist must be having a midlife crisis and everyone else in the story is a jerk. The protagonist whinges a lot too. Russians. Brushed some nasty matting out of the beast's fur yesterday. She purred the whole time. I hope I didn't hurt her any.

 Ugh. This perkele humidity. That's for the Finns in the audience. I love knowing bits and pieces of other languages. Pretty weak polymath, no? Okay. Hope my few crew is keeping cool.

BYE. 

Must be okay with dying

 I don't like losing when playing video games. Roguelikes and Roguelites tell me that death is okay and often necessary to advance. So I started playing 'Hades' the other day. Died to the boss of Tartarus after a particularly lucky run today. I need to be okay with dying. Of course, personally I am okay with dying in the real world.

 Dying in a video game is another story. Death ain't game over anymore. Currently watching a dude slaughter his way through 'Quake II'. I'm also watching another dude get very lucky with 'Hades'. Once I've made admirable progress with the first game, I'll get the sequel. So, it's the last week of April.

 Mom's final tax filing is done. My sister and brother-in-law cleaned out the basement storage room. Without a doubt, they did an incredible job. The weather's been cool but nice. I did something incredibly juvenile this past Friday. Just was not thinking. I might mention that impossibly stupid thing I did in another post. But for now...

BYE.

More snow?

 So an Alberta Clipper is going to slap us with more snow. At least it won't stick around. Spring Break was productive. Haircut, car wash, laundry, stubbed toe... it's a full rich life. So I'm back to work. Had a weird sad dream last night. A meandering dream of sodden cellars, ditches, and a sepia-tone graveyard to finish it up. No idea what it meant.

 I yawned all day... because of the dream? Because of my cat bothering me when I was awake? Anyway, it's evening and my cat is yammering. It's almost feeding time. So now the final grind begins. Summer is too far away to count. Nothing else to say.

BYE.

Getting political

 Nahhhh. I'm not posting my thoughts on matters political. Nobody reads this blog but better safe than sorry. Anyway, today was all shamrocks and luck o'the Irish. I don't think I have very much Irish blood. Explains why I don't have that much luck. No real troubles, either. Ooh. Got political there for a moment. My bad.

 Here comes Wednesday. Spring Break is closing in. It cannot come fast enough. Snow and blowing snow is whirling around. Last night, I was taking the garbage out and I saw something wonderful. 

 Glad it let me get close enough to take a picture. Anyway, that's what's going on with me. Ugh. Blowing snow.

BYE.

Hydro Shenanigans

 Actually, make that weather shenanigans. Freezing rain leading to blowing snow. That and the occasional blinking light overhead. Meanwhile, there were outages here and there across the province. A hospital lost power, schools (including my workplace) lost power last night.

  Manitoba Hydro was hard at work through the night. Now I'm listening to the kids talk about being in the dark and what they did. Meanwhile, I kept my phone charged and my candles at the ready just in case stuff happened. Luckily, nothing happened in my neck of the woods.

  Hope you are all having a safe and decent Monday.

BYE.

Avoidance

       So we got our first big snowfall of the year and my car got stuck in a rut (aren't we all so stuck in ruts?). Yeah, so I'm home today and not very happy about that. It was Remembrance Day yesterday so I was off from work. You might think I'm thrilled about having a four-day weekend but I'm just frustrated. I hope someone can clear some of the parking lot so I can at least get my car back in its stall because I couldn't make the turn and got stuck. A very nice dude who was shoveling out behind his vehicle helped me to at least park out of the way of oncoming cars. Not that anyone's going to make that turn right now.

       A lot of outraged shrieking in the car, let me tell you. Nothing to do but wait. At least I'm safe and warm. Also, I'm not the only staff member who could not make it into work today. Meanwhile, I'm avoiding my compy. I need to open it up and give it a good blast of air because I want the ghost in the BIOS to go away. It's been at least a week since I turned it on. I'm not going to say what I've been playing, Sims-wise, because I uninstalled that piece of dreck from the compy a long time ago. Why I installed it on my lappy, I cannot explain. I'm sad and pathetic; that's all there is to it.

       Now for something very important - after the fact, but still...

 

Shout-out to John https://www.flickr.com/photos/shebalso/44385637204  for the image.

       That is all for now. If you would like to see some Sims stuff, I only have the dreck for you currently. 

BYE.

New plumbot and new hair

      It has been some time since I last treated one of my sim families to a bot. So now my wolfie couple the Hinges (Tony and Addy) got themselves a bot building machine. I'll treat you lovely few to a few pics in due time. I also paid a few visits to TSR and got myself some Newsea and Leah Lilith (sic?) hairs for ladies and dudes. Two hairs for dudes, actually, as I like creating dudes and needed more hairs. Leah Lilith and Newsea have long been creators and their stuff rocks. No retextures here, but yer welcome to do what you will.

     The sky has been indecisive all day but no sign of snow yet. Perhaps it will come this weekend. I hope not. I've been on a roll where finding good books is concerned lately. My latest discovery was 'The next pandemic'. Chillingly familiar, as far as the pandemic is concerned. We are nowhere near the great flu of 1918-1919, but there are a number of factors at work there. I now have another book on my desk and it's looking pretty good so far. Here comes the weekend, folks! Stay safe!

BYE.

Damn you, Kissinger

       And here I was thinking that the White House held the freaks and monsters these days! Believe it or not, Henry Kissinger is still alive. 97 years old according to Wikipedia. He's been the subject of hundreds - if not thousands - of historical accounts. Well, here comes Greg Grandin (history professor, writer, and looks decent in a cap) with 'Kissinger's shadow: the long reach of America's most controversial statesman' with skeletons to free and indignation to awaken. Before I took up this book, all I knew about Kissinger came from the lads of the Flying Circus (Nicer legs than Hitler and more endowed than Cher). Of course I was overdue to read summat about this guy.

        Kissinger was one of Nixon's main dudes and one of the few to escape the ravages of Watergate. I thought the current prez was desperate to make up his own reality. He's got nada on Kissinger and Nixon - not nearly as clever or as audacious as Kissinger, either. Then again, I have to wonder how Nixon and his crew of liars and con-men would have handled a pandemic. Hopefully, they would have stopped waging imaginary wars on Cambodia and Laos for a moment to do something good for a change. Imaginary war but with plenty of very real napalm - Kissinger has been called to account for this ever since he left the White House. He's never really, according to this book, acknowledged his mistake.

       Reading this book angered me. And this was the time before the Republican party worsened. Thanks to the madness that's going on down south, I've familiarized myself with 'American exceptionalism' and other such euphemisms. Oh, and Joe Biden gets a mention in this book too - well before Obama said 'You're with me' - back when he was a senator. Anyway, I'm enjoying this book despite the fact that it makes me angry. This book was published in 2015, by the way. I wonder what Kissinger thinks of the current situation - assuming politics is still important to a 97 year old devil like him.

       No sims pics today. Just a quick blurb about what I'm reading. It's wet outside and I can hear thunder in the distance. Mom is at the lake with the xtended relatives this weekend. I hope the weather's been all right out there.

BYE.

Smouldering out there

           Happy Canada Day! Life in a pandemic and there's more fun promised to come. Is this for real? Doubtful kudos to the dude who first proclaimed, "May you live in interesting times." I doubt he would have taken his curse back even if he'd had the chance, however. Good riddance to the future, amirite? However, while my worries by day are exceedingly great, my dreams have been weirdly interesting. I guess my subconscious mind is calmer and more at ease than its conscious cousin.

           So today is Canada Day. Best advice? STAY HOME!! Our numbers are lower than those of our southern neighbours but a few massive gatherings today could cause devastating spikes for us. I shiver at the thought of July 4th in the States. Too many people are going to cling to the letter of the event and this could lead to the dreaded super-spreader. Woe betide both countries and the spikes to come. Okay, enough fear and dread. I attended my staff lunch yesterday in the sauna that is the gym. At least it was a bit cooler than outside. The A/C is busted at the school, apparently, and the second floor was hellishly hot. Perhaps even hotter than it was outside. At least the food was good and the speeches were even better.

         Not a dry eye in the house when we said au revoir to our principal and vice principal. They had to build École Ness from the ground up and now look at us. I'm a late-comer to the party but I've worked for Jordana and Cheri in the Golden Gate days and they are magnificent leaders and people. The board office and Heritage are getting great assets and our school division has to be the better for it. One of our resource heads is moving on to high school and our choir teacher accepted full-time at another school. Tears but a lot of laughter as well. Vous me manquerez.

        Now, my PlantSim family moved to Starlight Shores recently. Farewell, Twinbrook! However, I still have pictures from the Twinbrook days and, by gum, I'm gonna post'em!

BYE.

I am getting a message

       Google wants me to try the new Blogger. 😱 It's probably not going to wreck my life or my blog but, to paraphrase old Montresor (Cask of Amontillado) "I have my doubts." Being a dipsophobe (yeah, apparently this is a thing) I should stay away from Amontillado or any sort of wine as it is. I don't think I have a fear of drinking alcohol - more like I've done too much research on what alcohol does to the body to ever want to touch the stuff EVER. Also I hate the taste. Anyway, perhaps I'll give the shiny, smexy new Blogger a go another time. If I can still mess with this blog under the new system, sure why not? But if not, please yerself. I'll stick with the old model as long as I can.

      Coronavirus continues to plod across Canada and run like Usain Bolt across our neighbours to the immediate south. It's only a matter of time before North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin become ripe for the taking. 😎 Yes, this is just a joke. Now for a public service announcement. For the love of family, community, health, and whatever gods you may or may not worship - WASH YER HANDS and SNEEZE AND COUGH IN A TISSUE OR YER SLEEVE! PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING AND BE SAFE!

      Today would have been my Grandma's 93rd birthday. Damned cancer. This month it will be 15 years since she passed on. The realization hit me the other day. Is this because I'm 40 now and milestones continue to gain weight around my neck? If I remember to, I think I'll post the entry from that sad day in 2005. The weather forecast speaks of a Colorado low coming for a visit and bringing a gigaton of snow with it. At least things will look pretty for a while. The roads will also look pretty (gruesome) for a while as well.

     And now, for something completely expected.

BYE.

Update on Schtuff

The watch never became a warning and no tornadoes came for a nightcap. A relief, eh? I wonder what Oz would be like. Anyway, we did not even get a thunderstorm out of this. The weather is lovely today and things look promising for the weekend.

Anyway, I'm reading a history of the police force. It's called 'Rise of the warrior cop' and it's about 'the militarization of America's police force' by Radley Balko. My cynic's heart is used to the grim and ominous but this is a worrying book. The U.S. needs cool and rational heads right now. Hmmm. This may take a while.

Oh, and I said good bye to a lovely sim-couple. Luckily the social worker came for the cats.

BYE.

On Watch

Conditions are favourable for a tornado. We are currently under a watch - one has not yet been sighted but it could happen. There are several tornado watches in southeastern Manitoba but no sightings. It's very humid and the wind was billowing about in the trees earlier today. Things have calmed down since then.

If there is a tornado incoming the cat and I are barricading ourselves in the bathroom. Touch wood and hope for the best. We've been under this watch since this afternoon. We were supposed to get a brutal thunderstorm this afternoon but nothing came of that. Maybe we'll see it tonight but the clouds are supposed to break up late tonight.

Am I worried? Not really. Just posting this because I have nothing else to post for the time being. If my next post comes from Oz, you'll know the tornado came for a visit.

BYE.