• Random Thought: Yea, this sounds about right, once the price is outside of what most “normal” people would consider reasonable, piracy increases… ๐Ÿดโ€โ˜ ๏ธ

    Screen grab of a Tweet from Tom Warren, with the following verbiage: if Apple TV, Netflix, and Disney+ keep raising prices then it will only force more people into piracy. It's already surprising how many in the UK use modified Fire TV sticks to access pirated TV shows and movies
  • Yup, he’s still not happy with the construction…it’s almost done but I can tell he’s plotting our downfall. ๐Ÿ˜ผ๐Ÿ˜น๐Ÿˆ๐Ÿ“ท

    Grey cat, on new (fake) hardwood flooring, in the glow of cloudy daylight, looking into the distance. The flooring is vertical planked, with brown carpet in the upper-right corner and mesh anti-slip pads in the upper left corner of the photo, with just the hint of a door.
  • It was just starting to feel like autumn but this week…not so much. ๐Ÿ‚

  • Alex is not amused by the construction going on in the house. ๐Ÿ™€๐Ÿˆ๐Ÿ“ท

    Grey cat staring into the camera.๏ฟผ
  • I’ve been bashing my head against the Micro.blog theming system, trying to get it matching the one on my primary website but given the time of day, it’s time to shutdown and try again tomorrow. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ

  • Listening to Mishima / Closing… ๐ŸŽต

    Covert art for 'Mishima / Closing' song, pulled from Apple Music.

    I’m not sure why it’s affecting me so much but as soon as this song came on (listening to random “for you” playlist on Apple Music, I started thinking about Grandma. ๐Ÿ’” It’s a little odd b/c this wasn’t her type of music but here we are, the brain is odd.

  • I’m very excited about the upcoming live-action the Last Airbender series. ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿป I loved the original series on Nickelodeon and while we don’t talk about the movie that came out a while ago (worst movie I’ve ever seen), things are looking good for the Netflix version. ๐Ÿ˜„

  • I was hoping to start swapping my media server from it’s tower case into my new Slinger CX4712 case over the weekend…but life got in the way. Fingers crossed I can get to it this week, I don’t want to impact any end users. ๐Ÿคž๐Ÿป๐Ÿ“ท

    Empty server case on light-brown carpet, with some bubble wrap in the back of the case, with some boxed computer fans on top, with wires coming out of the front of the case.
  • Photo of a container of Trader Joe's pumpkin spice coffee on the right side (on top of a kitchen counter, the 'fake' marbled pattern in various shades of brown), next to a calendar-book featuring a photo of a museum in Germany (it's a Rick Steve calendar).

    Yes, I might be called “basic” but ‘tis the season… ๐ŸŽƒโ˜•๏ธ๐Ÿ“ท

  • It's too early for this, right?

    Went to a hardware store last night (my Partner is ripping up the carpet and putting in new flooring) and as we walked in, we were assaulted with Christmas cheer. Given the past few weeks, I was digging it but a couple walked in after us and one of them was complaining it was too early for Christmas stuff. ๐ŸŽ„ I was inclined to disagree but I didn’t say anything…just smiled beneath my mask. ๐Ÿ“ท

    Christmas display at a hardware store: two Santa's standing in front of a series of pre-lit Christmas trees (some green, some sprayed with fake snow), and a giant arch made of holly, ribbons and bows.
  • Friend of mine encouraged me to see if work offered bereavement leave…and they do, three days for a Grandparent. Rather lucky to have stumbled into working for this kind of company. ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿฅบ #MixedEmotions

  • Went to the office yesterday, in person, for the first time in over a year. No wonder I’m so exhausted today… ๐Ÿคฃ #WorkFromHome

  • “If I were a blessing, I’d run around naked”

    GIF image of Sophia from the Golden Girls, in funeral-black with pearls, waving her hands about. The text in the Gif: I always wondered why blessing wore disguises; If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked.

    As always, we can count on the Golden Girls to cheer us up and offer a bit of truth with humor.

  • Goodbye Grandma

    We said goodbye to my oldest friend this weekend, my lovely Grandma. She’s been…or was…a constant presence in my life, for as far back as I can remember. In fact, my oldest memories involve her, helping her bake cookies, hiding under the table with the bag of brown sugar…or waffles on Sunday morning. She was always just “Grandma” to me but as I moved from childhood to adolescence, into adulthood, she somehow became one of my dearest friends. Even when she turned 101 this summer, we all thought she’d just keep going and going but a few weeks ago, she suffered a stroke and has been slowly drifting away from us…and while I wish I could have just turned back the clock a couple years, for everything to be back to normal, Iโ€™m so very happy the family was able to visit her one last time on Friday to say a proper goodbye to her…and that the final words she said to me was that she was proud of me and grateful Iโ€™d been such a big part of her life.

    Iโ€™m going to miss you so much Grandma, thank you for being a Friend. โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’”

    Little old Lady (don't worry, she'd have laughed at that joke) with glasses in a striped shirt (blue, yellow, and green), sitting in a chair at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in her hand and a giant bow on her head, with a gigantic smile on her face.

    ๐Ÿ“ท This photo is from the tail-end of her 97th birthday dinner. As the years went on, it was harder and harder for her to get out of her retirement home, so we’d just bring a birthday dinner to her. She absolutely loved Olive Garden, so we brought her favorite: eggplant Parmesan, along with a giant piece of chocolate cake…and a random gift; Grandma would always say she didn’t need any presents, as it would just be more things to go through once she passed away but I would always joke after you hit 90, you deserved something to mark the occasion. After we sang happy birthday to her and she blew out the candles, we were being silly and she ended up with a bow on her head, laughing. She had the absolute best laugh…and I would give anything to hear it one last time.

  • ๐Ÿฟ “It’s just a little Hocus Pocus!" ๐Ÿ“ท
    โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…โ˜†โ˜†

    The movie 'Hocus Pocus' projected up on the side of a house at night, frozen at the title screen of the movie for the picture. In the lower-left corner of the image, a glowing fire, and in the upper-left of the image, the fading light of the setting sun.

    An annual tradition with my Girls from University, we started watching the movie (and pigging out) outside during the Pandemic and have just kept that as part of our Autumn event.