Everything's Broken

In case you didn't realize, there was no post in December, which is the first of the many things to be broken. I usually try to post once a month, but sometimes there's just nothing to blog about. The theme for me this month has been things breaking on me...and ultimately needing repairing or replacing.

One of my 70" TV's (the top one, which is the older Sharp TV) finally had its backlight burn out.  There is no longer a picture, but the audio still works.  This TV has had so many problems from the day it arrived and it finally reached its end of life after about 7 years.  I've ordered a new 70" LG that should be arriving next week, but it will still be a pain to remove the old mounted TV and put up a new one.

Another item that recently broke on me was the ceiling fan in my master bedroom.  One night, I yanked the chain that adjusts the fan speed and it just snapped off.  The fan is permanently stuck spinning, but at least it's in a favorable setting which is speed 1 out of 3 (so the lowest spin).  However, there are times I definitely want to boost that up or turn it off completely without turning off the light. :(

The final item that is breaking down on me is my car.  It's got over 180K miles, so I know things will continue to break down around this mileage, but the next things to go were the tire pressure sensors and the climate control & radio.  The tire pressure sensors I could replace but for $90 a piece, which doesn't seem worth it.  And the climate control & radio could likely cost me up to 2 grand. :( Fortunately, the AC/heater still works, it's just permanently set to 74 degrees.  The music also works, but it's hard to tune into stations because I can't see what frequency the radio is on, so most of the time I just listen to mp3 CDs.

I also think the termites are back.  One made it into the house, I could see it through the wall.  So that's just another thing, but it feels like there's always something around the house that needs fixing. :(

Anyway, I hope all is well with you guys and thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving and also the first time I've ever spent it alone in Tucson.  This year has been difficult with COVID, and my dad is especially paranoid, rightfully so being 70-years-old.  I told him it's fine if we don't celebrate Thanksgiving on November 26th.  It's just a day and if we really want to, we can celebrate it later after things are a little safer.  It's certainly been a little weird hanging around today and not being with my parents and my sister's family, but it is what it is.  I ate leftovers for lunch and am gonna make spaghetti for dinner, it's just another day.

It feels like we just can't shake off this pandemic, but I'm still trying to stay as active as possible.  Fortunately, I can work remotely for IBM and they are still taking care of me.  I've been working on my Twitch stream and content more than ever lately.  And I've picked up a Monday pool league in addition to Tuesday nights, while also bowling on Thursdays.  I still hit the gym as often as possible, but with all the activities going on, it's more like 3 times a week.

Anyway, stay safe out there and see ya next month.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving!

Benzi's 2nd Birthday!

Today is Benzi's 2nd birthday!  He is the oldest of my three pets and it's crazy to think that there was a chance I might have lost him when he was just 7 months old.  Anyway, he is doing great and is loving life with Ember (my other cat) and Lucy (my dog).  Today for his birthday, I will make sure he gets a nice Royal Canin feast. :)

Life has been slowly getting back to normal.  We are 7 weeks into the bowling season and my team is currently in 1st place by a nice margin.  I'm currently sitting at a 201 average, which doesn't really seem sustainable although I have bowled 4 straights weeks with a 600+ series.  I feel like the new competition and bowling with better players has given me extra motivation to do well.  I find myself focusing more each throw.  We'll see if I can keep it up!  I haven't finished a season over 190+ in over 5 years.

Pool league has also started back up!  My team did not do well in the playoffs (myself included), but it's nice to be back.  I'm also going to pick up a league on Monday nights in a couple weeks for the winter session and hopefully playing twice a week will crispen my skills and accuracy, which has been lacking ever since Covid.

And the final update is that I ordered the iPhone 12 Pro today!  I went for the Pro to get the extra FPS (60 with the Pro instead of 30 with the base) for video recordings, which could help for any potential IRL streams I might do on my Twitch.  I then went for the 256GB storage just to be safe.  I'm super excited to get a new phone seeing how I still have an iPhone 6 that is 6 years old! :O

Hope everyone is doing well!  Take care and stay safe out there!

Bowling is Back!

 Bowling league is back!  Well, sort of...

For the past 15 or so years, I have been bowling in the IBM league.  When the league first started, there was a lot of IBMer participation and we had maybe 12 full 4-person teams filling out the league.  Over the years, participation would gradually fall to the point where last year we only had 6 teams and two of them weren't even teams containing any IBM employees or retirees. :(

It is now 2020 and I am sad to say that the IBM league was only able to gather 4 interested teams, which is under the minimum required to have a league.  So unfortunately there is no IBM Bowling League this season and honestly there might not be for a while.

However, there's a house league that bowls on Thursday nights and a few of the IBMers still interested in bowling decided to join that league instead, which contains over 20 teams.  I was on the fence about joining since basically all of my former teammates from the past decade no longer bowl with me.  I got invited by a former IBM team to join their squad and eventually I decided to give it a try.  Honestly, with stay-at-home life, it would be nice to just get out of the house and I do still very much love bowling even though it is a dying sport.

And so with that, bowling is back!  We are now in our 3rd week already and the new team is good and we're also doing well, off to a 22-2 start!  I'm currently sitting around a 180 average, which is where I want to be.  It'll be interesting to see how the season goes and if it doesn't get shut down to Covid.  One must wear a mask at all times unless they are eating, drinking, or up on the lanes to bowl.  Here's seeing if I can carry my championship level success to a new league!