Howdy internet friend and welcome back to my blog! It's another Monday and that means it is time for a weekly update. First off - Black Lives Matter! Second, if you want to skip to the dog pictures, you can just click here. Third, I don't have a ton of stuff to write about this week, so expect a short(ish) update. With that, let's dive right in.
In somewhat big news last Monday I bought a car. I had been putting it off for a long time (and made a very expensive mistake buying a lemon last year) and we finally had enough bread lined up that we could afford to buy something better. It has only been a week but it's already made our lives so much easier/better. Having only one car is a real hassle! If you are wondering about the make and model, I went with a Toyota Corolla XSE Hatchback. There were not many options when I went to the dealership and I really just needed to have a car. Interestingly enough, the more I drive it, the better I like it. I was really hoping to get something with a manual transmission but I needed a car more than I needed to be picky. Plus I can always trade it in later.
Changing subjects (but not shifting gears because I got an automatic), tomorrow Bark Twain is finally going to go get fixed. In a perfect world we would have lined this up months ago, but hopefully it will have the same effect on baby Bobby (one of his many nicknames) that it had on Bruiser. Bark Twain is already more affectionate than Bruiser, but he has so much energy (and he is also REALLY strong). When I take them both for walkies if I'm not paying attention he could hurt me by pulling (either tripping me up on hurting the arm holding the leash). Like everything, only time will tell. I will provide an update on his status next week.
Last weekend was pretty uneventful. I am getting closer to finsihing Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and I am finding more things to like about it the more I read. In addition to reading, I also spent a fair amount of time playing Fortnite. I managed to do enough grinding to buy another battlepass, and if I can manage to get to level 100 it looks like you can unlock a skin that allows you to play as Darth Vader. I was going to play GTA this weekend but I never found the time. Truth to tell, I am starting to lose interest in Vice City and I am debating skipping over to work on San Andreas. I probably won't until I am further in the game, but who knows?
On this subject, I have been thinking about how to do gaming better in the future. On the one hand, the Steam Deck is starting to look like a nice option. On the other hand, I found a computer I could use for gaming for around $250. Long time readers will be shocked (SHOCKED!) to learn that I am considering going with Windows 10 on this machine. I've not owned a Windows machine since I had a box running XP, but I am tired of having a crummy experience gaming on other operating systems. There are a bunch of games that don't work on Mac/Linux that I miss or want to try playing. From Ultima Online free servers to games that used to work on Linux but stopped (I'm specifically thinking about Payday 2), there are a bunch of games I am talking about. Going with refurbished hardware is also the lowest cost-to-entry of any of the other options - not for the least of which reasons being I won't have to buy any games I can use my existing Steam library. Check back in the future to see what I decide to do.
Changing subjects, despite spending a bunch of time thinking about it, I decided to not grab my new soldering iron and start working on the soldering workshop from hacker boxes that I bought as a birthday present for myself. Part of the reason is that my son is going to be leaving for summer in Washington state this week and I wanted to spend time with him. I also wanted to have minimal distractions when I start soldering. I've got some future hardware projects in mind and I need to improve my soldering skills in anticipation. I am going to work on it at some point in the future, but I want to make sure that I won't be bothered.
Welp, that's about all I have to report this week, internet friend. I hope you enjoyed this update. As a reward, enjoy this picture of my dogs. Finally, I hope you have a very nice day and a most excellent week. Cheers!