We just got an email from our utility provider with tips for dealing with the sub-freezing temps of the next few days. One of the items is:

  • Close all exterior doors and windows to keep heat inside the home.

🤦‍♂️

As expected the school district made it official: canceled Thursday and Friday due to expected icing. Our kids are not at all disappointed. 🤩

It’s two-day: 2-2-22

Went to a local breakfast place and was surprised and delighted to see they had Apple Butter instead of the ubiquitous grape jelly etc. Apple Butter is my ‘go to’ and I’m pretty sure I first had it in a restaurant as a kid.

With the latest game addition loaded, our PS5 space was getting tight so I ordered a 1TB WD SSD. I let my 13 yo son lend a hand doing the install so he could learn about the process. I have to say Sony made it super fast and simple ✅

My wife has had a sore throat for a couple of days now and she has a lot of nasal congestion today. She feels pretty miserable but it seems to “just” be a cold. So far no one else has it. 👍🏼 I think this is our first illness since Covid started.🦠

For the first time ever I ordered food delivered (via GrubHub). Our teenage daughter has done it a few times when we’ve been out of town but it is the first for the “old folks”. My wife doesn’t feel good and I felt too lazy to drive and get it.

This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the internet in quite awhile. It is a web site (or app if you prefer) that literally lets you roam the globe and tune into local radio stations. Good sound quality too.
Radio Garden

More bad news for Sony Playstation: Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion - Engadget

Also, does this mean Microsoft is endorsing the widely disdained Kotick?

Another first : our teenage daughter making California rolls

My wife’s in-progress salmon poke. First time making it. Yum!

The National Weather Service confirmed this 1am barometric pressure spike is from the second pressure wave of the volcano. Our little weather station had no trouble picking this up. Interestingly the NWS says this wave came from the opposite direction having transited the globe.

We started planning trips for this year. I booked flights in March for my wife to go to a family gathering in Colorado. I’ll be on dad duty at home. She will also visit family in Cali this summer to meet her adult niece for the first time. And we’re going tubing this summer✈️

Today I had to reformat the iMac SSD and restore all my files. I’m very happy with my decision to switch to the Arq for backing up all platforms. Restoring was easy and super fast. 👍🏼

The weekend is off to a lousy start. Once a month I use Mac’s Disk Utility to verify my drives. This morning it reported a boot drive error that is apparently not fixable even in Recovery mode. The internet offers no solution. I suppose I’ll have to re-format and re-install 😖

Another sad milestone: as of today Covid related hospitalizations in our county are at the highest level ever. Trajectory shows no signs of flattening.

Our first attempt at pretzel sticks. They turned out well!

I updated the FlightAware software on the Raspberry Pi 3 I use for plane tracking. Seemed OK but when I re-attached the antenna the Pi was dead. This would be a big deal (Pi’s are not available for reasonable costs these days). Turns out it was only the SD card that died. 😅

Sunrise with a contrail crossing a tiny cloud boundary

Apparently my first post via Micro.blog was 4 years ago today 🎉

It seems our current government approach to Covid is based on the element Unobtanium. We’re supposed to use tests we can’t get and wear high end masks that are equally unavailable.

I mainly upgraded to the Series 7 Apple Watch for the always-on display. But given how Covid remains it is reassuring to be able to check blood oxygen level and have it monitored.

Maybe it’s just a confirmation bias but my wife and I with one booster on board had already decided we wouldn’t take another until fall at the earliest. Repeat Covid Booster Shots Risk Overloading Immune System, EU Regulators Warn - Bloomberg

Our current (poor?) attitude re Covid: resistance is futile.

My wife and I are vaccinated and boosted and the kids have double vaccinations. Kids have definitely been exposed, parents probably have. Just getting on with life though a lot of businesses have staff shortages.

I know there are some coffee pros here in MB land. I’m curious how you find a new coffee that you’ll (probably) like? It seems no one sells sampler sizes of beans? I can never tell from descriptions what the coffee will taste like. ☕️

Our 13 yo son refuses to wear anything other than shorts and a t-shirt but today we cajoled him into wearing long pants (still in a t-shirt though). To me this is freakin’ cold!