21-01-25 Monday Covid-19 Day 317 I - New Chromebook

So, I bought myself a new chromebook this morning. I'd been agonising over it for days, wondering whether it was necessary, or whether I should be spending that much on a new pc (in the broadest sense of the term) when my existing chromebook was absolutely fine. 

I had decided that an Asus C434 was a suitable replacement for my perfectly serviceable Asus C302. The C434 is about the same size as the C302, but has a bigger display, due to smaller bezels. And it seems to be better-regarded than the newer C436 as well, which was a surprise. I did notice that one particular configuration had an eighth generation M3 chip where the C302 has a sixth generation version, but the C434 has 8gb of RAM. For a chromebook, that is pretty much future-proof, I reckon. 

I was looking at a couple of deals on eBay, and I was considering spending just over £500 on the model I wanted, but I was finding it hard to justify the expense. I do like my C302, and I've had it for over two years. I did see one deal listed at £525 or best offer, and I was considering putting in an offer below £500, i.e., £499. "Don't be silly", said TW, "buy it new and then you'll have a guarantee and a warranty and all that palaver".

Then I woke up this morning and the seller was offering £50 off, i.e., I could get it for £475. That was a fair saving over the £537 which was the nearest offer I was interested in, and it brought it under the £500 mark, which made me more relaxed. But it added another consideration to the decision whether to buy it or not, because I had to consider how I would feel if I missed out on this deal. Like, if I continued to want this particular model, would I be kicking myself in three or four months' time, thinking back to that time I could have got a new chromebook with those specs for under £500? 

And so, I bought it. It's coming on Wednesday. Looking at new laptops and weighing up the pros and cons of buying them, and deciding which one to buy, is almost more fun than actually making the purchase. Paying that much gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach, even though I'm expecting this new device to last at least three years and I reckon if I break that down into a monthly cost, it'd be easily justifiable. Now I just need to make sure that I get as much use out of it as I can, so that I can rest easy over this purchase. Maybe I'll provide an update in a week or two as to whether it was worth it. 

TTFN.

21-01-23 Saturday Covid-19 Day 315 I - "Paradigm Shift"

Well, that resolution (to blog more frequently) didn't even last a week. Maybe I should hang my head in shame. Maybe anyone who reads this is breathing a sigh of relief. Who knows? 

I thought it might be worth commemorating the fact that we have a new president in the U.S. Now we can refer to "President Biden" rather than "President-Elect Biden". I listened to a bit of his inauguration speech on the day; it sounded pretty good. The sort of stuff you would expect a normal, standard politician to say. I think he's got a pretty big job on his hands (hurr hurr, not *that* kind of job) to reunite the U.S., considering that over 70 million people voted for Trump. He is going to have to show that he is listening to their concerns as well, and working for the benefit of the U.S. as a whole. 

There were two interesting things coming out of the transfer of power in the U.S., or at least they are interesting to me. One is the QAnon conspiracy cult; apparently they mostly believed that the Biden inauguration would be the trigger for a mass national rebellion. According to message boards and other sources people were stockpiling water, ensuring their generators were in working order, etc., because they thought this was going to be "the big one". It seems that a lot of people are now disappointed, and I would hope disillusioned as well. Maybe "disillusioned" is the wrong word; maybe I mean disabused of their fantasies. Hopefully the country can come together on a common set of facts which they agree on, and go forward from there. There will always be disagreement about the best way to progress, but if you can at least agree *where you are*, that is a start for dialogue. And maybe we can get to the same situation here in the UK regarding Brexit, at some stage in the future. 

The other interesting thing is the Winston Churchill bust rebuttal video. A number of right wing commentators in the UK have been up in arms about the fact that Biden has moved the bust of Churchill out of the Oval Office and replaced it with a bust of Cesar Chavez. So the White House admin have released a video stating that it is "just a bust" and it doesn't affect the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the UK. This is quite a good move, I think. Firstly, it is an acknowledgement that some people have concerns (whether those are legitimate or not). Secondly, it addresses those concerns in a lighthearted (I think) way. Thirdly, it shows that they are listening. Fourthly, it cuts off thoses who are agitating against the new administration. Maybe "agitating" is the wrong word, again. But clearly there are some people who preferred Trump in charge, and they are focusing on this change of bust as a signifier of the regime change. If Biden can move this bust out of the Oval Office, and disrespect the UK like this, what else is he going to change? This video minimises the bust issue. It focuses instead on the past relationships between the leaders of the U.S. and the UK, as well as the security and economic interests shared by the two countries. The bust? It's just a bust. 

I think a lot of people are hoping for four years of boring, pragmatic politics coming out of the U.S. If they can include a video like this every once in a while, so much the better. 

TTFN.

21-01-03 Sunday Covid-19 Day 295 I - A Dry 2020

Looking back at 2020, maybe it wasn't the best year to not drink any alcohol. There were certainly some days when I could have done with sinking four beers or a bottle of wine, or relaxing into a nice whisky, and forgetting what was going out in the real world.

But on the whole I managed to abstain. I certainly drank enough Heineken Zero and other non-alcoholic beers to sink a battleship or two, and I found one or two I actually liked. Moretti non-alcoholic lager, for one, and Brooklyn "Special Effects" for another. I would add Leffe as a new one, but I'm still undecided on it. And one I'm looking forward to trying is the non-alcoholic Guinness.

I did have an alcoholic drink on three occasions in the year. Once was in March, in Amsterdam - I had a "radler", which I later realised was a shandy. It was a can or bottle, 330ml, the same quantity as you'd get in a can of coke, and it was about 2.5% alcohol by volume. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I did try some non-alcoholic beers I've not seen in the UK and a few of them were quite tasty.

Then in August, on a Sunday, I had two glasses of prosecco. I did enjoy them. We had visitors, and they brought some bottles, and it was nice weather, etc. The surprising thing was that I didn't have a drink the preceding day, when we had walked ten miles from Littlehampton into Worthing, and then sat in a few pubs in Worthing for the rest of the day. To be honest, I was thinking about having a beer for most of that walk, but then once I smelt the lagers which my walking companions had ordered, I wasn't that keen. Up until that day I had kind of dismissed Nanny State by Brewdog as too stouty / malty, but on that Saturday I really enjoyed it. I did have to leave and get home when everyone else got more drunk than was comfortable, but come the Sunday I was happy with that decision. The last time I had an alcoholic drink, it was a glass of prosecco to celebrate a friend qualifying as an electrician. I would have liked a second, but TW got there first and there wasn't any left for me. No biggie though.

We did discuss me having a drink on New Year's Eve, but we didn't stay up until midnight and by the time we did go to bed, the prosecco had all gone anyway, so there wasn't the opportunity.

I have found it difficult from time to time to stay sober; it's quite an enticing idea, to sink a couple and let go. It's something that comes in waves; I can be quite fine for weeks on end, but then I have a few days where I really fancy a pint. But that feeling normally fades away, and then things are fine again. My trouble is that I enjoy it too much for it to be "a pint" or "just a couple of drinks", and I end up out of control and then massively hungover the next day. Towards the end, in the summer of 2019, being drunk wasn't as much fun as it used to be.

That's the bit I miss though; the chance to let go and be "off duty". If I can find a way to replicate that without getting drunk, I'll have properly nailed it I reckon. Then I won't even want a unit or two of alcohol every hundred days or so. It might be worth looking into that more deeply in 2021. Currently I'm on a 59 day dry streak on the Try Dry app, and I'm looking forward to getting that up to 90 by early Feb. 

TTFN.

21-01-01 Friday Covid-19 Day 293 I - Happy New Year

Happy New Year all. That was a year, wasn't it? I did want to title this entry "Happy New Year Motherfunsters", but I held back. By letting you know, I kind of did it anyway. That is the definition of having your cake and eating it. 

New Year's Eve was a calm affair at Thorley Towers. We had party food for dinner; little mouthfuls of shop-bought breaded chicken and halloumi. We baked a camembert and dipped bread in it. Then I ate mini Stollen bites for dessert, while we played Risk. This was all at the kids' request, BTW.

Then once the game had ended we watched The Last Leg and when that finished at 11pm, we went to bed. TW fell asleep in front of the TV so I had to wake her up, and as we headed upstairs she got a call from a friend, seeing what we were up to and wishing us Happy New Year. TW felt we should stay up with the children to see in the new year, now that she was awake, but I declined, since I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. 

I heard a few unimpressive fireworks being let off at 11 o'clock, probably by Worthing's Brexit contingent. When I looked out to see what was going on, it was quiet and misty and there was nothing to see. I'm sure there is some metaphor or simile there, but I can't be bothered to make it. 

TW told me that there were much more impressive and loud fireworks at midnight, but I was asleep by then and didn't hear them. 

The new year always brings resolutions, and so I have three, I think. The first, as always, is to update this blog more often. This resolution tends to fall by the wayside early, so if I were in your shoes I'd tend not to worry about this one. 

The second is to run more often; it'd be good if I could get out three times a week. So I'll probably go for a little trundle later this morning - I'll have to start as I mean to go on. 

The third is to read more. I've got a load of comics (a whole bookcase full, to be honest) that I haven't read. I've also got Private Eye delivered every fortnight, and the Byline Times every month. More reading material is coming in than is going out, so it is time to do something about that. During lockdown we spent most evenings watching Netflix or Disney+, so in order to make time for reading, I think that TV watching on the scale we were doing it is going to have to go - at least for me. 

I think my ability to concentrate for long periods of time is slowly fading, and I'd like to build that back up. I've got a few books I'm intending to read as well, so I need to focus on those. 2021 might be "The Year of Study". 

We'll have to see how it goes. 

That's it for now, I think. I hope 2021 is good for all of us, but I have a creeping concern that it won't be. 

TTFN. 

#nowreading: Why We Get The Wrong Politicians, by Isabel Hardman