Year 2- Day 213 (I think?) Another Sunny Day!

Since I was working remotely again, I decided to take a long walk at lunchtime resulting in a Cold Brew Milk Shake (basically a coffee ice cream milk shake - which is actually better than either vanilla or chocolate). Hand made by the tiny Korean woman behind the counter - in the Carvel Ice Cream Shop. It's an old school ice cream shop. No seats. Just the counter and the ice cream.

I needed it to stay awake and for that extra oomph. I'd not slept well the night before. It was a medium shake, so nothing too major.

Didn't get much work done due to technical difficulties. Every time I upgrade Citrix, it disconnects multiple times. I'd say it was my wifi, but I'm positive it's Citrix.

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Anyhow, found this amusing thread on book twitter:

Cat Sebastian's twitter thread, along with various others...about an idiot who opines that if anyone who doesn't finish a book is insulting the writers...

Here it is:
( book twitter reacts to the idea that not finishing a book is problematic )

Ah, Twitter. I find it amusing at times. I particularly like the lit writer and booktwitter kerfuffles.

Cat Sebastian for those who don't know - is an independent romance writer, who writes mainly LGBTA, non-traditional historical romance pairings. I've read two of her heterosexual romances, which were off-beat and quite good.
I find her charming. Also, great name. I wish I had that name. My name is rather boring.

Here's a funky carrier pigeon, whose picture I took on my walk to the grocery store after work. His owner, got him to pose for us.



Did laundry today - went down before lunch - and ran into two other people, neither wearing masks. Both tiny women. I towered over them, even slouching. Honestly I'm surrounded by tiny people.

I told this to mother, who informed me that she kept surprising folks who'd only seen her in a wheel chair before - with how tall she is. They react to me in the same way, I get up - people are shocked. I'm high waisted, and my height is entirely in my legs.

Anyhow, I gave up, since they were using all the washers, and the one who removed her stuff from the washers - had rugs, which take forever to dry.
I decided to come back after lunch.

This turned out to be a smart move - no one was down there, and the washers and dryer were vacant. I was able to do three loads with no issues. (Well outside of the fact that I accidentally overlooked a towel and three pairs of socks in one of the washers - and had to dry them separately for an additional 26 minutes after everything else was done. I discovered them when I came downstairs to remove the stuff I'd just dried.) There was another woman down there - she was wearing a mask. Asian-American. Asians tend to wear masks for the most part. It's usually the Eastern Europeans and the Bengali who don't for some reason, also the Hispanic. I'm not sure why those three cultures have issues with it.
The other one is the Orthodox Jews - they will refuse, and the Jewish school rarely has folks in masks. Everyone else is a mixed bag.

Most people don't wear them outside any longer. I rarely do, unless the streets are crowded. And I'm beginning to wear them less and less inside my apartment complex. For the most part because I'm alone, it's rare I cross paths with folks, which is most likely why others aren't wearing them. Why bother - if you rarely see anyone? People tend to stick to themselves in my complex, which is a good and bad thing. Even more so now during the pandemic. I can go weeks with barely seeing a soul inside said complex.

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I didn't sleep well last night, been having leg cramps, so I was overly tired today. But the sunshine and the warmth helped. It was in the upper 70s, low 80s today. Tomorrow a storm is supposed to blow in along with a cold front, pulling the temperatures down to the 50s and 60s.

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Been watching Baking Impossible on Netflix, which is basically engineering meeting baking. It's a lot of fun. Although I think the lead judge just likes smashing the contestants masterpieces. Two of the challenges involved just that. They had the contestants erect tall buildings and city scapes out of cake and edibles, then put them on an earthquake simulator to see if they could cause the buildings to come tumbling down. The other challenge was to build a five foot tall car, out of cake and edibles, with a desert in the trunk, that can safely hold a test dummy - and crash it into a wall. If the dummy survives - that helps your points, also the car should look cool, and the desert be yummy and survive the experience.

This is far more entertaining to watch than the baking and cooking shows that depend on taste. This thing doesn't depend on taste that much at all. Two of the judges are engineers, only one is into taste.

I don't find these competitions stressful at all. Mainly because I don't really care that much who wins. I root for folks of course, but honestly? It doesn't matter. It's just cake.

This one is only eight episodes long, with the last two dropping this week.

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Final random photo of the night...or rather photo I took on my walk today.

I took this while a dog walker crept up behind me and startled me when she told me that I could get closer if I wanted to. Apparently it was her house and yard.