Changelog 2023 February 20

Browsing other blogs I came across one that reminded me of a truly old-school personal blog, in that it was someone actually just writing about what was going on in their life. I’ve mostly quit social media, so I haven’t read or written that kind of “status update” for a while.

I’m old enough to find it valuable. My memory just isn’t what it used to be, and I don’t want to forget even the mundane happenings and thoughts of my day-to-day. Not being a fan of frequent picture taking I’ll just do what comes naturally and write it down, LiveJournal style.

The blog in question kept to an end-of-the-month schedule, but I’ll probably go for more frequent but less regular posts. Calling these updates a “changelog” since I just want to keep track of what’s new or different.

Major update: our daughter was born January 9th. She’s growing very fast, and definitely a key reason to stop and reflect on remembrance and remembering. When it comes to things I don’t want to forget about she’s obviously at the top of the list. We’re having a lot of fun listening to kids’ music. I’ve introduced Raffi, Laurie Berkner, and They Might Be Giants to the home. We’re going to baby concerts at the palace of arts pretty much every week where she gets a strong dose of folk music. I think my wife is surprised we’re already doing things like concerts, dinner dates, and long dog walks as a family after just a month, but she’s a supermom which makes it ez. We’ll be going to the national gallery tomorrow!

Spicy plants are in their seedling stage and nestled under lights on my desk. We’re sticking with the same community garden plot this year and I’ll be transplanting them there once I’m confident it’s warm enough. Having a go at growing herbs indoors again. Really looking forward to planting and tending the plot again this year and I’m hoping I have better luck. I think our effort to improve the soil will pay off, and if we manage to avoid any weird weather (last year we tried a late season cucumber crop but they got pummeled by a horrible hail storm) we should see more success.

I still haven’t had any stunning success with hydroponics. The latest escalation in my war on root rot is adding ~0.22% of 3% hydrogen peroxide by volume to my nutrient solution. People Online™️ say it both kills pathogens and releases oxygen as it reacts. The main reason I haven’t already tried it is that unlike in the United States, I have to go the pharmacy and specifically ask for this Dangerous Chemical.

Another pharmacy fact I learned recently is that you can also buy what I’d basically call cleaning gasoline there? It’s for wounds but we used it to remove adhesive from our windows. When I was a kid I remember using gasoline to get sticky stuff or paint off my hands, but it was weird buying a little bottle of medical gasoline over the counter.

In those first few weeks of having a newborn in the house I binged my way through Mass Effect 1 and 2, and then started 3. But now the little one is getting too interesting to just leave alone - spending a lot more time awake and attentive - which makes gaming less attractive. We’re playing the Metroid Prime remake a little bit at a time. My wife’s replaying The Minish Cap.

Lastly we’re slowly planning our ✨first family vacation✨ to take place some time before I have to go back to work.