I got a new computer today (NOT a laptop and oh my god the pleasure of a big screen!!!) and a new-to-me TV over the weekend (50”, like I’m over here in big vision land now I swear) and I’m just like. Super enjoying these.

There is more to my life than material pleasure but I just got the computer today and I haven’t used a 20” screen in years, allow me to wallow in the pleasure

I just voted! Our ballots are hilariously large, as in 2 bij 4 feet large fold-outs. There was only one person ahead of me and I was done in less than a minute, most of the time was spent properly re-folding the ballot. The whole process was a wonderfully strict and orderly display of electoral logistics. Got to keep my red pencil AKA mark of democracy because of Covid restricting the use of reusable pencils.

It took until yesterday to decide which party to vote on. There were some newcomers, like the pro-European Volt movement and a new radical equality party, that piqued my interest. In the end I cast my vote (again) for the green socialists. There was some reluctance, but I realized nothing is more important right now than voting for a better climate and I think the green socialists have the best programme for that.Voted for a woman on the list who's been actively working on accessibility and justice and is also a badass wheelchair hockey world champion.

We spent a long weekend at the SO's parents. A much needed change of scenery with lots of quality time. Board games were played. We watched a phenomenal weekly late night show together on TV, which is all about music and finding the joy of wonder in covid times. My soul hasn't been this soothed by something on linear television in...ages. Came back from the weekend refreshed, almost like we had gone on holiday!

I retired at 44 but didn't realize it until I was 46.

I've been grappling with the realization that the take-home from my career doesn't quite cover the cost of a live-in au pair. That, combined with the fact that we turn a profit on the labor of $500k a year worth of employee salary has effectively rendered my career superfluous. It's also become onerous - it's one thing to zip around via plane every ten days to play lightning-round family but quite another to quarantine for X amount of days whenever I get on a mutherfucking bus. Living expenses would also increase as I simply cannot face another summer in my LA shithole and frankly? I think COVID has pushed 30 miles a day in hundred degree weather out of feasibility for a while.

So I've been a useless bum for the past eighteen months or so. The inability to practice my career has been erosive to my self-esteem. I'm fuckin' good at my job but my job doesn't pay me enough to bother doing it... and it's endangered anyway as Hollywood framefucks their bullshit until the very last second and then subtitles everything because they can't afford to make things sound good. It's a terrible industry in a terrible place that deserves to sink into the sand but goddamn it I was fuckin' good at it. An industry where everyone pretends the Golden Globes mean something and then trumpet the bullshit films they console themselves with while paying Patrick Stewart eight million dollars to voice the poop emoji. Nomadland is an engaging book and one of the worst films I've ever seen.

There will always be an onus on "stay at home dad" and it doesn't really matter how much time and energy I put into keeping the business running because the clientele prefers to know that I don't exist. But "retired at 44?"

That's not a bad perspective.

Something few people have the privilege to understand is that any paycheck or accolade you give yourself counts so much less than one given to you by your employer. There is effectively no external validation in entrepreneurship outside VCs throwing money at you. I never called myself a writer, I will never call myself a jeweler. "I'm retired, fuck off" has a nice ring to it, though.

I'm on Day 4 of unfucking the yard. Push mower but 12HP chipper-shredder. There were 400lbs of pine needles on the roof that are no longer on the lawn, a task that exhausted me to dry heaves yesterday - pretty sure that wouldn't have happened two years ago. Fortunately I can say with authority my heart can take it, which was in question not two weeks ago. Pulse-ox still hasn't climbed above 95. There's a pulmonology report I've paid for but nobody's written yet. Go figure, there's an entire world of post-COVID heart and lung checks for the medical establishment to deal with. If you'd told me two years ago that I'd have comparison-shopped and purchased ultrasound machines and fetal heartrate monitors I'd have laughed at you.

If you'd told me I'd be thankful for the burn-unit-grade airchange system I'd be really fuckin' scared.

Retired at 44.

Needed to buy tawny port for a pot pie recipe. The supermarket now has Pabst Hard Iced Coffee but one pathetic bottle of tawny port - California tawny port, no less. I found myself standing in the wine section intellectually bemoaning the extinction of after-dinner wines and thought "who the fuck are you, Thurston Fucking Howell?" Then I got in my Porsche, pulled up in my new driveway and soldered some silver to make my wife an enamel necklace.

Retired at 44. Hey _wage - wherever you are, FUCK YOU.

Moving in two weeks. Excited to be not living with my roommate anymore who doesn't know how to clean up any common area but can also clean his bathroom damn near weekly. Also excited to not be living with him because he makes a very hostile living area by just not saying anything which always makes me feel like I pissed him off somehow. Like dude we live together say hi or something. I can go weeks without talking with the guy. Much less excited to be moving back in with my parents, but the saving grace is I know it's very short-term. Not going to rent for a few months it's time to save like there's no tomorrow because I'm going to be heavily in debt in a year so now's the time to save. Gotta break the eggs to make the omelette. So that's the sacrifice I'm making.

Also, if y'all didn't see, I set up a NCAA March Madness bracket for full bragging rights if anyone chooses to join. Looks like we did one successfully 9 years ago and there was an attempt 8 years ago that was unsuccessful to get people to sign up, and nothing since. I'd say y'all are going down, but I'm guessing just as much as y'all are.

For Cumol

It's a two part recipe. Fancy up tahini and the actual hummus. Tahini will be first, followed by the hummus. I tried to find it online but all of them were ever so slightly off in one way or another. This is what the book says, plus the little changes I make.

Yield 4 cups, which is about double what you need for the hummus recipe, so I always halve this part.

1 head garlic

3/4 cup lemon juice (~3 lemons)

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 generous cups tahini (Find super high-quality stuff, I got a dude near me that uses his parents' sesame crusher from Syria and stuff is phenomenal)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

Ice water -- variable amount

Don't peel the garlic, just rip the cloves apart and throw that, the lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp salt (other full tsp will be used later) into a blender. Blend it so the garlic is broken into a coarse puree. Only takes a few seconds. Then let that rest for like 10 minutes or so, allowing the garlic to mellow.

While that's sitting for 10 minutes, in a bowl throw together the tahini, rest of the salt, and cumin. Once the lemon garlic is done with its ten minute rest, get a very fine mesh strainer, and pour the lemon juice through it into the bowl with the tahini. Press down on the garlic chunks to get as much of the liquid out as you can.

With a good whisk (I've broken crappy whisks before doing this) start mixing that like there's no tomorrow. It's going to get really tough. As it thickens and toughens up, add ice water bit my bit (per the book ~1 1/2 cups, but I never measure I just keep adding until it's right. And it'd be 3/4 since I halve it, but again, you do you). Keep adding until it's super smooth. It'll lighten up in color and when I say super smooth I really do mean it. It'll be smooth and creamy and you'll have to stop yourself eating it all with a spoon and actually putting it in the hummus as it's supposed to be.

So now that we're done with that, we got the hummus recipe. I don't follow it perfectly because I think there's one step that's unnecessary but again, you do you.

1 cup dried chickpeas

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups tahini from above

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

Okay so here's where dude gets crazy. He wants you to soak a cup of dried chickpeas and one of the two tsp of baking soda in a bowl covered with at least 2 inches of water overnight.That's what I feel is unnecessary. I just use a can because it's damn near the same quantity and then I don't have to actually plan ahead. Idk can size in Europe, but over here a can of chickpeas is 15.5 oz and that size works perfectly.

So then he has you throw the chickpeas into a pot with the other one tsp of baking soda and bring it to a boil, then cover and lower to a simmer for an hour. I've forgotten the baking soda before, don't do that. It helps the skins all fall off in some magic science way. So as all that is simmering for an hour, skim the skins off every once in a while. Make sure they're all covered in water the whole time. And if they go longer that's totally fine the goal is to really cook them through and make them very tender and damn near fall apart. You'll probably have some fall apart that's fine.

While all that's boiling, put the tahini, salt, and cumin in a food processor. I use all the tahini not just 1 1/2 cups, not worth keeping that extra bit I wouldn't use it for anything, though I'm sure it'd have plenty of good uses, like a salad dressing or something, or just a straight spoon. Once the chickpeas are done boiling and you've skimmed off a good portion of those skins, dump them in a strainer to drain them, and then throw the cooked chickpeas in the food processor with the other stuff. Turn that on and let it run and run and run. I let it go for a few minutes just really make sure it's all really super smooth. And then, since you were boiling the chickpeas, it's still nice and warm at this point and you should really just eat it all in one sitting :)

I am living like a college student. I have a microwave, a hotplate and an air-fryer. Well, I guess I didn't have an air-fryer as a college student, but my kitchen was roughly the same size as it is now. We have a major kitchen renovation underway. Also our master bathroom. It's making for an interesting home environment. We are restricted to a living room and an office. All other rooms are in disarray either directly or by proximity.

Our kids start back up at school on Monday. I am both ecstatic and a bit sad. This past year it has been nice, some times, to have them around. But, I am mostly ecstatic. They need interaction with other children and they need the guidance that comes from positive peer-pressure. It's not okay to be a dick. If you're a dick other kids won't want to play with you. This is important stuff that gets missed in home-schooling.

I'm thrilled to have space. Space to work, unencumbered by questions like, "can I have a snack? or "what are you working on?"

Forever Labs is going well. We have secured two distributors for one of our patents that we have commercialized. Check it out; I give you... the SuperShotPRP™. All early indications are that the physicians and patients will benefit mightily. We are excited.

The kids have spring break in two weeks. We are going to a warm beach. It will be fun.

Watching the crypto market closely these days. Feel like it's either about to explode or implode. We shall see.

Because of the renovations my guitars are out in the living room. I walk past them every day and it's hard to resist picking them up. Outside of family, my one true love is the guitar. I sure love playing. What a great gift music is to the musician.

Whatever your love is, I hope you get to experience it often. Onward, Hubski!

I was doing a 24hr fast once a month, but fell off the wagon. I'm fasting today, and will try to stay on it.

A researcher I know has been putting out some very interesting papers suggesting that plasma dilution in older individuals can have robust rejuvenating effects.

http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32474458/

Her group recently demonstrated that old blood was deleterious for young animals.

http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27874859/

It's interesting to think that something as simple as a build up of factors in blood could be such a large part of the aging program. It seems in easy agreement with the "healthy blood donor effect" and the widespread historical use of blood-letting, but we shall see... I am watching this closely.

Got to getaway for the weekend with my brother and his wife, to a friend's vacation home which has been sitting empty for a while. Wood stove ... Washington peninsula forests and beaches ... nice weather two days, and a howling windstorm the last day that had us worried about the windows blowing in!

We did puzzles. Watched Ted Lasso. Drank many single malt whiskys (Scottish and American ones!). Made lovely food. And just had a good, chill time together.

COVID sucks, but we all got tested two days before getting together, so we could just chill like we used to back in the olden days...

Really needed that ....................

Great news - my Dad got vaccinated yesterday! Our province is at 10% of the population vaccinated, older folks first. With spring coming and vaccination schedules ramping up, there is a hopeful mood in the air.

I've been looking for a rug for the past few months. And as usual, the things I want are way over my budget and the things that are in my budget I don't like. But I might have finally found something on facebook marketplace - going to check it out tonight! Fingers crossed it looks good in person, but my preliminary photoshop indicates it should be good. I've been getting into home decorating more and more recently, and I'm really wanting to have a funky, original looking place. I'm sick and tired of IKEA interiors, and hope to invest in some nice furniture and art pieces in the coming years.

My new job is going well so far. I feel like I've already helped move some projects along, that have been on standby due to lack to attention/time for a long time. Created the yearly survey of the makerspace members, moved the wiki onto notion, cleaned up the website backend and working on making a theme switch and some new content. Feeling super productive, which I haven't felt in a while. It's just a nice feeling to be crushing a to-do list. My favorite work assignment so-far has been going to a craft beer store to spend 50$ in craft brews for the guy who volunteers to run our yearly General Assembly :)

We survived the trip. The only trouble we encountered was the first leg of the trip. An hour after leaving the house we found ourselves in a snow storm that lasted for the next five hours; thankfully it just blew around and never accumulated on the road. There were a couple of sections in higher altitudes that got slippery causing two tractor-trailers to overturn, but plows had come through before we got there and salted the highway pretty well. The rest was smooth sailing. We made our first hotel stop in Indianapolis, then made our way to Oklahoma City, then Albuquerque before finally arriving in San Diego.

Big highlight was getting to see glimpses of the border wall as we entered California. Seems so silly considering how much space there is around it that you can still get through.

Got my daughter and grandson settled in their new home, movers came and we got everything arranged and mostly put away. Just a few odds and ends for her and her husband to deal with when he gets there.

I ran out Friday evening and made my way to some local breweries. First one I went to insisted on a flight rather than just a small tasting. And by California law you have to order food. I had already eaten and had a number of places I wanted to go so sitting down for 20oz was not part of my plan. I only consumed about half, enough to not feel like I wasn't wasting my money, but enough to determine if there were any beers I wanted to bring back home. The other six breweries let me have little tasters of 1-2oz. I ended up bringing back two cases worth of cans. Some I am not a fan of, but my local package store I frequent has talked about them so I got some for the owner. Some I got for a friend. A couple of four-packs are strictly for me. Looking forward to a night when I don't have anything else I have to do.

My wife is missing our grandson something fierce, so I have to work extra hard to keep her distracted. It has actually been nice being able to spend time together without all the interruptions. It almost feels like we are dating again. We started setting a schedule to take evening walks together. Partly to start getting in shape and partly to spend time alone together. And to get the dogs out of the house.

Overall, life is good. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Hey everyone,

A thought crossed my mind today and I thought I might try to get an outside perspective.

Correct me if I am wrong but I feel that with respect to global vaccine rollouts we have simultaneously:

a) A supply bottleneck preventing most countries from consistently accessing vaccine doses. C.f. current grandstanding between EU and UK around supply of the AZ vaccine.

b) Opposition from many countries to proposals at the WTO level to waive aspects of IP relating to vaccine production.

Currently however I see no discussion of how these two situations are incongruent. The supply issues mean that the obvious narrative of rich countries importing all the vaccines and exporting only "fuck you" is only partially valid as, under the current circumstances, they can't even procure enough for themselves. So why the reluctance to open up the IP and allow generic production (as with HIV antiretrovirals) which would presumably increase availability?

I scanned through a few of these but I wanted to throw it out there before seeing if I have time later:

EU procurement woes

Recently in re TRIPS waiver

MSF report looking into IP waivers

There was a pro triathlon last Friday, and the local favorite took third! It was an extremely solid field, though one competitor tested COVID positive and couldn't compete. The field was a lot of the best of the best. Not only did she take third but was the fastest American, beating two other world-class Americans.

She started the run in eighth and ran down five women to get third. One does not simply run five pro triathletes into the ground without a fight. It's part of what's exciting about triathlon. One can be a great swimmer, good cyclist, and good runner leading going into the run, and a good swimmer, good cyclist, and great runner will run past you with nothing you can do.

A coworker sometimes uses the phrase "off the reservation" to mean "straying away from the company line." I finally said something to him yesterday, privately, pointing out it's probably an offensive term that refers to forcing Native Americans onto reservations. It's so easy to use offensive idioms, but not realizing it's bad doesn't make it ok. I found an article on NPR from a Native American (whose tribe is even in my company's service territory) who considers it offensive. While other terms are worse, like the Washington football team, he noted less offensive terms signal to people it's ok to use the more offensive ones.

Happy Saturday

For those who care to know,

5600x, EVGA 3080 FTW3, 16gb 3600mhz cl16.

I wish I got to live in the progressive wonderland that I am led to believe the rest of the country is outside of the deep south.