Dune

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Start with the trailer.

Like Bel, I consider the Dune book series to be in my top 10 all-time. There’s no possible spoilers for a book like that. Sort of how like everyone know King Kong is supposed to die at the end. The books cover an astounding level of complexity in terms of morals, and what it means to be human. The links to AI (which is from 1965!), religion, mortality, and destiny all come together in an amazing piece.

I think most people are familiar with the David Lynch version, what with Sting in a jockstrap and all. That movie really freaked me out when I was younger, which I guess is the point of all Lynch films. There are a few too many liberties taken here, so that when you read the books it seems quite odd. Netflix has a documentary on Jorodowsky’s Dune. It really seems like a massive acid trip, rather than the B-class movie that Lynch ended up with.

In 2003 there was a Sci-Fi miniseries that covered the first 3 books in the series. That was really well done, and you get to see a young James McAvoy too. It didn’t include the inner monologues, which was a nice change, and it kept the storyline clean rather than disturbing.

What interests me most about this interpretation is the director Denis Villeneuve. He makes incredibly movies and surrounds himself with an amazing team. I’m one of those weirdos who appreciates lighting, color choice, and can identify a director of photography. You look at something like Zach Snyder and his penchant for drawn out set pieces that are more like paintings, or the more signature quick dialogue cuts from Tarantino. You get to appreciate their methods and interpretations.

If you watch the trailer more than once, you’ll notice that most of it is filmed in contrast. It’s practically a black and white film. There are close ups of people’s faces as they live through a moment, or ponder a thought. There’s something about his approach to detail that really brings it to another level.

Really looking forward to it.

Small Goals

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Like getting out of bed.

I know I’m in a funk. That makes the funk even funkier. I have a pretty good idea why I’m in a funk. Kids and wife are back in school and it took all of a day for issues to pop up. Learning curve, and we need to adjust – fine. Work is in full transform mode, trying to take advantage of the work from home model to finally implement some much needed changes. Then there are some friends who are going through health issues – seems I can’t go 2 weeks before some sort of major health event going on. Normally I can box these items up and manage them. Those boxes are overfull, and my normal coping mechanisms are lacking.

Writing helps. Talking too. The ideas in my head need to come out, and both are effective ways to do so. Another technique I’ve tried with some success is setting small goals. Things that, on a normal day, are benign and simple. They are simple things, and the act of doing them brings some amount of pleasure.

Getting in and out of bed by a given time is a simple thing. The morning wash. Ensuring I take the time to eat a healthy breakfast. Pausing from desk work and stretching. Taking a few minutes to clean up the kitchen counters. Prepping coffee for tomorrow. Normally I wouldn’t even think of them, I’d just do it. Now it’s conscious.

To move into gaming for a minute, Stardew Valley is pretty much based on small goals. Waking up and watering my garden. Petting my animals. Repairing a fence or clearing the field of weeds. Making mayonnaise or truffle oil. Collecting roe and pickling it. It sounds ridiculous, but the act of plucking a field of blueberries just feels fun.

The larger goals are there. I’ve fully upgraded the farm house, but I’ve yet to furnish it with all the casks/kegs I want to build a winery. I’m 1 harvest away from finishing up the community center packages. I’m at 5 hearts (of 10) with a few villagers, so lots more talking and presents to go. I’ve got all the rarecrows (meaning access to the casino too!). I have chests and chests of stuff that may have some use, but I’ve yet to figure it out. I’ve got about 200k in the bank. I know I need to reach floor 100 in the Skull Cavern, so I’ll need a ton of bombs and a few healing pots to get there. None of these items can be done in a single day, week, or even a month of game-time. It will take multiple play sessions to get there, and each one still feels good to get through.

Stardew Valley (like Minecraft and similar) is not a game about the end, or major cinematics, it’s entirely about the journey. It’s chocked full of tiny little things to do, mundane even. But they are all linked together in some way. It’s like a dance, where you know the basic steps, but it takes music and a partner to really see it shine. You don’t wait for the music to end, you enjoy it while it plays.

It’s sometimes hard to explain why gaming is such a therapeutic thing for me. Most people only think of FPS/gore when they think of games. But in truth, I don’t play games to see the end credits. I play games to experience small joys. The best games have those joys intertwine into an experience that just doesn’t let go. And even when you do see those end credits, you feel like you just took the most amazing of journeys. It’s a damn good feeling.

Weekend Musings

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This was a long weekend, where Monday is a stat that recognizes the efforts labour have provided to society. That’s a whole tangent of a post, but specific to me, it’s the weekend where my family gets together for a fishing tourney.

This year it was a bit different due to COVID, and some logistics around that made the trip up take nearly 11 hours, and back down almost 7. Normally it’s less than 6. The weather was great. The fishing was atrocious, and I’m of the growing mindset we need to change location. The company was super, and really the largest highlight.

My wife and kids went to our cottage for some R&R. Our roof was redone with some contractor grade material. Ice shield applied at the low pitch and the crazy valley we have – tons of it. It looks great. I’m looking forward to the spring and the cottage looking like we left it in the fall. Now we haver some minor finishing details inside, the the vinyl to put up, and some gutters. This year’s cottage reno list includes:

  • 250ft weeping tile
  • new drainage
  • new supports and leveling
  • External and internal reframing
  • New short wall facing
  • Rebuilt custom windows
  • Rebuilt ceiling
  • New wiring
  • Extended door for shed
  • 3yrds of clean fill to level off the yard
  • New roof

I’m looking forward to not having anything to do. Greatly.

No work-related fires this weekend, but some additional setbacks when it comes to health of team members. I won’t go into any detail, but these past few months have been a continual “bad news extravaganza”. It’s depressing, and I’m having to come to terms with how it’s impacting my personal mental state.

Also coming to terms that the summer has come and gone. I need to get back into my workout routine to offset the beer I’ve had during that time. The labour over the summer offset some of it, but the effect it has on mind and body is sorely needed. I’m missing hockey to a crazy degree, so moving is key.

Not much in gaming news. Laptop is still in the shop. WoW apparently has a date for launch, and from the limited bits of info I’ve seen so far, it looks to be inline with BfA rather than Legion. Looking like it will be the first WoW expansion I don’t pick up in launch week. If I can get my laptop back soon, I’ll try and put some time into Divinity 2. I could use an RPG right now.

On the bright side, 3 episodes of The Boys are out now (I like that I can’t binge it). Should be fun to see where that’s gone this season. Hopefully it helps get me out of this funk.

First Day of School

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My gaming laptop is in for repairs (4 unresponsive keys) so nothing on that front this week. I will state that finding replacement parts for any laptop is a hell of an adventure – most ship out of China. Anyhoot, should be fixed in the next couple days. I still have my tablet which currently hosts Stardew Valley. Still very zen.

In my part of the world, today is the first day of school for my girls. My wife is also a teacher, but in high school which starts next week. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to a certain amount of anxiety. I know teachers are going to do their best, with the tools they have at hand. I also know they are not first responders, they are caretakers. Nurses don’t apply discipline. Firefighters don’t help kids that fall and get a scraped knee.

I also know that my level of understanding on medical issues is not the same as others. In the limited exposure I’ve set myself for, I’ve not yet experienced people who don’t want to wear a mask, or who are challenged with keeping a social distance. I’ve heard of it though friends, that’s for sure. And it’s going to be an interesting event if a parent is given the choice between a kid with sniffles going to school vs. an un-paid day of work.

Let alone a child’s ability to respect distancing. No monkey bars. No basketball. No street hockey. I’ve seen the classrooms, it’s not possible for them to keep this distant when there’s 25 in a room that fits 15.

But my kids are happy to see their friends again. They are looking forward to meeting their new teachers. They want to learn. They were all smiles today when I dropped them off at school. Who am I to break that? So I do my best to not bring up my worries around them, just some conversations with the wife instead. And when they come home tonight, we’ll focus on all the good/cool stuff they did today. Need to make the best out of the situation and find some positive in uncertain times.

Dumpster Fire

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I really try to keep away from politics, it rarely ends well.  Sweet igloo, there’s a dumpster fire going on with our neighbours down south.

185,000 people are dead, which is the equivalent of having a 9/11 event every 3 days.  9/11 being the most defining US moment in the past 50 years, where everyone came together.   Not saying the counterpunch was relevant, or on target, but the country at least was unified.  And the whole world is impacted, the US decides to go it alone.

There have been escalating protests, with everything being put under a lens.  Things people did 20+ years ago are being measured against today’s standards.  And no one is actually doing anything about it, just posting blogs/tweets.  People are still being shot for no reason other than the colour of their skin, and there’s no consequences.

This seems more like Lord of the Flies, where the adults have simply left the room.  It’s us vs them, which is exactly how fascist states run.  But it’s cool, cause the stock market went up a couple points.

It’s not like we don’t have challenges here in Canada, we most certainly do.  Big ones.  But they are such small potatoes to the insanity south of the border.  It would be sad if it wasn’t so god darn scary.  To witness the fall of a modern empire in such a small time frame is beyond comprehension.

I am reminded of two pertinent quotes.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

Tomorrow I want to post something good.  I need to.

The 5 Ds

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No, not Dodgeball. Time management. And since I am often starved for time, I need to do this all too often. This applies when you’re presented with a choice of competing events for time.

I say 5, when the larger view is that there are only 4. I’ll explain the 4 first.

DO

The act of doing the task. Most people time this at the 2 minute mark, if you can get it done in that time, then do it. Being a good writer helps tremendously on this, as you can do more in 2 minutes. My personal bar is closer to 5 minutes, given the types of decisions I need to make and associated actions.

DEFER

Things that take longer to do but you don’t have time to do them. Work-related, this is a rather big pile. I have a fully booked schedule to track piles of activities, and a tracking sheet for outstanding items. Woooo is this a big pile.

DELETE

Most people struggle with this one. We are inundated with requests and many of them can be ignored. If I’m not in the TO field, I don’t need to do the work and I move on. I get dozens of requests from vendors to meet them, I ignore most of those too. I tend to hoard information though, so while I may ignore it, I don’t necessarily delete it.

DELEGATE

This doesn’t only apply to management roles. Let’s say I have repairs to do, I can do most of them myself but I know that the finishing work takes a PILE of time and I’d look at my mistakes for years. So I’ll end up paying someone to do that work for me. In group games, there’s a ton of delegation. Raid leaders know this all too well.

The Fifth

This is where people get stuck, and it’s the ability to decide. Too often people get paralyzed with a decision to make and end up not making one at all. There’s the flip side where people make decisions too hastily and come to regret the outcomes. The act itself is a skill, rather than an outcome, and everyone needs their own practice and set of rules. What I may delegate, another may do.

Back from vacation, I have ~750 emails to get through, which isn’t too bad at all compared to a normal work week. A lot of them are more of the FYI type, but there are a couple in there where I was tasked with work in the future. In a lot of cases, I will delete those actions because the folks can’t understand how an Out of Office / delegate system works. They will ask for a status update and I will just say “did you send it to my clearly indicated delegate?”. A small but important amount will be generic tasks, like performance target updates that are for a larger group, including me.

Over time I’ve become better at time management. Maybe a tad too good at times, and managing expectations becomes complicated. What I can do in 2 hours may take a team member a week to follow through. I know a guy who can put baseboards on an entire floor faster than a team of 5 amateurs can do it. The larger challenge them becomes in delegating, and ensuring the people who do need to do the work are trained/coached along so they get better over time. It takes time, but the payoff is immense. Less work for me, more experience for them, and we get to build a relationship from it.

And that’s my work goal for the rest of this calendar. In the personal space… that’s a really open question. More of a team game there.

Back Into the Fire

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Two weeks of vacation isn’t enough – I’ll just put it as plain as that. The first week was all renovations, the second was rain pretty much every day. It wasn’t office work, granted, and I was able to disconnect from email/chat for that time, but it wasn’t what I’d consider a break. When I did get back to the house, the back to school stuff was needed, our fridge needs to be replaced, and my Raider laptop has 4 faulty keys. First world problems much.

The Laptop Keyboard

I have a GE75 Raider, it’s a bit over a year old. The ESC, ~, Y and numpad 5 are not working for some reason. I checked the mechanical parts, everything is fine. The backlight is fine too. I figure I’ll order a new keyboard and replace it. But the GE75 is too new, so I’m rather looking for replacement parts for a GE73 (1yr earlier model). Most ship from China, but I did find one at a reasonable price nearby.

I’ve built my own PCs for years. I’ve repaired numerous laptops. Keyboard on laptops are the absolute worst thing to replace, since you need to take everything out. The GE75 has 2 hidden screws, or hidden in a way that you can’t really get to them without taking more parts first. I was really hoping not to have to take the fan off, and just the board, but everything is glued to something else. The form factor is so small, there are cables connected to both sides of the main board, and I always felt like I was breaking something. Finally get to the keyboard case and there’s a damn shield covering it. One that’s set with plastic rivets. It’s impossible for me to repair without breaking a pile more.

So now I need to find a shop that can do the work for me.

Stardew Valley

I use gaming as stress management. I picked up Stardew Valley for my tablet a while ago, never really got into it. Given the past few weeks, I took it for a spin.

It’s certainly calming. Managing energy levels to get through a day is a fun set of constraints. It’s impossible to lose, which is also good for stress. What it has a bit too much of is breadth to start. There are so, so many objectives that are possible, and nearly all of them are gated behind multiple days of work. They are optional, but they often unlock some other activity – like a greenhouse that grows plants year long.

The gameplay is such that you always get that “one more day” drive. Nearly every action can be automated in some manner, but that requires materials/money. Getting that also takes time and months of in-game effort. The systems are intertwined, and not easily explained, making wiki almost mandatory.

Not saying that’s a bad thing, just that sometimes I end up hitting a wall cause I can’t figure out how the next step completes. Say like a fish that only shows up when raining in the summer, at night, at a lake. How am I supposed to know that?

It is fun to discover new things. Realizing that almost everything has a value aside from money. It’s a drastic departure from most modern games, what with the grey/green/purple quality info. Once into the groove, things start working out.

I’m starting Spring in year 2 now. I understand enough of the mechanics now to close out the community Center this year and those extra unlocks. It’s fun setting up long term goals, then the short term ones as steps.

Plus it has fishing.

Impromptu Vacation

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After going full bore and filling every weekend with something, I was finally able to negotiate some time off. 2 weeks worth of full break mode. A few hours after I had confirmed it, my wife sends me a picture of the cottage and it’s leaky roof. And some carpenter ants having fun under a large window set. Guess the vacation would be postponed.

The first weekend was some friends helping get the demo & framing done. The supporting joists were rotten, a separate set of windows was crooked, and an inside wall had suffered years of water damage. All of Saturday was fixing the exterior, straightening the wall, levelling the windows, insulating, and closing up with OSB/Tyvek. The large window repairs included cutting 8” of the floor. The ceiling over the dining area was full of years of mouse trappings. Holy moley. Sunday was setting new window trim for the siding. And then watching the roof repairs not work as expected and it leak inside the house.

Monday was more roof repairs and fixing the interior wall. I should mention it was a load bearing wall, and right on the load. Father-in-law is more than handy and it was a day and a half of work to get it sorted out. The good news is that even with the hose spraying the roof, the leaks are gone.

Tuesday was clean up work outside, shoring up the retaining wall in the crawl space, caulking and filling in holes.

Wednesday was about rebuilding the interior finish. Some white pine tongue & groove, over a cedar plank to cover the cut floor. The rad was going to cover the plank anyhow. With the large wood shortages around, we opted for some 1×5” pine trim. Looks pretty good.

Thursday was about finishing the ceiling in the dining area that had leaked. That was a very cathartic part of the project since its the room we tend to spend the most time in. The same large trim is on the ceiling, just as on the window trim. It’s a different look on the windows, since they are not the same size (off an 1 1/2”), but it still retains the cottage / wood look.

Friday was OFF, as was Saturday. Sunday was mostly off, but we needed to expand the size of the door on the shed by about 9”. A shed that’s 30+ years old, and far from level. Building on anything that’s not level is really hard, cause there’s no easy cuts, everything must be eyeballed. We opted to shore up some parts, shave some parts, and make it as level as possible.

Things that are left to do this week:

  • Put up the vinyl (should be here for next weekend)
  • Rebuild 2 access doors to the crawl space (4×4), including the framing)
  • Add some panels and caps to the extended shed door to close off the gaps
  • Install a 4×8 wood panel sheet on a rebuilt wall
  • Install quarter round in the living/dining room ceilings
  • Spread out the fill that’s in a few piles around to level the yard, which includes removing a good half ton of river rock (we have a homemade shaker)

And before end of season

  • Install some new rain gutters
  • Replace the roof
  • Install a vent in the crawl space

The end goal is that most people won’t see a large difference in the cottage, except some new colours. We will see doors that close level, windows that slide level, less water all over the place, and a shed door that is miles easier to get into / out of.

Oh, and get some fishing in too!

The High Road

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The problem with the high road is that so few people take it.

Over the years I’ve learned to split off things that matter, and things that don’t.  That also applies to people.  I know what’s important to me, what makes those around me happy, and that’s really enough to get me through the day.  I trust the people close to me, enough to have honest conversations on pretty much any topic.  I’m more than willing to help people out… last weekend the plans changed from playing golf to building a shed, and I didn’t really see an issue with that.

I noted earlier that I have been fortunate to own and have access to other cottages.  Access to those other cottages means that I can let people use mine.  This year, a lot of people are under cabin fever, so that’s a boon to them.

Prior context – we took a weekend to lift the cottage and install some weeping tile (~250′).  The doors close better.  Water weeps better.  Some parts of the cottage necessarily have new gaps that we’re going to discover.

The first group had a blast.  They went through a cord and a half of wood in something like 3 days (if you burn wood, you know how crazy that is).  No issues, came back, and things were super clean and orderly.

Second group also had a great time.  We got a few messages from them about things they did – like finding a wasp’s nest, or a light fixture not working.  They even attempted to change the light.  They are also super clean and make sure things are as they left.

Fifth group is great.  They just needed some time away from the city and some calm.  No challenges.

Fourth group encountered some challenges.  The BBQ was missing some gas, and even then wasn’t rolling 100%.  There was a communication challenge as well, related to the third group.  Still, a rather good experience

The third.  While there, the messages were great, no issues.  I’m not sure what happened between group 3 and 4, but that didn’t go as smoothly as it could have.  Not bad, just not as smooth as all the others.  We did get a follow-up from group 3 afterwards.  That was a weird one.  Some out of left field comments on the maintenance of the cottage.  A point that there was a leak inside the cottage during the rain.  Things that make you go “hmmm”.  Especially considering the weekend of gold/shed building would have moved to repairing this issue ASAP.

The highroad in this is what happens after my stomach turns to knots and I take a dozen deep breaths.  I would have absolutely taken a different approach than group 3, and some of the comments are without any weight.  It’s a cottage.  I really don’t care what one group thinks of cosmetics, when I have no issues with 4 others.  The high road here is to thank them for the information, let others know there may be some issues to look out for, and then head up on the weekend to do the necessary investigation / repairs.   The roof was already planned to be redone in the fall, when it wasn’t a heat wave.  Siding was another project to do, and then there’s some landscaping to close out the fall and finalize in early spring.

I guess I’m getting more mature.  When I was younger I’d have no issues letting my opinions be shared.  But there’s no real end point here than two sides that don’t agree on something banal. Or maybe I’m just tired of the energy required to have those arguments.  On to the next project.

Back in the Saddle

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I am extremely fortunate to both own, and have access to other cottages.  I’d guess I’ve only slept in my own bed 5 times in the last 6 weeks.  While I’m thankful to be back in my own bed, I can say I did enjoy the experience all the same.  The only downside was that I didn’t get any time off in that span.  Some things at work popped up, and I had to cancel/defer the planned time off .  It sucks massively when you have to work while the kids and friends are spending days in the sun/water having a blast.  The evenings were good though – more than good given the work stress.  I’m happy I do have a job, but the work/life stuff isn’t all that pleasant at the moment.

There’s something to be said about being so busy you can’t really think straight.  A firefighter putting out a blaze isn’t worry about their credit card balance, right?  Well, eventually things stop being on fire and bills start showing up.  My team’s response to COVID has had some significant costs, but the real financial kicker is the use of all the services.  We blew through a year’s worth of budget in 2-3 months, so I need to find more money, and soon.  Compounded by annual budget cycles, all I’m seeing now is requests for funding.  Making that even worse is that the key people to make sense of those files are as burnt out as I am (or worse) and we all need a good break.  We need some light to shine before the regular September rush starts us all back again.

That rough aside, I do have to say I’ve more than enjoyed the time I have had with my family these past few months.  Seeing both my kids grow before my eyes is something I could never buy.  Camping out under the stars, tubing like madwomen, seeing them interact and help other kids to learn new skills.. all of it amazing to see.  And my wife’s ability to manage the household chaos while I’m neck deep in work.  Holy crud she can make things happen.  “We need to work on the cottage foundation”.  2 days later, the equipment is rented, the material bought, and time blocked to do the work. 4 days after that, ALL the work is done.   Never would have happened with anyone else, just a machine.

This week is going to be a rest week.  Finally mow the lawn.  Get some sleep.  Drink (a bit) less beer.  Then likely get back at it the weeks that follow until the chaos of the school year begins.