Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Living With Yourself, Season One:
This series features Paul Rudd trying to make a better version of himself when something goes wrong. It has a few promising ideas that are never fully developed and has way too much repetition and "24 hours ago..." sequences. By the time it ended, I didn't feel like much plot progress had been made -- more like I was watching a prequel than a full season. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: C+

Goldsboro by Goldsboro:
While listening to an album of the defunct, underrated band, Orson, I idly wondered what they had done next. I purchased this album after learning that they had formed a new band. The new band only lasted for one album and it's clear why -- this is a batch of forgettable, lo-fi, hard rock selections with little in the way of hooks or melody.

Final Grade: C-

End of the F***ing World, Season Two:
Season Two of this oddball coming-of-age story picks up a year after the first. It has a nice arc that successfully develops the characters to a well-earned conclusion while still retaining the road-trip-like feel of the first season. The use of classic doo-wop songs in the soundtrack isn't as fresh, but it still works very well. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: B+

Kin by Electric Guest:
Short and sparsely orchestrated, the third album from Electric Guest is pretty catchy. The male falsetto thing feels a little tired now that everyone has been inundated by that one Portugal. The Man song, but I've always been a fan of the timbre.

Final Grade: B+

Weekend Wrap-up

On Friday afternoon, we had the first of several consultations to talk about putting a screened porch in our backyard next spring. We then put up the outdoor Christmas lights with Maia, who greatly enjoyed the deer.

On Saturday, Rebecca taught a round of anatomy to prospective yoga teachers. Afterwards, I brought Maia to the studio for a trial run of Rebecca's first "Little Yogis" class. Maia was super excited for the first 10 minutes, but then spent the rest of the class sitting in the lobby with me rolling around on the floor. We followed up with dinner at Bungalow Lakehouse, where I had a very satisfying prime rib and baked potato.

On Sunday, we had another porch consultation and a dinner of shrimp alfredo with the Jacksons. Tobias is already 7 months old!

I also got up each night at midnight for Advent of Code!

Maia Battle Report: Year 2 Month 5

Maia's November was a dramatic acceleration in development, kickstarted by the evil of Daylights Savings Time. She initiated a successful visit to the toilet even though we're not actively doing anything to teach that yet. She managed to climb out of her crib on the 16th, and then opened the nursery door on her own on the 21st. I had to install one of those plastic doorknob condoms that irritate adults more than kids. Now during naps when she doesn't feel like sleeping, she'll just knock on the door saying things like "Trick or Treat!" and "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Come get me."

• "This one says...": What Maia says when she wants you to read something, like a panel in a comic strip or a page in a book.
• "This matches...": What Maia says when she picks out her outfits based on color or pattern.
• "That not a good song, Daddy": What Maia says when I try to invent new lyrics to repetitive childrens' songs.

She sometimes shows favoritism between Mommy and Daddy and verbalizes unexpected connections between the books she reads and the concepts she learns. She speaks in well-constructed sentences like "What are you doing, Daddy?" and when she has to repeat herself multiple times to be understood she gets louder and more exasperated, like Mitch Hedberg telling you about that tree over there.

Between the cold, the rain, and the fact that the sun goes down at 1 PM now, evening activities are a little more restricted. We'll usually hit the grocery store and experiment with some fun type of cracker-based snack, or just stay home and rake leaves. She still loves all of her morning activities and talks about her best friend, Nolan, and his family all of the time (They just moved into a house down Church Road so they can be best buds for a while now).

Of course, the thing she likes most right now is Christmas. She started the Advent Calendar on November 22 and enjoys lying under the Christmas tree and looking up. After helping Rebecca wrap some presents, she proudly blurted out, "DADDY I GOT YOU A PRESENT IT'S A BIG BLANKET!". I will have to refrain from telling her any state secrets about aliens.

Art Day

BU: "Look, Maia, I drew you a cow."

Maia: "I gonna draw his poop."

Advent of Code Day

The annual Advent of Code competition started yesterday morning at midnight. After some dithering about whether to participate in real-time this year, I decided to do it for as long as I can maintain enough sleep to deal with a two-year-old during the day. The hard part isn't waking up in the middle of the night to solve a puzzle -- it's trying to get back to sleep afterwards when your brain is buzzing with speed-coding adrenaline.

It has now been about two and a half years since I last coded for a living. I was worried that my skills would have become permanently crippled (not unlike my trumpet embouchure). Thankfully, the mechanics of coding seem to be ingrained now -- I was able to reflexively write working code even if the problem-solving aspect took a little longer. On our company's private leaderboard, I came in 2nd place on the 1st puzzle, just a minute after the 1st place time.

You can follow my progress throughout the month on my Top 10 Solve Times page, which I update every day. Stay tuned!