Independent Gamer Festival

I had a goal at work to join some organization and meet other people. Well today I made some progress. After lunch, I followed my GPS and ended up going in a circle. So I got myself a large Coke at McDonalds, then pressed on. The GPS then took me on the highway. Lots of traffic. That was strange seeing as how it is the weekend.

Got down into a city south of me. There was a lot of construction with multiple lanes closed. Downtown was crowded with people and slow moving cars. I tried to find the public library where a game developers demo was going on. Passed the library at least once. Then I circled around and got into a parking garage. The garage was full on many levels. I did find a space. Luckily it was free parking on the weekend.

I knew I was at the right place when I heard a live band playing in the hall (they said there would be live music). The library was on the third floor of a high rise building. There were tables and lots of kids playing video games. I made a beeline to a guy standing in the corner. He was a developer. His game was like Guitar Hero on the PC. At first I was confused, as the keys I pressed did not seem to affect the spaceship above. Apparently I had to concentrate on the symbol on the bottom of the screen.

Next I headed to the center of the room. A lone board game developer was there. He and I played his board game. There were cards for my people. I got some money and food to start. The basic mechanics of the game were like Uno. The most interesting part of the game was when you played one card from your hand, you would temporarily draw for a special deck and ask you opponent the question on it. The opponent got to earn points for that. The questions were geared toward teaching you conflict resolution in life.

After playing a long board game, I checked the other stations. Still a lot of kids playing video games. I decided to hit the road and return home to work on building my trash bin enclosure.

Secure Trash Solution

I have given our patio trash problem some thought. The pesky critters are opening up my trash cans and chewing through the bags to find treasures. This just causes a mess. I thought I could put the trash cans inside the carport shed. Just not a lot of room in there.

We do have a lot of room in the back yard on or around the patio. So I just ordered some bins to enclosed the trash cans. They are not too big. Therefore I will only put my 32 gallons trash cans in there. Also, there is no floor. There is also a gap around the bottom of the bins. So I will need to secure that with some wood (any maybe paint it black to match).

I am hoping this does the trick. I plan to secure the door shut with a lock perhaps. Might also have to ensure the top (which opens) stays shut at all times. Just need to make this secure enough that the animals give up and go to the next house.

Creatures Getting into our Trash

Rain was scheduled to come in today. So yesterday I cut the grass for the whole yard. Bagged up the grass ready for the county to pick up. I placed the tall bags between two filled trash cans on my patio. Covered everything with a tarp. Added some firewood on top to hold down the tarp.

Today is was indeed raining. As I went outside to head out to the movies, I saw a trash can lid on the ground. What the heck? There was also trash on the patio. Someone or something had pulled off the firewood, pulled back the tarp, and got into the trash can. I had to run to the movies, but would investigate later.

Turns out something did open the trash can, get inside, and chew through both trash bags. This is disturbing because I double bag my trash bags. Seems the subway food wrapper and some chicken leg bones were too tempting to avoid.

Now I need to put some type of solution in place so this does not happen again. This is the second time this month an animal has opened up a trash can, jumped in, and went to town. I am thinking maybe a plastic shed just for the trash cans.

Learning the Blockchain

Little Kat is currently not attending colleges courses this semester. His college banned him from classes for a least this semester for poor performance. Little Kat's plan is to take online courses once he is allowed back into the school. I thought we had better figure out whether that will help. And I want to figure it out now.

Therefore Little Kat is enrolling in a Udemy online course. He chose a few. I told him to take his Blockchain/Bitcoin courses first. The total lecture time is only 3 hours. I figure he will need another 3 hours to study the material. Plus a final 3 hours to research the answers to questions.

Little Kat works 3 days a week. If he spends an hour a day (for every day he does not go to work), he should be done with this course in 3 weeks. Done means have a mastery of the subject matter. That's only spending an hour a day when he has not work. Very doable. Let's see if Little Kat rises to the occasion.

Dead Lawn Mowers

A few years ago, I started having trouble starting my lawn mower. Otherwise the mower was a good one. I tried to buy the same model. But I could not find it. Instead I got another model from the same manufacturer. This second model was not as good as the first. The handle to push the mower would not stay in place.

Recently the second lawn mower started conking out while I cut the grass. It came to a halt yesterday. Almost could not complete cutting the lawn. This is no way to live. Now I think it is time to junk both of these mowers. My brother has a battery powered one that can suffice for now. Only trouble with it is that does not have enough charge to cut the whole lawn at once.

I think I might go for a self-propelled lawn mower this time. When the weather is good, I can cut the whole lawn. But on really hot days, I struggle. Too bad I don't have a flat yard. Then I could get a sit down mower. The best self propelled mower runs a good $700. That's way too expensive. I think I might get the same brand but with less features. That one runs around $400.

New TV

Today a TV by Element went on sale at Target. It was a 50 inch set. Was a 4k UHD TV, whatever that means. The price was right. I called our local store. They were sold out. Called the next closest store. Bounced around until I finally got in touch with the electronics department. They had it in stock.

Drove Momoko's car up to Target. The parking lot was crowded. There were around 30 people standing in front of the store. I made a beeline to the electronics department. Found the guy I talked to earlier. He took a long time bringing the TV from the warehouse. Many other employees asked if we needed to be helped.

I asked if I could use the cart the TV was on to take it to the car. We needed a store escort. When one showed up, I informed him we were parked far away. I asked if he needed us to drive the car up close. He said we could do what I wanted. I asked him to roll the TV out to the car. Then he changed his mind, and asked us to drive up.

The car fit fine in the back of Momoko's car with the seats folded down. Afterwards, we drove by Qdoba Mexican Grill for a queso and chips snack before dinner. My brother and I moved the old TV out of the way. We moved the TV stand out. Little Kat got the new TV ready. He told me the legs of the TV were too wide for the TV stand.

My brother and I created a makeshift platform for the TV using some plywood. We laid it on top of the TV stand. Does not look good. But it fit like a champ (I had measured thee required footprint). Little Kat was disturbed by the tinny sound coming from the TV. He had some trouble getting the cable inputs set up. I think this TV will server us well for years to come.