At Least We've Got Each Other

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the best Coronavirus bubble you could ask for.

This Year Blue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating the end of 2020 with a little Italian champagne.

Time Encapsulate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of things like touring Europe, 2020 gave us the money to do fun stuff like have our moldy crawl space encapsulated. So fun!

That's About Right For 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some wakadoo blew up an RV on 2nd Avenue in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning. It's 2020 all right.

The Soup Before Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom, Dad, Mari, and I with some salmon soup and a White Christmas playing. It's Christmas Eve.

3K Replay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many moons ago I hit 3,000 posts. Now it had become a bit of a tradition for every 1,000 posts to have a special Mari drawing to commemorate it.

Here we are at 1,000.

Here we are at 2,000.

But when it came to 3,000 things got just a little delayed.

Well better late than never, I finally got my 3,000 post drawing and have back dated to it match. Enjoy!

Puzzling Behavior VI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just in time for Christmas we finished this very nice Fortnum and Mason puzzle.

Christmas Guardian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping the house safe from sidewalk people for fourteen years.

A Suprise Hanging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got an unexpected package from my boss Lisa and it had this ornament in it. Looks good on the fun tree and a thoughtful gift.

In Control

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been waiting quite a while to play Control. It got great reviews and is from the same team that did Alan Wake, which I really enjoyed as well. I had to wait because it was a console exclusive when it first came out. Well worth it though, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Great plot as expected but they really did a nice job on the game play as well, fun and complex but easy to pick up at the same time which is a rare balancing act. Hopefully there's a sequel!

Christman Time 08

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the fun tree's classier sibling, the silver tree.

Christman Time 07

 

 

 Had to save the main event for last of course, the fun tree.

Fugmas Time?

 

 

 Even our genial little fuggler monster is into it. UPDATE: Since in the linked post it said we hadn't named him yet, I felt we should keep everyone informed. Being the classy people we are his name ended up being Farty McFarterson. Because with the teeth and squinted eyes it looks like he's bearing down to...well, you get the picture. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Time 06

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The big man himself.

Christmas Time 05

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It might be a gas fireplace chimney, but it's still done with care.

Christmas Time 04

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa has eyes everywhere.

Christmas Time 03

 

 

 

The St. Nicholas Square Harry Potter combo village.

Christmas Time 02

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poo and Piglet's trees, the Poo train, Peanuts band, dancing clackers and various other bits and bobs.

Christmas Time 01

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with every year we've gone big on the decorations. Since it's otherwise slow thought I'd do a picture a day tour. Starting with this new addition, a Santa Hatch Print.

Storage Time

 

 

 

I helped install this (at the time) huge SAN seven years ago, and as of today it's been completely wiped and ready to be retired. Time or I suppose more accurately memory is sure a funny thing. Hard to believe I've been doing this since 2009.

Out There

 

 

Outer Worlds has gotten a lot of comparison to Fallout and I can see some similarity in the sense of humor but it doesn't feel like just a Fallout knockoff in space. I really enjoyed playing through it, though it won't quite make the top of the list. The combat got repetitive very quickly, a lot of the environments were reused over and over, and there felt like a lot of missed opportunities on small details that could have really made it shine. But again highly entertaining game, well worth the time and money, and I hope there's a sequel.

WOTM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last month of 2020. The year that was a blur that also lasted forever. I will not miss 2020.

Snowed In

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first snow of winter in Tennessee. It's been coming down steadily all day, unfortunately it's well above freezing so it won't stick. But it's still peacefully pretty to watch.

22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mari and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. I cooked my homemade version of Chicken Bryan with some mashed potatoes and asparagus. Vino from our favorite Italian winery. Of course our gift to each other came a bit early this year. I think it says something that COVID and working from home has put a lot of strain on a lot of marriages but ours just seemed to get even stronger. I can't wait for the next 22!

Modern Family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we capped the evening by hanging out Zoom style with the Christensens. You can see my sister, Steve and Megan all showing us their halos. Acceptance of their angelic nature was debated.

Four

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2020 COVID bubble continues, so Thanksgiving is just us and the folks this year. Mari put on a perfect spread as always.

Turkey With Dolly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's nice to have some normalcy, even if it's not normal. We got to sit and enjoy the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade like we do every year. Of course it was a different version, there was no crowd and the floats only went about a block, but it was still nice to see it happen. And of course, you can't do better than Dolly. Though the elephant float with AJR came pretty close.

Teal Reveal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The inside is just as fun.

Primsy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things I like most about Fortnum & Mason is how they somehow manage to be old school British prim and proper and mix it with whimsy. I've mentioned this before. Mari got me this for that very reason. She's marvelous isn't she?

Royal Post

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These boxes always contain the very best things.

Expeditious Emissions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember in June when I had to get the emission test done on the Jeep and the line was all the way down the block? Well it was the Honda's turn and I pulled up third in line. What a difference a few months makes. Strange times, clearly nobody really knows what to do. The Covid pandemic is surging, worse than it was back then, but it seems everyone is business as usual now.

Quick N Wild

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outer Wilds is an exploration game where you are stuck in a time loop and only have a certain amount of time to learn new things, then it resets. You slowly learn more and more about what caused the loop until you ultimately stop it. A fairly short but cute game with an interesting story, however it's almost ruined by terrible, frustrating ship controls.

Strange Days Clean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took this because of all the hand sanitizers we've been using lately this is our favorite. Who would have ever thought we'd have things like favorite hand sanitizers?

Going West

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten years later I went out west again with Red Dead Redemption 2. This game is a technical marvel, one of the prettiest I've ever seen. If you just want to wander around in a western world it's tons of fun. Unfortunately the story just never clicked with me. I didn't particularly like the character you play or most of the characters around him.

Have A Little Hope

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a little while, before the next month of Trump and his gestapo trying to pull a coup.

Just Happy To

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few more nice things about Biden winning the election.

de Bethel de Perfect

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we've been obsessed with this British show called The Repair Shop. On one of the episodes they repaired a "de Bethel cat". We of course had never heard of these before. Our anniversary is coming up and I thought it would be a cool surprise to get one. So I found one on Ebay International (you can't find these things in the States) and here she is! You can't look at this cat and not smile. We've already named her Chloe Kamala the Cat. Strange how a simple thing can instantly brighten up the house. And what timing, a Biden / Harris win and this delightful bit of pottery on the same weekend! 

Happy very early 22nd Anniversary!

Joy Arrives Right On Time

 

 

This wasn't supposed to arrive until the 17th. We didn't know what it could be, then we saw it was Staffordshire, England!

There Will Be Time To Heal

 

 

They say we need to come together now, to figure out how our differences could lead to someone as truly terrible as Trump leading this country. 70 million Americans still voted for this disaster of a president. We need to understand why and fix that.

After taking a breath I agree. To want to utterly destroy your opponent is no better than the other side.

But just for this one moment, on this one day. Can we just have a tiny bit of petty gloating?

I don't often swear on my blog, so children avert your eyes.

Fuck you Trump. You can go away now.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone thought it would be Nevada but in the end, it was Pennsylvania that finished first and made Joe Biden and Kamala Harris our new leaders. We are so, so, so, so excited. There's not enough words to say how happy and relived we are that this country can still achieve good things.

 

EDIT:

An email from our new president I will post here for posterity:

 

 I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris.

In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.

With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.

It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.

We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.

I’m going to speak to the nation tonight and I’d love for you to watch.

 

EDIT EDIT:

 And just because I liked it, one from Cory Booker too:

 

Jeff,

"Weeping may endure through the night but JOY comes in the morning."

Joy. 

Joe Biden is President-Elect.

Joy.

Kamala Harris is Vice President-Elect. 

Joy. 

This has been a long and difficult path. And it will continue as we face this pandemic. 

Our nation has struggled: the fabric of our larger American community is worn and torn, the collective challenges we face at home and abroad grow, and the foundations of our democracy are severely shaken and weakened. 

But now, two leaders emerge victorious. I believe we have chosen the right leaders for the right time. I know them. They are kind and decent and loving. They will bring honor to their offices and lead our nation with strength and virtue. 

But our duty now must continue — we voted, now we too must serve and lead. 

We must attend to the wounds of our nation. We must help to heal our country. This election victory does not end injustice, it just gives us a better opportunity to address it. We must still address it, and do the difficult work of bending the arc toward justice. 

This election was never a referendum on one person in one office — it was a referendum on us, and who we will be to, and for, each other. 

Today we have won a great victory. Through our collective struggles and sacrifices, we have earned this victory together. 

Now we must not let up. 

May we remain committed to the larger fight for our country.

May we rise as Joe and Kamala rise to the challenges of our time. May we rise to lead, may we rise to heal, may we rise to help, may we rise to love. May we rise together.

It is a new day, and we have work to do.

— Cory

 

The Anticipation Is Still Killing Me (And Everyone Else)

 

 

Here are the Tennessean headlines from Tuesday through today.

The count goes on. The map stays the same. Everyone is optimistic for the Biden / Harris ticket but nobody will commit. It's a very good thing the election commissions are not letting themselves be bullied into rushing. These results need to be above reproach to resist Dump and his turds inevitable whimpers of foul play. But that doesn't make it easier. I will name my ulcer Larry.

The Anticipation Is Killing Me (And Everyone Else)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It got better. And better. Pennsylvania and Georgia turned blue. But so many ballots left to count. Nobody would call anything. Numbers came and went. Trump could still win, or would pull some crazy stunt. Baited breath. Watch the news. Ignore the news. There's no good solution. Video games are a good escape.

A Night In Hell

 

 

When I went to bed last night around 9 or 10 Trump was winning everywhere. My worst fears realized, my pessimistic expectations met. Four more years of this shit.

I was awake all night. Sick. I watched an entire season of MASH. I couldn't sleep, couldn't shut up the feeling of how broken my country is. And then, throughout the day something Amazing happened. It started to turn around. Until by the end of the night, we were here.

Dare I hope?

Does Democracy Work

 

 

 

And so my country goes to the final vote, to decide between a good man and a con artist full of Cheeto dust, lies, fear and hate. The sad things is I think the monster will win.

WOTM

 

The "please dear god let this country prove it's not lost" WOTM edition.

Blue Skies

 

 

A pretty sky in blue with a pretty flag chaser. Let's hope it's a portent of a new chapter coming this Tuesday.

Halloween, Social Distancing, Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mari sat on the porch and greeted the ghosts and goblins. It actually went very well, we always kind of worried about little kids going up and down our steps in costumes so we might do this again next year regardless of Caronavirus World. We also expected a lot less kids but there were tons of them. We ran out of candy and had to pack it in earlier than usual.

Halloween, Social Distancing, Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like most other folks this year, we put the kibosh on kids coming to the door. Instead we blocked them with this table and spread the candy out for them to pick up (we didn't end up using the bowl.)