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Weeknotes: 2022, week 20

· 3 min read

[16–22 May]

On Monday (a public holiday) we drove back from Sagunto to our home in Madrid. We stopped twice to recharge the car because we didn't want to risk finding our one planned charging station busy or out of order; although energy consumption was higher this time, we could very well have made it with just one stop (as in the outbound trip). Because of that extra stop, and also some intense traffic near Madrid, the journey was a bit tiring for us all.

On Tuesday around 7:50 AM I left riding my bike for a picturesque town near Madrid for a three-day event organised by my company. There I met more than 250 of my colleagues, mostly engineers, for a packed agenda of presentations, workshops, and off-topic activities. It was all very well organised, we accomplished so much, and the meals, excursions and other activities were great fun. For me it was especially valuable to meet physically for the first time a few brilliant workmates with whom I've been working for two years or more, but had never seen IRL.

Weeknotes: 2022, week 19

· 3 min read

[9–15 May]

Warm days already; sometimes even hot. After work/nursery, we often went to nearby parks with the kids, or spent time in the evenings down here in our estate, where we met our neighbours and their little ones too. Breaker of Horses plays a lot with the sand now.

We also attended our friend C.'s second birthday party and had a great time with her, her parents, and some acquaintances.

It seems my wife and I now drag assorted, quasi-permanent mild physical discomforts of one sort or another. (Is this the new normal, now that we're parents of two? 😤) This week it was her back aching intermittently, and me experiencing slight bumps from my nauseating tiredness of the previous weekend.

Weeknotes: 2022, week 18

· 3 min read

[2–8 May]

Monday was a public holiday. My wife took the lift down to the storage room and up again a couple of times, carrying accessories and clothing back and forth. As a result, that very evening the kids bathed together for the first time (Breaker of Horses sitting in a special plastic chair inside the bathtub), and we all could squeeze in the kitchen for dinner (my son at a high chair with his own little tray).

On Tuesday my parents came along and helped with the kids. I took Miss Entropy to the paediatrician (it was nothing serious).

Weeknotes: 2022, week 17

· 2 min read

[25 Apr – 1 May]

On Monday I took our brand new car to a local official repair shop (which is very close, too) to tell them about an issue that we had the same day we got the car. Their answer was as expected as unsatisfactory.

On Tuesday my wife charged the car for the first time, in the parking lot of her company — just a bit, and very slowly: only the two slow charging points were available, and anyway we were still experimenting with the whole electric thing. In the afternoon I took the kids to a park, but it started pouring and I had to run with them to find shelter. Miss Entropy and I ended up standing helplessly in the street with our backs pushing against the side of an apartment building, while I tried to keep Breaker of Horses' stroller dry under a plastic bag that I had spread out. I called my wife, who was wrapping up at work anyway, and fortunately she appeared soon after riding her beautiful electric beast, and rescued us.

Weeknotes: 2022, week 15

· 3 min read

[11–17 Apr]

We spent most of Easter in Granada with my parents. It was sunny and warm, at times even hot, both in Granada and back in Madrid during the weekend. We also met my uncle & aunt twice (and even my cousin B. for a few minutes).

Weeknotes: 2022, week 14

· 2 min read

[4–10 Apr]

This week we learnt early that our new car wouldn't be ready during the week. In fact, on Friday they told us the car had arrived, and so the day after we went to the dealer to see it in the flesh chassis — but it would have to sit idle there for a week or two while we do the payment and get it insured, and they complete all the paperwork.

On Wednesday, during our lunch breaks, my wife & I rode the motorbike and went to an optician's shop in a big shopping centre nearby. We got our eyesight tested, and ordered new glasses (×2). They'll give us a few pairs of test contact lenses (×2) for free, too.

Weeknotes: 2022, week 13

· 2 min read

[28 Mar – 3 Apr]

On Wednesday I took Breaker of Horses to the paediatrician for a check-up. He has gained weight, and is closer to the 50th percentile now.

I spent Thursday at the office, as usual — and enjoyed it as usual.

We paid a deposit for the new car, and my wife got a surprisingly good quote for the old one (with semiconductors being in short supply, and now the war in Ukraine, the market for second-hand vehicles is very hot).

Weeknotes: 2022, week 12

· 4 min read

[21–27 Mar]

I spent Thursday at the office and, once again, the change in setting felt quite pleasant and productive.

The day was rainy, and with all the extra traffic the bus took a bit longer to show up at my stop, and then a bit longer to get to my destination. But with an e-book reader, a phone, and earbuds… WHO CARES. I've always enjoyed short and occasional commutes[1] so much that very often I'm kind of hoping there'll be a traffic jam, that the train will be delayed because of heavy snow, or something like that. If I have something to read, something to study or write, or something to listen to, I'm content. Over the years, on trains and buses I've listened to podcasts, studied languages or university courses, read technical books or manuals, and so on. Actually looking forward to 30′ or 45′ in public transit because I'll have the opportunity to make some progress with volume III of “In Search of Lost time”, to refresh my kanji, or to finish listening to a podcast about some episode in the life of Leonard Cohen is quite irrational: in theory I could simply carve out that same time for those same activities before the beginning and after the end of my work schedule when I'm working from home! I haven't resolved that absurdity yet.

I enjoyed meeting colleagues, the social aspect of being in the office, the pauses and the little pleasures of casual conversations around the coffee machines, sharing lunch in the kitchen, etc. I think I'm more productive, too — or at least I make up for the time lost in commuting and in the aforementioned social disctractions: the time I'm sitting at my desk I can focus better. This week I also learnt that I got a raise, effective retroactively last January, supposedly to adjust for inflation. I like it where I work.

Opinionated FAQ about the Will Smith slap

· 8 min read
 

In the past 36 hours I've read and heard so much (and so bad) commentary about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars on live TV that in the spirit of public service I'm putting out this emergency FAQ for you dear readers to get up to speed on the facts and understand what really happened.

Is that incident important, relevant or consequential in any way?

No.

Should we be talking about it?

Not at all.

Why this post, then?

Precisely because so many people seem to have paid so much attention. To diffuse the stupid “controversies” around it, and to encourage you to spot similar fake scandals in the future and stop caring about them.