Other What currently makes your life awesome?

Another little kitten photo:

 

That is so cute I may be sick.

So cute.

 

Too adorable for words.

 

I confronted the devil tonight by walking directly into his house and looking him directly in the eyes.

Just waiting for the after effects to happen now.

 

Everything ok dude?

 

new job/career starts tomorrow, nervous, excited but nervous.

 

I imagine he had a vindaloo and is now awaiting the inevitable morning after pain when sat on his porcelain throne.

 

Made chicken balls again yesterday. Oh my god they were amazing... I think I've nailed that recipe!

Not very healthy though, not at all!!

 

quality trumps quantity
all things in moderation
old age is overrated

delete as appropriate

 

The middle one. Delete just the middle one.

 

Absolutely, you know when you've been confused, angry and unable to sleep, then you figure out a plan and everything just becomes absolutely fine, because your focused on the plan and use the anger to drive you instead of devouring you? That's my situation.

But thanks for answering!

 

Ah ha, just thought I'd ask

Whatever works mate. Whatever works, works

Edit: so long as the anger driven plan doesn't include driving angrily into somebody

 

Got some old school pinball gaming in today.

Love Monster Bash

 

New Secret Cinema tickets...

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Live Immersive Experience — Secret Cinema

Ravager anyone!?

 

Made a lamb friend.

On route home I noticed a lamb standing outside a field gate on a pretty dangerous stretch of road. Saw a few cars veer to avoid it as it tried desperately to get back into the field with what I presume was its mum.

I admit at first I was of the “somebody else will sort it” mindset. But span back around anyway because it started to bother me. Not only did I not want this lamb to get hit I equally wouldn’t want someone’s day/car & mood ruined by killing it in their way home.

Hazards on, wasn’t too please to see me at first but when it noticed I wasn’t capturing it for Sunday lunch it sort of chilled right out and it was able to get it over the fence.

Had a rather slow unproductive day, felt like at least I had achieved something!

 

I had a fairly similar experience when on holiday in Sardinia. I was driving up the mountains when coming round a corner I see a dog walking in the middle of the road. We drive by it but pull in at the first place I could, look over at my then to-be wife who's already got tears in her eyes.

I drive back, put on my hazards and go and pick up the dog, put her in the back of the rental. Her paws were bloody from walking. Took her to a vet that was closed, I had to wait two hours or so. The vet said he couldn't do anything because she didn't have a chip. We weren't allowed to keep her because the vet wasn't allowed to chip her either, which would've made it impossible to fly her home. The vet said the owner had probably driven far away and abandoned her and she was just trying to get home. This is fairly common practice there unfortunately.

We went to our airbnb which had a garden and let her rest in the garden. She then tried to escape, presumably to walk home, except now she was atop a 3 meter high wall. Getting her down was a chore.

We then tried taking her to a pound, they just out right refused her, so we drove to what we thought was an animal sanctuary but in reality was just a protected nature reserve. We're driving on dodgy dirt roads and it's getting dark. We luckily came across a park ranger / reserve ranger. He didn't speak English but between his Italian and my Portuguese he understood the story and agreed to take her.[/QUOTE]

 

Regional wine, delicious local bubbly, beer, and sunshine. There's a local food truck serving pizza coming to (the lovely tiny) town (in the middle of nowhere) tonight as well. Is there anything better than those things combined?

Yes, there is, thanks for asking. You can also read the stories Peter Pan originally comes from (Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens / Peter and Wendy) in the sunshine in lovely Grand Est in France.

Is there more, you ask? Why, yes! The first edition of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906) will arrive at my doorstep next week, if everything goes according to plan.

Life is good. Sometimes.

I shall get another bottle of beer before we head to the food truck. No harm in that, is there?

This is why I work hard most of the year. And it's oh-so-satisfying to reap the fruits of said labour every now and then.

 

I've been testing these DIY in-wall subs I built. I used 2x 12" MTX 3512-04S shallow mount subs and built two boxes for them. The box depth matches standard US studs at 3.5". I 3D printed a little shroud to provide a termination point for the drywall. This leaves a little 1/4" gap so that the mesh covers can slide on and off as needed.
I'm using a Dayton Audio SA1000 subwoofer amp to power both subs. 1000W is more than enough for these.
There was a little rattle in the right sub, which is why I turned it upside down. It may be the wire inside is too long and was buzzing around. I'll shorten it up. I also sealed up some holes after this test. I do not really have the tools to make these properly.
In any case, they certainly bring that bass you can feel in your chest. They're going to be great in the home theater while being so much cheaper than the expensive options I've seen and a much higher quality than the cheap options that are available.

 

I'm starting a new job next week!

Some of you may remember that back in 2020, I was part of the big redundancy wave that hit during the start of the pandemic. It was a shame as I loved the job and my colleagues, and the commute was manageable. The pay was decent too. Just as I was running out of money, I managed to get a job that was was a worse commute, and paid a decent chunk less, but needs must. Unfortunately, while the boss was as an individual a nice person, he wasn't very good at running the company and owing to his poor work/life balance (or rather lack of), was rather bad at handling people. Indeed, while I was there, three people (including my predecessor) left after only being there less than two years, which given that the company size is ~nine people, is rather indicative, I think (not to mention there was no one left from when the company originally started up in 2017). After a year and a half of working there, we decided that it wasn't working out and we negotiated a reduced notice period.

Fortunately, my new job matches the wage I was on pre-redundancy, with a regular bonus paid according to performance and profits - which, in my opinion, is a perfect way to motivate people: give them a good salary and offer performance based rewards! Also, I get overtime pay, which is something I've not had before (well, excepting my first job ever, but it was very low earning)! The folks there also seem to be on the same wavelength as me, and office wear is whatever's comfortable (within reason!).To top it off, my line manager is a guy I worked with about a decade ago, who may be the only person I know who swears more and has a darker sense of humour than me. Additionally, the CEO is a chap who I presented to a few times during my PhD and is known for being extremely competent, having worked in several high profile positions beforehand.

The 'downside' is that it's far down South, so I can't commute from Stoke. Fortunately, it's relatively close to my parents', so I'm going to be staying in their annex during the week, with the intent of driving back up to Stoke at most/some weekends. This will inevitably cost a decent amount in fuel, but hey ho. After a few months I'll look into whether I want to sell up and move back down South or not - after all, I'm old and jaded enough to know that as good as things seem to be, once I'm on the inside, it may be a different story.