Mild Amusement

A little while back, the Mild Wife and I decided to take a short day trip to the Santa Cruz/Monterey area. We both had the day off, and it seemed like a fun use of a day. Sure, it was a bit of a drive for us, but we figured a day in that area would be a good time. Now, there are a bunch of places in that area where you could hang out, but the Mild Wife was especially keen on spending some time near the water. She's always appreciated all of the sights, sounds, and sensations that the water and the waves generate, so we made a point to find some water. That actually meant avoiding Santa Cruz and its Boardwalk because that tends to be crowded and dirty, but we did manage to find a spot in Monterey that fit the bill: Lover's Point Park  (go ahead, get the smirks and guffaws out of your system now). I'd never been there, so I thoroughly enjoyed climbing around the rocks and reaching the various vantage points. That said, we also just sat for a while and enjoyed the scenery....

When people ask what I do for a living, I usually tell them that I’m a software developer. Sometimes I switch up the words and say “software engineer” or something else that means I write code for a living (“code monkey” is a fun alternative), but the general sentiment is the same. I’m one of those people that spends a bunch of time in front of a computer to try to build a software-based solution for people. Now, as I’ve gotten more experienced, my actual day-to-day responsibilities have shifted a bit. I still have to work on those software-based solutions, but the solutions have gotten a bit larger over time. Basically, they trust me a little bit more. As a result, I do other types of work. I make decisions about which technologies to use, rather than just write the code in a technology that someone else decided we should use (it's a weird feeling realizing that you're the adult now, let me tell you). Generally speaking, the shift in work priorities is a good thi...

Like many people, the Mild Wife and I take advantage of online retailers. It's a pretty convenient way for us to do our shopping, since we don't even have to leave the comfort of our home. Heck, we can even occasionally find some good deals because the online retailers don't have as much infrastructure to maintain. It's not like they have to pay for rent for their stores. Sure, shopping online has its downsides. We can't try on clothing before we make a decision on it, for example. Sometimes, the pictures don't adequately reflect the item, or we can miss an important detail about the product. There's just something to be said for actually seeing and touching the thing we're trying to buy. Still, it's hard to beat the convenience of online shopping. The system just works well. We can decide to buy things, and they show up on our door. Well, they usually do. We put in an order recently that led to a much different experience. Everything started...

Last time, I mentioned that the neighbors seem to have engaged in some sort of a decoration-off for the holidays . Well, they're still at it, folks. I can't actually take pictures of the whole thing because at least one set of neighbors seems to always keep their door open, so they would see me taking pictures of the set up. I figure that'd be an awkward conversation that I don't want to have. So, I'll just have to describe it all to you. I figure I can manage that. To begin with, let me paint the picture with all of the relevant detail. We live in a complex where the apartments are clustered into groups of four, so we have three immediate neighbors. There are a whole lot more neighbors in the vicinity, but they're not the folks we see day in and day out. And of these three neighbors, two have been there since we've moved in. So, we saw what their apartments looked like last year, and we have that point of reference to compare against. Last year, the nei...

All of us have moments when we either do something good and look good in front of other people or we do something so embarrassing we pretend it never happened. It's just how it goes. No one is perfect, and we all have ups and downs. Every now and then, one of the ups happens in front of other people. This particular blog post relies on two stories of that kind. The first story harkens back to a time when I wasn't dating anyone, before the Mild Wife and I had gotten together. I don't quite remember what the occasion was, but I remember my parents, my brother, my brother's wife, my brother's mother-in-law, and a family friend of my brother's in-laws were all there. It was quite the motley crew. At the end of the meal, I ended up paying for it all. I don't quite remember what circumstances led to this occurrence, especially given my mom's penchant for grabbing the check before others can even see it. Regardless, this was deemed acceptable. I suspect tha...