My folks, my sister, and her family came up for a visit this past weekend to celebrate my birthday a little early.
We went to the Bomb Shelter in the morning, grabbed some lunch, then went bowling. I got a couple of strikes right in a row at the start before my beginner’s luck ran out. My Dad and brother-in-law did much better, but the stars of the games were my nieces who – with a little help from a ramp and their parents – nearly won the games.
I should have used a ramp too. Or maybe the bumpers.
In any case, we had fun and that was the whole point. After bowling, we headed back to my place for a bit and then got some dinner before they headed out. It was a good visit and I’m glad they were able come up. I’ll be heading down to see them again soon for my niece’s birthday.
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While they were visiting, we also tried out my Google Cardboard. It’s a cardboard box with some lenses in it that work with an app on my phone to present a Virtual Reality (VR) experience. Pretty sweet. We got to check out some far away places and other worlds – all in my living room. And it was funny watch folks stumble around a bit at the intersection of virtual and reality.
Yesterday, I found the app for the company that handles the campus tour for UA – and they’ve got the VR already set up and ready to work with Cardboard. I tested it out and today I shared what I found with the folks at work. We knew that the company provided this, but this was the first time we’d really tried it. Might be something we can help Admissions with.
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The air in my house is apparently pretty dry this winter. And I tend to build up a huge static charge. Enough to temporarily zap my playstation controllers or see sparks when I touch a light switch. I’ve trained myself to touch the fireplace screen before I touch my electronics and while taking the hit isn’t fun – it’s keeping the devices safe.
The worst was the ceiling fan. The chain has a metal ornament on the end and it hangs down just far enough to touch the bald spot on the top of my head.
The zap was painful enough and scary enough to make me drop. I recovered immediately, but I’m maybe still a little cautious in my living room. Getting hit with a bolt of lightning on my head – even a small one – isn’t much fun.
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Finally, tomorrow I turn 43.
42 was an interesting age – being privy to the secrets of Life, the Universe, and Everything was pretty cool – but I spent a good chunk of that time recovering from my broken arm. So, not much fun.
43 doesn’t seem that significant. Just a day. I’ll most likely go out for a nice dinner, but that’s about it.
Birthdays seem weird to me now. I guess I’m at the age where I’m not so young as to be excited about growing up and not so old that I think about mortality. Somewhere in the middle.
No odd urges to buy a sports car, fortunately.
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Heading for bed soon. Work has been rough this week already and I’m worn out. It’s going to get somewhat worse before it gets better, unfortunately. Just gotta hunker down and tough it out.
At least I’m pretty much over my cold. So, just need some rest.