When I was a kid, it felt that the entire year was a build-up to Christmas and, once it was over, there was a depression that crept in because it was all downhill from there.
Until the next Christmas.
In a lot of ways, it's still like that. Not because Christmas means the same thing to me as it did way, way back then, but because that's life in these United States. The entire country is on a collision course with Christmas, and you're in for the ride whether you want to be or not. It's everywhere.
And then, just like that, it's gone.
Remnants remain, of course. The Christmas trees are still up everywhere. Stores have all their Christmas junk on sale. Christmas decorations won't be coming down until the New Year. Some people are saying things like "I hope you had a Merry Christmas!" And people are posting their Christmas photos. Etc. Etc. Etc.
But it's nothing like it was just two days prior.
Two weeks prior.
Even nearly two months prior, when the madness begins the day after Halloween. If you're lucky. I saw a Christmas section going up in a store the week before Christmas.
It's all a little sad.
Something I am definitely not sad about is that I have the day off work. Turns out Christmas has benefits even for the heathens amongst us.
Yesterday I headed over the mountains which, depressingly, was an easy drive. This time of year, the road should have an unfathomably deep layer of snow off the side.
Six feet. Eight feet. Maybe even more. But it was just covering the barriers, even at the very top of the pass...
Here I am coming down the other side of the mountain, and you can see that the barrier is still visible...
So right now we're having major flooding and rain in the valley, which is a bad enough sign because it means that it's too warm to snow. And now seeing this in the mountains has me seriously worried we're in for drought this coming Summer.
I mean, I guess I'm grateful that it was an easy drive.
But not really.
Christmas is not my holiday, but I live in the USA so it might as well be.
And, hey, I'm not complaining. The country pretty much shuts down from December 24th through January 2nd, which means I can catch up with my work without distraction! There's so much needed to be done to close out the year that I'm always grateful to have the extra time to get ahead of it.
And this year, since I had a vacation earlier in the month, I'll also appreciate having some time to CLEAN MY FILTHY HOUSE. Seriously, I never realize how much of a mess my cats make on a daily basis until I'm not here to keep on top of it. They are so messy. Cat fur... everywhere. Kitty litter... everywhere. Cat toys... everywhere. And an occasional hairball or scarf-and-barf deposit. It ain't at all pretty after more than 3 or 4 days.
I'm coming up on 21 days, and I've barely had time to touch the place.
And now snow is supposed to be coming in the next few days, which means I'll be cleaning up outside my home as well.
'Tis the season.
There is no "worst day" for me after my mom died. That was it. That was the one I get.
Which is why one of the books I'm working on is currently titled Travels with My Mother (and the five worst days of my life). It's a collection of travel stories from when I was visiting places around the world with her interspersed with me recounting the five worst days of my life. It's been fun to write... but difficult too, because it just makes me realize all over again how much I've lost with each new page.
But anyway...
Yesterday was my mom's birthday. She would have been 81 years old.
It's also the day my car tabs are due. Which is one of those unhappy coincidences that I never thought about when I had to buy a new car last December.
So I went to the bookkeeping office where I pay for the tabs, then drove home.
The road to which goes right by the cemetery where my mom is buried. Which is another one of those unhappy coincidences that I never thought about when I picked the easiest route to my home.
But anyway...
Today is Caturday, which only exists because of the two cats I got to keep my mom company and help distract her from being confused all the time. A job Jake and Jenny did exceptionally well...
Yes. I just shared this three Caturdays ago, but I didn't know it would be needed again so soon.
And so... happy birthday mom, one day late.
I got back home Saturday and immediately knew I was in trouble.
I was so exhausted from the preceding ten days that I knew there was no way I could recover in the half day I had before jumping back into work on Sunday. So I didn't. Instead I jumped back into work Saturday afternoon... spent Sunday morning doing nothing... then finished up with the work I had due today on Sunday evening.
What a stupid plan that was.
I felt completely wiped all day today and wish that I had given myself a bit of a break last night. But there's nothing I can do about it now.
Except head to bed early and see if I can make it up to myself.
Surprisingly, I'm totally ready for my impending vacation. My suitcase is packed, everything is reserved, and all my various stuff I need is in order. My gas tank is even filled.
What I haven't done is purged my refrigerator and cleaned my home. Two tasks which are kinda important if you don't want to come home to a mess. Not that I have much of a choice, because I have two cats that will be doing their best to trash the place. They always do.
I guess the least I could do is vacuum.
I need a vacation.
Oh, that's right, I'll be on vacation on Wednesday!
But, no worries, I'm sure I'll need a vacation from my vacation when it's over. I always do because I don't know how to relax while on vacation. I'm too busy doing stuff.
Which is fine, because there's nothing I'd rather do in my off-time than doing something I'm not normally doing.
I have adopted a new philosophy of task management. It's the Do It Now initiative.
Essentially, it means that instead of adding it to a to-do list or putting it off, I just do it right then and there whenever possible. I notice something that needs fixing, and I fix it. I remember something I've been meaning to do, and I do it. If something needs to be cleaned, I clean it. This is a direct result of me spending more time managing my list of tasks instead of actually doing tasks.
It applies to blogging as well.
For the longest time I've been wanting to write a quick post about how much I loathe current software trends. And so here we are. This mostly applies to these two abominations...
Let's start with the subscription model which has become the darling of the software development industry. I fucking hate it, which is tough considering that it seems to have become the default. Adobe wasn't the first to go this route, but they're the most infamous to me. Instead of buying an app and owning it forever, you instead pay a fee to be able to use an app, and immediately lose access to it the minute you stop paying. This has caused me to abandon apps that I love, because I am beyond sick of this bullshit. And what's so stupid is that I usually bought an update anyway! Take for example Home Designer Pro. Half the time I buy the new version if there's a reason to do so (usually features or compatibility with new hardware). But this year they've moved their 2026 update to a subscription. Which means I am forced to pay for the annual update whether I want to or not. Doesn't matter how much I love the program, I am moving on because I just don't give a fuck about this kind of predatory app development. Just let me pay for what work you've put into the app up to that point... and come up with something compelling to get me to upgrade to the next version.
And then there's In-App purchases. And I don't mean apps which are free to download and you can then purchase it if you like it. That's fantastic. I'm talking apps which require you to keep buying shit to use it. And it's mostly games. I've done this exactly once with Simpsons: Tapped Out where you could buy in-game currency with real money and be able to buy stuff in-game. It didn't last long once I figured out how much money I was spending just to have the latest cool stuff in my online Springfield. The even worse scenario are games which are free, great, and addictive... but eventually get to a difficulty level which makes it impossible to play unless you buy in-game items in order to make the game playable for normal humans. I fucking hate this so much that I don't even bother downloading a game which has "coins" or "gems" or "credits" or what-the-fuck ever in-app purchases that guarantee the game will one day become too difficult to play without paying a shit-load of money.
I sincerely hope that one day consumer backlash convinces developers to go back to straight-up purchases of their wares. And we just might be taking first steps. Canva, a company which bought out the excellent Affinity apps, took a bold move to combine all the apps into one do-it-all design app, offer it as free-to-use, and only charge you something if you want to enable their AI features. Now, given that Affinity is already serious competition for Adobe... what is Adobe going to do? If people weren't willing to toss their subscription bullshit when the Affinity apps were a low-cost alternative, maybe they'll be willing to do it now that they're free. It'll be an interesting ride. And hopefully one which initiates some changes.
And now I need to get in my kitchen and unload the dishwasher since it will likely be finished with its run by now. I'M DOING I! I'M DOING IT NOW NOW NOW!!!
Yesterday I had one of the easiest drives home from Seattle-side that I've ever had. 2 hours and 10 minutes of motoring bliss.
This morning I had one of the worst drives to work I've ever had. What's usually five minutes ended up being ten minutes of hell that had me wishing I would have walked.
Honestly, I just don't understand what is getting into people lately when driving. They're hostile, inattentive, impatient assholes. I had somebody come up behind me and was so close I honestly thought I was going to get rear-ended. I had a car lay on the horn because I dared to wait for two kids to cross the street. I had one car come at me half into my lane, and I had nowhere to go... and if I hadn't braked and laid on the horn as quickly as I did, there would have been an accident.
So, yeah. Not a great start to my morning.
I left Spokane on Sunday around 3:30. That gave me an hour of daylight before the sunlight was fading into darkness. Fading into the abyss.
Now, for the longest time, I loved night driving. It was calming and peaceful and, when I was younger, I did it a lot. Mostly while traveling around the United States because I didn't want to waste daylight driving when I could be seeing stuff.
Or maybe I liked it because the first driving I ever did was on my Atari 2600 with Night Driver...
But then... things started to change.
I was bordering on night blindness, where headlights (or any lights) would become a massive blight in my field of vision. I couldn't see. The amount of concentration required to drive safely was headache-inducing and I was genuinely worried I was becoming a danger on the road. And so I stopped driving at night. Completely. I couldn't justify the risk... not necessarily for myself, but for other people.
And it was fine. I could always get a ride with somebody else or pay for an Über or whatever.
Then, as I was having another surgery for my ongoing injury problems, I ended up getting my lenses replaced with cataract surgery (something I documented here). And even though I was told my cataracts weren't terrible and wouldn't need to be addressed for five years or so... I could suddenly see at night again! Night drivin' here I come, baby!
So I went ahead and drove home in the dark, it was perfectly fine, I could see great, there were zero issues.
At least when it comes to my vision.
Because there will always be assholes on the road, and that's something you can get fixed with cataract surgery.
Maybe a lobotomy, but not cataract surgery.
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