We’re in the middle of another nasty cold spell for this winter. The temperature is actually not as low as it could be, but it’s extremely windy. We’re having averages around 60-70 km/h with gusts up to 100 km/h. A lot of Saturday activities today—such as markets—have been cancelled because of the high winds. The mountains are expecting blizzard conditions over 1500 metres. It’s bad enough here near sea level.
Yesterday I had my ethics classes and mailed off another package of Magic cards that I’d sold on eBay. The current class topic of Psychic Policing is generating some very interesting discussion among the kids. The older class age group in particular is showing some pretty deep thinking about the consequences of police having psychic abilities.
Last night we went up to the local pizzeria for dinner. It was chilly, but they have a nice cozy “outdoor” area where we can take Scully, which is under shelter and enclosed by fences and a heavy wind-breaking curtain covering the entrance from the outside.
Then after we got home it was online games night with my friends. We played Space Base, and then a new game for me: My City: Roll & Build. This is a roll-and-write type game, where everyone has an identical square grid map with features including a river, trees, and rocks, and you roll random building shapes and have to fit them into your map. You score points for covering empty squares and stones, but lose points for covering trees. At some point it becomes difficult to place more buildings and you can either skip a building and lose points and keep playing, or declare your round over. If you keep going, you may cover more squares and score more points, or you may roll badly shaped buildings and have to skip again and lose more points, so there’s a bit of press-your-luck. After each round, a new rule is introduced, such as scoring bonus points for putting buildings of the same type next to each other, or giving them access to wells, and so on. After a few rounds there are plenty of bonus points on offer, but the criteria are often contradictory and you have to decide the best option to take. It was fun, and also a sort of laid-back relaxing kind of game.
Then we played Just One, and got through the first 13 rounds without anyone making a wrong guess. 15 would have been a perfect score, but it was messed up on round 14 when two of the clues duplicated and were removed, making it too hard for the guesser. The 15th round was guessed correctly, so we scored a record high score of 14.
Today I braved the cold and wind and went for a run. I decided to push myself and go for 7.5k instead of my usual 5k. I took it a bit easy so as not to get too worn out early, and completed the distance in 43:15. I didn’t feel too bad, so maybe I’ll do this distance a bit more often.
Scully had her annual check-up and vaccination today. The vet declared her very fit and healthy, which was good! The vet said her teeth are very good for a poodle of her age.
New content yesterday:
New content today: