Tales from Easement Acres
I was promoted at work. Well, reallocated is a better word, but I still received a pay grade increase in the process, so it’s a promotion.
AVP, Digital Product Owner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(software_development)#Product_owner
Considering the times, I’m very fortunate indeed.
–Simon
My Grandmother died, and Coronavirus COVID-19 is officially now a pandemic. These events are, fortunately, unrelated. She died of late-stage dementia.
COVID-19 itself has a low mortality rate, but 3% of the world’s population is a lot of people. Schools have disbanded. Liz and I have been sent home to work. And I’ve lost 15% of my retirement with the stock crash.
Things will no doubt recover. But for posterity, these are bad times.
I neglected to mention that we got a new dog. It’s a puppy rescue. It’s also a Feist. It’s also ornery and destructive. I hate dogs that need to be busy.
But it’s also, like most dogs, sweet and loyal. It’s already demonstrated some protective behaviors, and is wary of novelty, rather than immediately accepting a la whippets.
Two is the critical mass for canines. Our family is now stable under the laws of density.
–Simon
Last month marked the official anniversary of Liz and my iron-clad bonds of matrimony. Or, in this case (being year 7), copper, according to the traditional anniversary gift theme.
As such, I was tasked to find the appropriate copper gift. And I decided upon something pseudo-useful and humorous. No, it wasn’t piping. It was a giant copper cock!
Also known as a rooster, of course. To fit the country theme of the below garden, or something. Okay, so it’s just kinda cool to have a weathervane and I hoped she’d like it.
She did. Here’s me testing it’s accuracy with a sole digit raised aloft to the heavens–or valiantly proclaiming something (“Aeris Amare!”):
–Simon
First off, the car broke. Again.
As it was still under warranty, we took it back to the dealership. Through constant harassment, I eventually discovered that the dealership could only bill 2 hours of labor per day to the manufacturer, and as the job would require 6 hours, we wouldn’t receive the car back before vacation started.
The vacation miles would also put the car much closer to being out of warranty, and the vehicle’s track record made this prospect unsettling. Liz debated (or I think she debated), then traded the car in and bought a brand new Subaru Ascent. It’s dark reddish brown. I christened it The Coffee Bean.
So it was that we broke in a new family car with a roadtrip to Orlando.
As it turns out, Orlando and Universal Studios is expensive and busy and not relaxing in the slightest. But I hope it made some memories:
We listened to Harry Potter audiotapes down and back. I’m glad to be home.
–Simon