Got Blasted, Confused, GOAT, Wave
When something catches my attention as an issue there is normally a good chance it will get addressed sooner rather than later. Such is the case with the pool cage, the over head beams looked horrible with green algae/mildew covering them. Although I had pressure washed only a few months ago I did so with the new electric pressure washer which does not have the reach or blasting power to clean the top cross supports well. I fired up the gas pressure washer and got busy.
Before I headed into the lanai I did some blasting outside first, cleaning the patio stones, water equipment roof, and the gutter on the west side of the house, all of which were in dire need. Once I got into the pool cage area I decided I wanted to get the worst over first, meaning doing all the parts that require me to attach the extensions to the wand which makes for physical misery. Trying to wrangle 9 feet of wand that is blowing water at 3000 PSI just is not fun in anyone’s world.
I worked methodically, cleaning in short bursts as much as my burning shoulders could tolerate. Once the high overhead sections were cleaned the rest felt easy and almost fun. There is something magical about taking something green and turning it white with a few passes of a pressure cleaner. In total I was out there between 2-3 hours but I was happy with the end result of my effort investment. Right before I got finished cleaning DJ and Katie showed up. They hung out for several hours. DJ was happy to see Sadie, he loves saying her name. Sadie for some reason is a bit freaked out by DJ but it doesn’t stop him from trying to pet her. We hung out inside and outside, it was a good visit.
Saturday night we watched the Upside which has been sitting in our Netflix envelope for a couple weeks. It’s a movie starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston that is supposedly based on a true story. The movie made you laugh a lot but also had serious, touching and sad moments mixed in. Cindy and I both liked it, B+, Cindy says A.
Our Super Bowl Sunday was once again devoid of party prep as Covid reality made a party impractical although I have no doubt that many threw caution to the wind. The weather looked unsettled for a good portion of the day. I wound up not stepping foot on an EUC the entire weekend. Sunday afternoon I did strap on my Quest 2 to take another shot at capturing VR gameplay for my YouTube channel.
I am taking a different approach that I didn’t execute cleanly but I think will actually be cool with a few tweaks. I record the VR gameplay on the Quest while shooting myself against a green screen with my GoPro with my wireless mic set up. My green screen is not quite big enough and my lighting of the screen was too uneven but it sort of worked out like I hoped. I shot a session playing Half Life Alyx which is such a cool game, even if I do spend most of the time being confused. The feeling in game is extremely immersive.
I then quickly shot a Beat Saber session as well, again just testing out my recording environment. I have a four foot wider green screen coming, I think that may be the last piece of my puzzle.
Despite our Super Bowl “party” just being Cindy and myself she made my favorite SB party dish, pigs in a blanket. Despite the hot dogs being the vegetarian variety they still taste great to me. I also drank a White Claw and another seltzer drink that hit me hard for some reason. Either my stomach was empty or I drank them quickly. All I know was I was acting pretty silly pretty quickly.
Like I said last week, I was happy if either team won but I honestly think I was pulling more for the Bucs. They were the underdogs and the Tom Brady story was just too good. Imagine if after the Patriots letting him go he goes to another team that hadn’t been to the playoffs in years and wins the Super Bowl. It didn’t take long for Brady to get the Bucs a lead, a lead they never relinquished. Although Brady threw three touchdowns and was named the games MVP I thought the real star of the game was the Buccaneer defense. They terrorized Patrick Mahomes, even though they only had three official sacks, they had him running for his life the entire game. You could tell Mahomes injured toe was bothering him as well.
Even injured and despite the lopsided outcome we got glimpses of just how amazing Mahomes is as a QB. There were two passes he threw that were both near touchdowns. The one he tossed while falling backwards and the more amazing attempt was when he was diving and parallel to the ground, unleashing a perfect spiral that was on target but knocked away last second by a defender. Despite the loss and poor statistical day, there is no doubt just how special of a QB he is.
The Cheifs also had the distraction of two players that only came off Covid quarantine last minute because of an ill advised visit to a barber who had covid and also the terrible incident with one of Andy Reid’s son who is a linebackers coach. He was involved in a car accident during the week that injured two little kids, one is still in critical condition. If you pull back the curtain on Andy’s family situation it has been a nightmare. Two of his sons had horrible drug habits, leading to the death to one of them back in 2012. Brit, one of the kids with a drug history is the one that had the car accident and there is one terrible detail I left out, he is suspected of drunk driving when the accident occurred.
On the field the Chiefs were sloppy, committing a ton of penalties, giving Brady multiple chances to extend drives. It was weird watching Andy, every time they showed him it looked like he was just watching things unfurl, not calling plays, not communicating with players or staff, it just seemed a bit odd. The 31-9 final score was not anyone expected. To have Brady and Gronk connect on two touchdowns in the Superbowl for a team other than the Patriots felt a little surreal. Although it wasn’t necessary it clearly cemented Brady’s label as the greatest quarterback that has ever played, at least in my lifetime. I feel lucky to have witnessed it. I told Cindy I can’t imagine a cooler way for him to end his career but I don’t know if Tom’s competitive spirit will allow him to retire just yet, even though he is 43 years old.
I don’t have specific commentary on the commercials, they were the normal mix of funny, emotional, and head scratching. The halftime show was lukewarm to me. I thought the set and choreography was cool but I really only was familiar with the last song The Weekend sang. I much prefer when they have multiple entertainers perform together unexpectedly, this was just one guy, whom I hardly knew.
With no normal party clean up to attend to we got to bed at a reasonable hour. This morning I dropped Sadie off at the vet for a tooth cleaning. It’s not easy for a dog, they need to knock them out to clean their teeth. At Sadie’s age it is always a somewhat risky affair. I felt absolutely awful leaving her there. Once we got inside Sadie started to shake in fear, she never does that. When she gets scared by loud noises she will want to hang close to us but she never shakes. She shook non-stop and kept trying to pull towards to door. I tried to reassure the best I could as I handed off the leash to the vet tech who was a sweet girl that did her best to calm Sadie as well. I felt absolutely awful leaving there as a wave of sadness swept over me as I walked back to the truck.
This is a week leading up to another three day weekend as we get off for Presidents Day. I originally thought I would do the pressure washing then so clearing it off the to do slate makes me feel a little better.