Today was a busy day to end a full month. Here are some of the major points:

The month started with my trip to Kansas City to take part in the AP World History Reading. It was great to be back in person for this event and getting to see my friends once again. In less than a month, we will finally see the individual results for the test, but they have already released some general statistics--and they were quite positive.

On returning home, I mowed my yard for the first time. I've only mowed it one other time since. The lack of rain has really slowed down my lawn's recovery. I am, however, actively encouraging clover to take over the part of my lawn that was torn up with the new septic work two years ago. It's slow going, but it looks like it might turn out beautifully.

We saw the fantastic Top Gun sequel.

I shaved off my hair for the first time in my life. Although it looked distinguished, I did not like the way that it felt and the time that it took. I feel much more comfortable with having a little bit of hair--at least, for now.

I pulled out a huge amount of cable between the old satellite dishes and our house, and started cutting down more of the beetle-killed trees in our yard.

Rowen successfully rode a bicycle for the first time!

I enjoyed watching Star Trek: Prodigy and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I watched The Batman.

I figured out how to actually use the surround sound system with the PlayStation 5.

We had our roofs and garage heater repaired.

Just today, I cut down six trees (with the last one falling in the wrong direction and partially damaging the fence of our backyard neighbor), repaired and set up swings (as well as our gymnastic rings) in our carport, bought a crowbar and started pulling the attached fence (one of mine, this time) from one of the trees that I felled the other day, cleaned up the mess from that fence, and picked up my new glasses. 

I actually think that this coming month will be even busier.

Although the first, and thus now the most established, of the new Star Trek series, Discovery has also been the most controversial. A lot of that is due to the overall inconsistency in Discovery's mission from season to season. However, as this season truly demonstrated, I feel the biggest issue is just the overall amount on pontificating that goes on. In season one, it was incredibly long Klingon speeches; in this season, it's just about every character.

Now, I understand that with an effects budget as large as this show, there needs to be plenty of down time without having a lot going on in the background. Speeches and conversations can certainly provide that. Unfortunately, they are also quite boring when nearly the same message is repeated time and time again.

However, the most egregious of these speaking events are in intense situations when "every moment matters." Time and again, just after mentioning how little time they have, the characters would pull someone aside for a heart-to-heart. In one case, a group was literally being chased by a pair of alien monsters, and they stopped first to complain about the situation and then to talk about their backstories. 

Now, Star Trek is known for its speeches, and there have been times when they happen at not quite believable moments. Still, in my opinion, this season of Discovery went too far. It also didn't help that the main (on screen) antagonist's motivation was almost identical to Wanda's in Multiverse of Madness.

I still have faith in Discovery, and there were some nice moments in this season, but I'm hoping that they do better in the future (pun intended).

This past winter was quite hard on our roofs. Both our home and garage had pipes damaged or even wiped out by the snow diverters that were supposed to protect them. Those snow diverters ended up crumpled and on the ground. In one case, a diverter went so unwillingly that it tore our a part of the metal roof just above my office window. Aside from one of the pipes and the diverters, I was not aware of the extent of the damage until we were finally able to get a roof repair company over. The pictures they took were concerning. In several cases, it was clear that the damage would not have happened if the previous owners had used licensed workers to install the vents.

Thankfully, these roofers were able to make repairs to the house roof quickly with little difficulty. Unfortunately, the garage roof was a different issue. Because the damaged exhaust vent led directly to our garage's gas heater, the roofers were not licensed or insured to make those repairs. Thus, I had to get ahold of a heater technician to see what he could do. Ideally, we wanted the heater to have its exhaust go out the back wall rather than up through the roof. 

The heater technician gave me more bad news. Likely from water coming down through the hole left by the broken exhaust pipe, our heater had several cracked elements and was no longer safe to use. The good news was that the technician said that a new heater could be installed that could vent through the wall. Thus, we removed the exhaust pipe, and I had the roofers cover its hole entirely as part of the garage roof repair.

Today, the heater technician returned and installed the heater. It was then that we discovered that the exhaust could not go out through the back wall because it was too close to a window. Instead, he had to put it out the side wall ... so that the exhaust pipe would be in the direct line of attack from snow falling off the roof. I requested that he put in an elbow and have the pipe follow the wall out the back. He did so only under my insistence as he is concerned that the pipe could have condensation freeze up at the joint and have ice slowly block the exhaust.

​We will have to keep an eye on it this winter.

Because the title of the last book in the Witcher series is The Lady of the Lake, I expected that there would be some level of Arthurian connection within its story. I did not expect it to be quite as direct as it seems to be. Even people who do not know much about Arthurian legends will definitely make the connections.

However, there was an amazingly subtle reference early in the opening chapter. I've tried looking for references to it online and have not yet found anyone who noticed the connection (although, certainly, someone has). In short, Sapkowski (the author) is directly referencing the earliest Arthurian story that mentions the Holy Grail in the first chapter of his book. In it, the tower that a main character comes across appears and disappears much like the Fisher King's castle in the Chretien de Troye's Perceval, the Story of the Grail. 

More importantly, towards the end of one of that first chapter's sections, a knight asks the character "What does the spear with the bloody blade mean? Why does the King with the lanced thigh suffer and what does it mean? What is the meaning of the maiden in white carrying a grail, a silver bowl--?" before getting cut off. These questions have no relevance to the Witcher story (so far) but are the questions that plague scholars of Arthurian legends who have read Chretien de Troyes' original story. In fact in that story, Perceval is later reprimanded by a woman (who turns out to be his sister) for not asking these questions. Thus, it was even more amusing to me when the character in the Witcher books asks the knight why he asked those questions--because the knight responds, "Well, to put it briefly ... One of our number failed to ask when he had the chance. He grew tongue-tied or was embarrassed ... He didn't ask and because of that there was great unpleasantness. So now we always ask. Just in case."

Some of you might know the meme with Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at something (a television) off frame. That was my general response to reading that section. I may have let out a single bark of laughter at the "So now we always ask. Just in case." 

So we are clear, that is multiple layers of nerd showing there.

It was nice to have Fr. Ronald Meyer back at our church, even if it is just for a visit. In his homily, he mentioned that the three readings from today's liturgy all had to deal with either physical or spiritual journeys. He mentioned that there are often obstacles that slow or bar the journeys that we might take. When traveling on the roads, these obstacles can be anything from a near miss with a moose to an earthquake that destroys the road ahead. We need to deal with (or have someone help deal with) these obstacles before we can continue our journey. In fact, he stated that it is in helping others move forward in their journeys that we move forward in ours.

I deeply hope that I am not creating obstacles for others on their journeys. In particular, I hope that there are not obstacles that keep people from seeking or accepting help from me. Similarly, I hope that I have not created obstacles that would keep people from wanting to help me on my journey. Indeed, I pray that I have helped people far more than I have hindered them ... but I know that things I have said and done in the past that have lead to roadblocks for others. Where I have failed to help or caused such difficulties, may others be there to help guide that person forward.

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells those who wish to follow Him on His journey that to do so, they must realize three things: 1. That there is no end to this calling, as it is a journey that lasts for the rest of one's existence. 2. That His journey is to help the living. 3. That those on this journey should not congratulate themselves on what they have done, but be focused on what they are doing now. May I be mindful of my present journey and have the strength to make it a continual part of my life.

I don't have the time or energy at the moment to get into the long story of this, but the recent Supreme Court ruling did not so much overturn Roe v. Wade as follow a (in my opinion) flawed interpretation of the Constitution (especially the 10th and 14th Amendments) which changes the jurisdiction regarding any individual's rights that are not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution and its Amendments (again, ignoring the intent behind the 10th and 14th Amendments). The danger is that this can repeal rights for a wide range of individuals based on the reasoning given for the ruling (this is not a Slippery Slope fallacy, some of those rights were directly mentioned in Justice Thomas's defense of the ruling). The solution is to finally pass the Equal Rights Amendment. 

I had long considered the ERA to be a redundant, and thus unnecessary, version of the 14th Amendment. However, it turns out that a Supreme Court with an exactingly strict interpretation of the Amendment can (and just has) ruled that it only applies to "privileges" (i.e. rights) specifically outlined in the Constitution and its Amendments. The ERA (being a more modern document) is more specific in those rights and privileges are.

At least, that's my interpretation. Perhaps someone with a more extensive understanding of our legal system could shed light on it.

A point of clarification: I am still unapologetically pro-life and believe that abortion is an abomination, victimizing both child and mother. However, to me, being pro-life means doing better than making laws of punishment, but actively seeking the well-being of all people. In this case, I believe that the recent ruling does not do what most people (on both sides) think that it does, and instead creates a clear danger to our republic and our rights as its citizens.

I have both my living room and dining room televisions hooked up to surround sound systems. In the case of my living room television, it is hooked up to an older (but quite serviceable) Blu-ray player with long wires connecting to the back speakers. I enjoy watching movies on it that make use of all of the speakers, and have a tendency to excitedly point it out when that happens.

Today, I discovered that I did not have my PS5 properly set up to make full use of this system. I was going through the settings for another reason entirely when I saw that my HDMI sound settings were set to stereo and the output was set as Linear PCM instead of Dolby. Now, I have learned that LPCM is the best method when connecting to newer sound systems as it can support 7.1 speakers (one front center, two front sides, two sides, two back sides, and a subwoofer); however, my older sound system does not support LPCM and only has a 5.1 system. Apparently, this automatically downgrades my sound to 2.1. 

The difference is astonishing! Suddenly, Geralt's world (I'm playing the Witcher 3) came alive all around me. I could hear as monsters tried to circle behind me. The cities are now filled with music and talking from all around. It's a significant change in experience, making me wonder what I've missed in the other games that I've played on the system. At least I get to experience it now.

My computer goes to its lock screen after ten minutes of being idle. It has now done that three times as I've been thinking of a post to write. I wanted to write something about the January 6th Committee's hearings, but I've really lost hope that anything said on the matter could actually swing Trump supporters who have already had to suspend so much disbelief that turning back to the light would be too arduous of a task for most of them. I debated pointing out the propaganda elements, logically fallacies, and outright misinformation in supposed "documentary" 2000 Mules which has apparently become the one of the main rallying points of "evidence" for those who still believe the 2020 election was fraudulent, but the same problem as the January 6th Committee topic applies. Similarly, I decided against writing about the heat trends around America. 

I thought about writing about how I learned to correctly sharpen my chain saw blade, but I found the topic to be ... ironically ... quite dull. I also considered writing my first positive impressions on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shedder's Revenge arcade-style beat-'em-up game that recently came out, but I've done too many reviews lately. I'm also actively trying not to think, let alone write, about how out-of-shape I got this year and how difficult it has been these past few weeks to reestablish better habits.

Instead, I think that I'm going to establish a 30 minute rule. If it takes more than 30 minutes for me to decide on a topic to write about, then I'm just going to acknowledge some of my ideas and call it a night. Thus, have a good night.

I usually don't do this many reviews in a row, but the six episode mini-series came to a tremendously satisfying end today, and I really wanted to say a few things about it before all of the commentators release their videos. However, in doing so, I will be giving out spoilers for the series. I'll give a bit of space for those who want to see it completely fresh. Basically, it was a wonderful show. While I might have quibbles about one part or another, it not only met most of my expectations, it exceeded them.

[Note: The spoilers are hidden behind the "Read More" link on the right.]

This year's solstice just happened to be the same day that I finally completed the main story of Ring Fit Adventure after a year of playing. Also, Connor was around long enough that we were able to watch The Batman (a movie that he has been bugging me to watch since it came out). We did so while roofers were repairing the damage this year's winter did to the roof of our house and our garage.

In regards to The Batman, it was not a bad movie; however, it wasn't that great either. More than anything, it put me in the mood to watch The Dark Knight (or perhaps the entire Nolan trilogy)--which is not just my favorite Batman movie, but one of my all time favorite movies, period. Unfortunately, it seems that the theatrical attempts for Batman since then have just had the one note: darker.

The Batman was a darker movie in its level of violence, but also just overall. I'm not joking when I say that Pitch Black (a movie that focuses on darkness) was no where near as difficult to see as this movie is. Thank goodness for subtitles, or there would be sections where I would think that my TV had just turned off. When there's enough light, the scenes are gorgeously shot, and the film clearly knows it because it spends a LOT of time just standing there, looking beautiful.

In the end, I was underwhelmed by the story and its resolution, Batman's physical and detective skills, and the Batmobile (no matter how sexy some people might find it, it is easily one of the most uninspiring Batmobiles for me). 

On a completely different (and brighter note), I have enjoyed Ring Fit Adventure. I almost don't consider this exercise program a video game. However, without that video game aspect, I probably would not be exercising almost at all this past year. While the video game itself is pretty simple, I'm still impressed on how the programmers managed to gamify exercise in what is admittedly a pretty entertaining way.

Most of the exercises involve running in place, high knees, squats, and squeezing the ring-con. Still, they manage to get in a wide variety of exercises and switch things up enough so that I'm not just doing the same exercise over and over again and they certainly get my heartrate up. Meanwhile, the RPG elements are simple, but enough to keep me coming back for more.

The largest downsides are the uneven number of reps between some of the exercises (especially the number of squats), the overemphasis on the left side since that is the side that always starts for exercises that switch sides, and the sometimes finicky motion controls (especially for exercises, like planks, where you can't see the screen or for events that need perfect completion). 

Even having "beaten" the main game, I plan on returning to the game as part of my exercise regimen.

With Connor almost continually gone working odd jobs (and jet-skiing) at a friend's house and Trevor having just eaten "breakfast" due to second shift work schedule, Rowen and I have found ourselves eating lunch together. It had been my earlier plan to watch the Daredevil TV series at that time, and we started doing so with Connor initially; however, he does not want us watching it without him, so we had to find another show. Enter Star Trek Prodigy--a kid-focused cartoon Star Trek series on the Paramount+ streaming service. 

I've enjoyed it. While I don't feel that it is a great as some of the reviews made it out to be, it is certainly an entertaining show that is geared more towards Rowen's age, but is still enjoyable for me to watch. The main selling point for me is that Kate Mulgrew voices a holographic "instructor" based on Captain Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek Voyager. I deeply enjoy every moment that she has screen time.

All of the characters are entertaining, even if they bend away from realism in cartoonish ways. While parts of the story border on the absurd, I have certainly become invested in what will happen to this crew. Only the first half of the first season is currently available and the mid-season finale ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I'm looking forward to see how they finish out this season.

However, with those shows now watched, Rowen and I need to pick up a different lunchtime show.

During his homily, our pastor talked about the time that he had doubted that the Eucharist was the actual body and blood of Jesus. For me, the doubt had been more often than once. In truth, I clearly still wrestle with this idea. As much as I do believe in the theology behind it, I have also never had both species of Eucharist. 

Long ago, I took an vow to (among other things) not knowingly drink alcohol. To this date, I have upheld that idea. However, if the wine used in the Eucharist is no longer wine, but is now the blood of Christ, then drinking it would not break my oath. Still, it looks, smells, and (I assume) tastes like wine, thus I have not drank of that cup, but instead (during times when it is offered) venerate it by raising up the chalice and bowing my head. 

That said, I think I would have more of a problem if I was offered a cup full of a liquid that looked, smelled, and tasted like blood.

I am greatly enjoying the current surge of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Marvel television shows. In particular, Strange New Worlds and Obi-Wan Kenobi have been nearly everything I could wish for, and much that I did not expect. Sadly, they have only four and one episodes remaining, respectively. 

In general, I've been trying to watch these shows as they come out each week due to the amount of spoilers that pop up on the Internet. Generally, the response to them have been extraordinarily positive (as they deserve). However, as in the case for the most recent episode of Strange New Worlds, there have also been vitriolic rants from people who claim to be fans, but clearly don't like the show. Especially in the cases of Star Wars and Star Trek, there seems to be a great deal of people who are "fans" of the originals, but have almost nothing but hatred for everything since. These "originalists" seem to have no concept of the spirit of these franchises and are determined to hate on anything that they feel deviates from their strict interpretation of what Star Wars or Star Trek "really means."

Don't get me wrong. Not all of the episodes or even design choices in these shows have been great. There are sections of The Last Jedi whose existence I try to ignore, and don't even get me going on the design choice for Star trek: Discovery's revamped Klingons. Still, I recognize the heart and effort that have been put into them, and I'm particularly impressed with how deftly they pay tribute to their roots.

Unfortunately, many fans seem to be blinded by their hatred and perhaps feelings of betrayal. In particular, a common tactic is to review bomb shows and episodes that these toxic fans believe are too "woke" for their taste--as was the case for the most recent episode of Strange New Worlds and the entire fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery. For that matter, even the new Lightyear movie is getting that same treatment.

I suppose that I hope that people who truly believe in the spirit of these universes will be able to overcome these toxic "originalist" fans. Being stuck in the past, when the universe is a system of change and progress, is not the answer, and true fans will recognize the need to move forward and enjoy the greatness that results. Granted, I feel the same way about our nation's Constitution.

I've been working Rowen over the past several summers to get him to ride a bike. I've had varying degrees of success in training my other children. Some of them learned quickly (or even almost entirely on their own), while others required a great deal of help on my part, usually with me running alongside to provide stability. For Rowen, we have gone through a variety of different methods, usually ending with him quitting in frustration.

This past school year, he won new bike during a school contest. He told me when he won it (in the middle of winter) that he was going to learn how to ride a bike this year. Initially, he had a great deal of enthusiasm for the endeavor, to the point that he pulled out his  bike multiple times before the snow and ice had melted off the driveway. Unfortunately, those early attempts seemed to dampen his spirits.

This week, I asked him to try once again. We talked about the fundamentals before, during, and after his attempts. He made some good progress early on, but seemed to keep overthinking the process and doubting himself, eventually getting more and more upset. Yesterday, he did not want to try at all. Thus, I was surprised when he pulled out the bike again today and gave it another try. Well ... I shouldn't be too surprised since I had asked him to come out to do some yard work. Connor even got on his bike and (after some initial teasing) started giving Rowen good advice (again, he was also supposed to be helping me with yard work).

After a fall into our center garden, Rowen's chain got wedged near the pedals. After I fixed the issue, I reset some of his gears and readjusted his seat. Suddenly, he was pedaling away. Sure, he needs to keep the handlebar steadier, but he managed to get around our circle driveway twice without stopping. He was beaming with pride at the end--even if he did land in the garden a couple more times.