Blockchain Man

It’s Sunday morning, I’m up a bit earlier than normal because I was so tired yesterday. I took Elder to the rock gym, then we came back and watched Iron Man 2 and Thor. I didn’t drink or smoke, but turned in around 10 last night. I was beat. I had some interesting dreams.

I’ve been avoiding doing things I know I need to do. I continue to avoid thinking or doing anything about taxes, I haven’t heard from the CPA in two weeks. Plus I haven’t done my house accounts or budgeting for March yet, and have managed to overspend out of the house account. I am going to do that this morning, no putting that off.

Younger and I have been fighting a lot recently. Usually I’ll ask her something simple, and she’ll tell me no like she has a choice, and then it’s straight to WWIII. I’m not sure what’s going on, but it interesting because Elder is mostly trained to do what she’s told and mostly helps out without too much fuss. She still gets distracted very easily, but at least she’s good natured about it. And I don’t think I’ve had to punish her for anything at all recently.

My brother is coming home from Germany next month on a vacation. I don’t think I’ve seen him in five years or more. I’m pretty sure it’s not been since he had his daughter, so it’ll be the first time seeing her outside of a FaceTime call. He’s coming down for almost a whole month, but it coincides with our Hawaii trip, so I’ll only get a weekend with them. We were talking about doing a trip to an amusement park or water park, TBD.

I don’t have a lot of updates to put out, work is pretty much top-secret, so I feel less inclined to say anything in this space. I have been doing a lot of writing though, so I suppose that’s why I haven’t been journaling quite as much. I guess I don’t have much energy left at the end of the day.

Missus is trying to figure out what to do about work and Union. They’re rescinding telework, although there’s no real reason for them to do that other than to be assholes and exercise control over the staff. There’s no reason for her to be in the office five days a week, eight hours a day. On top of that she just found out that her program director is going out for twelve weeks paternity leave, and she knows they’re going to try and make her do his job, even though he’s two pay grades above her. So she’s thinking about going full-time with the union. Doing so might make her lose her certification, as she needs a certain number of patient hours to maintain it. Walking away is still an option as well, and it seems her boss has figured that out as she’s trying to offer Missus some pittance — a modified works schedule — as some sort of incentive to stay. It’s asinine.

So I’m going to go get started with the accounts, the kids are going to church then I’ll have some game time with my brother for a bit. No idea what we’re doing with the rest of our day, maybe a bike ride or something to keep me and the kids active. Anything to get out of the house and avoid the harsh reality of the responsibilities I’m ignoring.

Tuesday morning is off to a good start, the girls got out of the house this morning without too much fuss. I’m rested and ready to get to work.

I’ve got at least one team meeting on the calendar late this afternoon, but I should have a few hours this AM to focus and get some work done. I think I’ll do some Solana programming. I spent yesterday going over a couple new features for the POLISdao with our lead web3 dev, but I’m going to save that for later in the week.

I haven’t really been thinking too much about my taxes, I’m just hoping that the CPA I hired can get me close enough that I don’t mind paying out to Uncle Sam. Well, I take that back. I have been thinking about it quite a bit, but I’ve been procrastinating on it, finding ways to avoid doing it. I don’t think I can get away with that past this week though. I just have a bit more to do, and it’s really not all that bad, time wise. I just don’t want to think about it.

Missus is slowly coming around on the offer I made to her, to let her quit her job and take some time off from work to evaluate everything and figure out what she really wants to do with no pressure. The VA is a mess, and her union is reflection of that. She’s doing a great job at both, but there’s not really a culture of excellence within it, and it’s mostly a bunch of passive-aggressive, petty bullshit. It’s bad for her mental health. Anyways I’ve been riling her about it, and we were talking about health insurance the other day and she said let’s wait till August, which is the month that she hits her fifteen years. She’s eligible for a partial retirement, so that’s the earliest we agreed that she could step away. To hear her say it is a good sign though. I just need to hold the fort down for the next couple years while Star Atlas launches. As long as we avoid lifestyle inflation we should be good.

I’m setting aside 37% of my paycheck into crypto right now, which still leaves me with more take home that I had at my last job. I haven’t even looked at the budget for last month, but I know for a fact that I haven’t done anything crazy the last four months. Just a little bit of fun. The one thing I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold off on for much longer is a car. I’ve been driving Missus’s 2012 CRV since I got rid of my Fusion during the COVID lockdown, but I’m really itching for a new mode of transportation. I’ve been dreaming about souped up BMW M8s; older, antique sport cars (manual only, of course), to motorcycles and even electric scooters. Just something to give us options when one of us has the car.

I don’t think I’m going to do anything crazy, of course. Buying a new car with cash is out of reach right now, and I’m not taking a loan out. Insurance is another factor, not to mention the time or money I’d be obligated to spend on maintenance or detailing if I bought a $22k Subaru BRZ. I could save for that car in as little as three months, but it might just be better for me to get a bike or a beater, and go spend a day with Skip Barber to get it out of my system.

Plus even thinking about this before my taxes are done is kind of irresponsible.

To work.

So yesterday my boy Todd and I went to a climbing gym across the water and boy am I hooked. The place we went to had hundred-foot top rope climbs and a bouldering area, and after a good three hours of climbing we were beat. I can’t wait to go back.

I really couldn’t do much, I think I managed to run through all of the V0 and 5.6-5.7 setups that they had, but I couldn’t do much more than that. Still, I think I did better than Todd, who has been working out a lot and has much better muscle foundation than I do. My scrawny ass had better hand and forearm strength, apparently.

I made a point to be super friendly with the staff. I showed up there were just two young women manning the counter. I’m a complete noob, I told them, and I want to do some climbing. And they did a really good job walking us through the rules and how to use the equipment. It was really nice.

The hardest part of the climb was letting go at the top. The first time you let go to let the auto-belay device bring you down is super scary, but I got over it pretty quick and was later hanging off the ground, thirty feet in the air to rest while Todd held me.

I wasn’t quite as worn out as I thought I would be. I had some slight stiffness when I woke up this morning, but other than some slight soreness in my arms and back, I’m feeling pretty good. I even went for a short run today.

My feet are a bit of a mess. I’ve been plagued with a hammer-toe on my right foot for years, and it usually causes issues with the knuckle when I wear rental shoes, whether for skiing or ice skating or what have you. And the first pair of shoes they gave me were a bit too pinchy and gave me a pretty bad bunion after an hour or so. They gave me a slightly bigger brand, but the damage was done. Climbing shoes are designed to be used barefoot, but I had to put a sock on to cover the sore.

So today I decided to take some corrective action, and looked up ways to correct the situation. I found a couple videos that showed how to I could tape the toe down, and managed to get some relief by doing it.

Today was also day one of spring break for the girls, and we had a successful morning. We set up most of our stuff the night before, and I even dropped Missus off at work, then the girls at the community center. They went swimming today, and we even found a game room that had skee ball, air hockey and ping pong. When we got home the girls literally spent the entire time outside, playing with their friends before we finally called them in for dinner and evening chores at seven. Now they’re out.

April Fools passed by without too much craziness. Was busy with work and wrapped up the day with a post town hall Twitter Spaces. I think I managed not to say anything I wasn’t supposed to. After I wound up feeding the neighborhood, and spent about $150 on Chinese food. I let the kids watch High School Musical and put them to bed, then stayed up till three gaming with Ed. We were taking turns between Cyberpunk and rounds of Tarkov.

This morning I rolled out of bed with Missus around ten. She had a hair appointment across the water, so we decided to make a day out of it. I was to drop her off and take the kids to the zoo, only I realized after I dropped her off that I had forgotten my wallet. So instead, we hung out at a park adjacent to the zoo for about three hours. I had packed my new tactical bag with snacks and water, and chaperoned the kids around the parks various playground equipment. There were lots of trees that we tried to climb as well.

We picked up Missus at two, then went for a late lunch at a local mainstay, an overrated drive-in BBQ joint. Service was slow and the fare was barely passable french fries, BBQ sandwiches, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and BLTs. After that we went back across the water and went to the community center to sign the girls up for spring break camp.

I think I had to fill out about a hundred pieces of paper. They had no electronic enrollment, so I had to fill out six forms, one for each of us for our family membership, and two more for the camp enrollment. They have basketball, a pool, crafts and a playground, and there are two other centers, one with a climbing wall.

Speaking of climbing, I’m hoping to take my first foray into rock climbing tomorrow with Todd. There’s a place right over where we were today, so I’m to meet him early tomorrow to check it out.

I took a nap this afternoon, showered and then did some work for SAIA’s multisig. Taking it easy this evening, of course, and putting the girls to bed as soon as I hang this up.

So today was a bit of a slow start. I tied one on last night since Missus got home. Note to self: Belgian Trippel is way too strong. I stayed up till one and woke up completely rekt. Took Elder to school, Younger was home sick again, and came home and went back to bed for a couple more hours. Had a couple meetings, wrote some notes, that’s it. Played some Tarkov this afternoon, watched the first episode of Moon Knight. Kids are in bed.

Younger has lost her Kindle, and it’s bugging the crap out of me. It had a bright blue case that was easy to see, but she took it out of there and now it’s just gone. I can’t find it.

Oh, and did I mention that Elder woke me up this morning to tell me that Younger was eating ice cream for breakfast? Yea, that set me off, whoo boy.

Anyways, March is done, and April Fools day is tomorrow. Paycheck came in, but still no raise. But the good news is that my 2021 and 2022 IRAs are maxed out. So I guess I can start buying crypto again. Seems like a good time to do so. CryptoTwitter’s been bullish for the last ten days, and today there was a selloff and everyone is losing their minds. Time to stack some more sats I suppose.

Haven’t run in several days. Just couldn’t fit it in yesterday with the kids by myself, and today my recovery score was so low I didn’t even think about it. Tomorrow should be good though.

Gonna turn in early and read a book in bed. Might play a round of Tarkov first.

Younger is home sick today. She had the start of a cold yesterday but I sent her to school. This morning she was congested enough that I felt like I needed to keep her home. So I gave her some cold medicine and chicken noodle soup, and let her watch TV while I attempted to get things done. When I checked on her she was watching Is It Cake?, a baking competition show.

I decided to tear her away from that. She was feeling a bit better, but I didn’t want to abandon her to the tube all day. So I made lunch, and we drew up a plan. We went to the library, then on to the grocery store where we picked up some staples and some ice cream. Then we had a bit of a Mo Willems marathon. All of his books have been animated and narrated into videos that are on HBOMax. I finally managed to tear myself away, and have less than an hour before I need to go get Elder.

Missus comes home tonight, but it might be too late for the girls to stay up. I’ll be ready to have a break.

So far this week I’ve managed to keep it together, although last night almost relapsed after a call from a friend that kept me up past my bedtime. Younger stayed in her bed though.

Hopefully I can fit a run in this afternoon and keep things going.

So I’ve survived another day without Missus around. Things got a little testy last night, but we didn’t have any major issues with the kids. I think the worst thing was I was helping Elder do her chores and she told me she had “too many” socks in her drawer, which was half full. When I asked her why then I had just bought her socks at the store on Sunday, she said it was because I had been “too lazy” to turn the car around and go back to the house after she had told me her socks had holes in them.

Boy, did I get up in her face, man. Thankfully she had the sense not to say another word to me. She was upset because I made her do her laundry, a basket full of clothes, not to mention the sheets and mattress protector for both her regular and trundle mattresses. Whoo boy.

Everything else has been going ok. The kids don’t have another adult to play off of, so they’re actually doing a better job following directions than they do when Missus is around. They know they’ve got no one to appeal to. Younger has been doing a great job getting to sleep, although she did come to the bed last night and kick me awake at five in the morning. Bad dreams, she said.

Today Momo is sick, which means I had to drop Elder off at school and have to pick her up this afternoon, which causes some scheduling conflicts, but I should be able to handle it.

We made a bit of a breakthrough at work, we had been pointed to a snapshot program for the Tribeca locker way back in Feb, but for one reason or another we had dismissed it. For whatever reason, I took a look at it again yesterday and realized what it was, basically the program that we needed. Thankfully we didn’t spend any sprint time working on an alternative implementation. I think this will save us a couple weeks.

Crypto markets seem to be breaking out. I’m still in the process of moving funds into my IRA, so I haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy the dip the last few months. I’ve maxed out my 2021 and have almost maxed out my 2022 IRA, almost twelve grand altogether. I managed to scoop up some BTC, ETH, and SOL yesterday, but I’ve got to wait on ACH transfers, which take forever.

It’s funny, having money in the bank. I told the kids how lucky they are, we just confirmed our travel arrangements for our Hawaii trip, and we have Disney World right after that. If I was still working at my old job, Disney would have been a dud because I would be too broke to enjoy it. Now I have no compunction about spending three grand while we’re there. We can pretty much do whatever we want.

I really haven’t gone crazy with my money, I’m sure my spending is up a bit for groceries and clothes, but besides a grow tent and a new monitor, I haven’t really splurged on anything. Taxes first, I suppose. I spent twenty three hundred on house repairs — more to come — but so far I’ve been fairly subdued. I guess Steam games are one of my guilty pleasures. I’ve been buying up whatever I want, and have been gifting a lot to friends. Spreading the wealth, I suppose.

I think things are looking good from here.

So day one without Missus was actually pretty nice. I didn’t go crazy last night, and caught up on some sleep. The girls went to church, I played Tarkov all morning and then we went off on our adventure: BIKING.

Tarkov has turned me into a bit of a bag fetishist. The local department store had these backpacks that were very reminiscent of bags in Tarkov, and after several trips there I finally decided to pull the trigger on this thirty dollar bag. I love it already. We stopped by the store, Younger needed a pullover, and Elder needed socks, so I loaded up the bikes, took them to the store, and then we drove a half hour away to go biking. It was fun.

The kids were troopers, especially Younger, who was defying-death on the hiking trails before we got kicked off by the park ranger. By that time we were done “mountain biking” and spent the rest of the time biking over winding, slightly hilly gravel roads to a lookout point over the creek. I packed plenty of water and snacks.

After we left there, I dropped the girls off at Momo’s so that I could have a break — more Tarkov — then I gorged myself on a BK Bacon King. It was a bit much, but I don’t eat there often.

So now both the girls are in bed and my final challenge tonight is to get my own butt to bed at a decent hour so that I can get the girls to school on time. A new work sprint starts tomorrow and I need to be on point.

Today was a pretty good day.

Friday was the end of the sprint at Star Atlas, and we had some pretty good engineering demos from the rest of the team. We spent the evening having pizza and movie night, then I stayed up — way too late — gaming with my boy Ed and his coworker. We played The Ascent, but Ed wimped out. Apparently it wasn’t his type of game. I actually bought copies for both of them, hoping that the three of us could game together.

I was up at eight to take Missus to the train station so that she could go on her training. We stopped at Crispy Creme to get donuts for the girls, then we went home and I promptly passed out until eleven, when I had a SAIAdao meeting. That went well, we’re making progress.

The rest of the day has been a drag-ass kinda day. I cooked lunch for the kids and neighbors, and Younger started fighting with them so I watched Bluey and half of Beauty and the Beast while I napped. I spent the rest of the day playing Tarkov, running night raids with some pretty good success. I’m almost level 15, and then I get the flea market.

I cooked dinner, then watched Hawkeye with the kids. Younger is in bed now, and I’m letting Elder stay up to watch one more show.

The kids have church tomorrow morning, so hopefully I’ll get a round or two in with my brother. I’m hoping to take the kids for a bike ride at a park on the other side of town. My only worry is what the weather is going to be like, and whether Elder’s bike will make it without the chain coming off. She’s due for a new bike.

Staratlas.Exchange went offline today after I failed to pay the AWS bill for two months. It’s just a pain in the butt the way my business accounts are setup, so I just went ahead and dropped a grand on my personal card. The site still isn’t back up and running, but it should be tomorrow.

Today is not quite starting off the way I had planned. Yesterday was awesome, I got at least four hours of deep work — Solana programming — and had a full day, checking off all the boxes: meditation, weight training, a long run. Hell, I even had two successful Tarkov night raids in a row, which I can’t say has happened in a long while. There was a SAIAdao meeting that went well, and I turned in shortly after to read Watts, and then had lights out at 10:20 or so.

Then I couldn’t sleep.

My brain was running. I actually had a couple flashes of insight regarding the POLISdao that I had to get up and write down. But according to my Whoop, I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight.

Then Younger came in the bed, which is never a good thing for sleep. Then my Whoop woke me up an hour early because I change the alarm to wake me up if it senses that I’m recovered. This threw me off and I woke up Missus thinking that she had forgot to set the alarm. Once I realized what time it was I went back to bed.

Then, when it was time to actually get up, Missus wouldn’t a Younger wanted to fight me. I was grumpy so I wanted to fight back. The girl has this chronic chapped upper lip, and I told her all she needs to do (besides stop licking them) is to drink water and put on the medicine. She just wouldn’t do it. Anyways I dropped the kids off and promptly went back to sleep.

I just finished a short two-mile run, and am showered and ready for work today. Thursdays I’ve got team meetings, but hopefully I’ll get some deep work this morning.