I’m working from my parents house today. I have an absolute mountain of work to do, but fortunately I only have one meeting today and it was over by 10:30.
The pandemic sent us all home for a year and a quarter and counting which means we don’t hold meetings in person which means we’re teleconferencing like crazy. I have two tools for this process. A webcam that sits on top of my monitor and a headset mic/headphones that allows me to keep the other end of the conferences private from whoever is home with me, and cut down on ambient noise making it’s way to those on the other end of the line.
After over a year of use, the webcam is dying. It could be the cable or the USB connector, I don’t know. I just know that sometimes the image is a mess. I’ve switched to using the webcam built into my laptop. When I work from my parents house I can use the webcam built into one of the monitors I’m borrowing from my brother’s workstation.
Unlike the webcam, the headset is still firing on all cylinders. When I work at my parents house I bring it with me.
Usually.
I forgot it today.
Muthapussbucket.
I feel naked without it. How quickly we become dependent on little, seemingly insignificant things.
I’m pretty sure this is the second time I’ve received this particular set of Bang and Olufsen headphones from my wife. She gave them up in favor of something else, gave them to me, then decided she didn’t like the something else so I gave them back to her, and now they are getting old and she already has a pair she prefers, so I am taking them back again.
Are they the best headphones I’ve ever used? Probably not. Are they awesome? Absolutely!
It’s been quiet here tonight. Dad has been okay. He hasn’t gotten out of bed which is good for my stress level but not so good for his recovery. He needs to get some strength back in his legs and staying in bed is not going to get him there. I’ll see if I can coax him up during the odd coffee break tomorrow.
My mother was in a lot of pain when I got here, but after her last round of meds she went to bed and has been sleeping soundly ever since.
I got a jump on the work day by setting up my computer and everything I need for tomorrow tonight. The last blog post was written on my MacBook while sitting in the living room. This one is being written on my work issued HP while sitting at the workspace in the dining room. That cheap little USB fan is running and as always it is glorious.
I still need to set up my CPAP machine in the living room. I will have to do it in the dark as dad is in there sleeping. I’ve heard the odd snore, so he’s definitely asleep. Mostly I am sitting here writing this because I am waiting for my iPhone and my Apple Watch to charge before I turn in. On previous trips here I would setup a power strip near the couch I sleep on and plug everything in there. It’s not easy to do now as we had a hospital bed setup in that room yesterday and all of the places I would sit things on while they charged have been replaced with piles and piles of stuff. I don’t want to sit a power strip or a laptop on top of that stuff as I’m not sure if any of it might be a fire hazard or not. Shoot me for being extra cautions. So now I’ll just use one plug for the CPAP machine and keep my phone next to the machine with an alarm set. Of all the times I’ve been here over the last couple of months, I have never actually needed the alarm. I’ve always managed to be up long before it goes off. That’s not necessarily a good thing.
I thought about trying to write a little music while I sit here waiting. I have the MacBook and GarageBand with me after all. No… I can’t get into it. I feel too uncomfortable with headphones on.
Okay. I am going to start the turning in process now. Wish me luck.
Epically busy day today. Sneaking in a short post during a short lunch break. What’s going on, Robert?
When the Covid-19 lock down started I had to grab a webcam so that I could join in on the video conferencing fun. Last week I was on a Google Meet meeting and my camera started flipping out like a crazy person. I tried a couple of USB ports and it was a problem in more than one, but eventually it stabilized itself. That leads me to think there is something breaking loose within the cable. This morning I was on a Zoom meeting and my camera kept shutting off. Turns out it was basically the same issue. I ended up opening up my clam shelled laptop and using the built in camera. It’s working. Folks can see my mug when I am speaking.
Still… a Covid-19 specific tech gadget purchase failed to outlive the lock down. I’m probably going to replace it someday so that I can go back to clam shell. When I go back to the office (which is imminent) I won’t have my gigantic monitor and I’ll have the lappy open anyway, so a replacement camera will just be a home office guy.
I don’t know why but I redid my Spotify Mood Music playlist. I put this together ages ago with the intent being I would update it all the time. Any time I was drawn to a new band or song or whatever I would add something to the playlist. I kept that up for about a minute. Maybe this time I’ll stay active. I don’t use Spotify but it’s easy to share on the blog so that’s why I do it. Whatever.
Jen spoke to Harry a little bit today. He has had his first graduation practice session! We got the details on the ceremony. Masks optional and no socially distant seating. Oh good. The pandemic is over, folks. You made it through! I guess the 11,277 new cases and 245 new deaths yesterday were imagined.
Sorry. This is not a bitch about Covid thing. This is a Harry is a Legend who is graduating from High School in three days post!
Legen…
Wait for it…
We get a new Marvel show on Disney Plus starting tomorrow. Loki. Wednesdays instead of Fridays, that’s new. I think I liked Fridays better in general, but Wednesdays work too. While watching WandaVision we got into the groove of having burgers and fries for dinner while we watched the new episodes. That carried on through The Falcon and The Winter Soldier too. It will continue with Loki. I have no idea what this show is going to be like. I just know that all of us are psyched. Come on, Marvel. Live up to the hype, people! Bring it!
When I’m working at home I like to stream audio from my iPad to the HomePods in my bedroom office via AirPlay. Podcasts, music, sometimes radio, whatever.
The exception is baseball games. The MLB app for iOS lets you stream radio broadcasts for every game from every team’s local broadcast. If I use the speakers in my iPad it generally works all right. If I stream it to the HomePods… Not so much.
I set the iPad to AirPlay to the HomePods, then I open the app and connect to the Red Sox, WEEI broadcast and it doesn’t stream. It plays through the iPad speakers. Why? It also screws up the user interface so that switching back to the iPad (even though it’s actually coming through the iPad speakers) isn’t easy to do. You have to do a couple of extra swipes and taps before you can reconnect to the actual device that is already working.
A few process kills and a reboot and some magic tricks and eventually I get the app playing through the HomePods. Except that it isn’t. Instead of the live radio broadcast, which was streaming fine a second ago, it is playing television highlights from NESN. When I switch to the Boston Spanish broadcast it’s fine. When I switch to the opposing team’s radio broadcast it seems fine, when I switch back to the WEEI stream it’s NESN again.
I switch from my iPad to my iPhone and everything works fine. Thanks a pant load, MLB.
Addendum to the previous post. I cleared the cache in Vivaldi as well as cookies and a few other pieces of data and now I can write posts again! It’s such a gift. If I were half the analyst I claim to be, I would have done that first because… duh. Of course it was cache. Sign out and sign back in? What are you, an idiot? Clearly it was a little piece of corrupt data lying around.
Change of subject, we have reached the point where we are planning how to pack up the cars to drive to Vermont to help my step daughter move into her apartment. I am so happy for her and I am so sad for me and Jen. The conflicting feelings are really tough to deal with. I’m trying to look outward though and just be happy and excited for Bellana. She’s amazing and this is just one more baby step toward her taking over the world. Well, taking over the world figuratively speaking. I’m not being literal when I say that… or am I?
When I work at my parents house I am sitting at the dining room table using a massive desk setup that belongs to my brother. Three monitors and the switcher that lets you use them with a single USB C plug, wireless keyboard and mouse, and a USB hub. Lots and lots of stuff. I’m using it every time I work here, but I have not contributed anything to the work space.
Until today.
It survived the trip. I think I am going to leave it here because it’s pretty delicate and I don’t know how many trips back and forth in a backpack it has in it. Still, this little five speed USB sucker is my new favorite desk swag.
Inside the Red Head's Head 