Wednesday was another mostly chill day at work. Moved steadily if not rapidly on my stories; smoothed one story a bit and submitted it for review; edited some appeal letters. In the process I learned the name of the new building at the pharmacy school at UH Hilo (and its correct spelling).
I goofed off a little on my phone after work, then watched episode nine of the second season of Halt and Catch Fire. Dismal. The relationship stuff didn’t go the way I wanted, although I suppose it went the way it had to for compelling future seasons. Good characters for long-lived television series should be flawed in some big ways, but these characters are flawed in ways I can barely suffer. The tech stuff is genius, and when it’s going right, the characters are terrific. Stuff away from the tech just makes me wonder why I spend any time with the characters at all.
Except for the one character played by Kerry Bishé who has to put up with the others. She’s pretty admirable.
I’m playing in six fantasy football leagues this year. The one with my classmates has been going more than twenty years — twenty five seasons over thirty years is pretty close. I’m running the office league, now in its third season. And I signed up for four money leagues at $5 apiece. The Yahoo! money leagues pay the same rates: winning a $5 league gets you $25, while finishing third gets you $5. Winning a $20 league gets you $100, while finishing third gets you $20.
I’m mostly playing in the pro leagues to test the advice of a fantasy advice service I subscribe to. I’ve subscribed for a few years and except for two years ago, I’ve done very well. I generally stick to the advice but trust myself on certain things, and when I’ve deviated from the advice, it’s paid off more often than it hasn’t.
Testing the service four times at $5 each seems like it will give a better evaluation than testing it once with a $20 league, and the likelihood of at least partial success seems greater as well. It’s more work, managing this many teams, so that’s a downside. And I mean work, because the real pleasure in fantasy sports is in the sense of fun and community it delivers, which you don’t feel in a league with a bunch of strangers when $25 is on the line.
Oh, that’s another reason I chose the $5 leagues. The $5000 league (first place payout: $25,000) isn’t going to have any schmoes in it, guys who sign up on a whim and then stop paying attention when they realize a few weeks in that they’ve drafted poorly. It seems a guy like me has a better chance of winning just by staying in the game at the $5 level, where losers are more likely to lose interest.
Only five of the six teams competed — the sixth didn’t draft until opening day, so it begins competition with week two — and four of them won in week one. The one loss was in the classmates league, the one that matters most to me, but it did quite well, so I’m still pleased.
Although it should be said that losing to Reid is never okay.
I decided the McD’s breakfast sandwiches at the laundry were not a late Tuesday dinner but a Wednesday breakfast. For lunch, I had the noodle-veggie soup. It’s nearly two weeks since my last visit to the grocery, so I’m running low on fresh veggies. I was left with a large amount of won bok and some fresh onion. Not quite as nutritious as usual. Still yummy.
I made a pot of angel hair pasta for dinner. I tried a new jarred sauce, a store brand, with red pepper flakes, brown sugar, dried minced garlic, sake, and gorgonzola. Delicious.
Sharon and I texted about some stuff we’re doing in the kitchen. She’s been doing a lot of quarantine baking, and I mean this literally. She went to the mainland to witness her sister’s courthouse wedding, and today’s her last day of quarantine since her return. Crush Girl and I also chatted a bit about food.
I went to bed at nine in hopes of getting up early for the beach.
The director of the CDC says we may have enough vaccine for a return to normal life by the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2021. A certain elected official, offering no grounds for contradiction, says the director is confused. I don’t know enough to make any kind of prediction, but I think I’d put money on the scientist, while still hoping by some miracle that the elected official knows something the director doesn’t. Whatever the case, I think we’re going to be shut in for quite a while more. If you need someone to connect with, in order to make it through, just reach out. I’m a good ear.