Cav's Place

As the title states, this is just a post with the site’s statistics for the third year after I started over. The first column covers the entire period between September 21, 2015 and September 20, 2018, the second covers the period since the previous such post, September 21, 2017 to September 20, 2018, while the third is the usual one I add at the end, covering the last month, so starting on August 21, 2018 and also ending on September 20, 2018. Not that it should be of any interest to anyone, of course, especially considering the low number of visits, but I’m posting it nevertheless, largely for my own use.

[1] Obvious spam sources not listed, of course.
[2] Even though the help states that one’s own domain should automatically be added to exclusions, ever since switching to the new Analytics code I ended up with a number of entries listing my own site as source, some of those likely being direct hits from returning visitors who had last visited a different section and many being incorrectly registered new sessions from visitors who landed on the site index and then went to other sections. I have since manually added my domain to the exclusions list and this eliminated the issue, but the only thing I can do about the past statistics is what I’ve been doing since this started happening, which is to add these visits to the number of direct ones and leave the inflated numbers as they are otherwise.

I hope I didn’t make any mistakes. Of course, it is possible that something slipped through despite checking quite a number of times, but I’m definitely not going to go over it yet again now.
As for the records, those are unchanged, namely 169 visitors and 180 visits, set on the old site by that large spike on August 16, 2009, and 333 pageviews, set on March 3, 2013. And here are the usual graphs for visitors, visits and pageviews for this period as well.

Ran twice this week, Tuesday and yesterday. Tuesday’s time was 48:20, making it the slowest for ten kilometers since getting the new shoes, and also the only one over 48 minutes since then. Sector times were 4:30, 5:02, 5:54, 4:30, 4:57, 5:59, 4:31, 5:05, 6:05 and 1:47, making for lap times of 15:26, 15:26 and 15:41. Yesterday was better though, the time being 47:46, with sector times of 4:25, 5:03, 5:52, 4:28, 5:01, 5:55, 4:25, 5:00, 5:47 and 1:50, making for lap times of 15:20, 15:24 and 15:12.
Tuesday sure showed that I didn’t run last week and it’s been three weeks since I last tried to maintain this sort of pace, since I knew I was in trouble after the first sector, when I thought I had been too fast and noticed that I was actually quite slow, and after that it took all I had to just stay under 48:30 in the end. There were some people to make my way around later on, but definitely not enough to slow me down by over 20 seconds. Yesterday, on the other hand, I wanted to clear my head a bit after Wednesday’s mess, so I just pushed every step of the way, and even more so on lap three, and despite walking a fair bit the day before I got back under 48 minutes quite comfortably, and also managed one of the fastest times for lap three. Didn’t think I’ll manage it after the first lap, but the second wasn’t bad and then I saw that I really could push harder and harder on the third.

Back to the beginning of the period covered by this post, Saturday I went to that science and science fiction fair, and there were supposed to be telescopes to look through, which could have been interesting on a night with just about everything on the sky. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t agree, being even worse than the forecast of clouds and some risk of showers later, since it started raining minutes after I left and it quickly got quite heavy. Could still get back at that point, maybe get my jacket, but looked up and saw where the clouds ended, then stopped in a more sheltered spot to determine wind direction as well and realized that it was helping move the rain away, so just kept going, only crossing the road earlier than I normally would since it seemed a bit more sheltered on that side, and the rain eased and eventually stopped just before I got there.
Since this time around everything was outside, they were busy setting things up again, but most seemed to have done that quickly, only a couple of tents remaining closed and one space being completely empty, leading me to believe that those from an IT store which should have had a gaming area there had decided to stay away completely due to the weather, since I didn’t see any sign of them anywhere. So I just had a look around, paying more attention while checking out the books that were on sale, but those that had some that I might have had a bit of interest in were pushy, and the author of those books, who’s also the owner, was also there, and when I picked one up I was asked if I wanted him called over, so I said no and got away, not even asking about the price, since those seem to never list the prices. Those selling used books had a fair bit of fantasy in English, on the other hand, but it was mainly heroic fantasy, “old school” stuff. So I moved on, listened to a Romanian researcher living and working in the USA after they finally managed to establish the connection, then slowly made my way away a bit after they had started talking about observing the sky. The guy was saying that it might yet clear enough to be able to spot something at least occasionally, but I was still wet and starting to feel a bit chilly, so didn’t feel like waiting when it could very well be for nothing anyway. Since I hadn’t planned to return so early and I got back here just as the free bus to Auchan should have arrived, I considered taking it and going there to grab a few things, but decided against it and went to take a bath straight away.

The shock, in the good way this time, came when I got on-line after taking that bath, when I saw that one of the two who had won a game of their choosing in another massive giveaway done by someone on the GOG.com forum had refused the prize, these two having been special prizes announced by the guy at the end, when he posted the results of the draw, without having been mentioned as possible prizes at first… And I was the one selected to get that prize in his place. I knew I hadn’t won anything, so this really surprised me, and made it really hard to decide what to ask for, or whether to ask for anything at all, especially since the person doing this giveaway is the same one I won The Witcher 3 from.
Took me half an hour to persuade myself to open the chat and another hour to decide how to reply to his message. Kept changing my mind, seriously considered refusing as well, also considered just asking for a cheap game, maybe City of Abandoned Ships, but at the same time I kept thinking of Lords of Xulima: Deluxe Edition. I obviously couldn’t ask for something I’d just set aside for later and this was one of the very few games I thought I’d start playing right away, due to both level of interest and the fact that it should run just fine on my computer, and which also doesn’t have a regional pricing scheme where any region pays more than the base price, as I’d never actually purchase one of those or ask anyone to purchase one for me, and it’s also probably the only game from there that I can say both those things about and which is also still too expensive for me to buy even on sale. So, quite awkwardly, I eventually did ask for it, but specified that it’s available 75% off every so often, so he really can wait for the next sale at that level… But he just sent me the code right away, and I redeemed it that night, before going to bed, feeling quite rotten about it. Considering these massive giveaways this guy is making, as there was one more, that I know of, in between the one I won The Witcher 3 in and this one, I guess money is not the issue for him, but I still felt awfully rotten about it either way.
But at least it didn’t take me long at all to actually start playing, as I woke up around 10:15 AM the next morning and decided to get on the computer and install it, thinking I’ll get back to bed after doing that, then that I’ll do so after having a look through the guide and just starting the game to make sure it worked… And then finding that it was 4:20 PM when I finally quit, and that only because I was out of money for blessings and couldn’t quite continue. Found a way around that problem later, but the next evening I really thought I was completely stuck, every way I thought was available being blocked by enemies I didn’t have the slightest chance against. So Tuesday I checked that part of the walkthrough included in the guide, but couldn’t see how to go where it said I should have gone well before going to an area I had already reached. Looked for a let’s play video including that bit, and when I saw that the entrance looked different I thought I had experienced a bug and was really stuck, but eventually found the proper entrance and could finally continue. Just finished all of that part last night though, yet still highly doubt I’m strong enough to get past any of the enemies that blocked my way before, so not sure how I’ll keep going… And also not sure I’ll manage to finish a fifth game this year if I’ll be struggling with this and setting Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic aside yet again.

Back to Monday, went to Auchan, and also finally took some of those plastic bottles which had gathered while the recycling machine from there didn’t work, filling three bags with them, though the largest one still wasn’t here. Thought I had missed the free bus, but didn’t check the time just as I went out the door, so not sure whether I went out faster than I thought or it was late, but it drove past me as I was close to the next stop, which is in fact the previous one for it. Hadn’t quite reached that spot though, so I didn’t try to wave to let the driver know I wanted to get on, but meant to walk anyway. So I got there, had the machine accept all bottles without problems, and bought some stuff, including another watermelon which proved to be very good.
An interaction which could have had a bad effect on me but didn’t was with the cashier, likely because she was a young woman and she didn’t sound in any way threatening or angry when she told me to take my headphones out when being talked to. Had asked what had she said when she told me how much I still had to pay after applying the small discount for the bottles, which she first looked around for help about before apparently deciding she could handle, but that was because I was paying attention to the amount displayed and calculating, since I hadn’t quite done it, not that I hadn’t heard. So I told her I could hear her through the headphones anyway, she made a little quip about that, but the whole interaction seemed comfortable, and I remained comfortable after accidentally giving her more money than I should have and then asked for some back to give her the exact amount after finding the small bill I needed, and she was about to give me some back anyway because she had realized it as well and looked surprised as she started counting again. On the other hand, definitely wasn’t comfortable enough say anything to the guy who had gotten up before me on the bus back, which I had to run to manage to catch just as it was leaving, since he moved to the door well before my stop and told the driver to stop somewhere, but he was referring to the next stop and I didn’t quite understand what he had said, so I waited behind him, saw my stop come and go without the driver stopping and just resigned myself to get off at the next one and walk back.

And to leave the worst for last, I’ll mention here that after yesterday’s run I went back out to get some more things, first to this pharmacy and then to the Carrefour from that area. Dad wanted some things from that pharmacy too, but I couldn’t find what he was mainly interested in and the other thing would have required standing in line a long time and breaking the large bill I had taken specifically for what he had asked for, so I didn’t try to get that either and just gave that bill back when I got back here. Either way, after getting what I wanted from the pharmacy I also got another Paysafecard code from the nearby machine, because I really want to drop something in the Community Giveaway to at least make up for a part of what I received. Then got to that Carrefour for the cat food I hadn’t found at Auchan the day before and one other thing I wanted to get from there not just because it was on sale but also because buying products from that brand from there these days supposedly generates donations for the organization behind those events with volunteers at the Botanical Garden. Interestingly, the cat food was cheaper than it had been at the Carrefour I usually go to the day before, and since this other one tends to be more expensive for things not listed as on sale I wonder if it wouldn’t have been even cheaper here, since they change prices Thursday. But one issue was that I had been asked to get seven cans of one type and could just find five, though the rows for all the other types were full. But dug around and spotted a few cans fallen over behind a box of a different kind of cat food that was next to this kind, and after struggling to reach in and pull them out I found the two more I needed.

Wednesday, on the other hand, didn’t go well at all. I guess it can be taken as proof that I should listen to myself when I have a bad feeling, but then again if I always did that I’d hardly do anything at all. Still, after saying I’ll go to all three and things going well as I took out the paper and plastic and got some things from Carrefour and Kaufland, even if I had to carry a good 11 kg back, I did mean to say I won’t go to Auchan that day after all, meant to leave it for the next, yet eventually decided to go anyway, parents wanting things from there too and having given me money for them. I guess it could have still been all right if I’d have just taken what was on the table and stuck to refusing to take more after being told I should when I pointed out that the entire list would actually cost more than what was left there. I mean, we had already agreed I won’t get one thing from there, and without that it’d have been fine, but in the end I did decide to grab another bill, and if I wouldn’t have done so maybe I wouldn’t have lost it.
Since I took all the remaining plastic bottles, filling the two largest bags, which had just been brought back, and a third one as well, I did mean to take the free bus that evening, but I went out five minutes before it’d normally arrive here, expecting to have to wait about ten since it was rush hour, and waited for more than 20 for nothing. After about ten minutes, so just about when I thought it should have gotten here under those conditions, I did seem to spot something that looked like it turning away in the distance, possibly skipping this stop and somehow cutting the route in order to reach the end more or less on time despite the traffic, but I can’t be certain. What I do know is that I once again meant to come back and leave it all for the next day, getting to the corner, looking towards the building… And eventually once again deciding to go anyway. Not like it’s a problem to go on foot, even with all those plastic bottles, but I had wasted quite some time and feared the end of the schedule of anybody maintaining the recycling machine, worried that even if it’ll have no other issues it was likely to fill up and there would be nobody to empty it, and thinking that if anything’d be wrong I’ll turn around and go to the other one I now know of, to have another chance of knowing for sure that they were collected properly and also at least getting a little discount for my trouble.
Well, the machine did say that it was full after I put all of seven of the bottles in. Opened it myself, since it’s still not locked, and saw that it was indeed full. Tried to move some of the stuff around, to make a bit of space, but it didn’t seem to matter, though there was a time when it displayed a message asking to wait a moment and checked again as soon as it was closed, while now it said to press reset once it’s empty and I couldn’t spot any such button, nor the bar that I saw workers push when just making some room at some point. So I went to a guard and asked him to call someone to empty it, only to be told that it didn’t work. I told him it did, took some bottles and said it was full, and he looked surprised but said he’ll try, and did pick up the phone to tell someone something, though he was also talking on his phone and with another worker at the same time and didn’t tell me anything else. So instead of walking away and heading to that other place where I now know there is one I went back to wait, set all the bottles and the one can I still had on and next to it, tried to have another look inside after getting bored, went to the bathroom to wash my hands after doing so, and still nobody came, so I eventually said I’ll rush in to grab a few things I can grab quickly, then get back out to see whether anything changed, just mentioning as I walked past that guard again that nobody came.
What I could grab quickly was another watermelon, which I’m actually yet to try myself, and two kinds of cat food, as I couldn’t find that third one that I ended up getting from Carrefour yesterday. Didn’t use a regular checkout, so also didn’t use the tiny discount ticket for those seven bottles, but what may be more notable is that when using the machine to pay I took out both the 100 RON bill which had been left for me and the 50 RON (about $12.57 or €10.75) one I had taken myself, wondered which to put in and decided on the 100 RON, so I won’t be left with it unbroken when I’ll use a regular checkout later. So after getting my change I was left with two 50 RON bills and the small pile of small ones, most of which I already had and had placed separately in my pocket. At that point I placed everything received as change, including the 50 RON bill, along with those smaller ones, but I already don’t know what I did with that other 50 RON bill, the one I had decided against using then. I must have at least placed it separately in my pocket, thinking I definitely won’t need it, but whether I even did that or somehow missed the pocket, or tried to just throw it in a bag until I’ll get out and either missed the bag or forgot about it and somehow had it fly out at some point, I have no idea.
Still, it is entirely possible that I did just place it in my pocket then and I may have checked that after going back in, as I doubt I wouldn’t have checked my pockets for so long and definitely wasn’t concerned before paying the second time. But the one thing I do know I lost then was the discount for the other bottles, as when I went back out to the machine I saw that all had been cleared away, which I guess is not a surprise if somebody did come to empty the machine while I was away. But at the same time the machine displayed a message saying it was temporarily stopped, which happens when it’s reset, including to check that it was emptied, and that message wasn’t going away, and I noticed that it was still there when I eventually left, much later, so I guess it did break down again, making that guard right.
Either way, nothing to do about it, so went back, this time using the other entrance so I won’t get to that guard again, showed the guard who was there what I had in my bag, since the watermelon made it impossible to seal, and he just placed a sticker on the watermelon and then spotted the receipt in there as well and said I’ll be fine as long as everything that’s there is on it. So I got the stuff that was left, the next moment when I may have lost that bill being after getting the toilet paper, as I was trying to figure out how to carry it when I pulled the list I had been given out of the same pocket I had the money in, and I guess it was possible to have missed that it wasn’t the only thing I pulled out, if that bill wasn’t with the others. But what I did after that may make some say it served me right to lose that bill, since as I weighed some frozen things I decided to make up for at least a part of that discount I felt they had taken away from me by taking those bottles, placing a fingernail underneath to make the weight appear less by a small amount, saving about half of what I should have gotten for those bottles, or maybe a little over half… And less than 2.5% of what I ended up losing. Also pulled my phone out, possibly twice, around that time, and since that was in that same pocket as well, that’s another moment when I may have lost that bill, and for once I’m actually not sure I checked before getting to the checkout. I’d normally even pull the money out to count them, to be absolutely sure, especially since I usually don’t have much more than I need, at times calculating my purchases to just about exactly match what I have, but since that time I knew I had much more than needed and was also rushing to catch a free bus, I may have skipped checking at all.
So I got to the checkout, being absolutely certain that I got past those “fast” ones and reached a regular one. So I set the products down, along with the ticket for that tiny discount and what I thought was one of the 50 RON bills, though it may have already been the only one I still had at that moment. It definitely was the one that was with the smaller ones, but whether I still had the other one, I have no idea, but I didn’t realize that anything was wrong just then. Also most definitely didn’t realize I wasn’t at one of the regular checkouts after all, though I’m not sure how much I was still “processing” anything after the cashier had a good look inside my bag to make sure everything that was in there was on the receipt I already had, that interaction definitely not feeling comfortable in the least. So I may not have been ignoring her on purpose when she seemed to indicate I couldn’t use that ticket there and only realized with some delay that she told me I don’t pay there after seeing the bill I had placed there. I guess I was “that” customer, but I couldn’t quite think anymore after she checked like that, so I just stood there silently and waited for her to realize that it was a regular checkout after all and I could in fact use the ticket and pay, only finally hitting me that I was wrong after she called someone to check and telling me they confirmed those tickets only work at the regular checkouts. So I said it’s all right, it’s too small of an amount to matter, and got my stuff to go to a machine to pay. Whether I also took that bill I had meant to pay there with or not I have no idea, however. I just can’t recall that moment…
Still not noticing anything wrong for just one more moment, I went to one of the machines and first stopped to finally check the money in my pocket… And that was when I definitely noticed the problem, seeing that I only had one of those bills. It was set aside from the small ones, but if I did take that one back then it’d have been set aside as well, as I’d have just quickly stuffed it in my pocket, so this doesn’t tell me anything about which I lost and when. Rushed back to that cashier then, asked whether I had left my money there, she said I hadn’t, the next customer made a bit of a show of just barely lifting some of her bags to let me look under them as well, but of course either of them could have easily pocketed the bill in those seconds before I got back if I had indeed left it. So all I could do was get back to my things and start searching, taking everything out of all pockets, checking inside my bags, looking around, but still finding nothing. Then things got even worse when I finally tried to scan the receipt and pay, as there was nothing else to do, and the machine said it was expired, so I guess there’s just a very brief amount of time during which you can scan and pay.
My options at that point were to head back to have a cashier scan the items again, head back and to a regular checkout to at least be able to use that tiny discount, just drop the things purchased then and leave with just those purchased the first time… Or try to use that first receipt to leave without paying for these new items, the total being just under half of what I had lost. But of course that didn’t work, the machine at the gate recognizing that the receipt had already been used and a guard immediately appearing next to me and asking what had I done and whether I had scanned it twice. So I just mumbled that it was possible and that I’ll use another exit, turned around and just walked away with a confidence I didn’t in the least have. But at least that meant I got to a regular checkout after all and could use that ticket for just a few coins. And that cashier didn’t care that I had another bag in the least, not even glancing at it as I walked out with it and not saying anything even as I stopped after a couple of steps and took everything out yet again, to look one more time for that bill. She must have seen that what I took out was more than what she had scanned, but just didn’t care, as I’m sure I’d have had guards next to me right away if she’d have mentioned anything, especially since I’m even more certain I was being watched quite carefully by then, and for good reason for once.
After that, I waited for the next free bus, since I had obviously lost the one I had meant to use and even those coming ten minutes after it, which I can still make some use of, and got back here a good three hours after leaving and completely messed up. Did take the amount lost out of what I had set aside, giving it back to my parents even though my mother kept saying I should keep it, that it was no problem and so on, and then also to not tell my dad. But it was my fault, I had to take responsibility, and what dad had to say was sort of similar anyway, largely that I shouldn’t worry about it, though what he actually thought may be different. Then again, my mother had also given me more than I had lost the day before, saying my grandmother had given her that amount to give to me, so it can be said that I ended up splitting it with them, though in fact I actually split it with whoever ended up grabbing that bill I lost, and still was left with more than I should have had set aside. And I guess splitting it in some way makes me feel a bit less guilty about taking those money, though I was still just as angry about the fact that they were given to me like that in the first place, since giving me a gift I didn’t specifically ask for, even if it’s money, is after all one of the very few things that are pretty much certain to anger me.

Note: The review refers to the edition included in Sword, Steam and Sky: Four Book Fantasy Bundle.

Still like the writing style, the author really is a storyteller, though she’s also still in bad need of another pair of eyes to look over the text and do something about the many typos and even less easily explainable mistakes left in it, which is something I’m not sure how I forgot to mention in the quick review for the previous book in the series. But speaking of that previous book, the first half of this one can be described as largely more of the same in the good way, if anything perhaps even with less of the issues found there. The setting is still intriguing and the postapocalyptic aspect can still pretty much be ignored, the characters and their interactions remain interesting, believable, with layers and at least moments of depth, and you’ll probably care and cheer for them without even the possible exceptions which may have existed before.
But all of that applies to the first half… The second starts with the postapocalyptic aspect of the setting being explained and becoming impossible to ignore. Still far less problematic than what you’d normally expect when you see the term, but I assume it’ll only get worse in the following books and it was quite an issue even in this one, seeing as I dislike the genre. In addition, the story and the characters get pushed too hard, stretched too thin. Actions and events don’t quite add up, things are happening too fast without getting explained, or with the provided explanations being far from sufficient or, in some cases, even reasonable. And that’s worse, since missing explanations may be provided later, but explanations and motivations that don’t add up will continue to not add up. And it’s probably not a case of lack of skill or ideas, and it may not even be due to rushing to finish, but possibly due to this infuriating drive to make books shorter and cut out anything deemed unessential, even though in plenty of cases, definitely including this one if this is what happened, those “unessential” elements are actually anything but.

Rating: 3/5

Another case of having a choice between pushing to finish reading and somehow getting myself to post something, but this time decided on the post, though this meant wasting hours struggling to even get started, hours during which I could have finished the book. But I’m not quite ready to write the quick review for that, not even sure of the rating, and there isn’t that much to include in a personal post now, so I should manage to throw something on here, just to say I have a first post this week.

Saturday night I looked at the pumpkin seeds I had set to dry on the top of the kitchen cabinet and saw a mass of mold. The bigger problem, however, is the fact that, during the week or so they had been there, the mold had grown to quite an aggressive mass, making its way through the paper placed under the seeds and the old calendar sheets that were under that, and taking hold on the top of the cabinet itself. Now I have set pumpkin seeds to dry there before without anything of the sort happening, but there was one clear difference now, and possibly two. The difference I’m uncertain about has to do with the paper I put on top of the seeds, which now was waxed as well, while before it may not have been. But the clear difference was that I didn’t wash them a bit before putting them there, recalling that my mother told me I shouldn’t, because they’ll get too wet and take too long to dry, when she saw me do that before and deciding to try it her way once. This obviously meant that they were a lot less wet, but also that they had a lot more nutrients on them instead of mostly water, and that what was on them needed more time to dry out while water would just evaporate. And if you add the waxed paper placed on top as well, making it harder for moisture to escape…

Checked whether we still had some of that spray against mold, but seems like it was all used by now and I didn’t go look for something else just yet on Sunday, instead taking that day as well to recover a bit more after the run, especially since I’m getting increasingly worried about my left ankle, which holds but does feel a bit weird, and where I noticed some sort of bump left where I had that bruise after hitting myself at that protest a month before. Did finally glue my headphones one more time that day though, after noticing some days before that the left side was coming loose again. The right one is partially loose too, but just on one side and I didn’t care to pry it apart in order to glue that one again just yet, especially since the glue I still have is old and I wasn’t sure it was going to hold. Actually didn’t seem to hold at first, but eventually it did harden and it seems fine at the moment.

Monday I did go out though, looking for some spray against mold that wasn’t based on chlorine, since that’s not recommended for such situations. Also took out the recyclables, except the paper, on my way to Kaufland and Carrefour, including some I had to take to that place at Kaufland. All of those sprays I found at either were based on chlorine though, so that was of no use. But I went to Auchan after that and found one, a single one, based on something else there, so I bought that, along with a watermelon which may well be the last one for this year and two cabbages, spending almost all I had left. Saw that the recycling machine from there was finally fixed and considered coming back for at least a part of the many plastic bottles gathered first, but gave up on that idea.

As for yesterday, when I did the laundry I decided to put that white t-shirt with green sleeves that I have with the colored stuff, since it may be old but my mother kept saying the green came out a lot and dad had some shirts there that shouldn’t be risked that way. Was thinking it won’t be that much of a problem if it’ll come out a little gray or blue, but failed to consider the fact that dad also had two red things there, and the color apparently comes out of one of them a lot, because what I pulled out was a pink t-shirt with green sleeves. And it’s very noticeably pink. Tried to rinse it a bit more, in the sink, with the shower, but that didn’t seem to help much… And that was the main t-shirt I went out in, since I’d rather keep the one with blue sleeves as the “good” one and the third one I go out in is old and a bit torn in a couple of places, so I’d rather mainly use it for running and maybe going to the farmers’ market. But it is what it is, and summer is over now, so I may put those t-shirts away until next year soon enough.

I’m more concerned about what happened last evening though, when I installed this month’s Windows updates and that issue that first appeared last month, getting a black screen instead of the desktop, with just the mouse pointer visible and the message that conhost.exe had crashed, repeated itself. So probably nothing to do with Emsisoft, unless that messed up attempt to delete a test file that was no longer there on reboot last time caused some issue with lasting effects, and also nothing to do with Comodo Firewall losing its HIPS settings and possibly blocking something, since it didn’t lose them again now. The most likely culprit therefore remain .NET updates, since there was one this time as well, and I do seem to remember a console window just flashing on screen for the blink of an eye after .NET updates before, so maybe for some reason that won’t work anymore, and it may mess with something else requiring the console, like the Intel video driver, which loads through a .bat file. But I’m just guessing… And wondering whether that means .NET updates haven’t been installing properly now after all… And whether at least the solution of pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del and rebooting normally from there will continue working. Also tried to just log off and back on this time, without rebooting again, and it just happened again, so that reboot is required to fix it, but what if someday even that won’t work anymore?

Last week’s run was Wednesday, and it went just well, with the new shoes no longer causing any issues at all, and really feeling that they help, both in the sense of absorbing the shocks better and actually pushing my legs back up a bit. The time was 47:46, with sector times of 4:17, 5:03, 5:51, 4:25, 4:53, 5:50, 4:26, 5:06, 6:01 and 1:54, making for lap times of 15:11, 15:08 and 15:33. Interestingly, I didn’t just cover the first lap in the same time as the week before, but had the exact same sector times on it as well! On the other hand, the second lap’s second sector was particularly fast, but I didn’t quite remember the exact time after the previous sector, so I was thinking it was possible that the exact time was 4:53.05, but I’m not sure.

But the main point of this post is this week’s run, which was Thursday evening, starting just after 6:30 PM and finishing just moments before 10 PM. First evening run in a long time, but I wanted to be able to prepare and have the best conditions I could find for this, not considering the number of people in the park as that much of a problem this time, since I was going to be slow anyway, so I meant to take the moments when others would be in my way as cues to slow down instead of trying to weave around and squeeze through as fast as possible. And the conditions were indeed good, next to no wind, the temperature also very much all right, not wet even though it had rained a little bit earlier, which was unexpected according to the forecast, but the few small puddles were in the usual places and likely not caused by that.
The day didn’t start well though, since I got up just before 9:30 AM, when somebody started drilling. It was very on and off, but I couldn’t just keep staying in bed if it didn’t seem like I’ll be able to sleep properly, so took the opportunity to make more tea and eat some more pasta, then got back in bed at 10:40 AM, actually sleeping better after that. Woke up to pee around 12:45 PM and for good just after 2:30 PM. Then it was a matter of preparing, filling the second half-liter bottle with the new tea, after having filled the first at night, trying to see how to best put everything in the backpack I wanted to take and trying to move around and run in place a bit with it on. Had at first asked dad for something I could put around my waist, but couldn’t use what he had, so meant to try using that backpack, yet gave up on it as well just before leaving, when it was clear that the straps would rub my skin raw through the t-shirt, and the weight of the bottles moving with every step would be an issue as well. So I just gave up on it and put the bars and gel I had bought in a small plastic bag and the keys, one 1 RON bill, my ID card and a little note with dad’s name and telephone number listed as emergency number in another, to make sure nothing could slip out of my pockets without me noticing. Then put one bag in each pocket, took one bottle in each hand and went out. Had also meant to bandage my toes again, but gave up on that as well, as even so it was 6:20 PM by the time I went out the door, some ten minutes later than planned.

As you can see from the duration and preparation, this was a long run, 11 laps around the lake to be exact, so what should be 35.2 kilometers, though there is some error margin at such a distance. The target time was three and a half hours, and I was comfortably inside it, finishing in 3:26:38! Specifically didn’t check sector times, never even looking at the time at those specific points, checking at others when I wanted to get an idea of my pace, just so I won’t even try to remember them, since it’d have been impossible to remember all and it’d have been entirely pointless anyway. Did check the lap times though, and those were 17:27, 17:44, 17:16, 17:50, 17:57, 18:23, 19:12, 18:42, 20:38, 20:28 and 21:01. May have hit the button a second or so early at the end of lap five, so it may be 17:58 for that lap and 18:22 for the next, but I’ll list them like that and otherwise they’re all accurate. Had set a target of staying just under 18 minutes per lap for as long as possible, thinking I’ll be completely safe if I’ll manage it for the first eight laps and in trouble if I won’t even manage it for the first seven, so laps one and three were too fast and things started to go wrong from lap six, being very wrong on lap seven, but in the end it worked out just fine and by quite some margin.
There was time lost to eating and drinking on laps four to ten, as I ate the protein bar on lap four, the high carb bar on lap seven and the gel towards the end of lap nine, and drank on laps five, six, eight and ten, about half a bottle each time, probably somewhat more the first time, slowing to a walk whenever I did this and struggled to get something out of my pocket and then put the rest back in, seeing as the bars and gel were in that bag and it was a whole lot harder to do it while holding the bottles as well. Also lost a few more seconds at the start of each lap after it got dark since I had to stop to check the previous lap’s time under a light, usually doing so more than once, to be sure. Know I could still see the time of lap five normally, but can’t quite remember whether I first had to stop after lap six or seven. Still, while all of this explains the difference between the first three laps and laps four and five, and also between lap seven and laps six and eight, since I struggled a fair bit to tear the packaging of that bar, the difference between the first five laps and the next three show that I was tiring, and from lap nine I was absolutely crushed, having hit the wall around the end of lap eight, so after about 25 kilometers. As for the last lap, while there was no more eating or drinking, I had something in my right eye that really bothered me and I tried to get it out a few times, which I think was also the reason why I pretty much stopped at one point and found myself rather stumbling to the left and almost falling, making me decide to just keep going from then on, keeping that eye closed when it was bothering me too much.
Those last ten kilometers were just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other step after step, my legs hurting and burning and getting ever heavier as other body parts were going numb. At one point I even had a cramp under an armpit, though it’s possible that holding the empty bottle there while getting something to eat had something to do with that. Often I was counting, the distance left, the time left, as much as I could estimate it, breaths, sometimes simply counting. Was setting myself points to reach that got ever closer to each other, calculating them as distance to the end or simply points on a lap, to always have goals I could believe I could reach, the end seeming so far away. And yet I was still noticing how slowly others were running. Sure, there were some who were way faster than me too, but even on the last lap I easily overtook at least one couple that seemed young, not sure if not others as well, since I wasn’t noticing much at that point anymore.

What I signed up for next month really hit me after pushing through it all and finishing that run. You mean I’ll have to run seven kilometers more, in the morning, on next to no sleep, likely in the sun and with the temperature increasing all the time? That’s just frightening, and it seemed completely impossible and I just wanted to give up; on the way back I was trying to see just how I’ll tell dad I won’t be going and he paid the fee for nothing. Calmed down a little after a while though, as I was starting to recover just a little bit that evening, and switched to thinking I’ll just do it once, cross running a marathon off my bucket list, and that’s it. The plan before this run was to alternate, run both this year and then the half in one year and the full marathon the next, but now I don’t think I’ll want to put myself through that if I’ll manage to finish it the first time, especially if I’ll stay inside my target time too. But who knows what I’ll actually end up doing…
That walk of one kilometer or so back from the park felt awfully long that evening though. Somehow got myself up those stairs, drank the last little bit of tea left in the bottles, probably because it had mostly turned to foam at first, and then almost broke down crying. It just hurt too much, I was too exhausted for anything and just didn’t know how I was going to get back. But did know that if I stopped my muscles would seize completely and I’ll really collapse screaming, so I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, careful not to stop even when waiting for the light to turn green, circling around a little instead. Going up the stairs once I reached the building wasn’t quite as hard as I feared, but the moment I sat down in the kitchen it really hit me, could hardly either move or sit still, and trying to get my shoes off was pointless at first, needing to give myself some time before managing even that. My legs were in pain and on fire and there were pins and needles everywhere else, even in the muscles of my face or my stomach or diaphragm.
The shoes really did their job though. I was worried about what I’ll find when I’ll look at my feet, but there was nothing wrong. Still have bruises under two toenails, but there were no new ones, nor any blood or blisters anywhere. There was one toe that bothered me a little at one point, but I changed the position of that foot just a bit while running and it seemed to have been enough, and taking a moment to arrange my left sock a bit pretty early on also seemed to have been enough for another small issue I was feeling at the time. My left ankle also seemed fine, though I still feel a bump there after hitting myself almost a month ago and it does feel just a bit uncomfortable now. And I guess that changing the position of my left leg while running just a little bit was enough to reduce the problems with that knee as well, as it had started bothering me pretty early but felt quite fine after that, at least until the muscles calmed down a bit and I could feel other things…

One thing I noticed was just how dirty the air in this city is. I had just washed my hands and face as soon as I could do so, struggling to manage even that at the time, then a while later put a dry hand on the back of my neck and it felt like a piece of furniture not dusted for at least a month, and it was the same with my ears, my nose, which I guess I hadn’t washed too well that first time, or the exposed parts of my head, which hadn’t been covered by the cap. And it was almost midnight when I finally managed to get that thing out of my eye, as it was only then that I finally managed to hold it open and stare down for long enough for it to clean itself properly. Don’t think I want to know what ended up in my lungs…
Also not sure I really want to know what went on inside me in general that evening, or what may still be going on, though today I finally feel that I’m recovering. Made more tea as soon as I could and drank it that evening, then took a bath after midnight, then ate, trying not to rush. Was wondering whether my digestive system will work well enough, but I guess it did, as there was a tiny bit of nausea that night but I kept everything down and nothing seemed unusual in what came out the other end the next day either. Breathing still took some effort and there still seemed to be some issues with my sight even when I went to bed, but the issues with my eyes may not have been caused by the effort anyway and otherwise I was starting to feel better, with the numbness and the pins and needles gone and my legs being somewhat usable again.

Couldn’t sleep much that morning, unfortunately, waking up to pee for the second time around 9:15 AM and being unable to get back to sleep despite trying for a while, so got at most three and a half hours at first, possibly not even that. Got back in bed around 4:30 PM and got up for good just before 9 PM, but more tea and watermelon, plus my kidneys probably being affected by this as well, meant I still kept waking up to pee even more often than usual. I was just so exhausted, completely drained, only seeming to start to recover after eating that night, but it was interesting that my muscles seemed to be rather beyond hurting. They had hurt before running, and then of course it had been awful during and just after the run, but then they just didn’t anymore, and still don’t. The one issue was my left knee, or more specifically a spot on its left side, which hurt pretty badly yesterday, but by now that’s much better as well. And now, after managing to get some seven hours of sleep this morning, spending some eight and a half in bed, waking up a few times but only needing to get up to pee once, I’m not feeling exhausted anymore either. In fact I feel unexpectedly well; thought it’ll take me longer to get here. But, of course, now I must make sure to keep taking it easy and not push myself too soon in any way.

To get back to last week now, Thursday was quite messy, literally, since dad cooked and on top of making a complete mess in the kitchen, which is the norm, he also clogged the drain of the kitchen sink. In itself, that also wouldn’t be unusual when he cooks, but this time it was clogged so badly he couldn’t unclog it that evening despite taking it apart, leaving me unable to even wash stuff there or do much of anything, and with the things that are usually under the sink and various other items spread all over the kitchen. Good thing I wasn’t planning to make a salad that evening anyway, so just ate what I had and washed what I used in the sink from the small bathroom.

Dad sorted out the drain issue the next day, but more relevant for this post is that I went out then to buy some things for the run planned for this week. Dropped off the recyclables on my way to Kaufland and Carrefour, checked prices there, also had a look at Hervis and spotted a gel that was cheaper than the one I had in mind to try and which would have required me to go a lot farther anyway, but didn’t buy anything just then, instead going from there to Auchan and getting the high carb bar and a couple of other things from there. Then got off the free bus from there earlier and went back to Carrefour and Kaufland, still getting nothing from Carrefour but picking up that gel from the Hervis that’s right there, and the protein bar and a couple of other things from Kaufland. Meant to get one of those very cheap cereal bars as the third thing, to try that as well, but had checked out these bars when I first had a look through Kaufland and when I went back I saw that some had been discounted due to expiring relatively soon. The discount was only 30%, but they weren’t expiring quite right away either, so I grabbed one. Wanted to go to the farmers’ market too, but it was late already, so gave up on that idea that day. Had passed through the other one on the way to Auchan, but didn’t buy anything then. Noticed that the recycling machine next to that market was working then at least, but the one from Auchan was still broken.

Last Saturday I had to choose between writing a personal post and pushing to finish the book I was reading, and chose to read. Could have actually finished that night, but left a little bit, to finish it the next day and post the quick review then as well. Had to do that before the evening, because then I went to a “free shop” that was announced, dropping off a jacket and a pair of pants my parents had to give away, plus an old clock they had brought from my grandmother’s and wanted to throw away, four rolls of old fax paper and a few books my dad also wanted to throw away, the April to August issues of National Geographic and their calendar for this year, two old but unused packs of playing cards which I got with some issues of FHM way back then, and three bookmarks from this bookstore I prefer to buy from. As usual, saw nothing I wanted to take, nearly everything there being clothes, shoes, and a handful of purses and accessories. In fact the only other items when I got there were a book, a pack of playing cards and a few bottles of nail polish, two older people who came as I was looking over the books in the “alternative library” that’s also there adding a couple of pieces of jewelry and a small decoration on that table. Spent some 15 or 20 minutes there before heading back.

Monday could have been ugly, since dad again started leaving closet doors open, and for that matter also the bathroom door now that he mostly finished the other changes he insisted on making there, to let the cats go there, and of course I close them as soon as I spot this, and when I woke up I saw an angry note on the kitchen table saying I had closed Micky in the closet and that he kept telling me not to close doors unless I see that the cats are elsewhere. Right, and I keep telling him to stop leaving them open and letting them in; we both ignore each other and keep doing what we’re doing. But I can’t figure out how I could have missed the fact that Micky was there when I saw that door open after coming back Sunday evening, because I looked, also moved my old running shoes, which I had just put there, to a spot where I thought they’d be less likely to get damaged by the cats when he’ll let them in again, and there didn’t seem to be any trace of her. But indeed, when I looked again that day, after reading the note, there was cat hair everywhere, some things were moved a bit, and those shoes of mine looked like something had been placed on them, or I guess more exactly like a cat had sat or pressed on them. If he only found her when he woke up that morning, it means she was there for 12 hours or more, but I didn’t notice any shit at least. Then again, if I did indeed close her in there, I had even failed to notice a cat, which is far larger than a cat’s shit. And piss would be a lot harder to notice…
Was thinking that if he’ll get back before I’ll leave to go to the farmers’ market, there will be a shouting match, while if he won’t I’ll be leaving an angry note in return. But he did get back before I left and we both ignored each other; I went right out, he stayed in the living room. Then he mumbled a hello when he came to get some water after I got back and was washing dishes, repeating it after I asked what did he say, so I mumbled hello as well and he left, then said a few more words when he came to the kitchen again a bit later. No mention of the mess from either of us, so I guess that was that. And I did spend some time with Micky before he got back that day, I guess as a way to apologize if needed. But the way to not risk them being closed in is still to not let them go there in the first place!
As for the market, definitely had to go because I wanted certain things for the salads I was going to make those days, before the run, and ended up putting something I bought then in the pasta I cooked that night too. There was a somewhat uncomfortable moment though, when I saw some pretty good cucumbers at 1.50 RON / kg, when others were selling the rather soft ones at 2 RON / kg, only noticing after saying I wanted all of them that they were being sold by that old woman I usually know to avoid, because she has one of those old scales, not an electronic one but balancing weights and the products. When I realized it, I stared for a moment, meaning to walk away, but she had already placed the weights and was asking if 2.50 RON would be all right. I eventually said to make it 2 RON, meaning that she should take some cucumbers off, but she took it as me haggling, paused for a moment, then said that was fine, not taking any off. And in fact it was fine, because I weighed the cucumbers on another scale and it said 1.35 kg, so just about exactly the amount for 2 RON.

After that I meant to take it easy, but Tuesday I did 200 squats at once and my upper leg muscles didn’t like that too much. Had to do 200 because I knew I won’t be doing any Thursday, and did them Tuesday just so it won’t be too close, but while I did 200 in a day plenty of times before, either preparing or making up for such a missed day, that was the first time I did them all at once instead of in two series of 100, and the next day there were some consequences. Might have still gotten away with it though, but Wednesday, other than stuffing myself both in the afternoon and at night, I also stood in a bad position, straining those same muscles, while washing the garbage bin in the bathtub, and then of course did the regular 100 squats that evening as well, leading to those muscles hurting a fair bit from then on. And they still hurt the next day, which was the reason why I left myself the option of delaying that run until Friday until almost the last moment. But I didn’t delay it after all.
Still, while I was taking it easy otherwise and since I had just made a backup, Tuesday I also finally got around to installing Vivaldi, which I’ve been meaning to do ever since using it while using Linux for a while almost two years ago. Still like the customization it offers, but still can’t find plenty of the options found under Security and Advanced in Internet Explorer and which I want to be able to set. But what really makes it unusable as the main browser is how it renders fonts and resized images, the images being blurry and the fonts really hard to read, especially by comparison with what Internet Explorer displays. At the same time, after looking for a way to fix the really messed up colors Vivaldi had for everything at first, I figured out how to apply the same fix to Firefox as well, so images finally look right in that too, years after the problem appeared. In case you’re wondering, you need to set Force color profile in Vivaldi and gfx.color_management.display_profile in Firefox to sRGB, because the default profiles are wrong.

And this was even more trouble than it’d normally have been to write due to my keyboard having issues with the space bar. Had been noticing the occasional double or missing space, but since the space bar is harder to press than the other keys and I press on one side of it, close to the edge in fact, I kept thinking that maybe I wasn’t pressing enough or, thinking I hadn’t pressed enough the first time, was pressing again without really realizing it. But it started happening too often and last Wednesday evening I actually checked, pressing right on the edge and seeing it happen more than once every ten times. Usually I get two spaces, still happens even though I try to not press right on the edge anymore, but there may also be some moments when it doesn’t register the press at all, though that only seems to happen when it’s right on the edge. And the key isn’t straight anymore, it’s clearly lower on that side, and since I see that it just has two springs, one on each side, I’m guessing that the one on that side just got weaker due to being the one being pressed all the time and it makes it wobble, since it’s not a mechanical keyboard and that second space actually comes a bit after the first, so a fair number of times it appears after I type the first letter of the next word. But it’s still under warranty, so should take it to be fixed, whatever the issue is… The problem being that I may have noticed some issues with other keys as well, but very rarely and really don’t know whether it’s the keyboard or the way I press. The left Alt may behave oddly more often, but it’s hard to properly test.