Cav's Place

Since I’m not doing much else and see no reason to think I’ll get any motivation to write a serious non-personal post tomorrow if I didn’t in about a month if you’re lenient and close to two months otherwise, I guess simply mentioning that I at least managed to finish that sixth Modern Times mission a little while ago will be enough to just say I added something here as a second post of the week. At least the Books category means I don’t have to worry about ending up with more personal posts than non-personal posts anytime soon, and there actually are quite a number of old quick reviews I still have to add there.
But speaking of that mission, it was quite annoying due to a major bug that makes you lose instantly if you don’t wait for quite a while before completing the second main objective. Fortunately, a quick search was enough to tell me I had to disable my cannery, as in fire all workers and block the slots so no others will take their place, until the canned goods index rises above 200 on its own, and I also only lost two game years, since I had saved two years before losing by earning $30000 from canned goods exports too quickly. Granted, lost them three times, since I only searched for a solution after the second such loss and then tried to keep half the workers in my cannery the third time, which was also too much, but the fourth time I waited until that index was 300 and after that it was easy, though I did have to do some quite unpleasant things to keep it above 200 for the required five years.

Otherwise, the issues with Emsisoft that I mentioned earlier this week seem to have been sorted out and they admitted they were from their end, so I just had to wait it out for close to a day and can stay on the “delayed” program version just fine. How long until an upgrade will be pushed for this as well and what that may bring, I don’t know at the moment, but this was so far considered to be particularly stable, so hope that won’t change now that I bought it. Had that experience with Bitdefender way back, after all, when the version released when I finally bought it, after using it “pirated” for some two years and being completely satisfied with it, was a mess.

And before I end this I also want to mention that the back of my neck has been bothering me for a few weeks now. Keeps hurting, especially when I wake up but definitely doesn’t actually stop completely at any point. Or, I mean, it doesn’t hurt on its own, if I don’t do anything that causes it to hurt, but if I turn my head in certain ways it definitely does and I can’t quite figure out exactly what hurts. Doesn’t seem to want to get better on its own though…

As it should already be obvious, since that’s when I posted the quick review, I actually managed to finish A Dance with Dragons on Sunday. My eyes didn’t like that all that much and I was having trouble focusing for the last couple of days, and also for some time after I finished, but they have since recovered as well. And I must say I did enjoy the experience of once again reading so much, for quite a few hours per day for more than a few days in a row, and feeling transported into a different world that’s presented in such detail. Which, of course, makes it disappointing that I doubt I’ll be able to do that again in the near future.

Moving on to this week, I finally caught up with the running schedule once again, since I was one week behind and ran both Monday and yesterday. Monday I actually ran with only a t-shirt on, the training shirt being tied around my waist since it was warm enough for that, and the time was 21:08, with intermediate times of 4:45, 10:08 and 16:27, respectively. Yesterday, on the other hand, it was rather chilly, cloudy and windy, so I actually ran the first third or so of the route with even my jacket on, which I don’t think I ever did before, and on top of dealing with the rather powerful gusts I had to struggle to breathe, my nostrils getting stuck together. In fact, I almost stopped after the first sector, since I couldn’t breathe anymore, but eventually took a few breaths through my mouth while I stuck a finger up my nose to hold my right nostril open, as that seemed to be the worse problem, and managed to continue. Had to repeat that process a few times, and struggle to breathe in a particular way the rest of the time, but I eventually managed to complete the route. Understandably, the time was a poor 22:03, with intermediate times of 4:39, 10:26 and 17:03, respectively.

But before yesterday’s run I had also noticed that the insole of my right running shoe wasn’t staying properly in its place anymore either, after the left one kept sliding back for months. So, after putting it off for all this time, once I got back I shoved the shoes in a bag, gathered what recyclables there were to drop off on the way, and went to the store I got them from to see how their two-year warranty works… And ended up with a new pair right away, as I was told that they can’t give me back the money, though I had never asked for that, and to pick up something else instead.
I was quite confused at first, since I expected things to go the same way they go when you drop off some electronics that fail under warranty, as in having them keep them for a while and send back either the repaired product or a new one as replacement when they’re done with it, but that’s apparently not how things work here, which was nice. There were only two pairs of the same type of shoe in my size left and, with the exception of the insoles, the one I got may actually look worse than the old ones did, the fact that discount season started a month ago meaning that whatever’s left has been tried on quite a number of times and may be left for a reason, but if something happens I guess I can just replace them again. Hope it won’t come to that, however.

The thing is that I ended up there with a small amount of money on me and considered using them to pay for the difference and get the next model instead, as I tried them on and they definitely felt comfortable and also seemed quite a bit sturdier, but they were slightly heavier as well and the insoles didn’t seem any more likely to stay in place. So I eventually decided against that and ended up going to the same place I managed to get a pizza from the first time, using those money to buy another one, sort of as a way to offer myself a reward for managing something that required interacting with people, albeit one requiring me to interact with people even more. Which makes this the third time I managed to get myself a pizza.
Though it likely helped me get over the moment of shock I experienced when I got back and it actually hit me that I interacted with people not once but twice, I do feel rather bad about it, since I spent money on something that wasn’t necessary. Worse, there’s one thing I’m running out of, as Monday when I went to buy some things I decided against getting some more. But I guess I’ll make do with what I have or even do without for a few days, since I definitely don’t want to ask for any more money for at least a week after this unnecessary expense. If anything, this may make me feel somewhat less bad about the pizza, I guess…

Otherwise, just managed to finish the fifth Modern Times scenario earlier today, so I now have three days to finish the sixth if I’m to do so by the end of the week, since I don’t plan to start it today. Playing may actually help me worry slightly less about the fact that Emsisoft has been behaving oddly recently, seeming to have some strange update issues today, likely as a result of them consolidating the last year’s worth of daily signature files for their own engine, possibly at least in part because I have program updates on the “delayed” setting and they may have forgotten to also do this properly for the version those who have this setting are on. Hope it won’t mean I’ll need to switch to the “stable” setting again to have it fixed, because I heard that, though it has since been fixed, their most recent supposedly stable release was initially anything but and, since that option exists, I definitely don’t care to automatically get the latest version immediately either way.

I once read a review stating that A Dance with Dragons is a 1200-page book containing perhaps 200 pages of action, which with a bit of effort may have even been squeezed into 100. Which is true, and I’ll also add that some of that action is not presented directly, as it happens, but summarized as the memory of one character or another, after the fact. If what you seek is excitement, a thrilling read that makes you forget to breathe as your heart races and you feverishly turn the pages, you won’t find it here.
A book like this couldn’t be the first or the last in a series, and in a less epic one it wouldn’t belong at all. Yet here it does, and that’s because it’s a formidable, mind-bogglingly detailed, example of worldbuilding. Yes, it does contain the next part of the story, as well as occasional humor, wisdom and further evidence, if any more was needed, that the author doesn’t shy away from, well, anything, but its main purpose is to present this world, or at least certain parts of it, in incredible detail and allow you, the reader, to live and lose yourself in it for a while. You’ll probably gloss over much and more, I know I did, but if there’s anything you do want to know about this world, you’ll likely find it here.
It can get confusing though, and not because of all those details but because it at first covers the same time span as A Feast for Crows yet still includes a few parts that would have belonged there instead, and then continues past that point yet still doesn’t present everything, leaving the reader with glimpses of stories, important elements still shrouded in mystery. Of course, that is in part done on purpose, yet that makes it no less frustrating, plus that, for all its size, the ending seems rather rushed and then cut short… Which I understand the author actually admitted it was.

Rating: 4/5

Only got around to install this month’s Windows updates today, so the new uptime record is 27 days and 25 minutes. Or probably 27 days and 26 minutes until it actually rebooted. Was sort of considering to wait until it’ll be four weeks, tomorrow, but there were some important security updates in there and I was feeling uncomfortable… Not that I’m comfortable installing updates either, considering how Microsoft has been messing up the updates for older versions ever since releasing and struggling to force everyone to that new piece of shit of theirs that takes away user control even more and herds everyone who accepts it into the direction desired by the industry.
Speaking of those updates, my computer did reboot twice after installing and I’m seeing some strange warnings in the logs, including one that was only logged once before, last July, and another which also hadn’t been logged since that exact same time, though it shows up several times then and also before. And just as I was starting to write this I had the second CPU warning since rebooting, third since starting to update and fourth today. I normally reboot at four in a day, even though it’s supposed to be harmless and so far it seems to be, as I take that to mean that something about the way it booted is less stable, but I’ll give it a while longer now. Multiple reboots tend to make these warnings show up more often anyway, so I may just make it worse if I do that again so soon.

Otherwise, did manage to finish that third Modern Times scenario last Sunday, though I’m not quite sure whether it was just before or just after midnight, and then Tuesday I also finished the fourth. Didn’t start the fifth yet though and I won’t do so today either, since after posting this I’ll get back to A Dance with Dragons, where I’m not only well on pace to finish in two weeks, but may just manage 13 days.

Also, this week’s run was yesterday, the time being 20:36, which was nice, despite the fact that some gas started causing me pain as I was approaching the third intermediate point, so finishing a full lap, and I had to struggle with it for that final part. Also, new records at the second and third intermediate points, and I believe they are 9:45 and 15:44, but there is also a chance I got confused and they may actually be 9:44 and 15:45. The first intermediate time was 4:33; this I know for sure.
The plan to run again tomorrow isn’t looking good, however, and if I go out at all it’ll probably only be to drop off the recyclables. Temperatures should be around 20°C for the first part of next week, however, and it doesn’t look like it’ll rain or be too windy those days either, so I shouldn’t have excuses not to run twice then and catch up… Assuming the workers working on these buildings in the area will let me get some more sleep, as I only got probably some three and a half hours today because of them.

Was hoping there will be some little news piece I’ll be able to write a couple of paragraphs about as this week’s second post, but nothing inspired me enough, so I guess this year’s first Sunday update couldn’t be avoided anymore. Not that there’s much to say, as I’ve been spending a fair amount of time just reading A Dance with Dragons, finding myself on pace to actually finish in two weeks. Won’t be easy to maintain said pace for nine more days, but it reads easily enough and is sufficiently enjoyable and interesting to make me think I may just manage it.
Otherwise, barely poked a little more at that third Modern Times scenario, so it seems unlikely that I’ll finish it this evening, though I was thinking of getting back to playing after I’ll post this. Either way, hoping to at least have the fourth finished as well by the end of next week, even if I’ll only poke at it for minutes per day, and at least the fifth and sixth by the end of the week after that, assuming I’ll manage to finish the book early enough. No chance of finishing the entire campaign by the end of the month under these circumstances, as I was considering to try at first, but it may just be possible to finish it and the ten additional DLC scenarios by the end of March.

As for the uptime record I was mentioning, it was beaten Saturday morning and I still haven’t rebooted, so at the moment it’s at 23 days and six hours and counting. And yes, I’m taking another screenshot now that I mentioned this, just in case. The idea is still to reach at least 25 days, and probably 26, assuming no problems will appear and there are no blackouts, or at least none lasting more than the couple of minutes I’m comfortable letting my UPS shoulder the burden before shutting down the computer.