All Decorated up and No Place to Show

 For over a month now, I have been seeing holiday decorations.  First, it was the last of the Halloween decorations.  Some place went over the top.  Other place chose to go the more understated route with an autumnal theme.  Such a decision could stay up longer as well.  Even before November started, some people had started putting out Christmas decorations.  Yes, some people had Thanksgiving decorations up first, but not too many.  Mostly, I have seen the inflatable turkeys in at least two different sizes.  Of course, at least one house that I drive past every day when a somewhat different route.  I have mentioned them before.  They are the ones that have mannequins up all year round, dressed up for every holiday.  Originally, they seemed to have masks marking them as some sort of zombies, although that aspect of their get-ups seem to have mostly fallen by the wayside.  This Halloween, the house had at least ten different mannequins up.  Among them were a trio of witches at a cauldron, a pirate queen, and a demon nun.  I even saw a pair of legs with the red and black tights of Harley Quinn, but that was after the holiday and the decorations were being taken down.  Well, some of them were reused for Thanksgiving.  One is a female pilgrim with long reddish-purple hair.  Another is a Native American woman in somewhat traditional garb.  There is even a turkey decoy nearby.  Oh, and there is also a zombie scarecrow with a pilgrim hat on it.  I call it a zombie because of the face mask.  It is a scarecrow because it is stuck up in the garden plot they had out this past summer.  Also, one of its hands was positioned by its hip.  Actually, it is in front of itself, around the crotch area.  As if it might be trying to pleasure himself or something.  The scarecrow has been knocked down at least twice, but it hasn't been put back up since the most recent falling.  I admit, I sometimes sneak such stunts into some of my decorating myself.  You should look at my store's Christmas wreath.  It has a sneaky jab on display that I think most people will overlook.  While that person's display might not have been appropriate, at least we can appreciate how they manage to use such decor for more than one holiday.  Other people have been doing so as well.  Just this past weekend, I saw a Halloween decoration remade for Christmas.  It was a giant skeletal dragon, with a Santa hat on its head.  Hey, if you spend hundreds of dollars on a decoration (an estimate based on other such decorations I've seen in catalogs), then you should try and use it as much as possible.  Even when it isn't exactly appropriate.  That isn't even the only Christmas dragon I've seen this year.  At least one other house has a small inflatable Christmas dragon out.  Legitimately Christmas.  It was displayed as if it was getting ready to fight a Christmas T-rex.  Both were under three-feet tall.  Well, at least they weren't penguins.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't hate penguins.  Unless they are being used as Christmas decorations in the Northern Hemisphere.  All kinds of wrong there.  Even worse than naughty zombie pilgrim scarecrows.

No (Big) Sur

 Just last Thursday, early afternoon, I was starting the latest Golf Clash tourney.  This was one of their regular tournaments, held every other week or so.  This week, there will be a special shortened three day event, compared to the usual one that takes place over an entire week.  Anyway, I began the first hole.  My first shot was great, but my opponent landed off the fairway.  My opponent's second shot got onto the green, but missed the hole.  For my second shot, all I had to do was hit the ball the win with an eagle.  The wind was in my favor, and I was close enough that it would be hard to miss.  I took my shot.  I scored a "Perfec." meaning that the ball would go exactly where I was aiming.  It rolled directly to the hole, and then it just stopped.  Right on the lip of the hole.  I guess I either didn't give it enough power or enough topspin to make the distance.  So, instead of winning with an eagle, I drew with a birdie on my next shot, as my opponent also made their putt.  While I would have loved getting the extra stroke, I was okay with only getting a birdie and the draw.  I went on to the second hole.  That's when everything fell apart.  My opponent shot first, but I was having connection issues while my opponent played.  That is actually a common occurrence with this game, especially since I also have inconsistent wifi at my store.  At the time, I though nothing of it.  Then came my turn.  I had multiple connection warning as I set up my shot.  They barely cleared up in time for me to play before my time ran out.  As it was, I had less than five seconds to finish my turn.  I made my shot, but I wasn't able to set it up correctly for the wind and I landed in a bunker.  My opponent then made their putt, easily.   I still was getting connection notifications.  Now, shooting from a bunker isn't great, but I felt I was close enough to make the shot, with my equipment and skill up to the challenge.  Unfortunately, my gauge swung wildly to the left just as I was making my shot.  This turned a perfectly aimed shot to miss, well to the left of the hole.  To add insult to this injury, a notification came up after the ball stopped rolling, saying that my connection was too bad and that I would be forced to forfeit the match.  I had already lost!  How could I forfeit after the game had ended!?  I wisely decided to wait to finish the round.  I usually take my time to play a round, as one usually gets two days to do so.  When I went back to play later that afternoon, the game had posted a notice on Facebook that there had been major connection issues all around the world.  The problem was so bad, that the game was taken down for maintenance. I wasn't sure if I had been effected or not, but I wouldn't be able to play again until that evening.  Against my better judgement, I decided to play the remaining sixteen holes that night.  That was a mistake.  While the connection issues had been resolved, something was still off.  I had a hard time logging in to play.  The controls weren't responding well, either.  Most of my shots were just a little off.  Sometimes, my opponents seemed off as well.  In hindsight, I should have waited to finish playing the round until Friday, but I was going to be somewhat busy that day, so I went ahead with the round.  I ended up with a very dismal score, but I finished.  I knew I wasn't going to make the next round, because of my bad start, that I didn't care about how I finished.  The next day, Golf Clash posted that they were expanding the number of people moving onto the weekend round.  If I played a little better, I might have made the cut.  Instead, I had my worst showing ever at that difficulty level.  While this confusion was going on, I all but missed that Apple had notified me that updates were available.  Somehow, I had missed the notice that Apple newest OS, Big Sur, had debuted that day.  I never update immediately.  I usually wait a few weeks, to make sure all of the problems get worked out.  Also, in this update, a major feature was going to be removed.  Since I needed this feature to play one of my games, I was going to postpone upgrading until the game gets taken down in December.  Well, when I searched about Big Sur, I found out that many users were experiencing problems with internet connectivity.  Even users that hadn't upgraded yet were noticing problems, like me.  Apparently, a workaround to get Macs to identify the new system prevented direct internet access.  Since all Macs use the same basic interface regardless of which system they are using, all Macs experienced the problem.  I am guessing that I was dealing with the issue while I was playing that night.  I got a slowdown for many of my plays.  This could have led me to aim improperly, leading to my meltdown.  And while the servers hosting my game wouldn't have been affected by this and causing the shutdown from earlier in the day, the new details for the game might have been downloaded from a series of Macs or so.  This might have been a secondary cause for everything.  I could be wrong, but it is a coincidence.  Either way, I failed miserably. I have chance for redemption.  Two actually.  Now all I have to worry about is having enough in game purchased gear to compete at an equal level.  I went through a lot trying to improve my chance last week, that I am down more than I would like.  I least I don't spend real money on this game, or I would be even more frustrated than I am now.

Spreading My Sheets to the Wind

 It is about the time that I figure to the yearly year-end chart, based on the data compiled by Billboard magazine.  I have been following the charts ever since grade school, but I have only been trying to guess the year end rankings for the last decade or so.  This year, I have already picked out the three songs most likely to vie for the top spot:  "The Box" by Roddy Rich, "Circles" by Post Malone, and "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd.  I believe that last one has the best overall chances.  I have been thinking about doing something different in my calculation -- I will be making a spreadsheet.  I would be my first time ever in making one.  Since I will probably need some sort of skill in the next few months if I get a new job, I thought it would be prudent to learn about them.  Why haven't I used them before?  Good question.  First, I have only had a computer of my own for a few years.  Since I didn't have an easy way to create spreadsheets, I never learned much about them.  Sure, I would occasionally see them online during my short periods of time I was able to do so, but I didn't give two thoughts about them.  I did all of my business needs either in longhand or in my head.  Official documentation was left to my accountant.  Things got a little confusing at times, but I managed to muddle through.  When I finally did get my computer, I only had two months to get up to speed before my classes started.  That was the reason I got the computer in the first place.  I didn't even get an internet hookup until a few weeks before classes started. I tried to get as much information from guides before then, so I wouldn't be too far behind in my skills.  Strangely enough, some applications were skipped or only mentioned in passing, while others that I didn't think were important were given multiple pages.  One group barely mentioned were the office suite of applications -- Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.  These are Apple's word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation apps in order.  I was already familiar with word processing.  I had my blogs for well over a year before I got my Mac.  The techniques were similar enough that I didn't have much more to learn.  Well, I actually had a lot more to learn, but I knew enough to get my work in on time.  I have yet to give the other two apps more than a cursory look, usually when they are updated.  I admit that I could have used Keynote as a part of one of my assignments, but I chose an option where I could get around it.  Numbers looks like it will be easier, but I will probably have to learn both before getting a new job or going back to school.  It has usually taken me a little over an hour to write out my own calculations for the year end rankings.  Because I don't have the the entire weekly totals at my disposal (I only focus on the top ten), I know from the start that my calculations will be off.  However, my estimates are frequently within the range of the actual year end positions.   I just have to plug the data into the app and see what pops up.  I managed to find one guide that discusses the office suite of apps.  It is about two operating system updates behind, but the basics should still apply.  I am planning to start this project the first Monday in December, after the chart year ends, and after I finish up my latest college application attempt.  I know that this isn't exactly the primary use for a spreadsheet, but it will work.  I guess.  At least I can try.

What I'm Not Talking about This Week

 So, has anything happened lately?  Not much, huh.  Well, I've been through some difficulties, all minor.  I started reading a new book yesterday.  It was the latest novel for adults from an author more known for his work for children.  It was the first of his adult works that I have read, and it was nothing like his others.  While I know that ht formats aren't exactly the same and I shouldn't expect them to be, the changes in this book wherefore like it was a completely different person.  Sure, some of the underlying snark was there, but that was about all this book had in common with his other novels.  The genre was the same, modern fantasy.  One of the main characters was also a teenager.  I have only read a few chapters so far, but I'm having problems with the abrupt change in style.  The language and the situations were so unlike what I read before.  Now, I've read books by other authors who have shifted audiences, and the changes were not this great.  The styles remained the same, even when most other things changed.  Maybe I will find some differences when I get to read more, but I have feeling that I will have a hard time going through with it.  On the other hand, I breezed through another book I read.  Technically, it was a comic book collection, but I say it still counts as a book, even if some critics suggest otherwise.  I got the collection because the series was cancelled before all the issues could be printed.  The remaining two issues were available as digital copies only.  Since I do not consider those books, I had to wait until the entire run got collected and printed.  Yes, this means I actually bought a book, through my store, for just two issues, when I already had the other eight issues in the collections, as well as the short piece included with another book.  I hate to say it, but the stories were slightly disappointing.  It was a two parter that showed how the character was dealing with a major problem she was going through that had lasted the last few issues.  She was coping with it a little worse than she could have, but she was optimistic, even when dealing with a natural disaster and a somewhat rouge element in the US government.  However, the story felt rushed and only added to show that the character was moving on even after the series was cancelled.  That's right.  The series had been cancelled months ahead of the issues before the decision was made to publish the final two issues online only, and then the delay of a few more months before the collection was printed.  The publisher could have just let the two issues never see print, but they decided to put them online instead.  In fact, this publisher has been doing that with many of their issues over the last few months.  Letting the last issues of a title to be cancelled go online only.  I think other publishers are doing this as well, with the issues only seeing print when the trade collections come out.  It is a tacky thing to do.  Yes, we are cancelling your favorite series, and you won't get to see those final issues in print unless you pay for the collection, which includes all the other issues you have already bought.  I wouldn't be so mad, if the story had been better, but it wasn't.  I will have another cancelled series come out in December.  This time, it will include a three issue storyline from the title.  Hopefully, it will turn out better than this experience.