Finally got around to uploading to flickr

Our upload speed is slow - 1mb max. So, it's very easy for things that require any effort get paused. I finally uploaded the pictures from my iphone.

I was originally planning on doing it in a data centre because it had already been uploaded to apple, but I wasn't getting it done. Since perfection is the enemy of good, I decided to just get it done and upload it over many, many days in small ~ 200 pictures batches. 3809 photos. The now native file format is HEIC which flickr doesn't like. I have not even thought about the videos.

My steps were roughly

1. Download the files to my computer
2. Install image magic and run
   

         magick mogrify -monitor -format jpg *.HEIC
       

3. Move the files into groups in the subfolders
4. Upload them
5. Now to delete the generated jpg files since we don't need them with the below command

  find . -type f -name "*.HEIC" | cut -f-2 -d'.' | awk '{print $1".jpg"}' | xargs rm --

I would like to solve this by just having faster internet. Hopefully our non-profit ISP will soon have something faster than just slower DSL in our area.

A Simulated Ancestor

Right now there is ways to use different photos of someone to build up a 3D model of them. There's a way to simulate someone's voice with as little as a 5 second clip of their voice. I'm sure that there will be a rough way to figure out what someone will reply with going through their writing or other social media interactions.

So, short story I think that the data we are leaving behind now will be able to be turned into some kind of digital shadow of the person that we once were. Think about that for a second. Our great, great, great grandchildren might be able to ask simulations of us questions. The knowledge could be augmented with news and current events. It could be like talking to a ghost. Maybe that will be possible by in the next 40 years. Of course like most things digital, it will depend on the quality of the data available. If we don't leave digital footprints and writings, people won't be able to build any kind of digital golem.

I find this idea interesting. I'm just wondering if this will be too creepy and some kind of uncanny valley.

We will see. I think that I should write more. Maybe then I'll finally be what people already see me to be: "I thought that you looked like computer".

Eclipse and github personal access tokens

When I update eclipse or delete it or something, it gets into a state of being unable to save to secure storage. When I push to github it won't save the personal access token so I have to regenerate it. Next time I restart eclipse I have to generate it again.

Dear future Jim, the solution today was found in stackoverflow:
In eclipse,

Preferences > General > Security > Secure Storage > Contents

and delete either everything, or at least the part for github.

Wonderful Date Day

 Today we had a date day. No kids, which I think is the first time since January 3, 2020. That’s a long 9.5 months. It was wonderful. We just hiked along the Ottawa River. We just kept on going west until we reached Andrew Haydon Park. It was lovely. We watched old men on lawn chairs race remote controlled sailing boats around the pond. We turned around and made our way back to Mill Street for some lunch before getting home in time to get the kids from the bus.

I tracked our biking and it said we did 42.8 km today. I think that’s the most biking I’ve done in a day since we started dating. Hum, maybe when we did Le P'tit Train du Nord. It was a lot. I’m pretty happy.

I have a lovely wife.

Tomorrow it begins

 Isaac goes to school tomorrow. The girls will go the day after. Today they announced that there are sixty (!!!!) new COVID cases in Ottawa. Before it was in the teens or twenties. Then yesterday it was 47. Today 60.

All I want is for my babies and our family to be safe. All I want them to have is as normal childhood as we can provide.

I've got my fingers crossed, but I'm still nervous.

Starting school again. Maybe.

The kids are set to start school again. Sort of. Maybe. We're assured that there is a COVID-19 plan and it's very good. We just can't see it. Uhh, because it's with someone girl friend. They live in Canada and you don't know them.

Everything seems like such a mess these days.

I had 6 weeks off which is super awesome to be able to spend with the kids without feeling guilty about not working. We're at day two of it and I forgot how hard it was. Laura's working another day now, but same amount of hours so she finishes earlier in the day. It's hard to express how happy I am to be able to have almost every dinner with her. That seems like such a gift.

They delayed the start of school for two weeks which works out since they also delayed the start of the buses two weeks. If there is no COVID at the school, I'm sure that it will be fine. What happens when there a case? Not sure.

I just hope that everyone is safe.

I feel like we're on a ship sailing into a storm. We all hope that it goes well, but people are putting on life jackets. It's not a reassuring time.

I just hope that everyone is safe.

Still in lockdown

I was surprised when I came here to blog by 2 things:

1) they have updated blogger with the newest tools that are normally in google docs

2) that I had already blogged once this pandemic.

My memory feels like crap many, many times. I find things that I have written that I'm surprised about. Or I try to do something and go to save a document with a descriptive name, only I've already done it with that exact name. I blame the 5 years of poor sleep for doing long term damage.

Other than the obvious health issues for this pandemic, the thing that everyone is going through is the lack of closure, the lack of acknowledging special events. Earlier we celebrated Laura's 11th 29th birthday. That's two prime numbers. She's in the prime of her life. This weekend we're celebrating my folk's 50th wedding anniversary by waving to them from the driveway. Earlier we did Oma's 99th. The kids are finishing their grades without being in class since mid-march. Lucy is done with daycare without the graduation thing that they do.

It's endings without the goodbyes.

I'm still grieving those goodbyes. The closure.

COVID-19 and Working From Home

Well, it's been 5 weeks? 7? Time doesn't feel like it's got much meaning anymore. It sure is weird to live in bookmarkable places in a history book. So not only things are dire with this new virus, but the economy has crashed to depression era levels, oil is somehow negative $40 a barrow, yet I can locally brewed beer and locally roasted coffee delivered to my door while I work in pj's.

The kids are handling zero school, daycare, and friends somewhat okay. Alice said something along the lines of "There's no point being at home if you guys are working all the time". That stung a bit. I'm going to book of chunks of my day to not working. It'll be hard to tell the difference from my output, but I'll sure feel less guilty. I think that the kids are feeling the "stay at home because of the pandemic" because of the behaviour. They all slept in the same room for... a week? 2? Again, it's hard to track the passage of time.

It's challenging. Everyone has a heightened level of stress, being on edge, as well as super conscience level of trying to be nice. It's odd, but feels right.

Work wise April has been shit. Things are being taxed to the limit and then failures that might be a once in a 6 months to 3 years events are happening like every day. Things are exhausting. I love the idea of working from home, but for some things it's a bit much while people try to copy how you work in an office 1:1 with remotely. It just doesn't work well like that. Especially with people with kids, or other obligations in their home. I think that this is going to be a long term thing, so it will slowly get better. Hopefully.

I worry about Laura. I'm extremely happy that she's able to work from home some of the time and limit her exposure to people, but I know that this makes things so much harder to do. There is a benefit to being in person.

I feel really lucky with our situation. But this isn't easy. I wonder what the ripple effects will be.

I hope that we're all able to get through this in good health.

But I worry.

New espresso machine

Well, the older coffee machine broke. Well, I was trying to descale it since the steam wand was totally jammed and I broke a brass fitting. So I bought a replacement of more or less the same model and got the Breville Duo-Temp Pro Pump Espresso Machine (BES810BSSXL). Sure, I could have tried to live without a working coffee maker during a pandemic while the kids are at home, maybe indefinitely. I'm sure it would be fine. We wouldn't need the joy of a beautifully made latte.

We could live like that, but why would we.

Social Distancing

With COVID-19 we are currently practising "social distancing". The prime minister announced yesterday that they are closing the boarders. The streets are pretty quiet since all the federal employees in were told to stay at home if possible. We are supposed to be at Montebello right now but we cancelled those plans. We cancelled everything. We were planning my folk's 50th anniversary, Isaac's birthday parties, date days, seeing Cats at the NAC. It's March break right now, but school is cancelled for at least 2 weeks after. I think that Alberta cancelled the rest of the school year. Daycare and camps are cancelled. Everything is cancelled.

It's all changing so fast too. We're listening to the news on the radio (streaming, we're not that old timey) and I keep on thinking about those horror / disaster movies. It sounds just like that. The borderline unthinkable statements read in a calm way. It makes me very uneasy to make that connection.

We bought online a whole week of work scrubs for Laura just so that she doesn't wear clothes from work inside our home. Next we'll order a portable outdoor shower so we can hose her off before she comes inside. It's going to be awkward this time of year. It's currently freezing rain outside at a temp of -2C.

It's not the end of the world. But it's setup like the backstory of the movies were the world ends.

Creme Brulee recipe

Mostly because I can't find it easily.

Makes 2

3/4 cup cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange zest
2 egg yokes
1/4 cup sugar

Makes 6

2.25 cup cream
1.5 tsp vanilla
6 egg yokes
3/4 cup sugar

Makes 8

3 cup cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange zest
8 egg yokes
1 cup sugar

1. Ideally use a fresh vanilla bean. 
2. Slice the vanilla bean in half, scrape it into the cream and bring up to a boil.
3. In a different bowl, add egg yokes and sugar. 
4. Strain the heated cream to get rid of the bigger chunks.
5. Whisk egg mixture in a double boiler and slowly add the strained heated cream.
6. Transfer to ramekins and put into a bain marie and bake in oven at 350F
7.  Cook for 30-40 minutes (?) until only slightly jiggly. Keep checking.
8. Cool completely
9. Before serving, put some white sugar on top, roll around and dump off excess. Torch lightly to caramelize.

To Toronto and Back

We booked an adventure to Toronto. Since we thought that it would be really nice, we booked it on the train. Then all the trains were cancelled. No issue, so we drove. After we were on the road, we found out that there was a bad collision and they closed the 401. From the GPS, that added at least 2 hours 20 minutes, but between now having to do an extra meal stop and then getting stuck in late day traffic and an advent around where we were staying, it took us about 8 hours and 15 minutes to get there. On the way home it was 4.5 hours. So a bit of a bump to start the trip, but the kids handled it really well. I think that's due to Laura being Super Mom and having piles and piles of snacks.

When we were there, we visited the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium, wondered around the lakefront, spent a bunch of time in the hotel pool, and on the last day we went to Medieval Times. One of Isaac's highlights is being allowed to eat dinner in front of the tv while watching the lego Batman movie. All seemed to be a big success.

The CN Tower seems it me that it got an upgrade. Pretty nice inside and would be an awesome place to have a fancy cocktail party. The weather was great and even had those perfect clouds with sunbeams. Alice was a bit nervous with the glass floor and being so high up, but I think that she really enjoyed it.

The aquarium was great. Lots of interesting things to see and seemed to be a good length. We were able to get there close to opening, so the crowds didn't seem to be too bad until we were leaving. Seeing the kids expressions as they excitedly see the animals was great. Lucy likes flashing her $100 smile.

At the pool the 2 youngest kids were floaties, but Alice just swam around (and could reach the bottom). They all played so well together and had such a nice time. They all seem so comfortable in the water which is a really nice thing. I think the visit to the cottage will go well.

I had been to Medieval Times before. When I was five. In Florida. So my memory of how it would go was a bit rough, but the kids really liked it. Alice had it all figured out which knights would be announced in which order, and who would lose. She's really quite clever. Isaac seemed enthralled by the sword fighting. Lucy had a great time. We all did really well eating in the dark, with our hands. Honestly I didn't think that Lucy could eat half a chicken, let alone two.

After a long and busy weekend, the biggest issue has been the kids being so very sad that we were not going back to the hotel. It was a very good time.