JUL 04

2023

Tuesday: with it being a holiday, we got to have a lazy morning at home. I had a bowl of cereal before I walked to the Acme on Passyunk. The heat and humidity reminded me of the rainforest building at the Sedgwick County Zoo. I was surprised to notice the Primal Supply butcher shop had closed last month, apparently. I picked up mayonnaise, cat treats, and breakfast bars before walking back home.

It rained a bit as the day wore on, and we played a couple of games of Scrabble and Battleship just for a change of pace before I had some salad for dinner. The rain was such that we thought we might miss the 4th of July get-together at Justin's house, but it dried out enough for us to walk down there. There were a few adults we hadn't met previously. Taking my best guess at spelling, Andie was nervous her kid would cause a mess and was thus less inclined to come outside, while Zach and Ellie were from the north end of town and had a lot of questions about our relocation process. Zach's a baker at a bakery near our apartment, I guess? Anyway, he and Justin and I chatted for a while about Tears of the Kingdom at Julie's prompting.

Before too long, Phil, Katie, and Nolan showed up, and Nolan made himself at home on the grill preparing burgers. He told me what he'd put in them, but the only parts I remember were allspice and a touch of cumin. The burgers were really good, though. Nolan again expressed an interest in playing more Risk, so we'll have to do that eventually.

At some point, the adults finished helping the kids fire off their little firecrackers and moved to the roof balcony to watch the big fireworks. I would have followed, but I was initially distracted by the dogs (Hank and the local Mystery Dog) until Nolan took responsibility and sent me inside. I wound up just eating in the kitchen for a little bit before the boys (Theo and Jack) recruited me to help with their LEGO set.

They brought me downstairs to a pile of some of the tiniest construction blocks I have ever seen—these were either a miniature variety I'd never seen before, or a knock-off using their unusual size to maintain legal distinction. I think Theo could have assembled this set on his own with a little guidance, but the three of us together was too exciting to remain focused, and we instead resorted to some hide-and-seek around the basement. Andie came down and declared a need to absolve herself of the guilt caused by her kid's share of the mess and took to cleaning up before retrieving Jack so that he and Theo could go to bed, at which point I made my own way to the upstairs deck.

The fireworks were alright, but it was getting late, so Julie and I walked home before too much longer. I enjoyed the outing, though not so much the part when the button on my shorts got snagged and came off. The drawstring kept them in place, but I liked these shorts, and the buttons I've tried to repair in the past have never been the same. It's disappointing.

After Julie went to bed, I started working on this idea for a browser extension I had. The idea combines webrings, StumbleUpon, Shinigami Eyes to allow people to create and share networks of trusted and blocked sites semi-dynamically. I'm calling it Whisper Network, but there's nothing really there, yet. We'll see if I get anywhere with this.

2022

I remember going to Becky Bouska's house to see Phil and his family one last time before my trip up to Philadelphia. I think we played games in the basement, this time?? Can't remember.