I think I'm mostly caught up on things that can be done right now. It's still a waiting game on a lot of things happening later this year.

Formula 1 racing is, like almost everything else, on hold right now, but F1 is authorizing an e-sports version of their grands prix, with a bunch of actual race car drivers and a few celebrities competing. I watched today's race, which used the Melbourne track because Vietnam (whose turn it would have been this week) isn't in the 2019 version of the game. It was entertaining enough to pass the time. I didn't see the first race two weeks ago, but from the commentary this week, I understand that they turned off some of the realism so that when you whacked into a wall, you just bounced off rather than actually crashing, on account of few of the race participants had any experience with the electronic version of the race, even if they were experienced actual F1 drivers, and that makes sense.

I ventured out on foot to collect this weekend's mail and to buy a gallon of milk. In keeping with the newest advice from the CDC, I wore a face mask while in the post office and the Family Dollar store. (Not an N95, of course, but one of the particle masks we bought for use with home improvement projects. I wish we'd remembered to wear them while we were accessing the attic space a few days ago, for I'm sure we inhaled some fiberglass insulation while moving the trap door.) Away from the store, on the open streets, with nobody else in sight (save a few passing motorists), I figured it would be okay to take the mask off. I sprayed it with Lysol when I got home. It may not make much of a difference, but what it can do, I did.

While it's maddening that we have such an incompetent boob leading the country at the national level, and some have (rightly) stated that the haphazard US government structure can hamper a unified response to a worldwide threat, I do think that the federal structure means that those of us living in states with someone saner leadership (mostly, but not entirely, led by Democrats) have at least a somewhat better chance than those people in those states whose leaders apparently want their own citizens to die so that their stock portfolios will increase in value.

Lisa and I were booked this morning to take her father over to Rickreall (about 35 miles west of Mehama) to the Polk County Fairgrounds and the Swaptoberfest ham meet. He wanted to be there early before the good stuff had gone, so I'd simply left my alarm set for the usual time I get up for work, planing to just do my ordinary morning routine that would put us into position to leave shortly after 8 AM to be there when they opened at 9.

This morning, I woke up on my own and checked the time. 7:45 AM! Yikes! Yesterday afternoon, while we were at Lisa's audiologist having her fitted with a sound-generating hearing aid that we hope will allow her to get a better handle on her tinnitus, I silenced my phone and I forgot to turn the sound back on, so the alarm only buzzed for a while at 6 AM and then gave up.

( Adrenaline-charged wake-up call got me moving to Swaptoberfest )

We got back to Mehama around Noon, and after dealing with a few small things, Lisa and I packed my things into the van, I said goodbye to Kuma Bear and her, and I headed south. The trip was uneventful but rainy. I stopped for lunch in Cottage Grove and saw that the Holiday Inn Express next door to where I normally stop there has been de-frocked, having presumably been unwilling to pay for the refurbishment necessary to renew their franchise, like Yuba City. On the other hand, Canyonville is supposed to acquire a new HIX next January, but I see no new construction, so I continue to wonder what hotel is about to change flags; it might be the Best Western on the opposite side of the freeway from the casino. Speaking of the 7 Feathers Casino, I offer them my thanks for buying me another meal; I spent the $20 winnings from blackjack on dinner here in Central Point after going out after the Giants game.

The Formula One race is apparently tonight at 11 PM my time, but I don't know if I'll be awake that long. Besides, I have a long drive tomorrow. At the moment, I don't plan to make the swing through Sutter, because it adds several hours to the trip.

This is the final quiet weekend I expect to have for quite a while. Aside from walking down to the Centerville Farmers' Market this morning to buy a loaf of bread and some potatoes and corn on the cob, I planned on spending this weekend pretty quietly. I did finally bring myself to do something I've needed to do for quite a while now: clean the bathroom and kitchen, neither of which have been cleaned thoroughly for months now, what with me traveling so much. I had some idea of also getting the vacuuming done, but I didn't get that done -- tomorrow, I hope. I went for a walk after lunch and let myself get waylaid by a pinball machine. $4 and almost three hours later, I walked home, having got, I think, my money's worth in entertainment (and some exercise) from the Lord of the Rings pinball machine.

I should go to bed pretty soon, because I want to watch the Formula 1 race tomorrow morning, and it's at 4:30 AM Pacific Time. Yuck.

While at Norwescon a few weeks ago, Lisa bought the new Formula D board game. (This is a backward-compatible re-issue of the Formula De board game that I'd seen but never played.) After a few two-car warm-up games a couple of nights ago, we decided to play a little more complicated two-lap race, with each of us fielding two-car teams. We also let Kuma Bear play as a one-car "privateer" team, with Lisa and I mutually agreeing on how Kuma should drive. This was a basic game with the beginner rules.

( Gentlebeings, Start Your Engines )

It looked like just about anyone could win, but Lisa's lead car got a perfect die-roll, with Kuma not far behind. Kuma's conservative style earlier in the race preserved enough points to be able to blow the last corner without braking. In a desperate play to make the podium, both of my vehicles up-shifted and rolled much too high a speed, ending up crashing into the tire wall on the final corner. Kuma scored a respectable second place, while Lisa's two cars took first and third.

This is a fun game, and I reckon it would be really entertaining for the full compliment of ten people, although it would probably take quite a while to play, even for a one-lap race. Once we've grown comfortable with the basic rules, we'll see about moving to the more realistic advanced rules, which give separate damage points to different parts of the car rather than lumping 18 damage points together for the whole vehicle.

Cheryl has been very busy today. One of the things she turned up was that a US-based Formula 1 racing team is in formation. As I said over there, that would be great, as long as the team does reasonably well. Otherwise, the America First Sporting Attitude ("anything Americans don't dominate is irrelevant") will take over and nobody in the USA will pay attention.

Of course, it's accepted wisdom that the way to make a small fortune operating an F1 team is to start with a large fortune. Good luck to Peter Windsor and company in making a success of it.

It seems to me that the high-end hotels end up with a very limited selection of television channels, while those in the next tier down just take the local cable selection, and therefore end up with more channels. Thus this Candlewood Suites has Speed Channel, so I can watch the Chinese Grand Prix live from my hotel room tonight, albeit at the expense of losing just a little sleep.

Meanwhile, the hotel's wireless connection went flaky on me after I came back from putting in a half hour on the treadmill after dinner. The front desk helpfully loaned me an ethernet cable for their wired connection (I left my cable at home). The connection in the bedroom didn't work, but the one in the living room did, so I guess I'll be okay.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, the only reason I could watch today's F1 GP of Singapore was because I woke up absurdly early after going to bed early last night. It turns out that I was lucky, because I discovered that, thanks to a power glitch a few days ago, I had mis-programmed the recorder, and it was recording a blank channel. If I hadn't watched it live, I would have missed it entirely. And I'm glad that I got to see it.

The last time I mentioned the results of one of these races, other people who had not yet seen the result complained at me, so I will say to them: Watch the pit stops, particularly the first set, which is when all of the excitement begins. And I suspect Ferrari are going to have some pointed questions to answer to the press, the FIA, and to their own drivers.

It's a real shame that I didn't get to use more of the Giants tickets that I bought, for the seats are excellent -- one row short of the front row of section 135, which is the section just outside the left field foul pole. A ball hit into the corner today was right in front of us and you could stand up and be right on top of the play.

It was warm and sunny today, with a light breeze. I'm glad I'd put on lots of sunscreen before we went up to the city, and therefore escaped more than a light toasting.

It was a pretty good game, close all the way, and the Giants beat the Padres 4-3, with Barry Zito actually looking like the pitcher they pay him all that money to be. He pitched eight innings, got the win, and even managed to slap a ball over the second baseman's head and drive in a run. Brian Wilson came into the ninth and -- for a change -- didn't give us all heart failure as he closed out the game 1-2-3.

At the 7th Inning Stretch, Lou Seal drove around the field tossing packages of Cracker Jack into the stands. Just before turning in to the tunnel in left field, he threw one my way. I had one hand on it, but it was a hand of stone, and the bag bounced away where someone else grabbed it. Oh, well, I probably shouldn't have eaten Cracker Jack anyway.

Speaking of things I shouldn't eat, under the left field stands, I found a vendor selling what they called New England Fried Dough Pastry and what I call an Elephant Ear, or at least a close approximation of same. I got the cinnamon-covered one and shared some of it with Cheryl. Fortunately, I had a nice normal blood sugar reading this morning, and we did walk from the ball park back to Embarcadero BART after the game, so I should be okay.

The only fly in my ointment is that I've been dizzy with fatigue all day long. It's an early bedtime for me tonight, I think, and thank goodness I don't have to get up early tomorrow. I have the recorder set to record the F1 race, which goes off at 4 AM or something like that my time. I'll get up when I feel like it, for the first time in three weeks.

Wow, what a strange F1 race at Fuji Speedway in Japan. Heavy rain and rotten driving conditions all day long. I'm sure glad that the weather wasn't like that anywhere I was during my three weeks in the country. (I dodged the typhoon by going south to Hakata.) In deference to those people who will be watching the race on tape delay, I won't discuss the race results, but I will say that you should pay attention closely to the last lap, as there's a lot of stuff going on there. Whew!

Fortunately for me, the Formula One United States Grand Prix is being broadcast on Fox TV instead of Speed, so I am sitting here at my father-in-law's house watching it right now instead of hoping that I set up the machinery back in California correctly to record it.