Iowa

Remember the time we had to go to Iowa to do some early-autumn field work?  That project is still continuing and soil samples are required at 27 locations (over and above the 14 we obtained last year).  The good news (at least for us) is that we didn't actually have to go.  The work progressed this week in the conditions pictured above but I got to send a colleague in my place to do the work under my remote supervision.  I'll do Iowa in September and let others take care of it in January.

The carpet got installed in the UCV today.  I haven't seen it yet - I worked all day on the opposite side of the city and traffic was so bad tonight driving home that I gave up on the idea of over-shooting my home to drive the additional five miles on congested side streets to go see the UCV.  That's what weekends are for . . .

Somehow, Izzy the cat got it into his head that he can't go into the bedroom.  When I'm in there, sleeping, reading on the bed, whatever, he sits patiently outside the door while Eliot, my other cat, snuggles up to me. Izzy's stoic about his ostracism, but I can feel the waves of his resentment right through the walls.  But the barricade is totally in his head, and I have no idea how it got in there.    

I'm at Level 49 now in Fallout 76 but the game is starting to wear on me.  I've been all over the open-world terrain and there are few surprises left any more, only the constant, unrelenting search for food, ammo, and duct tape.  I've set a goal to reach Level 50, after which it's time to start a new game.  I wanted a game that would last me through the long Thanksgiving weekend and into the New Year and 76 did that, but it's starting to feel like it's time to move on.  I probably won't ever get to the point where I can access the nuclear launch codes and frankly don't really care (why nuke an already devastated wasteland, other than it's something that's possible to do in the game?), and once a game's endplay no longer holds an appeal, then what's the point? 

That's it for this week.  Dreaming of the Masters tomorrow, and then whatever weekend blogging comes up Saturday and Sunday.  Take care of yourselves, and we'll talk later.