This past weekend was a good one, even though we didnt quite do the things we set out to. We helped my mom shuck, biol, blanche, and freeze 5 dozen ears of corn, and washed some blueberries, which im sure we'll get to take some of. It was a good time, i'm glad we could sit and chill with my mom for a while. Mrs Potato and my Mom have always got on fairly well, and it's nice for them to get out of their normal things and hang out with each other. I'm hoping we do similar things for more veggies and the like over the fall. We could have a lot of fun making jams and jellies and packing things away for the winter time. We'll have to make sure to note any good farmers markets and things like that we see on the little trips we take on the weekends. 

I felt weird about game night this week and i cant really put my finger on it. I wanted to play Halo earlier so that someone could still play with us, since he's in a EU time zone so his nights are way later than ours when he stays up to play. It worked out pretty well I think and while there wasn't a lot of joiners early, by the time things got rolling there were more than expected. I think maybe what we can do next time is a little bit of gold after jams, then the halo, then switch to whatever the big weird thing is that week. I really like Risk of Rain with a lot of people but I know it's not everyone's favourite game. Maybe we can get back into that. 

I REALLY enjoy Peak, but I think i was too slow on the uptake and most people are bored with it now. Boops played too much on saturday so I know why she was mostly nonplussed when playing with us, and we did have a great turnout for the people that played with us, I just feel off about it i think. I wasn't trying to push it too late with that one, but we did stat about an hour after i said I would start. 

 I decided not to do the fire on the porch thing on sunday morning, mostly because i woke up an hour later than i'd meant to and also because i just didnt wanna go do it. I think maybe I'll try doing the thing again in the evening and see what I think about it, but only on days it's not 400 degrees outside. Those are gladly coming faster, i'm excited for things to start cooling down and i can stop using the AC at all for like two months until it starts getting too cold and we have to crank up the heat. I think the kotatsus will help with that this winter, and the kids will just have to layer up. I'll check the windows and frames and walls and stuff for any now holes or cracks and then just work from there. 

 New plans for taking a trip in september, but not til near the end sadly. I dont think i've got any days off until then, so we'll just have to make those count. I'm still trying to figure out when I want to take my week off. Normally we do that for the week between xmas and new years but this year someone beat me to it. I didnt want to be that guy that does it every year, even if i DO want to be that guy. Seemed fair for some of the others to at least have the chance, and they took it. 

 I'm all over the palce today, i dont know what is in my brain. 

We went to a cantelope ice cream fesitval yesterday, somewhat nearby (about an hour away) and it was pretty nice. They had a big ol fair and farmer's market, as well as a bunch of seasonal stuff out. Lots of vendors and tents and stuff, which we always really enjoy. We came home with some fudge and some chocolate covered oreos from a bakery/chocolate shoppe in that town. Pretty good stuff, even if i have to share some of it with the kids. 

 Streaming has been going alright, wish I could do it more. No new projects to discuss, mostly just trying to keep this crazy train rollin. 

 The next thing I'm working on will be for a little bit of fun I think. Made a plan a while back to drag my camcorder outside with my microphone and a laptop and see what kind of hang time I can do on a weekend morning on stream. 

The idea I think will be to set up the laptop with OBS and voicemeeter, which is already done, then set up a new scene for sitting outside. I think the camera pointed at me towards the house should be fine, but it'll also be on a tripod so i can move it around and point it out or at the fire or a bug or something as needed. I dont think anyone will be coming outside while I'm out there but I think I will let everyone know and remind them the night before so they aren't surprised. 

I've got a USB HDMI capture from avermedia that I've used int he past to connect the camera to, but first I'll need to connect the camera output to the Composite/HDMI upscaler, which I do want to replace eventually. It'll get sound form there but I'll just mute that. I've got my microphone and interface ready to connect, and once those two things are on there all I need to do is figure out what to do while im outside. I think I'll have roska in a call with me so we can do music requests, and then probably play some marbles or something i guess. Maybe. I actually dont know how well that laptop will run that for a stream. Also i guess I should probably mention the ethernet connection back into the house, since I'll just be using a super long cable for that. 

 In theory that should all work out just fine. 

Past that I dont have many project or plans. Working extra has been terrible but hopefully the boy gets himself a job soon and i can lay off a little and take a break. I have to keep reminding myself that the job market sucks right now and that he's trying as hard as he can, even though it doesnt really look like it. He does odd jobs for my mom to keep busy and keeps up around here when we ask., so i cant really complain too much. It could always be worse. 

Might need to think of a new project. 

 

    Amazing weekend, totally fantastic, wish it didn't have to end. 

    Friday was a half day at work and I got to spend the half working on stuff i actually like. Tedious, individual, and slow paced, no pressure. Just do it right and get it right and test it to make sure you didn't break anything type stuff. I was replacing a switch and then moving all of the connections to be a little more efficient than they were initially. That involved moving each cable one at a time, marking which port they came from, which port they were moved to, and what vlan that port was assigned to. It doesn't seem like it would be that complicated but the process just took forever. 

    After that we went to a fish sandwich festival, which was honestly a little underwhelming but still fun. We had out sandos and fries (the fries were awesome) and then drove around and looked at stuff. We found a thrift store/laundromat, which was an odd combination but she found some stuff she liked there, so we won.  

    The part I think i'd rather revisit ad do again are the beaches we found. There were quite a few cute little county beaches that were there and available and empty for anyone to use. We didnt have any beach chairs (I've since rectified that) so e wandered about on the strip and picked up rocks and driftwood and the like. I'm excited to go back with the beach chairs and the umbrella and a cooler and some jams and chill time. I'm super into just sitting there on the beach, i love that, or laying on a blanket on the sand and just letting myself soak it up. The sound of beaches when no one else is around is just fantastical. 

    The rest of the weekend was nice and calm. Sunday we did a lot of cleaning, and by we i mean i did a lot of cleaning. I needed to find the small USB capture card i used to use for the VCR before i got the switcher. I knew it was here someplace and just couldnt find the damn thing. Mrs Potato was missing some boxes of decorations and either could have been in two places, and both needed cleaned real bad. So I cleaned out and organized the under-the-stairs closet, and the server bathroom. Yes, you read that correctly, the server bathroom. 

    To explain, we've got an unfinished bathroom where Mr Gus has his litter box and without much else to use that room for I stuck our server cabinet and IDF switches in there. It's in a cabinet and doesnt get gunked up by dust and hair luckily, because i clean that hallway and room once a week, but also its quieter. The server and large POE switch used to be in my closet, and during the summer (or what i like to call "jet engine season" the server fans run 100% non stop until it's cooler outside. So like three months a year it's loud, and during the winter its actually really nice to have in my closet, because it warms up the whole room, but in the summer thats terrible too. So it has a new home down here where i can close the door and let the heat get sucked out of the room. 

    This coming weekend I think we'll do some beaches and picnics and chill time. It'll only cost me gas and if we pack lunch it'll save us buying anything and Mrs Potato will be happier since we wont be eating crap food. 

 I think next weekend will be a good one too. I've gotta get some fire wood so we can do the garbo wake and bake stream and see how that works out.