Aaron's Status

6:23 am

On the docket for today: my final lead climbing class! I’m feeling anxious about it, but not because of the actual climbing. My back is feeling really sore, and I’m a bit surprised because I literally did nothing yesterday (more on that later) and it’s like… Sore sore. But it’s not a flare-up, it’s not going to stop me, it’s just a little off-putting.

I think some PT and some Advil will set me right, at least I hope so, and we’ll be off to the races. It will be great to have the three classes banked, and then we can talk about when we can do the “test,” which is like 10-15 minutes of answering some verbal questions and just doing a single lead climb and a single belay.

After the class I need to swing by the supermarket for a couple of needed items, and then we’ll be ready to receive my in-laws who are staying over tonight. That should essentially fill the day.

For tonight, the actual eve of Christmas Eve, we will have our now-traditional charcuterie, watch Die Hard (the best Christmas movie), and I’ll finally get to set up the whole ninja course thing and see it in all of its glory.

Yesterday was a much-needed rest day, and I ended up watching something like four episodes of Silo, completing the first season. There were a couple of twists and turns, and in retrospect I do remember some from the book. The first season followed the general arc of the book but also left out at least a couple of things that I recall and I wonder if those will show up in season two or if they just cut them for brevity.

I’m excited for season two, but a little reluctant to start watching it before it has fully aired, because I kind of hate cliffhangers. I have until some time mid-January for season two to complete if I want to mainline it.

But we’ll see, maybe I’ll run out of other things to do and start it anyway. I think there’s something to be said for watching an episode a week, and if I kept that pace the season would finish airing before I would run out, so, yeah, we’ll see.

The only other thing I wanted to poke at today, if I get around to it, is installing a Shelly One relay on the under-cabinet lights at my “coffee station.” The lights use barrel plugs between all the components so I can just plug one in there once I’ve put it together. What I would really like is some kind of motion sensor or something so they come on automatically and then turn off after a time, but I’m not sure if I can get the right sensor for just my hands, basically.

The beauty of it all is that I can add automation whenever I want to, because it’ll all be connected to Home Assistant. I’ll think about it, who knows what I’ll come up with.

Merry Christmas!