Today is January 25th already. It seems like we were just celebrating New Years Eve in Florida, now this month is almost over.

I took Mom to the audiologist Tuesday morning. He did a check of her ears and saw wax on her eardrum. He could not do the hearing test until this wax was removed, so I took mom to Springfield Clinic prompt care. We got right in and the nurses flushed out her ears. It was disgusting how much wax they got out. I’m about to throw up just thinking about it lol. But she immediately could hear better. It’s times like this that I think modern medicine is a miracle. Mom was crying she was so happy. 

We then went back to the audiologist and got right in for the hearing test. They had a nice pair of hearing aids in stock so Mom got those. So in the span of three hours Mom went from being near-complete deafness (lasted six weeks) to getting her normal hearing back, to getting ab0ve-normal hearing with the addition of her hearing aids. I am so happy for her. I felt bad because I didn’t like going over to her house, knowing that I had to literally yell in her good ear for her to hear me. It’s not conducive for any sort of conversation. But now she’s back to normal and I feel like my life is back to normal too. I know that I can go over and talk to her, and maybe more importantly she can go out and do things with our family again. She had been holed up this whole time her hearing was out. The whole situation makes me wonder what my life will be like when I’m older. My main hope is that I am not a burden on anyone else in my family. Like, if the wife were to pass away and I lived on my own and my hearing was bad and I couldn’t get around, I don’t know what I would do. I want my kids to have their own lives and not have to care for me. Maybe I should bump up my retirement funds lol. 

We booked another vacation, this time for a San Diego trip towards the end of July. Of course there’s a ballgame planned. Petco Park is supposed to be one of the best ballparks in the majors. I can’t wait to see it. I would also like to slip away to Pittsburgh for a couple of days this summer to see the ballpark there, which is usually #1 on the list of best ballparks. I’d also like to see Fallingwater, just because Frank Lloyd Wright is that cool.

We had some credits and vouchers left over to use for Southwest airlines so this trip already is inexpensive. I would have liked to flown into the San Diego airport; Besides going to new ballparks I also like to go to new airports. But alas it was much cheaper to fly into LAX.

We found an awesome AirBNB in between LA and San Diego. It’s a ranch out in the country and the price is super reasonable. It’s almost too good to be true, but it has a 4.9 star rating and over 100 reviews. It also sleeps 10 people. I know Ted will most likely go with us. Laina may go too. I got a good deal on a van through Turo. It feels like once again we are the masters of planning cheap yet awesome vacations!

We plan on going to Universal Studios while we’re out there, mainly to go to Super Mario Land. This is Emma’s big excitement, and it’s honestly pretty exciting for me too. I remember being in like 5th or 6th grade and one of my friends telling me about this awesome arcade game at Pizza Hut called Super Mario Brothers. We played the heck out of it. One time it was zero degrees out and we still walked to Pizza Hut to play this game and eat delicious pizza. I remember it being so friggin’ cold (the weather, not the pizza). This was back when Pizza Hut was thee place to go. It was such a fun and inviting atmosphere, and everyone knew everybody else and our town was tight-knit and there was no internet or social media and blah blah blah I’m old…..

So we will check out Super Mario Land and the ballgame. We will go to the beach in San Diego, maybe going hiking in Joshua Tree, and we will definitely go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It was originally going to be four full days in San Diego but the AirBnB was such a good deal that now we’re spending five whole days there. This trip will be after the summer musical is done, so there won’t be any guilt on our part for us missing play practice. Jack may miss some ballgames if he’s on the all-star team, but who knows. This summer is jam packed now, which rehearsals, ballgames and trips. Maybe next year we can do our long road trip up to Quebec and the northeast US. We also want to go back to Alaska before Ted decides to move. God willing, the wife and I would like to go to Europe when the kids are out of school.

I just finished my audiobook on European History 1500-2000AD yesterday. I’m kind of burnt out now on history. I’m going to take some time before I decide what my next audiobook will be. I’ve learned all this European history and it seems like it’s nothing but one war after another. I was hoping to take away some universal truth about war and diplomacy after reading/hearing about all this history, but there are no hard and fast rules. Well, I guess the best quote I heard was “There’s no such thing as permanent alliances, only permanent interests.” This kind of reinforces what I believed before, that the best way to influence people is to appeal to their self-interests. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with this approach. 

There’s ways that nations can deal with each other, and then there’s ways that individuals can negotiate with each other. It’s different. Nations (and corporations and organizations) have to evolve or die. They have to evolve because theoretically a nation could last forever. But individuals do not last forever. What is the point of an individual evolving then? I think an individual should evolve because that is what growth is all about, and growth makes us better. I was telling Jack last night that, while it’s good to have your principles and beliefs and to stick to them, always be open-minded and challenge your beliefs as well. If you’re open-minded and take in new information it may change your old beliefs and make you a better, more well-rounded person. Or you can take in new information that strengthens your already held beliefs. Either way, be curious, active and open-minded.

I got my 3D printer up and going and have been printing like a damned fool lately. I love experimenting with it. I did some 3D scans of the kids and printed them out. Even though it’s low quality, I’m amazed at the possibilities! I’m getting closer to one of my life-long dreams of being able to create my own action figures. There’s a lot of room for improvement in this realm of 3D printing. I feel like I’m on the ground floor of something big though. Something huge will happen, probably the meshing of AI with 3D printing; it will change the world as we know it.

We’ve had a lot of snow days lately, where school has been cancelled. It’s either been snowy or icy out. Today it’s foggy as all heck. 

I’m reading a book now, Atomic Habits. So far it’s pretty good. It’s about how habits are slow to build, but over time have huge results. I need to get back into the habit of eating better, but the quality of apples have been terrible lately. I can buy one bag of Envy or Snapdragon apples, and they will be 100% perfect, but the next bag could be awful. Having chocolate cake around the house doesn’t help either lol. If there is cake, I will eat it. I’m still hovering around the 175lb range, which is decent, but I need to get back on track down to the 170lb range. This is where my shirts and jeans fit more comfortably, and I have a better overall self-image. I’m still doing my workout routine every day. It’s not much, but at least it’s consistent.