So, I don’t think I’ve been keep up this journal/blog as frequently as I would have liked. I’ve been in a funk for a couple of weeks due to my hearing issues. I’ve been doing the flonase/zyrtec treatment per my ENT specialist everyday for about a month but with no changes. I was hoping to really see some difference by now. It seems like the days when my hearing clears up and I don’t need my hearing aids are the days when my ear beeps and pulses. It’s ironic that two years ago I wanted to slow down time so much because it was moving by so fast, and now it seems I’ve gotten my wish. My hearing issues force me to take every day one day at time. Sometimes there are good days, sometimes there are bad days. This is all well and good but I would really like to have some sort of resolution on what’s going on so I can plan for the future. But really when I step back and look at my life I see that I have so much to be grateful for. These ear issues are really just a tiny drop in the bucket. It only consumes so much of my energy because it’s ever-present; I’m always having to be conscious of it and deal with it. Even after typing all of this out I feel better now. Maybe that’s the power of journaling and putting ideas down on paper (or screen). I’m getting problems out of my head and out into the open. So that’s good.

Yesterday we left at 7:40AM and drove down to Centralia to see the total solar eclipse. We stopped in Vandalia along the way and charged the car up to 90%. I figured that would be enough to last us in Centralia plus whatever crazy traffic we would encounter going to St. Louis afterwards.

We got to Centralia around 11AM and made sandwiches. We stopped at a beautiful park with nice ball diamonds and fields. There wasn’t any traffic on the way down. Around noon is when the eclipse started and everyone pretty much settled down to continually check the path of the moon over the sun.

It started to cool down about a half hour before totality. The wife had to put a sweater on. It started to get darker too. Finally the last sliver of sun went a way, the ring came out, and we were in totality. It was awesome to be able to take the glasses off and see the sun/moon with the naked eye, against the purple sky. The corona was flaming out from the sun. It was much cooler than the eclipse I say in Missouri in 2017.

Ted was congratulated by the local Rotary Club for being the furthest traveled. I took all their pictures and they are going to put it in their newsletter. This is nice, especially after Jack and I were playing catch, and Jack throw a wild pitch that rolled and hit the Rotary guy in the foot lol.

After that we drove to Busch Stadium. It was decent traffic for the most part. It probably only took an extra 10 minutes to get to downtown, so we had plenty of charge left. We dropped off Jack and Ted at the Hyatt then went to charge up all the way before the game started. That way we wouldn’t have to charge after the game. I made another sandwich while the car charged. Life was good.

Then we went and parked at the garage across from Busch. It was $20 last year to park, now it was $40. Damn inflation. We went and found Ted and Jack and waited in line at the gate to go in. Once inside we made our way to the cheap seats. Laina, Elsa and I went to get the stadium giveaway (Peppermint Patty bobblehead). I will sell 6 of these to recoup the cost of the tickets. It’s nice to see Peanuts still get some love. It was one of my favorite comics growing up. We had multiple Peanuts books around the house. I would read them over and over and over. I remember going to TG&Y and buying the “Flash Beagle” album, which was Peanuts take on the Flashdance craze. We had the Peanuts drawing board thingy, where you moved the green gel sheet over to progressively draw Snoopy or Charlie Brown or Linus or whomever. It’s a core memory!

[Wow, my back is spasming bad while typing this. I don’t know what I did this weekend to hurt it but my left side muscle on my rib cage just squeezes for no reason, then goes away about 5 seconds later. Hurts like hell!]

The Cards lost to the Phillies. It was weird to see so few fans in the park, but that’s because of the shitty year the team had last year. The Cardinals have a winning culture and it seems like the front office didn’t do much to fix anything this year. But still, baseball is great to watch and Busch Stadium is still my favorite MLB ballpark by far.

So last Friday I went to St Louis by myself to pick up Ted from the airport. Beforehand I went to Microcenter to pick up a Bambu X1 Carbon 3D printer. I have it set up and have done a couple prints. So far the thing is awesome, much better than the Prusa MK4. I hate to say that because I love Prusa. The are based in the Czech republic and have awesome tech support, and all their software is open source. Plus it is a fast printer and is great when it works. But the X1C has so many more advanced features. I bought one because of all the amazing word-of-mouth I saw on social media about it. I literally did not believe all the glowing reviews. I would check out reviewers’ Facebook profiles to make sure they were legit people and not some Communist China hacks. But it’s all good! I’m actually proud of China for building this. Usually all of their stuff is Amazon junk that tries to pass itself off as some American brand. But the Bambu is obviously Chinese, and it is great new original technology. So kudos to them for actually creating something good and new.

I can’t wait to start testing out the multicolor printing on the X1C. That’s the main reason I got it. I won’t be limited to one color per layer like I am with the MK4. But Prusa just released their own multi-material unit for the MK4 this week. So maybe I’ll get it later and have two multi-color printers. It depends on how well I can make items that other people want to buy. I have some ideas.

Saturday we all went to Obed and Isaacs in Springfield for dinner. The whole family plus mom and Ted went. It was okay this time. I think my buffalo chicken horseshoe had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while though. Then we went to Scheels. Jack got a new glove and we all got some new Hey Dudes (or “Oh Boys”, as Ted called them).

I went to Jack’s scholastic bowl in Rushville yesterday. I am all for trivia and such, but these events are boring as hell to have to sit through lol. Gimmee some rasslin’!

We are getting our popcorn ceiling and kitchen counters redone here soon. Hopefully everything is finished and looks great ahead of Emma’s graduation party.

Philosophically I’m still thinking about the Absolute versus the Relative, trying to find examples where each is used. I’m also thinking of how, in an argument, people will switch between “Because Of” versus “In Spite Of”, kind of like how they switch between Absolute versus Relative, whatever fits their argument. Like, I think I’m a fairly successful dude. Is my success Because Of my parents? Like how I was raised, what they taught me, how they acted and the roles they modeled for me? Or am I successful In Spite Of my parents? Like they weren’t the most educated people on Earth. We were basically redneck white-trashian simple folk. I mean, I grew up with muskrat pelts turned inside-out on my porch. I can still remember the smell. And my parents loved me unconditionally. This sounds great on the surface. They were proud of everything I did. But what if they had pushed me a little harder? Like what if they had made me play a school band instrument and be in sports? Would I have been an even better, more well-rounded person today? This is why I push my kids to be in these organized activities. I want them to reach their full potential, and not just the half-potential that I think I reached (sometimes). But I can’t fault my parents. How the hell were they supposed to handle a bright, gifted straight-A student? My dad was a construction laborer, my mom was a stay-at-home mom. They had no reference for what to do with a kid like me. They were probably just happy that all us kids stayed out of trouble and graduated.