Figure Painting Total - November 2023

Even thought I had missed out on the Dust Starter, I was able to get an Operation Cerberus for a not-outrageous price.  This is the last of the classic expansion boxed that I needed.  

I had two weeks off but, instead of painting, I spent the time recovering from Covid.  Being fully boosted, it was more of an annoyance than a life-threatening event.

Bought

Dust Tactics – Operation Cerberus – 2

 

 

Painted

 

 

 

Nov total – 2 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 158, figures painted 26

The Show must go on

 We used to go to the movies quite regularly in the before times. We tried to get out at least a couple of times a month.  Since the shut downs, we have been keeping our movie night, but watching them at home. 

 

The last movie that we saw in a theatre was back in March 2020 when we saw Onward. I wasn’t as impressed with it as some were but it was still enjoyable.  We had seen some movies in the drive in since then.  We saw New Mutants last fall, and the new Suicide Squad this summer.

 

We were getting ready to go back in September but then they had changed the rules and open up the theatres to the entire population, vaccinated or not.  So we decided to pass for a while.  They soon restricted access back to vaccinated only as the number again increased. 

Our first movie back was the new James Bond film No Time to Die.  It was a bit of an odd experience.  The theatres used to include buffer space between guests but have dropped that so we had people who had bought the seats right next to us.  Because there was the space, we shuffled over a seat to allow room. 

 

I found this movie okay as well.  Daniel Craig isn’t in my top three Bonds, and I was never a fan of the reboot when they brought him in.  This had a lot of nice nods to older fans but, with this being Craig’s last film in the franchise, I am not sure how they will continue the series without another reboot.  Which would be a shame as they have built up a really good supporting cast. 

 

I suppose that we will have to see where they go from here.

Canada Day double double

 What did you do on Canada Day?  We went in and got our second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.  Still had no major reactions but the arm was a bit more sore this time around. 

Our kids had gotten Pfizer for the first round but they were not scheduling any on the second rounds so they went and got Moderna.  This made them a bit tired, but no major reactions. 

With our 14 days coming up on the 15^th, we can now apply for our vaccine cards.  They seem to have underestimated the demand for these and there may be a bit of a delay.  This should be fine as we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.

There is currently some talk from Europe about the mixing of vaccines though, so we will have to see how that affects the kids.  Plus Pfizer is now talking about the possibility of needing a booster to counter the variants.  This is not much different than the seasonal flu cocktail though.

 

 

Covid update - vaccine booked

 We have opened up a bit and the cases started going up again.  They have locked down visits to the home but are allowing people to go to restaurants.  

We have booked in our appointments for our first doses of the vaccine on Mother's Day.  We were good for whatever was on tap.  It sounds like we are scheduled for the pfizer version.  It means we'll have to go back for a second dose.

We usually get together for the Academy Awards with the group that we used to go see movies with back in the before times.  This year we did the Oscars at our own houses and used Zoom to get together.  As usual, I did not win our Oscar pool.

While most people have been pretty good about following the guidelines and restrictions, there have been some people who feel that their freedom is being too harshly restricted.  There was a large protest of 'anti-maskers' at the Forks.  

Personally, I feel that any slight inconvenience I have to put up with by wearing a mask more than makes up for the chance to prevent spreading covid to someone else.  But I find wearing a mask like wearing tie - if you get one that fits, and wear it properly, it's not uncomfortable.

Covid-19 one year update

 

We are still working from home.  There is no word on when this might change. 

 

The vaccines are starting to be administered.  Due to our ages, we will not likely get ours until the fall.  The virus is starting to mutate into variants.

 

They changed the rules again.  Masks are still required to be worn at most places.  They are going to open up again to 50% capacity in most stores.  We had been allowed to have 2 people visit and they are opening that up slightly.

Financially, we are doing fine.  We both remained working and, with less travel and entertainment, have been using the money to pay down some bills.  I have been using my extra funds to pick up more figures for various game systems.  Now that I am painting again, I feel better about getting them.  I’ve been getting into Dracula’s America, and working on my Blood Bowl, as well as continuing on the Marvel/DC Universe Miniatures and Batman Miniature Game. 

Not going out, we aren’t seeing movies in the theatre like we used to but are still having a weekly movie night where we order in food and watch movies from Netflix, Cineplex, or On Demand.  Because we don’t have to travel from work, we are usually watching two movies.  Trying to come up with a theme for both has kept it amusing.

We remain caught up on our PVR.  We tend to watch regular recordings during the week and binge through series on the weekend.  We have yet to watch the Mandalorian but have watched Titans, Doom Patrol, and WandaVision.  We watched the last week of Jeopardy with Alex Trebek, and the weeks following with new trial hosts.

I have finally got around to playing a few of the games I have with solo variants.  I hope to be able to wrangle the kids into playing some games in our spare time.  We may have to wait until after exams.

 

They have changed the holiday year at work.   It used to run from May to April and now it will run from January to December.  This means I get extra holidays for this year on top of the ones I had already booked.  We still have nowhere to go though.

We haven’t yet done much in the way of renovations done.  Nor any further sifting of the storage locker.  We’ve been just dealing with the new situation instead of making the best of our opportunities.  Hopefully we will get better about that as this doesn’t seem to be coming to a real end anytime soon.

On the wiifit, I had been bouncing between 270 and 275 pounds before all this.  After a very sedentary year, I am now between 280 and 290 pounds.  As it warms up, I will really need to get up and out more.

 

We're having a Covid Christmas

Even with a month of lockdown, we still have high numbers of Covid cases.  Thus we have had our lockdown continued until Jan 8.  This means no Christmas or New Year’s parties.  They did open up sales on Christmas items though.

We had already ordered most of our gifts and all but a couple have already arrived.  We’re not going to get together with family like we normally do.

This means that we will be cooking Christmas dinner for the first time since we’ve married.  It will be more of a low-key affair as will the gifts.  My wife has a tendency of picking up a lot of little items to bulk out the gifts.  With everything being locked down, she hasn’t been able to do that.

She usually takes off the Fridays in December and I take off the first Friday and we usually hit the mall and pick up the last of our Christmas shopping and check out the decorations.  That wasn’t even an option this year so we spent the day getting ready for the Christmas baking.  Even with that, because we aren’t going to be going out as much, she scaled back the types of deserts to a more reasonable amount.

It’s already going to be a bit odd as I won’t have the week between Christmas and New Year’s off.  For the last several years I have taken it as my holidays but, in order to ensure I got the time off to go to my daughter’s graduation this year, I had to book that first instead.  Even though her grad wasn’t quite what we were expecting, I’m glad I was able to be there for what we did have.  I did manage to get the week following New Year’s though.

Actually, because of how they restructured our holidays, I will end up with 9 weeks off in 2021 instead of the 6 weeks that I normally get.  I will also get another 4 weeks that I have to use by the end of 2022 in addition to my regular holidays for that year.

This also means that we will be cooking Christmas dinner for the first time since we’ve been married.  We won’t make the number of dishes that my mother usually makes but it should be a nice quiet dinner.  She usually has a big crowd show up on Boxing Day for chicken soup.  That will also be quite a change.

Covid - second lockdown

Things had been getting progressively worse here as cases kept spiking. They finally locked the province down again in mid November. It is set to be locked down for another month.  Just prior to the lockdown, Gee and I zipped out to pick up some gloss coat and a few Christmas presents.

 Some people, especially on social media, keep posting the memes that "If it worked the first time, why are we doing it again? If it didn't work the first time, why are we doing it again?"

 The simple answer is, it did work the first time. Shutting everything down helped to keep our case numbers low. When we opened up, people were very casual about getting together in groups.

 When schools started up again in September, and the inevitable cases started up, instead of shutting back down as we should have, we tried to ride it out to allow businesses to catch up. Left unchecked, the infections increased until we finally had to admit that we needed to shut back down. 

 It's frustrating. It's sounding more like we'll be working from home through the winter. Halloween was all but cancelled. We set up a few decoration and gave out candy but only five dedicated kids showed up in the chill rain. 

 Christmas will be rough. The local stores will have a hard time as people will either have to rush together to get their gifts in the final two weeks before the holiday, or will have already bought their gifts online. So far we are still doing well. 

 There are two or three good vaccines that are close to being released, probably early next year, but I wonder how many people will not bother taking them. Our neighbors to the south finished their election. With the final flurry of campaigning as well as their refusal to not gather together for their Thanksgiving, their numbers continue to rise. With the expected crowds for the Black Friday sales, I fear the following weeks will be rough for them.

Covid – Back to School

Our province started getting some cases in August due to people travelling.  Despite this, most of the schools opted for back to classes in September, with predictable results. 

Having graduated, my daughter is now attending online classes for university.  It’s not quite the same experience but she is making due with it.  Her classes are all online.  It was a bit tricky getting her school books due to the conditions.  She seems to be settling in but is certainly missing out on a lot of the university experience.

My wife and I have both have been told to not expect to go back fully before November.  She is going in one week a month already. 

We have now watched all the Netflix Marvel shows.  With a lot of our regular shows not scheduled to come back until January, we are getting around to some of the other shows that we had missed – like Titans, Doom Patrol, and Umbrella Academy.  Shan has watched Mad Men, Dynasty, and Frankie and Grace.

We were able to make it out to the Stardust Drive-In to see The New Mutants.  It was odd seeing a movie away from home and good to make it to the drive-in.  The staff seemed friendly, and the menu was wide and good.  If it was closer than 90 minutes away, we would probably go more often.

 

Covid update - July / Grad

When my son graduated, a few years ago, he wasn’t really interested in the ceremonies. He went to the breakfast and the dinner, and the convocation but did not go to the after parties. My daughter, with her graduation this Covid year, had all of her services cancelled.

They did do a simple ceremony, where they scheduled the grads in one at a time. They could bring 4 family members into the gym, they read their quote and could walk across the stage and pick up their diploma. No big procession, no speeches, no official dinner. We did end up going to PF Chang’s for lunch afterwards. Because of her grad, we got a free plate of the lettuce wraps.

They did get to pick up the caps and gowns the week before and were able to take some pictures out and about before they had to return them. They had a few barbeques, and a couple of dinners, and my daughter organized a pancake breakfast in the driveway.

They haven’t been the best at social distancing. Even afterwards, they still get together to go to the beach, and for barbeques, and even the sleepovers are starting up again.


The wife and I are still wearing masks for the few times when we go out into the world. We really only are going out for groceries, and the occasional tank of gas. Plus the comic book store is now open again, and I go to the game store for paint occasionally. We do get take out sometimes but will often rather get delivery. We did go to my brother’s for Canada day for a barbeque but that has been the only social interaction for the wife and I since March.


We’re pretty much caught up on our PVR – we only have about 30 hours taped and now have 300 hours available. We hope to get to the Netflix Marvel shows shortly – we have only seen the first season of Daredevil. We finally picked up Disney Plus, so we will get to the Mandelorian this fall.

The Library finally reopened enough to allow us to return books. At least they automatically renewed them while they were locked out.

Covid - 5

Things are starting to open up again. More stores are re-opening, including our local comic book store. We are both still working from home and have no word on when that might change.

People are encouraged to wear masks when out and about. Shan has bought a few online, and my mom made a set for us. You have to wash them every time that you use them. A lot of people are still not wearing masks – probably less than half.

With the movie theatres still being closed, we have kept our regular movie night, but are instead watching movies On Demand. With the commute being non-existent, and having no social obligations, we have managed to keep up with our PVR. Normally, at this time when the shows are ending their seasons, we are right on the buffer of our PVR. With the extra time, we currently have 100 hours available.
With not much scheduled to come back in the fall, we should be able to keep on top of it. We may even have time to watch all the Netflix Marvel shows that we missed. So far, we have only seen the first season of Daredevil.

With the extra money I have saved, and being inspired by actually getting some figures painted, I placed an order for the DC Universe miniature game, and The Crime Syndicate boxed set. I have the PDF of the first edition rules but have been putting off getting the hardcover until I had a few figures painted so we could actually play. The Crime Syndicate is a complete team of five figures that mirrors the Justice League.
As it would happen, the very next day after placing that order, Miniature Market had their daily deal for the Batman Miniature Game second edition Dark Knight starter for about half price. With more buildings, a Batman and police team, as well as a Bane and mercenary team, plus a Tumbler and Batpod, I snapped it up. Even with the move to third edition, this was too good a deal to pass up. It had been on my list but I could never justify the cost – even with the bundle pricing compared to getting the parts separately.

Covid 19 - 4

I had a week off, mostly trying to stay out of the way of my wife, who was still working at home. I was able to get a bit more painting done.

The previous two weeks I have been working from home as well. The commute is much better, and it is nice being able to get a hot lunch. But I would rather be at work doing the regular work instead.

They are talking about starting to open services again. It seems a bit soon but we'll see how it goes. It will be unfortunate if they open up everything up, the virus spreads again, and then they have to close everything down again.

Covid - 3

They have now posted that in-class school has been cancelled indefinitely. If things radically change, they might bring them back, but otherwise they are not expected to go back before the end of the school year. This could mean that there is no graduation ceremony at the end of June as well.
I originally had to book that week as a holiday back in February in order to be able to get to go to her grad. If they end up moving the ceremony, I now may not be able to go.

For my wife, they are talking about bring one of them in each week to work in the office. Logistically, this would be messy, as she would have to take her laptop back in to work, and may have to bus home depending on my shift and where I am working.

I was still working at an alternate site. They are getting things ready to send us home, and have tried a few people to see how it will work. I had Thursday off and had to take my computer home when I left on Wednesday. I am off next week but then I log in from home.

We have further locked down the province. All non-essential services have now been closed as of April 1.

Canada Covid - week two

My daughter is off from school for the next three weeks. Two weeks are bracketing their regular spring break. So far, cabin fever hasn’t settled into her yet. Her grad is still up in the air. Her workplace at a children’s play center has been closed.

Shan is settling in to working from home.

I am working at an alternate site. We had too many people in the one building so they have moved some of us to allow us to spread out and to prevent the entire center from going down if infection should happen. They keep surveying us to see what our conditions are at home. It hasn’t happened yet, but they are looking deeper into what would be needed to send us home as required.

Grocery stores and gas stations are still open. With gas being the lowest it has been in decades, it’s actually not too bad. Churches have been closed through Easter. A lot of ‘non-essential’ services have been recommended to close.

Since we are both still considered ‘essential services’, my wife and are I still working, and still getting paid. Since we can’t go to movies, or out for restaurants, with traffic being light and gas being cheap, we are actually doing okay financially.

We realized how very lucky we are in this. I hope that it is not hitting too many of you too hardly.

Covid - commences in Canada

Unlike HINI, which never did seem to get the traction to become a big thing, this Covid 19 seems to be reaching the next level.
They figure it started in Wuhan in China. It’s not the most deadly virus but it does seem to have a high transmission rate. With things being what they are right now, slow government responses have allowed it to bloom in various areas.

Italy seems to be devastated as well. So far, cases are trickling in to Canada. A lot of the sporting events for NBA, and NHL, as well as concerts have all been postponed. Schools are being closed. People are being encouraged to work from home if they can and practice “social distancing” where you try to remain 6 feet apart from someone else. They recommend frequent hand washing and not touching your face.

My daughter had a few school trips planned that have been cancelled. Her trip to Brandon for the Jazz concert was cancelled by Brandon. Her trip to Japan at the end of March was cancelled as well. Further, her school is taking the next two weeks off leading into spring break. Her Chicago trip at the end of May is looking unlikely.

My wife is now working from home. She has brought her laptop home and has set up in the living room.

I am still going in to work so far.