Summer is about half over as far as I’m concerned. Every year from the end of June to the end of August I’m on a semi vacation with my family. This summer has been good compared to previous ones except for the weather that has been rainy and hot. I cannot tolerate the heat. I get cramps, headaches, and a litany of other ailments when the temperature hovers around 30C (or nearer to 40C with the humidex taken into account). It’s happened to me since I was a kid and my mom similarly has the same condition. The worst of these ailments however is something I call “scrambled egg brain” which is like a fog that falls over my mind making it difficult to do anything besides sitting, sweating and drinking lots of water in the A/C. The other part that sucks is that I cannot sleep at night because of the heat. I’m up at least 10 times and what sleep I do get is fractured. This combination of scrambled egg brain and lack of sleep leaves me like a zombie. The phrases “Do not operate heavy machinery” or “Do not make serious financial decisions” become especially important during this period of time.
It may seem dire but because of these issues I do get a lot of reading done during this time which is something I enjoy immensely and frankly don’t do enough of during the rest of the year. So far I’ve read 6 books this summer all by Dan Abnett. They are: The Founding – A Gaunt’s Ghosts omnibus (which collects the novels First and Only, Ghostmaker and Necropolis) and Eisenhorn – The Omnibus (which collects the novels Xenos, Malleus and Heretic.).
They are all science fiction novels set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This is my first experience with the Warhammer 40K universe as far as books are concerned and they were entertaining and easy reads. The only downside is that the follow up books are out of print in physical editions so it may take me some time to obtain copies that are reasonably priced to continue the story lines. But, that’s actually fine because I’m kind of sick of the whole grim wartorn 40K universe after all that reading anyway. It’s an ugly place that is better enjoyed in small doses.
Besides that I did get to visit an out of the way thrift store that I only go to about once a year. I was helping my neighbor take junk to the Eco-Center (a recycling center run by the city) and we stopped on the way back. I enjoy this particular thrift store but the prices of everything had gone up (Quelle Surprise!). They did not have much I needed but as I was at the cash to checkout I happened to notice a cardboard box on the shelf behind the register that said “Arduno” $15. I’m quite sure the cashier had no idea what it was when I asked to see it and as I opened the plain brown otherwise unmarked cardboard box I immediately added it to my purchase. So what did I get for $15?
Inside the box was an Arduino Starter Kit that was used but had all the components (and additional pieces) after I checked it more thoroughly when I got home. What sold me on the purchase however was when I skimmed it at the thrift store on the top of the inside box nestled inside an anti-static envelope was a Raspberry Pi Zero W with a 32 GB SD card.
I have always been interested in tinkering around with an Arduino but I couldn’t afford the $110-90 price tag that it was sold for. The Raspberry Pi Zero W usually runs between $15-25 for the board itself but If you add shipping and the rest of the components that it needs to function the cost goes up to the $50 range. Yet another price tag that I was just not willing to pay. I don’t really have any use for a Raspberry Pi Zero W (as it’s just an underpowered computer) but the novelty is there and it might be fun to tinker around with. Even if I ended up selling the Raspberry Pi Zero W on Ebay I would get my $15 back pretty easily which makes the whole purchase essentially free. You can’t beat that price (or flawed logic).
I’ve also been renting Mario & Luigi Brothership from my library which I’ve been playing for a few weeks now on my Nintendo Switch. I enjoy the Mario & Luigi RPG’s but this is one of the weaker entries unfortunately. It’s still enjoyable but nowhere as good as say Superstar Saga or Bowser’s Inside Story. I’m only about 1/2 way through though so maybe my opinion will change by the time I finish it sometime during what’s left of the summer.
That’s all for now
CatsGamesWhatever.
CatsGamesWhatever 