{"id":1077,"date":"2020-01-24T13:44:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T21:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2020-01-24T13:44:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T21:44:00","slug":"a-week-in-the-life-january-24-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?p=1077","title":{"rendered":"A Week in the Life: January 24, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I almost didn&#8217;t write anything this week because I don&#8217;t feel like I have a ton to say, but I want to keep at this weekly blogging, so I&#8217;m here anyhow. The big thing of this week is that my dad come over to remodel our kitchen lights. The results are really great. I&#8217;m so happy with how it turned out. This was a two-day process, with a marathon of demolition through texturing on Saturday, followed by painting and cleaning on Sunday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"343\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232-700x343.jpg\" alt=\"beofre remodeling: a box in the center of the kitchen that contains florescent fixtures\" data-id=\"1079\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1079\" class=\"wp-image-1079\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232-700x343.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232-300x147.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232-768x377.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232-1536x753.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232-800x392.jpg 800w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_092820-scaled-e1579901217232.jpg 2035w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">original shitty lighting<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"Kirk and my dad removing a wooden frame from around the old lighting fixture\" data-id=\"1080\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1080\" class=\"wp-image-1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200118_095244-800x450.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">getting the party started<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"remodeled kitchen lights: five lights set into the ceiling\" data-id=\"1081\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1081\" class=\"wp-image-1081\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_200523-800x450.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">the finished product<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Consuming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some things I read, watched, or bought this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reading<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/kameronhurley\/posts\">Kameron Hurley<\/a> released the final book in her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.librarything.com\/series\/The+Worldbreaker+Saga\">Worldbreaker <\/a>trilogy last week, so I&#8217;ve been re-reading the first two books to refresh my memory before I read the new one. I am a big Hurley fan. I think her writing is interesting and she has women characters who span the full range of human personalities. She embraces the brutality of life and writers in a variety of speculative fiction scenarios. The Mirror Empire is the first book in the series, followed by Empire Ascendant. The new book is The Broken Heavens and I can&#8217;t wait to read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"1244\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-700x1244.jpg\" alt=\"book cover for The Mirror Empire on the Kobo ereader\" data-id=\"1087\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1087\" class=\"wp-image-1087\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-700x1244.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-864x1536.jpg 864w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-1152x2048.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-800x1422.jpg 800w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200115_101641-scaled.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">The Mirror Empire<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"1244\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-700x1244.jpg\" alt=\"book cover for Empire Ascendant on the Kobo ereader\" data-id=\"1086\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1086\" class=\"wp-image-1086\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-700x1244.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-864x1536.jpg 864w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-1152x2048.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-800x1422.jpg 800w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200119_202840-scaled.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Empire Ascendant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Watching<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I can&#8217;t recall watching anything other than a few episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise this week. To be fair, there are quite a lot of episodes. There have been some good ones, but here in season three the show is definitely declining in quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rampant Consumerism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I bought a great little device called the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pethairgone.com\/\">ChomChom Roller<\/a>. It&#8217;s kind of like a hand-powered vacuum for picking up pet hair. It&#8217;s really just a piece of plastic, but it actually works. I cleared the couch of cat hair and I was impressed. It&#8217;s a good alternative to lint rollers, which is what we had been using, and it&#8217;s more effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Making Things and Doing Stuff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I spent the first few days of the week recovering from last weekend&#8217;s remodeling bonanza and the rest of it being sore from the gym and derby. Tuesday&#8217;s practice was footwork focused and last night&#8217;s involved a lot of contact and gameplay scenarios. Both tired me in different ways. I&#8217;ve also been keeping up on my workout program from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.librarything.com\/series\/The+Worldbreaker+Saga\">Iron Octopus Fitness<\/a>, which has been pretty challenging this month. I guess what I&#8217;m trying to say is: I don&#8217;t want to move right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Language Learning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve been getting a lot of Spanish practice in this week, but have completely dropped my Icelandic now that derby has started. I&#8217;m still seeking an balance but I&#8217;m happy with this week&#8217;s Spanish efforts. I&#8217;ve been actually enjoying the novel I&#8217;m reading and I&#8217;ve made a big dent in my flashcard backlog. My teacher had me do some writing practice for the DELE exam and, even though I kind of hate some of the prompts, I tried to make it fun for myself, like in the essay asking me to write a letter of complaint about a recent beauty treatment in which I named the imaginary salon I went to &#8220;Cabello Bello.&#8221; I&#8217;m an artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Kitchen Witchery<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Nothing too complicated this week, but I did keep myself fed. I made a winter minestrone soup (from the Daily Soup Cookbook) and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/voraciously\/wp\/2020\/01\/14\/an-easy-weeknight-beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry-recipe-youll-make-again-and-again\/?utm_campaign=recipes&amp;utm_medium=Email&amp;utm_source=Newsletter&amp;wpisrc=nl_recipes&amp;wpmm=1\">beef and broccoli<\/a> from the Washington Post. I&#8217;ve made a few WaPo recipes lately and they&#8217;ve all come out pretty tasty. I&#8217;ve been a Post subscriber for a year or two now, but I recently signed up for their food newsletter, which has turned out to be a good choice<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942-700x693.jpg\" alt=\"a bowl of winter minestrone soup topped with pesto\" data-id=\"1078\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1078\" class=\"wp-image-1078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942-700x693.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942-300x297.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942-768x761.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942-800x793.jpg 800w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200117_185215-scaled-e1579901292942.jpg 1292w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">winter minestrone<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"471\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925-700x471.jpg\" alt=\"beef and broccoli in the dutch oven pot\" data-id=\"1084\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1084\" class=\"wp-image-1084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925-700x471.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925-768x517.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925-1536x1034.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925-800x539.jpg 800w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_172110-scaled-e1579901032925.jpg 1977w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">putting that le creuset to work<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, Here are some cat photos for your nerves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"Huey the cat sitting on top of the edge of the couch\" data-id=\"1083\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1083\" class=\"wp-image-1083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_220559-800x450.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Huey, couch queen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"viola the cat lying on a comfy chair\" data-id=\"1082\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?attachment_id=1082\" class=\"wp-image-1082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200123_120652-800x450.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Viola is people<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I almost didn&#8217;t write anything this week because I don&#8217;t feel like I have a ton to say, but I want to keep at this weekly blogging, so I&#8217;m here anyhow. The big thing of this week is that my dad come over to remodel our kitchen lights. The results are really great. I&#8217;m so&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[248],"tags":[345,247,217,321,346,109],"class_list":["post-1077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-update","tag-345","tag-cats","tag-food","tag-house-drama","tag-january","tag-spanish"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3ni6N-hn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1088,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions\/1088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}