Blender Fox


Training in Quarantine - Day 194

#

Evening walk from yesterday that I forgot to log -- short walk, the weather was looking ominous and did actually end up heavily raining.

Also, I got a notification a couple of days ago that Endomondo is being retired at the end of the year.

I knew this was going to happen soon at some point after Underarmor picked it up.

I'm saddened by this as Endomondo has been my go-to for a lot of running things, including helping me train for the Half Marathon. Strava is my alternative and a lot of my colleagues are on that, but I really do not like the interface and only really use it for storing my walk/run tracks.

Training in Quarantine - Day 193

#

Another evening walk, and this time I went to look at the back of a house that my folks really like post-viewing.

The back has a shared parking space -- which, during the day seems okay, but in the evening, when everyone else is there, it looks very tight for space, meaning unless you have backed into the parking space, it's going to be difficult to come out of the parking unless you reverse out.

Training in Quarantine - Day 192

#

A busy Saturday with several house viewings. One of which got cancelled due to a resident having to self-isolate due to covid.

One of the viewings today was originally written off by my folks as a "no-hope" but once they viewed inside, their tone dramatically changed.

A literal case of not judging a book by its cover.

In other news, I saw a tweet from [twitter.com/VictoriaB...](https://twitter.com/VictoriaBID:)

[twitter.com/VictoriaB...](https://twitter.com/VictoriaBID/status/1324711864765456385)

Now I work on top of Victoria Station, so I walk past the memorial plaque dedicated to the Unknown Soldier every day I commute to the office. Obviously not so much this year due to covid.

The Military Wives Choir did the song for Abide With Me using the now-common feature of a virtual choir:

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J-oP1esgt4)

The virtual choir idea has been used a lot this year due to social distancing, but let's not forget, the idea dates back way further, even as far back as 2009 with Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir project (https://www.youtube.com/user/EricWhitacresVrtlChr) which also made it into several TED talks

From 2010:

[www.ted.com/talks/eri...](https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_whitacre_a_choir_as_big_as_the_internet)

2011:

[www.ted.com/talks/eri...](https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_whitacre_a_virtual_choir_2_000_voices_strong)

And 2013:

[www.ted.com/talks/eri...](https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_whitacre_virtual_choir_live)

Training in Quarantine - Day 191 and other updates

#

My last logged walk was 23rd October. I've been slacking off logging runs since then, so this is my first logged run since then, even though I have been doing near-daily runs since then, so I'm skipping through to Day 191 since I've done 10 days of walks since then.

I've also got a few other updates.

My house purchase fell through a while ago so I have been actively house hunting a lot and my past few Saturdays have been spent house viewing. Viewing during the day is tricky unless I take time off to house hunt.

Dealing with different Estate Agents is a pain, with some not even bothering to give you the time of day, let alone

I also upgraded my phone to Android 10 LineageOS and I've been having quite a few issues with internet speed and stability. I'm seriously considering forcing a downgrade back to Android 9. In the meantime, I might switch from Adoptable Storage back to portable storage to see if that helps with stability.

Oh, and it's frickin' COLD.

Training in Quarantine - Day 181

#

Got caught in the rain on my walk today. It didn't last long though, but I had made it home by the time it stopped. Seems like that's a pattern when I go for a walk....

Training in Quarantine - Day 180

#

Installed more apps that were missing from my phone and set most of them up. Did my walk as normal, no issues there. Had to re-pair my phone with my car since everything was reset, though.

Training in Quarantine - Day 179

#

Late out today -- my phone wanted to upgrade so I attempted it (it was an upgrade from Android 9 to Android 10), and it didn't work, and I ended up having to factory reset and install from scratch. I did have some Titanium Backup backups, but they didn't seem to work a lot of the time :/

So for the most part, I just reinstalled all the apps I remember using and logged in. For most, that was fine. But I lost the MFA codes on Google Authenticator, meaning I had to remove and setup:

all over again

AWS was quick and painless after a security check to confirm I was who I said I was and they called me on the number on the account.

Wordpress was painless too -- I was already logged in, so just removed MFA and set it up again, then logged in again. Similarly with LastPass

GitLab however, is proving to be more of a pain. They no longer accept MFA removal requests for people on the Free plan. So I wonder if they will accept me going to a subscription model so I _can_ then request the MFA removal. I think it is better anyway, since I'm hitting the 400 minute CI limit pretty regularly. The 2000 minute CI limit would be better. At least until I can get my own GitLab install working.

As for the run, yes, it was a run -- well, more of a jog, anyway. Still did the 3km lap, doing it in 20 mins rather than the 30 mins it normally takes me when I walk it.

Training in Quarantine - Day 177/178

#

Forgot to log my walk yesterday. So doing both today.

Yesterday, I decided to look at a house up for sale on Zoopla, but couldn't find it. The map marker was where a gated house was, but there was no estate agent sign. Maybe it's been sold already?

But at least I got a nice walk out of it.

Today I did my normal lap around. Tesco have made progress on the forecourt of their petrol station, but I haven't the foggiest what kind of work they're doing.

Training in Quarantine - Day 176

#

Later walk than normal -- the weather was colder and darker, but still made it around without any rain soaking me this time.

In other news, you may recall I spoke about a prospective new house I was looking at. Well, even though my offer was accepted, the seller decided to pull out of the deal before any contracts were exchanged. I'm bummed as heck over it, but not much I can do about it, I guess.

Training in Quarantine - Day 175

#

Went out for my walk and I got totally soaked, even though I ended up sprinting the lap.

Training in Quarantine - Day 174

#

Just made it back before it started pouring with rain.

Training in Quarantine - Day 173

#

Short walk because it was raining (and still is)

Training in Quarantine - Day 172

#

Grey and cloudy, but no rain while I was running -- it was indeed pissing down with rain earlier, but thankfully, not while I was out on my walk.

Training in Quarantine - Day 171

#

No rain today, but still puddles on the floor. Went around with fleece jumper and coat. Was pretty warm by the time I came back.

Training in Quarantine - Day 170

#

Warmer day, no rain, no clouds, but the park was flooded from the period of extended rain so ended up walking one lap, then having to turn around and to another lap in the other direction before heading home.

Training in Quarantine - Day 169

#

Raining today. It eased up a bit so I went for my walk, but it was still drizzling. As I make it back home, it's still raining. :(

Training in Quarantine - Day 168

#

A comfortably warm day today. No need for gloves or beanie, but still wore a cap and my jacket.

Training in Quarantine - Day 167

#

Not a hot day, but not cold. Still went out with my gloves and hat, and noticed a few people with looser clothing. Was I wrong? Don't think so. I still felt cold until about 2 km in, and then still wasn't "hot" hot.

Training in Quarantine - Day 166

#

Cold and grey today, but no rain.

And it also looks like the panic buying has started already. Big queues coming out of Aldi causing traffic jams both ways on the main road outside it.

Training in Quarantine - Day 165

#

Windy, grey, and a bit wet. Went for a short walk in the park, and found a anti-COVID graffiti sign saying it was a scam and to "rise up"

I guess anti-vaxxers want to complain about everything they can.

Training in Quarantine - Day 164

#

Windy but dry. Comfortable walk, but had to use my running beanie and gloves today -- for the first time this year.

Training in Quarantine - Day 163

#

Grey and raining again, went a diferent route but still not as far as my normal walk, back to route-hunting again....

Training in Quarantine - Day 162

#

grey and raining. Luckily it didn't rain during my walk. Decided to do a lap in the park -- didn't want to risk going to far out in case I get caught in any sudden downpours.

Training in Quarantine - Day 161

#

Different route, and ended up a shorter distance. Gotta find a different route tomorrow.

Training in Quarantine - Day 160

#

Day 160 in quarantine. Jeez.... can't believe it's got to that many days so far.....

Warm day again, and replaced one of my valve caps on my car -- one of the caps had gone mission/stolen and I only found out when I went to top up the air pressure of my tyres.

Affinity Water contacted me over twitter to ask about my previous reports of water problems. They confirmed there was an issue in my area and that had been resolved (which agrees with my observations).