It’s Super Bowl Sunday. I won’t be watching the game, but I am looking forward to watching Bad Bunny’s halftime show once it shows up online.
I want to be very clear that the ICE occupation of Minnesota under operation Metro Surge is not over despite how much the White House and apparently most of the national media want to pretend that it is. My local Bluesky feed and local media are telling a much different and more accurate story. This week the focus seemed to be on harassing and arresting observers. We’ve also been learning more about the horrible conditions here locally at the Whipple building where people are being held and at other, similar places in Texas, where there’s been a measles outbreak.
On Wednesday, I saw a doctor about the pain I’ve been feeling on the left side of my chest. We still don’t know what’s causing it, but the way I described my symptoms, and based on my medical history, she doesn’t think it’s heart related. She ordered some chest x-rays and blood work which all came back fine, other than some slightly elevated cholesterol levels. She told me to take some Pepcid in case it might be heart burn related and check back in with her in a few weeks. I also had her examine a new spot on my right foot and she referred me to a dermatologist. I see them next month. We didn’t talk much about primary care though. I’ll need to schedule another visit.
I’ve nailed down the four games I’ll be playing for my 10 4 x 10 challenge. Playing 10 games 10 times doesn’t seem realistic for me, so I’m starting with four, and may add a few more depending on how these go. The games are:
Marvel Champions is one of the older games in my collection, while Vantage and Dragons of Etchinstone are the two newest.
I’m planning add a page to the site dedicated to the challenge as a way of tracking the results (wins, losses, score, etc.). I’m already thinking of a database and a little front end for it. Who knows how far I’ll take that.
I kept my Peloton streak going this week; I’m up to 38 days. This week I kept it up through a combination of power zone rides, meditation and stretching. I ended up getting a massive cramp and hurting myself while stretching yesterday, which I think proves how much I needed to be doing the stretching to begin with. It wasn’t a serious injury—I was able to ride my bike today, but I definitely feel it in my hamstring and Achilles tendon.
Things I enjoyed this week
- The latest album from Ratboys “Singin’ to an Empty Chair”. It’s a perfect mix of indie-fuzz and alt-country. I can already tell it’s going to be on heavy rotation.
- Capcom surprise-dropped a demo for their upcoming game, Monster Hunter Stories 3, an RPG set in the world of Monster Hunter. It was already one of my most anticipated games of the year, and the demo only solidified that.
- Speaking of games, I finally played Deadlock, the first-person shooter/MOBA hybrid from Valve. The MOBA aspect makes it very different from most of the multiplayer shooters I’ve played. It’s not one you can just turn your brain off and play, but the setting, a blend of film noir and pulp plus demons, is very appealing to me.
- The Roe Family Singers, a hard-core old-time band from Minneapolis, released “Blacked-Out Ford” an anti-ICE song, and it rules.
- Sometimes a book just comes along and floors me with the quality of it’s prose. The latest one to do it is “Birnam Wood” by Eleanor Catton. Wow. Just wow.
- Claire Saffitz tried making home made Whoppers on her YouTube channel as part of her Claire Recreates series. I think she succeeded.