stroopwafel saturday.

saturday, august 19th, 2023.

It's a little after 8 a.m. here at the Chateau d'Chötrin, and our internet service is down. I'm having a nice mug of coffee with some stroopwafel while I enjoy a nice quiet house before the whole family wakes up. Once the family is up in earnest, I'll probably take a kid or two with me to the grocery store to pick out dinner and snacks, then we'll take the whole bunch to the lake to enjoy the tail end of summer just a little more. Fortunately, my Raspberry Pi is still up and running on the local network, so I can update my website just fine!

on frugality.

The end of the year is approaching, and with that come some rather substantial bills for insurances and taxes, plus whatever holiday spending is on our minds. As a result, our monthly budget has been foremost in my mind— put simply, we need to be dining out less frequently and keeping our expenditures under control. Our finances aren't something I particularly enjoy having on my mind, but it's a necessity at the moment.

I started reading The Art of Frugal Hedonism the other day and it's been a refreshing alternative to the sort of penny pinching that comes to my mind when I think of frugality. The general theme of the book lines up with all the permaculture and mindful consumption ideals that I'm quite fond of. More importantly, it turns the concept of frugality as a sort of "money diet" on its head and begs the question: how can we be happy and best pursue the things that are important to us while eschewing consumerism? More running towards our happiness than running away from unnecessary spending.

I'm a third of the way into the book and I'm enjoying it quite a bit!

bicycling and the weather.

I haven't had much chance to ride my bike this week. We had some nasty storms roll through, it's been quite hot, and I had to pick up the kiddos after work Thursday and Friday. It's supposed to be 100°F and above for the latter part of next week, so it looks like I'll be driving then, too. Or trying to work from home. I just really don't want to be bicycling when NOAA is issuing heat warnings in my area.

I was bicycling home a few weeks ago in the thick of some serious humid heat and I started experiencing a sort of tunnel vision that occasionally happens to me when I overexert myself. It was immediately following a long uphill stretch in the direct sunlight, but it spooked me. I rested in the canopy of some trees, caught my breath, and drank some water, but it made me quite gun-shy about riding during heat advisories.

gaming from my back catalog.

One bit of consumerism I've been quite guilty of is window-shopping the online gaming store-fronts. Now that I'm trying to be more mindful of my spending, I'm taking a break from purchasing anything and exploring my back catalog instead.

Fortunately, I've got some serious gems in there! They released a remaster update to Quake II earlier this month and I played through the main campaign. Man, that was a fun romp. I also revisited the Quake remaster that came out a few years ago, but I think I prefer the sequel more.

Another gem that I've rediscovered is Euro Truck Simulator 2. I haven't played ETS2 since 2014! Back then, I had a proper sim racing steering wheel. Nowadays, I've just got an Xbox controller, but ETS2 is still tremendously fun and relaxing. I can't put my finger on it, but there's a certain je ne sais quoi about rolling down the highway with your cruise control on and listening to a simulated radio station on the in-game truck radio. Especially when a little drizzle hits your windshield and the wipers take you to ASMR land.

It's just— *chef's kiss*. 😘👌

Well, the internet seems to be back on and my download of American Truck Simulator has just about wrapped up, so I suppose that's all the writing I have in for me today. I'm going to make myself a little more coffee and experience driving at the speed limit in miles-per-hour, this time!

Until next time, be well! :)