The Devil's Own Language

Anyone who knows me is well aware of a couple things: I'm task-oriented and stubborn in my pursuit of said tasks. Today I marked my 900th straight day of Duolingo. Essentially, at this point I've finished their course on Portuguese, which was always of relatively iffy value because it's Brazilian and not Portuguese Portuguese. Most language programs follow this path, which, I guess if you consider the question mathematically, makes sense, as there are 215 million Brazilians and only 10 million Portuguese. Of course, there are many similarities, although they sound dramatically different. Still, I suppose I've learned a ton of words from the Duolingo site, so, even though I've technically completed their course and I'm just doing refresher lessons, I suppose it doesn't hurt me too much. I was tinkering around with Italian for a while, in preparation for our upcoming trip to Venice, but I think my brain (and my dreadful language skills) were not going to allow me to do anything else other than confuse myself by trying to learn a bit of both. I devote most of my time to Pimsleur, which has sixty total lessons for Iberian Portuguese. Once I blow through that I'm going to start an online course.

At this point I'm mainly just being stubborn.

Virginia Vacation

 And another nice shot from our recent trip down to Virginia to visit John and Jeanne. There was a bar across the street, literally, from their place. It featured a different food truck every night, and you purchased a personal restaurant credit card and went through a wall of taps to get exactly how much beer or wine you wanted. A bit pricey, but pretty cool - and I'm happy that it doesn't exist across the street from our cabin.

Happily, we still look like we're on our first date.

The Shining

 My great friend David, who is foolishly Chair of our By-Laws Committee, even more foolishly asked me to serve on said committee, and even more incalculably foolishly, I said yes. Over the past quarter century I'd hate to think how many times I've cycled in and out of the By-Laws Committee - probably as many times as I've cycled in and out of the Curriculum Committee (which I'm also on at the moment).

Naturally, this inspired an instant meme creation.

Bratty Sister

 Thankfully, not one of my bratty sisters for a change. Here's a picture of John Pocorobba's bratty little sister, Janet. On our trip to Virginia we stopped by Dairy Queen for a treat.

In between their father's death (along with two other deaths in the family) and their mother's declining health, it's been a challenging year for these two. Fortunately, they're a great team and they're dominating all their challenges.

Eventually

 With all of the health issues I've been fighting over the last three or four years, I guess it was inevitable that I'd end up with a minor heart scare. I've had some tightness in my chest and a little shortness of breath, but so far the tests aren't showing much of anything. I'm waiting to hear the results of an echocardiogram I had the other day, but I really don't feel too bad at all. I am, as my doctor will attest, the King of Imprecise Symptoms, so I suppose I shouldn't get my hopes up that they'll tell me anything specific. I'm also waiting to hear from the Mayo Clinic to see if they'll see me in regards to my mysterious leg ailments. So, this might be an eventful week on the health front.

Killing time in the UVM hospital ER, what a way to spend six hours the day before Janet and I were supposed to fly down to Virginia to see her brother's new place (happily, we were able to make the trip, and we had a great time).

CFL Doubleheader Excellence

 The plans have been made for some epic CFL Doubleheader Excellence in October. Kevin and I are driving west - and Andy and Heidi are driving east - and we're meeting in the middle. We're catching the Stampeders and Tiger-Cats game in Hamilton on Friday 18 October and then the REDBLACKS and Argonauts game in Toronto on Saturday 19 October. Noted betting expert Mike Kelly has set the Over/Under number of TimBits consumed over the weekend at 108. I'm betting Over for me alone.

A picture from our last trip to Hamilton, pre-COVID. Hopefully we can park in the same guy's front yard.

Closing In

A couple days ago I received this photo from the Boy. He's out in Colorado with a group of friends, celebrating his bachelor's party (the wedding is in a month!). This is the best kind of bachelor's party - off in the mountains with your friends.

I could not be happier for him - or prouder of him.