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A nearly perfect date.
I wrote in a prior journal that I had an upcoming date with a married woman I met while at a playground a few months ago. Last Friday I had that date.
We met at a fancy bar. It was the kind of place that had a wine menu a dozen pages long. Very classy place. I arrived first, and she showed up a few minutes later. She extended her hand for a handshake, but I refused it and went in for the hug. She was a little surprised.
The conversation was fantastic and flowed easily. Eventually there was a natural point in the conversation where I could bring up/ask whether or not we were actually on a date. She said she wasn't sure. I let her know about my open relationship status and she said that they have a more Don't Ask Don't Tell type setup.
I'm really bad at remembering exact words. I more remember the 'feel' of the conversation. I got the impression that they used to have a DADT setup, but since her daughter they kinda stopped, but in an unsaid way. It wasn't exactly clear. I did say that I didn't want to be 'that guy', and that I don't want to cause problems with their family.
Anyways, we continued the evening and later a live band came on and started playing. We got up to dance at one point. As we danced we caressed each others fingers in a soft and erotic way. It almost felt as if sparks were jumping between our fingers.
We sat back down and ordered another drink. She ordered another after that 'to find an excuse to prolong the night'. Eventually it was almost 1:00am. She had to run a 5k with her daughter the next morning (I felt terrible for her the next morning). We left, I kissed her, and she hopped into her Uber.
It was an amazing night. I think it was the best date I've been on since I started dating again.
Xbox One and PS4 Not Powerful Enough for the Elder Scrolls 6
Elder Scrolls VI Officially Announced
The revelation of The Elder Scrolls VI at this year's E3 came as a complete surprise for most gamers, since no one was really expecting news about the open-world adventure. The teaser trailer is only 36 seconds long, and it opens up with a foggy flyby of a large mountainous area.
[...] Unfortunately, there is no gameplay, no details on the characters, no information on the story, and nothing about the mechanics, physics, or technology other than that game director Todd Howard revealed that the current generation of home consoles are not not powerful enough to run the game, including the Xbox One and PS4.
I take this to mean that Xbox One X and PS4 Pro are also not powerful enough.
Recently it was leaked that Microsoft was working on various products, including the next Xbox "Scarlett" for around 2020. There were no technical details. However, there have been reports about the AMD CPU and graphics architecture that will be used in PS5 (and maybe Xbox):
PS5 Possibly uses AMD Ryzen CPU as Sony Appears to be Actively Working with the Tech – Rumor
Sony working with AMD on PS5 gear
What we might see is the same 8 core count in these consoles, except using more powerful Ryzen cores, possibly on the 7nm GlobalFoundries/TSMC node. Maybe they will have 2 threads per core instead of 1.
Here's a bit of Navi news:
AMD’s Navi will be a traditional monolithic GPU, not a multi-chip module
Coyote and Apple
Einstein Follow-up
Chinese defend Einstein's portrait of their people as 'filthy' and 'obtuse'
Chinese internet users have defended Albert Einstein’s recently published travel diaries in which the physicist calls the Chinese “industrious, filthy people.”
[...] While some internet users called for a “boycott of Einstein” and said his observations proved “all humans, even Einstein, have a stupid, shallow side,” most said the China Einstein witnessed is nothing like it is today. “Einstein went to China at the wrong time,” said one Weibo user, describing the early years of the Chinese republic, established in 1912, which came after centuries of imperial rule. “Hunger, war, and poverty all pressed on the Chinese. How could Chinese people at the time gain Einstein’s respect?”
Many were in strong support of the scientist: “This is called insulting China? That’s ridiculous. Did the Chinese in that era look dirty? When I see the photos from then, they look dirty, Einstein depicted the true state of that era.” Others compared the scientists’s observations to that of Lu Xun, considered the father of modern Chinese literature, who was best known for his scathing satire of Chinese society in the early 20th century. “We praise Lu Xun because he pointed out our disadvantages. Why should we blame Einstein for this?”
[...] The state-run Global Times published an editorial on Friday praising the level-headed response of Chinese internet users. The author, who goes by the pen name Gengzhige, wrote: “I’m curious what Einstein would write now if he saw the open attitudes most Chinese show today toward his private diary.” The editorial elicited over 2,000 comments. One of the most liked responses said: “Dignity is earned by oneself, not given by others.”
But there were some dissenting voices amongst the comments: “This is just racism. We can see that Einstein is strong in physics but he doesn’t understand humans at all.”
Some Chinese Are Actually Defending Einstein's 'Racism' Against Their Ancestors
Previously: Albert Einstein: Racist
Happy birthday, Mr. President!
Today was President Donald J. Trump's birthday. Great day to think about how his administration is Making America Great Again. I love the decisions Justice Gorsuch -- appointed by President Trump -- has been making. Thank you, Mr. President, for your sacrifices & hard work. We love you and our prayers are with you. USA!
Beautiful message from the President's son, Donald Trump Jr., to his father. On FOX & friends this morning. twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/1007377160494092288
Albert Einstein: Racist
I Bought a Campervan!
My wife and I have been looking to get a campervan for a couple months. We have been keeping an eye on Kajiji for vans, and looked at a couple.
The first was a 1986 28' motorhome. $4,500. We drove 1/2 way across the city to go take a look one evening. This thing was in great condition. Diesel. Nice kitchen, small bathroom with shower, and enough beds to sleep 6.
I poked around and we took it for a test drive. Brakes were a little sketchy and this thing was slow. I think it could do highway speeds on a flat road with no wind. It was pretty awesome. My daughter loved it. She liked looking in all the little cupboards and sitting in the back while we drove around.
It was a really good deal, so we were really thinking about buying it, but it was too big to store at our house comfortably, so we ended up passing on it.
Last Thursday, we looked at an actual campervan on the other side of the city and we ended up buying that one. She's a 1985 Dodge B250. We are pretty excited! It's in pretty good condition. The interior is 80's brown plaid. It's got a stove, oven, fridge, heater, small solar panels, and a little toilet in the back. It's got a high roof so I can fully stand without banging my head on the ceiling. Yesterday I was out trying all the stuff out to make sure everything worked. I got everything working except for the oven. The pilot would light fine, but the burner would not turn on. I think the thermostat needs replacing on that.
I need to take the van into a mechanic to get the shocks replaced. Also, the brakes pulse, so I want to get the front pads and discs replaced. The van doesn't warm up, so the thermostat needs to also be replaced.
So, she needs a little work, but she's almost as old as I am, so that's understandable. We paid $8,700, and I'm pretty happy. I can't wait to load her up with all our stuff and take her out camping!
Vaping Essays for Scholarships
On Swinging
I've been spending a lot of time swinging lately. I have a small park across the street from my house and my daughter (now 1.5 years old) could spend all day in the swing. "Outside!", she says to me. "Schwing!" She grabs onto one of my fingers and together we walk across the street to the park. It's adorable.
I've met more of my neighbors in the last 2 months than I have the last 9 years living in my house. There is a woman and her little boy who is 2 who lives on the other side of the park who I run into frequently. There is also a rough looking guy (who is a total softie with his kid) who also has a 2 year old I've run into a couple times. I've been going to the park with my girl to swing almost every night after dinner. It seems to help get all her energy out before bed.
We are still having major sleeping problems. She is still waking up 3-5 times per night. My wife sleeps with her and I sleep alone in the computer room. It's not ideal. We are hoping to get my computer moved somewhere else, and my daughter will take the computer room as her room and I will move back in with my wife. My house is very small, so space is at a premium. I don't want to give up my computer room, but it has to happen. We have been trying to get her room ready for a while now, but it has been really tough to find free time to get it done.
I also have a quick update on my dating life... I've largely quit looking for dates. It takes a lot of effort to get a date and I just don't have the energy. However, last winter I was at an indoor playground and I wound up chatting with a lady. She ended up giving me her business card and I followed up with her. We met again at the indoor playground a couple months later and chatted some more. She has a pretty important job and travels a lot so we haven't been able to meet up since but we have a date scheduled for next week.
She is married and we haven't discussed open marriages or anything like that. I'm not 100% that our meetup next week is a date, but it sure seems like a date to me. I asked if she would meet for drinks, she said yes, I suggested a couple pubs, she countered with a fancy/classy bar downtown. She said that they have live music later in the night, so we are meeting there at 8:30 next friday.
It's going to be interesting. Is it actually a date? Does her husband know? Is she in an open marriage?
Find out in the coming weeks.
-- Snow
