Goals 2018 -- December Recap

It turns out that the app I downloaded to track my data usage only shows history for 7 days.  I didn't realize that at the time, so I can't really report on my data usage in a quick and easy way.  What I can do, though, is use my phone's own data tracking to at least report on which apps I've used, and for each one, I can see the usage over the month.  So here's where my biggest apps rank:

1. Mobile tethering.  This increased over the course of the month.  My excuse for this is holiday travel; I used it a bit in the airports.
2. Social media.  Usage was pretty steady throughout the month.
3. App store.  A couple of big days of usage when I was updating apps, but that's pretty typical usage.
4. Documents.  Most usage at the beginning of the month.
5. Internet.  Usage did increase over the course of the month, but again, I was traveling, so that's to be expected.
6. Weather app.
7. Email.

Everything else is below 100 MB of usage.

On the whole, total usage is actually a bit higher than it has been in the last couple of months, but without the mobile tethering, I would have been well below my average.  I'm not sure I can call it a win, but also not a bad way to wrap up the year.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Merry Christmas!

On Becoming a Real Adult

Do you remember when you were a kid, and you always wondered why your parents got up so early, especially on the weekends?  Then when you talked to them about it, you were astonished to learn that they didn't need an alarm clock to get up, even during the week?

This is a thing that's happening to me now.

Another thing that has been happening lately is that my desperate, unstoppable need for sweets, primarily chocolate, seems to be subsiding just the tiniest bit.  We'll see if that holds true through Christmas, though!

Anyway, here's to me finally becoming an adult!

What I Watched -- Nothing to Hide

S and I found an odd little gem on Netflix recently.  It's a French film called Nothing to Hide.  The premise is relatively simple.  A group of friends at a dinner party decide that they will share aloud all incoming messages they receive.

It isn't long before things start to go a bit sideways.

The film is ambiguous in a psychological way.  It really makes you think about what people know about each other, and what they should -- and maybe should not -- know.  And it is definitely an emotional roller coaster. 

Bottom line: a fascinating peek into our lives today.

SLSO Show #3 and Pizza

SLSO would like to wish you Merry Christmas by playing Handel's full Messiah, which it turns out I don't believe I've ever seen before.  I know I have recordings of it, but with music on iTunes these days, I find that I rarely listen to "albums" anymore, in the way they were traditionally intended.  This is true for classical as well as other types of music.

Anywho, Messiah.  I had heard it was originally intended as Easter music; like so many other things (I'm looking at you Thanksgiving, Halloween, Labor Day), it has been co-opted by Christmas.  Now that I have seen it in in its entirety, I can see why that makes sense.  It's the story of Christ, from start to finish and then some -- birth, shaming, crucifixion, resurrection, and the punishment of humanity.  It's not an opera, but it does contain arias and recitatives for the four basic voice types: soprano, alto, tenor, bass.  It is backed, most importantly for me, by a full chorus.  I adore choral music, so even though I'm not much of a fan of the story, it was a win.  It was a long show, but the nice thing about popular shows like Messiah is that they allow a little extra time for intermission, which gave us a few extra minutes to enjoy our drinks and snacks.

Work again interrupted our eating-out-post-symphony tradition, but we had a wonderful dinner at home. S manned the counter, and made a delicious white pesto pepperoni pizza (not something you see very often). 

SLSO Show #2

I was a bit surprised by my second symphony.  I had traded some tickets that were on a day we were unable to attend for this show instead, but my calendar apparently decided that it wanted to not-so-randomly delete events, so I needed to call and confirm this on the day of the show.  Unfortunately, the box office only opens two hours before the show, so I was then in a bit of a rush to get there.

About the show -- it was Joshua Bell, perhaps today's most famous young violinist, performing Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op. 26.  As with anyone who is an expert at their craft, it is fascinating and enthralling to watch him play.  I also very much enjoyed the story of his Stradivari which was contained in the program.

He plays the 1713 "Gibson ex Huberman" Strad with a Francois Tourte 18th-century bow.  His violin changed hands over the years.  The "Gibson" in the name is George Alfred Gibson, a Brit.  It eventually came to be owned by Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman.  Huberman was Jewish, and visited Palestine in 1929.  There, he identified the need to begin a Palestinian orchestra.  Huberman auditioned musicians all over central Europe, securing for many of them exit visas from totalitarian countries, which were difficult to get in those days.  While he and his musicians - not quite an orchestra yet - were on tour playing at Carnegie Hall, his violin was stolen.  It landed in the hands of Julian Altman (accounts differ on whether he stole it or whether he bought it off the thief), who concealed its identity for the remainder of his music career by covering its beautiful wood in shoe polish.  On his deathbed, he confessed its identity to his wife, who sold it to Lloyd's of London, starting the process of its return to glory.

Bell was bookended by Elgar's In the South and Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 2 in G major.  It was a good show overall.  Unfortunately, though, I made the stupid mistake of setting a trial on the following day (the Monday after Thanksgiving -- what was I thinking?!?), so I was a bit distracted during the performance and we didn't get to enjoy our usual leisurely dinner after the show.  It was back to work for me.

58Hundred

I try not to write reviews that are going to be only bad.  And to be fair, this one isn't going to be only bad.  But it's mostly bad.

I'm always excited to try new restaurants, and we have a happening restaurant scene here in St. Louis.  So when the owners of The Block opened up a new place called 58Hundred, I was excited to try it.

Aside from the parking (note: the lot does not have a place to turn around), things started out okay.  My Manhattan was pretty good (better than S's Sazerac), but slow to arrive.  He and I got two appetizers to split.  I had a Brussels sprout taco first, and it was quite tasty; it was followed by a brisket slider, which was less tasty.

My dinner was the shrimp po' boy with malt vinegar fries.  The sandwich was dry, and really could have used a bit more flavor and lots more sriracha remoulade.  The malt vinegar fries were lacking in both vinegar and salt.

My second Manhattan, though still slow, remained delicious.

In a nutshell, let this be a cautionary tale.  58Hundred may need a few more months under its belt before you pay it a visit.

Goals 2018 -- December Edition

It's December!  That means Christmas, my birthday, and lots of people who are unhappy about it being Christmas.  Their loss.

I'm going to make the most of this month's holiday spirit of togetherness by cutting down on my phone use.  I've downloaded an app (ironic, I know) to track my phone usage, and hopefully just knowing that it's being monitored will help me use it less.  Stay tuned for statistics!

On top of that, I finally got a chance to do some things today!  Though it did rain last night, which meant I couldn't do the grass-cutting I wanted to do, I did manage to clean up some of the leftover November goals.  I planted my garlic cloves, I mulched over my garden beds, and I'm getting ready to do some bike maintenance.  There is also some hope that I'll get started on the closet before bedtime.  A very productive day overall!