I forgot to post a weekend update, it was uneventful but we did go to the park for a quick walk around in the dark. Unfortunately it was muddy so the walk was cut short but in the car, I asked Maggie to take a picture of me with my nods on while in the parking lot.
Haha turned out pretty well & no I wasn’t driving.
Some people know I’m a bit nuts and over the weekend for fun I built a few faraday boxes to hopefully keep my electronics safe in case of… well whatever might happen in our crazy world.
I bought a steel garbage can, picked up some cardboard boxes and lined the interior, nothing conductive is touching the metal so enclosed my stuff should be fairly protected. After doing the quick insulation, I put a cell phone and radio inside to test and neither could receive any electromagnetic signals so that’s a positive! In addition to the garbage can, I also did a few extra 50 cal ammo boxes I had laying around. 🙂 Colin wants his creature comforts at the end of the world. 😉
Other then that we didn’t do too much, the weather was nice but we hung around the house mainly. One of our rental properties was vacated at the end of last year and needed a bit of work done to make it look nice, that was completed late this week and I just listed it for rent. The previous tenants while leaving a bit of a mess were pretty good and I hope I can find another great tenant to work with.
So with Brandon home for the weekend, my non planned weekend with Maggie didn’t materialize but that’s ok. Still bummed out by what happened to John but that’s the cycle of life. Last week I got a set of Chinese repro Ops-core AMP helmet kit, they look pretty cool but I wanted to see how it fit before I sprung a lot of money for the real set and yeah they’re pretty comfy!
Locally Cold Harbour Supply sells them and when they’re back in stock I’ll get a set. I have a pair of MSA Sordin Supreme Pro with the boom mic along with my NVGs and all this other crap on my head lol… When am I going to use the headset, I don’t know maybe if airsoft survives C21 I’ll play with Brandon so fingers crossed there…
Back to the grind tomorrow, hopefully it’s an uneventful week!
Last night we took Brandon to the meeting point for his scout camp and found out that John the head Scout leader passed away. 🙁 I believe he was in his 80s but still it sucks very much and I will miss him. He was such a positive influence on countless children over the years so the group will definitely feel a huge loss. I don’t have any other details, camp was cancelled and I guess I’ll wait to hear about when his funeral will be. Sigh 2023 has not been a good year so far and I hope this is the end of people we know dying.
This weekend was rather relaxing. On Saturday I went out for lunch with Mario and it’s always nice to see that guy. He’s doing well and has a lady friend back in Indonesia’s he’s been talking to so other than some light ribbing, fingers crossed! It snowed a lot the last few days so both Saturday and Sunday we cleared the driveways, it’s not so bad when I have Brandon helping but obviously I’m doing all the heavy lifting lol.
Brandon is going to a Scout camp and the long range forecast looks like it’s going to be cold, in the range of -20C so I took out my US Army Modular Sleep System and buttoned everything together.
I’ve used the sleeping bag in the past when I played airsoft in the winter in -30C weather so it should keep him warm when he goes to bed at night. Slinky approves and has been napping on it all afternoon & evening, pretty damn cute. Unfortunately it’s heavy but it’s not like he has to trek very far carrying it so he’ll be fine.
Other then that I took apart my AN/PVS-14s today the one I got from Mario for some reason didn’t have a focus ring collar so I disassembled that unit to install it and cleaned it out as well. They’re rather simple devices so I opened up my old one to clean out too. I don’t have a way to purge the air so before I put on the ocular lens, I went to my garage where it’s cold to seal up the unit. Figure there’s much less humidity in the air in my cold garage vs my warmer basement.
Weekends always go too fast and back to the grind tomorrow…
Our weekend started off sad as we went to Aaron’s funeral and I have to admit it was pretty devastating. We saw some of Brandon’s elementary school friends along with some of his old teachers and everyone cried, cancer sucks for anyone but when it afflicts a child it’s even worse. I was annoyed at one thing though, after the funeral and paying our respects, a woman from their church went right to Brandon to invite him to attend and to ask him about Jesus. What nerve to try and recruit at someone’s funeral, first we’re not religious but she thinks that we should give worship to a god that gave Aaron leukemia?!? If that god exists, it’s a malevolent one and not worthy of people following it.
The rest of the day was rather quiet, we came home and had a quiet afternoon/night. Today is the lunar new year (year of the rabbit) and I want to wish everyone health and prosperity! Maggie took Brandon to play badminton, he’s going to join the school team so he wanted to do some practice and when he came home, I took him to Sail to pick up a knife.
He’s earned the right to have a knife in Scouts and I wanted to get him something nice but not too expensive because I know he’s going to lose it lol… I remember when I was able to carry a knife in scouts and now he’s continuing the tradition. 🙂
Got the terrible news today that one of Brandon’s friends from his old school passed away after a long battle with cancer. Sigh I remember chasing the boy around the playground, after he “recovered” he came over to play and history is all we have now. When I told Brandon he cried and it’s ok to cry in situations like this, I also told him that we all handle grief differently, to take as much time as he needs and that if he wants to talk I’m available.
I’m glad he can also talk to his old friends in Scarborough through Discord, they’re all devastated as well and I can only imagine the pain the poor parents must feel. I don’t know what I would do if that happened to me… Life isn’t fair, hug and tell your loved ones how much you care because there is never a guarantee for tomorrow.
Belated, forgot to post yesterday but woo it’s 2023! Is it me or does it feel like 2020 was just yesterday? Anyway I wish everyone good health and prosperity this year and hopefully cooler minds prevail at the various conflicts around the world.
Don’t have a new years resolution, maybe I’ll make it to post more on my blog as I was really slacking the last half of 2022.
For the Sun family, 2022 was a pretty good year. Both Maggie and my careers made good steps forward, we’re saving and investing more for the future (despite the poor market, I take a long position so I don’t worry) and I got to watch my boy grow up another year. He’s still pretty innocent and I’m trying my darndest to enjoy that while I can. Moving was a real pain in the ass and there’s still some stuff we need to unpack but all in all I am pretty happy with how this year went.
For the world, 2022 was more mixed and the in the short term, it looks like we’ll have more difficulties ahead pretty much everywhere but I know we’ll be ok and will pull through, because we always do.
I’m a lucky man and I certainly feel like it today when I look back at what transpired through the year. 🙂
Haha I’m not dead, just lazy. I don’t know why but I don’t have much enthusiasm to blog these days, it’s a phase and I’m sure I’ll get over it. Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone, it’s not a holiday I particularly care for but Brandon enjoys it and I like giving gifts out.
Got Brandon a bunch of small stuff along with a new Nintendo Switch game, Maggie some things to keep her warm in the cold and a new leather spring/fall jacket. Maggie got me a war belt from Persec gear, Barry makes some nice stuff and another Arcteryx jacket lol. This one is nice, light and small so I can easily bring it with me everywhere.
While I don’t care about the commercialization of Christmas, I do enjoy the time it allows me to spend with the family and allows me to reflect on how well my life has gone. Things aren’t perfect by any means but I know I have it good compared to others and I couldn’t be more thankful.
