Monday: 6:46

Wednesday: 13:04

Thursday: ??? Forgot to save it. A print version would have worked faster, since there was some grid weirdness which didn't translate to digital very well.

Friday: 17:13 
Saturday: 10:03 (new record, crusht)

Wow, was this an easy one. Totally wrecked my previous Saturday record (and is still a couple of minutes faster than my Friday best). This is especially nice, because I hated that my prior Saturday record was on a non-standard 15x16 grid (technically, that should take longer with more squares, but it beat my previous 15x15 time, (not mention that my Friday best was in between those two Saturday  times, so there were asterisks in a record list. Now everything is clean.)). I had a small error with OVERSTATES instead of OVERSHARES (Clue: Says too much), but that happens when you're moving so fast. I was fortunate to know all three proper names in the grid (21-, 41-, 42-Across) but none of them are obscure at all. My large coffee might have helped, but like I said, very very easy.

 Saturday: 47:14 (3 Google)

Brutal. Some things seemed obvious at the end but seemed completely obscure during the solve. I don't know if I was unfocused or just unlucky with the stuff I knew and the stuff I didn't. Even with some cheating, which I haven't needed in a while, it took forever. I'm not expecting <20 minute times all the time, but I do try and keep it under 35.

Context

 

Sunday: 27:29

I could have gone a minute or two faster, but for some reason, AcrossLite (the app I use to solve) isn't saving my preferences, so I have to redo them at the start of a puzzle. Another program that's giving me trouble since I migrated machines is my SNES emulator. I got my old one to use 8-directional input, which makes Zelda much more manageable, since movement in just 4 directions is stunted as heck, but I can't seem to find that toggle in the one I'm using now, although I could swear it's the same program.

I can solve a lot of this, probably, if I just take the half hour or so to power up my old behemoth and flash drive over some stuff. In fact, I bought a big flash drive solely for this kind of thing. I want to transfer some media and documents too. But my flash drive sits unused.

So much context, I can't bear it. I took today off (did I mention I have a new job? Census 2020 enumerator) and I'm still lying in bed, watching old Star Trek, despite the fact that there are at least 2 movies out on Netflix and HBO that I want to see (but apparently not enough to actually do so).

Did I mention my father died in March? March!

Have I talked about my roommate?

Biden securing the nomination and picking a running mate? (And I have quite a bit to say about all that.)

I haven't once mentioned the global pandemic that has basically upended every aspect of life all over the world and has been going on for six months.

What is personal blog worth if you don't talk about the world and your place in it? All my writing is chats online, or Facebook comments.

Part of it is the apocalyptic mindset that goes on during the pandemic, and certainly a helping of depression that goes along with it (and all the other shit I mentioned). I just can't tell if I'm clinically depressed or just lazy and unmotivated as fuck to do anything. Well, the job pays, at least. I don't love the work, but it isn't too boring either.

Sigh... well, time for a bowl.

I need a hug.

Friday 12:14

A new Friday record! At least as far as this blog is concerned. Very nice long down clues.

Friday: 13:23



Oh, look, context. In older posts, it can be hard to decipher what I'm talking about without a visual aid. I cribbed this image from Rex Parker, but hopefully it won't disappear like some other images I've pasted before. Those six intersecting 11-letter answers is nifty, and I was pretty quick about it. Put a frozen pizza in the oven for 22 minutes, and raced it with the puzzle. Not always a sure thing on a Friday, but I got there with plenty of time to spare.

Friday 12:22 (crusht)

Easy puzzle for a Friday, and no Valentine-related clues. I believe 12:22 is a Friday personal best (yet oddly, slower than my Saturday best). I really ought to keep track of this in some sort of spreadsheet, but I never get so obsessive to do that. It would have gone even faster if I knew 1-Across, which was likely a gimme for many (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band led by Iggy Pop THE STOOGES). Ten letters right off the bat, and the Downs are pretty easy. Instead, I finished up filling out that area last (I got The Stooges once I found both O's). "Much-admired" person turned out to be ICON instead of the usual IDOL, so that cost me some time to unravel (tricky, since two of the letters are right, and those are with somewhat easier crosses).

Here's what I believe are my best times, since I took note of dominating. Middle days are more whatever. Tuesday and Wednesday feel mostly the same, and time is more about clues than solving a gimmick.

Monday 4:44
Thursday 8:59
Friday 12:22
Saturday 12:03 (on a 15 x 16 grid, 12:30 otherwise)

Monday 7:05
Tuesday 6:38

Let's talk politics. Vote for Bernie Sanders. While most democrats poll higher than the President (a giant meteor wiping out all life on the planet polled higher than him in a recent poll), Bernie has the highest chance of defeating him in the fall. It is gratifying to see Biden tanking it early, since I think he has the least chance of beating Trump, but I worry that if all the moderates gravitate towards Buttigieg or Bloomberg, they'll outnumber the Bernie supporters after he presumably forces Warren out. Warren is essentially fighting for third place in New Hampshire with Biden, and Bernie is expected to win, as he did four years ago.

Biden is basically counting on South Carolina, since he has the most minority support, and Buttigieg is weak on that front. Biden might win it, too, since Bloomberg is skipping that one as well. If Bernie finishes a strong second, that's probably curtains for Warren. I do like her, but this just isn't the right time. I know she'll be a champion for Bernie over anyone else in the race.

I'm usually pretty good at predicting this sort of thing. In 2008, I overheard two people (presumably republicans) in my chorus discussing politics, and one of them bet $50 that not only would Mitt Romney win the nomination, he would win the presidency as well. I wish I could have gotten in on that. I was quite sure McCain would get the nomination, and I was right. But nothing is a sure bet anymore. Bloomberg throws a wrench into the works, spending nothing but his own money, but billionaires are not the most popular these days, especially among the youth. Millennials of voting age: You outnumber the Boomers! Register! Vote!