an eventful Memorial Day long weekend

I had a pretty good long weekend even though we didn't really go anywhere.

For starters, my boss told me I could go home early on Friday. Even though I was busy with a project and still had some work left to do, working from home is always relaxing.

Saturday

One nice thing that happened is that I got a new MacBook Pro to replace my old one. It's definitely much faster and lighter than my old laptop. But because the newer Macs don't have standard USB ports, we went to Fry's Electronics on Saturday to get a USB-C hub. This was followed by a stop at Home Depot for garden supplies. The nice thing is that they were giving away free hot dogs. Score!

I later watched the animated film The Red Turtle with my parents. The story didn't make much sense to us, we really liked the animation style. It was overall a good movie.

Sunday

Mom wanted to go to Costco for groceries after breakfast. I was a little busy and decided to stay home, but my parents still saved some samples for me. The three of us later watched The Old Man & the Gun together. It was hilarious even though it's supposed to be based on a true story. The movie somehow reminded me of Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run, which we wanted for Henry's film club a few years ago.

The other highlight is that I got level 99 Mining in RuneScape in the evening. Even though the game is much easier than it used to be, getting a level 99 skill is always exciting.

Monday

Today was less eventful as we already did a lot in the last two days. Although my parents decided to watch a few more movies, romantic dramas aren't really my cup of tea. Therefore, I spent most of the day finishing A Ladder to the Sky for my book club. All things considered, the Memorial Day long weekend was really nice.

Currently listening to: "Oh Happy Day" by Edwin Hawkins

level 99 Mining in RuneScape

The long weekend has been great as I just got level 99 Mining in RuneScape. Here is the obligatory screenshot. Mining has historically been one of the slower skills, but the daily challenges and the Mining and Smithing rework has definitely made it easier. On the subject of which, I'm hoping to get 99 Smithing next. :-)

Currently reading: A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

a new MacBook Pro to replace my old one

I mentioned in my previous post that I was having problems with my old MacBook Pro. Dad took it to the Apple Store the other day and was told it had a bad logic board. This confirms my fears that it was a hardware issue. The other problem is that Apple doesn't support products older than seven years unless they have spare parts. After finding out a repair would cost several hundred dollars, my parents convinced me it would be better in the long run to get a new computer.

At any rate, my new MacBook is so much faster than my old one. The 8 GB of memory and 256 GB solid-state drive are pretty nice too. It also weighs just a little over three pounds, considerably lighter than my old laptop. I should mention that I use the same model at my job. This means I can quickly get up to speed with iOS app development without having to bring home my other work laptop all the time. :-)

The downside is that I'll have to install my programs all over again. On the bright side, recovering the data from my old MacBook Pro shouldn't take too long as the hard drive still works.

Currently watching: The Red Turtle

Mother's Day weekend report

I had a great Mother's Day weekend as we had lunch in Half Moon Bay before going hiking in Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. This was refreshing as we hadn't done something like this in quite a while!

Dad figured most restaurants would be crowded on Mother's Day and suggested an early celebration. Therefore, my family went to Half Moon Bay on Saturday instead. I treated my parents to lunch at a seafood restaurant in Half Moon Bay called Ketch Joanne Restaurant & Harbor Bar. The food was pretty good and inexpensive compared to similar restaurants. But because everything was high in calories — especially the Louis dressing — we went for a walk around the harbor after lunch.

This was followed by a stop at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. A family friend had told us about this place some time ago. We were there last month but decided to go there again as the views were quite nice. I'm glad we did because there happened to be an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the reserve. All of us got some food even though we were pretty full. It was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Sunday was mostly uneventful as I was busy trying to repair my old MacBook Pro. The computer would frequently freeze before restarting on its own. The lack of any error messages makes it almost impossible to debug the issue. I first noticed the problem about three years ago, but now it's happening so frequently that the computer is barely usable. Looks like I'm going to have to take it to the Apple Store. Gotta love technology sometimes.

Currently listening to: Pachelbel's Canon by Johann Pachelbel