Month: January 2022

Today I took a spin up to Best Buy to check out monitors that would work with Flight Simulator.

The young guy that I spoke with managed to totally confuse me with references to different HDMI cable and FLS limitations of X Box series S.

I have to talk with Steve and Chris more before I get another monitor.

Unfortunately it was yet another Covid birthday, so we had to send her gifts down to her, courtesy of The Loan Arranger. They both decided to have a bit of a getaway at a Northumberland resort and they said that it was quite enjoyable. This was the first time that they have left Max at night but he seemed to adjust quite nicely, with his Nana in charge.

So I’m thinking monitors these days; one of the common recommendations for anybody using Flight Simulator is to use a gaming computer. The resolution and refresh rates are much better and will result in a more immersive game experience.

I have been researching a suitable monitor and, after consultation with my two experts (Steve and Chris), I have identified one at Best Buy which fits the bill. This one has built in speakers which is something I wanted, as well as a headset jack.

I will take a spin up to Best Buy to check them out.

We woke up to another very cold day but, once again, we have no need to go anywhere, so we stay warm and cozy inside.

This morning Jane got a call from Sara and during that conversation Sara suggested that it might be nice for Steve and Chris to come for a guys visit later this month.

It’s always nice to have something to look forward to.

Today is a good day to stay inside, so that’s what we’ll do. Fortunately, we have no appointments anywhere and our groceries are all stocked up.

I will probably spend some time practising on Flight Simulator. So much to learn, but so much fun.

Truckers from across the country are travelling toward Ottawa in convoy fashion to voice their displeasure with the cross border mandatory vaccine mandate, rising gas prices and what they are calling their loss of freedom.

They are disrupting traffic and even worse, for some inexplicable reason, are becoming aggressive against the press who are simply trying to report.

A CP24 reporter from Toronto reported feeling very uncomfortable at the Vaughan Centre on Hwy 400 where the convoy is assembling when some disgruntled truckers started kicking at his vehicle.

On January 22nd CTV NEWS reported that Canadians now have to be fully vaccinated to cross the U.S. land border into the US. So why are Canadian truckers protesting against the Canadian government’s mandate? Shouldn’t they protest against the US government?

After all, unvaccinated Canadian truckers can still travel freely throughout Canada.

Seems to me this is just another example of selfish, misinformed and inconsiderate minority who don’t give a damn about the collective rights of the majority of their fellow citizens. They rationalize their position by equating this policy as an attack on their “freedom”.

Utter bullshit!

The backyard looked very pretty this morning after a light overnight snowfall..

Jane and I were discussing the effects of the pandemic on people and she mentioned that the timing for my book project was excellent and that the timing for my new interest in Microsoft Flight Simulator was fortuitous.

I fully agree in that both have provided me with a way to dispel what would otherwise be humdrum days.

This morning I received a call from Becky at Shouldice and my immediate thought was they were calling to re-book my surgery date.

No such luck. She was calling to tell me that the closure has now been extended to February 4th and they would be calling with a new date at a later time.

Disappointing but understandable given the latest Covid numbers.

Another lazy day playing around on the computer and watching YouTube tutorials on Flight Simulator.

I did, however, have a video call with Max and Chris although Max was too busy running around to chat.

And after all that activity, he decided he didn’t have to take a nap.

Hopefully, just a one time thing – for now, anyway.

I spent more time this morning playing with Flight Simulator. I managed to fly over Niagara Falls and take a few screen shots of my flight.

Later on, I flew over Midland and Penetang. That was after doing a Tik Tok video.

Like keeping busy.

My scheduled surgery date of January 31st for my hernias is now within sight. I’m lucky because all surgeries scheduled before and including January 28th were cancelled because of COVID.

I have been busy putting together a list of stuff I’ll need because I’ll be in there for six days.

In the meantime,Jane sent me picture of one of the meals they offer during recovery.

I’m hungry already.

Tonight we decided to do another skillet pizza and try out the new pizza cutter that Sara and Steve gave us last Christmas.

This pizza effort gave us the best pizza ever and the pizza cutter worked like a charm.

We each had two slices i.e. half the pizza so we’ll have the other half tomorrow.

The more I play around with this app, the more impressed I become with the detail included. Not only with the accuracy of the mapping, but also the attention to cockpit controls.

There are even switches to turn on cabin lighting etc.

Remarkable!

It stopped snowing for now, although the Weather Network is suggesting light intermittent snow during the day.

There has been very little squirrel or bird activity in the back yard. The animals are staying inside, I guess.

I am guessing that about a foot of snow fell in our area and, from the news reports, Toronto was brought to a virtual standstill as was the 401.

The weather forecast has been predicting a lot of snow in both Barrie and the GTA.

Fortunately for us, we don’t have any need to go anywhere so we’ll just stay hunkered down for the day. We have lots of food and plenty of popcorn for our movie night.

And Microsoft Flight Simulator is beckoning to take a discovery flight over Naples.

Today I sent out a final letter regarding my Centennial Book project. I also wanted to recognize Bob Labrosse who was voted Temiscaming’s favourite author for his story.

I have received all kinds of positive feedback on this project which gives me a great sense of satisfaction.

This morning I spent more time practising with Microsoft Flight simulator. Both Steve and Chris have been urging me to video a landing so Jane took a short clip of my landing at Toronto City Centre airport also known as Billy Bishop.

While the landing was good, I was informed by Steve that my taxiing was questionable because I taxied down a vehicle path instead of a taxiway.

I’ll need more practice.

Today, while Jane was down in Toronto babysitting Max, I decided to make a pot of Shouldice soup. I haven’t done that in a few weeks, so it was time.

And later in the afternoon, I made spaghetti sauce which we had for dinner when Jane got back home.

It was my first time making sauce but it turned out pretty good.

Today I received a hardcopy-book of Life Unfolding for the year 2021. At the end of each year, I get this done with a company called Blog2Print. So my daily blog is formatted in a nice hardcover book which friends and relatives can read. This will make the eighth book I have done since 2014. Not a day missed.

In addition to the hard copy books, all eight years of my log posts are available on WordPress in digital format.

Today I spent more time playing with Flight simulator. The settings options are mind boggling, especially for a newbie like me.

I have been watching YouTube videos by the score to see what I can glean from the many tutorials on there.

But I have the time.

While Jane is down in Toronto babysitting Max, he wanted to have a video call with me.

It was a great call with me taking him on a video tour all around the house. He wanted to see the dining room clock in operation so I showed him that. Then he wanted to hear my story about freezing my ear when I was playing hockey on the Second Ave rink in Temiscaming.

It was quite enjoyable especially now that he is able to have a conversation and understand what you’re saying.

This morning Jane and I decided to have a bit of fun on Tik Tok so we did a little video to the sound of Tina Turner singing Simply the Best.

Then we did another video to the tune of Boy George sing Karma Chameleon, Max’s favourite singer.

I posted them on Facebook and there has been several comments and likes.

Jane is heading down to babysit Max tomorrow. I’ll be busy with Flight Simulator.

My XBox Microsoft Flight Simulator is keeping me busy these days. It is such a detailed “game” with hundreds of detailed settings. Of course, it is all the detail that has resulted in it being touted as game of the year for 2020.

So I have been tackling the settings one at a time in between actually taking the Cessna up in the air. Today I did a fly-over above Temiscaming and Kipawa having take off from North Bay.

And I also did a fly-over of Georgian Bay which was very interesting because I was able to look at many of my boating landmarks from the air.

Today I continued tweaking the Flight Simulator Joystick. It is very detailed and time consuming and I have a lot to learn.

To make it somewhat easier, I have ordered a computer mouse to be assigned to the XBox as well as a charger cord for the controller.

In addition, I have printed off a picture which illustrates the functions of the joystick buttons.

Today I received a new joystick and rudder pedals to go with my X Box Flight Simulator.

The challenge now is to calibrate all the settings on it.

It will take some time but I will do it a step at a time.

Today Jane and I spent some time proofing and editing my blog posts for the last 12 months so I could get it printed and bound as I have done for the last 7 years.

This company called Blog2Print had a promo offer on for 45% off and I wanted to take advantage of it.

In the afternoon, I did a podcast interview with Roger Christen, a boyhood chum that I used to hang with.

I’ll post it tomorrow.

I have invited Roger Christen to be my next Podcast Guest for Smalltown Times. We will try to do this tomorrow afternoon and get it posted before Friday.

I will try to do these weekly focussing on authors of the Souvenirs de Temiscaming book project.

In the meantime, I spent some time playing around with Microsoft flight simulator which is quite a remarkable game with an amazing amount of detail.

I am looking forward to getting a new joystick/controller and rudder pedals to make it even more realistic.

This morning MY Jane and I did more on getting the house back to normal after taking down all the Christmas decorations. While I got all the bins put away in the garage loft, Jane washed the dining room drapes.

After lunch I booted up Microsoft Flight Simulator and did some practice flying.

New controller joystick and rudder pedals are coming on Wednesday.

We are starting the New Year with hopes that things will improve regarding the pandemic which we have been enduring. We remain optimistic, despite the worrying number of rising cases lately.

Jane and I have resumed our online grocery shopping to minimize exposure.

This morning we began taking down Christmas decorations and putting them away. We will do a better job this time around. Last year we just wanted stuff out of our sight so we weren’t very organized. Our mental health was taking some bruising because of Covid.