Last chance for a bit of high quality domestic football today, so I’m not going to miss it.
Unfortunate that the golden confetti on the borrowed image above makes each manager look like they are suffering from some sort of infectious skin disorder. But never mind that. It’s the FA Cup Final that weall the service stations on the M6 and M40 were hoping for.
30 minutes to get all the chores done before kick off. Writing this isn’t necessarily a chore, but it does need to be done.
The last day of an absolutely terrible football season (for Sheffield United, at least). We’ve broken all the wrong records, and it’s been pretty depressing to watch since before day one.
Mismanagement from the board, tactical naivety, a plethora of individual errors, a fragile mentality, a million injuries, a decent slice of bad luck, disappointing loanees, NOT ENOUGH MONEY, and some iffy refereeing decisions… it’s just all added up.
But we are in the Premier League. The best league in the world. And that’s worth remembering.
Because at the end of it all, I have to remind myself that we’re playing teams who can spend a billion pounds or more on the best players in the world. And while that certainly isn’t an excuse for a lot of what we’ve been put through this season, it certainly is a reason for some of it.
A lot of fans are saying that they’re looking forward to being in the Championship again, without the prima donnas and the piles of cash that rules the roost. Bigger fish in smaller pond and all that. Without VAR too, but I’m always interested to understand how people have forgotten about the pre-VAR days when we complained about the referees and not the technology. Just watching the League Two play off final right now, and the ref made a howler with a penalty decision which would have changed the direction of the match (and likely the winner), and VAR saved the day. We’ll have to accept that sort of thing again, and we’ll be happy about it, right? Right.
More personally, the return to the Championship is also going to mean that I have to spend shedloads of GBPs on a streaming package so I can watch the games. And that’s not going to be pretty in ZARs, especially after the 29th.
Anyway. Last day. Last game. Last chance for a bit of pride. Not much else to play for, nothing matters, so the pressure is off, right?
My stress levels with still be in the high nineties at 5pm. It always matters…
My legs. They still work. And football was a lot of fun, despite the result. I’m giving myself a day off gym and other exercise today, but I’m both happy and mildly surprised to say that I could probably actually possibly do stuff if I wanted to*.
Talking of football, I’ll just repeat myself on this one:
Never bet against Real Madrid in the Champions League*.
An amazing game last night, which I almost ditched in favour of bed with 10 minutes to go, but then (wisely) chose not to. Because you never bet against Real Madrid in the Champions League*.
And, I have to say, VAR even added to the drama. [oi – stop throwing things at me!] Incredible tension when that second goal went in and was disallowed. Incredible scenes when that second goal was confirmed…
It’s a beautiful day outside, but wow, it’s chilly this morning. It looks like it will be dropping into single figures this weekend after another cold front due tomorrow. The last one didn’t really deliver on its promises, with just 6mm of rain. Still, taking no chances, I have checked all the gutters are clear and I’ve got the firewood ready. Also, for the first time this year: socks. [Audience gasps]
Anger at Adobe. Anger at James Popsys.
Wow. Photographers can get angry. But it’s justified this time, I think.
Adobe, who charge us many, many Rands for the use of their software (which is obviously fair enough – it’s my choice to subscribe), are embracing AI to the point where they actually use the term “Skip the photoshoot” on their Generative Background menu.
Yeah. Why bother employing a ‘tog?
In a world where AI is replacing many jobs, not least in the creative sector, this feel like a real kick in the teeth.
This did not go down well with his viewers. There were comments like:
James a couple of weeks ago – embrace imperfections in photos. James now he’s being paid – use AI to remove power lines.
and:
Yay, a new video from James….. oh, it’s a 12 minute ad for AI 🙁
and:
Why not just sell your camera and start making photos with an AI image generator?
Which is exactly what Adobe seem to be suggesting above.
Look, there’s likely a place for AI in many aspects of our lives*. And there’s definitely a place for it in photography. But to go in this heavy-handed (and I’m looking at you both, Adobe and James Popsys), well, that’s not the way to put it out there.
I’ve been looking back at last week, and I think one thing deserves a mention, even if only to make sure that I don’t forget it (MMIRIM, remember?).
Our health insurance has a sidearm to encourage its members to get healthier and stay healthier. This benefits the members in that they… er… get healthier and stay healthier, and it benefits the health insurer in that they theoretically don’t pay out as much money due to ill health. And then that extra money can benefit the members again by enabling lower premiums.
Lolz. Just kidding. That extra money goes to their shareholders.
Anyway… The sidearm gives you various points for working out for more than 30 minutes at various percentages of your maximum heart rate (calculated as 220 – your age). You can get 100 points for a >60% workout, 200 for a >70% workout and 300 for a >80% workout. Reach your goal by the end of the week, and you get a reward in the form of “Miles” which you can use to pay for everything from coffee to cinema tickets, and even a pair of sunglasses.
My goal is always 900 points – the highest for a standard person (i.e. non-professional athlete). Usually, I get around 1,100 or 1,200. But last week, I decided to see if I could – even at my somewhat advanced age – get to the maximum number of points for the week: 7 x 300 = 2100. That’s a full-on workout each and every day.
And it turns out that I could. Just.
Day 6 was a push. (Day 6 also included 28,000 steps at the OMD concert, btw.) Day 7 was almost impossible. And Day 8 was fairly miserable because of Days 6 and 7.
But I did do it.
Have I learned anything? Well, yes. Sheer will power and determination should never be underestimated, because they will help you reach your goals, but also, setting those goals too high is a silly idea. And so will I do it again? Sure, probably. But I might work my way up to it a little more gradually next time.
In the meantime, after a (somewhat enforced) rest day on Saturday, I’m back at it, and have almost reached this week’s goal already.
