It seems I've managed to avoid long-term power outages that have been happening in the area. (Power did go out last night, but it didn't stay out too long, though unfortunately it caused some electronics (desktop computers, oven/microwave) to be reset.)

Day off work! Spent most of it catching up on some lost sleep. :)

food and my cat

In this unbearable heatwave, three things are making me happy: frequent showers, sparkling mineral water and vanilla butterscotch ice cream. :)

1 word: Lasagne.

Last year had a great opportunity to visit St Petersburg and travel along the Volga from St Petersburg to Moscow via Vodohod. Awesome service and unforgettable emotions. Highly recommend!

And I assume having power to run the AC in order to keep the house cool, correct?

(Where I am, some people in the area had multiple-day power outages to go with the heat; that *has* to have been at the very least uncomfortable.)

No AC in my humble apartment. Just a couple of countertop fans blowing hot air about.

Sorry to hear about the power outages. I'm glad I did not experience any of that. Don't mind my fans going dead, but not sure I can handle my butterscotch ice cream having a meltdown. ;)

I'm glad I didn't experience more than a few minutes of power outages; for some it was a few *days*.

The 1.3 patch and first wave of free DLCs for Cyberpunk 2077 has me pretty happy. I absolutely loved the game, though I felt like it had plenty of potential to be even better. While the DLCs aren't much, they do feel like a good start. The Johnny alternate appearance isn't my favorite, but the jackets look good on a female character and the new car, the Quartz Bandit, has quickly become my favorite car in the entire game. Along with that, the 1.3 patch seems to have made some significant improvements to performance and it made some nice tweaks/minor QoL additions that just makes the base game experience a little nicer.

Needless to say, I'm hyped for the future free DLCs and expansions for this game!

Woohoo the housing company FINALLY approved my application to get a (slow) charging station to my parking space, for my future electric car, or at least a hybrid. This ordeal took almost two months now, and I need to get rid of my current car by November because then I am supposed to have its annual inspection, and I know it won't pass it unless I replace the windshield which has a crack on it, and buy new tires for it... and if I am going to use that much money on repairing it, I might just as well keep it for yet another 5 years or so, and forget about getting a new (electric!) car for now...

I first applied for a 10A charging station but the company from which I was buying it later informed me they've run out of them, and no new ones are coming for at least a couple of months due to component shortage. But they said they had one 16A charging station in the storage, and are willing to sell it to me for the same price (as I had already actually paid for it and the work, so they didn't want to lose their customer, me demanding a refund).

I wasn't sure the housing company was ready to accept the 16A charging station because they have set a rule that it can be max 10A or 8A. Anyway, I managed to convince them that I will use it at max 8A level because that is what the charging cable restricts it to anyway. I think 8A charging is enough for my needs, especially as I will charge it also at my work.

Wow, it seems I am going to have an electric car... feels like getting a flying car or something. I haven't gotten a reply from the company yet, but they PROMISED to keep that one charging station reserved for me, until I get the approval. So there is still a small chance they haven't kept their promise, but damn I paid for it already! They owe it to me!

What are you going to buy?

Renault Zoe (the newest version of it) and VW ID.3 are currently on the top of my list.

EDIT: Ooops... https://insideevs.com/news/527874/volkswagen-id3-netherlands-fire-charging/

Last night my friend invited me for a dip in his pool. We ate a light BBQ dinner and then we projected a series of funny/weird videos under the stars. Thinking about last night has made me happy today. :)

It's actually raining! (albeit barely) The first post winter rain of the year :D