Wednesday 3-13-24 Dance Day, Drainage & Having Fun

 

I love virtual square dancing

We had another fun day of hanging around the house.

Larry went next door early and talked to the landscaping crews lead person and once again explained how the drainage should work. Luis said he understood and before they laid the sod he would come talk to Larry and make sure he was happy. Sure enough a couple of hours later he knocked on the door. Larry walked over and was very happy, they had done a great job of shaping a drainage ditch that will handle the majority of the runoff. Sure glad we were home so Larry could work with them.

After Larry gave his approval they started laying sod. Unfortunately they didn't have enough to totally finish but they did put down what they had. It is suppose to rain the next few days so that should really help the new sod. They were not sure when they would get more to finish. The said maybe tomorrow but it didn't sound very likely.

I attended three virtual square dances. I wore a green hat and green square dancing blouse to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, which is Sunday.

First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 11:00 for an hour. Di and Terry showed up fifteen late because Di had to work. They took turns calling five tips to 11 participants. Di worked on Spin Chain the Gears and Spin Chain and Exchange the Gears. Di cued the moves and the dancers were successful in getting into the right place. I had a super time dancing with friends.

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for an hour. Ett called four tips to 19 participants. She did a little cueing to help. She didn't think she helped but she helped me get in the right place. I had fun dancing to Ett and with friends.

Third was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the dance. Karin and Greg called a tip in C1 and A2 together, Dave called a tip in C1 and A2 and the third tip in C1 and A2 all three called together. In between the A2 tips we had a couple of trivia questions. During the C1 tips we had 6 participants and the A2 tips had 8 participants. I had a great time dancing to Karin, Greg and Dave and with friends. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Klondike Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour and 30 seconds, which put me in 12th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

I played the pinball challenge of The Lost World Jurassic Park a few time. I wasn't successful in getting a new high score but I did come close.

The Lost World Jurassic Park

After Ett's dance I worked out a half hour on the Wii Fit and 45 minutes with Synth Rider.

While I danced Larry continued working on trying to get the Big Screen program working on his old computer. 

When I was working out he put on his virtual reality headset and went into Horizon Worlds. He got into the puzzle world. He was checking it out when a kid came into the world and asked him to play with him. The kid said it would be easier and more fun with two of them so Larry joined him. The game was a series of 9 rooms that you had to figure out how to get out of. They played for over an hour and got through 7 of the nine rooms. The kid was very polite, extremely smart and fast in finding solutions. Larry said there was noway he would have figured out some of the solutions without the kid, when the kid got stuck Larry was able to discover clues that would help him to move forward. After an hour the kid had to leave. Larry had a super time.

After Dave's dance we watched an episode of Vera. This season they have been releasing an episode every week instead of the whole season. After Larry went to bed I watched the movie The X-Files. I started a series on Acorn called Madame Blanc Mysteries. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

Tuesday 3-12-24 Dancing, Games & VR Project

 

Just having fun

We had a great time just having fun. The weather today was cloudy with a breeze and the high of 76 degrees.

We hung around the house just having fun. We usually go to Corsicana to dance with friends but we haven't been for a few weeks. Our neighbor Jason is in the process of getting landscaping at his new house next door. Jason and Larry have discussed how to make sure that the drainage works correctly and doesn't go into our backyard. Larry wanted to make sure it is done correctly. A couple weeks ago Larry and Jason worked with a a dirt crew to make sure a drainage ditch was put in. They made the drainage ditch and it looked perfect. When the landscaping crew came a week or so ago to prepare the area for sod they filled in the drainage. Larry went over and talked to the crew and explained about the drainage. The crew dug out the drainage once more, unfortunately not as deep. They also sodded most of the front yard but they didn't have enough to finish the project. This week they are back with a bit more sod and a new crew who once again filled in the drainage. Larry has once again talked to them and Jason, they are suppose to fix it. During the construction they damaged or buried some of our sprinkler heads, Larry marked them and today they dug them up and fixed them. 

So due to the above we have not been going to our Tuesday dance in Corsicana. Larry feels he needs to be here to try and ensure most of the drainage stays out of our lot.

We are very grateful that Di Green and Terry continue calling their A2 dance virtually. This morning we attended the dance at 11:00 for an hour. Terry and Di took turns calling five tips to thirteen participants. Di worked on Scoot Cain Thru & Chain Thru. Larry danced with me. We had a super time dancing with friends.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 11 minutes and 53 seconds, which put me in 26th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

I played a few pinball games. The weekly challenge of The Lost World Jurassic Park and got a new high score of 4,598,850. I also played Medieval Madness and Twister. Twister was last weeks challenge and was set for three balls so Larry changed it to five balls before I played it. I didn't get on the board in either game but I had fun.

Medieval Madness

The Lost World Jurassic Park

 

Twister

I'm having so much fun working out on Synth Riders, I got carried away and worked out for an hour and fifteen minutes. I worked out with 10 songs. Afterwards I worked out with the Wii Fit for a half hour.

Larry spent the day working on a project for virtual reality. Last night when we watched Big Screen we did it via a laptop computer. It worked really well but Larry thought he could make it even better using the old Dell computer that was in the pinball machine. He ended up rebuilding the computer, which took a long time. Once it was rebuilt he loaded Big Screen but for some reason it will not work. He hasn't given up.

In the evening we tried getting into Big Screen to watch a move but we weren't successful. So we went into Horizon Worlds using the virtual reality headset. We went to an art studio called Ice Cream Museum. In order to get through the museum you have to jump on cubes to get across the room. If you fall off one cube you start all over. It took me a long time but I made it. In the other rooms you saw different types of ice cream. 

Larry has some motion sickness issues inside virtual reality. Bouncing is especially bad so after a few times trying to jump on the cubes he had to move to a different world. From the Ice Cream Museum we went into a bar world, where we walked around and played games. You can shoot hoops, throw horseshoes and other games. We went into a bar with other people and walked around. There we played air hockey and shuffle board. We had a fun time for a couple of hours.

There can be a lot of people in some of these worlds making conversation challenging and making walking around difficult. Lot of these folks are friendly and want to talk. However, if you want to visit a world without distractions there is a way where you can be in the world alone or only with the people you invite. We experimented with that a bit today. We went into a bar world and then made it our own private bar. We were able to wander around learning the world without the disturbance of other people. It is more fun when there are more people but for exploring it was nice to be alone.

After Larry went to bed I watched Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and an episode of Father Brown's 11th season. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.    

 

Monday 3-11-24 Dancing, Big Screen & Having Fun

 

Beautiful Day

We had a beautiful day with the high of 70 degrees.

We started the day off by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance at 10:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. It's usually at 9:00 but the UK doesn't change to daylight savings time until 3/31/24. Di called five tips to sixteen participants. During the dance she workshopped a few four couple moves, that were requested. They were Linear Action, Relay The Top and Tally Ho. She walked us through the moves with the perfect amount of cueing. Larry danced four of the tips with me. I also enjoy it when he does because he helps me to get in the right spot. We had an outstanding time dancing to Di and with friends.

We love virtual square dancing

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The Event was Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. I ended up only doing 19 of them. I worked on the games for 1 hour, 57 minutes and 54 seconds, which put me in 11th place in my group. I played Angry Birds. 

I played my new weekly challenge in pinball, which is The Lost World Jurassic Park. My first high score was 2,293,610, which put me in 25th place out of 25 participants. This is ok considering the week just started. I also played The Lord of the Rings. I didn't get on the board but I had fun.

The Lord of the Rings

 

The Lost World Jurassic Park

Larry spent a good part of the day reading about Big Screen and our virtual reality headsets. This morning we tested watching one of our a movies together in our virtual reality headsets using Big Screen. It worked excellent. In the evening we watched Beauty and the Beast on Big Screen. We had a bit of a problem getting me on Big Screen. Once Larry fixed the problem it worked great. We're still learning.

I worked out on the Wii Fit for a half hour and on Synth Riders for 40 minutes.

After Larry went to bed I watched Jack Reacher from our movies collection. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group. 

 

 

 

Sunday 3-10-24 Daylight Saving Starts, Virtual Reality & Having Fun

 

Daylight Saving Starts

Today started daylight saving. Last night before I went to bed I moved the clocks that needed it forward. The Alexa devices set themselves. 

I started the day making oatmeal for breakfast. After breakfast we went to Walmart in Belton to buy a Quest 3 headset for Louise. While there we picked up a few items we were getting low on. Afterwards we went across the street to HEB to buy some more of the Western Grillers and other items we couldn't buy at Walmart.

Shopping at HEB

When we got home I decided to go back to bed for a couple of hours. While I slept Larry started working on setting up Louise's headset. 

Larry spent the day working on virtual reality headsets. He worked on using Big Screen on the three headsets. He would like to have all the headsets to be able to communicate with each other. Last night Larry and I watched a movie together and had fun. Today he worked on being able to have us all casting together instead of individually. He had it working but in the evening we tried it and it failed. He's not giving up, he'll continue working with it.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Spider Mini of 5 games. It took me 16 minutes and 25 seconds, which put me in 15th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

This morning was the end of this weeks pinball challenge of Twister. I played a few times trying to get a new high score but didn't. I ended up going in 60th out of 73 participants. The new challenge for this week is The Lost World Jurassic Park. I didn't have time to play it but I will tomorrow. 

I worked on the diamond painting of Winnie the Pooh & Friends. I finished it. Now I have to decide what to do with it. This was the last one out of set of six (Disney, Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, Stitch, Lion King and Winnie the Pooh & Friends).

Winnie the Pooh & Friends

The set of of diamond paintings

I worked out with the Wii Fit for a half hour and a half hour with Synth Riders. While working out with Synth Riders I complained about the balls being too low and I had to sit on the floor to hit them. Larry put on Louise's headset and joined me in the program. He found out how to fix the problem, it was under settings where the height of the balls were set at 3.4. He told me to set them at the same height as he had, which was 5.4. I did that and it worked perfect.

After Larry went to bed I watched Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Shrek 3 from our movie collection. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group for the week wit ha total of 123,096 steps.

  

 

Saturday 3-9-24 Louise Visit and Virtual Reality

 

Having Fun

We had a great day. The temperature was cooler it got up to 71 degrees with a breeze.

I started the day off by cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming the house.

Doing housework

Louise and Alice arrived about 9:00 and left around 2:00. Larry invited Louse to come over to play some virtual reality. Alice was in a great mood, she came running into the house. We visited for a bit before the fun began. 

Larry explained to Louise how virtual reality works and how to put on the headset. She started out by playing Wander, this program takes you to different places. You ask the program to take you to an address, place or anywhere you want to go. For example when you ask the program to take you to the Eiffel Tower, the program puts you in the tower.

Next up was First Encounters, this is a fun program where a space ship breaks through your ceiling and fuzzy creatures start coming out of the walls, television and other objects laying around. The object is to shoot as many as you can within a certain time. It is a mixed reality program so you can still see the room you are playing in. It's a lot of fun, easy and a great way to start learning how virtual reality games work. 

Then she moved onto playing pinball. From there to the workout program Synth Riders. Before each program Larry explained what the object was and how to do the game. I played Synth Riders to demonstrate how I play and to show how to score better. I'm getting better but I have been playing it for awhile. Louise did well. 

Next I showed her how to play Asguard Wrath II and then I took her into Horizon Worlds. I went into the Survival World, where you do things just like the television series. When playing the games Larry had set the headset to cast through the television, that way everyone can see what the person playing was doing. 

Larry also showed her Big Screen. This program takes you into a movie theater where you can watch Amazon or YouTube videos. Alice was very good considering we spent a lot of time playing. I played with her a bit. 

Playing First Encounters

For lunch we had Western Grillers: Chicken Tickler, they're chicken breasts stuffed with jalapeno and cheese wrapped in bacon. We also had waffle fries cooked in the air fryer and baked beans. For dessert we had cupcakes. The meal came out tasting good.

Before Louise left Larry replaced the hatch supports on her car and put her new license sticker on the windshield. I gave her the Christmas stocking that Santa left for her. I kept forgetting to give her the stocking so it worked out perfect today. She was very excited to get the stocking. She is so excited about virtual reality that she has decided to buy a headset. 

Louise with her Christmas stocking

After Louise and Alice left I worked out on Synth Riders for another half hour. When I finished Larry joined me on the couch and we went through the music playlists that are available on Synth Riders. There must be 50 or so free songs, there are others that cost $1.99. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 1 hour, 1 minute and 51 seconds, which put me in 35th. I had a rough time solving the Free Cell game. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

I worked on Winnie the Pooh & Friends.

I played four pinball games on the cabinet in 2D because the headsets were charging. The games were Big Buck Hunter, Twister, Black Rose and The Sopranos. While playing Black Rose I became Grand Champion. When I played The Sopranos I was put on the board as the 4th high score. 

Black Rose

The Sopranos

Everyday we play with the Quest 3 headset we learn more and more about how it works and how the programs work. It's a learning process and we're having fun.

In the evening we watched Lara Croft: Tomb Raider on Pluto. Angelina Jolie plays Lara Croft. We watched the movie in virtual reality using the headset. We only watched about an hour of it because my headset died. After Larry went to bed I watched Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. and I watched Shrek 2 out of our movie collection. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group. 

 

Friday 3-8-24 Dancing, Diamond Painting and Virual Reality

 

Humid Day

We started the day out with a short rain shower. It didn't rain long but it rained hard enough to wet everything. The clouds stayed around so it was humid. It got up to 74 degrees. We kept cool under the fans.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 47 minutes and 27 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

Larry spent the day playing with our Quest 3 headsets and learning how to do different things with it. Asguard Wrath II is a free game that came on the headset. It's an action game and I spent a few hours playing the game until I got stuck in a room. It's a lot of fun. Larry continued working with the Big Screen program. After Ett's dance we watched an episode of Northern Exposure through the headset and Amazon. It worked great.

Asguard Wrath 1 scene

I worked on Winnie the Pooh & Friends diamond painting. I played Twister a few times to get a new high score and failed but had fun.

In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance at 6:30 for an hour. Ett had problems login on Zoom so we started a little late. People were worried because she usually login early. She ended up calling three tips to 9 participants. I had a super time.

While I dance Larry called Louise and invited her to the house tomorrow to play with Virtual Reality. She was excited about learning Virtual Reality.

After Larry went to bed I watched Armageddon from our movie selection. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group. 

 

Thursday 3-7-24 Playing With Quest 3 Headsets & having Fun

 

Awesome Day

We had an awesome day. 

We didn't have any dances today but we had fun playing with the Quest 3 headsets. Larry setup the new headset to enter into Meta Horizon Worlds. It's a free game that came on the headset. He first had to create an avatar for me. Next he had to setup an account. Once I was all setup the headset was ready for me. After I entered into the program Larry invited me to join his group. Then we entered into the main menu so I could get familiar in moving around the worlds using the controllers buttons and joystick. I walked around the area and into rooms. I tried out shooting objects with a gun I had to learn how to grab it. Larry explained this. After a bit we went into a social world, where we met a gentleman from the Netherlands. He took us through different worlds, some he created. He answered our questions. The worlds are mind blowing. One of his worlds was his house. We walked through it and went outside. We stood on the deck and watched sailboats go by, heard the water in the ocean, birds flying overhead and many more things. He spent over two hours showing us around. There are thousands of worlds. We had a super time.

Our avatars waving 

In the evening we played with the headset on another program called Big Screen, where you can watch movies together. It took awhile to figure how to make it work. Once Larry figured it out we watched part of Ant Man. The picture on the screen was very crisp and the sound was very clear. Tomorrow we'll play with it some more. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Free Cell and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 1 hour, 11 minutes and 29 seconds, which put me in 12th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I worked on the diamond painting of Winnie the Pooh & Friends. So far I have completed Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet. 

Winnie the Pooh & Friends

I worked out using the Wii Fit for a half hour and a half hour with Synth Riders. I worked out to five different songs on Synth Riders. They were rhythm songs.

After Larry went to bed I watched the last Borne movie, which was Jason Bourne. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.