I play a lot of boardgames, and there is a lot of rules involved. Usually when getting a new game I like to read the rules first thing after unboxing the game itself regardless whether I'm getting a chance to play it anytime soon. Even when playing somebody elses games I like to read the rules.

My son left to his work assignment today. He has been living with me for the past few months, right after the youngest one moved away while they were living with me temporary as well. Now I'm expected to be alone for at least the next three months.

It's weird to think about it. I've really never lived alone for more than a short periods of time occasionally. I don't really know how's it going to be. On the other hand it's nice finally having all the me-time I could need. But at the same time I don't know how I will manage it.

After spending two days away from regular work planning our next years strategy there was a lot of tasks waiting for me when returning back to ordinary daily work. A lot of questions from people, actions to be taken and things I already had to postpone before our retreat.

These things tend to pile up and can easily overwhelm you. So as I luckily had some "free" time between all the meetings I tried to get as many as possible of those small tasks off my table.

Currently my LEGO collection / inventory entails 365 sets. Considering that most of those are from random bulk of LEGO sets a few individuals have been buying the fact that I only have around 10 sets which I own more than one copy is quite astonishing. Puts it in a perspective how many different LEGO sets are out there.

Reaching consensus in a group of 8 people with vastly different backgrounds and focus areas is quite a challenge. Even though from the outside we as a management team should appear to agree on things and lead the company to the same direction doesn't mean we actually need to agree on everything.

Yesterday, when I was looking for a next book to read I found the third and final part of the trilogy I remember reading years ago. I remember having to wait for the second book for a long time and after that this third one. I actually gave up waiting for it. Too many times that has turned out to be indefinitely.

Some authors do write consistently when it comes to the series of books. You can (almost) always trust them to deliver the next book on schedule. Sure, sometimes these authors don't have end in sight and they just keep writing new books to the series.

I used to have long list of books to read. I even used to have tall piles of books to read at certain times. But I found those "to read" lists just ended being ever growing lost of tasks to complete, no matter how fast I was reading.

I miss the times when to determine what to read next ment a visit to the library and strolling around between the bookcases, picking up whatever books caught my attention.

Spending time at the cottage is quite relaxed (usually). No hurry to anywhere (except to eat, it seems). Time to stop and relax, eat well and enjoy sauna.

Too bad the weather hasn't been in our favour this time. There is some heavy wind and occasional rain showers riddling our stay. At least it's warm (too warm) inside the cottage and sauna will also be hot.

We are heading ro our cottage for the weekend with my son. While sitting in the car as a passenger it occured to me that this might be the first time I'm in the passenger seat going there since I got my driver's license almost 30 years ago.

Countless times I've driven there with a car full of passengers who have already starting ro enjoy the weekend on the way. I've never had that luxury - until now. Need to take an advantage of the situation when it finally is offered for me.

There are very few books I have left unfinished, but there are books when I have seriously contemplated to just stop reading them. Usually it just runs into trying ro churn pages as fast as possible to get through it and look for something else ro read next. Few times getting past the first few hundred pages of boring text has paid of and the book has actually ended in my top list.

Finding a right niche in the markets has it's benefits. Excelling in that area and making a name for yourself can give a good standing for a business but it also has it's limitations. Once you have gained substantial market share there isn't that much growth potential left.

Towards the end of this month we will get a new (temporary) moon to orbit pur planet. The asteroid 2024 PT5 will be trapped momentarily to earth's gravitational field and do one rotation around our planet before returning back to the Arjuna asteroid belt where it originated.

The rotation will take just a bit less than two months, but unfortunately suring that time we won't be able to enjoy an unusual spectacular stellar view. The asteroid is only a few meters across and not visible to the naked eye. Not even for the most expensive telescopes a normal person can buy.

Earlier this year our old meeting room reservation displays started to show their age. After the third one stopped working we made the decision to get new ones. It's not that we couldn't have gotten new one earlier, but one of our core values is sustainability so we tend to try to use the technology as long as it remains usable instead of replacing it too often with the latest and greatest tech.

This year has been quite a year breaking different weather records. During the winter we got some really cold periods, the summer was hottest in the recorded history and now this month has already been outstanding in both hear and rain.

We are just half way through the month and we already got the warmest September in our history, setting the record for days with temperature rising over 25 degrees Celsius. That heat wave was followed by heavy rains which in some areas poured down more water in two days than in average years comes down during the whole month.

With the abundance of entertainment available for us today it has become hard to decide what to watch. Trying to watch everything is just too much, or couldn't even be possible even if I would be willing to sacrifice all my spare time to do so. But the fear of missing out is also there. What if miss something I would have greatly enjoyed?

Usually this time of the year it's already far in the autumn, but this year has been different. With the record breaking warmth we have been enjoying a really long summer. Now, for the past few days it has finally been a more proper autumn weather with wind and rain. Yet it has still been a vit warmer than usually around this time of the year.

Of course this can be temporary as well. There could still be a few warm days ahead. But the weather is inevitably changing. It was great while it lasted.

My son just got his driver's license today. While he could have applied for it already 5 years ago, until now he didn't really feel the need for it living in a vig city where the public transportation actually works. Now, he has been thinking of moving back to here more "rural" area and the car is quite a bit more useful (and needed) around here. The last bit was a work assignment he got offered that also required him to have the licence.

Today I received one of the final missing sets in my LEGO castle collection. Of course the castle theme is quite wast spanning multiple decades and subthemes and I have no intention (at least for now) to collect them all.

One of the most prominent features of the early 80's LEGO castle sets was their modularity. You could attach different models together to make a bigger castle. Really taking the LEGO concept a step further when you can build your own creations out of the sets themselves, not just from the bricks they consist of.

Even though it has been quite warm lately (record breaking so) it's still starting to feel more and more like autumn. Despite days being still hot the nights are getting colder and the darkness is also falling earlier every evening.

The most notable sign of autumn is however the leaves. Around here the trees are still green, but there are already yellow fallen leaves on the ground that tels that the summer is over.