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 Advent of Code 2022
=====================

I finally tried Advent of Code this year; planned it for a few times
before, but kept forgetting, or changing my mind because it requires
an account, or because it seemed extremely competitive.

This year I just logged in with my GitHub account (meh, but at least
didn't have to solve captchas or anything of the sort), didn't try to
compete (as I found out, the whole leaderboard--which is the first 100
people to solve a puzzle--is usually filled faster than it takes me to
just read the task, and I only start reading a few hours after it's
published), but only solved the puzzles daily. Some were actually
challenging (well, actually the most challenging bits were the bugs I
introduced and had to debug, but for a couple of tasks it was not
obvious which kinds of optimization will work), but generally they
were rather entertaining, and the story wasn't bad either.

I solved those in Haskell, since I'm most comfortable with it these
days, but maybe will try to solve the past AoCs in some language I'd
like to practice. Possibly Rust. Maybe could even try to pretend that
I'm solving those in the past Decembers, to follow them as actual
advent calendars (as I did with the 2022 one): seems to be a bit more
exciting that way, although sometimes inconvenient (since a puzzle may
take time, and other things may fill that time).

Other news:

- I rather like the new phone (mentioned in the previous post), have
  set Termux on it (and Emacs on that). Not using the phone any
  actively though. Tried to order a courier delivery from the local
  taxi near-monopoly by calling them, they said it only works with
  their proprietary mobile application, which requires an account, as
  well as a Google account to install it; gave up on that, not setting
  those sorts of things on the phone still.

- Tried making paratha and a poached egg (using the whirlpool method,
  with a bit of vinegar), both for the first time; both turned out
  fine.

- Had a light fixture with LEDs and a PSU to power those built into
  the fixture itself (apparently many are like that nowadays); was
  skeptical about it initially, since it may break easily and won't be
  easy to replace, but it worked for a few years, so I almost
  relaxed. Now it broke and has to be replaced (or fixed, but probably
  it's both easier and cheaper to replace). I guess it's the PSU,
  smells of burnt plastic or rubber. Ordered another light fixture,
  this time with replaceable light bulbs (basically just a panel with
  those bulbs poking out of it; no lamp shades). Should receive it in
  a week, and will try to set then. Oh, also finally ordered a
  no-contact voltage tester (coupled with a pyrometer, which may be
  useful in the kitchen).

- A server at work mostly hangs up (multiple CPU lockups)
  occasionally; monitoring it for a few weeks, still unclear why it
  happens (possibly a high I/O load triggers that, but not sure;
  apparently munin fails to write much once it starts happening, and
  the system clock goes wrong anyway, possibly because of those lags
  combined with NTP). Probably will work on setting backup server(s)
  soon, as was vaguely planned even before this started.

- It's cold around here these days, below -20 degrees Celsius
  outside. Only opening windows briefly, to let a bit of fresh air in,
  but that "fresh" air often smells of something burnt; a rather
  unpleasant combination of cold and fumes.


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:Date: 2023-01-08