The Midlife Crisis Beamer, World Cup Fever, and Beating AI at Its Own Game

It’s been a few days since my last update, and honestly, life right now is existing in a weird paradox. On the one hand, it feels like absolutely nothing is happening. On the other hand, it feels like everything is happening all at once.

Let’s dive into the chaos, shall we?

World Cup Fever & The Ultimate Showdown

The World Cup fever is finally starting to spike. Belgium played their first friendly match against Croatia, and while I was initially a bit disappointed with the starting lineup, walking away with a 0-2 victory is certainly nothing to complain about. Offensively, we were a little underwhelming, but defensively? We haven’t looked this solid in a very long time. Tomorrow we face Tunisia, and I’m fully expecting a much more aggressive, attacking formation. I really need to spend some time this weekend digging through the garage to find our Belgian flags to hang outside.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, my "Man vs. AI" World Cup betting challenge is officially ready to roll. The master spreadsheet is locked and loaded. Because we’ll actually be on vacation during the tournament, I had to migrate everything to a Google Spreadsheet for the first time. I have to admit, having the built-in Gemini AI right there in the sheet made the setup a whole lot easier.

The funds have also been successfully transferred over to Betfury, which will be my battleground for these bets. And hey, since I’m hanging out on Betfury anyway, I figured I might as well abuse the BTC faucet. With current Bitcoin prices being what they are, clicking a button to get free Satoshis every hour feels like a no-brainer. I am incredibly curious to see how this experiment turns out, but let’s be real: I fully expect to wipe the floor with both Gemini and ChatGPT. Humans: 1, Machines: 0.

The Impulse Buy of the Century

Speaking of human error, I made a spectacularly dumb decision this week—the kind of decision I normally pride myself on never making. In the buildup to the World Cup, I thought, "Hey, let's buy a cheap beamer so we can watch the games outside!"

I found a deal that included a beamer, a "100-inch screen," and a retro gaming stick. It sounded great on paper. In reality? The 100-inch screen is literally just a giant white bedsheet. The gaming stick is okay, but the controllers are absolutely atrocious. And the beamer itself? Completely useless, especially outside.

I genuinely don't understand how I bought this in a sudden fit of spontaneity. Usually, if I want to buy a piece of electronics—or anything, really—I spend weeks or even months researching. I read reviews, I compare specs, I watch unboxing videos. This time? Click, buy, regret. I’m just going to blame it on my age.

But, there is a silver lining. We plugged that retro gamestick into the living room TV, and we have had an absolute blast with it. It is endlessly funny showing the kids the pixelated games we played 30 years ago. To them, it’s mindblowing that games used to look like this. To us, back in the day, this was cutting-edge, state-of-the-art technology!

Ghosted by the Gardener & Heavy Metal Lifting

Outside, things are moving a bit slower. The garden contractor was supposed to come by this week to finally finish the backyard. Naturally, he was a no-show. His excuse? The weather was too bad. Last week it was too hot, this week it’s too wet. Goldilocks would make a terrible landscaper. I totally understand wanting to wait until after the summer to sow the new grass, but surely the other prep work could have been done? Oh well, he gets another chance next Wednesday.

This weekend, however, I have a massive physical task ahead of me. I need to start dismantling and removing the built-in cast-iron wood stove. I need to figure out very quickly if my buddies and I can actually muscle this heavy beast out of the wall ourselves, or if I’m going to have to swallow my pride and call in professional help.

I’m on a strict timer here: the kitchen renovations start in exactly two weeks. That entire section where the stove currently sits needs to be completely redone and dressed up. I am incredibly excited for the renovation, but living through the dust and chaos is going to require biting the bullet for a bit.

Turning 50 & Corporate Chaos

Oh, and speaking of two weeks from now? The Big 5-0 is knocking at my door. Preparations for my 50th birthday are in full swing, and I am equal parts terrified and curious to see what everyone has planned for me.

At work, the deadlines are looming ominously closer, and honestly, I don't see how we are going to meet them. During a meeting with the business analysts yesterday, I finally laid my cards on the table and told them I'm getting fed up. It constantly feels like my team is expected to solve the problems of all the surrounding systems, fix our own internal issues, and then sit around waiting because the teams we rely on don't get the time or priority to deliver what we need. I made it very clear: if this dynamic continues, we are going to stop acting as the IT janitors for everyone else's systems.

A Jolt of Success

Let’s end on a high note! My absolute success moment of the week happened today when we received our electricity bill for the past month.

Because we are on a dynamic energy contract, calculating costs isn't exactly straightforward. So, I built a ridiculously complex Excel spreadsheet to see if I could accurately predict the final invoice. The result? I predicted the bill down to a 0.08-euro margin of error. I was incredibly proud of that nerd victory!

Even better: the charging costs we get reimbursed by our employers cover almost the entire bill. When we factor in my wife's staff discount, we didn't just break even—we actually made a profit of 10.49 euros! Last month was roughly the same, sitting at around a 10-euro profit. What a strange, wonderful world we live in.

It’s also clear that May was a fantastic, sunny month. Thanks to the home battery, we saved an additional 20 euros. It might not sound like a massive windfall, but if this trend holds, we are looking at 150 to 200 euros in savings per year, which brings the battery's return on investment to under 10 years. I’m highly anticipating the winter months to see how much we can optimize by actively managing the charging and discharging cycles.

So yeah, quite an eventful week after all. Catch you all in the next update!

Cheers,
Peter