This word means the tendency to forget names. This is something I’ve struggled with a LOT in recent years. I’m not sure what the cause is: the fact that my jobs at YOW and AWS meant meeting so many people? Did I get long Covid? Or is it one of the many joys of perimenopause? Or maybe it’s just getting older… At any rate, it’s incredibly frustrating to be able to picture someone or something, to know you know the name, and just not be able to grasp it.

I’ve been on a real gaming tear this year. Back in January I wrote about Dave the Diver and Unpacking, and I thought I’d mention a few more Nintendo Switch games that I’ve been playing lately and really enjoyed:

• Yoku’s Island Express – Rodd found this one recommended on Reddit for people who like no-stress platformers. You play a little bug postman who pushes a ball around an island, and it’s like a platformer crossed with pinball, two things I LOVE. The artwork and world building is really cool too.
• Steamworld Dig 2 – Another fun platformer where you play a little robot exploring a (mostly) underground world, digging minerals and trying to solve a mystery. There were one or two places were I got stuck and had to look up how to solve something, but I managed to defeat the end boss today all on my own. Good times!
• Palia – Anybody else playing this? I literally just rolled a character tonight. I’ve heard good things about it…

We also spent some time playing Breath of the Wild (a friend lent it to me) and I can see why it won so many awards. It just wasn’t for me, though. I struggled with all the different mechanics, and every time I picked it up I had to relearn how to do everything. There was just too much. I like something a bit more casual and low stress. If you’ve got recommendations, please share them!

For the past month, I’ve been establishing a new nightly routine. First, at 10pm I have an automatic reminder to write a journal entry. I’ve been using the iOS Journal app for this, which allows me to easily incorporate photos and maps from the day. I haven’t been using any of their prompts, but rather just jotting down what I did. I like being able to look back at everything I’ve done.

And then come the puzzles! Nothing like a little brain exercise to close out the day.

• Both Rodd and I do the NYT Connections. Maybe this is a humblebrag, but I’m always surprised when I see people complain that it’s hard! We’ve actually been challenging each other to find the purple category earlier rather than leave it to last.
• We also both do the five different daily puzzles over at Word Nerd. I’ve only managed to get all 23 Words like twice, and most days I struggle to hit 10. Rodd’s much better than me at that one! Maybe I’d have better luck earlier in the day with some caffeine in me. We also compete to see who can do the shortest Word Chain.
• I do the Daily Waffle and Waffle Royale (and every now and then the Deluxe Weekly Waffle). These are Scrabble-style letter tile switching games, with a fun mechanism that highlights when letters are correct or jumbled up.
• Rodd likes the OEC’s Pick 5 and Tradle games. These are where you have to identify which countries export certain goods. He’s really good at them both, but he thinks the Pick 5 is more fun.

Have you got any fun puzzle recommendations for us?

When I was working full-time, I was fortunate in that my Australian employer had a generous mobile phone benefit. To maximise that, I did what most of my colleagues did – go to the nearest Telstra store and get a handset with the biggest plan that came under the cap. Now that I’m not working, I have to pay my own bills… and I know the Telstra plan is massive overkill for what I actually use. So I called them up, found out cost to pay out the rest of my contract, and worked out that it would be far more effective to switch over to a pre-paid 12-month Boost SIM. It uses the Telstra network and for $230 you get 170GB of data, unlimited Australian calls and texts, as well as unlimited calls to the US. I bought one of the SIMs at Coles and was able to port my number over and be up and running in less than an hour.

HOWEVER! I did have one issue with my iPhone, and I thought I’d mention here in case it helps someone else. See my Settings here? Even after my existing number was ported, the Mobile settings still showed the phone number that came with the SIM (that +61 6… one). It wasn’t a huge problem; I double-checked by calling and SMSing Rodd that my ported number was being used correctly. It did screw up iMessage and FaceTime though, as my ported number wasn’t listed as an eligible Receiving option. I tried changing it (both in Settings -> Mobile and also Settings -> Phone -> My Number) but it wouldn’t save. I restarted the phone multiple times. I contacted Boost, who couldn’t see any issue on their side. The agent said he thought that something was just cached, and it would eventually fix itself. But it stayed that way for weeks… until I finally figured out the solution myself.

If you find yourself in the same situation, just go to Settings -> General -> Transfer or Reset iPhone. Click the Reset button (a bit scary, I know!) and then the “Reset Network Settings” option. It’ll ask you to confirm before it does it. And that fixed it! My ported number was finally showing for the SIM, and I was able to add it back to iMessage and FaceTime.

(And if you’re curious about the overseas SIMs showing there, those are eSIMs that I use when travelling. I’ve been using Airalo for my overseas data needs for the past couple years and I’m very happy with them. Much cheaper than paying Telstra’s $10/day charge!)