Be Cos, Be Cos, Be Cos, Be Cos, Be Cos....

I just read this, and I am so happy.

There's nothing up yet at Comedy Central, but this is exciting news.

I can remember my parents talking about getting to see Bill Cosby live at one of the Chevron conventions.  They even have a picture of them together.

My first exposure to Bill Cosby was through "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids".  It was a show right up there with Looney Tunes, and I loved watching it.  It wasn't until a few years later that some other Chevron kids introduced me to his stand-up.  They had to albums: "The Best of...", and "When I Was a Kid".  And when I learned about then, I listened to them whenever we were over at their house.

Then we moved to Kentucky, and the charity my parents were volunteering for had an auction.  I bought two things at that auction (live too, not silent).  I got a black, baseball mitt which I would use for a good 20 years and a promotional LP copy of "Bill Cosby: Himself".

That's when I stared looking around, and soon found out that some libraries had records you could check out.

So I began to grow my Cosby collection.  TDK SA90 all the way.

It was at this time that my physics class partner in my Maryland high school and I used to run whole routines back and forth during Physics lab.

As I worked my way back and around, I heard the evolution of the Cosby kids, and that Fat Albert's car with a Cessna airplane engine was originally attributed to someone else (whose name I am ashamed to say, I cannot remember right now).  Then there were the routines that I recognized as having been turned into Cosby Kids episodes (the Chicken Heart, the hernia, the game of buck-buck).

Not long after my parents saw and met Bill Cosby, his son Ennis was killed in a shooting.  I thought he would stop performing because it was obvious that while he loved his four daughters, Ennis had a special place in his heart for his son.  He did take some time off, but he returned and kept providing humor to all of us who have enjoyed his work for years.

I am certainly looking forward to November, and a new show.

Jumping for Joy

So my latest binge read was Steven Gould's Jumper series.

...Except for Griffin's Story which was written as a prequel for the movie.  That book sucked.

Jumper came out in 1992, and I was instantly a fan.  It is a book about a boy named Davy Rice who becomes able to teleport, and how it affects his life.  There are other events that follow that direct his development, and the book just gets better.  It's a 5-star book.

I wanted a book every year like some of the other authors I was reading at the time.  Jumper became one of those books that I would read every year.  And then when our GURPS group started a psionics campaign, I shaped my character around Davy.  My character even keeps a copy of Jumper in every home he has, and often has a copy on him as well.

The sequel Reflex came out 12 years later, and tells the story of Davy's wife Millie.  While it doesn't have quite the same fun behind it as Jumper did, it's still a really good book.

Then there was 4 years of silence, and then a tease with a short story called "Shade".

Last year, he wrote a third book called Impulse, the story of Davy and Millie's daughter Cent.  Yes there's teen angst to it, she's only 16, but there's also the continuing story of Davy and Millie doing their good deeds, tracking those who are hunting them, and dealing with their daughter.

Everything after Jumper is 4-star stuff.  That's probably my perspective because the first one caught my imagination so much, but that is not to say that 4 stars are bad, they just weren't as captivating as the first.

I can only hope that Gould writes more in the series.  Soon.

Haste Makes Waste

So, sometimes things go differently than what you expect.

At MacArthur BART (and most BART stations), it is stated on signs and therefore, predictable what train is on which track.  This morning I came up the stairs and there were two trains waiting at the platform.  On any normal day, from the stairs, Concord/Pittsburg/Bay Point trains are to the right, and Richmond trains are to the left.  The doors to the trains were open, so I rushed into the nearest car, and waited for the doors to close.

As the train took off, I started reading, but I noted that we got to a tunnel before stopping.  I thought I must have not been paying attention, and missed Rockridge.  Then the next station we stopped at was underground.  Neither Rockridge, not Orinda are underground.  Then right before the doors closed, I heard the voice of the operator say, "Richmond."

Damn, wrong train.

So, I got off at Berkeley, thankful that there was a new bike policy in place from July 1 allowing bikes in the commute direction, and rode back to MacArthur where I got on a Concord train, and ended up at work no earlier than I had been getting there.

8,500 Pages

So, Wednesday I finished Sandworms of Dune.

With the completion of the series, I read just about 8,500 pages.

There are probably other books that will come out that will be designed to fill in portions of the story, but the over-arcing tale is complete.

I have to admit that Brian and Kevin did a pretty good job of writing like Frank.  There are still bits of the story that I wish had gone better, but I am happy to have read the complete tale.

Telecommunity

So BART is on strike.  And being in negotiations with someone over buying my car, I didn't really have  way to get to Walnut Creek.  I explained my situation with my office manager, and he gave me permission to work from home.  At least this week.

So I've been working in my home office with my work computer.  I've reviewed boring logs, and have been working on reports.  Yesterday was so nice to sit with Jennifer and have lunch together.  And the weather has been so wonderful.

Biking Wife

So I get home yesterday, and Jennifer had a stack of things for me.

First was some things to help fight tinea which has come back with all the sweating from riding.  It has a lot to do with the backpack not allowing my back to breathe, but we're working on it.

Next to the that she had a pair of tire separators and an inner tube.

We actually did the repair behind the couch.  First off, I cannot stress the importance of latex/nitrile gloves for bike maintenance.  Otherwise, you end up with grease all over your hands.  These gloves were great.  We'd learned our lesson on Sunday.  We inflated, and everything seemed fine.

Thsi morining the tire was still tight, and the ride to BART and work went great.

More Bike Woes

So Sunday, I had this great plan for getting to my parents.  I would bike to BART, ride to the station near them, and bike to their place.  I had it all worked out on the schedule and Google Maps.  All I needed to do was pump up my rear tire which was a little soft.

I attached the pump, and umped it up, then when I took it off, all the air leaked out.  All of it; the valve was limp.

So Jennifer and I did the Zipcar thing, and had a wonderful time with my parents at The Englander in San Leandro.  What made it feel even more authentic was the non-American football playing on the big screen.  The only non-English thing was that it was Mexico and Italy playing.  With lots of Mexico fans.  The food was good and the beer selection was amazing.  I told Jennifer we can got here for Monday Night Football in the fall.

So to make sure that I could get my bike fixed, we cut the visit a little short, and found a bike co-op just a block from home called Spokeland.  For just $5, they showed us how to replace the inner tube on my wheel, including how to take off the wheel off the back without losing the chain.  The only drawback was that they didn't have a tube in my size with a presta valve.  They found a used/patched one that they threw in for free, and so after a ride home, I thought I was all set.

However, this morning the wheel was totally flat.  So Jennifer is out looking or inner tubes for me today.  We're going to get to get a couple so that we'll have a spare available.

Reel Steel

Yes, I went to see it tonight.

Yes, I enjoyed it.  The effects are cool.  I like Henry Cavill and Amy Adams.  Russell Crowe is an excellent Jor El.

No, that part didn't bother me; I can see how they can use that in the future.

What bothers me?  Kevin Costner.  He bugs the hell out of me.  And it's a stupid death.

Two things to watch for: the satellite and the captain.

CATS!

So I've noticed that my blog has been a little light on pictures recently.  And what does the Internet need more of?  That's right...

Pictures of cats!

So this first one is Felix on the upstairs balcony.  He is our little black-body radiator, and works hard to maintain his requisite temperature.

Now, this is not to say that his brother Oscar doesn't like the sun; he just has a lower tolerance for the heat, and will tend to lay int he sun, then move to the shade, and back again.

We recently got a sampler box of one of our favorite breweries, and Oscar decided to see if he could fit.  The answer below.

 But back to my own little Basement Cat.  The other day I came home, and was greeted by Oscar, but Felix was not immediately found.  Then I saw the disturbed blinds, and went behind the love-seat to find this looking at me.

I'll try to be better at pictures.  Because Penny Arcade says it all about why pictures are better.

Wiggle Room

So Tuesday morning I had a little issue with my bike:  I noticed that the left side pedal was wiggling.

Now, I had experienced this issue before right after my bike got stolen.  The pedals had been removed, and when I got new ones installed, they got stripped, and one came came off.  I got a new pedal and gear set, and they've been great.  But this wiggle made me nervous.

So when I got to the office I raided the supply closet and found an allen wrench set, and tightened things up.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the pedal arm had come off the shaft somewhat, and so on my way back to BART at the end of the day, things just got worse.  soon I had about half an inch of play with the pedal shaft sliding back and forth through the frame.  I texted Jennifer from the train, and asked her to bring me my allen wrench set from home.  She met me at the BART station, and with just a little wiggling, the pedal arm came off.  I got it all back together, and everything seemed fine.

Then yesterday on my way home from BART, it all started again.  Apparently, I had not tightened the nuts down enough on Tuesday.  When I got home, I took the pedal arm off, loosed things up, slid it back on, and tightened things as hard as I could.

Then this morning, I got downstairs ready to get on my bike to ride to BART, and what do I notice?

I had put the left side pedal arm back at the same angle as the one on the right.  So I went back inside, and did some quick maintenance to get the pedals offset by 180 degrees like they are supped to be.

I have seem some of the recumbent bikes that have hand cranks instead of pedals (I don't know if they are for disabled riders, or just for using your arms), and the arms on them tend to be set at matching angles, so I guess it would be possible to ride a regular bike that way.  With toe clips.

I am now tempted to try that.

Music of the Ages

So in re-reading the dune series, and especially Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune, I have had flashes of music either in my head, or older songs that have come up on my iPod that have taken me back to the 80s.  And then I began to think of the different kinds of music that have pretty much described different parts of my life.

Until I really started listening to my own music, I was surrounded by Oldies and Pop music.  Mom and dad would have one of those stations going in the car and in the background all of the time.  Oldies I especially came to associate with moving, and putting up wallpaper and painting.  Or scraping the ceiling of sprayed plaster.

The first really unique music I got into was Soundtracks, and that started with the "Star Wars" soundtrack.I played the LPs of the double album over and over on the turntable I had.  Over the years in California, I added "Superman, the Motion Picture," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "The Black Stallion" to the rotation.

When I moved back to Kentucky, I was starting to get interested in modern music, and so a lot of things in the background for me were MTV.  But when I think of playing games (especially the Ultima series) on the old Apple II+, I hear Genesis.  Almost always "That's All" or "Illegal Alien" because they were in heavy rotation.

Moving to Maryland, I was big on Dire Straits thanks to my friends from Kentucky.  Also there was a little of the new Invisible Touch album from Genesis.  But still a lot of MTV, and getting into The Alan Parsons Project.

Then for my Senior year of high school, Peter Gabriel, Huey Lewis, and Sting dominated the music.

College became a blend.  I still listened to soundtracks, but I had a seed that had been planted in early high school, and I made a personal discovery of Def Leppard.

After college, that blend continued, and now with my iPod, I have music from the Beatles to 30 Seconds to Mars.

Bicycling Atmosphere

So I've recently found a much easier route between home and the BART station.  In the mornings, it's less of an uphill climb for the last stretch of the ride, and in the afternoon, it's not so much of a wind tunnel like Horton is.  Plus it's nowhere near as busy as San Pablo.

What it does have is some interesting smells.

I hadn't noticed anything the past couple days beyond one cloud of cigarette smoke.

Today, I passed through 3, count 'em: 1 - 2 - 3, clouds of weed smoke.

At that early in the morning?

I've heard of "Wake and Bake", but don't people like that usually sleep in?

Reading Rainbow

So I took another break from the Dune series to catch up on some other reading, and to help build up some personal momentum for the end of the series.

Brandon Sanderson's completion of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (A Memory of Light) was masterfully done.  Sanderson brought back a lot of my excitement for the series that had dwindled with Jordan's dithering over the series.  I don't know if I'll ever do a straight through reading of this series, but I can say I appreciate the ending.

Then I caught up on my Magic Chick-Lit books with Kim Harrison (Ever After) and Patricia Briggs (Frost Burned).  They're both always fun modern-magic reads.

And then I've been enjoying some comic book compilations on the iPad.  They're all books that I have hard copies of, but are fun to be able to read in bed or at work without carrying the trade paperbacks around with me all of the time.

And just last night, I finished Frank Herbert's Heretics of Dune.  I think this book is what shaped my memory of Frank Herbert's writing style.  When I began reading the books after the movie came out, I had read very little science fiction.  Heretics is an ever accelerating book of action with some of the events left to your imagination, being mentioned only by character's thinking back to them.

At lunch today I started Chapterhouse Dune, and I can remember parts of what is to come that make me want to sit and just read all day.

Cut It Out

Tuesday, Mom posted some pet peeves of hers.

I would just like to say this:

I have encountered two men this week on their Bluetooth headsets: one at the urinal and one in a stall.  I know the one in stall had a headset because he was talking on it when we went in.

Now, I can understand that some work things are important, but no.

Just, no.

Life's Ups and Downs

So things have gone up and around and there are times you want to just throw up your hands and say, "What next?"

So about a month ago I had my first crown.

Then recently we found out that our cat Felix (the miniature black panther) has a heart murmur.  Apparently three out of every six beats.  Apparently that doesn't reduce like a fraction, because those were the doctor's words.  Mom was encouraging and reminded me that one of our dogs had a heart murmur and lived a healthy life for eight years or so after being diagnosed.  We're just going to continue to love Felix and keep our home peaceful and happy.

Mother's Day (yes, that far back) was a fun visit for brunch at my parents.  Dad cooked, and I provided tech support including introducing Mom to an RSS reader.

I have been continuing to get to work in the office, so I really can't complain about that.  Being back on an 8-hour workday is pretty nice.  And when almost everyone else is in the field it's pretty quiet in the office.  And when the more senior people don't come in until 10 or 11, then I've got 3 to 4 hours alone to really get stuff done without distraction.

And then Tuesday, when I parked my car, my driver's side window refused to roll up.

Now, about 3 years ago, I was coming home from a long day of drilling: early start and late end.  I was driving on a residential road in late twilight, when I saw what looked like newspaper blowing across the road in front of a car going the opposite direction.  And then suddenly that newspaper was a deer running in front of my car.  I managed to slow down, but still hit the deer kind of hard.  It ran off the rest of the way, but I've got a dent in the corner of the bumper, and some minor crumpling of the fender and door.

I guess it's good that the window kept working this long.  Now I get to find out how much to fix it.

Universal Truth

I have a hair appointment this afternoon, it's time for a cut.

So what happens this morning?  My hair decides that it will go in all sorts of new directions.  Or when brushed smooth, it will shape itself into a pompadour.

You would not believe the amount of hairspray in place right now.  One more failed attempt and I would have had to wash it again.

The New Reality

So for the first time since it began in 2002, I did not participate in Free Comic Book Day.

I really hadn't kept up with the event.  There was some hype last week, but then suddenly on Saturday it seemed like every blog out there that I read was talking about FCBD.

I remained strong, and Jennifer and I went for a bike ride to Piedmont to check out a local bead store.  And for those not in the know, one of the best comic book stores in the SF Bay Area is located on Piedmont: Dr. Comics and Mr. Games.  And the route we took T-ed us right on Piedmont at the store.

I have to admit that at that point, I was tempted.  However, I remained strong.  There really wasn't any reason to go in.

And instead, after the bead shop, we hit a new burger restaurant called Sparky's.  And while we were there, we watched the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby.  That had to be the wettest track I'm ever seen for the Derby.  Jennifer noted that all the horses were the same color by the end of the race.  At least from the front.

Miles to Go...

So it's been a while since the last post, so once again, we play catch-up.

Last week, I spent three days in Santa Cruz installing soil gas vapor wells around one of the buildings.  Then this week I spent three days sampling those new wells.

Then on Thursday, I got my first crown.  A month ago I had broken one of the tips on my second lower right bicuspid.  I had a filling there and the inner tip had chipped off from the filling when I bit into something.

So I took Thursday off for the crown.  Friday I ended up staying home because I had not slept well due to lingering pain from the work.

Today, after an amazing night's sleep, Jennifer and I went for a bicycle ride.  I suggested we try the Iron Horse Trail.  So we rode to MacArthur BART, and then got off at Walnut Creek BART.  We coasted downhill to the trail near Ygnacio Valley Road, and then rode all the way to the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station.  We took a nice ride back to West Oakland BART and rode home.  With a detour after missing a turn, we ended up doing 27 miles total today.  It was good to be back on the bike for so long.

Another bonus was a set of walkie-talkies that we bought.  It's really difficult sometimes for Jennifer and me to talk to each other when we're on our rides.  So we bought a set that had headphones and vox capabilities.      It was a great experience   We had to learn radio protocols and remember to wait to respond until the radio had completed transmitting, but it made the ride so much nicer.

Tomorrow, we will decide what to do next.

Reality

So I was going to say I'm watching my first reality show, but I'm not.

I watch "Mythbusters" which isn't quite a reality show, but it's not quite a completely normal show.  I've been watching it since the middle of its first season.  I came across it when I was stuck on the back side of the Sierra when I was working at the Marine Corps Mountain Winter Training Camp.  And I've been watching them ever since.

I watch "Undercover Boss" which is reminiscent to me of the Michael Moore "TV Nation" where he challenged different CEOs to do basic tasks.  He challenged the CEO of Phillip-Morris to roll a cigarette.  He challenged the CEO of GE to change a light bulb.  His only successful challenge was getting the CEO of Ford to change the oil in an Explorer.  Plus I loved the intro song.

I also watched "Miami Ink," "LA Ink," "NY Ink," and just "Inked" which was set in Las Vegas.  All of them were fun shows more for seeing the artists work and hearing the stories why people were getting what they got.  I also learned a lot about reasons for tattoo sizes and how things will change over time.  But the manufactured drama just got too be too much.

I've tried some of the other shows, and nothing has interested me.

But, as kind of a fun thing, I'm watching Penny Arcade's "Strip Search" reality show on YouTube.  It's a contest being run by the guys from "Penny Arcade" who will give the full support of their comic company to the winner of the competition.  And I'm finding out that I read several of the comics from the artists who are competing.

It's really a lot of fun.

Running in the Sand - UPDATED

So, I had a friend who has been tracking my progress through the Dune saga ask me, how many pages are there in the whole thing.

So I took some time at lunch to go find articles on the books and short-stories online and totaled what I found.

It turns out that it is essentially 8,500 pages.  And that's so far as Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are still writing interim books.

What I have left are 5 1/2 books and three short-stories.  And at this point, I am almost at exactly 67% completion.
_________________________________________________________________________________

So I doudble-checked my numbers on my spreadsheet, and I found a typo.

I'm at over 70%.

Why Johnny Can’t Reader

I don’t know how many of my readers use Google Reader, but any that do I’m sure have by now seen the popup message telling us that it will be discontinued.  I asked a good friend who works at Google (he’s on the Chrome OS team, so he’s not always a good source of information for things aside of the browser itself) why they had discontinued Google Reader.  He said that use was on decline and that many people use Twitter, and he uses Google+.

Well, I don’t use Twitter that much.  I find it’s like being in a room surrounded by a bunch of people with no personal filters talking all the time.  I can’t track the conversations.

Then there’s Google+.  It’s just not the good stream of information that I want.  I like being able to pick through the section of material that I read.  Google+ is, once again, a stream of consciousness.

So, I began looking for an alternative.  Yes I've got a little over three months, but I want to have something I’m happy with when the transition deadline hits.

I read an article on Lifehacker and then an article on Gizmodo.  So after reading those, I have decided to throw my first lot to The Old Reader.  It has the ability to link with my Google account to sign in, and then I tried to import my data from Google Reader.  Yesterday, they were swamped with import requests, and had to disable the feature.  This morning, there was an option to upload an XML file from my Google files.
If you’re in need of transferring your data, give this a shot:

First do the suggested XML download from Google Reader.  This will come in a ZIP file that you'll need to extract to a folder.

Then go to Old Reader and using the import page, upload the XML file.

Right now, I got this message, "Thank you for uploading your OPML file. We will soon start importing your subscriptions, which might take up to several hours depending on the amount of feeds you have.

There are 22218 users in the import queue ahead of you."

Why it says OPML, I don't know, but the XML file is what I used for the import.

I say good luck to you.  While I’ve writing this, my number has dropped to 22217.

Pea Soup

I got up this morning, and things looked foggy.  And then as I got ready, it just got thicker.

When it was thick enough that the lights of the office building two lots over were just a glowing blur, I decided it would be better to drive to work rather than bike to BART.

And then of course once I got to through the tunnel, it's all clear with the sun lighting up the sky behind Mt. Diablo.

I'll just have to exercise this afternoon.

"... Everything else is therefore your own problem."

So today for my third week back in the office, I rode my bike.

Man, it's dark.  Although, I will say that riding in the dark at Santa Cruz got me all kitted out for a ride through Oakland and Walnut Creek.

Riding on BART did make me think of working in San Francisco   I'm thinking of asking for a transfer to our newly opened office there.  I just prefer going that direction.  And then I wouldn't have such a long commute.  Apparently our office is in a building that you don't even have to go outside to get to from the BART station.

I think it sounds great.  Plus it can't hurt to ask.

dooooooooooo -- BEEEEEEEEEP!

So, my phone is a geek detector.  Yesterday, in my second day at the office after 6 months in the field, it rang, and one of my coworkers laughed and said, "That is a cool ringtone."

Being who I am, I have personalized the sounds of the phone, and so each one is a little slice of geekdom.  Jennifer got to enjoying my sounds so much that she asked me to find a way to personalize her phone.  It was a little harder as she has an Droid, but hers are all various sounds from R2-D2 with her ringtone being the award ceremony music from the end of "Star Wars - A New Hope".  My ringtone is the "conversation" between the technician and the alien spaceship from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

It gets lots of good reactions.  Geeky phone techs love it when it rings.  A friend who has an apparently very geeky brother laughs and wants us to meet.

I'll have to test him on the rest of the sounds.

My incoming text sound is the wrist-com sound effect from "Babylon 5".  My missed call/voice-mail is the message waiting sound from "Babylon 5".  The rest are from the game "Portal" where I use button sounds for sending and receiving emails, and the bouncy sound for calendar reminders.

For "Portal" to be such a popular game, I'm surprised I don't get more comments on the sounds.

Still, when people do hear it, and look up with a start, I can look them in the eye and smile.

Gotcha, geek.

BTW, Mom and Dad, your ringtone is the Turret Serenade from "Portal 2".  Just because I like the sound of it.

WTF! - Shirts

I have two pairs of WTF jeans.  I've written about them once before.  Last year I got v2.0.  Below are pictures of the front and back of the two versions.

Today I got an email that WTF is doing shirts.  They're running an Indiegogo campaign to raise money for it.

When i signed up they were at $500 of $4,000, so 1/8 of the way there.  I'm hopeful.

Joy Returns to the Bay Area

I got the news today that except for one task that is dependent on warm weather, we are done in Santa Cruz, and I will be back in the office on Monday.  We're letting one of the junior scientists stay on site for next week, and I will get to be home.

Allowing for the week I took of vacation this will have been 5 1/2 months working in Santa Cruz.

I'll probably be coming down for some other work in a month or so, but it shouldn't take longer than a week to perform.

YAY!  I'm coming home!

Outlet of Creativity

So when I made my decision to not buy any new comics, I was obviously left with a little void in my life.

Over Christmas, Jennifer and I talked a little over what I could do to fill that in.  Over a day's time, the time isn't that much; we though maybe half an hour's time.  So I thought to keep it in a similar vein, I should try to do something creative for that block of time.

Delineating that block of has been the next difficult step.  I've tried to write here more, but that hasn't been happening as much as I'd like.

A decided boost has been the fact that I've taken the reins of the fantasy role-playing game for the near future.  we're presently in one of my countries, and eventually we'll be on a sailing ship where despite everyone's fears, we'll be traveling to yet another of my countries.  Then assuming the world doesn't end (no really, if the heroes fail the world will end for "Evil Shall Be Unleashed."  Oops.), we'll take a quick jaunt to the island of the Sea Elves, and after finally after a short hop to the mainland  John will take over again.

So since the first weekend of January, little slices of my day have been taken up with everything that goes on in-between the adventures.  Exploring the city they are in.  Making plans.  Buying things.  And just playing some of the little motivational sides of the characters that come out so much better in writing than in person.

Some, but not all.

So I'm fielding and returning emails from up to four people.  I could be filling in information for a conversation with the NPCs where all of the player characters are present.  Or perhaps they have... split the party (that's an inside joke for a small group, and not very helpful to people like Mom.  Mom and family: go here and here.).  When they split up, that means, I've got multiple areas of a city, or keep, or an event to describe.

Additional outlets have been map making.  I've tried several times to use computer programs, but I'm never as happy with them as I am with my own pen and paper creations.  I like to use my geology knowledge to shape the coastlines (and yes it's true, fjords are not really equatorial enough.), and lately I'm been mapping cities.  What's been fun is to give each city it's own personality.

Try to imagine the organicness of some cities versus those that maybe were "planned".  Perhaps there are sweeping roads, or perhaps the city grew up around a keep.  Or maybe the city just has that fractal feeling where each block gets cut just a little smaller with an inverted shape of the larger streets.

- a **CHOKE!** Addendum

So I guess the question is, "Why?"

I think it's that we all can relate to the relief when suddenly there are people in our corner.

We know what it's like when something drives a wedge between us and the person we care about most.

We want to think that if we could, we would help someone out who just needs that little boost to achieve something so much greater.

**Choke!**

I will admit right from the start that I am a sucker for things that are meant to tug on my heart-strings.

Beat Superman to a pulp, and have him look up bloodied and beaten to lock eyes with Lois before he gets back to his feet, and I'll choke up.

Do anything to break the relationship between Lilo and Stitch, I'll probably tear up.

Have the common man stand up and take the side of the super-hero, helping him in some way be it big or small to get to his goal, and there will be a lump in my throat.

Even when I see it coming from half an hour into the movie and know the moment won't occur for another hour, it will still overwhelm me.

Of course, this is why I don't watch shows about dogs.  Benji (not my dog from school years, but the movie dog) is the only dog to live through his own movie.  Milo and Otis doesn't count; that's a buddy movie.

Obviously it doesn't matter whether or not it's live action or animation.  Apparently, I'm an easy mark for that sort of thing.

That said, I have to say that I enjoyed watching the new "Amazing Spider-Man".  I don't know if I could have handled the web-slinging and -swinging on the big screen.  The little I know of the Spider-Man mythos informed me beforehand how some things would turn out, but overall it was an entertaining evening to watch.

But who gets chocked up over a bunch of construction workers lining up a series of cranes?

Yeah... this guy.

Cinematic Connections

This past weekend, Jennifer and I were looking for something different to watch and came across the channel HDNet Movies.  It’s one of the few non-pay channels that doesn’t have commercials.

The movie that was on was Thoroughly Modern Millie, and semi-musical comedy set in the 1920s.  It was full of stars with Julie Andrews looking like she does and Mary Tyler Moore looking gorgeous as she does.  Carol Channing does her thing, and I actually recognized a song she sang from when my parents and we saw Carol Channing at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

One of the subplots behind the romance-seekign of Julie Andrews as the title character is a Chinese run white-slavery ring being run out of a hotel for single women.  The hotel manager and her two henchmen drug women with no family connections (basically those who won’t be missed) and ship them off to a brothel in a nearby Chinatown.

The mind-blowing thing for me was to find at the end of movie during the credits that the two men listed only as Oriental #1 and Oriental #2 were Jack Soo (best known as Nick Yemena from “Barney Miller”) and Pat Morita (who’s been in a TV show and a movie or two).  And we never recognized them during the entire 3-hour movie

Fifteen Years

Fifteen years ago, yesterday, I took a woman on a picnic.

It was a brave endeavor as it had been raining every day since the rainy season began.  And as it turned out it would for almost every day through the month of February.  But January 25, 1998 turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with big fluffy clouds all around the San Francisco Bay Area.

I took her on a visual tour of the city.  On the way in, we stopped at Treasure Island to admire the view.  We also went around to the Palace of the Legion of Honor, and up to Twin Peaks.  Then we headed down to Golden Gate Park and enjoyed what I had prepared: shrimp cocktails, pork tenderloin with rolls, and Grand Marnier chocolate mousse.  While we ate, we admired the tiny daisies growing in patches around the lawn of the park, and we were visited by a gopher who would stick its head out to watch us, and then hide when we looked at him.

After eating, we went to the Cannery, and walked around for a bit.  Then we headed back to my parents' house, with a stop at Treasure Island again to see the city all lit up for the night.

The next day, we watched the Super Bowl eating salmon with dill sauce, and before she left to go home, we had our first kiss.

Yesterday, we were in the city again, this time for a dentist appointment.  We parked in our usual spot behind Kennedy's, and walked hand in hand up Columbus to Washington Square Park.  Afterwards, we had a mid-afternoon meal at Burger Meister.  Then we drove home.

I still have a picture of that woman from that day on my desk at work.

Violence Inherent in the System

Of the past five movies that I’ve been to see in the theatre, I expected three to be violent.

Yes, “The Hobbit” was violent, but that was CG fantasy stuff.

“Skyfall” while violent, was nowhere near as extreme as the first two.

“7 Psychopaths” was more violent than I expected, but it was placed more to be surprising.  The violence itself was not too extreme.

“Gangster Squad” was no nearly as violent as I anticipated, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The violence comes at the very beginning, and the rest is very typical movie style stuff: gunplay and fisticuffs.

“Django Unchained” was a gory splatter-fest that I almost couldn't handle.  But as many have said, it’s just too long.  The desire for it to be over just compounds with the length of the movie and the over-the-top violence.

But then what am I looking forward to seeing next?  “A Good Day to Die Hard”.

Little Things

Over the past few months, I've been trying to memorize the periodic table of the elements.

Yes, really.

It's not for any real reason, I just thought I'd pickup a personal challenge.  And it's certainly not been easy.

I've been working through it learning one lien at a time, and I've gotten stuck.

Now I'm good through Argon (18), that's three lines.  But to complete the next line I have to double the elements that I can recite.

So, I'm working on it, but we'll see.

I do have an urge to learn the etymologies of the element names now though.

Books I Read in 2012

So looking back at 2012, I apparently made some time to read.  I read 58 books in a year which makes me feel pretty good when I add it to the things I read online, not all of which are comics and jokes.

I did recently start the original Dune by Frank Herbert, and am presently halfway through.  I've been enjoying revisiting the whole arc of the Dune series, and was surprised at the writing style of Dune after not having read it for a couple decades.  I've been criticizing the prequels for jumping around in characters' heads from paragraph to paragraph, but Frank does it as much as his son and Kevin Anderson do.  SO I guess they are following his style more closely than I thought.

So last year, I read the following books:

A Blink of the Screen - Terry Pratchett - *****

Cold Days - Jim Butcher - *****

Dodger - Terry Pratchett - *****

Dune: House Corrino - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ****

Opus: The Complete Sunday Strips from 2003-2008 - Berkeley Breathed - ****

Superman: Earth One Vol. 2 - J. Michael Straczynski & Shane Davis - *****

Superman: Earth One - J. Michael Straczynski & Shane Davis - *****

Dune: House Harkonnen - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ****

Dune: House Atreides - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ****

Fate of Worlds - Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner - ****

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Neil Gaiman - ****

The Woman Who Died A Lot - Jasper Fforde - ****

The Apocalypse Codex - Charles Stross - ****

The Long Earth - Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter - ****

Batman: Death by Design - Chip Kidd & Dave Taylor - ****

Flex Mentallo, Man of Muscle Mystery - Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely - ****

Batman: Noel - Lee Bermejo - *****

The First Confessor (The Legend of Magda Searus) - Terry Goodkind - ****

Sisterhood of Dune - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ***

Batman: Earth One - Geoff Johns & Gary Frank - ****

The Battle of Corrin - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ***

Faces of a Martyr - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ***

The Machine Crusade - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ***

Whipping Mek - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ***

The Butlerian Jihad - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ***

Hunting Harkonnens - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - ***

Death: The Time of You Life - Neil Gaiman - ***

Death: The High Cost of Living - Neil Gaiman - ****

The Sandman Companion - Hy Bender - ***

Sandman: Volume 10 - The Wake - Neil Gaiman - *****

Sandman: Volume 9 - The Kindly Ones - Neil Gaiman - *****

Sandman: Volume 8 - World's End - Neil Gaiman - ****

Sandman: Volume 7 - Brief Lives - Neil Gaiman - ****

Sandman: Volume 6 - Fables and Reflections - Neil Gaiman - ****

Sandman: Volume 5 - A Game of You - Neil Gaiman - ****

Sandman: Volume 4 - Season of Mists - Neil Gaiman - *****

Sandman: Volume 3 - Dream Country - Neil Gaiman - ****

Sandman: Volume 2 - The Doll's House - Neil Gaiman - ****

Sandman: Volume 1 - Preludes & Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman - ****

Bookstore Lore - Tom Lichtenberg - ***

Tough Sh*t - Kevin Smith - ****

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman - ****

The Jungle Books - Rudyard Kipling - ****

Monster - A. Lee Martinez - ***

The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump - Harry Turtledove - ****

The Man Who Folded Himself - David Gerrold - ****

11/22/63: A Novel - Stephen King - ****

Ringworld's Children - Larry Niven - ****

The Ringworld Throne - Larry Niven - ****

The Ringworld Engineers - Larry Niven - ****

Ringworld - Larry Niven - ****

Betrayer of Worlds - Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner - ***

Protector - Larry Niven - ****

Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction - H.P. Lovecraft - ****

Rule 34 - Charles Stross - ****

Magic Slays - Ilona Andrews - ****

After the Golden Age - Carrie Vaughn - ****

Snuff - Terry Pratchett *****

BTW, this is post 1,000, so I've got that going for me as well.

Computer Learning Curve

So Wednesday night, I was doing some basic computer maintenance updating my drivers.  I installed one update that didn't work, and then did a second one that required a reboot.

And my laptop hung on the reboot, and I got an error message asking for a start-up repair disc.  I will now be keeping one in the laptop bag, because I did not have one.  I had to wait until I got home this weekend to create a disc from Jennifer's computer (I couldn't find one I had created previously).  The repair disc wasn't able to perform the repair, and my only option was to reformat and reinstall.

The bad news is that I haven’t been able to do a backup lately.  Things just haven’t been working well.  So I was a little troubled.

I borrowed Jennifer’s computer, and dove into finding a Linux boot CD/DVD with a file system program so that I could move my documents to a jump drive.  I got better than I had hoped for with Knoppix.  It had a pretty easy to use GUI, and got me connected to my wireless network.  I was able to move my user files to my NAS, and then do the reformat and reinstall thing.

My spare time this week is going to be getting rid of the junkware that came with the computer originally, and getting all of my settings back the way I liked them.

But the point is, I have all of my files to do that.

Why?

John's posted about the vagaries of global interest in his blog a couple times (I don't know the specific post).

And I've looked at my stats occasionally.

But I just have to ask: Why is this post on my birthday last year so popular?  Just to set a benchmark, it is presently at 535 hits.

The next closest is one from a chain of blogs for scientists to talk about their blogs and their take on science in science fiction.  It got cross linked for the chain, but I can't figure out why one that just talks abotu my birthday gets so much interest.

Is it the picture of maple syrup served in a shot glass?

Is it the link to the Anchor Steam bicycle jersey?

Or is it the picture of Jennifer's bike with petunias in the front basket?

Please tell me, because I'd like to know.  Maybe I can duplicate the interest.  Any maybe I could break into double digits of followers.

New Layout

I found a new layout.

This one isn't quite so crowded, and I kind of like the sidebar.

Let me know if there are any readability issues.

Wisdom

I collect things.

I used to collect comics.  I still have my collection, but it now no longer grows every week.

I used to collect unicorns, patches, hats, and at one time seedpods.  On my computer, I have two collections I keep in Word documents.

One is my collection of jokes.  I used to subscribe to many different mailing lists of jokes.  I also subscribe to Bizarre News.  I use to distill the news, taking out all the ads, and spread it around to my friends and family.  I eventually ran out of free time to do that, and also eventually whittled away my jokes emails to nothing.  Now I just add to my jokes when I come across a new one.

My other collection is one that is simply titled “Wisdom.”  It is a long list of quotes that I have found to be true, funny, and/or enlightening.  Every now and then I come across a new quote that hits me just right, and I add it to the list.  I try to attribute where I can, so that when I share them others can know where I found them.

I've cobbled this list from books, comedians, message boards, television, moves, friends, and family.
My latest addition is from Stephen Fry:  This is the point. One technology doesn’t replace another, it complements. Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.

Then there is this one I just came across in the list today from Scott Adams:  The only time women are not attracted to intelligent men is when they have the option of a good looking guy who is dumber than pants on fish.

And because I do actually add quotes from my friends, this one is from John:  Welcome to R’lyeh Spaceport. Please pick up your bags as they emerge from fifth-dimensional space. Please do not stand near any ninety-degree angles. Please avoid any sentient colours. Please do not make religious offerings until you have exited the premises. Thank you and fhtagn.

He related this one to me when a coworker said:  If I say “You’re welcome,” that’s not a binding contract involving my soul in any way, is it?

And one from another friend:  Everyone’s “fifteen minutes of fame” is turning into everyone’s reality show slo-mo farewell montage.

Trust

Usually I follow Weather.com for my forecasts.

I’ve been following the Weather Channel since it was just 24 hours of Doppler radar.  On a rainy day, Dad and I could site forever, just watching the sweep of the radar change the precipitation pattern.  And if there was a tornado watch in affect?  We were rapt looking for that hook echo.

I’ve got the Weather.com app on my phone and have a couple bookmarks for my browser.

But today I get up in Santa Cruz, and I hear rain on the bathroom skylight.  I look out the window and I see rain.  What does Weather.com say?  It’s cloudy.  Cloudy until 8 this morning with the dun coming out later.

So I pull up the back-up, Wunderground.com.  Weather Underground says that it’s likely to rain until 3 PM today.  Now, yes, I’m pulling for rain because I can go home sooner, but still…  How do you get such discrepancies?

We also have a meteorologist working for PG&E who gives us periodic forecasts so that we can be prepared for days like today.

I have an acquaintance who is a meteorologist.  I met him when I bought a DSLR camera from him.  Later, I bought a tripod.  He get interviewed often by the Bay Area news shows.  I respect that there is a lot that goes into being a certified meteorologist as opposed to a weather girl in a tight top and skirt.  We all just wish we could be wrong as often as some forecasters are.

Asymptocity

Okay, so I never was really racing to post things, but lately I’ve certainly decelerated.

It’s been hard with the extreme routine of life for the past twelve weeks to come up with something new to post.

I’m still working my way through the Dune series.  I have to admit I’m excited that the next book will be back in the original series, but I’ll be taking another break in the stride to read Terry Pratchett’s new one (Dodger).

I have watched a few movies lately.  “Men in Black 3” was a fun, tight little time travel movie.  “Apollo 18” was so so.  “The Dictator” was a typical Sascha Baren Cohen movie.  “Seven Psychopaths” was a whole lot of fun.

This weekend, it sounds like I’m probably going to see “Skyfall” and we’ve got tickets for 12/14 to see ‘The Hobbit”.

Clever, You're Not

This post goes out to all if the DJs who think it is the height of comedy to play "Here Comes the Rain Again" by the Eurhythmics.

It isn't, and we're tired of it.

Just stop.

Wheels

Today I went for a bike ride.  I fear one of the last for a while unless the weather is nice on the weekends.  Sure I’ll keep riding between work and the hotel, but with the time change tonight, it’s going to be too dark in the evenings to go for a long ride in Santa Cruz.

I managed to get to the Natural Bridges Park twice, and that was cool.  Today, back at home, I made it to Costco and back in exactly an hour.  I was a great ride with minimal wind, and perfect temperature.
On my way back home, I started thinking of my past pedal powered vehicles.

I never had a Big Wheel, but I did have a little red tricycle.  I can remember riding around the subdivision with my parents.  they still talk about how I would pedal hard to keep up with them.

Then, when it was time for something better (with training wheels), I got a yellow Schwinn.  I believe it looked something like this.  Except mine was yellow.

Then, for 1976 and the bicentennial, Schwinn made a special Spirit of ‘76 version of the Stingray.

Then for my 10th birthday, I got a Raleigh Rapide 10-Speed.  I had that bike until I went to college.  And it got stolen the first week.

That year for Christmas I got a Peugeot.  (Yes, Papaw, a Poopy-Joe).  I had that one for several years until it got stolen as well.

Then dad gave me his old bike, and I rode it a little, but I never really took the time.

Then Jennifer met the owner of Citizen Chain, and got her red bike (later stolen).  A few months later (with my some of my severance money from ETIC), we bought me my bike.  It got stolen once, but I took it back, as you’ll remember.  And now, it will probably be the bike I’ll have for a long time.

Unless of course, I decide to have the guys at Citizen Chain make me up a bike special.

Good Eye, Bad Eye

Have you ever had one of those mornings when the thoughts going through your head while putting in your contacts could be used in a spy or police interrogation?

If you relax this won't go so hard on you.

Don't fight it; we'll just have to start over.

Are you trying to be difficult?

See, now wasn't that easy?

Where Was I?

I was playing Ultima V in my apartment in Sacramento, blissfully unaware.

Where were you 23 years ago?

So, Rain

The weather is what it is.  Today it was spitting rain on my ride back to the hotel.  It wasn’t much more than enough to speckle my clothes and bag.  But it did send me back to my freshman year of college.
I used to have early classes all of the time.  The chemistry or physics lab option that would fit my schedule was inevitably 7:15 or so on Tuesday and Thursday.  And for a few semesters that lab was all I had on those days.

So while living in the dorms, I would get up early, eat breakfast, go to class, and then have nothing to do other than homework for the rest of the day.  Now of course, I didn’t spend all my time schooling, so I would ride my bike.  Typically to Tower records or the mall.

One day I was riding up Watt Avenue, probably halfway to tower, and it started to rain lightly, you know, just a sprinkle.  It wasn’t any big deal, so I rode on getting slightly damp.

After my time browsing through cassettes and books, I decided to head back to campus for lunch.  And it was pouring.

Now something to remember is that I got up early enough to eat breakfast before lab.  I had a high metabolism for for most of my life, and while in school I ate constantly.  So I was eager to get back for lunch.

So I rode back to the dorm in the rain.

And when I got back, I was soaked.  This is not hyperbole; my jeans were notably heavy when I walked up to my dorm room.  I ended up laying all of my clothes out to dry on my drying rack.  (Yes, drying rack.  My T-shirts last forever because I don’t tumble dry them.)  And then I took a hot shower.

While I was in the midst of all of this, my floor-mates had seen me and asked why I was riding in the rain.  I told them what had happened, and they asked why I hadn’t called them for a ride.  Now first off, I didn’t have any of their numbers, but secondly, this was 1987/88.  There were no cell phones.  Or at least nothing truly portable.  So I said I would get their numbers and call if it ever happened again.

All this flashed through my mind today on my ride to the hotel.  That and the bit of thrill of feeling the weather on my face.

I think I owe my wife an apology for poo-pooing her desire to ride in the rain.

King or Queen

Over the past year, I have been away from my wife overnight while working more than the rest of time together combined.

Because of this, we find ways of keeping the other in our thoughts.

Somehow, I appointed the egret as my animal.  There always seemed to be one flying or walking nearby when I was thinking about something difficult.  Having one or more around was just cool.

Jennifer has developed an association with ravens.  Somewhat from reading American Gods, but somewhat for the same reason as me with egrets.

She also has an affinity for butterflies (hence two of her tattoos).  Some of this comes from our visit to the butterfly house at The-Park-Formerly-Known-as-Marine-World, and some from the butterfly house in Key West that we visited twice while there.  She’s also had some other personal experiences with butterflies.
And then there’s dragonflies.  I find them fascinating, and like the things they hunt (mosquito larvae and, a recent find, termites).  I’ve had some close encounters with them including a big one that was sitting next to a lock at a job site one time.  Unfortunately, I don’t have that picture on my computer; it must be on the NAS at home.

But with these affinities, Jennifer and I know when the other is thinking about us.  Sometimes.

Last year when I was in Madera, there was one day when no matter where I looked for about 5 minutes, there was a butterfly swooping across my vision.  It was just as if Jennifer were waling past me saying, “Hi, honey.”  That day was the end of my stay at that job, and before I hit the road, I sent her a text saying I was on my way home.  I knew when she got the message, because while on the highway, a cloud of butterflies suddenly erupted from the flowering bushes in the median.

She had a similar experience one day at Lake Merritt.  She was thinking about me, and suddenly an egret landed on the beach n ear here and walked slowly across her vision while she was reading, seeming to make sure that she noticed it.

So yesterday I had an amazing experience with dragonflies.  We had cut down a tree a few weeks ago, and yesterday finally did some digging near it.  I think the excavator bumped it going by, but I noticed later that it was covered in winged termites.  The termites started taking to the air, and I saw two dragonflies start swooping through them, eating them on the wing.  Soon, there were at least eight dragonflies hunting through the fleeing termites.

Dragonflies and Termites

The termites are invisible, but the swooping things are the dragonflies.

And then today, I saw a butterfly flit by.  It stopped for a second on a large transformer, and I thought I’d get a picture, but it flew away.  Then it landed on the fence, so I got as many pictures of it as I could before it flew away.

It just kept opening and closing its wings in the sunlight.  I waited each time for it to open before I took the picture.  The third one is my since the wings were flattest and so the whole insect is in focus.









These aren’t with any fancy camera either.  This is just a basic, digital point-and-shoot.

Power Failure

This morning I was awakened by deafening silence at 4:20 AM.

The fan on the hotel air conditioner had shut off and so had my speakers which had been playing my white noise app. The power tried to come back on, but failed.

PG&E's webpage estimates power restoration at about 8:00 AM.

But have you ever realized how dark and quiet a hotel is without power?

I'm grateful Jennifer bought me a travel candle holder (it looks like a thick makeup compact) several years ago, and so I always have it and some tea-lights in my luggage. Of course I had to use my flashlight app on my phone to find my matches. I need to get a lighter for less smoke in the future.

I showered last night, and hair isn't a big issue since I wear a hard hat all day, but without the candle it would have been decidedly more difficult to get my contacts in.

So now I've been awake almost an hour and a half. I'm dressed; I've read my non-RSS feed comics on my phone; and I'm curious how much of a breakfast, if any, will be available from the hotel at 6:30.

Plus, one tea-light is not enough light to read by.

I guess I'll play phone games since I'm not going back to sleep.

Teeeee Veeeee

So most of the new season has started for this year in television, so let’s talk:

Go On – a new show with Matthew Perry.  Jennifer and I loved “Friends” and we’ve liked all the stuff Matthew Perry has done since.  “Studio 60” and “Mr. Sunshine” were both lots of fun.  We’re hoping this show stays around.

Grimm – Aside from the new intro which is stupid, this show is moving with continued momentum.  And after this last week, Nick shows again that his fighting skills are (while not being as good as his mom) not too shabby.

The Neighbors – We like it.  I think it has the potential to be clever and funny.  However, the stinger before the commercials has got to go.

The New Normal – We’re giving this one more episode.  We like the concept, but the message behind the concept is beginning to feel like propaganda.

How I Met Your Mother – We watched this through streaming on Netflix to catch up, and it’s cool to be watching it closer to real time.

Mike & Molly – This is mostly Jennifer’s show, but it was a fun season premiere.

Modern Family – Lots of fun once again.  I’m tired of Dylan though.

South Park – Awesome as always.

The Big Bang Theory – I must have Sheldon’s shirt showing the Kryptonese alphabet!  If you find it, share the link!

New Girl – Maintaining a high level of quirkiness.

2 Broke Girls – A little below average for a premiere, but we’ll keep watching it.

Partners – A show with potential.  I think they crammed too much into the series premiere, but its got two people we really like (Superman and Mr. Universe), so we’re hopeful.

Animal Practice – We’ve watched three shows now with Tyler Labine, and if they keep him at a certain level, this show could be really good.  Plus it follows the Julius Schwartz rule:  Everything is better with monkeys.

---

Not Yet Returned

The Simpsons – That’s on tonight.  I might be awake enough to watch it after it records.

Once Upon a Time – Also on tonight.  Will probably wait until next week when I’m home again.

Suburgatory – Not sure when this one is coming back.  It’s eagerly awaited on our parts.

Whitney – We like this one.  We’re hoping it also maintains its previous levels.

The Bitch in Apartment 23 – A late starter last year, its one we really started to enjoy.

Community – please please please please please…

All Work and No Play

So, yes, I’ve been out in Santa Cruz since the day after Labor Day, going home on weekends, resting briefly, and then driving back Monday mornings.  Very early Monday mornings.  So early that I’m up before this guy.

Sometimes.

Now, we’re working long hours, but I’m keeping up my spirits while away from wife by going for bike rides.
last week, I experimented with the river trail, and went down to the Boardwalk.  I didn’t linger long as I'd forgotten a bike lock last week, but I took some pictures, and felt good.

Earlier this week, I went to the local Costco for an eye exam, and went upstream on the river trail.
Yesterday, I realized I’d been in Santa Cruz for almost three weeks, and hadn’t had any of my seafood staple: clam chowder.  So I rode down the river, along the boardwalk, and then up the pier to Andy’s Bait & Tackle Shop.

I had clam chowder in a bread bowl, and a crab cocktail without cocktail sauce.

After dinner, I walked my bike up to the sea lion viewing holes, and got some pictures.  Then I went to the end of the pier and watched the pods of sea lions come in and leave.  I was also treated to an alder male showing off. 

I stayed for most of the sunset, and had some fun there as well.

Below are some of the better pictures.

It's Like a Donut

I have an astigmatism.  I found this out today.

I've been struggling with distance vision attached with contact lenses for a couple years.  Near vision is no problem, but distance has been legible, but fuzzy.

Today, I got a bit of an explanation, and new contacts.

I was told they were toric lenses.  I asked if that was based off of torus, and she just repeated that they were toric.  It just goes to show that simply because you're a doctor does not mean you've learned everything there is to know about topology (and going by my Chrome spellchecker, neither do the people at Google).

Clarification for those who didn't keep up with three dimensional figures in math, go here.

The lenses are not cut from a sphere, so they have a definite up and down.  When I put them in, while there is no specifically different feel, my distance vision si still fuzzy.  But as I blink and the lenses settle into position, distance clarified.

So my eyes are almost the same prescription, but they require a different bit of toroidal (another word Chrome doesn't recognize) section to fix my sight.

The Adventure Begins

Today is day one of the excavation project in Santa Cruz.

it was a difficult farewell this morning, and weekends are going to be precious.  Yes, even with football starting.

The bright side is the accrual of hotel bonus points, and eventually a vacation with which to use them.

Some day.