I just got back from lovely walk with two of my three dogs and am contemplating turning off all phones so no one can disturb my day and harsh my mellow.
Cracking Power Director and going through a backlog of videos. Lot of junk, and some good stuff. Some are just dictation since smart phone video is the only app I have found that can reliably do this. One is a fan-fiction idea for Dune, calling on my engineering experience to examine what is actually required to make a functioning stillsuit.
I'm sitting outside on a lovely summer evening, reading a book and waiting for it to get dark enough for the movie to start. A local nonprofit is showing a series of music documentaries every Friday night in a local park, and this one, "Sirens," looks interesting, about an all-female Middle Eastern thrash metal band. And as a bonus, I'll get to hang out with an immunocompromised friend who I don't get to see nearly often enough. Looking forward to a good night!
It's first thing Monday morning here in Australia. Cold, wet, and miserable, and I'm out the door for the hour drive to the clinic. So here's to everyone going to work this Monday, and a big raspberry for those staying home and writing!
Time for a visit to Minnesota again. Haven't been there in a while. Think I'll make it a little more than a trip to visit family and friends. Probably go see the zoo and Fort Snelling as it's been nearly twenty years since I went to either. I have a wedding reception to go to for an old roommate too. Excited to see some old welcome faces. California is genuinely unfriendly. It'll be nice to head up to the opposite for a while.
I'm wasting time online because I'm not in the mood for finishing the newsletter and sending it off. Sigh. It'll take about an hour if I get my butt in gear. Blech. It's just because it's such a beautiful day outside and I'm stuck indoors until 4:00. Off to shift gears, even if it takes both hands.
I do enjoy writing the newsletter (this month's main topic is the mountain bluebird), just not when the weather outdoors is absolute perfection. Newsletter is done now except for the final cutlines for the photos. Now I'm waiting for dinner to cook so I can eat and go back to work for an evening program on Zoography. Tomorrow morning I wander out to the field for an hour to give a talk on prairie dogs to a fourth grade summer field science camp. Then back to finish the newsletter, and after that maybe I can rest on some nice soft laurels for a few minutes before jumping into the next project.
It's the weekend! I took a half day from work and now I'm on my way to the Philadelphia Flower Show with my uncle.
I've been joking with a friend that I'm officially an old fart now. I joined a Commercial Club (back in the UK that would be called a labour club or working man's club). Okay, it looks like I'm the youngest one there... I live out in the sticks and work in the closet large town (an hour or so away). My son goes to school there, and is starting to attend a social group on Friday evenings. Rather than have me hang around the clinic for hours waiting to pick him up, I joined this club so I can have a light beer and do some darts practice. It's been nice! I spent every weekend in such a place as a kid as my dad played on a soccer team. Bit like going back in time. Plus, lots of friendly elderly gentlemen and I like meeting new people.
Going through pictures I took of the start of Race Across America. Rode the first ten miles, got passed by two teams. Managed a pull on one of them for about two miles before getting dropped.
I'm staying out of the way of the firefighters and EMTs who are going back and forth through my apartment, using my backyard to climb up to a second floor window. Apparently they got a 911 call about someone in the second floor apartment, but no one's responding up there. Update: Aaand now they broke into the apartment, and no one was home. Wasted time. But at least now I know the 911 crew doesn't give up easily.
Survived 24-hour flu combined with food poisoning. I was drinking these smoothies to keep myself hydrated because I was sore and had a bad headache. Very flu-like for me. I guess I shouldn't have done that. My kid got food poisoning from that smoothie place once, but I thought it was a fluke. It definitely was not. I went from bad to much, much worse. I thought I was dehydrated and so drank tons more water. Sometimes, if I lay just right, I felt okayish, but it was mostly like 8 hours on this evil contraption. It was like entering a fugue state. I felt like an oracle communing with the gods. I know I said strange things. Anyway, it ended in dramatic form, and I was cured! Instantly. Back to humanity. I felt like a vampire from that Keanu Reeves movie. Remember when Val Helsing "cures" Lucy? Like that, but it was Berry Lime Sublime™. Sorry for the gross imagery, but I was going to post a youtube link. Be thankful I didn't. Anyhow, that's my food-poisoning symptom, so that's why I'm sure I was doubly sick. I've been back to jogging for steps and getting flights. (My 300+ day record is ruined though . . . ) I'm as strong as a bull. Now I'm off, out upon the town. I'm going to a comedy show.
Oh, yeah. Smoothies are the worst. Bacteria ❤️ fruit and veggies. Perfect pH, grow in the ground, live in temp dangerzone, uncooked and RTE. Plus smoothie machines have a zillion nooks, crannies, and seams to trap food particulates. And the joints are usually operated by a bunch of untrained kids. I've gotten popped by the health department more times than I can count on blenders and robo coups. Everyone gets at least one point for on their bladed machines on every inspection.
Man, that's a cool shot. You've got to give that movie credit for using 100% in-camera practical effects. My favorite is when Dracula turns into rats. First, that suit they have on Gary Oldman is creepy as can be. It aged perfectly and doesn't look like a rubber mask. Even today, it is so much better than any CGI effort. And then the effect of the rats coming out of the shadows was just awesome. You can kind of see the springboard or whatever's pushing the rats out, but that's okay. There's a beauty to it, as horrible as it is.
Oh absolutely!! My admiration for it increased exponentially when I watched the special features and learned Coppola (and especially his son, who helped a lot with production design or something) wanted to use only techniques that would have been available at the time, so silent movies. They did an incredible job of it, despite Keanu's wooden acting and terrible accent.
Beginning my rapid fire of low-ball offers on homes with lake access. Hoping one sticks. Also, I saw one in my old neighborhood that I almost went for. I loved growing up there and I really want to go back. It wasn't a great home, but I'm still realllly tempted to make it offer number two on the list if this first one drops. I still know so many people over there.
what, actual lake access? a pontoon going out into the lake? that would be very cool! Having lived by water for 15 years, and just off to view three possible new houses, none of which are by water, I can vouch that life by water is the best!
Looking into volunteering for a political campaign for the first time in my life. I've tried to avoid politics and focus on fixing my own life for a long time, but the bastards just keep making that harder and harder, and my conscience can't take it anymore.
