In the mine

Here's the view inside yesterday's mine. Once again, photo courtesy of Loyal Reader Number One.

Yet another perfect day, weatherwise. Not a cloud in the sky, cool in the morning, and warm in the afternoon. Makes a man wish he had an office with a window. Or a nice-sized retirement check coming in. Better yet, a large inheritance. Or something.

Some good, some bad today.

First the good: I don't remember whether I mentioned that I've lost my very cool ABL mug. I believe I left it on a shelf in the restroom, where it had gone for washing. When I noticed it was gone and went back, the room was under construction and the shelf no longer existed. As far as I could tell, neither did the mug. Sigh.

So the good thing is that one of my retiring colleagues deeded me hers this afternoon. I'm delighted to have it.

Now the bad: I learned this morning that my former colleague and mentor Al Wilmot passed away Thursday evening. Al was a great software engineer and, more important, a fine man. He was a little eccentric and kind of a funny holdover from the '60s space program, which made him all the more likeable. He suffered from Alzheimer's for the last few years, which was presumably the cause of his death. Al will be missed.

Intensely busy weekend in the offing. Tonight is the sole exception, so far. I plan to do a bunch of high-council-related organizing and emailing. I also hope to get my weekly dose of Monk and Psych. Maybe also hang around with the Loyal Readers.

Saturday morning, I'm helping prepare and serve a fancy luncheon for the stake Relief Society. Then home to work on getting some callings made. There will probably be some work around the house to do. Also need to prepare a priesthood lesson for Sunday. Also need to do some research and preliminary structuring for my talk on the eighth.

Sunday will be meetings, callings, and more meetings and callings. Followed by dessert and bed. Loyal Reader Number Six gets home sometime on Sunday, so I imagine Loyal Readers Numbers Five and Twelve will be heading out at about the same time.

Sunday evening may be quiet.

No toilet news today. In the meantime, we can attend the funeral.

See you Monday.

Mine entrance

Here's the entrance to an abandoned mine somewhere in Utah. Loyal Reader Number One has been in there a couple of times with his mine exploration group. Looks cold. Photo courtesy of LRN1.

Unfortunate day on the train. We were delayed for about twenty minutes by a defective signal in the morning, and by about another twenty minutes in the afternoon by a late shuttle bus full of anxious riders. Most unfortunate.

However, life goes on. Pretty good day at work. I attended a highly expensive retirement luncheon at a fancy restaurant on a golf course. The place is apparently well known to the locals - and well respected. The food was served buffet-style and was very good. My retiring colleague gave a fine speech, which I quote here in its entirety: "Bye."

It was very warmly received by all present.

Visited one of my home teaching families yesterday evening. They're an interesting couple. He's retired from the Army, and they live in their fifth wheel camping trailer. They belong to a membership camping place and travel around from one of their facilities to another. Their home base is pretty much here in Lardville, though, so they belong to our ward. I enjoyed my visit.

Highly important toilet news: there's a memorial service coming up. I won't be able to attend, so I plan to observe a moment of silent contemplation.

See you tomorrow.

Number twelve

Here's good old Number Twelve, straight from Philadelphia to you. Picture taken at the Sacramento Railroad Museum. Part of my famous Train series. And possibly posted before. Only my Loyal Readers know for sure.

Beautiful, sunny day, if a little cool. In fact, it was downright cold when I left the house. Get ready for it. Thirty degrees. Yep. Below freezing. I struggled through.

Wall-to-wall meetings at work. The calendar was filled without a gap from 9:00 to 4:45. Some of the meetings ended early, though, and I was able to get a few things done. There were also several visitors to my inner sanctum spread throughout the day. All things considered, an exhilarating day.

Tonight's schedule (assuming the train is punctual, of course): fifteen minutes for dinner and then a home teaching visit. Then I'll post this and go to bed happy and satisfied.

Things are otherwise uninteresting. Or maybe I should simply say "things are uninteresting."

Important crime-fighting news: guess who is the least likely to commit a crime!

See you tomorrow.

Old bike

Here's an old bike. I'd like to try riding one of these someday. Preferably on a soft surface. Part of my famous machinery series.

No post today - while it wasn't Massive Meeting Tuesday, it was Meeting Tuesday and I spent the entire evening at the Stake Center. Drove to work, which went very quickly in the morning and about par with training it in the evening. Fine day.

It's late. See you tomorrow.

Swarm

Here are a bunch of airplanes flying around at the Hiller Aviation Museum. They're a little short on air traffic control there. Part of my famous Machinery series.

Well, well, well. Busy weekend. And lots of (bad) stuff going on with the blog.

Let's start with the weekend, shall we. No blog on Friday. We were busy. Our friends came over for dinner and games. We had a very nice dinner (Bartholomew Beef!) but no games. We got busy chatting and never stopped. Until they went home. Maybe we'll play games next time. I hope there is a next time.

So there was no blog. Fortunately, Anon seems to have missed it. Frankly, I think Anon is laying low after last week's imposter Anon scare. Hopefully, it's safe to come back out of the woodwork.

Anyway. Saturday was quiet and peaceful. Didn't get much done, as I recall. I didn't have much of anything on the list, though. Picked up a few things at the store. That's about it. I think we jacuzzified in the evening. Or maybe that was yesterday. Sunday was extremely busy on the High Council front. Had a few callings to make, a few meetings to attend, and a setting apart to do in the branch. Also sang in the choir.

Speaking of which, the only real problem with my current calling is that the branch's sacrament meeting is at the same time as our choir practice. Sadly, I'm being forced to give up choir for the present. Maybe the practice time will change and I can still attend at least some of the time. But they certainly shouldn't change just for me. Although I am the only bass (link warning: really, really low Russian singing) who shows up sometimes. But definitely not every time. So they probably shouldn't change it just for me.

Bad news on the blog front, once again. I got some comment spam last week. I've had to institute Measures. So far, they're limited to captchas for all commenters and additional screening for comments on extremely old posts. Nothing too odious for my Loyal Readers, I hope. Really. I want to hear from you. I just don't want to hear from dishonest idiots. Unless they happen to be Loyal Readers, that is. Present company excepted, of course.

Otherwise, everything is normal. Oh, I do have some very important toilet news. Well, it's toilet-related news anyway. Valentine's day note to Loyal Reader Number Four: no thanks. Really.

Time for home evening. See you tomorrow.

Chopper pilot

Here's another one of those diseased statues. This one's piloting a helicopter. Probably on his way to the skin clinic. Part of my famous statue and machinery series.

Extreme Short Shrift yet again. Fortunately, my Loyal Readers prefer it that way.

Stayed home sick today. I had a very bad night last night but was feeling better around mid-day. I'm doing pretty well by tonight - thanks for asking.

Loyal Readers Numbers Two and Four and I went to CSU Stanislaus this evening to see a chamber music concert. LRN2's piano teacher was playing, along with a violin, a viola, and a cello. He's a music professor at the school and was previously the dean of Fine Arts department. We only use the best music professors around the Secret Undisclosed Location here in Lardville.

Oops, I appear to have disclosed the location. Keep it under your hat.

Anyway, the concert was beautifully done. They featured French composers, including two unknowns. The music was technically difficult, well played, and interesting. I'm glad we went.

To top it off, LRN2's teacher got us in for free. The general public paid ten bucks. Even students had to pay eight dollars.

Speaking of students, there were lots in attendance. I understood why when it was announced that programs wouldn't be stamped until after the end of the concert. It turns out they were there because they had to get credit for it. Well, maybe even involuntary exposure to culture does some good.

Nothing else to report, and it's time to watch McHale's Navy. See you tomorrow.

Skin problem

Here's a statue with a definite skin problem. It could be eczema. Or maybe the heartbreak of psoriasis. Either way, it makes you glad they had this guy behind a rope. I used to think ropes in museums were there to keep people out of the exhibits. Now I know it's to protect the patrons from things like this. Picture taken on Christmas Eve at the Hiller Aviation Museum. Part of both my famous Statue and Machinery collections.

Bad news. The Morrowlife blog had its first obnoxious anonymous comment today. Don't bother looking for it; I deleted it immediately. I know it didn't come from good old Anon - it was obviously an impostor who didn't care for my taste in statues. If he does it again, I'll delete the comment again immediately, of course, and -gulp- turn off anonymous commenting.

Don't worry, though, Loyal Readers. You'll always be able to comment. What fun would it be, otherwise? I'd sure miss good old Anon, though. Hopefully, the pruneface who wants to spoil our fun won't bother coming back.

I guess one nasty comment between November 2005 and now isn't too bad, though.

Let's see, what's new today? Hmmm . . . not much. Got up, commuted, worked, ate lunch, worked, commuted, ate dinner, blogged.

Oh, there is one new thing - I received my last Christmas present! I had ordered myself the beanbag dashtop GPS mount back in mid-December. It was advertised at the time as not available until sometime in February, so I guess you could say it got here early. It turns out to be quite large and quite heavy. I think it'll work, though. I plan to try it out in an actual car Real Soon Now.

- Later -

I just had to run over to a friend's house, so I decided to use the new GPS mount. It works great! Just sits up there on the dash and doesn't move. Loyal Reader Number Four isn't so sure it's overly safe in the event of a crash, but we won't worry about that, will we? Besides, I think I would look good with a GPS-sized impression in my forehead.

Finally, there's some good news on the toilet beat. Given our upcoming cruise plans, this is great news for LRN4 and me.

It's late and time for bed. No new jobs for Loyal Reader Number One. No controversy either. Sigh. Get on the ball, Dave Barry!

See you tomorrow.

Road walkers

Here are Loyal Readers Numbers Two and Four walking down the road at Anthony Chabot Regional Park. Photo courtesy of the famous Treo-cam. Part of my famous Camping series.

Short Shrift. It's not Massive Meeting Tuesday, but I do have an interview. So I'm out of the house for much of the evening.

Good day today. It was our last sunny, warm day for a little while, and it was truly beautiful. Rain and temperatures only in the upper 50s for the rest of the week. Including Off Friday. Too bad. We need the moisture, though.

Speaking of which, a friend - I can't remember who - said we've had no snow in the mountains this winter. It's absolutely dry up there, he or she said. That may be true, but I remember news reports from December that said the extremely heavy snows had reached all the way down to almost the thousand foot level. What happened to all that snow?

Anyway. Loyal Reader Number Two took the final for his Biology class today. He reports that it appears to have gone very well. Good work, LRN2!

Quick Juggernaut update: $11.72. I've made 52 cents this month alone, so far! Riches are just around the corner.

Loyal Reader Number One has been updating his blog pretty frequently. He made a very cool trip to a mine this past weekend and has posted the pictures. Highly recommended reading/viewing. If you're not on the photo album invitation list, comment on his blog and request an invite.

Nothing else new today. See you tomorrow.

Suited reader

Here's Loyal Reader Number Two on one of his many visits to space. I'm judging that spacesuit to be sufficiently complex that it's part of my famous Machinery series.

No post on Friday. We went to the opera - left the moment I got home and got back at eleven-ish. Sorry, Loyal Readers and thanks to Anon for noticing.

Enjoyed the opera very much. We saw The Barber of Seville. The acting was done broadly but appropriately for a comedy, the music was very nicely done, the singing was quite good, and even the chorus did a good job. On the downside, there were a few topical asides to the audience, but they were easy to overlook. We'd go back there. In fact, we just might.

Nice weekend. Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve were with us. They went home today, since LRN5 had the day off (I didn't, alas). LRN6 got interested in LRN2's balsa wood bridge building project and spent quite a bit of time designing and building prototypes. It looked like he was having a nice time and he certainly helped LRN2 quite a bit. Thanks, LRN6!

Let's see, what else happened? Not much work on Saturday out of me, that's for sure. I spoke in church on Sunday. I think it went okay. I used about a third of the material I had prepared. Of course. I had a full twenty minutes, so the fault was entirely mine. I don't think I spent enough quiet time preparing. More realistic job next time. There will be plenty of opportunities, fortunately.

Loyal Reader Number Four and I are officially going on an Alaska cruise in July! We signed up today. We're going with our friends Doug and Connie. The trip is ten days long, so I'm really hoping we love it. I think we will.

The new BlackBerry (link warning: phone demo with plenty of cheesy music) arrived today. I now have two cell phones to carry around. Alpha geek! The new bluetooth headset works perfectly with both. So there's something.

Finished Patrick McManus's newish book called Kerplunk! on the train this evening. Highly recommended. Everything McManus has ever published is gently funny. I can't get enough of his stuff. I've started another one from 1996 titled Never Cry "Arp!". It turns out to be a collection of previously-published stories for young readers. I'm going to read it anyway.

Let's see - what else? Ummm ... nothing. See you tomorrow.

Twin pack

Here's the famous Allison Twin-Pack turboprop aircraft engine. It's a unique combination of one engine in the front with two in the back. Behold the back view:


Part of my famous Machinery series. And an extremely rare double-great-art day.

More sunshine and warmth. I would say it's getting monotonous, but it's not. Bring it on.

I read about today's plane crash in New York. Thank Heaven everybody got out safely. That's a testament to excellent piloting and stout aircraft design.They said that after the evacuation was over, the plane was tied up to a pier somewhere. Amazing.

But we have to do something about those confounded Canada geese. They're everywhere in the east and have become a major problem. Obviously. I think we can (or should) all agree that they're no longer endangered. Time to open hunting season back up.

There's big news from Mars today. I have only one comment: they must be guys.

Along similar lines, we have today's toilet news: it's getting dangerous out there.

Time to do something else. See you tomorrow.

Wind tunnel

Here are a couple of pretty questionable-looking guys working on a wind tunnel model. Pretty big model for its time, if you ask me. And highly detailed. At least until you get behind the cockpit. Then it becomes sort of general. Part of both my famous Statue and Machinery series.

Fine day. Another beauty, weather-wise. Work went well, commuting went well and was characterized mainly by napping, with an hour of work thrown in for good measure.

My first Massive Meeting Tuesday went very well. I have a ton of assignments, including several callings to issue to members of various wards, a speaking assignment on Sunday, another speaking assignment at a fireside in early February, and lots of meetings to attend. I'm tremendously excited about it all and a little overwhelmed. The Lord will provide.

Loyal Reader Number Twenty-Four sent me a copy of this video:



Her father suggested I might like to add it to my collection. I'll have to give that some thought. Thanks, LRN24!

The video came from the Mil-Spec Monkey website. Somewhat messy website design, but they do have reviews of some pretty cool gear. Including the Tuff Writer Tactical Pen. (Available in Stealth Black, Sniper Grey, and Desert Brown!)

I found another perfect summer job for Loyal Reader Number One: frog listener. Of course, I'll be taking my usual ten percent finder's fee.

No more for tonight. See you tomorrow.

Sit down

Here's an invitation I don't think I care to accept. I believe this is a piece of rescue equipment used by helicopter crews to pick up downed pilots or other people on the ground. Spotted on Christmas Eve at the Hiller Aviation Museum, of course. I'm going way out on a limb and including this in my famous Machinery series.

Extreme Short Shrift. It's Massive Meeting Tuesday, and I don't expect to be home until very late. I'll post this when I get home. Will add Great Art and skip today's links.

Drove the Miata to work today, for the first time in months. The Massive Meeting timing just doesn't work for the train. The morning drive was quite normal - didn't take significantly less time than the train but was pleasant nonetheless. I got through a few podcasts but missed the old-time TV shows I've been watching. Also didn't get any work done.

Another beautiful, sunny, warm day. It's in the mid-sixties and is expected to be that way every day for the next week. I checked the Michigan weather forecast, and they'll be lucky to get out of single digits this week. My sympathies to my snowbound Loyal Readers. Drop in for a nice warm winter visit!

All is well. See you tomorrow.

Whirlwind

Here's another authentic Wright Brothers aircraft engine (see Thursday's post for the first one). This one is the real thing, though, and it's a thing of beauty. Part of my famous Machinery series.

Beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon. Turned the pickup's heater off and rolled down my window. And I wasn't even cool. Well, I was Cool. Just not cool. The Weather Channel folks were predicting 65 degrees and I have no doubt they exceeded it. Life in Northern California isn't so bad after all.

Back into the fifties tomorrow. Brrr.

Let's see, how was the weekend? Answer: not bad. Friday has been discussed previously. Saturday was pretty low-key. Loyal Reader Number Two and I looked at the Miata's leaky clutch. It turns out the slave cylinder looks pretty much brand-new and showed no signs of leakage. We opted to bleed the clutch and refill the reservoir and keep an eye on it. If that lasts another year, we're good. If not, further steps will be taken.

What else did I accomplish on Saturday? Ummm . . . nothing comes to mind. There was a good amount of relaxation, as I recall. LRN2 was invited to a friend's birthday party in the evening, so Loyal Reader Number Four and I took advantage of the opportunity to go out to dinner. We tried out Lardville's new Greek/hamburger place. We both had a hamburger and enjoyed them thoroughly. With our coupon, the entire bill came to $7.14. Not bad.

Sunday, is was sustained and set apart as a member of the High Council. I have responsibility for the Spanish Branch and the Young Women, including Girls' Camp. Combined with the normal High Council duties, like speaking in a sacrament meeting every month, attending numerous meetings, and other duties as assigned, I expect to be plenty busy. I'm really excited about it.

Sadly, I'll have to be released from the High Priests Group Leadership, which I've also enjoyed. You can't have everything.

Where would you put it?

Work was busy and relatively productive. I'm really enjoying the chance to do more managing under my current boss. And I think things are going very well. Probably. Maybe. Sort of.

Anyway. My new busy nights will be the second and fourth Tuesdays - especially the second. Bloggage will undoubtedly be extremely light to nonexistent those days. My Loyal Readers will just have to stay tough.

Haven't heard much from Loyal Readers Numbers Three and Five and their respective families. We're hoping that no news is good news. Tomorrow's Loyal Reader Number Six's birthday. Happy Birthday, LRN6!

That's about it for Monday. See you tomorrow.

Plane ride

Here's Loyal Reader Number One holding back Loyal Reader Number Twelve's airplane just long enough for me to get a picture. Seconds later, she was buzzing the room. Not part of any of my famous series. I hesitate to call that thing machinery, and I don't have an LRN12 series, although I probably should. Special cameo appearances by Loyal Readers Numbers Four, Five, and Six in the background.

Not much to write about tonight - my posts for the rest of the week have been voluminous enough.

Put chlorine in the swimming pool. Fed the fellas. Returned a bunch of library books and checked out a bunch of CDs, including several very good Christmas albums. Discovered the Miata has a massive clutch hydraulic fluid leak. Did some reading and a little bit of work. Also got my laptop set up for next week's Blackberry linkage. Worked on my iTunes music collection a little - getting album artwork and that sort of thing. Not much else. Good day.

Yes, I know it's a little late for Christmas music. Let's just say I'm getting a head start on Christmas 2009.

We'll finish with some toilet news. The creative minds working on the Space Toilet problem have come up with another unique solution. I don't see why only the astronauts should get such neat equipment, though. They should sell it to everyone! It would be perfect for . . . ummm . . . well, lots of people. Probably.

Today's Morrowlife controversy: Loyal Readers are invited to suggest terrestrial occupations that could benefit from the Space Toilet Diaper.

See you tomorrow.

Wright engine

Here's an authentic Wright Brothers aircraft engine. Sort of. Well, it's an authentic replica of an authentic Wright Brothers aircraft engine. Still cool, though. Part of my famous Machinery series.

The weekend's here! That's right, tomorrow's Off Friday. We have nothing huge going on, so I'm not showing up. Woo hoo!

And the best part is that I have nothing particular to accomplish at home, either. I'm sure we can think of some things that need doing, though. Let's try right now. Ready? Go!

Ummm . . . I ought to have a look at the pond filter. Maybe check the chlorine level in the pool. Pull Moe's 200 gigabyte drive and get it sent to Loyal Reader Number One. Clean off my dresser top. Maybe cook a nice breakfast. Possibly jacuzzify (that's not exactly work, but it can certainly be scheduled, can't it?).

That's enough for now. I'm sure other things will come up as the weekend unfolds.

LRN1 reports that the new Mac continues to hum along. He's still working on restoring data from the old machine. It's on my Mac's hard drive, and he's connected to it and copying data right now. Time prognostication: 50 hours. Yikes. But who's in a hurry?

Got the terabyte drive installed last night, but not in Moe. Turns out its motherboard has no SATA connectors. So it went into Larry. I'm planning to retire Moe at this point, so I'm sending its above-mentioned hard drive to LRN1. Moe will go into the Ready Reserves. For now.

Anyway. I connected the new drive at roughly 8:00 or 8:30 and started formatting it. By the time I went to bed at 11:00, it was only up to 38%. I presume it's done by now. We'll find out when I get home.

Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve went to Menlo Park today to interview for a job as apartment managers. It seems like a great opportunity and I hope they get it. So do they. This would be LRN12's first successful job interview.

I mentioned to my boss today that I've been spending an hour every morning catching up on email. When I told him I do it in offline mode because ACE hasn't gotten their free wifi service working again after two years of trying, he told me I ought to use my cell phone as a modem. I mentioned I don't have a data plan, and he said I should just use my company cell phone. "Ummm," said I, "I don't have one." So he suggested I get one. So I did. My shiny new Blackberry should be available on Monday or Tuesday.

Now I just have to find out whether it will be usable as a modem. Even if not, I can just read and respond to most of my email directly on the Blackberry.

I'm not crazy about the idea of carrying two cell phones, but that might just be how it has to be. We'll see how things work out.

In today's Morrowlife controversy, we examine a conclusively proven scientific fact. The controversial question is: Have any of my Loyal Readers actually sung into a karaoke machine? If so, why?

See you tomorrow.

Tiny fighter

Here's the original prototype for the F-117. It turned out it didn't have enough room to carry things like bombs, bullets, and fuel, so they scaled it up a little. Part of my famous Machinery series.

Lots going on, but nothing particularly interesting. But when did dullness ever stop me from discussing my deep thoughts?

So let's have a look. I finally gave up on Ubuntu's wretched Wifi handling. I tried the most recent two releases and neither one can do networking worth a darn (please excuse the bad language - I'm really angry here). They can't handle fixed IP addresses. They can't keep Wifi connected after a reboot without the user retyping his WPA password. They can't reliably announce their presence on a network. And they behave differently every time you start the computer. I've had it.

And to top it off, the people who are kind enough to provide free Internet-based help are unfortunately not very helpful, as a general rule. With several notable exceptions, they're either impatient to the point of nastiness or intentionally vague and incomplete in their explanations (as if to say "If you can't figure the details out yourself, you're not worthy of Linux"). Thanks for what little you're willing to do guys, but don't bother.

And I was so happy with Ubuntu Server's performance. For one thing, it was three releases old. And for another, I did all my configuration via the text-based configuration files - as opposed to the constantly upgraded but never quite functional GUI-based config programs. Sigh.

So I bit the bullet and installed Windows 2000. It took a good four hours to install, update, load drivers, and configure. But it works right.

That was a pretty bitter pill to swallow. I've long been a pretty staunch Linux partisan and I'm still sold on it as a server, but it needs to do networking right, for crying out loud.

On the other hand, pretty much everything else worked right. I just couldn't stay connected to the network.

Anyway. Loyal Reader Number One is working on configuration issues of his own. The new MacBook is working great, of course. But he went to download iWork '08 this afternoon and discovered that Apple no longer offers it as a download, since they rolled iWork '09 this week. I need to rip my disk when I get home tonight so he can copy it.

I wonder how people who just downloaded the software and then bought it online are supposed to reinstall.

Today's good Apple news: Picasa is now available for OS X. I'm installing it tonight. Maybe LRN1 will want to install it and use Picasaweb to share his Mac unboxing pictures. Maybe.

That's it for today. I'm planning to install the terabyte drive this evening. Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

Blue angel

Here's Loyal Reader Number Two practicing for his aerobatics routine with the Blue Angels. I believe he's one of their youngest members. Part of my famous Machinery series. Fortunately for LRN2, it's not also part of my famous Statue series.

Things are really feeling like they're Back to Normal. That's a good thing, sort of. Christmas is definitely over, which is sad (with the possible exception of the decorations, which make me happy before The Big Day but grow tiresome afterward) because I enjoy the long vacation and being home with the family, but happy because I also enjoy normality and peace.

I guess I just need to work myself into a position where being home with the family is my normal state. Hmmm.

Speaking of Christmas decorations, we have an ongoing post-holiday phenomenon at our house. No matter how hard we look, we always end up missing a few things. We usually find them within a week or so and then have to rummage around in the garage to store the errant objects.

This year, we found Loyal Reader Number One's stocking (overlooked in his room), our slightly sacrilegious door-hanger-pillow with the snowman nativity (on the pantry door), and the Christmas hand towel (on the oven door).

Which brings up an interesting question: What overlooked Christmas decorations have my Loyal Readers found and how long after Christmas have they found them? Comment, please. Maybe we should have a contest for the latest find - a lost Christmas decoration or something.

Great news! LRN1 reports that his new MacBook has arrived! When I last spoke with him, he had it in his hand. In the shipping carton, that is. It got there just before he had to head for class and then work. The plan was to go back to his dorm room this evening, open the biz, and bask in the warm glow of Apple goodness.

Wish I could be there. He has promised to take plenty of pictures. That ought to help ease my fanboy pain at least a little.

-- Update later in the evening --
The computer is out, updates are being installed, LRN1 has a copy of Windows XP Professional to install via Bootcamp, the computer is cool, and everything is once again right with the world.

See you tomorrow.

Santa Clara

Here's another one of those extremely uncomfortable-looking statue pilots flying a two by four with wings. I'm just grateful they've now developed more comfortable airline seats. Part of both my famous statue and machinery series.

Great weekend. Loyal Reader Number One went back to Provo this morning. He's already missed, of course. His flight was on time, his grandfather was there to pick him up, and he only missed his first class this morning. It's all good. He called me this afternoon to let me know his new computer has already been shipped from Singapore(?) and is now in Alaska. I expect it will be there sometime this week.

Yes, we ordered him a new computer. It's a 13 inch MacBook that ought to be pretty nice. LRN1 will use it until he leaves on his mission, after which it will revert to me. Take good care of it, LRN1!

LRN1's old (and I mean old) laptop has finally gone too weird to use. The optical drive won't read DVDs anymore, the wifi won't work anymore, and the machine has started generating random errors. We haven't given up on it - Loyal Reader Number Two has inherited it. He's nursing it along quite nicely. And using a long ethernet cable. He'll need to get a USB wifi dongle sometime soon.

I'm back to work. Sigh. We're just as busy as ever, but it was a good day. I'd rather be sleeping in every morning, but it's nice to get back into the routine.

Lots of new things happening at church, which will be described in detail next week.

I don't know what to think of my exercise plan now. Apparently, even though thinking makes you fat (see last Friday's post), it also makes you thin. I'm starting to wonder about these so-called "experts."

The weight-gain epidemic does seem to be getting worse, though.

My new 1 terabyte disk and Larry-to-TV cable arrived today. The cable works great - the picture is big and clear. The disk will probably work great, as soon as I move a bunch of files around the network to make room for it.

Time for bed. More weekend news tomorrow. See you then.

Pocket chopper

Here's the do-it-yourself chopper invented by the good folks at Hiller Aircraft. The idea was that it would be parachuted to a downed pilot in a big suitcase-type thing. The pilot would put it together in a matter of five minutes or so without any tools required, and fly it out to safety. It had a range of 50 miles and sounds like a great idea. The military showed interest, but ultimately didn't buy it. Too bad. Picture taken at the Hiller Aviation Museum. Part of my famous Machinery and Statue series.

Extreme Short Shrift again today. It's after 10:00 and I need to get to bed.

Didn't do many of the things on my schedule. It rained, so the Sable and Ranger didn't get washed. I never left the house other than my two-minute trip to the mailbox, so I also didn't get the Sable's oil changed. Need to try to get that done tomorrow. If it's not nice out, the car washes simply won't happen. There's a little more cleaning up and putting things away that needs to happen, and I'm hoping to clean the guns we used at the shooting range a week or so ago. I'd also like to get a tiny bit of work done on the Suburban and the Miata. As I mentioned to Loyal Reader Number Three while he was here, owning more stuff just means you have more things broken at any given time. Sigh.

My snoring exercise program has run into a snag. It turns out thinking makes you fat. I'll have to try to cut back a little. Either that or try snoring even more. Gotta drop those pounds.

I saw a great list of gadgets to buy. With hard times coming for lots of people, we need to start thinking about survival. These things seem like the bare essentials, don't they?

And that's it for the week. Loyal Reader Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve will be by tomorrow. Looking forward to it. See you on back-to-work Monday.

Hard landing

Here's an old airplane that had a hard landing up in Alaska somewhere. If memory serves, nobody was hurt, but that was its last flight. In fact, I believe this is the highest this plane has gotten since. Photo taken at the Hiller Aviation Museum and part of my famous Machinery series.

Happy New Year! Quiet day around here. I finished my Bernard Goldberg book and started one called Using Your Digital Camera, by George Schaub. I had low expectations, but it's actually been kind of interesting and even useful. Pretty much everything I've read in that genre previously was either way too elementary ("when you push the shutter button, a picture is taken"), marginally useful for only one brand of camera, hopefully out of date, or otherwise useless. Fortunately, hope springs eternal, so I tried this one. Moderately recommended.

We spent the evening playing Rage. We have some old Rage cards, but they were getting pretty raggedy. Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve gave us a new deck for Christmas. The rules are slightly different from what we're used to, which added a slightly new twist. Loyal Readers Numbers Four and One won the first and second games, respectively. After which we retired.

Watched a little bit of a football game this afternoon. Michigan State got creamed by Georgia or somebody. Fortunately, I didn't really care much. Also watched a few Monks, all of which I had seen before, but all of which I enjoyed. Mostly. The 2008 Christmas show was weak, but I generally even enjoy their weak shows. I'll be sad when that show jumps the shark.

Extreme Short Shrift tonight. It's a little after 10:00, and I need to start getting up in the morning in preparation for Back To Work Day. So I'm quitting. See you tomorrow.