Monthly Archives: January 2020

January 11, 2020 · 23:54

No Context For You – January 11th

$107.50 by my count.

It occurs to me (again – not a new thought) that accounting is basically just a game in the same sense that video games or D&D is. Of course, it comes with real life stakes and consequences which “Halo” or D&D might not, but at its core it’s just a massive puzzle with a few simple rules and a TON of details.

The trick, of course, is to understand those rules and to manage those bazillion details to solve the problem and keep playing the game.

The devil’s always in the details.

 

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January 10, 2020 · 23:48

Dork

What’s the use of having a blog with a readership of … dozens? on a good day? … if you can’t use it to post pictures of yourself looking like a dork?

First of all, it was “Flannel Football Friday” at work and as the only one there with a team still in the playoffs, this new Christmas present shirt was perfect.

When I got home the whole house was open and a bit on the chilly side (49° outside) and I wanted to listen to some music while I got some work done for the hangar tomorrow, so I found a really big ski cap and put it on over the Officially Really Nice Bose Headphones.

I was told, “It’s a look!”

Yes! Yes it is, and no one pulls it off like me!

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Filed under Paul, Photography

January 9, 2020 · 22:54

Penalty Flag

I found this on the floor behind the desk in my office this morning.

A dropped cleaning rag from the night crew? NAH! It’s yellow, that’s a penalty flag!

But what did I do?

Illegal motion? The only motion I wanted last night was to go home, and there’s nothing illegal about that!

Illegal procedure? I’ll have you know that my accounting records are 100%, strictly above board!

Holding? Um, not in the office, thanks. Nothing good can come of that in the long run.

Illegal touching? My favorite penalty – but see “Holding,” above. Besides, the best touching is always consensual, not illegal. (Remember kids, don’t settle for consent – hold out for enthusiasm!)

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Filed under Farce, Photography

January 8, 2020 · 23:58

Seven Minutes Left

…to another day that feels like it was spent wrestling rabid alligators from 6 AM to midnight.

The good news is that I’m getting a SHIT TON of things accomplished. Feeling successful. Feeling accomplished.

The bad news is that I’m not sure I’m even making a decent sized dent, let alone finding the light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s that marathon thing again. (Search for it on this site – I’m too freakin’ tired to find it and link to it.)

Two minutes left…

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January 7, 2020 · 23:05

Chopper

Police?

Probably not, they tend to circle. This guy was hovering.

News or a TV station?

Maybe, but they always have a honkin’ huge camera (or two) hanging off the nose. This guy has something under the cabin, but it doesn’t look big enough to be that big high-def, gyro-stabilized, computer-controlled setup.

Best guess? This was Sunday afternoon and he was out over Castle Peak (that mountain to our west that you see in the pictures from when we were almost on fire about fifteen months ago) and I remember from the local FaceBook group that there were dozens of people getting together to climb it. That’s not that big of a deal – it’s part of a wilderness park and there are a couple of trails. But it would have been unusual to see a hundred or so people traipsing up and down the mountain.

Maybe that was it.

Maybe.

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Filed under Flying, Photography

January 6, 2020 · 23:44

Windy Night

The winds were back last night, at least at our house.

Those are the wind chimes that were banging away, with the trees in the background swaying and swishing and whooshing and generally making lots of very loud, spooky noises.

What’s really weird is that a couple of folks at work who live within a couple of miles of here kept getting “HIGH WIND!” alerts on their phone, but it was calm as could be. Meanwhile, when I took out the trash tonight I found that the BBQ has been wandering again. It’s sitting ten feet away from where it was parked, and the big, heavy cover that was on it was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe I’ll borrow a set of chocks from the hangar. If they’re designed to keep a B-52 or C-46 from wandering, maybe they can keep the BBQ in place.

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Filed under Castle Willett, Photography, Weather

January 5, 2020 · 23:18

What’s The Over/Under?

Sending text messages to friends and family in the last week, we found the Easter Egg in the iOS Messages app. (It wasn’t hard, this was not an achievement of spectacular investigative skills.)

When you type “Happy New Year,” you get:

It’s about a five-second fireworks display. Cute! I love fireworks!

It apparently doesn’t trigger if you’re just got the “Happy New Years” phrase embedded in a longer text. My guess was that it would work for a day or two around January 1st, but I was surprised to see it still working today.

So, what’s the over/under on when it stops working? January 10th? January 31st? March 31st? July? Thanksgiving?

I’ll be testing. Feel free to help. Text “Happy New Year!” to me every few days. Yeah, the Apple and Google and Facebook and Cambridge Analytica systems that are watching every keystroke will think that we’re weird as hell – but that’s probably a good thing.

(It’s also not inaccurate.)

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January 4, 2020 · 23:20

Cirrus, Moon, Twin Contrails

It’s a simple, common sight.

The moon seen through a broken, high layer of cirrus clouds, the sky being split by two horizon-to-horizon contrails.

Yet how many of us ever stop to admire the beauty of the sight? The subtle, infinite variations of blue and white…

The news is shit, other aspects of our lives may or may not have us ready to run screaming. But with this view, for a couple of minutes at least, perhaps we can push the horror to the side.

Those meditation apps with the weird Australian guys might help also.

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Filed under Photography, Weather

January 3, 2020 · 23:43

Art Or Not Art?

There’s a Twitter bot account called something like “Art_Or_Not_Art” and when you see something really weird you can hashtag “Art Or Not Art” (or something, not exactly sure how it gets triggered) and the bot will reply with either “Art” or “Not Art.”

Although, in truth, I think it simply replies with “Art.” I have ***NEVER*** seen it reply with “Not Art.”

This might be the day.

Art? Or Not Art?

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January 2, 2020 · 23:32

Chaos 2020

You know that infamous rant by Jim Mora, coach of the Indianapolis Colts, when some reporter asked him about making the playoffs?

In that same squeaky voice (with pretty much the same graying hair, pretty much the same sagging chin, and pretty much the same sense of frustration) imagine me saying, “Routine?! You want to talk about ‘routine’?”

What’s up with this 2 days off, 1 day on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 2 days off, 1 day on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 2 days off shit?

Granted, it’s better than not having any of those extra days off in there. But when you put that on top of the year and the decade changing, I’m having a tough time remembering what day of the week it is, let alone which month or year.

It’s like being on one of those bull riding machine that’s set up for almost 100% chaotic movement, no predictability, no pattern, nothing to do but hold on for dear life.

At least next week will have five work days in a row, which means only one “Monday.” (My god, has it come to this, that I’m grateful for five work days in a row?)

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Paul