Author Archives: momdude

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About momdude

Space cadet | Family dude | Photographer | Music lover | Traveler | Science fiction fan | Hugo Award nominee | Writer | 5x NASA Social participant | KC Chiefs fan | LA Kings fan | Senior Director of Finance & Administration for ALS Network | Member & former staff Finance Officer at the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing | Hard core left-wing liberal | Looking for whatever other shenanigans I can get into
December 21, 2018 · 17:38

Adventure!!

We have rarely, if ever, traveled during the holidays. Part of it was being home with the kids and all, part of it was the horrors of, well, travel during the holidays.

This year is different. An opportunity came up, the kids have all long since moved out, and hell, why not?

YOLO!!

Yes, well, about that…

We were supposed to be getting to the airport about now, flying to Seattle, but the airline sent an email telling us that the flight was delayed by at least three hours. Which would mean that we would miss our connection and end up sleeping on the floor in Oakland waiting for a connecting flight in the morning. Not my idea of a good time.

After over a half-hour on hold we’ve gotten switched to another set of flights that will get us into Seattle about 1:30 AM. Also not my idea of a good time, but better than the alternative.

I plan on having a good time on this trip, but between the flu earlier in the week and this start to the trip, I’m wondering if the gods have other plans.

I hate it when I have to fight with the gods to have a good time!

Oh, well. It will be an adventure. Where’s my adventure hat?

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Filed under Travel

December 20, 2018 · 19:07

Timing

There’s a reason there was no post yesterday. In one of the worst possible times I’ve managed to come down with a touch of flu.

The good news is that it appears to be a mild case. After spending about twelve hours “worshipping the porcelain god” last night I’m past the worst of that (I hope) and now just dealing with a fever, body aches, and feeling like I would lose a battle with a drunken kitten.

Since I run an accounting department and it’s the last two days our office will be open this year, this is far from ideal. Since we have a Christmas trip planned and I’m supposed to be on a plane tomorrow, it sucks a LOT.

EGBOK – Everything’s Gonna Be OK

The good news is that while I was home this afternoon for one of my brief waking periods I got to watch bits and pieces of the original “Airport” movie on cable. I loved that movie as a kid but hadn’t seen it in decades.

Now I don’t know if it was the fever that made the movie so hilarious and BAAAAAAD or if it’s just that it was (by today’s standards) a terrible, terrible movie. (David Attenborough narrator voice: “It was not the fever.”)

I did note that, like with Tuesday’s article about the Hallmark Christmas Movie plot generator Twitter bot, at the end of “Airport” the “…and they fell in love” tagline still applies. They just all fell in love with people who were not the ones they were married to.

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Filed under Uncategorized

December 18, 2018 · 23:44

STUNNING Holiday Insight!!

First, the annual Willett Family Christmas Card Deluge (WFCCD) has been consummated. 323 cards out in this morning’s mail. If you’re not on the list (did you get a card last year?) and you want to be, there are still a dozen cards left – let me know and I’ll make it happen.

This year we used the 2016 “Views Of Our Planets” stamps.

Image courtesy of USPS

 

Sweet! Sweeter was the fact that I actually was able to find them in the boxes – still sorting things out after the huge move earlier in the year.

Wait, you think that I went out and bought hundreds and hundreds of these amazing stamps from two and a half years ago? Yeah…no! They’re now only available as a collectible thing and on Amazon they’re running about $18.25 a sheet for $8.00 worth of postage. Thank you, I’m just slightly smarter than that and I am occasionally capable of thinking long term. Since I like having cool stamps for the WFCCD, when I see a cool new issue I go out and buy enough to do a whole year’s batch. Think of it as investing in Willett Christmas Cheer Futures (WCCF).

Last year was the Star Trek stamps

Image courtesy of USPS

(which are still available on the USPS Online Store, BTW), and in 2016 it was the “Pluto Explored” stamps.

Image courtesy of USPS

You should see what I already have lined up for 2019 and 2020!! (We need more holidays, I’m falling behind.)

Yes, I get tremendous amounts of Geek Cred Points for this nonsense. At least in my own head I do, and that’s the only place that counts.

Secondly, being in a household where the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies (HCCMs) are on about 24/7 from mid-November onward, I’m getting a great deal of pleasure from the @MallHarkXmas account on Twitter. It’s a bot that kicks out a new HCCM synopsis every six hours. For example:

or

Some of these sound better than the actual HCCMs.

Finally, while putting the cards together there were Christmas songs to listen to, including my all-time favorite:

Listening to this story I had a STUNNING Holiday Insight! (Thus today’s article’s title – took long enough to get here, huh?)

This song is basically an 80’s pop-synth punk version of a Hallmark Channel Christmas Movie!!

“And. They. Fell. In. Love!”

(I might also be easily stunned. Or maybe it was Christmas card envelope glue poisoning. We all know how deadly that can be.)

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Filed under Music, Silly Shit

December 17, 2018 · 23:33

No Context For You – December 17th

 

There’s a lot of darkness out there.

The lights in the darkness might be growing smaller, getting blurrier, fading into the distance.

But they’re not going away.

Keep focusing on the light and working toward reaching it.

“We love the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”

We need the dark to see the stars. There can be beauty there. But the beauty is in the contrast, in the new wonders revealed, not in the overwhelming of everything in darkness.

Balance. We have to make it happen. And in times of great darkness, we need to hold onto the lights.

Even the small, faint, receding, blurry ones.

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Photography

December 16, 2018 · 21:15

Tree Fred

Faithful readers will remember that at the old house we had all sorts of California alligator lizards living in the yard. We named them all “Fred.” (Pictures here, here, here, here, here, and so on.)

When we first moved to the new house in May, I was delighted to see some living in the yard here, some of which were “Freds” and some of which were “Bubbas”. It has however been weeks since I’ve seen of of our reptilian yard dwellers. I was starting to get worried.

Today it was warm and sunny and while doing dishes I noticed the large “Tree Fred” out sunning himself (herself? how does one tell?) on the trunk.

When I first came out Tree Fred scurried and hid.

But patience is a virtue and he came back out.

I was moving very slowly so as not to spook him. (And I had my big, 300mm telephoto lens.)

Tree Fred kept a close eye on me, but allowed a few photos from about ten feet away.

I was happy to see that the birds & other critters haven’t eaten all of the lizards! Circle of life and all of that, but I like having Freds and Bubbas in the yard!

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Filed under Critters, Photography

December 15, 2018 · 23:59

PBJ Engine Start

Video from today:

…will not upload to save my freakin’ life.

And on that note, I’m going to declare victory, bow to the inevitable, and go to bed.

Trust me, it’s cool, and I had a really great punchline.

 

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Filed under Uncategorized

December 14, 2018 · 22:39

Kids These Days!

“Can I bring my kids to the Wing Christmas Party?”

“Sure! It’s a family event! Why not?”

“Wait, what?”

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Filed under CAF, Critters, Photography

December 13, 2018 · 23:55

Stress Levels

It’s a revelation, although probably neither a unique one nor a stunning one.

But it just occurred to me that with the current issues from all directions – personal, professional, political, societal – I can barely remember what it was like to NOT have a half-dozen things at once trying to tie my guts into knots.

I know that such times existed, and not that so terribly long ago, when I could just to a large extent put life on cruise control for a while. It’s not that those times had no stress, just that it was more manageable and only spiked occasionally. Even then the peaks were terrifying – just stressful.

Now it seems like the “good” days are when I’m only at an “8” on a scale of one to ten, while most days are at a “9+.” And then there are the occasional days that go to an “11.” (Insert Spinal Tap meme here.)

When I make myself aware of this state I can remember the more normal times and on an intellectual level I can believe that those days will return. I’m having more problems convincing my gut that it will ever unclench.

Others have lived through such times. Intellectually (again) I suspect that the “normal” times that I want back are in fact the outlier when considered across the long arc of history. Probably by several standard deviations from the norm. That doesn’t make me want them back any less.

This stress thing sort of sucks.

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Filed under Deep Thoughts

December 12, 2018 · 23:46

Headphone Quest

I’m on a mission from God.

I need some good headphones or earbuds.

Years ago Sony made a really, REALLY good set that I just loved. This was before Bluetooth really worked well so they were corded, but that was fine. They had the BEST little hooks to go over my ears, they wouldn’t fall out or jiggle loose if I was running or exercising, they were comfortable, and they had great sound.

Of course, Sony stopped making them. No doubt just to spite me and piss me off. Well played, Sony…

I still have a pair, but they don’t work with my current iPhone since Apple in their utterly finite wisdom decided to get rid of the headphone jack on the iPhone 8.

Since I upgraded to the iPhone 8 a couple years ago it’s been one thing after the other, none of which is particularly satisfying.

The corded funky-shaped fancy ones that come with the iPhone give the best sound – but they don’t stay in very well.

I’ve got people at the office who sing the praises of the Apple Bluetooth ear buds, which are basically the same as the corded funky-shaped fancy ones but without the cord. They don’t stay in very well and then when they fall out they’re lost (and expensive to replace) because they’re not on a cord. Bounce, bounce, bounce, away they go, into traffic, into the gutter, into the bushes, into oblivion.

I researched ear buds for runners, corded and cordless, and got a pair of the best reviewed set.  The best thing about them is that they’re at least are connected together by a cord that hangs on the back of your neck. I’m not sure who reviewed them and said they were the best, but I have some strong disagreements on their assessment. They’re fine (mostly) if I’m sitting at my desk, but even walking around the house has them falling out.

So, falling out’s a problem! #1 on the hit parade when it comes to being useless. Screw that design!

I went on Amazon a couple of weeks ago and found a couple of different “cheap” (i.e., less than $30) corded “over the ear” ear bud sets. They stay on better than the ones without the “over the ear” plastic bits, but they’re nowhere near as good as the old, beloved Sonys. And while they stay on my ears, they’re not very good at staying IN my ears. They’re constantly creeping loose and wiggling out, so that while I can still hear the music, it’s tinny and a lot of outside sound gets in.

They’re better, but only because the bar wasn’t very stinking high.

Looking online it seems that possibly the best bet is to go to a full set of headphones rather than ear buds. I was sticking with ear buds because I want to run and exercise with them and I’m assuming that it’s awkward to do that with a full set of Beats (or whatever) on and that they would be heavy. But maybe that’s an assumption to be tested.

Of course, if I get a nice pair of wireless Beats (or whatever) and the sound is great and they’re lightweight for running and all of those wonderful things, then they probably cost $300 or more. And they may or may not be waterproof or water resistant, which is an issue since I tend to sweat when running long distances and sometimes do it in inclement weather.

Which, to be clear, at this point, I would pay if I could just solve the damn problem. I just don’t want to spend it and then find out that I simply have yet another set that are so-so at best and tend not to get used because they piss me off.

Any suggestions? Does anyone have anything that they’ve found wonderful for running and exercising that gives good sound but also is light and comfortable?

Alternately, if anyone sees that photo and says, “Oh, those are Sony XYZ87’s – I’ve got a whole box of them here we’re trying to get rid of, do you want four dozen pairs or five,” please let me know. I’ll worship at your feet.

As soon as I figure out how to plug the things into my iPhone 8. Or downgrade back to an iPhone 6.

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Filed under Music, Running

December 11, 2018 · 22:57

No Context For You – December 11th

What color is chrome?

Is there a chrome Crayon?

It’s sort of grey, or silver-ish, but with lots of white highlights.

I probably should have learned that it all of those art courses I took decades ago, huh?

A dark month, December. The days get shorter, the nights get longer, the temperatures drop, the winds howl, the rains arrive.

Is it any wonder that at the solstice we celebrate, no matter the religious or cultural justification?

Do we think we can frighten the night and the cold away with frantic noises and celebration? Do we as an “enlightened” people simply recognize the results of axial tilt and recognize the circumstantial passing of a defined point in the calliope of Newtonian mechanics? Or does it even matter?

We’ve made it through 11/12ths of this 2018 ordeal. Let us gather our strength to finish strong and bravely meet 2019 head on.

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Filed under Art, Photography