Category Archives: Juicy Chunks

July 26, 2014 · 22:33

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Saturday, July 26th

‘Cause I started running today, that’s why.

  • I was hoping that the first run of the training season wouldn’t be quite so bad as in previous years when training started. My logic was that: a) even though I haven’t been running or exercising a lot I’m still overall in better shape and weighing less than I did in previous years, and; b) I’ve learned how to pace myself, my body knows what to expect, blah, blah, blah. All of that perfectly good logic appears to have been trumped by one simple fact – I’M OLDER.
  • Sitting here with the bright lights on at night, there are usually some kind of bugs tapping on the window, trying to get in and mate. (And we thought we had weird sex lives!) But tonight, it sounds likes hummingbirds trying to get in, repeated big smacks against the glass.
  • Three days in a row there have been attempts to launch a Delta 4 out of Florida – three days in a row they’ve had weather that looks like this:  2014-07-26 Cape Canaveral Weather Radar  This weather typically violates at least three or four (and sometimes as many as six or seven) launch rules regarding the weather. But the best comment so far (commentator unknown) has been, “The Russians would have launched!” It’s funny because it’s true. (On Monday they’ll try for a fourth time to launch the Delta 4, the weather’s predicted to have a 60% chance of being acceptable. By our standards, not the Russians’.)
  • Coldstone ice cream is proof of a God/Universe that wants us to be happy. With my current healthy eating habits I only get it once or twice a year. Tonight I had enough so that I’m starting to see time. THAT’s a sugar rush!
  • Is Joe Maddon, manager of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, just one of the neatest guys on the planet?  2014-07-26 Joe Maddon Tweet I think we knew it before, but this is confirmation.
  • Maybe the tiny bugs are teaming up and building tiny battering rams to try to get through the window and to the sexy light. Isn’t that how a Steven King novel starts?
  • Slatter’s Corollary to Murphy’s Tenth Law of Food says I’ll be regretting tonight’s ice cream tomorrow morning. Willett’s Rebuttal to Slatter’s Corollary to Murphy’s Tenth Law of Food says the ice cream tonight was worth it anyway.
  • Those bugs are really going to be disappointed, even if they break through the glass with their insectoid battering ram — it’s a double-pane window. (As a precaution against just this possibility, I might add!)
  • It really sucks when your computer locks up in the middle of writing a blog article and requires a reboot using the pull-the-plug-out-of-the-wall method. How do I know this, you might ask…

Remember, “Some days you’re the bug. Some days you’re the windshield.”

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Filed under Computers, Critters, Juicy Chunks, Running, Science Fiction, Space, Sports

July 14, 2014 · 22:08

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Monday, July 14th

‘Cause I’m going to watch the Home Run Derby, that’s why.

  • Say what you want about GoDaddy, but they have the best music when you’re on hold — ragtime! (And I really wasn’t even on hold that long.)
  • The secret to really enjoying your “Saturday Night Safety Dance” experience, contrary to popular belief, is not to turn it all the way up loud and dance all night. No, instead keep your volume at the ready, but keep the sound in the five to six range for all of those “Eh, that song, okay, whatever” songs, then crank it up and really rattle the walls  when you hear something really good coming on. Like Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” or Pet Shop Boys’ magnificent mashup “Where The Streets Have No Names (I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You).” Then turn it back down, rest, and save your energy for the next set of the good stuff.
  • Cloudy, humid, and something like five drops of rain on the windshield and every driver in LA decides he wants to run me off the road this morning. Oh, wait, they do that every morning, regardless of the weather…
  • Is it just me, or is the senior leadership of the NIH and CDC collectively acting like a gaggle of clueless freakin’ idiots? They’re losing anthrax samples, they’re carrying deadly virus samples around in simple ziplock freezer bags, they’re finding viable samples of smallpox that should have been destroyed thirty years ago, and the management response to all of this looks more like the Three Stooges. I know that I feel better knowing they’re in charge. Them and those Congress-critters running the gummint. We’ll all be fine. Don’t worry. Watch some television. “Honey Boo-Boo” is on next.
  • I had the oddest little encounter today with a jewelry store manager. (I was trying to get the battery replaced in my watch.) I can’t remember the last time anyone blatantly hit on me (trust me, as dense and naive as I am, it has to be blatant before I realize that it’s happening), but I can guarantee that this was the first time I was hit on by a guy. I wasn’t offended or repulsed so much as I was confused.
  • Congratulations are in order to both Orbital Sciences and SpaceX! On back-to-back days they successfully had hardware leaving the planet, Orbital sending a Cygnus cargo ship to ISS and SpaceX launching a Falcon 9 with six communications satellites. I love it when a plan comes together!
  • Along those lines, mark your calendars, one year from today the New Horizons spacecraft makes mankind’s first visit to Pluto before heading off into the Kuiper Belt to look for something else to fly by. The last of the planets to be seen up close, finally. (Don’t you dare even start with me…)
  • “99 Texting Acronyms & Phrases That Every Parent Should Know” popped up as a recommendation in my Twitter feed today, and while I can see where it could be helpful to a (possibly large) number of parents who are really technophobic and naive, I see another issue. If you’re a parent (or the author) and you have to use “f***” instead of “fuck” or “sh**” instead of “shit” or “a**” instead of “ass”, you’re going to have a lot more problems communicating with your children than just not being able to understand their text messages. I understand that there are words one doesn’t say in certain company or at work or around people who might be offended, and I’m not suggesting that everyone should be spewing the Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television in every sentence. But if you’re afraid to either speak or write words that your kids are using (and I pretty much guarantee that they’re using them like sailors when they’re not around you) you’re starting a battle with one arm tied behind your back.

Remember, “I’ve only got two speeds and if you don’t like this one, you’re going to hate the other!”

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Filed under Astronomy, Distracted Driving, Entertainment, Juicy Chunks, Los Angeles, Space, Weather

June 24, 2014 · 21:57

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Tuesday, June 24th

‘Cause if it ain’t one thing it’s another, that’s why.

  • The glumphing roof roamers are back again tonight. Please let it not be mating season.
  • Upon closer examination, the picture of the gravestone rubbing (10th picture down) at the Rockingham Meeting House does not show the art engraved at the top of the tombstone mentioned (11th picture down). They’re similar, but not the same. The editorial staff of WLTSTF deeply regrets the error and will dock my pay and assign me to our minor league affiliate in Prescott, AZ for a rehab start.
  • I hate worms. Especially when they come in a can, as a “gift.”
  • Just had a nice little ISS pass over SoCal. Nothing spectacular, not too high, not too bright, but nice. I left the camera inside, spent five minutes outside to watch — and will now spend the next hour itching due to all of the bug bites. Where are all of those bats when we need them?
  • Speaking of flying critters of the freak out variety, in Vermont last week, I saved the life of Mothzilla! During our class reunion the windows got opened and toward the end of the evening we noticed the biggest freakin’ moth I’ve ever seen outside of a zoo or museum. It was startling people just a tad, but when it came near me I supressed the urge to squish it into oblivion. Instead, forcefully telling my brain stem that it was harmless and would not bite, I trapped it in my cupped hands and let it loose outside the window.
  • I’ve mentioned my use of the term, “Not my float!” and where it came from. I now see that there’s a Polish proverb (if “FaceBook wisdom” is to be believed) that has the same meaning but perhaps a bit more color — “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” I like it!
  • If Mothzilla turns out to be the one that triggers the Zombie Apocalypse (“I, for one, welcome our new Zombie Overlords!”) you can blame me.
  • As I was musing on FaceBook tonight, I can’t be the only one who would be happy to never hear about LeBron James again, nor can I be the only one who could not possibly care less where he gets paid tens of millions of dollars to play next year? Fine, I’m more of a hockey, baseball, football, soccer, college sports kind of guy and think the NBA is pretty boring and seriously overrated (why can’t we just make it 95-95 and put two minutes on the clock, it will still take two hours to play…) but even by NBA standards, LeBron comes off as a pampered, overpaid, and whiny egomaniac. Can we get back to the biting guy in the World Cup? Or Wimbledon? Or the Tour de France? Or ESPN’s “Not Top Ten”?
  • People, people, people!! PLEASE remember that Snopes is your friend! If you see something on FaceBook and want to re-post it with a comment like “This is incredible!” or “This is unbelievable!” — that reaction should be your first clue that you’re spreading ignorant bullshit and making the world a stupider place! Thank you for your future consideration.

Remember, “It doesn’t take much to thrill an idiot.” (Thanks, Kevin! Great to see you again!)

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Filed under Astronomy, Critters, Freakin' Idiots!, Juicy Chunks, Not My Float, Sports

May 21, 2014 · 21:23

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Wednesday, May 21st

‘Cause I’m really PO’d and trying not to be, that’s why.

  • As my brain shuts/melts down, the one item I try to keep on top of the memory stack is the wisdom I learned from Crash Davis: “Don’t think, it’ll just hurt the team.“
  • Seven junk phone calls today to the land line, two from bots pushing political candidates and causes, two from live humans pushing political candidates and causes, and three from telemarketers. We’re getting really close to the trigger point where we take the phone off the hook until mid-November.
  • Is everyone checking in every now and then with the ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment? I’ve stopped watching it obsessively (and come on, isn’t “obsession” too harsh of a word for what’s simply a deep and abiding appreciation for the beauty of our home planet from low Earth orbit?) and now just remember to pop it on a handful of times a day to see where they are. There’s about a 50/50 chance that they’re in darkness or out of range of the TDRS system or ground stations, but if they’re in daylight… O. M. G!
  • We’ve all seen the hundreds of “test” sites on FaceBook where you can see which Star Wars character you are, which Gilligan’s Island character you are, which kind of storm or tree or dog or insect or house you are… Cute, for about ten seconds, but do people really not realize that they are giving away all kinds of personal information to marketing companies when they do that? You already have so much data out there and once you go to one of those sites from FaceBook, you’ve agreed to let the site have access to whatever other public information you have on FaceBook. Birthday, where you live, where you work, your marital status, where you were born, what you like, what you don’t, who your friends and relatives are… Lots of small, innocent, individual pieces but not that hard for someone’s computer to pull together into a really accurate picture of who you are in detail. Yeah, they may be using that data to try to sell you cruises and insurance policies. Or they could sell it (or they could be careless and get hacked!) and the buyer could use it for blatant identity theft. Given the risk, is it really worth knowing what kind of cactus you would be?
  • Speaking of manned (or “crewed”) spaceflight, particularly on the ISS these days, can anyone explain why they’re always wearing belts on their pants when they do an interview? It can’t to prevent their pants from falling down and it seems a waste. Is it just to keep the ground-based human critters from freaking out?
  • I want one of those driverless cars from Google. The sooner the better.
  • If you’re watching that ISS HD site on your iPad regularly, I recommend that you bookmark an ISS locator site (here or here, my favorite) and the direct ISS HD video feed site separately rather than using the link above. It will look much better using the full screen on a tablet or smart phone. If you’re like me, you’ll actually create two icons on your iPad that will take you directly to the sites rather than simply bookmarking them in your browser — if you want to do that and don’t know how, just ask, I’ll be glad to walk you through it.
  • On second thought, I want everyone else to be in driverless cars even more than I want to be in one. I want one for myself so I can do other things while travelling and not see that as wasted time. I want one for everyone else because there are a lot of really stupid and incompetent freakin’ idiots out there on the road every day and I don’t one of them to make me a dead person just because they’re a stupid person. That’s not a decent tradeoff.

Remember that other timeless piece of advice from Crash Davis: “Some days you win, some days you lose, and some days it rains.” I’ve always thought that was actually pretty profound.

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Filed under Astronomy, Freakin' Idiots!, Juicy Chunks, Movies, Space

May 4, 2014 · 21:46

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Sunday, May 4th

‘Cause I’ve got other things that I’m in the middle of writing tonight and I’m sore from catching up on some physically demanding house chores, that’s why.

  • They’re running those ads for the Fiat 500L where the guys lost in the desert find P Diddy’s party and convince themselves it’s just a mirage because the Fiat has four doors. Right? It’s sort of a stupid ad (I actually though it was for Mini Coopers as I started to write this, so I guess they’ve failed the ultimate test of any ad) but that’s not what I’m wondering about. Why are they playing Pharrell’s “Happy” at P Diddy’s party? Why aren’t they playing some of P Diddy’s music?
  • Is everyone else in the country getting 24/7/365 coverage of the Donald Sterling scandal thing, or are we just special here in LA? It’s already become my new “instantly change the channel to anything else” hot button item. There are so many aspects of “uber-ick” associated with so many of the players involved, digging deeper and finding more layers of slime isn’t what I’m interested in watching the press do.
  • Another annoying aspect of the NBA is how it absolutely dominates the local and national sports reporting. Sorry, but WHO CARES? I understand that it’s a big draw, lots of TV ratings, lots of passion, but why does it get 90% of the coverage, with the NFL Draft getting about 8%, and the entire NHL playoffs and all of the MLB regular season fighting for scraps of the other 2%. As for anything not in this country, such as the English Premier League or the upcoming Tour de France? Fugedda bout it! Would it really be too much to ask that an hour of SportsCenter on ESPN have only 15 or  20 minutes of NBA at most, with some balanced coverage of the other sports in the remaining 40-45 minutes?
  • Today was “Sheet Changing Day” at Casa Willett. This is a bigger deal than you might expect, and out of that I hope you will soon be seeing a madcap romantic comedy on the New York Times Best Seller list. At least, the Wednesday Writing Group likes where it’s going in the first draft. Remember — “Sheet Changing Day.”
  • The one guy in Los Angeles who’s the happiest over the Donald Sterling thing? Frank McCourt, no longer “it” as the most hated sports owner.

Remember that in a year or two it won’t matter worth squat if your hockey or football or baseball or basketball or soccer team won the Stanley Cup or Lombardi Trophy or World Series or the O’Brien Trophy or the World Cup. (Although it might matter if your baseball team won the Stanley Cup…) In twenty-five years, only a few die hards will remember. In a hundred years, only a few statisticians (or their computers) will remember. In a thousand years, they won’t even remember that hockey, baseball, football, basketball, or soccer existed, let alone who won. In a hundred thousand years (or a hundred, YMMV) there won’t even be any humans left, only the machines wondering how in hell humans ever made it out of the trees, let alone to the moon and beyond.

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Filed under Castle Willett, Juicy Chunks, Los Angeles, Sports, Writing

March 21, 2014 · 23:21

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Saturday, March 21st

As I mentioned elsewhere yesterday, I really need to take up kickboxing or skeet shooting. Life’s frustrations can pile up and need to be vented properly. Somehow bank reconciliations and answering emails just isn’t getting ‘er done.

  • Again it’s already 23:00??!! I’m getting too old for this crap.
  • As with so many people, my NCAA bracket didn’t even make it until noon Pacific. Dayton put a huge hole in my bracket, Harvard kicked me while I was down, North Dakota State punished me (presumably for being from South Dakota), and this morning Mercer just flipped off every bracket on the planet.
  • Fred Phelps is dead and for once I’m really, really hoping that my mother’s strict Catholic vision of Heaven is accurate. Fred vs. St. Peter is a conversation that I would pay good money to see.
  • At least I’m not a Duke basketball fan.
  • I whined, bitched, and spewed about how far Fry’s Electronics has fallen, and last night I felt the same sadness for CNN. Twenty years ago they were THE place to get sound, accurate, unbiased, factual news. I tried watching to get some late night updates on the missing Malaysian jet and found a panel of conspiracy theorists and assclowns who were too whacked out to give a decent opinion to the National Enquirer.
  • Absolutely astonishingly, there’s still one perfect bracket left in the QuickenLoans/Yahoo billion dollar thing. But the guy’s got at least three major upsets in the next round, including SF Austin beating UCLA, so I don’t think he’s long for this world. Warren Buffett will not be losing any sleep tonight.
  • You can’t watch CNN, the local news, and I’ll only watch Fox if someone has a gun to my head. Thank god for Twitter!
  • The CEO of Time-Warner Cable has been on the job for six weeks and is going to get $80 million when they merge with Comcast? Words fail me.
  • As for institutions that have gone into the toilet head first, don’t even get me started on The Learning Channel! Someone needs to be dipped in honey and staked to an ant hill in the sun for what’s happened over there.
  • The saddest part of all with places like TLC, TWC, and CNN, as well as with the people who are running them and becoming oligarchs in the process, is that I have no doubt at all that they honestly believe that they deserve more money for six weeks of work than fifty upper-middle class families will earn in their lifetimes combined. There’s no way that thought is logical or sane, yet it seems to be commonplace in “the 1%.”
  • I’m telling you, there are multiple dimensions in space and time right here on Earth today. We live in one. The 1% live in another one that only touches ours long enough to suck the life out of it.

Remember that if you violate the “do not call” list and interrupt me by illegally calling my phone in order to try to convince me that you’re with Microsoft technical support and I need to give you a credit card for a $500 charge to keep my computer running, I am under no obligation at all to be civil, polite, or to treat you like anything other than the slime you are. If I can’t go skeet shooting or kickboxing, at least I can screw with your head for kicks.

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Filed under Computers, Death Of Common Sense, Juicy Chunks, Sports

February 18, 2014 · 21:15

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Tuesday, February 18th

‘Cause my head can’t decide if it’s going to just keep throbbing endlessly or if it’s going to explode and scatter skull shards everywhere, that’s why.

  • When did the California CHP start using radar on the freeways? I thought they couldn’t do that.
  • I hate repairing toilets.
  • Regardless of #1 above, have I mentioned more than a few hundred times how much I hate people who drive at 65 in the fast lane when it’s clear, dry, and otherwise wide open traffic?
  • I thought that these Olympics we were supposed to have four or five cable channels going 24/7 with every event available live, or at least something close to that. We have one channel on about twelve hours a day (night) with live stuff, sometimes a second channel for four hours or so, then the prime time replay stuff for three or four hours. Did I get that wrong?
  • No, I didn’t get a speeding ticket, nor did I get pulled over and then charm my way out of it
  • Computers are wonderful — right up to the point where they totally suck.
  • Speaking of NBC’s Olympics coverage (we were, weren’t we?), who is this guy they have doing color commentary on the biathlon and Nordic skiing events? Can we get this guy some decaf?
  • You know that you’re STILL in love with the convertible when you drive with the top down even when it’s only 55 degrees and foggy.
  • Spring training games start in eight days!
  • Why does a computer that was working just fine yesterday suddenly not be able to connect on ANY web browser (IE, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera) while still well connected to the internet and other programs (Skype, Norton) can connect just fine?
  • I’m so glad that I can follow planetary scientists, astronauts, and other space and astronomy groups and individuals on Twitter.
  • “Game Of Thrones” Season Three is out on DVD now — time for another binge watching day! This time we’ll be ready when the new season starts next month. (“You know nothing, Paul Willett!”)

Remember, if it weren’t for the last minute, there wouldn’t be time to get anything done at all.

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Filed under Astronomy, Computers, Entertainment, Juicy Chunks, LA Angels, Space

January 15, 2014 · 22:11

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Wednesday, January 15th

‘Cause I’ve been laughing so hard I might have broken an internal organ or two, that’s why.

  • This is what damn near killed me tonight. I’ll entertain the idea that I’ve been dealing with some stress and pressure to the point where I was ready to pop like a balloon — this was the pointy thing that burst the bubble. Whatever. I still haven’t been able to read more than the first five or six comments without getting to the point where I can’t breathe and the dog’s whining because she thinks I’m dying.
  • There’s a very fine line between a cat trying to cuddle with you and a cat trying to see how much they can piss you off.
  • To Donald Trump and all of the other troglodytes who think that climate change is a hoax because they’re having winter, I would note that California’s in its worst drought on record and it was 95° F this afternoon in Orange County at 13:15.
  • At what point does being creative and purposefully “thinking outside the box” cross over into desperation and panic?
  • I actually had to use a trig function in a calculation for yesterday’s blog article. I’m still amazed that I remembered how to do it. (Shut up, Bob!)
  • It sucks when the dog gets old enough so she can’t jump up on the bed and instead just looks over the edge of it with those sad, brown eyes. “Anthropomorphism” my ass, you know that she remembers being able to jump up there, wants up there now, and knows that she can’t make it.
  • Whoa! Wide dynamic range of emotions there tonight, from laughing myself nearly into unconsciousness to sad, old dog eyes. As a pilot, you want to avoid those kinds of oscillations, they can lead to a loss of control. Which suddenly has a whole new meaning…
  • Tomorrow morning the nominations are announced for the Academy Awards and for us the scramble starts. How many of the nominated films for the “Big Five” categories (actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, best film) can we see before awards night? That way we can have informed and knowledgeable completely useless opinions instead of our usual ignorance-based useless opinions.
  • How do they determine who the weakest link is in a “prayer chain”? Is it based on the honor system, does God rat you out, or do we just check with the NSA?
  • And to think, I get paid for writing this nonsense!
  • Wait, what?

Remember to floss. At a bare minimum, do it when you’re changing the batteries on the smoke detectors on the day when we “spring forward” or “fall back” into or out of Daylight Saving Time.

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Filed under Cats, Death Of Common Sense, Dogs, Flying, Juicy Chunks, Movies

December 23, 2013 · 21:59

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Monday, December 23rd

‘Cause I’ve been putting up more lights all day and I’m sore, that’s why.

  • Nope, still can’t remember that really, really wise and juicy chunk o’ wisdom that I forgot in the middle of writing the post on December 9th. IT’S HAUNTING ME!
  • Um, yeah. Yesterday was Sunday the 22nd, not Sunday the 21st. It’s so tough getting good help.
  • Does anybody like the “Cherrios dust” that fills the bottom of the bag when all of the Cheerios are gone? That stuff is nasty!
  • It’s one of those times of the year when the International Space Station is making lots of very bright evening passes. Here in Los Angeles we have excellent passes on Friday, the 27th, at 18:34 and on Saturday, the 28th, at 17:45. (At least I believe those are the correct days of the week and dates of the month – you might want to double check that.)
  • I have started using Google Calendar a lot and for the most part I like it. But… Is there a way to “copy” or “clone” an appointment? By that I mean, can I pick an existing appointment, “copy” it, then go to another day and “paste” it with just the date changing? I know that there’s a way to set up repeating events (for example, a meeting every Monday at 9:00), but what I want to do is take a meeting or event that happens at irregular times (Tuesday at 16:00 one week, Thursday at 10:00 the next, and so on) and cut and paste, then just update the details that are different. Can this really be that hard?
  • If you’re off work tomorrow morning and your Christmas shopping is all done, tune into NASA-TV to watch the ISS spacewalk. I could watch that all day!
  • That tiny nihilist in me finds it so amusing to see staid news organizations like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal with headlines about the Russian punk band, “Pussy Riot”. I listen to punk, I’m about 99.9999999% sure that they’re not referring to cats.
  • I get that there’s this whole meme about cats and how they dance across your computer keyboard and keep you from working and they’re supposed to be more “cute” than annoying. Sorry, I’m going to stick with annoying, as in, EXTREMELY. Cute will only take you so far, especially when I’m on a deadline.
  • If anyone just won the lottery and is looking for the perfect last-minute present for me, I would refer you to this article from a few days ago. Thanks in advance! (Hey, if you don’t ask, you can’t be told to take a hike!)
  • Tough to decide which is cuter, snoring cats or dogs twitching and “woofing in their sleep” while having a doggie dream.

Remember, if someone gives you a holiday greeting, take it in the spirit in which it was given, even if it’s not the holiday greeting YOU use. If you greet people with “Merry Christmas!” and someone says “Happy Holidays!”, it’s not the time or place for a rant about some imaginary “war on Christmas” that Faux News dreamed up. If you’re Jewish and someone says “Merry Christmas!”, it’s not the time to start a holy war. If you burned candles on the solstice but someone says “Happy Chaunakah!”, say “Mazel Tov!” and smile. Let’s be nice to one another out there, folks!

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Filed under Cats, Computers, Dogs, Juicy Chunks, Space

December 9, 2013 · 22:36

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Monday, December 9th

‘Cause it’s windy as hell and I’m really starting to hate the wind, that’s why.

  • In the intro to last Thursday’s Flash Fiction Challenge, I said that no one had picked my “first two hundred word” piece. That’s changed. Someone picked it up and today (a couple days after the Friday “deadline” but who cares?) wrote a nice second part. Angela Carina Barry‘s work is posted here (scroll down until you find my original post at 8:59 PM on November 28th).
  • There was one particular really freakin’ brilliant gem that I was going to put in here, the wisest and juiciest of all of the juicy chunks o’ wisdom, which was the reason I picked this format to begin with for today’s post. Now I’ve completely forgotten what it was.
  • My desk sits next to a huge bay window, which is marvelous most of the time. I love the view of the backyard. But with the current cold snap in Los Angeles, this thing just bleeds cold air right on top of me. (Yes, it’s got double pane, insulated glass.) So I hung a blanket up across the window to shield myself from the frigid air, and it works pretty well. Except the cat’s favorite sleeping spot is in the bay window. For three days she’s been baffled by the blanket, but tonight figured out how to sneak around the corner and into the window. Then all of a sudden I see her head sticking out as she tries to figure out how to get back to me. It’s very cute. It’s a cat thing.
  • While cleaning up after painting, I tried out a technique I had read about online. It was described as a “fast and fun” way to clean the paint rollers. Basically, you take the garden hose, put the nozzle on the “Jet” setting, hold the roller out in front of you, then blast it with the hose. The roller will spin like mad, the water pressure from the hose will clean out the paint, and it’s faster than doing the cleaning by hand in the sink. Okay, first of all, it works like a charm. Having said that, I suspect that it’s “fun” if it’s done at the end of a hot, sweaty, summer’s day of painting, not out in a thirty knot wind at about 40F in the middle of the night. I guess there was a certain amount of “fun” involved, but there was also a significant amount of getting soaked. FYI.
  • It’s time for all of the “Best Of 2013” movie lists to start coming out and the jockeying for awards season. If nothing else, combining the lists of “best” movies from different groups will give you a pretty good list of what DVD’s to get (or to order on Netflix). We always try to see all of the movies nominated for the five major categories in the Academy Awards before the awards show itself, so these lists kick off a season of scrambling to see the ones we haven’t gotten to in the theaters.
  • As for 2014 movies, the first I had heard of “Jupiter Ascending” was when someone I follow on Twitter mentioned the new teaser trailer (here). It looks spectacular and has an awful lot of really talented folks involved. It could be spectacular — we can hope. We all need a little “spectacular” sometimes.
  • Vacuuming the ceiling is hard work! My arms are killing me tonight.
  • The raccoons are running around on the roof again tonight. I double checked the other day, they still haven’t gotten back into their hidey-hole.
  • On day twenty-four of the NaNoWriMo adventure, I mentioned that my computer hadn’t crashed yet even though I hadn’t rebooted it in four weeks or so and had been using the crap out of it with lots and lots of open windows and programs and bookmarks… Today it locked up and had to be rebooted. Whoever had “39 days” in the office pool can collect your winnings.
  • Still no clue what that forgotten wisest and juiciest of all of the juicy chunks o’ wisdom was. That’s disappointing and frustrating, but the worst part is hunting and trying to jog my memory and getting nowhere and knowing the whole time that the second I hit the “publish” button, THEN I’ll remember it.
  • Or at 3:30 AM.
  • Sometimes I hate my brain.

Remember that a bird in the hand will probably leave a mess there.

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