It’s truly astonishing how big these jets are.
Coming out of LAX, even at over 10,000 feet and almost 300 knots, it looks freakishly large. Yet it just seems to float there, as Douglas Adams said, the same way bricks don’t.
Airbus 380. Impressive.
No Context For You – September 16th
While I know where and when the picture was taken, I don’t know what it is, what it does, or whose sneaker that is.
I’m pretty sure it’s not mine.
In other not-so-riveting news, you may noticed that after two weeks of writing for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction prompts (here and here, and I liked them a lot), this is the third week in a row where there hasn’t been one.
The first reason is simple – Chuck’s been busier than god (he might have been at Worldcon or Dragoncon or both) and we haven’t gotten new prompts for the last three weeks. Not that I’m in any way blaming, it’s a volunteer space that Chuck provides to begin with, so I’m more than happy with whatever we can get. But if he doesn’t do the prompt…
Secondly, given what my schedule has been like for the past month between deadlines at work (which we met – I do sincerely LOVE being on one of those “highly functioning teams” that they taught us about in the Pepperdine MBA program!) and the trip to Chicago for Worldcon, I don’t see any way that I could have squeezed in time to write in those three weeks. So I guess it all worked out.
Finally, are there other “Flash Fiction” prompts out there that are open to whoever wants to jump in? If you know of any, please point me to the sites in the comments. I want and need to be writing, it’s time to open up my options!
Filed under Photography, Writing
NFL Week #2
We kicked it off this week with the Thursday night game. Arrowhead was rocking like it should be, a great venue for a great showdown against our interdivisional rival, the Chargers!
Twas a great game, which the Chiefs won 27-24. It was tight all the way with the deciding big play being an interception by the Chiefs and a 99-yard runback for a Pick Six.
The fun part was having a Board Zoom meeting from 16:00 to 17:00 with the game starting at about 17:10. Let’s not allow that meeting to go long! (Not a problem.)
The best part was being dressed in some of my pre-game Chiefs gear for the meeting. We’re not one of those companies where we’re really strict about protocol, and my pre-game stuff is pretty tame (no beads, no funny hats, no face painting, etc) so it was good for a laugh or two and some friendly ribbing.
It’s all good. We’re 2-0, and with no Chiefs game on Sunday, there might be some alternative activities available. They just opened a new grocery store, an Aldi, the first in the area. Maybe a visit there instead of the same, old Ralph’s.
Do we know how to party hard or what?!
Filed under Castle Willett, KC Chiefs
Sometimes The Lyrics Just Click
If you’ve listened to any country music in the past twenty years or so, you’ve heard Toby Keith’s “You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This” a time or seventy-three. A cute enough love song, I guess, with a video that’s a bit on the creepy side for my tastes.
Anyway, today it came up on my playlist while my brain was busy doing some routine work and suddenly all of the words clicked. But it’s not love that Keith’s talking about!
“Something shot right through me, my heart skipped a beat in time…”
That’s not love, or even lust.
That’s a PVC, or Premature Ventricular Contraction. I’ve had them for years, even to the point of wearing a Holter monitor for a day to make sure they weren’t something more serious. Mostly harmless – unlike what the cougar in the video is going to do to that young stud muffin.
“I even think I saw a flash of light…”
Again – not passion, or a bolt of metaphysical, super psychic energy impacting your cranium from the great beyond.
Nope, that’s a PVD, Posterior Vitreous Detatchment. I had that about a year ago. Lots of floaters and spots and at night and in dark spaces I get flashes of light sometimes, especially when I blink. You get used to it. It can be serious and an indication of something much worse going on, but monitoring it with an exam every six months or so seems to be working fine.
So, much like the cold, harsh reality of the ending of the video, we see that the romantic, gushy, sappy love song is just a sign that we’re all getting old, falling apart, and soon to die. Probably painfully.
(I may be Captain Buzzkill now, but I’m bucking for Admiral Buzzkill!)
Happiness Is Only One Line Showing On A COVID Quick Test
You know – sort of like this!
We tested when we got home from our Chicago/Chambana trip, and then again five days later. We’re good!
I pretty much don’t go out at all still, or at least compared to pre-COVID days it’s much less than 10% as much. A lot of that is working from home instead of going into the office, but also going to sporting events, the CAF hangar, concerts, movies, shopping, and so on.
And when I do go out, I’m masked. Period.
And I’m fully vaxxed, including two boosters, and I’ll be getting the bivalent booster as soon as I can, which should be soon.
I’m still just astonished that everyone isn’t doing that. When the zombie apocalypse comes, we don’t have a prayer if the response to COVID is any indication.
Filed under Health, Photography, Travel
Random Old Photos – September 12th
Escewing photos from the day of the iconic campus builidings, I like this one of the odd bare tree with red flowers and no leaves. I was visiting my daughter at UC Irvine, 16 years ago, 26 years after I graduated from there.
Time is weird, man.
Filed under Photography
NFL Week #1
And we’re off! My beloved Chiefs did well, opening on the road in Arizona and soundly thumping the Cardinals, 44-21 (but it wasn’t that close…).
The house has been appropriately decorated with the addition of this year’s Chiefs Kingdom flag.
We’re going to need a bigger living room…
Filed under Photography
Play #5 For This Season
And the Ahmanson already has banners up for next year’s season. “2:22,” which is some kind of supernatural thriller. “Ain’t Too Proud,” which will have great music. “1776,” which is currently on Broadway and one of my all-time favorites.
Tonight we have drizzle, and the legal vax & mask requirements have been relaxed (idiot politicians!) but we’ll be masked up anyway. It’s a policy that got us through two plane trips, Worldcon, lots of sightseeing and restaurants in Chicago, and still with negative COVID test results.
Are any of you getting out to do anything fun this weekend? Tell me in the comments!
Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles
Full Moon Through Storm Clouds
After months and months of drought and an almost total lack of rain here in Los Angeles, tonight we have the outer bands of a Pacific hurricane sweeping over us. The worst of it is in the deserts and mountains inland toward Arizona, but we’re at least getting enough rain here to water the lawn a bit. Which is great, because with the water restrictions the drought has mandated, it’s been a while since there was much water out there, and it’s been well into the low 100’s every day for weeks.
Last night, as the 99% full moon was high (not a “supermoon,” but the “averagemoon” gets lousy press) it was visible coming in through the leading edge of the storm clouds.
Good thing Halloween is coming – this was spooky looking.
It was actually gorgeous, but “spooky” has had the same PR agent as “supermoon” for years, and it sells better than “gorgeous.”
Tonight, still a full-ish moon, but the clouds are way too thick to see anything. We’re just grateful for the rain.
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Weather
More Chicago Pictures
On the eighth day we returned – on the ninth day I had to start catching up on work that had been put off for eight days. While I have wonderful and amazing co-workers and we have a fantastic team, the fact is that there are things that have got to get done. So instead of thinking or writing much (and there’s no Flash Fiction again this week, so far as I know) here are a few more pictures from our visit to Chicago.
This high-rise condo or apartment building was opposite our hotel and I have a thing for patterns in my photographs. These patterns were nicely broken up by the rain drops on the windows, something we get very, very rarely these days in Los Angeles. (On the other hand, we’re expecting to get sideswiped by a Pacific hurricane for the first time in twenty-five years with heavy rain and local flash flooding tomorrow through Sunday, so things are getting weird.)
Next to that high-rise condo building was that one that I referred to a couple days ago as looking “sort of like a fountain pen sticking up.” For Labor Day weekend at least, it was lit up at night in red, white, and blue. Way, way down in the bottom right corner, three blocks from our hotel, was one of the Giordano’s restaurants, where we got that wonderful deep dish pizza.
Here it is again, to the right of the dark brown building, which is the Hyatt Regency, site of the Worldcon. This view is from the other side of the Chicago River, when we were on a quest to find those Chicago dogs. (The kind with pickle, relish, tomato, onions, but never, ever any ketchup!)
Inside the Hyatt at night, everthing over by the restaurant and bar in the huge atrium is lit with slowly shifting colors all night. Quite colorful and vibrant – I wish I had thought to take a time-lapse of it. Oh, well, next time maybe.
Now, back to work!
Filed under Photography, Travel
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 