January 11, 2022 · 23:03

Abandonment Eve

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“A poem is never finished, only abandoned.” – Paul Valery

“A work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned.” – E.M. Forster

“Books are never finished – they are merely abandoned.” – Oscar Wilde

It seems that Valery said it first, in French, but you get the idea.

I would note that the same applies to many, MANY things in life. In my particular case tonight, I note that large, complex business projects often fall into the same category.

Would this have anything to do with the meeting tomorrow, annual budget, December financials, and various other miscellaneous documents?

Mmmm…maybe. Is the Pope Polish?

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Paul

January 10, 2022 · 23:40

DIY Silver Lining

It’s “suboptimal” at best to be sitting at my desk at 23:15, especially after having been here pretty much constantly, going like a demon, since about 08:15 this morning.

But if you have to make your own silver lining (and it doesn’t look like the cavalry is coming over the hill to do it for me any time soon) you can do worse than setting up the monitors on your secondary computer with this view.

On the left, the Shiodome Rail Tracks in Tokyo. (If you’re bored, try to use Google Earth to figure out exactly where the camera by matching up buildings and landmarks.) My son turned me on to this feed a while back since he was passing through there periodically. It’s very calming and the trains rumbling below are wonderful white noise.

On the right, Venice as seen from the Hotel Filu. This channel plays light classical music all the time (lots of Vivaldi, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, that sort of thing) and you can watch the boats go by. Tonight (my time) as I was working it was dawn in Venice, where the skies are clear and brisk and the sunset was wonderful!

Yes, very much places I would like to be rather than at this desk. One of these days…

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Filed under Castle Willett, Photography, Travel

January 9, 2022 · 22:47

Brighter Days Ahead

Physically and astronomically, at least. The political and social aspect of “brighter” are much more uncertain.

But erase us from the planet in an eyeblink and the rest of the biosphere in the Northern Hemisphere will merrily go onward toward June 21st with each day getting more hours of daylight.

The winter solstice is three weeks behind us, the Christmas lights are off and it’s a bit darker out there for that.

The moonlight waxes and wanes from night to night and that porch light can only do so much. Orion can guide our way, but we’ll have to bring our own inner light to our actions and attitudes.

Be kind. Be aware. Be responsible.

Get fully vaccinated. Wear a mask. Stay away from indoor crowds. Socially distance.

Be intelligent. Stay out of the cults that seem to be fracturing our society.

Be an adult but hold tight to a childlike sense of wonder.

Balance maintenance of a healthy skepticism with an open mind driven by facts.

Have fun.

Enjoy life.

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January 8, 2022 · 23:45

Last Light – Christmas 2021

As usual, we’re the last house on the block with our Christmas lights still up. There are a couple around the area, but not many. So the time has come.

I don’t know if I’ll actually get the lights down tomorrow, although they come down a lot faster than they go up. But the power needs to be cut tomorrow.

So, here’s last light for this year.

Let’s see what happens in 2022. Ten and a half months from now, will we even be in this house?

If so, I’ve got some ideas on where to add even more lights. Perhaps fewer commitments in 2022 will allow more time to do a more extravagant job.

If not, well, let’s just say that in the great Zillow hunt of 2022, one set of considerations includes how the roofline would look all lit up, how much roofline there is, how many other trees, bushes, and yard structures there are to cover in lights, whether the house is on a street where everyone within ten miles will see the glow on the horizon… You know, the usual things!

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January 7, 2022 · 23:52

Layers In The Troposphere

Sometimes, you just need to MAKE time to look at the clouds.

If you didn’t get to do that today, here, please, use some of mine!

Sometimes you’ll even spot a quarter moon hanging up there in the late afternoon.

Or a hawk or two, or crows, or crows harassing hawks, or a flock of goofy juncos taking their chance to bolt for cover while the crows are harassing the hawks.

Mostly today I saw layers. Some low, dark clouds, some puffy white stuff at about 5,000′, and some thin, icy streaks at about 15,000′.

It would have been a nice day for flying.

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January 6, 2022 · 23:53

Bob & Weave

It was chaotic, it was over full, it was stressful. But at least there was a plan.

Then things changed. And now, it’s chaotic, it’s hectic, it’s stressful. But there’s no plan at the moment.

It will be fine. I’m not the one who is having issues. No one’s dying. At least, not today and not anyone I know. It’s just a bit…disorienting.

EGBOK! Everything’s Gonna Be OK! And it will.

But for the moment it’s one step at a time. Literally.

When I was a kid and we lived in the Kansas City area our house had a fairly steep in half of our back yard. There was a chain link fence at the bottom, to keep me and my siblings in I suspect, not to keep others out. My dad worked with computer drum drives on mainframes and would occasionally bring home one of the shipping containers they were transported in. They were cylindrical, heavy, thick cardboard, about four feet long, about three feet in diameter, a little bigger than a trash can.

We would cram three of us in there, sort of like tennis balls in a can, then roll it down that hill. It would pick up some pretty good speed, then slam into that fence. We would tumble out, always dizzy as hell, sometimes bruised, always giggling and laughing and trying to run back up the hill to do it again.

Today feels a bit like that, trying to run back up that hill while super dizzy and a bit bruised and banged up.

There’s less giggling and laughing, but I’m trying to keep my sense of humor about it all. So far, so good.

But I really would prefer not to do it again.

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January 5, 2022 · 23:01

If You Squat Right Here

Folks who think we never get snow in SoCal haven’t ever been here. We have ski resorts within an hour’s drive.

It’s extremely rare to get snow down in the valleys or on the floor of the LA Basin. These areas are all about 99% under 1,000′ elevation. But the mountains all around go anywhere from 1,600′ in Griffith Park, right near Hollywood and downtown LA, to 3,300′ in the Santa Monica Mountains, to well over 10,000′ in the San Bernardino Mountains. I can remember once getting about 1/4 inch of snow in a house that was at 910′ and next to the foothills in about 1987 or 1988. Our current house is at 1,062′ and we’ve never even come close.

However, after last week’s storms, when a fair amount of snow got dropped down to about 3,000′ there are plenty of places to see snow-capped mountains off in the distance. I just didn’t know that our yard was one of those places.

But it’s winter, and a lot of the trees have finished dropping their leaves. While talking to the crows today I noticed that if you go way over to the corner of the yard, and squat right here, and peek through the trees over there…

It’s not one of those picture postcard views that they show between every other float and marching band at the Rose Parade, but it’s our very own view!

Just as long as I don’t throw my back out trying to stand again after squatting and peeking!

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Filed under Castle Willett, Los Angeles, Photography

January 4, 2022 · 23:41

No Context For You – January 04th

First Tuesday – better than First Monday? No? That sucks – hang in there, we’re all rooting and hoping for tomorrow to be better.

Stay warm. Be comfy. Find something colorful to cheer you up.

If you’re busier than God and feeling crushed, post something brief, upbeat, easy, and colorful to your blog. Fake it ’til you make it!

Listen to some Pink Floyd. “The Great Gig in the Sky,” perhaps. Yeah – that’s it!

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Filed under Paul, Photography

January 3, 2022 · 23:53

First Monday

First Monday of the new year.

First Monday back (for most folks, not me) after a bunch of days off of work.

First Monday of a “regular” five-day work week after what was, for most folks, the previous two weeks of three or four-day work weeks, and maybe three of the past six weeks being short.

Still breathing?

Still calm?

Already looking forward desperately to Friday night?

Already holding on for dear life?

It’s okay. You can do this.

You may or may not like it. But you can do this.

And then there’s that, “Oh, shit! I still haven’t {insert panic item here}!!” moment.

GOTO “Still breathing?”

Repeat as necessary.

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Paul

January 2, 2022 · 23:25

A Simple Sunset

Due to the holidays falling where they did, I ended up out in Camarillo at the CAF hangar late this afternoon. Unusual for a Sunday. The storms of last week are past and the storms of next week are still off in the Bering Sea, so it was clear and a million. No clouds, noting spectacular, but the color gradient was first-rate!

Tomorrow for most of us it’s back to work and school and into a whirlwind of activity after a long weekend, a week, a couple of weeks off.

Keep breathing. Try to keep smiling. I hope your re-entry into “life” is kind to you.

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Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather