December 22, 2021 · 23:24

I Blame The Flag

I was checking the Christmas lights tonight to see if anything was broken or burnt out, particularly the big bulbs. I was pleasantly surprised to see only three out.

See them? What caught my attention was their positioning, on either side of the flag, about where the flag would be snapping against the roof in really high winds. We’ve had a lot of really high winds. That flag being whipped out full and snapping against those lights…

(Annotated, to show the position of the three lights)

I blame the flag. Well, the flag and the wind. They’re in cahoots.

On the other hand, three bulbs at about fifty cents each is a small enough price to pay being as we’re 2/3 of the way through Christmas lights season.

Fingers crossed.

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Filed under Christmas Lights, Photography

December 21, 2021 · 21:46

Pushing Back The Dark

It’s the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s no coincidence that all of the major religions have significant holidays around this time of year. Their ancestors knew. We sometimes forget.

These days are dark, both literally and figuratively. Let’s all work to make the coming days brighter, shining our light into the world, pushing back on the darkness. The astronomy and physics will be what it will be, even if none of us is here, so let’s work on some of the things we can affect so that we will be here in the future.

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Filed under Astronomy, Christmas Lights, Photography

December 20, 2021 · 22:02

I Caught A SpaceX Launch

I’m sure there are tens or hundreds of thousands (or more!) folks in Florida who have hundreds of these, almost as common as catching video of the mail carrier drive by.

I’m not in Florida. This is cool. (And it’s my website, so ppbbbbbbtttt!!)

On Saturday morning, December 18th, SpaceX was going to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with more Starlink satellites out of Vandenberg. We know this can be neat! At first, they were going to launch at about 01:30 or so and I was going to stay up to watch since the skies were clear. Then they switched to a 04:41 launch and I’m an old phart who needs my beauty sleep, so I did not get up.

The launch was successful, the first Falcon 9 to get launched and recovered eleven times. And I got to wondering…

We have a security camera looking at the front porch. It wouldn’t be as good as one of the good mini video cameras or even the iPhone 13 for video quality and it’s not tracking and the roof would cut off the view in just a few seconds. But, still.

Look in the upper left, right near where that arch is on the roof pillar. The neighbor’s house with a bunch of trees is off in the dark and you can really clearly see the Falcon 9 rising in the west.

The zoomed in view.

Takeaways – life is short, I can see the rocket from my front yard, it’s über cool, so make more effort to get your ass out of bed at 04:35 to watch!

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Filed under Space, Video

December 19, 2021 · 22:53

A Four-Squirrel Day

Simple day – the most notable event was a “record” number of squirrels in the backyard. It was the first time I remember ever seeing four at once.

Sunday brunch for the little rat bastards. A fun time was had by all – so long as no one invites a hawk.

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Filed under Critters, Photography

December 18, 2021 · 23:51

Time-Warped Christmas 2021

Merry Christmas! It was a wonderful day for family, a huge dinner, and opening presents!

What’s that you say? Yes, today actually WAS Christmas Day, at least in our house!

Or just the latest domino to fall in our quest to cast aside the normal time constraints and conventions.

  1. Not going to Worldcon in DC this week meant that we could go see the Chiefs-Chargers game two nights ago…
  2. Which meant that the kids were in town to go with us…
  3. But they have to get back home and to work, can’t stay a whole week…
  4. So we declared Christmas to be TODAY, not next Saturday.

Let it be written! Let it be done!

First time we’ve all been together for Christmas in at least a dozen years. It was a great day. I hope that your Christmas next week is as wonderful for you.

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Filed under Castle Willett, Christmas Lights, Family, Photography

December 17, 2021 · 23:58

Is It The Weekend?

And does it matter?

Between my work schedule (there have been a LOT of really critical deadlines and all of the work involved, but so far we’re hitting them, even if some of them are by the skin of our teeth) and “life” and the holidays and family and that football game last night, the last two weeks I’m having serious issues keeping track of what day it is.

Life isn’t counted in days of the week and weekends – there’s no difference, they’re all pedal to the metal. I don’t count days to the weekend, I count hours to the next critical deadline.

That’s not quite over yet, but I think all of the REALLY REALLY critical deadlines are over for the moment. This weekend we’re doing Christmas a week early since all of the kids are here, our first full family Christmas in a decade or more.

I hope tomorrow’s Saturday.

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December 16, 2021 · 23:57

Overtime Joy

What did you do with your Thursday night?

Our first trip to the new stadium, to see my beloved Chiefs play the Chargers. This is the opportunity that opened up when we decided not to go to DC for Worldcon.

Yes, it’s sparkly and huge and bright. It’s also a whole lot in need of some directional signs and some food choices that aren’t from Rodeo Drive. I went to a football game, I wanted a hot dog or some BBQ, not curry chicken with some kind of carrot & bell pepper cold noodle thing. (Mind you, it was all very tasty and not even outrageously priced by stadium standards, especially brand new, multi-billion dollar stadium standards, but that’s not the point.)

There was also some football played, some very good football. But the best part was the Chiefs winning in OT.

That wasn’t half bad…

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Filed under KC Chiefs, Panorama, Photography

December 15, 2021 · 23:50

I Want To Be The Boss

Headlines tonight say that Bruce Springsteen has sold his music catalogue to Sony for something on the order of $500,000,000. That’s right – half a freakin’ billion semolians!!

Just curious what my creative output might be worth, and to whom?

C’mon, MAD Magazine, you can own “We Love The Stars Too Fondly” for a mere $5,000,000. That’s 1% of what Sony laid out! A bargain!

And “The Philk Fee-Nom-Ee-Non?” Hell, that’s classic! A collector’s item! What it lacks in volume compared to WLTSTF, PFNEN makes up for in… something. Let’s see you step up to the table, Elon!

Y’all have my number. I’ll be waiting.

 

 

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Filed under Farce

December 14, 2021 · 23:33

Soaked Squirrel

That much needed rain arrived last night and it was a pretty good soaker. This morning when I got up, I saw this guy out feeding in the yard.

The image quality is poor because I was zoomed in to the max on my iPhone, but you can clearly see that he’s a bit bedraggled.

I didn’t feel too bad for him, he was feeding out in the area where I throw the “small critter” food (as opposed to the bird food) so he was getting a decent breakfast.

Then, in thanks for feeding him, thirty seconds later he was trying to climb the vine-covered porch post to get at the hummingbird feeder, AGAIN. The little rat bastard didn’t even have the courtesy to run away when I opened the back door, made me come out and take two or three steps in the cold before he decided I was really serious.

No gratitude. None!

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Filed under Critters, Photography

December 13, 2021 · 23:47

My Calendar Today

“[TENATIVE] Fly to Washington DC”

On the one hand, good thing that trip got cancelled! I am so up to my ass in alligators between work and the hangar and year-end and budgets and tax returns and tying up loose ends and DEATH WILL NOT RELEASE ME!

On the other hand, it’s yet another thing that I would truly, truly love to do (we were going for Worldcon in DC, but because of COVID the con has turned into a bit of a “challenge” with hotels closing and facilities in short supply and moving from August to December) that I can’t because of COVID in part, but also because there’s that whole “adult” thing to deal with.

I’ll carry on. I’ll live. But there might be moments in the next week when I’m seeing reports from the convention and friends who DID make it there when I’ll be cranky.

On the gripping hand, when one door closes, another opens. One event that got written off when we were planning on being in DC this week suddenly became a possibility. And with the kids coming down…

Okay, I’ll be a tiny little bit less cranky.

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Filed under Fandom, Paul, Travel