Category Archives: Life
Almost exactly six years ago — in September of 2019 — I began having electrical problems. Power outages affected half the lights and plugs in the place. Getting an electrician in to fix it led to what became my worst experience with home service — a six-year saga with a disappointing ending.
More precisely, five-and-a-half years. The unsatisfying conclusion came last May with a faint echo in June. Some fallout persists, a task left unfinished, but the stress is thankfully past.
Here’s what happened…
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5 Comments | tags: customer service, Kidde smoke alarms, Service Today, smoke alarm | posted in Life
About a month after I started this blog (on July 4, 2011), I wrote about my first and second skydives — which were tandem jumps — as well as my first (semi) solo skydive. A year later, I wrote about graduating my training to a full-fledged solo jumper as well as a particularly enjoyable skydiving “boogie”.
My last jump was in September of 1999 when the owners of the drop zone suggested that — because I wasn’t putting in the time needed to improve — that it might be best if I considered another hobby. They were right, and I did.
At that point I had made 50 jumps in two years. Here is my logbook.
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3 Comments | tags: AFF jump, parachute, skydiving | posted in Life
So, if a fortnight is 14 days (but counted as nights), then a fortjuly should be 14 years. I suppose it should really be a fortwinter to align with the counting nights aspect. But that would mean we’re on the 13th “day” (year) of this blog, and this post celebrates the blog’s 14th anniversary, so fortjuly it is.
As in: “It has been fourteen years — a fortjuly — since I started this blog.” By other metrics: 1,438 posts (42 pages); 1,996,695 words (damn, just missed it being a cool two-mill); 287,266 sentences; or 63,337 paragraphs.
As usual, there are charts and lists.
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3 Comments | tags: Anniversary, blog, blogger, blogging, charts, July 4 | posted in Life, Writing
I turn 70 this fall, and in the meantime, I’ve decided to step up my efforts to get rid of stuff I’m hanging on to for no good reason (except memories, a non-trivial reason but a topic for another day). A Clearance Deal — All Items Must Go!
Over the last few years, I’ve donated a lot of books and DVDs to the library. I think this year I’ll try to get rid of all (or nearly all) of the DVDs and a lot more books. I have some collections I may put up for sale on craigslist or Nextdoor. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve just tossed, which breaks my heart a little.
For example, a while back, I tossed a lot of old-but-beloved tee-shirts…
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3 Comments | tags: beer, Bruce Springsteen, city of Boston, DisneyWorld, Florida, Los Angeles, Winnie the Pooh, Yin and Yang | posted in Life
I usually publish a pair of Janus posts in early January, one looking back (with charts and stats), one looking forward (with intentions for the year). This year I’m “juuust a bit outside” the strike zone.
I got a respiratory virus just before Christmas, and it took me out for Christmas and the song-celebrated Twelve Days after. Mid-January I was dog-sitting and decided to take the whole month off from the interweb (and, to a large extent, even the computer).
Now I’m back. With charts and stats.
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4 Comments | tags: blog, blogger, blogging, charts, Janus, stats | posted in Life
Many tables with room for all. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
While one might disparage the white colonialism that birthed the holiday along with the bowdlerization of its history, I like to think time denatures these things and leaves us with a Norman Rockwellesque secular day of family travel, over-eating, discontent, and infighting. Our American tradition.
But pointed opening aside, the season in general, along with the coming year’s end, does — if we but take it — give us a chance to pause and reflect on the past year and what it meant to us. And, if the soul is gentled and still, to find things to be thankful for.
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3 Comments | tags: dad, mom, parents, Sun, sunshine | posted in Life
Once again we pivot into the dark half of the year. Here in the northern hemisphere, anyway. Folks below the equator are enjoying the opposite pivot, the good one into light.
The Autumnal Equinox is my least favorite Solar Occasion (today: 12:44 GMT, 7:44 AM CDT). It means winter is coming. I can deal with the cold, but the short days and long dark nights, that’s tougher.
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3 Comments | tags: autumnal equinox, Bentley, equinox, Jon Stewart, Sun, sunshine, The Daily Show | posted in Life, Politics
As I posted Tuesday, I finished the software for my virtual CPU on Monday, but now I’ve finished the most important part: the project graphic.
Now that I’m done, the project is obsolete, and it’s time to start the next version, cj68 vII. The other protocol would be to bump the number, but cj69 might lead to smirks.
Stay processing, my friends! Go forth and spread beauty and light.
∇
1 Comment | tags: 3D images, computer generated images, CPU, POV-Ray, programming, software design, sun sign | posted in Computers, Life
Long distance runners talk about “hitting the wall” — the point where their body runs out of resources, making it almost impossible to continue. I hit an intellectual wall late Monday night. Fortunately, I not only finished the race but went an unexpected extra mile. (And now my brain circuits are fried.)
Not an actual race (beyond a vague self-imposed deadline), but a hobby project like one of those ships in a bottle. A painstaking and challenging task in the name of fun and exercise of acquired skill. But no race, no ship, no bottle. This was a software project.
My inner geek rampant, I built a virtual 32-bit CPU (in Python).
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9 Comments | tags: assembly language, CPU, programming, Python, software design, writing software | posted in Computers, Life
Ceiling Cat’s Cradle
Back in September of 2019 I wrote about how the 100-amp main breaker for my electrical power went flakey and then flooey. That ended up being a $2400 service call because I also got new smoke alarms, a carbon monoxide detector, and a main power surge protector. [See Whadda Week!]
I was and am fine with everything. Obviously, glad to have reliable electrical power. Presumably the surge protector is doing its thing, and the CO detector blinks its green light every minute, so it seems happy.
But while I’ve had no fire nor anything like it, the ceiling cats have shown a trying tendency to go off seemingly randomly — all four screeching loudly from their cradles and seriously raising my heartrate.
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5 Comments | tags: ceiling cat, electrical current, Service Today, smoke alarm | posted in Life
Logos con carne 