Beginning a Week

Posted Mon Mar 8, 2010 in

OK, the week is beginning. I’ve been in my workroom for about an hour, drinking for first cups of the day, working through my lists, and preparing myself for the day and the week. My time card for last week is complete and submitted. I’m about to head off to the shower and then cook some breakfast.

Yesterday we got a number of parcels packed and ready to ship. I’m clearing out a lot of stuff, but it takes time. I go through my things, pick out what I think will sell (on eBay), then make an image. I still have a backlog of images in my pending directory. I’ll work through them over the next couple of weeks.

The cash generated will go towards things I’m interested in and using or toward paying down a couple of bills that are the last of our financial obligations.

I’m seriously considering selling off my Nikon equipment. I find myself using the Canon Powershot G9 more than the big camera. The D100 is decent, but the postage-stamp size screen is too small for my old eyes. I’m not using the camera and glass, and that’s a lot of cash sitting there collecting dust. I’m not OK with that. So, I’m thinking about selling the equipment.

If by some chance I decided to start serious photographic work again, I could always buy back in. The technology is still changing and I wouldn’t know what I should be using without some research. So, I’m thinking… about selling what I have.

Now I need to get off to the shower. I didn’t do my exercises this morning, but am pretty stiff from the range workout yesterday. I think I’ll postpone my workout until tomorrow morning.

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Wrapping a Day

Posted Sun Feb 28, 2010 in

I puttered a lot today. I had a lot of clean-up kinds of duties on the computer. I wanted to start writing up my trip report and had images to process. I also did a few system updates, but I see I need to be serious about that. And that thought reminds me I should back up my external drive now that I have new images on it. I’ll get that started in a minute. There, now that’s started and can run in the background.

Now it’s time for me to start settling down. I’m listening to a little Mark Knopfler, one of my favorite musicians. Next I think I’ll read for a little while to give my brain a chance to relax. Then I hope to sleep well. The week begins again tomorrow and I have specific things I want to accomplish this week.

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Home from Monterey

Posted Sun Feb 28, 2010 in

I should have written last night, but did not. Well, at least I didn’t write here — I posted a note on Facebook that we were home. But it didn’t go much beyond that… well, the writing didn’t.

After the long trip home and the awfully-long week, I had little energy to burn. So, I grabbed my (dead-tree) book and sat in the living room with Wife and finished the book.

I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was reading some Stephen Hunter. He’s a retired Washington Post writer who took up fiction a couple of decades ago. He’s also knowledgeable of firearms, so one of his claims to fame is that the use of firearms (and their effects) are “accurately” depicted in his stories. I believe this assertion to be true. That is, I find nothing in his accounts that is counter to my understanding of the physics of firearms. I have this “thing” about physics.

I finished Dirty White Boys last night. Although Bob Lee Swagger (the sniper) is not featured in the story, there is a mention of his father in the book that provides a connection later used by Hunter (if what I read online is correct) in developing the Swagger character. So, I decided to read this book before the next in the Swagger saga.

This is the first “crime story” book I can recall reading. It’s not really my cup of tea, although I can say that I’m satisfied-enough that I read it… and I can say the story was sufficiently compelling to keep me engaged. I can say I will not run out and start buying crime-story fiction. It was OK, but not what I’ll routinely read. The story line was interesting and the characters were multi-dimensional so the craft was workmanlike. Hunter is a good writer.

That said, I wasn’t fully-engaged. Maybe I’m just old, or maybe I’m no longer going to be satisfied with much fiction, but I kept analyzing the plot line, seeing directions it could go and wondering which direction the author would take the story. There were a few twists and turns along the way and that was fun. But, in the end the hero wins and the villain doesn’t and that’s pretty much the formula, right?

Book finished, I took my evening medications and hit the rack. After the day’s drive, I was tired and ready to sleep in my own bed. I need to clean up a few more images from the trip and put together a trip report. It was an “interesting” trip, I can say that.

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California Open Carry

Posted Fri Feb 19, 2010 in

If you decide to open carry in California, specifically in East Palo Alto, beware — you might be shot by law enforcement.

Go to the city hall web page and complain.

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Quiet For Now

Posted Wed Feb 10, 2010 in

I don’t have very much to say right now. I don’t think my muse is gone, but I don’t have the energy to rub enough words together to have something cool pop out. So, I’ll just be quiet for a bit.

I have some thoughts on the Sony Reader (Touch) that was in my possession until last night. I returned it for credit and bought a Nook. There is a story there and I’ll get it together, including my thoughts on ereaders in general and the two devices I have experience with specifically.

For now, though, I’m just going to be quiet and think for awhile. Thinking is good — or at least it should be.

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Quiet Lately…

Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010 in

One of my commenters mentioned that I seem to have disappeared. I do that sometimes, either being distracted by work, by home duties, or just having the muse escape me. There’s no cause of alarm.

I am thinking about what I want to write in this space. A lot of my recent writings seem to be of the “summer vacation” variety. That’s OK, I think, at least part of the time. But I want to write about other things that are more intellectually interesting. That is the main reason I created this space in the first place.

When I created my personal web space, I didn’t want to write about a lot of things — politics, religion, and so forth. I wanted to write about academic things, about my experience in the educational system, about my experience as an engineer, and about my experience in general.

I suppose I could expand my readership if I’d be a bit more controversial. People seem to like that.

But I find it boring.

I might write about my observations on the American experience. I can tell I’m becoming an old-timer, because I can recollect changes over my lifetime. From what I can tell, things are generally not better than when I was young.

I can certainly find a lot to write about as a professional, but I think those words belong on my professional website and I need to institute a content management system for that part of my web space. That’s something to add to my lists.

I can write about music — both from the listener’s and the performer’s perspectives. That’s sometimes interesting, but I’m not actively playing anymore so some pieces are missing.

I could write about computer games… naw, I don’t think so.

I can write about firearms and I do and I might write some more. They’re a part of the American experience and far more important than a lot of people think. True power to the people belongs in their fundamental rights, and the right to keep and bear arms is a hinge pin of those basic rights.

I can also write about books, but most people would think the books I write about are boring. I might like reading about physics, physicists, mathematicians and mathematics, and things of that nature, but not many people would find it interesting.

Oh well, enough ruminating for now. The muse will return one day and I’ll park a few more words here.

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End of the Weekend

Posted Sun Jan 24, 2010 in

I’m just about to call it a night. It’s been a decent-enough weekend. We spent some time yesterday shopping in Reno, enjoyed a late lunch/early supper at Olive Garden there, then drove home.

This morning Wife and I drove into Carson City to do a little grocery shopping, then puttered around the house the remainder of the day. I have a few disks of the “Saving Grace” series from Netflix to watch. We watched the first disk this evening. It’s an interesting thesis and I love the actors.

Like House, M.D., the story lines are a little challenging to believe at times, the interaction of the characters and some of the lines are good. My entire family loves good words and sometimes we find them in the most unexpected places.

I finished Jack London’s Call of the Wild this afternoon. It’s a marvelous story and is well-told. It’s probably been more than 40 years since I last read it. I remembered portions of the story, even after that much time. I think I’ll read White Fang next.

I am enjoying my Sony Reader a lot. I download books from one of the free sites when I need something new. There are many books I want to read or reread that are now public domain.

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