morrowlife

Here’s a scene from Macworld. Weird-looking booth, huh? That’s all I know about this booth – we didn’t stop there. Oh, I do know they protect my world. But I don’t know how. Or why. Picture taken with my beautiful new Olympus camera.

Let’s have a look back at my weekend plans as outlined on Friday, shall we?

“… a baptism to conduct …” Check. It went very well and was a very good service. We had a few families there so the room was pretty full of supportive people. I think Patrick and his family felt loved.

“… a landscaper to interview …” Check. I think we’ll be going with this guy. His English is rough – okay, it’s basically nonexistent – but we’re not hiring a linguist. We’re hiring a landscaper and we like this guy’s ideas. His prices are competitive too. Loyal Reader Number Four is going to check some references, get a final agreement on the content and cost of the work, and get him going.

“… a Stake Conference adult meeting to attend …” Check. It was a good meeting. The speakers were good. The music was good. Et cetera.

“… a Stake Conference to attend …” Check. That one was also a good meeting. It was a broadcast from Church headquarters, and was presided over by President Faust, who also spoke, of course. He’s looking quite old and doesn’t get out of his wheelchair anymore. He still preaches a pretty good sermon, though. I’ve always liked his approach. We also heard from Susan W. Tanner, the General Young Women president. Also Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve. And one other guy, who was only a Seventy, so I don’t remember who it was. How jaded we become. Anyway, everybody’s talk was meaningful and good, the music consisted of some of my favorite hymns, and I generally enjoyed the whole thing.

“… find the right kind of spark plugs and plug wires …” Check. Unfortunately, I could only find them online, so I had to order them and wait. Which I’m now doing.

“… then install them …” No check. Have to wait until they get here. On the other hand, that left me plenty of time to check the air filter (brand new, it turns out) and wash and wax the car. Loyal Reader Number Two helped me with that task, and it looks beautiful. We used a brand-new bottle of Zymol and got excellent results.

“Then there are all my websites …” Check. Or at least a partial check. I updated the look of the HRVA. Check it out and make additional suggestions.

The good news for all my historic-RV-loving Loyal Readers is that the rebuild parts for the Coleman lantern finally arrived on Saturday! Now all I need to do is get the lantern rebuilt with plenty of photos and write the article. I think it will make a nice addition to the site. I also need to get out there and camp and take lots of photos of old RVs in the wild.

Listened to the latest Diner today, by James Lileks. It’s an amusing biweekly podcast, which I think I’ve mentioned here before. Have any of my Loyal Readers checked him out? Highly recommended.

Very easy drive today. It was Presidents’ Day (happy Presidents’ Day!) and most people got the day off. Unfortunately, LockMart is much too weasely to give us other than the major holidays off. So sad. At least we get good traffic on those days!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s one of my favorite camping pictures. This is Loyal Reader Number Four in the famous Hickory Run Boulder Field. That was a great park I don’t think I’ve posted this one before, have I?

No post yesterday. As mentioned in Wednesday’s comments, our router died sometime during the day or the previous night. Loyal Readers Numbers One and Four went and bought a new one and LRN1 installed and configured it. I spent the entire evening getting my dynamic DNS program to play nice with the new router. Got to bed just a little bit before 1:00 this morning. Not a good thing for the work day. I survived, though. The good news is that, after slinging a lot of Python code (a language with which I have not worked before), I got it working. The tool was supposed to work with pretty much all Linksys routers, but apparently mine isn’t one of them. I’m planning to send my code to the developer so he can update his tool. Or maybe I should post it on gardenvillesoftware.com! Opinions?

Anyway, all that Pythoning precluded blog posting. I feel your pain, Loyal Readers.

Busy weekend ahead. I have a baptism to conduct on Saturday morning, a landscaper to interview Saturday afternoon, a Stake Conference adult meeting to attend Saturday evening, and a Stake Conference to attend on Sunday morning. I also need to find the right kind of spark plugs and plug wires for the Miata and then install them, which will be the easy part. Then there are all my websites to boot.

So let the weekend begin. See you on Monday.

Here’s my (other) valentine. Isn’t she cute? I really miss her. Photo taken on Christmas by Loyal Reader Number Five.

Happy Valentine’s Day! We had a nice evening here at home. My Wednesday evening meeting was cancelled for the Holy Day, and Loyal Readers Numbers One and Two also had the night off from Young Men. I guess all the leaders were running scared. My cherry cheesecake was outstanding, and no less so for having to share it with everybody else.

Spent some time planning a baptism for Saturday morning. My young friend Patrick is getting baptized. It will be interesting – Patrick uses a wheelchair to get around and doesn’t generally do too well underwater. Two people – including his Dad – are going into the font with him to get it done without doing Patrick any harm. I’m expecting it to be a very nice service.

Nothing much else new today. It was supposed to be marginally warmer this afternoon than yesterday at the same time, but it felt a bit cooler, so I left the top up. There will be plenty of days more conducive to Top-Down Motoring in the very near future.

Loyal Reader Number Four has been getting bids on all the hardscape work in the backyard. The first people who visited told us that the more they did, the cheaper it would be. That was true, up to a point. Finally, though, she kept adding tasks but the price stayed the same. They’re bidding on cement, sprinklers, grass, and a retaining wall for the pond. We’ll put in the actual pond, the miscellaneous plants, and shed ourselves. Some other people have come in even cheaper than those first guys, but we’re still not sure who will get the job.

Time for bed! See you tomorrow.

This is the creepiest-looking angel I’ve ever seen. In Paris, of course, where all the best and worst statues are found.

Fine day today. I spent the afternoon in a software project management class. It was taught by a woman who I’ve dealt with before, and she’s very knowledgeable and interesting. I actually got a few little things to think about!

Otherwise, nothing much to discuss. We’re trying to figure out why our electric bills have suddenly skyrocketed. Loyal Reader Number Four had the electrician who wired our house over today. He checked our usage and it appears that he thinks our meter is broken. Hopefully, that will turn out to be true. In any case, we’re being billed for far more electricity than we could possibly use in a month, so I feel pretty confident things will turn out right. I just hope we don’t have to resort to a lawyer to get the power company to straighten it out.

Happy Valentine’s Day Eve! See you tomorrow!

Here’s another one of those dopey “sculptures” from Monaco a few years back. One of my colleagues thought it would be appropriate to add the piece of paper you see there in his hand. The rest of us were pretty sure we were going to be arrested by the ever-vigilant Monaco Police Department. Luckily, we’re still at large.

I have five minutes to blog tonight. It’s already 9:30, Home Evening has just barely ended, and I need to get to bed. So this will be short.

We played Apples to Apples for Home Evening activity tonight. It’s a fun board game. Loyal Reader Number Four won, so she enjoyed it most of all. Reading the instructions, you wouldn’t think it would be any fun or even particularly challenging or interesting. I admit there’s not much challenge, but we’ve all enjoyed it every time we’ve played. Recommended.

It rained all day today in Sunnyvale. It was sunny here in Lardville most of the day, but the rain apparently followed me home. That’s okay – even though it’s been pretty wet here the last few days, old-timers are saying we’re way short of moisture. It’s supposed to rain all night here tonight, but then there are at least five days of mostly sunny, warm weather predicted. I can finally take the Miata out of the garage again!

And my five minutes are up. See you tomorrow.