morrowlife

Here’s a rare picture of Loyal Readers Numbers Two, One, Sixteen, and Four surrounding Your Humble and Obedient Servant. Picture taken at the Detroit Zoo this summer by Loyal Reader Number Eighteen.

Well. If we can believe yesterday’s comments, I posted the same Great Art twice. The sad thing is that it wasn’t one of my better works of Great Art. All I can say is we better hope I find a lot of things to take pictures of at our next camping trip.

Got to bed at about 9:00 last night, which is unusually early for me. The blog took little time to get ready (yes, I know it shows) and I was sleepy. So I went to bed. LRN4 was out with friends, so I never saw her.

One exciting Morrowlife Financial Juggernaut detail I forgot to mention yesterday – I actually made 36 cents yesterday alone! The blog is really capturing the hearts and minds of The American People. Nothing can stop me now.

I’ve discovered another exciting animal-related summer internship possibility for Loyal Reader Number One: Worm Grunter.

Had a couple of phone conversations with Loyal Reader Number Three today. He’s really struggling to figure out a workable near-term educational/employment plan. I’m trying to offer constructive suggestions and points to consider, but it’s ultimately his and Loyal Reader Number Fifteen’s decision, and I don’t envy them that.

One of the toughest decisions a young person has to make is his or her education. To a very large extent, that decision will determine his or her work (and therefore personal) life for the next thirty years or so, and the decisions have to be made with extremely limited future vision. Recommendation to LRN3 and LRN15: Pray. Pray like the wind! Also remember we’ve all been through it, and things generally work out.

Anyway. Situation otherwise normal. Tonight’s meeting is canceled, so I might be able to find some time to work on Sudoku Solver. We’ll see.

Today’s Morrowlife controversy: Should we be checking the lock on Loyal Pet Number Two’s cage?

Check out the new Blogger feature right below this. You can now enter your comments directly on the main page! That obviously means we’ll be getting a lot more comments, doesn’t it?

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a guy I saw in a Chinese restaurant in an airport. Maybe in Chicago. But I don’t remember. Looks like maybe he’s been eating a little too much. Picture courtesy of the now-retired famous RAZR-cam. Part of my famous Statue series.

The need for new Great Art grows ever more desperate. Fortunately, we have a camping trip scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend. Plus, it’s a campground we’ve never visited before, so I’ll be looking at things with a fresh eye. So hang on for a few more weeks, Loyal Readers.

There’s also the ward Halloween party this Friday, if I can remember my camera. Which will probably be difficult, as I’m planning to leave the office an hour early and go directly from the station to the church. I’ll have to either leave it in the trunk in the morning or ask the Loyal Readers to bring it for me.

I hear that Loyal Reader Number One received his computer’s memory stick in the mail and got it installed today. Hey, it’s working great! It’s amazing how much faster your computer gets when you quintuple the memory.

Speaking of Macs, I ordered Office 2008 this afternoon. We get it through work for twenty bucks, so I couldn’t resist. I recently got iWork, which I like very much (although I must admit I’m still having a hard time wrapping my mind around its paradigm), and the latest Beta of Open Office works quite well on a Mac, but there are times when you would like to have Office. Unfortunately.

I also installed Office 2007 on my laptop today. I don’t hate it yet, but I haven’t really used it much so far. I’m sure it won’t grow on me.

Today’s Morrowlife controversy: Does this look like a good retirement home?

Financial Juggernaut update: I’m up to $7.29! At this rate, I’ll be able to afford that retirement home Real Soon Now.

See you tomorrow.

Here are Loyal Readers Numbers One and Two crawling around in the bushes at Clark’s Fork. I have no idea why. Part of my famous Camping series.

Another perfect weather day in the aptly named town of Sunnyvale. And I was indoors for 99.9 percent of the daylight hours. Sigh. Only four more years until I can retire.Theoretically , that is. I’d have to struggle to afford dog food in my hovel, of course. I have the motive; now all I need is the opportunity.

I heard from my old co-worker Jim today. He went to Florida a couple of months ago to take a really cool job at an Air Force base near Tampa. The job disappeared almost immediately, so he’s looking again. Poor Jim.

But that’s not what I’m talking about right now. When he left, he gave me three gifts: his small radio-controlled helicopter (just like the one I got myself for Christmas, except that this one didn’t break on its second day), his big RC helicopter, and his RC UFO. They’re all really cool, but I can’t use the big helicopter because its battery charger is missing, and I can’t use the UFO because its controller is missing.

Well, Jim just unpacked his household goods, and he found the missing pieces! He’s mailing them to me.

The UFO is fun, but it has just a single control – it’ll go either up or down. It has flashing LEDs and stuff, so it’s still cool. The big helicopter, on the other hand, is a real RC flying machine. It’s electric and self-stabilized, so it’s easy to fly (they tell me), and it’s big enough that it has to be flown outdoors.

I’ve played with the UFO when it was at Jim’s desk, but I’ve never gotten to fly the chopper. Looking forward very much to trying it out. I’m hoping for at least two or maybe even three flights before I ruin it. Let’s hope my extensive experience with the tiny one will translate up.

Called my Mom during the afternoon trip to the train station. It’s her birthday. Although I really shouldn’t need an excuse to call her. She’s doing fine and appears to have had a happy birthday.

We talked about LRN2’s recovery. I was happy to report that he’s doing much better in the last few days. He’s finally able to eat pretty much anything and is feeling well. Still can’t play the violin, though.

No new controversy today. Still waiting for Dave Barry to get back from travel.

As mentioned in yesterday’s comments, the musical road is back! I’ll definitely check it out next time I go down there. Thanks to Loyal Reader Number I Don’t Know Which for the tip.

That’s all for now, Vladimir. See you tomorrow.

Here’s another abstract vision from the exclusive Treo-cam. It’s the salt factory near my office. Also near the train tracks. It’s abstract because of the appallingly low quality of the Treo-cam, which Loyal Reader Number One and I are trying to turn into a popular art form.

Here‘s a link to some higher-resolution photos of the same place taken from roughly the same location. Now honestly, which picture do you like better. Okay, not so honestly.

The weekend’s over. Sigh. And what did I accomplish? If we had asked that rhetorical question Friday evening, I might have been hard pressed to come up with anything besides Relaxation. Which isn’t an inconsiderable thing, mind you.

But Saturday was a different story, full of accomplishments. Let’s tally, shall we?

Cleaned the pond filter. Got the Honda and Sable washed. Got rich and famous. Built a working rocket launch pad. That’s about it.

About the rich and famous thing. Loyal Reader Number Four and I took my car for gas and a car wash. No problem. Then we took her car for gas and a car wash. We were greeted by the car wash owner, who informed us we were the lucky fifteen thousandth customer, for which we were rewarded with a month-long unlimited car wash pass and our picture in the paper. Fame and fortune. It’s nice at the top.

About the launch pad thing. It’s the water rocket (link advisory: this is a picture of my old friend Dan and one of his famous multi-bottle water rockets) launcher discussed Friday. We built it. It works. Sort of. Almost. Well, it gets up to 40 PSI, anyway, after which it can’t take the pressure and starts leaking. A little tweak or two and we’ll be up to the required 60 PSI level. Even in its crippled state, though, it’s really cool. Our couple of test launches of an unmodified bottle with a non-scientifically determined water level and substandard pressure flew up to fifty feet or so. I’ll take a picture and post it Real Soon Now.

They’re finally cracking down on crime in Ohio. Thank goodness.

Today’s Morrowlife controversy: Is it too late for England? My answer: Yes.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s an abstract vision of rail travel’s past and present. Snapped a couple days ago with the famous Treo-cam as a freight train passed on the next track.

As discussed yesterday, I was home today. Did about two hours of telecons in the morning and a few minutes of time cards this afternoon, but that was it for work. So did I accomplish all those things I mentioned yesterday?

No. Of course not. Maybe tomorrow.

We did go to Home Depot and buy the bits and pieces we need for a water rocket launcher for Loyal Readers Numbers Two and Four to use at the Science Olympiad. We’re going with a hybrid design, based on several plans we’ve seen online.

One of the events at the Olympiad is making a water rocket out of a one-liter bottle that will launch an egg. You get points for how long the rocket is in the air, with additions for returning the egg unbroken and for having some separating parts. We need to make our own launcher for the team to practice.

It occurred to me this afternoon that it’s been a long time since we jacuzzified. I’m thinking of going out there tonight to make up for it. LRN4 has been working hard on getting the Hanging Gardens of Lardville ready for winter, and it’s looking very nice back there.

It should be a perfect night for being out, too. It was about 90 degrees today, as predicted, and it’ll probably still be well over 70 by 9:00 or so. Perfect comfort.

They’ve finally found a use for Disco music, thirty years after the fact. Still, better late than never. After reading the article, I can’t get that tune out of my head, so I guess I’m ready to save a life.

– Later –

Just got out of the jacuzzi. Turns out it was the perfect night.

See you Monday.