Stardust

January 3rd, 2017 by michael

Here’s the sign from the old Stardust hotel/casino. Very futuristic. Extremely groovy. Totally out of sight. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken during our visit to the Neon Museum on Christmas Eve, and part of my famous Las Vegas and Motel Sign series.

Been a pretty good few days. Also been a tough day for Joanne. Today was her last day at work for Aristocrat. Not good for her, but I have a feeling the aftermath will be very good for her indeed. I’m very excited to see where she lands.

Speaking of work changes, my partner John and I had a discussion this evening about the future of Photodocumentor. We haven’t been able to sell it. Nothing is happening. I am unable to find people who might use it, let alone market to them. I don’t know how to do that. I know how to be an engineer, not a marketer/salesman. The software is useful, though, and I think it might have a chance of catching on. We’ve decided to make it free from now on and hope it finds a home with a few people and spreads by word of mouth. There might be money to be made in related services. We’ll see.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to support John by keeping the website up to date and I’ll go back to what I really wanted to do when I retired: iOS programming. I’m excited about that and am starting to work immediately. I’ll do some reeducation to bring my iOS skills back up to snuff first, update Morse Trainer to add some critical features and maybe some in-app purchases. Then I’ll take it from there. It’s exciting to finally have a professional direction that I really want to take.

In the meantime, things are good, Joanne and I are happy to have a substantial amount of time to spend together, and the future looks bright.

We went to a party at the home of good friends on New Year’s Eve. We had a great time! We intended to go home a bit early to avoid the drunk drivers, but we were forced to stay by the amount of fun we were having. We played some card games, kissed at midnight, waved sparklers around, talked to a lot of people, and generally enjoyed ourselves. 10/10, would party again.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: museum-going sheep!

See you tomorrow.

Resting cat

December 28th, 2016 by michael

Here’s Baymax sitting with me and getting a bit of rest. He’s been unusually interested in sitting right up close to me lately. His normal pattern is to hang out nearby but not touch anybody. Not the last couple of days, though. I kind of like it. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam and part of my famous Las Vegas and Pet series.

Lots of new stuff. But first, happy 38th anniversary to Shannon and me. I still love you. I still miss you.

It’s interesting to me that I can be so happy and yet still feel this frequent longing about which I can do nothing. Joanne has told me she’s making an effort to keep the happy memories and good feelings alive and discard the things that make her sad. That’s a good idea, I think, and I’m trying to do the same thing with some success. There’s not much negative to let go of other than the hard parts of Shannon’s illness during our last year together. And even that was such a love-filled year that I’m having a hard time wanting to ignore it. Lots of suffering, but lots of love.

We had a nice, quiet Christmas. Gave a few gifts, received a few gifts.  Are a bunch of delicious food. Had Paul and Melissa over a couple times. We enjoyed the whole season. Now the tree is down and all the decorations are put away. We’re getting ready for a nice New Year’s Eve party with friends and then we focus on 2017.

Joanne’s job is ending on January 3rd, sadly. The executive she serves has decided to leave the company and she’s not being replaced. So Joanne’s job no longer exists. She’s busily searching for her next place. It’s a hard time of year for a job search and it’s not going as quickly as it ought to. We’re both hoping that changes in January.

She hasn’t needed to be in the office much the past couple of weeks. I’m enjoying having her at home a lot more. We’re cooking more and just spending a lot of time together. It’s been like a vacation and I’ll be sorry to see it end. But I’m sure she’ll be happy to see her paychecks continue, so she needs to work. Poor Joanne.

Mark was a bit worried about how his semester was going to turn out this fall. He had a couple of classes that turned out to be quite frustrating. Shortly before Christmas, the semester ended and he learned that he did well in every class. Great job, Mark!

Nothing else I need to cover today, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: lettuce attack!

See you tomorrow.

Laundry cat

November 15th, 2016 by michael

laundryhelper

Here’s Baymax helping me fold my clothes this afternoon. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPad-cam, taken at home today, and part of my famous Las Vegas and Pet series.

Not a lot new here. I’ve gotten newly reinvigorated regarding a couple of things lately and have been fairly busy doing them. What are these things, you ask? I hear your plea.

First, work. I’ve started working on Photodoc again. I must confess that I’ve been less than excited about it for quite a while, but I feel a new enthusiasm now. We’ve scheduled an online training seminar to start in early December and we’ll see whether that works. Let’s hope so!

I’m also ready to start working on iOS apps again. Morse Trainer definitely needs to be updated. I’m thinking seriously about making a premium version or maybe the ability to upgrade via in-app purchase. It’s been pretty popular and there just might be a way to monetize it. First off, though: getting it back into the store! It got kicked out because it hasn’t been updated in a while. Must fix that right away!

I’m also starting to do a bit of thinking about an Apple TV app and something for the watch. Might as well, assuming I can think of something interesting.

Second, cooking/baking. I’ve finally gotten sick of eating out extremely often and heating up frozen things on the rare nights we don’t bring something in or eat out. I’m working on menu planning, side dishes, and getting everything to hit the table at the same time. And then I can think about becoming a really good cook. There’s plenty of room for improvement and I hope to do that.

In the last few days, I’ve baked a loaf of raisin bread and a lemon bundt cake. Baked the cake today, so I have no idea how it tastes. The bread was done during the weekend and I think it was delicious! There’s still a bit left; I hope to finish it before it goes bad. In any case, I’m planning to bake another loaf within the next day or two.

I haven’t flown in a couple of weeks. I’m planning to go tomorrow. The weather should be good for lift. Wish me luck for a long flight, Loyal Readers!

And I’ll end with this shocking food violence news: massive corndog spill!

See you tomorrow.

Backpack cat

November 11th, 2016 by michael

backpackcat

Here’s Baymax hitching a ride on Mark’s backpack. Mark can’t seem to keep the cat off of his shoulders these days. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in our living room the other day, and part of my famous Las Vegas and Pet series.

Wow. It has been a LOOOOOONG time since I wrote here. Way too many things have happened to discuss them all. We’ve traveled quite a bit, we’ve lived our lives, we’ve been happy, we’ve been sad, and we’ve been busy. I wish I had a lot more to say about it, but I don’t. I hope to not let this much grass grow under my blog feet again. I had never missed an entire month before now, even though I needed to use the Wonders of WordPress from time to time. I’m not doing that this time. No posts for March through October 2016. Deal with it, Loyal Readers.

If there are any Loyal Readers left, which I doubt. That’s okay. This is just supposed to be a chronicle of my life. Which it is. Sort of.

Thanksgiving is coming up. Andy and JaNell are coming for a few days beforehand and then going on to visit Katy and Cliff the day before the holiday. That’s the day Joanne, Mark, and I leave for Michigan. While A & J are here, we’re having a pseudo Thanksgiving dinner the prior Sunday. I’m looking forward to that visit and to seeing my sisters, my brother Tony, and my dad in Michigan.

Nothing more for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: azalea-trampling water buffalo!

See you on Monday.

Two years

February 2nd, 2016 by michael

Shannon-lobster

Here’s Shannon standing in front of Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium on September 9, 2012. We were on a leaf-peeping cruise out of Baltimore and had a wonderful time seeing new places and just being together. Part of my famous Cruise, Shannon, and Statue series.

That was our last cruise together. A little more than four months after this photo was taken, we received the news that Shannon had leukemia. It happened all of a sudden. Many people who lose loved ones to cancer can look back and see when it started. Not so for us. She was fine when this picture was taken, she was fine when she single-handedly moved our things from the house in Manteca to Las Vegas, she was fine when we left Pennsylvania, she was fine when we drove from Manteca to Las Vegas, and she was fine when we finally moved into the house. Those were very busy months and she was fine. A week or two after we got here, she started feeling sick and antibiotics didn’t help. Finally, on about February 20, 2013, we went to the emergency room to see why she was feeling so bad. She walked in. And she started dying.

Today, it’s been two years since her death. So much has happened that she has missed. Oh how we miss her.

Katy posted the above picture on Facebook this morning with this comment: “I miss you every day, Mom.”

Paul posted this picture and said: “Here’s one of my favorite pics of Mom. I think of her constantly and miss her desperately. I’m so happy to have such a great support system of family and friends to help me during times like this. The last few years are kind of a hazy blur, but it sure doesn’t feel like she’s been gone for two years. I love you!”

I think I’ve written thousands of words about her life and death. I could come up with several thousand more, but I’ll just say this today: For more than 35 years, she was the light of my life. When she was gone, the only wish of my heart was to go with her. Instead, I’ve spent time over the past two years reflecting on the things she taught me and the things she gave me. Now my only wish is to love and care for the people around me the way she did, and to be happy the way she was happy.

Thank you, Shannon. I love you still.