morrowlife

Here’s Loyal Reader Number Two doing a little rock hopping at Clark’s Fork. Taken at approximately the same time as yesterday’s picture. Another luminous part of my famous Camping series.

Greetings from the train! I need to figure out how to spend less time in front of the computer on an average weekday evening, and blogging on the train seems to help. Since there’s no link, I still have to get the text into Blogger and add the Great Art and links, but I might be able to save at least a few minutes this way. It’s either this or watch TV shows.

I’m typing this on my trusty old Palm and its nifty folding keyboard. It’s a lot easier to get posts on my Mac from this thing than from the laptop, since this one connects directly to the Mac and dumps it guts. The keyboard/Palm combination doesn’t work all that well, though. I can type a lot faster than this thing can accept data, and a few of the keys seem to be kind of intermittent – either I’ll have to type a key several times to get it to “take” or a single key press will repeat the character five times. It’s been that way since new. Sigh.

Happy Birthday to the Loyal Father! I chatted with him on the phone this morning. He seems to be happy, healthy, and doing fine. I hope to be in his shape at that (extremely advanced) age.

How nice to hear from Loyal Reader Number Eight again. Welcome back! Read all you want – I’ll write more. Unfortunately.

Today was Day Two of my work-related Offsite Planning Event. We’re starting to make some progress, but it’s slow and I’m still not sure how we’re going to achieve our Stated Goal. Time will tell. Only a day and a half to go.

Probably no blog tomorrow. We’re having a Special work-related Offsite Planning Event Dinner, which I’m planning to attend. In exchange for free food for me, my Loyal Readers will have to endure yet another Morrowlife-free day. You have my pity, as always.

I’ve pretty much definitely (how’s that for a firm commitment?) decided to port my Sudoku puzzle-solving program to Android. The first step to is come up with some kind of lame-o user interface capable of displaying a puzzle. I’m hoping to accomplish that part sometime this week. Next week’s task will be to make it solve puzzles, after which I’ll add all the doodads and geegaws. Like opening, closing, and saving puzzles.

Anyway. It seems like a pretty easy first project on that platform, and Loyal Reader Number Three and I are thinking very seriously of having spinfo.info develop some etertainment content for it. It seems like a great opportunity to get into a new platform on the ground floor.

Let’s see, what else is going on? Not much news from Loyal Reader Number One. He’s apparently doing well at school and finding all kinds of useful and enjoyable things to do. Drop a line sometime, LRN1!

The rest of us are fine. See you Thursday.

Here’s Loyal Reader Number One doing a little rock hopping at Clark’s Fork a few weeks back. Part of my famous Camping series.

Well, we finally heard from good old Anon again, reminding me of Friday’s missed post. Thanks for checking in, Anon.

No post Friday, as already discussed. Loyal Reader Number Three arrived, along with Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve. It was a great evening and I don’t regret my decision. Although I’m sure my Loyal Readers do.

The weekend was nice also. LRN3 headed for home with his new jalopy on Sunday morning. And he made it all the way to Mesa with nothing more serious than some strange noises and other ghostly automotive phenomena. Hooray! LRN5, LRN6, and LRN12 appear to have relocated this morning, although nobody saw them go, so their exact whereabouts remain a mystery. While they were here, LRN6 helped me detail the interior of the Ranger, which came home on Friday night for just that purpose. It looks a lot better now. Loyal Reader Number Four even told me she’s no longer afraid to get inside. It’s back at the Santa Clara railroad station tonight.

Other activities of the weekend were limited. It was mostly visiting, although Loyal Reader Number Two and LRN3 went with some friends to shoot at each other with Airsoft guns. Joy.

Oh, and I got a minor little technical problem with the Suburban fixed on Saturday. The brake master cylinder I had installed in February decided to spill all its fluid on the street sometime during the past week. I took it back to the location from whence it had come and, after some serious arguing, got them to replace this obviously defective component without charge. Fortunately, it was the last visit I’ll ever make to that establishment, as their materials have been proven to be second-rate and their workmanship has been amply proven to be shoddy. And they appear to change management and/or ownership every couple of months. I’ve been Midas Touched once too often.

On the positive side, my friend Dave told me about a local shop he really likes – it’s a guy who works out of his barn. He’s apparently not cheap, but he’s good.

Already time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Here’s some true Great Art from our recent camping trip to Clark’s Fork. I just love Still Life, don’t you? A marginal part of my famous Camping series.

Extreme Short Shrift. Stayed up too late last night and it’s already time for bed. So I’ll make this a quick one.

Spent a lot of time on the phone this evening with Loyal Reader Number Three. He was struggling with some Math homework. I gave him some (possibly spurious) advice and enjoyed the chat. We’ll see how much he ends up enjoying it when his graded assignment comes back.

We’re getting more excited all the time about his weekend visit, which starts tomorrow evening. Safe journey, LRN3!

We have some interesting, thoughtful comments on yesterday’s controversy. Of course, the airline was apparently looking for people who are already bald, but I think that’s just pure discrimination. What’s the difference between a bald head and a shaved head? Other than stubble. And the real possibility that their Living Billboard might let his hair grow and collect the money without ever really advertising at all. Of course, the bald guy could just wear a hat. So it’s totally fair.

Anyway. I think we’ll go with a new Morrowlife controversy. Namely, this: Should the City Fathers of Saugatuck, Michigan pay this guy‘s bill? My answer: Yes, and put him on the payroll permanently. He’s probably cheaper than the lousy help they already have.

Here’s one more slightly controversial topic: they’re now using dogs as witnesses in court. I can’t see any problem with that, can you? I hate to think what Loyal Pet Number One might do to me in court, given the chance. I might be spending the rest of my life in a small plastic kennel.

Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Here’s an interesting sign we found at the entrance to a hiking trail up at Clark’s Fork. I wonder how many hang gliders they get deep in the woods. Probably a few. Part of my famous Camping series.

Fine day, as usual. Took the train, also as usual. I still have twenty one prepaid rides left, with a new ten-ride ticket coming every month. If my calculations are correct, I ought to catch up sometime around the end of October or the first week in November. After which I’ll get yet another ticket. The good news is that I haven’t bought any gasoline for a week or two now.

Downloaded iTunes 8 last night, as discussed previously. They now offer hi-def TV shows, and they were giving away several free downloads to celebrate. Or to bait people. Whatever. In any case, I downloaded the free ones. I finished watching a Psych a little bit ago and now I’m watching Monk. They’re both recent shows and I had seen the Psych, but at least they were free. There are a few others, but I’m not sure I’ll like them. They’re not My Shows. If you know what I mean.

Also downloaded a few more MST3K episodes. I’ll start converting them before I go to bed, and then they’re on the iPod playlist by tomorrow. Cool.

Anyway. Today’s Morrowlife controversy: Would you shave your head to make a thousand bucks (well, 666 bucks American)? My answer: Probably not, but I’m willing to hear them out.

While I was searching for today’s controversy, I found this really cool web page with some science videos. Remember kids, don’t try these at home. Really. I mean it.

Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Here’s a picture of a far-off mountain taking during one of our recent camping trips. Doesn’t it look like part of the scenery from a model railroad? Part of my famous Camping series.

Nice day. It did indeed cool off, as predicted yesterday. It’s just after 9:00 in the evening, and it’s already down to 64 degrees. Big change, and it feels good. We might even need to use our blanket tonight. Predictions are up to the lower- to mid-90’s for the next ten days, with nighttime temperatures down to the upper 50’s. And sunny every day, of course. Zero percent chance of rain. I’ll take that weather anytime.

Lardville is a great place to plan a picnic in the summertime. It simply doesn’t rain. I have no idea where the water comes from in our numerous rivers around here.

Otherwise, situation normal. Work is going just fine – did I mention that my boss is leaving at the end of this month? Probably not. I think (hope, actually) this will be a good thing for me, giving me a chance to manage the group without her help. We’ll see what happens.

The pickup continues to run smoothly. I just need to figure out when to bring it home to detail it. I need to find a weekend when Loyal Reader Number Six, the Official Morrowlife Auto Detailing Services Provider, is available. He’ll be here this weekend, but with Loyal Reader Number Three’s visit, nobody is really sure whether this will be a good time for it. I still have a good 48 hours or so before a final decision needs to be rendered, and I plan to take pretty much all of it.

Apple announced some new iPods and a few new services in the iTunes Store today. They were accompanied by a new version of iTunes, which I downloaded this evening. The jury is still way out on the changes. I’m not a fan of the new Album view yet, but maybe it will grow on me. I’ve never bought any TV shows, so I don’t care that NBC is back and HD TV shows are available. I’ve never bought any of their movies, so I don’t care what’s going on there. I don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch, so I’m not interested in the changes there. I did turn on Genius mode a few minutes ago. It’s still inspecting my library, so I have no idea whether I’ll like it or not. Initial media reports are not encouraging. I’ll keep you informed, Loyal Readers.

Today’s Morrowlife controversy: What would they have done if he told them he cleaned sewers for a living? My answer: Free plumbing work!

Time for bed yet again. See you tomorrow.