Archive for January, 2009

Wind tunnel

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009


Here are a couple of pretty questionable-looking guys working on a wind tunnel model. Pretty big model for its time, if you ask me. And highly detailed. At least until you get behind the cockpit. Then it becomes sort of general. Part of both my famous Statue and Machinery series.

Fine day. Another beauty, weather-wise. Work went well, commuting went well and was characterized mainly by napping, with an hour of work thrown in for good measure.

My first Massive Meeting Tuesday went very well. I have a ton of assignments, including several callings to issue to members of various wards, a speaking assignment on Sunday, another speaking assignment at a fireside in early February, and lots of meetings to attend. I’m tremendously excited about it all and a little overwhelmed. The Lord will provide.

Loyal Reader Number Twenty-Four sent me a copy of this video:

Her father suggested I might like to add it to my collection. I’ll have to give that some thought. Thanks, LRN24!

The video came from the Mil-Spec Monkey website. Somewhat messy website design, but they do have reviews of some pretty cool gear. Including the Tuff Writer Tactical Pen. (Available in Stealth Black, Sniper Grey, and Desert Brown!)

I found another perfect summer job for Loyal Reader Number One: frog listener. Of course, I’ll be taking my usual ten percent finder’s fee.

No more for tonight. See you tomorrow.

Sit down

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009


Here’s an invitation I don’t think I care to accept. I believe this is a piece of rescue equipment used by helicopter crews to pick up downed pilots or other people on the ground. Spotted on Christmas Eve at the Hiller Aviation Museum, of course. I’m going way out on a limb and including this in my famous Machinery series.

Extreme Short Shrift. It’s Massive Meeting Tuesday, and I don’t expect to be home until very late. I’ll post this when I get home. Will add Great Art and skip today’s links.

Drove the Miata to work today, for the first time in months. The Massive Meeting timing just doesn’t work for the train. The morning drive was quite normal – didn’t take significantly less time than the train but was pleasant nonetheless. I got through a few podcasts but missed the old-time TV shows I’ve been watching. Also didn’t get any work done.

Another beautiful, sunny, warm day. It’s in the mid-sixties and is expected to be that way every day for the next week. I checked the Michigan weather forecast, and they’ll be lucky to get out of single digits this week. My sympathies to my snowbound Loyal Readers. Drop in for a nice warm winter visit!

All is well. See you tomorrow.

Whirlwind

Monday, January 12th, 2009


Here’s another authentic Wright Brothers aircraft engine (see Thursday’s post for the first one). This one is the real thing, though, and it’s a thing of beauty. Part of my famous Machinery series.

Beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon. Turned the pickup’s heater off and rolled down my window. And I wasn’t even cool. Well, I was Cool. Just not cool. The Weather Channel folks were predicting 65 degrees and I have no doubt they exceeded it. Life in Northern California isn’t so bad after all.

Back into the fifties tomorrow. Brrr.

Let’s see, how was the weekend? Answer: not bad. Friday has been discussed previously. Saturday was pretty low-key. Loyal Reader Number Two and I looked at the Miata’s leaky clutch. It turns out the slave cylinder looks pretty much brand-new and showed no signs of leakage. We opted to bleed the clutch and refill the reservoir and keep an eye on it. If that lasts another year, we’re good. If not, further steps will be taken.

What else did I accomplish on Saturday? Ummm . . . nothing comes to mind. There was a good amount of relaxation, as I recall. LRN2 was invited to a friend’s birthday party in the evening, so Loyal Reader Number Four and I took advantage of the opportunity to go out to dinner. We tried out Lardville’s new Greek/hamburger place. We both had a hamburger and enjoyed them thoroughly. With our coupon, the entire bill came to $7.14. Not bad.

Sunday, is was sustained and set apart as a member of the High Council. I have responsibility for the Spanish Branch and the Young Women, including Girls’ Camp. Combined with the normal High Council duties, like speaking in a sacrament meeting every month, attending numerous meetings, and other duties as assigned, I expect to be plenty busy. I’m really excited about it.

Sadly, I’ll have to be released from the High Priests Group Leadership, which I’ve also enjoyed. You can’t have everything.

Where would you put it?

Work was busy and relatively productive. I’m really enjoying the chance to do more managing under my current boss. And I think things are going very well. Probably. Maybe. Sort of.

Anyway. My new busy nights will be the second and fourth Tuesdays – especially the second. Bloggage will undoubtedly be extremely light to nonexistent those days. My Loyal Readers will just have to stay tough.

Haven’t heard much from Loyal Readers Numbers Three and Five and their respective families. We’re hoping that no news is good news. Tomorrow’s Loyal Reader Number Six’s birthday. Happy Birthday, LRN6!

That’s about it for Monday. See you tomorrow.

Plane ride

Friday, January 9th, 2009


Here’s Loyal Reader Number One holding back Loyal Reader Number Twelve’s airplane just long enough for me to get a picture. Seconds later, she was buzzing the room. Not part of any of my famous series. I hesitate to call that thing machinery, and I don’t have an LRN12 series, although I probably should. Special cameo appearances by Loyal Readers Numbers Four, Five, and Six in the background.

Not much to write about tonight – my posts for the rest of the week have been voluminous enough.

Put chlorine in the swimming pool. Fed the fellas. Returned a bunch of library books and checked out a bunch of CDs, including several very good Christmas albums. Discovered the Miata has a massive clutch hydraulic fluid leak. Did some reading and a little bit of work. Also got my laptop set up for next week’s Blackberry linkage. Worked on my iTunes music collection a little – getting album artwork and that sort of thing. Not much else. Good day.

Yes, I know it’s a little late for Christmas music. Let’s just say I’m getting a head start on Christmas 2009.

We’ll finish with some toilet news. The creative minds working on the Space Toilet problem have come up with another unique solution. I don’t see why only the astronauts should get such neat equipment, though. They should sell it to everyone! It would be perfect for . . . ummm . . . well, lots of people. Probably.

Today’s Morrowlife controversy: Loyal Readers are invited to suggest terrestrial occupations that could benefit from the Space Toilet Diaper.

See you tomorrow.

Wright engine

Thursday, January 8th, 2009


Here’s an authentic Wright Brothers aircraft engine. Sort of. Well, it’s an authentic replica of an authentic Wright Brothers aircraft engine. Still cool, though. Part of my famous Machinery series.

The weekend’s here! That’s right, tomorrow’s Off Friday. We have nothing huge going on, so I’m not showing up. Woo hoo!

And the best part is that I have nothing particular to accomplish at home, either. I’m sure we can think of some things that need doing, though. Let’s try right now. Ready? Go!

Ummm . . . I ought to have a look at the pond filter. Maybe check the chlorine level in the pool. Pull Moe’s 200 gigabyte drive and get it sent to Loyal Reader Number One. Clean off my dresser top. Maybe cook a nice breakfast. Possibly jacuzzify (that’s not exactly work, but it can certainly be scheduled, can’t it?).

That’s enough for now. I’m sure other things will come up as the weekend unfolds.

LRN1 reports that the new Mac continues to hum along. He’s still working on restoring data from the old machine. It’s on my Mac’s hard drive, and he’s connected to it and copying data right now. Time prognostication: 50 hours. Yikes. But who’s in a hurry?

Got the terabyte drive installed last night, but not in Moe. Turns out its motherboard has no SATA connectors. So it went into Larry. I’m planning to retire Moe at this point, so I’m sending its above-mentioned hard drive to LRN1. Moe will go into the Ready Reserves. For now.

Anyway. I connected the new drive at roughly 8:00 or 8:30 and started formatting it. By the time I went to bed at 11:00, it was only up to 38%. I presume it’s done by now. We’ll find out when I get home.

Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve went to Menlo Park today to interview for a job as apartment managers. It seems like a great opportunity and I hope they get it. So do they. This would be LRN12’s first successful job interview.

I mentioned to my boss today that I’ve been spending an hour every morning catching up on email. When I told him I do it in offline mode because ACE hasn’t gotten their free wifi service working again after two years of trying, he told me I ought to use my cell phone as a modem. I mentioned I don’t have a data plan, and he said I should just use my company cell phone. “Ummm,” said I, “I don’t have one.” So he suggested I get one. So I did. My shiny new Blackberry should be available on Monday or Tuesday.

Now I just have to find out whether it will be usable as a modem. Even if not, I can just read and respond to most of my email directly on the Blackberry.

I’m not crazy about the idea of carrying two cell phones, but that might just be how it has to be. We’ll see how things work out.

In today’s Morrowlife controversy, we examine a conclusively proven scientific fact. The controversial question is: Have any of my Loyal Readers actually sung into a karaoke machine? If so, why?

See you tomorrow.