Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Life preserver

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009


Here’s some shipboard safety equipment. Fortunately, we never needed it. The strange thing about the safety equipment, though, was that the lifeboat drill was held indoors in the theater, not around any of the actual lifeboats. Apparently, they figure that any disaster will be slow-moving enough that there’s time to take in a show first. Or something like that.

No posts Monday or Tuesday. Monday was a holiday and felt like the weekend. Tuesday was Massive Meeting Tuesday and there simply wasn’t time. Not that anybody cared.

Normal weekend. It was nice to be home for four days, but I didn’t really accomplish anything. Got the brakes changed on the Suburban and it didn’t help. I’ve ordered new stainless steel braided brake lines and this really cool bleeding apparatus. I’m hoping they’ll help at least a little.

Otherwise, went to a picnic and didn’t really do anything else.

Normal days yesterday and today. There’s really nothing to mention.

There is some food violence news, though: a pizza kidnapping. Pretty low.

See you tomorrow. Probably.

Downtown Haines

Friday, September 4th, 2009


Here’s yet another shot of beautiful downtown Haines. Not a tourist trap in sight. We really liked that little town. Its background isn’t bad either.

No post yesterday. I don’t remember why, so let’s skip the excuse this time. No complaints from Anon, at least.

Spent the day quietly at home. I replaced the front brakes on the Suburban, but I’ve come to the conclusion that they need to be bled. That will probably happen tomorrow morning. LRN2 has volunteered to help! If that doesn’t work, I’ll call all the money I’ve spent lost and put it in the shop for brakes (along with all its other problems). That’s what I thought I did last time, but the thieves at Midas managed to screw up everything they touched. I discovered too late that they’re under investigation by the state people responsible for investigating such things. Never again.

I also took the Miata and the Honda to the gas station. Also sat in the jacuzzi for a while. Also signed timecards. That’s about the sum total of my accomplishments for the day.

Our dinner and evening with our friends Jim and Kathy was very nice. LRN4 and I really enjoyed ourselves.

We’ll finish tonight with some recent food violence: beef jerky robbery. This is way worse than banana burglary. And to think that a barber – one of America’s trusted hair-care professionals – is responsible. My confidence has been shaken. I may never get another haircut.

See you on Monday.

Cruising reader

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009


Here’s LRN4 standing in front of our cruise ship. Picture taken in Ketchikan. Or Juneau. Or maybe San Francisco. Or somewhere else.

Blogger’s picture publishing is working again today. Their monthly “upgrade” must be over.

Not much to talk about tonight. Happy birthday to LRN3, though! I hope it was a great day. Sounded like it when I spoke with him this evening.

LRN2 and LRN4 went to the Lardville city council meeting this evening for a Duty to God requirement for LRN2. Sounds like it was entertaining, in a sick, politician way. Yuck.

For those Loyal Readers who aren’t interested in working as state fair carnies, I offer this: train-driving monkey. Now that’s a career you can stick with.

See you tomorrow

Haines

Thursday, August 27th, 2009


Here’s part of the pretty little village of Haines, Alaska. At least I think that’s what it is. Anybody recognize it?

Anyway. I’m home alone today. LRN1 is back to school as of this morning, and LRN2 and LRN4 went with him to help him get settled. Also to drop him off. They’ll be back on Saturday evening. The Suburban ran well for them and their trip was uneventful, except for having to turn back to retrieve LRN1’s computer. Dang. I would have enjoyed that thing.

Quiet evening. I went for dinner to the Chinese buffet restaurant we’ve been thinking of trying. It was actually pretty good, which is about a 50/50 chance for Chinese buffets, in my vast experience. Not necessarily gourmet, but a pretty good meal. And the price was reasonable.

No posts Tuesday and Wednesday. I had meetings and just couldn’t get to the computer. I need to get serious about my blogging again. Sorry about that, Loyal Readers.

I’ve been listening to a couple of new podcasts. The first is Everything Creative, part of the Mormon Radio channel. It’s supposed to be a podcast about creative people – artist types. I started out with low expectations, not being too much of an art lover (other than Great Art, of course).

It turns out to be very interesting, though, because of its unique twist: the person interviewed this week has to find and interview next week’s subject. Kind of like an interviewing chain letter.

If I remember it right, they started with a painter, who interviewed an architect, who interviewed an Egyptologist, who interviewed an NBA basketball player, who interviewed a professional organizer. Or something like that. I have no idea where it’s going next, but I love it. Very creative.

I’ve also been listening to the Biography Podcast. Another good one. This one has the same host every week. He interviews writers of interesting biographies. They talk about both the subject of the biographies and the process of researching and writing the books. Fascinating and recommended.

And there’s not much else to talk about. So we’ll end with today’s food violence news: They’re cracking down on lunchboxes. Those things have been known to kill people!

Floating village

Monday, August 24th, 2009


Here’s a floating village in Alaska. Loggers used to live there. Looks like fun, as long as you’re not subject to motion sickness. Which I am. So it doesn’t look like fun after all.

Extreme Short Shrift. It’s Monday night, I couldn’t get home until 7:30, and it’s getting late. My loss is your gain, Loyal Readers.

Thanks to Anon for noticing a missing word in Wednesday’s post. I’ve been writing the blog on my iPhone, and I’m still getting the hang of typing on a virtual keyboard. It must be my phone’s fault. Yeah, that’s it.

Great campout over the weekend. The campground itself was a parking lot (literally), but the park was very pretty, we had hookups, and there was a free performance of Richard III. The one by Shakespeare, that is. It was better than you would expect for free. Several of the actors were very good, in fact. All in all, it was great to get away and we enjoyed it.

I’ll leave you with yet more food violence. The Ding Dong Dang Dairy has been robbed! How low can they go?

See you tomorrow.