morrowlife

Here’s a really old picture I took at Baikonur. As I recall, this was a Soyuz launch. Looks like one, anyway. Ah, the memories of that vast desert wasteland.

Non-Short Shrift tonight. Went to work an hour late and came home an hour early. I’m rested and ready for the weekend.

Not that it will be all that entertaining. We’re helping move a friend tomorrow morning, and I don’t think she’ll be anywhere near ready to move. Sigh.

Let’s see what else needs to be done? I need to get the Suburban (commercially) washed. I want to wash the Honda too. Dirty, dirty, dirty. Loyal Reader Number Four’s going to need help getting ready for next week’s family reunion, and I’m sure there must be something I can do.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed Loyal Reader Number Twenty-two’s visit this week. Sadly, he’s heading for home tomorrow morning. Have a safe trip back, LRN22! And come visit us again.

He and Loyal Reader Number One are upstairs working on the electronic project that’s consumed their week. They’re trying to make an Arduino interface with a Mac to program a PIC chip, which will then be used as a serial driver for my cool little LCD panel. Of course, I could buy a serial driver for the LCD for about twenty bucks, but that wouldn’t be fun at all, would it?

Loyal Readers Numbers One, Four, and Twenty-two went to Alcatraz this morning, and then had lunch with Loyal Reader Number Five. It sounds like they had a nice day. The most interesting thing they saw, though, was a mother seagull throwing up pieces of fish for her babies to eat. I have to agree that sounds fascinating.

Ironically, they’ve been having the most trouble with something that should have been one of the simplest problems – they need to have a switchable voltage applied to one of the pins on the PIC. It’s been quite a daunting task, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something.

Today’s controversy: Who are you with: the Saint Nicks, or the Jolly Old Elves? This controversy just might end Christmas as we know it.

Well, it wasn’t exactly Long Shrift, but it wasn’t as short as some other days. See you tomorrow.

Here’s a frog reading a book. About frogs, of course. Although frogs may be excellent readers, their literary tastes are limited. On the other hand, people mostly read books about people. (Link note: disturbing topic, but I’m still trying to figure out what’s up with result #7. I mean, the show was bad, but it wasn’t that bad.) This might not be that odd after all. Picture taken in the reptile house at the Detroit Zoo.

One more Extremely Short Shrift post. I might have to start calling this the Shortshrift blog, rather than Morrowlife. Never fear, Loyal Readers, I’ll get my act back together Real Soon Now.

As promised yesterday, here’s today’s controversy: does this worry you? Not me. And I don’t think they’re invading anyone’s privacy. When you’re out in public, whatever you’re doing is fair game. Like this stuff.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s yet another polar bear at the Detroit Zoo. This one isn’t actually alive. It’s more of a mosaic. Looks a little more friendly than the real ones.

Extremely Short Shrift yet again. I had visitors from the government all day today (they were here to help) and didn’t get home from the office until just about exactly 8:00. Quick drive, but a late one. I had my dinner (excellent hamburger); went for a long, relaxing swim while chatting with Loyal Reader Number Four; got dried off and dressed; had a piece of banana cake (excellent, and possibly better than yesterday’s piece; I don’t know why certain foods taste better on the second and third days – lasagna, pizza, banana cake – but they definitely do, which would make an excellent Morrowlife controversy); and sat down to blog for a few moments. The iPod got its nightly update too.

Speaking of which, I’ve added a couple of new podcasts my Loyal Readers might be interested in. First, there’s Grammar Girl‘s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Excellent advice on numerous grammatical topics. Heartily recommended. Grammar Girl’s style is light and entertaining, and her advice is excellent and correct. It’s part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. I was already listening to The Get-It-Done Guy‘s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More, which I also heartily recommend. I had had no idea there was a network. Now I know. I haven’t subscribed to any of their other podcasts, but my podcast-listening Loyal Readers might find something else useful there.

After many disappointing experiences, I’ve subscribed to a music podcast I might actually keep. It’s called the Big Band Stage Door Canteen. It’s a weekly radio show from KAMU, the FM station affiliated with my admittedly-strange-but-they-have-a-great-engineering-school alma mater. It looks like a very entertaining two-hour-long weekly exploration of old (and maybe some new) big band music. I might get sick of it soon, but I’m giving it the old college try. Since it is from my old college.

One other music-related podcast I’ve added is From the Top at Carnegie Hall. It’s a PBS-funded (shudder) series showcasing 8- to 18-year-old musicians in performance at Carnegie Hall. They include interviews and some backstage stuff, which are always entertaining, but the performances are enough to bring me back. It’s a video podcast and extremely highly recommended.

There are other new ones, but they’ll have to wait until another time. Not much action on yesterday’s controversy, other than LRN4’s comment (thanks very much!). Must have been boring to everybody else, but I’ll give it one more day to get the attention it so richly deserves. What do you think of overly long musical performances? Is 639 years just too long? Could they have limited it to, say, 100 years without seriously affecting the social impact?

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a pack of pretty scary-looking tigers. Photo taken in the gift shop at the Detroit Zoo.

The work week’s over! It was a busy one. I’m looking forward to the three-day weekend. Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve are already here, and we’re having more friends over tomorrow afternoon.

No specific weekend plans yet. The Loyal Readers already did a marvelous job cleaning up the garage. Loyal Reader Number Four is buying a new freezer and needed a space for it. The freezer is arriving on Monday. The biggest problem they had was the mountain of shoes outside the door. They creatively came up with the idea of building a little shelf, which looks great and really helped straighten up the mess. Congrats and thanks, Loyal Readers! I’ll think of some more projects tomorrow.

No controversy today. I’ll come up with something really controversial tomorrow. For now, it’s already late and I need to get to bed. There’ll be plenty of time for blogging tomorrow. In the meantime, have a great Fourth, and be careful (link warning – fireworks noise) out there.

See you tomorrow.

Here are Loyal Readers Numbers One and Two at Fairlane. Great Art indeed.

I guess some Morrowlife controversies are more controversial than others. Yesterday’s secession talk just didn’t generate much talk. I suppose that question must have been settled back in ’65. That’s 1865 for any of you Loyal Readers not quite up on your history. 1965 was a little less exciting.

Anyway. It’s Loyal Reader Departure Eve. They’ll be gone for about three days. I’ll sure miss ’em. Good luck, Loyal Reader Number One! I’m sure they’ll all have a good time. LRN4’s sister is coming up to Riverside from San Diego to visit while they’re that far south.

I’ll be lonesome while they’re gone, but don’t worry about me too much. I’ll have the dog, the snake, and the fish to keep me company. Not to mention the plants. That’s quite a crowd.

No controversy today. My Loyal Readers will just have to stew over the weekend. See you on Monday.