morrowlife

Here’s Loyal Reader Number Two holding a geocache at Anthony Chabot Regional Park. Sadly, the cache turns out to be positioned behind a bush, so we can’t see it. Not my best Great Art. Picture courtesy of the exclusive Treo-cam, and also part of my famous Camping series.

Great news from Loyal Reader Number Three in the job-search department! We think. He called his old employer at the firing range to see if there was any opportunity. They asked him if he had received their letter. He hadn’t. Apparently, they sent him a letter a couple of days ago to see if he was interested in coming back. He’s interested. There are no details until the letter actually arrives, and it may not turn out to be what he thinks it is, but we’re all cautiously optimistic. Best of luck, LRN3!

Okay day at work. I wasn’t supposed to be there today, but we did get the things done that had to be done, so I don’t resent it. Too much.

— Much later —

Had to stop – too many things going on. It’s now nearly 4:00 in the morning and I’m finally just about to go to bed. Yikes.

It all started out when I went to the store with Loyal Reader Number Four and bought a new router. The old one was dying – it crapped out pretty much once a day. It took a little while to get the new one installed. And then my IP address changed. Which killed my websites. Which would have been fine, except that my Dynamic DNS service didn’t work anymore because I had a new router and the script couldn’t find its IP address. Which I couldn’t figure out how to fix.

So I finally bit the bullet and bought hosting on Godaddy. I’ve been thinking about doing that for quite a while. It took quite some time to get the site set back up there, but it’s finally working and I’m going to bed. The remaining sites will move over there tomorrow, after which Larry will live out his life as a testbed. Or something.

No links, no toilet news, no food attack news. Just bed. See you tomorrow.

Here’s one of my two favorite things at the Chabot Science Center – a telescope. This is an oldie. They have several big ones too, but this one just looks cool.

Fine day. Got a couple of things done. Didn’t get a couple of other things done. The usual.

Went at lunch to have a look at a couple of cars. First tried to see a Lincoln MKZ. The nearest dealer turned out to be a thief, so I walked away without even looking at anything. Then I went to the local Chevy dealer to look at Suburbans. They only had a few, none of which was perfect, but I decided to test drive one. They actually told me they wouldn’t let me drive it without giving them my phone number. I won’t give car dealers my phone number, so I walked away.

Honestly. Does anybody wonder why American car sales have evaporated? I have money burning a hole in my pocket and a can’t even get them to show me their cars. The American carmakers have lots of faults, but their dealers are the biggest one. I may have to look at Japanese cars again.

Off Friday tomorrow, but I’ll be at work. We have a software delivery tomorrow. I think I’ll sleep in until 6:00 and go in an hour late. Maybe I’ll get to come home an hour early to boot. But maybe not.

Today’s toilet news: It’s not only Tokyo that’s looking at a toilet nightmare. Washingtonians, be afraid. Be very afraid.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s the view from near the campground at Anthony Chabot Regional Park. Loyal Reader Number Four and I were commenting on what a pretty little green meadow that was. Loyal Reader Number Two mentioned it looked like a golf course to him. Which it was. Part of my famous Camping series.

Yet another berserk day at work. We made it through our financial audit this morning. The folks interviewing us didn’t seem like they had a specific plan, so we just went through a few things and called it an hour and a half. Then we got a nice (and free) mexican lunch. No complaints.

We have one more audit by videoconference tomorrow. Hopes for success are high.

Talked to Loyal Reader Number Three a couple of times this afternoon. He’s still working on the job search and wanted to talk about the latest edition of his resume. Looks good. Let’s hope it does the trick.

In fact, let’s work on focusing some exclusive Morrowlife concern rays on LRN3’s behalf.

Prayer might be a good idea as well.

No Christmas list yet. I really need to put some work into it. Wait a minute – I know what I’ll do: leave it to my Loyal Readers. What do you think I should have on my Christmas list? Remember, we’re talking about me here, so nothing’s too good. Comments, Loyal Readers?

Todat’s heartwarming holiday tale: Man uses candy cane to fend off attacker. Go, and do thou likewise.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s Loyal Reader Number Twelve being wheeled around at the Victorian Christmas Extravaganza. I believe this was taken before she threw up. So she looks a little grouchy. Picture courtesy of the exclusive Treo-cam.

Extreme Short Shrift tonight. We went directly from work (meaning Loyal Readers Numbers Two and Four had to come out to the South Bay this afternoon) to the annual Palo Alto LDS Christmas Creche exhibit, featuring over 400 creches and a organ concert performed by a well-known local organist, featuring original works by a well-known New Mexican composer and surgeon, who was in attendance and actually performed one of his own works. In addition, the president of the company that made the organ was also in attendance.

The concert was very nicely done. The organist’s work was technically excellent and a beautiful performance all around. The one thing I would have changed is that he tended to abruptly adjust the volume in kind of a jarring way. It wasn’t just an accident because he did it several times. I’m wondering if it was a limitation of the instrument, which he described as “modest.”

And it was – it’s a great church organ but I think it lacks the power to really give the best performance in a recital. Interestingly, the organ company that made it also made the church’s Conference Center organ and did the recent refurbishment of the tabernacle organ. So they’re good and this was a good instrument for its size.

Anyway. It was LRN2’s first visit to this annual exhibition, and he was as overwhelmed as we had been when we first went last year. The creches are beautiful, with lots of original work from all over the world, and they’re displayed incredibly artfully. It’s truly a first-class operation all around. We remembered several creches from last year and noticed many new ones this year.

I think we may make it an annual tradition. Although it’s open for less than a week in early December, and it’s a long drive from home. Still worth it.

That’s it – it’s too late for any more. Check out Loyal Reader Number One’s blog – he’s started posting again.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a pretty little building in a pretty little clearing in a beautiful big forest. The fact that it’s a restroom has no bearing on the situation. It’s still Great Art. Picture taken at Anthony Chabot Regional Park. Part of my famous Camping series.

Busy, busy, busy. Worked like a camel, only with less spitting. But the smell was pretty much the same.

But let’s talk about the weekend first, shall we? There were predictions made on Friday, and my Loyal Readers are doubtless on pins and needles to know how it turned out.

First, the not-unexpected bad news: I didn’t work on the rocket launcher. Maybe next weekend. Doggone it.

As discussed previously, the organ recital Friday evening was beautiful, and Loyal Reader Number Two gave a fantastic performance. We received word before we left home that there was a large accident on the freeway that haf traffic backed way up, so we decided to get there on the back roads.

It didn’t work exactly to plan, but we got there, and we got to explore some nice back roads. And plenty of them. If it hadn’t been dark already, there might have been some nice scenery.

Anyway. We picked up Loyal Reader Number Twelve and headed over to the Victorian Christmas Farm. It was decorated nicely, there were a couple of musical groups (including some young girls playing flutes and recorders), there were some Christmas cooking demonstrations, and the requisite vendors were there too.

LRN12 was acting very quiet and standoffish, which was somewhat puzzling. She’s been a little bit ruled by emotions of late, though, so we didn’t get too excited about it and just enjoyed having her with us.

Well. We found out the true cause right as we stepped out of the beautiful Victorian house. LRN12 barfed on the porch. Also herself. And Loyal Reader Number Four. After that, she felt fine and had a nice time. And so did we.

And I forgot my camera. Yet again. I got some acceptable shots with the exclusive Treo-cam, though. They’ll have to do.

Saturday evening was the ward Christmas party. A nice time was had by all. As far as I could tell. I had a nice time, anyway. They didn’t do much. We had a nice ham dinner, listened to a Christmas story, heard a little bit of singing, and went home after visiting with friends for a while. Not bad.

Also spent a few hours looking at new cars. We finally saw one we really liked – the Ford Edge. We drove a nice example and are tempted. There’s a lot of money off, but it’s still too expensive. Don’t know what we’ll end up doing.

Outdoor Christmas lights and setting up the tree were on Saturday’s schedule, but didn’t get done.

Which brings us to Sunday. We got the tree and all the interior decorations up, although as of my departure this morning, the boxes still needed putting away. Still haven’t figured out the outdoor lights.

Otherwise, not a good Sunday for me. I was feeling quite sick all day. Missed church, which featured Christmas songs, which I really enjoy. Some improvement today – thanks for asking.

Forgot to go to the First Presidency fireside. I bet it was nice.

Which brings us to today. Got up at 4:00 and worked eleven and a half hours. Which was too much.

Tonight’s calendar calls for Christmas cards to be done at Home Evening. Might be a long night.

Today’s toilet news: Japan is in trouble.

And so, in conclusion, I offer a great job opportunity for Loyal Readers Numbers One and Three (and really pretty much every Loyal Reader out there): Hotdogger.

See you tomorrow.