Nobody is Promised Tomorrow. . .
This Blog started in 2001 as a Trip Log to record a summer in Alaska. Since then, it has morphed into my online diary.
Well, I went to the dentist yesterday. My teeth were declared “stable”. “Stable”, I guess that is as good as it gets when you are closer to 70 than 60.
Next week is the cystoscopy. The reward for that is going to be a new laptop. Either Lenovo X301 or a MacBook Air. Or the cheapest netbook I can find. There is no middle ground with me. It is either the very best or very cheapest that will do the job. Hence – the killer new lens for the L1 and the cheap-ass used Dell computer.
Now this is something new but not necessarily a good sign. Mouse trap grocery coupons. Does this mean that people are cutting back on the exterminator service? Or are rats on the increase?
Another image from yesterday’s photo-stroll. The flag hanging from the blue building is a part of our local 9/11 flag tradition.
The hospital has some of the world’s lamest software. It is supposed to record what our office does to the employees. For example, if we give an employee a flu shot – I record that in the system. And, I can get the system to print out a list of “everyone who got a flu shot”. It will not give up the names of employees who did NOT get a flu shot. I think I have finally accepted that I am a volunteer and I do not have to solve this problem. If the giant brains at the hospital can not figure out how to do it – well, then they’ll just have to hire a herd of temps to keep track of flu shots for 2000 + employees. I am worth about what I am paid.
The MacBook Air vs Lenovo x301 race. Mac is winning right now. Ubuntu is a fine OS – but it takes a non-trivial amount of tweaking to make all the usual laptop goodies work. For example on my little U810 – I have never been able to make the keyboard lights work. So, my feeling is – if I am going to have a top end laptop – I’ll want all the do-dads to work. Also. Linux isn’t too good with battery life/temperature control.
Why do I want a new laptop – especially since I am happy with the really cheap very used Dell box? Well, the aforementioned U810 really is too tiny for these old eyes. And, I NEED a travel computer. A non-Windows travel computer. So, it is a Mac or Lenovo w/Ubuntu.
Nice sunny lazy day. Wandered around taking pictures. Lounged around the pool. Played MacBook Air or Lenovo x301 head games. Life is good. Too good. The forces of evil must be lurking nearby.
nothing much happening today. most exciting thing was I got a nose bleed.
Went to the apple store and looked at the new iPods and old MacBooks. I am getting closer to the MacBook Air. Or the Lenovo X301. My old hang up with the Air is getting yet another OS in the house. This time last year I was just playing with Linux from LiveCD. Now, I use it for almost everything. I have stopped using Roboform and am now happy with Keypass(x) – which runs on Mac’s too. More stuff has moved to “the cloud”. But their is still my tax software, photo catalog, and movie copy software. These still need Windows.
But, I really don’t want to worry about all the Windows hassles anymore. I am getting closer to drinking Job’s Jungle Juice.
Anna Karenina – all 35 hours worth – is still available on iTunes for 95cents. Must be the correct price.
The rent thing is taken care of. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t want to move until I was asking myself is it worth $450 a month more to stay here. But, the landlord accepted that the world changed since we signed our lease 5 years ago.
So here we stay “home is where your stuff is”.
9/11 – An old set of photos taken from a powerpoint presentation sent to me in Alaksa by an old Navy buddy. Check it out.
Carlton and I have differing views about how much rent we should pay. And, I am sure the landlord has a view too. This has to be resolved. Or it is moving time. I don’t think I’ll deserve a “treat” for doing this task. My treat is being a renter not an owner.
I do get a reward for spending 72 hours in the country. I am thinking about a sweet Levi jeans jacket. New. Not thriftshopped. The thrift shop ones are nicely worn and weathered – but too big.
The good news from Apple is that I do not have to have a new iPod. The new Touch isn’t all that much better than the one I got last fall.
A happy mistake? I snagged 35 hours of Anna Karenina for 95 cents. We’ll see if Apple comes looking for more money. Or if they try to ZAP my book like Amazon did to some Kindles.
One Second After by William R. Forstchen. It is right wing, gun toting, claptrap if you want it to be. Claptrap with some very suspect grammar and questionable automobile “facts”. But, I am revisiting the post-apocalyptic genre. If you get over the grammar and talk radio right wing hysteria – it is OK. It is not great literature like The Road. Just a story – in dire need of grammar-checker – designed to scare the crap out of the reader.
Our enemies were smart enough to figure out how to crash jet planes into buildings. So, I’ll accept that “they” could set off an EMP generating nuke. But, just as likely – the sun will flare up – big time – like on September 1, 1859 – Carrington Super Flare. But, the idea that “they” did it to us makes for better right wing, gun toting talk show hyperventilating.
No pictures worth showing. Didn’t run into a deer. Didn’t see any snakes. No internet, computer, or cell service for 48+ hours. Survived.
Heading off to the wilds of Lake Anna for the weekend. I am making it into a modified no-technology retreat. Oh I am taking the L1 w/new killer lens and the iPod and maybe the charger for the pod. But, that is it. No computer. No online. For 48 – 72 hours depending on how long we stay. Doesn’t that sound like fun boys and girls.
I really hate the country. Peace, solitude, maybe deers that jump out in front of your car. Yellow jackets and snakes too. The lake is warm. That is the good news. The bad news is that it is warmed by a nuclear power plant. Sigh.
If I survive life in the country then I get to move on to a visit to the dentist, a mammogram and cystocopy. These are strung out like little “jewels” during the rest of September.
I just decided – the iPod charger is definitely making the trip. Tunes to out shout the buzz of insects.
Look on the darker side maybe there will be stars. We don’t have stars in the city. Sometimes I feel like I am living in the Isaac Asimov sci-fi classic Nightfall.
So, if I don’t blog for a few days I haven’t died. I am just enjoying pastoral solitude – cemeteries are like that too.
Truth in bitching. We have yellow jackets in the city too.
Good thing I wasn’t hoping that the new lens would turn me into a wildlife photographer.
The Road. By Cormac McCarthy. An almost unbearably bleak post-apocalyptic tale. But, so well crafted that you are force to read it to the end, knowing all along that nothing good is going to happen. Cormac McCarthy, for no apparent reason moved to El Paso. Lived there for some years. Escaped to Santa Fe. Returned to El Paso for a visit – and was inspired to write The Road.
I read the book several years ago. Have to support old homeboys, you understand. And, the book did win a Pulitzer. A couple of months ago, a bought the audio version from iTunes. I am currently listening to it. The audio version is just as bleak.
It is a modern day Heart of Darkness, but all the more real. Reminding us of how much we have to lose and to treasure the here and now.
And, yes, the film version is coming out this fall. And I wish it well, but will not be seeing it.