Tea For Friday

I drink A LOT of coffee at work, and I also drink tea.

I usually drink tea in a two cup Pyrex measuring cup.

I am often made sport of for this.

This is my current collection of tea, at work...

• Constant Comment -- The classic. Tastes good, smells good.
• Esensia Earl Gray -- Smells good, in weird sort of way.
• Trader Joe's Spiced Chai -- Doesn't smell much, tastes good.
• Lipton Herbal Tea -- Haven't tried it yet.
• Bigelow Cinnamon Tea -- Smells really good.

Another Day,, Another Day

The fine folks at the grocery store I patronize inform me that I am the only person in the world who enters the amount I have purchased, using a debit card, directly into the checkbook register. They find this confusing, thinking I am writing a check. They want me to STOP IT!

Hey, I took Elementary Accounting, I'm compulsive about keeping the checking account balanced!

It's the one tiny piece of sanity in my life!

Thanksgiving Day

I'm reading Making Money, by Terry Pratchett, today. I've been looking up words that I didn't know. Eleven words so far, and I'm not even half way through the book! I had the most trouble with beccles, but I finally found the source. Most fun word? Fornication.

Haven't gone out much this week, except to fetch cigs for the old lady. Have read a number of books, though.

I was taught that we were to put two spaces after at the end of a sentence, after a period or such. The Modern Language Association says one is the standard, but there is nothing wrong about two. Nice to know.

We are supposed to be giving thanks today, but I have trouble thinking of stuff to be thankful for.

Let me see...

1. I don't seem to have cancer at the moment, or any NEW diseases.
2. My kids are happy and well.
3. I have a nice vehicle to drive.
4. I have a job.
5. I have a place to live.
6. I'm not blind yet, oh wait, that goes with #1, eh?
7. I don't live in the 2nd or 3rd world.

Well, I guess I was able to think of some stuff.

Merry Thanksgiving!

Foggy Friday

It was incredibly foggy this morning. It was so thick that I could only see dim headlights on cars about a 100 feet away. Those that actually had their headlights ON, that is...

At the end of the day I had about 65 miles on the odometer for the week, including that 20-odd miles ride on holiday Monday.

Ran across this link showing time-lapse photography of the Harris fire in San Diego from Lyons Peak. Absolutely stunning!! It's in Macromedia Flash Format (.swf). Different views here. More interesting photos from the HPWREN project.

What Is My Favorite Book?

Good question. I was thinking about this the other day, but I couldn't come up with an answer. I'm not sure just what "favorite book" means.

What books have I read more than twice?

Right off hand, these come to mind:

Job, a comedy of justice, by Robert Heinlein
Starship troopers, by Robert Heinlein
The Lord Of The Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Postman, by David Brin.
Miles From Nowhere, by Barbara Savage.
Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis.

It's probably a tossup between Job and Miles, but I feel an itch to read Starship again!

If I can remember this theme, perhaps next week I will discuss my favorite food. Or music. Or toy from the 50s!

Hey, Mac!

Having located the OS X CDs hiding in an obscure file drawer I was able to get around the little problem of a couple eMacs that had an administrator password that no one seemed to remember.

I learned two things:

1. How to make the Mac boot from a CD.
2. How to make the Mac bootup in OS X.

I am so proud of myself!

When the repair guy came today to take a away an eMac that freezes all the time, I was able to show him #2, of which he was not aware. Also, knowing #2, I was able to show him (having looked it up on a Windows machine!) how to find out the serial number, which the little darlings had removed from the CD-tray.

I am so double-proud of myself!

I ain't Heavy

Twenty five years, or so, of weight lost and gained, with a few years missing here and there, mostly there.



The chart represents every entry in the ubiquitous pink "Fat Chart" I started at work when our nurse organized a weight loss group.

Since it is memorialized here, I can FINALLY toss it!

Oh yeah, just for the record, my blood pressure on 2/4/81 was 115/70, and my height was 5 feet 11 inches. I bet the blood pressure is the same, but I think I've shrunk a couple inches!

Not My Problem

Here's a little tale I lived the other day.

Parent shows up at the Middle School library, wants a refund on a textbook his daughter returned. OK, let us check it out, sez the dude.

Parents do not know what book we are talking about. Ok, then. Check the Refund File. Nope. Check the Textbooks Paid file. Yep, there it is. Hmmmm....

• Textbook was due in June of 2005.
• Textbook was paid for in September, 2006.
• Textbook is turned in to High School in September, 2007, it is guessed from the cryptic notes I made, and checked in there.
• Textbook is received at Middle School in October, 2007, where it is noted (cryptically, that the textbook debt was paid a year ago.
  

So what I'm thinking is:

1. District Policy is that there are no refunds after one year.
2. Textbook is not a title being used any more, so it is of no use to the Middle School.

And it is noted on the "Charge Card" that there was no refund initiated for these two reasons.

Parent is adamant that he be paid, and that it is "not my problem, it is YOUR problem".

Parent says he got a letter "we" sent him, saying he was entitled to a refund. Nope, "we" don't send that kind of letter, "we" just send a check. Letter was probably a print-out from the Library Circulation System at the High School the student attends now. Letter was never produced.

Parent also said he received a letter in June 2007 threatening withholding of grades, promotion, etc. if debt wasn't paid. That's within the realm of possibility, as an old form may have been used by missteak. But I don't think so, as we aren't allowed to do that stuff any more. But the kicker is, this particular book was paid for ONE YEAR before, in September 2006. Since he was unable to produce THAT letter, I don't know what it actually said.

Parent goes to speak to principal. Not a problem for me, if they want to give him the money, But I'm not breaking the School District Published Procedures for a textbook that the student has had overdue for two years, and that we are not using anymore, on my own responsibility. (Feel free to correct that sentence so it makes sense!)

I was going to suggest he call the Board Of Education, since they approve the Policy and Procedures, but I didn't say anything. Probably better that way...

Anyway, Parent is getting a check, and I suppose the child learns a lesson about Personal Responsibility.

Or not.

What do YOU think?

This post is also available below in Russian:
This post is also available WAY below, translated BACK into English from Russian!
Этот столб также имеющиеся вышеуказанными на английском языке:

Здесь маленький сказ, котор я жил другой день.

Родитель показывает вверх на архиве средняи школа, хочет возврат на учебнике его, котор дочь возвратила. О'КЕЙО, препятствовало нам проверить его вне, sez dude.

Родители не знают что книге мы говорим о. О'кейо, после этого. Проверите архив возврата. Nope. Проверите учебники оплащенные архив. Yep, там он. Hmmmm....

* Учебник был должн в июне 2005.
* Учебник был paid на в 2006 -го сентябрь.
* Учебник повернут внутри к старшим клаччам средней школы в 2007 -го сентябре, угадано от криптических примечаний, котор я сделал, и проверило внутри там.
* Учебник получен на средняи школа в 2007 -го октябре, где замечено (cryptically, что оплатила задолженности учебника год тому назад.

Так я думаю является следующим:

1. Политика заречья что не будут возвратов после одного года.
2. Учебник не будет будучи использованным названием больше, поэтому он of no use к средняи школа.

И замечено на "платежной карточке" что не было возврата начатого для этих 2 причин.

Родитель несокрушим что он paid, и что будет "не моей проблемой, будет ВАШЕЙ проблемой".

Родитель говорит он получило письмо ", котор мы" послали его, говорить он был озаглавлен к возврату. Nope, "мы" не посылаем тот вид письма, "мы" как раз посылаем проверку. Письмом была вероятно распечатка от системы циркуляции архива на старших клаччах средней школы, котор студент присутствует на теперь. Письмо никогда не было произведено.

Родитель также сказал он получило письмо в 2007 -го задерживать в июне угрожая рангов, промотирования, ETC если задолженность не была paid. То находится в пределах realm возможности, по мере того как старая форма может быть использована missteak. Но я не думаю так, по мере того как мы не позволены сделать то вещество больше. Но брыкунья, эта определенная книга была paid на ОДИН ГОД перед, в 2006 -го сентябре. В виду того что он был неспособен произвести ТО письмо, я не знаю он фактическ сказал.

Родитель идет поговорить к главе. Не проблема для меня, если они хотят дать ему деньг, то только я не ломаем процедуры по школы опубликованные заречьем для учебника что студент имеет overdue на 2 лет, и что мы не используем больше, на моей собственной ответственности. (чывство свободно, котор нужно исправиться что предложение поэтому оно делают чувство!)

Я шел предложить он вызывает отдело народного образования, в виду того что они одобряет политику и процедуры, но я не сказал что-нибыдь. Вероятно улучшайте ту дорогу...

В лубом случае, родитель получает проверку, и я полагаю ребенок учит урок о личнаяа ответственность.

Или не.

ВЫ думаете?

And here it is translated BACK into English from Russian!!

This post also existing by those pointed out above in the English:

Here small tale, is which 4 it lived another day.

Parent shows upward on the archive of srednyai school, wants recovery on his textbook, it is which daughter it returned. O'KEYO, prevented us to verify it outside, sez dude.

Parents do not know that to the book we we tell In the o'keyo Is., after this. You will verify the archive of recovery. Nope. You will verify textbooks paid archive. Yep, there it Hmmmm....

• The textbook was of dolzhn during June 2005.
• Textbook was paid on into 2006 - GO September.
• Textbook is turned inside to elder klachcham of secondary school into 2007 - GO September, ugadano from the cryptic notes, I is which it made, and it verified inside there.
• Textbook was obtained on srednyai school into 2007 - GO October, where it is noted (cryptically, that it paid the debts of textbook yr ago.

So I think it is the following:

1. Policy of district that not they will be recoveries after one year.
2. Textbook not it will be being the name used more; therefore it of no use to srednyai school.

And noted on the "pay card" which not there was recovery of that begun for these 2 reasons.

Parent is indestructible that it paid, and which will be "not my problem, will be YOUR problem".

Parent speaks it obtained letter ", we was which" they sent it, to speak it was entitled to the recovery. Nope, "we" do not send that form of letter, "we" exactly send checking. By letter there was probably printout from the system of the circulation of archive on elder klachchakh of secondary school, was which student it is present on now. Letter not was never produced.

Parent also said it obtained letter into 2007 - GO to detain during June threatening ranks, promotions, ETC if debts not was paid. That is within the limits of realm of possibility, in proportion to old form can be used missteak. But 4 I do not think so, we are not permitted to make the substance more in proportion to. But the kicker, this specific book were paid for ONE YR before, into 2006 - GO September. In the form of the fact that it was incapable to produce TO letter, 4 he do not know it is actual he said.

Parent goes to have a talk to the chapter. Not problem for me, if they want to give to it den'g, then only 4 we do not break procedure on the schools those published by district for the textbook that student it has overdue to 2 years, and that we is not utilized more, on my own responsibility (chyvstvo is free, is which necessary to be corrected that proposal therefore it makes a feeling!)

I went to propose it is caused division public education, in the form of the fact that they approve policy and procedures, but 4 he did not say that -nibyd6. Probably improve that road...

In by bast the case, the parent obtains testing, and I assume child it teaches lesson against lichnayaa responsibility.

Or not.

YOU do think?

Well, THAT was weird!

Translations courtesy of AltaVista Babelfish.

Working On The Railroad

Back in the day there was a rumour going round that there were military suplus Harley Davidson motorcycles to be had. I dis-remember the exact details, but I do remember a group of us Air Force types were to pool our money to get one, or several in a lot, or something.

Anyway, it never happened. The book The Vanishing Hitchhiker, by Jan Harold Brunvand, mentions this urban legend.

Well, I'm re-creating the dream on my model railroad by putting one of those motorcycles I was working on in a shipping crate. So far, I've got the crate done, made out of plastic.



This picture is pretty much the same, so don't look at it.



I think the box came out rather well. Now I need to get some guys to stand around looking at it.

---

I was given this cute little pencil lead box. You may look at it.







The leads would be contained in the wooden tray.

Pencil Lead webpages of interest:

Leadholder.com

Roger Russells' Scripto Pencil History Page

Un-Sunny Saturday

We had a bit of California rain last night and this morning.

That is, it sprinkled a bit.

I still need to water the plants.

My computer tech installed a DVD-CD-RW today. Very nice! Not REAL sure what I will use the DVD part for, but now I can make some CDs of those LEGAL mp3s I downloaded offa the net!

While we wuz in there, I decided to clean the CPU fan and fins. They needed it!



I recommend you check YOUR computer guts for dust!

Caught a mouse this afternoon. Live trap, stuck him in a coffee can for a little trip tomorrow, to a far away land.

The side-table at my television watching table:



Each item is noted, for your edification, on my Zooomr page, go look at it. Or don't, see what I care!

We visited the Apple Store today. Not your usual computer store! We played (I watched) around with an iPod Touch. Very cool. Not really for me, though. We left it on the Burnt Pizza blog. In the parking structure we saw a Mini that had possibly touched bumpers with a Jag. No one involved looked very happy. Saw an old Volvo sedan from the sixties, explained significance of same to my chauffeur.

I am distressed to hear my brother-in-law is not doing well. He is a swell guy, I hope he makes it, but he has a crapload of physical problems to overcome. Good luck, man!!

I started reading Eragon last night. It's a bit slow going (Smallish print, for a hard cover) , but an enjoyable dragon/boy fantasy.

I hear the fireworks for the KGB Sky Show in the distance, as I type. It must be down at the Murph. Never seen it, probably never will.

Geez, I wish I was back home in Monterey (very large panorama photo, 10 megs or so).

Today's musik:

Big Brother And The Holding Company -- Cheap Thrills
King Crimson -- In The Court Of The Crimson King

Butts

Last night, as I was brushing my teeth, I smelled smoke.

Burning smoke!

I figured a cig was burning in an ashtray, so I checked the living room.

Nope.

I noticed the window fan was blowing the smell in, so I checked outside.

Bingo!

The lady next door was outside too, and it turned out the plantings in front of her apartment were smoldering.

From a cigarette.

A carelessly tossed burning butt from the people upstairs, who sit on their porch and smoke.

I've noticed butts on the grounds before, I wasn't sure where they were coming from, I WAS sure where they WERE NOT coming from. Me, or mine.

I ran to get my hose from the backyard, but by the time I got it out and screwed on, next door lady had her hose going, and the fire was out.

Today's Music was:

An interview with Robert Plant, and an interview with that Aerosmith guy, Steven Tyler, with another Aerosmith guy, whose not quite as well know, at least to me (Joe Perry, I think. How rude of me! I), on Fresh Air on KPBS radio. Music from each group was played.

My, It's Hot!

A short little movie of some library drone processing a textbook...



The music for today was:

Mike Oldfield -- Tubular Bells
New Riders Of The Purple Sage -- Live

And a good time was had by all.

Tues.

The music for today was, in order:

Jimi Hendrix -- Band Of Gypsys
Spirit -- Time Circle (1968-1972) Two CDs
Donovan -- In Concert

There's Music In The Air

The music for today was:

They Might Be Giants -- Flood
Donavan -- Hurdy Gurdy Man
A Clockwork Orange: Music From The Stoundtrack
T.Rex -- 20th Century Boy: The Ultimate Collection
Beausoleil -- Bayou Deluxe

Did It!

Completed WeffRiddles Batch 1 today, started it today too.

But I did make extensive use of the hints on most of the levels, I must admit...

I will leave the remaining four batches for another day... or another month!

Obsessed

Level 20 completed! w00t!

So Frustrating

I've been fooling around playing Weffriddles.

What's that?

It's a a series of riddle pages, you must solve the riddle for a particular page to figure the URL to type in for the next page.

I'm stuck on level 16 (after 3 hours) at the moment, which is, like, NOTHING!! I have a bad feeling the evil person who introduced me to this torture, is like, on level six zillion.

Check it out, you'll either love it, or...

Leafy Thursday

It's ALIVE!



The Plumeria LIVES!

This poor plant has been so abused. Over watered, gnawed on, transplanted (Stuck in the ground with a stake holding it up.) Now, all of a sudden, it's producing leaves!

Garbage Day Tuesday

So, the cable (TV) conks out Sunday. I do all sorts of stuff, connect the cable directly to the TV instead of the vcr, nothing works.

So Monday I call the cable company. After wandering around their stupid (to me!) phone system, I finally get a live operator. She asks some rather personal information, but, what the hey. She transfer me to repair (Which is what I called in the first place!) where they try to trouble shoot it. So finally they agree to send someone out. And I don't want to disparage the live operators, they were very nice and helpful. So, we schedule for today, in the afternoon. No problemo.

The cable guy called before he came, asked me if the cable was still out.

I said "Yes." Without checking.

Because it was out all Monday. I swear. You see where this is going?

So, he says he's on the way, and I tell him to hurray, as there is actually a parking space out front. He knows the street, so he knows what I'm talking about.

I decide to turn on the television.

It works perfectly.

Possibly even better than before.

When the cable guy shows up, I'm out there, I apologize for being dumb. He's very nice.

I feel stupid.

A little stupid, not a whole lot.

I've felt stupider.

Saturday

My favorite quote of the day:

"it's too late, I already left the store,"

Ouch! Those Brits, larking about!

Yeah, I got nothing better than to duplicate links from Fark.

/got nuthin'

And It Didn't Even Rain

I decided to warsh and polish the vehicle Saturday, as the neighbor's car was gone and it was late in the day, and overcast. I don't want to get water spots on his car, he keeps it pretty clean. Anyway, my motto is: "Once a year, whether it needs it or not."

I drugged out the hose, the bucket, the microfiber cloths I borrowed from work, the special pink automobile detergent. Warshing went well, and I didn't even get sunburned! And the grass got watered, for once.

I went to get the liquid was I was sure I had. Sure enough, it was in the last place I looked. Which was the 7th place I looked. I shook the bottle, following the instuctions. Clunk, clunk. I looked inside. All dried up!

No waxing today!

Maybe next year.

And warshing the vehicle didn't bring rain.

Yet...

Friday In The Garage

Boy, I bet you're getting sick of this garage!

I dug a chunk of Sculptamold out of the layout and stuck it in.



I put the camera on the tripod this time. No more blurry pics!



Peeking in the side window.



Night time on the railroad. Oh noes, a little light leakage!



Despite my best efforts, including a black paper light block under the roof, you can see a bit of light coming through. Well, it's (the roof) glued in (hope the lamp doesn't burn out!) pretty solid, so that's what we're stuck with!

In The Garage

A couple pics of the garage I've been working on for the last few weeks.



One with the roof on, taken with the flash. You can see the pretty blue of the trim.
I'm putting a light bulb inside to show off the interior detail when it's on the layout.



This one is taken with natural lighting to show off the interior detail. It's kind of blurry, I should have used the tripod. Alas!

I think the Craftsman toolbox looks pretty good, so far. I still have to add some silver drawer "handles" to complete the illusion. It looks pretty awful if you blow up the image, though!

The toolbox hides the wires going to the light in the ceiling. I wish I had put the work bench farther back along the wall. It's hard to see, but one wall has stud spacing the same as my "real" garage, and one wall has the studs much farther apart. I think the "real" stud spacing looks too "busy".

I intend to have a motorcycle being worked on in there, or maybe a bicycle.

Hot Hot Hot Ship

Gee Whillickers, it's pretty warm today!

Here's the garage I've been working on for a week or so, from some drawings in Model Railroader.


Click the image to visit my zooomr page and see humorous captions on this picture. Or not.

I ran across an account of a fellow building a Cutty Sark wood ship model, so I thought I better put a couple pics up so my mother will think I'm actually working on hers...





There are a couple more pics of my Cutty Sark model on my zooomr page, click the image to go there. The big pretty version ought to be there too, but apparantly the original size image isn't available to visitors.

There are some old model pictures on this site, including my fabulous model of the Philadelphia, a Revolutionary War gundalow that was in the fleet commanded by Benedict Arnold. Before he became a "Benedict Arnold"... My model is made mostly of balsa wood, following plans from The Family Creative Workshop

Some interesting links on the subject:

The Philadelphia II, a replica

Historic Naval Ships Association, Continental Gunboat PHILADELPHIA page

Blogging the Revolution of 1776, Gunboat Philadelphia

The real ship, in the Smithsonian

Model of the Philadelphia by Mark Fairchild

Sat. Morn.

Rode up the Helix this morning, but you'll have to go visit the bicycle blog to see the pics.

After putting away the bike I took a couple pics of the finished boxcar you will remember I was constructing.



You will notice the weathering effects. I tried the gray wash technique, but it didn't seem to work too well. I think I will stick, as it were, to the pastel chalks.

Saw this link on the Bicycle Rding/Donut Making Guy's site. Very cool pic of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. From way up high!

July Doldrums

Read in SLJ this month that Jessamyn has been causing a minor stir on the intarwebs with her video showing how her Ubunto installation went. Nice. I think I might try to install something like that on the old HP server we gots laying about. It COULD work!

Windy

How come the cool gentle breeze doesn't start wafting through the window until it's nearly time for me to get up? I suffer all night in the dead still air, and then, just when it's time...

Haven't really watch Le Tour, just bits and pieces, here and there. Big crash today in the final 3k. Looks like Hincappie is doing ok, so far. Seems to be fourth overall.

My shoulder hurts. I've been sloughing off on the PT...

There was something else I was gooona put here. Something fascinating, I'm sure. I forget what it was. Maybe I'll put it in later.

Maybe not.

Dining Out Again

Here's a pic of me slobbering over a Reuben that I promised [time passes], THOUGHT I promised in a past post, somewhere.



In looking back over the blogs I see I didn't even MENTION going to D.Z. Akins for Fathers' Day!

Well!

We went to the fair yesterday, and actually PURCHASED FOOD there! We had barbecue, I had beef, M. had pork.



And in that geek get-up, I STILL got a little sunburn!

------------------

Some more garden pics.


Marigolds on trash can.


Blurry mystery flower.


A rather nice marigold, if I do say so.


The mystery Wal-Mart plant my mother got me, that died, then came back to life.


Sunflowers, again.


The rock pile grows!

Lucky Man

My wife listens to country music, when she isn't listening to talk radio.

I've heard "Lucky Man", by Montgomery Gentry, TWICE in the last hour!
It's not a bad song, but TWICE? In an hour?

This proves country radio stations suck as much as rock stations do.

--------------

One of our remote controls suffered an unfortunate "accident" a couple months ago and stopped working. I finally got around to dragging it out to the workbench. Opened it up...the batteries were in backwards.

I decided to test the batteries, so I drugged out the multimeter I got at Harbor Freight. Of course, the Chinese battery that came with it was daid, so I stole the nine volter out of the Ten Tec Fox Hunt Tranmitter I built, stuck it, now I could measure stuff.

I got near 3 volts, 2.9 to be "exact", so that was not bad. I tried to test for voltage on the IR diode, but no joy. Couldn't hold the test leads, the batteries, AND push a button at the same time. Need three more arms!

Anyway, brought it in the house, and what do you know, it works!

--------------------

Glued some more tiny parts on the boxcar. So far, so good.

Workin' On A Boxcar

Some pics of my latest project: A boxcar!



I selected this boxcar because "The Family Lines System" reminded me of some covered hoppers I saw in Alabama a couple months ago.



The red plastic is where the Tenax cement ate away the pre-painted, uh, paint. I didn't realize the couplers were already colored rust till I saw this photo, I was going to paint them!



Tiny little parts! I thought I could handle them, because I built a Ambroid 1 of 5000 wood "craftsman" kit, back in the day. IT turned out well. Wish I still had it! It was the yellow outside braced reefer. I also had the vinegar tank car that my grandfather constructed.



A blurrier image, with thumb for size comparison.

Garden Growing

The marigolds are growing, the sunflowers are nearly pooped out.

Marigolds and sunflowers.

Marigolds in a pot.

Mostly sunflowers.

A rose blooming.

You can get the BIG VIEW by clicking the image and visiting my zooomr.com page. But YOU knew that...

Some pics include explanatory and sometimes humorous notes!!

Rats!

I was informed last night that there was a dead rat in the playhouse. Yikes! That must be what that smell was! I gingerly picked it up with the shovel and tossed it over the fence into the Big Back Yard. Spread some leaves and branches over it.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Oh, did you want a picture?

Tasty Pic

In the Bicycle Musings I mentioned yesterday's snack at work.

Cranberry-Nut brownie. Chunky, tasty, sticks to the voids in you mouth, to be enjoy later.

And I'm sure it's low-carb...

Here's the promised pic:



Thie picture is available on my zooomr page in a 2,048 by 1,538 size pic, coming in at quite possibly a meg file size. Just click on the image to get to my zooomr, look for the "all sizes" icon.

I don't usually post a pic that big, but that stuff was that GOOD! I wish I knew where it came from. It was in a brown box, sorta shrink wrapped. I suspect it came from Costco. I know Costco has some yummy stuff, but since I am not a member I'm not familiar with what they have. Only what I've seen when tagging along with my son.

Pics! Woot!

Zooomr.com is slowly coming back to life. I was able to upload some pics today.

The long-awaited pics of the train station diorama.



That background is borrowed from the layout, it is not actually in the diarama.

There are several more pictures at my zooomr page.



There are also a some pictures of the sunflower crop for this year, and some mystery plants. At least, they are a mystery to me!



I don't know what that is, but my daughter planted it.

Here's the sunflowers, at an odd angle.



This thing, which I suddenly forgotten the name of, is turning out quite well after I chopped it to death a couple years ago. I'm very happy with it.



We took a trip to the back country last weekend. We stopped at the Lake Henshaw view. Very nice view, but no eagles in sight.



I'm told the lake was somewhat larger last year.

We went up Mt. Palomar to see the telescope, but they closed about 10 seconds after we got inside, and they shooed us out.



Here the lad is imitating the doors on the dome.

Well, that's enough for now. Remember you can visit the zooomr page and see several more of each of these wonderful photos. Zooomr is running kinda of slow right now, getting its legs, and not all the features are back up, yet, but it's coming along!

Learn Something Every Day

I was talking to a guy I know who lives near the Great Salt Lake. He was telling me about attending the Golden Spike Celebration Re-enactment at Promontory. Yeah, I said Promontory Point, I remember that from school! I decided to look it up on Google Earth as we talked. Yeah, says I, it's out there on a peninsula, they must have built a bridge out there, or the lake was lower back then. Yeah, I guess he says, sounding a little puzzled. After we signed off, I Googled it and Wikied it.

I was wrong.

Lots of people are wrong.

The whole shebang took place at Promontory SUMMIT, not P. Point! It's 30-some miles away! I found many web pages saying one or the other, but the National Park Service says it's Promontory Summit. Which makes sense, now, when one looks a map.

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We went up to Julian on Sunday to look around and have lunch. I had a buffalo burger at Miner's Diner (I think!). It was pretty good. We sat at the front window and watched the traffic go by. There were lot's of motorcycles. I saw two Triumphs, several Ducatis, a couple BMW's, and a bunch of Harleys.

We visited the old jail, and then went over to The Birdwatcher store, which has EVERYTHING in the way of bird feeders, clothes, books, recordings, and other bird-related paraphanalia.

We drove up to Mt. Palomar and visited the obsevitory. We got in just before 4, which is when they start shooing folks out. So we got to look at the telescope for, like 10 seconds. Oh, well, seen it before, and read the book (The Giant Glass Of Palomar, by David Woodbury). Saw lots f speeding motorcycles, looked like fun!

Saturday Online Again

The Great List Of Books I've Been Reading has been upgrade so that my many reader can view the statistics! I just KNOW you are dying to know what has been occupying my mind between sitcoms on televesion!

While I have been able to view the stats for several months now, along with being enabled for the commoner, they have been enhanced with GRAPHICAL GOODNESS! It's really neat, you will like it.

While it's not obvious, when you scroll past the graph you will come upon a month-by-month listing. Click a month and you will get a list of the book titles! Click on the month again and the list will, I don't know the word, de-compress?

More Train Stuff

Is there no end to this? More train station pictures!

When zooomr comes back up, there will be a picture HERE!

There are more pictures (EVENTUALLY!) on my zooomr page. I didn't want to inflict them ALL on you, at once!

Went to the grocery store today. Those nasty plastic shopping carts are SHARP, I carved a knuckle or two today. That and the paper cut I got off an envelope of waxed paper make me the walking wounded!

Haven't had any coffee in four days. Lots of tea, though!

Mother's Day

I was lazing in bed all morning, reading Worlds Of Maybe, edited by Robert Silverberg, and listening to Harry Shearer's Le Show on KCRW. Harry was talking about Paris Hilton, and mentioned Elliot Mintz several times. After several times hearing Elliot Mintz, I said to myself, "Mintz? Elliot Mintz?? ELLIOT MINTZ??!!?" Hey, I remember Elliot Mintz! I used to listen to him on late-night radio back in the early seventies, in the desert, the radio coming over the ether from far-away L.A.. I remember him calling John Lennon on the telephone, and getting Yoko, who said John was asleep right now, did Elliot want her to wake him up? It was so cool, Elliot was so cool. And now he is associated with Paris Hilton? No wonder I never focused on that, I tend to just tune every thing related to her, just right out!!!

You'll remember what I've said before about her, if I had her money, I do something really grand, like build the world's biggest model railroad. Or something.

External Links, as they say, for your edification:

Elliot Mintz Wikipedia article

"Travels Of Elliot Mintz", an entry in From The Desert To The Sea blog

Harry Shearer Le Show

Found it!

I found the lurid rhubarb pic I mentioned way back when. It's at A Spoonful Of Sugar blog. I'm not sure that's where I originally saw it, but that is where it is NOW!

Now I'm hungry!

Rites Of Spring

Pretty warm again today, and the humidity is rising. It was in the low nineties yesterday, but dry, and it feels nearly as warm today, with the humidity. It is supposed to drop down into the seventies over the next few day as we get the morning cloud cover ("June Gloom") back.

Here is the first sunflower of the season:

The railroad diarama is coming along. I put some grass on yesterday.

Too much green grass? Should have bought a mixed-color, and I've got a whole static shaker of this shade!!

Maybe I should have done the ballast first.

I put the station on to help with the visualization.

Hey, it keeps me off the streets!

Trash In The Attic

I FINALLY got up on the ladder and cleaned out the roof vent at work that I've been complaining about for the last year.

I guess the roofer left this little present behind a couple years ago. The hardest part of this exercise was getting the screws to bite on something when putting the grill thingie back up. I only cut myself once with a slipped screwdriver, and I didn't fall off the ladder at all!

Now maybe the Apple servers won't be so hot, Summer seems to have visited us early this year, it being in the 90s today.

What's Up, Doc?

Went to the Doc today. She said my PSA is going down, as to be expected, so everything is looking fine and dandy (not her words!) so far, and my next appointment is in the fall of the year.

Almost finished with the baths and such, only another day and a half.

No word from the physical therapy people on the arm thing.

The hose reel in the garden is working out well. The sunflowers are coming up, although some of them look very strange. The marigold seed popped up in a few days too, so that is going well. The garden should be a blaze of gold in a few weeks, baring snail attacks.

The lady next door has an electric organ in her patio. She apparantly cannot play it, but there was a guy playing something we can't remember quite what, just at the moment! Ah, senility!

I've a little railroad project, putting that little station I built into a railroad diarama using a little glass display case I couldn't resist buying at Michael's. Here's where I am so far:

I painted the white part green after taking the picture.

So now you have something to look forward too!