So, on Thursday. . .

. . .there I was* in the front of a room full of people interested in learning about blogging.
Somebody even took some pictures as I explained I'm not an expert, only experienced.
That is, experienced as a blogger, not as a teacher.

I was in front of a room full of folks with plenty of computer know-how but no blogging history.
So I explained how I had come to be a blogger and why some other folks blog.
Then I showed where to go to set up a blog on Blogger.
I mentioned there are a number of other free sites and explained why I prefer to remain here.
I didn't detail past frustrations.

Eventually one of the group asked if they could actually look at a real blog.
I showed them this one instead.
Then I pointed out the links in the navigation bar.

The point of the session was to give those who might want to blog an opportunity to start and to answer questions for those who were just curious,
Nobody fell asleep and only one person left early.
The feedback was fairly positive and I was invited to come back.

Another benefit of the session is there are now about 20 more people who know about this blog and may view it occasionally.
That should help the page view count immensely.

strokes the ego, too

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”.
(that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline) 

Such a life

I have nothing to say about this.

But, maybe he should write the blog so I can do other things.

18 - 20 hours a day

Sure Happy It's Thursday

Without even trying, this morning I found the following headline on a health and fitness site:

Just the fact a health and fitness site can find six reasons is enough for me.

Is there a message?

Who is sending it?

Part of my morning routine is to look at the Free Dictionary site.
It is one of many. . .  including up to about 20 other blogs. . .  sites I visit before even thinking about what I am going to post.
(that's not exactly true.
some mornings I don't post at all because I have placed something in the queue earlier)

You've already seen yesterday's post.
I'll wait for you if you haven't.
The Word of the Day hinted at a certain lack of motivation.

Today's word followed up.

If I were paranoid, I might just be a bit concerned that someone's looking at my to do list.
I wonder what the word will be tomorrow?

hope it isn't cunctation

Word of the day

That's how I roll.
Which is why, when the post should be up by 6:30am, it is just now being written.

This is my post about the big game this weekend.
It is short because I haven't much to say about it.
You can read more under the following headlines:

...Seahawks are hard to like

Patriots Ball Attendant Just Using the Bathroom

[go ahead click on them, this can wait ]

At this end I am thinking the NFL, particularly the Commissioner, are perfectly happy for said distractions.
Otherwise the media would be talking about spousal abuse and concussions.

BTW- don't think I don't have similar issues with the college branch.

hesitate to call it

 a game any longer

Guess what*

That's right. . . nuthin'.

I have no idea where Rosenberg is [I think Texas].
It appears, though, the police department does not lack a sense of humor.
It also appears the media appreciate their efforts.

hey, it's better'n

 weather reports

*if others can post videos with cops chasing midgets. . .

Update

1:25pm [5½ hours later] -

I mention going north in the post below.
Granted, there was no fog.
Instead the sky was/is a pale blue. . .   all the way to the ground.
The smoke from everyone's fireplaces isn't as thick as the fog, but it is as pervasive and you can smell it..
Once I drove up out of the bottom land it was gone.
Hopefully, there'll be a breeze from the north to scour it away. . .   hopefully!

                                                                                                                             

I'm sorry, but I just have to report this.
It has to do with keeping things stirred.
It has been what some would call "unseasonably warm."
Yesterday's high reached 80°F.
The trend has been forecast to continue.
The local news folk continue to say we need rain. . .   right after they talk about how wonderful the weather is.
My thoughts are look at a satellite photo and tell the folks to the south of us the weather is wonderful.
Look at the red X.
That's where I am

water vapor image from NOAA

The light colored object in the image that runs almost north-south, for a distance of almost 400 miles, is the fog. . .    ground hugging fog.
It is as close as two miles from here.
Believe it or not, that's almost Normal for these parts around this time of year.

As a side note, while researching this post, I discovered it takes as long to fly, commercially, from the north end of that fog to the south end. . .   should anyone wish to do so. . .   as it does to drive (under normal driving conditions).
I just know I'm not driving it.

going north

Randomness . . .and blogging

I was gonna write about jury duty.
Trust me.
You aren't missing anything because I've decided against it.
It was really a non-starter.

Instead,  I had a whim, inspired to some extent by Sarge, and only because he called my attention to it.
It being a word.
A word that sends me off on tangents about other words which are better suited to the conversation.
I posted a comment at his post, expressing my opinion.
He used the word normally.
I would venture he used it just to stir the post.
That's because he linked to this blog.

Thank's, Sarge!

I appreciate acknowledgment.

The thing is, in thinking about normal my thoughts took a hiatus from routine progression.
I started to add to the comment but, before I hit post, decided against it.
I include it here.
It's a twisted testimony to one recently departed.

Oh, golly!
Now ya got me thinking about it.
I had one o' those flights of fantasy.
Normal is just Norman misspelled.
Which is why I believe he preferred "Buck."
I kinda wish he was around to respond.

Buck Pennington, stolen from his blog

May we never think of normal in the same way again.

good thing I don't drink

Normal Friday

I didn't have to report for Jury Duty.
Of course that means I didn't have the opportunity to show the folks at Jury HQ my two summonses from the last four months.
Now I will either flake out or have to make a special trip to the Courthouse.
I don't really want to go to the Courthouse because it's as bad, sometimes worse, than checking in at the airport.

See that little doohickey over on the left with the weather information?
If it is working properly, the temperature and other data is being sent directly from my back yard.
The really neat thing is, once more if it is working properly, I can access even more information on my smart phone.
The key to all of this is, if it is working properly.
This is what it looks like on the Weather Underground site.

This is what the smartphone app looks like.

This is what it looks like on the PC.

click the image if you think you want the full size view

The readings with the orange title bars are from my unit.
The ones with the black title bars came with the software.

At the moment I'm trying to narrow the causes for the system not working properly.
It is somewhere in the Intertubes that it all goes kerflooey.
It's something that will keep me busy for awhile. . .   maybe even entertained.
At least I will stay focused. . .   sort of.

I will be at a conference most of the weekend, starting at two o'clock today.
The best part of the whole thing is the meeting up with folks we only see once in a great while.
The worst of it is there are no meals and the best speakers are at times right after regular meal times.
That means if you want good seating, you have to either eat early or wait until you're half starved.
They won't allow brown bags.

Sandee said I was all over the map yesterday.
I think she meant both literally and figuratively?
Focus hasn't been my strong suit recently.
I have a couple of blog post working their way to the surface.
It is only a matter of fleshing them out.
Meanwhile we'll just turn the squirrels loose and see what sticks [yeah, mixed metaphor].

stole it somewhere

 don't know why

The other day I posted a map based on data regarding eating habits preferences with respect tp restaurants in the various states.
I am only guessing, but my thoughts are there was only one person collecting the data and they were on some kind of deadline.

Does anyone else think maybe some of the information on that map is based on old episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, aka Triple D?

Those not based on that were probably selected by a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a World map.

Just about everything I want to do this week has been on hold.
I received a summons for Jury Duty.
I have to keep checking back until my group is released.

This is the third time in the last year I've been 'selected.'
I lost count of how many times I have been summoned.
I have actually been empaneled three times and seen one entire trial.

My former employer suggested I was volunteering for Jury Duty to get out of work.
I asked him if he'd ever been summoned or served on a jury.
He said, "No!"
I told him he should volunteer, so he'd know how ridiculous his suggestion was.

I saved the last summons from four months ago.
They have my name just slightly different from the current summons.
So. . .   obviously I am in the database more than once.
I could call them and be left on hold, but I decided to report and confront them in person with both summonses.
That will remove the opportunity for them to deny.
Of course, if I don't actually have to report that opportunity will be moot.

What's most irksome, to me, is there are any number of folks who, in all the time I have known them, have never been summoned.

PHG has a job!
It's part time, 25 hours a week.
That's all I can say right now.
But she's amped.

This is all wrong so not right. . .

I've been to Ceres.
It looks nothing like that.

Okay. . .   so as long as we're screwing around.
Go see this.
It has a warning.
Ignore it. . .   unless you're in school.

I have some serious posts rampaging around in my skull.
Whenever I sort them out they'll show up here.
Meanwhile I'm thinking about that vacation coming up.

Oh, yeah. . .   and there's a conference this weekend starting at 2:00pm Friday. . . 

or whenever I

 get off Jury Duty

note: since it is fairly obvious, I have decided I will no longer actually give the name to untitled posts. . . 
. . .in fact I may stop titling posts altogether or maybe not

Substitute for a 'real' post

I knew someone who'd've posted this. . .

Was anyone aware that Monday was National Cheese Lovers Day?

me, either

Not right

I try so hard not to use the word wrong.
But I will make an exception and tell you that it is just so wrong to use bacon in such a manner.
I'm incensed.

outraged

So. . .

This morning I was wondering just what was going to stir the old juices enough to start a post.
I am not enamored of Monday holidays   . . .at least not the artificial, federally induced variety.
I firmly believe we should celebrate commemorate the occasion as it was originally intended.
I feel the same about daylight savings time.
I could probably go on about there being too many holidays, but, since many of them are ignored by everyone except the government and financial institutions, I won't [oh I did, huh?].

I was glancing at Internet news [sic] stories and found a topic we can all enjoy.
In my some twenty years of dabbling with various meeting places on the internet. . .   yes, Brian, that long). . .   food has invariably been the most popular topic  . . .after weather.

It is, at this moment, Sunny and chilly.
Someone said it will be in the '70s this coming weekend.

But I digress.
Food.
I was trolling through a news website, a one size fits all page, when an item from Buzzfeed caught my attention.
The source is not one of my go to places, but the topic is an attention getter.
Buzzfeed had snagged it from the Huffington Post, another secondary source of entertainment for me.
Anyway, it's just a research piece using data from Yelp, another place whose info I take less than seriously.

Wow!
This post is sounding almost cynical [except for the Sunshine].
Maybe it's because of the way I started?

Food!
What I found out is that whatever you thought was the favorite food in your state was probably wrong.

story here
click map to embiggen

Draw your own conclusions from the brief descriptions in each state.
Then make something up and comment.

ooh look!

 a squirrel

Revisiting what?

Nine Important Facts to Remember as You Grow Older:

Number 9
-  Death is the number 1 killer in the world.

Number 8
-  Life is sexually transmitted.

Number 7
-  Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Number 6
-  Men have two emotions: hungry and horny, and they can't tell them apart.  If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich, you have a 50% chance of being right...

Number 5
-  Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day.  Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.

Number 4
-  Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.

Number 3
-  All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Number 2
-  In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.

Number 1
-  Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers.  What you do today might burn your ass tomorrow.

...and as someone recently said to me:
Don't worry about old age; it doesn't last that long.    

Pictures of the week

I figured if the media can do it. . .

I stole borrowed this from an Old Air Force Sarge without his permission

Does that look like the Tree of Life?

My friend, Rich, gets a haircut at NTC San Diego (1961)

Actually that was more like a "tune up."

the ever vigilant Sebasian

Mouse patrol?

Hey!
This is easier than straining the brain cells for the proper words.
Maybe it will become a regular feature?

if I remember

Normal Friday

That's right. . .   I remembered [barely].
Maybe I have figured out what I mean by Normal Friday.
I'm not even going to try to explain it.
That would jinx it.
Then I'd have to rethink it  . . .again.
(hmmmmm, that sounds a lot like Einstein's explanation of insanity)

Yep. . .   normal.

Sebastian caught killed brought home a mouse.
We're pretty sure it's his first one.

His first act was to present it to PHG for approval.
Then he played with it for about a half hour.
We don't know how long he played with it before he presented it.
I'm guessing it was quite awhile, based upon the appearance.

It's raining today.
We even had a sprinkle, accompanied by lightning, last evening.
It sounded kinda like the angel were bowling.
They only bowled half a frame.
I'm pretty sure the cat has made up his mind to stay inside until the rain stops. . .

. . .   or he wakes up.

It feels like it's been a pretty full week.
Until I start marking off what I have accomplished.
Monday and Tuesday were pretty full days, with all the travel.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing a bunch of bookkeeping at the Senior Center.
I was handed the bank statements going back to July so I could reconcile the checking account.
Now everything balances.

Today I make the Costco and TJ's run to Redding.
PHG has a lead on a job. . .   a really good lead.

Then there's this:

go ahead, click the image

Friday the 13th was

 on Tuesday this month

So, there I was* (part 2)

St Patrick's Catholic Church, Sonora, CA

screen capture

Sonora is a quaint little city.
(had to cogitate a moment to come up with the proper descriptive term)
It has some historic significance in the California Gold Rush and is the county seat for Tuolumne County.
(go ahead and try to wrap your tongue around Tuolumne without assistance)
There is still much of the charm [sic] from when it was established in about 1850.
One day I want to revisit when I have some time to explore that part of California.

It's funny how we can digress.

We'd left Anderson early so there'd be plenty of time for the 250 mile journey, so we arrived well before the 4pm funeral.
That was a good thing because the small parking lot(s) at the church we filling quickly.
A lot of folks had the same idea we did.
Many of them, too, had traveled some distance.

I dropped off some photos I had from when I'd made my original acquaintance with Rich.
(your were told his name before, right?)

Rich Mueller, Skip O'Brien, Paul Smith
graduation day from basic training at San Diego

The three of us went from boot camp to Radar School at San Francisco.
Although none of us went on to serve on the same ships, we did have a few further adventures, but that is another story  . . .maybe.

Did I digress again?

The photos were displayed on a table in the building shown to the left and downhill from the church.
I had a brief opportunity for a short conversation with Mary, Rich's widow.
Besides my Lions Club President she was the only other person there who knew me.

The funeral mass was a true celebration of life and, while there was an underlying sadness, it was upbeat and positive.
It's a good thing because it lasted 90 minutes.
(I miss the days of the Latin mass when the priest could speed through in about 30 minutes)
The youngest brother gave a brilliant eulogy that was both humorous and poignant.
Everyone then went to the entry of the church and blocked the doorway parish hall for the reception.
It was catered and food was served almost immediately.

There were at least 100 people, probably a lot more.
I didn't bother to count, but they pretty much filled the huge hall.
I should mention here that many of them are postmasters or former postmasters.

I digress again.
Mary is a retired postmaster.
Postmasters have an entire organization the gathers regularly on a regional, state, and national level.
They are much like the fraternal organizations in that they include the entire family in their gatherings, to the point of having a spouses auxiliary and a youth auxiliary.
So everyone knows everyone else and they build long term friendships.
My Lions Club President is a retired postmaster and had known Rich and Mary for a number of years.

There were also a number of folks Rich had worked with.
He'd been in sales.
My pop said Rich could sell ice makers to the eskimos.
Pop wasn't always PC.
Rich had made a name for himself selling vacuum cleaners.
(yeah, yeah I'm scratching my head, too)
The vacuum cleaner people have conventions, too, and they make friendships.
So there were a lot of vacuum cleaner salesmen there, too.

And there were neighbors and former neighbors.
When I say neighbors I have to mention that Rich and Mary have a condo in Maui, Kihei to be more specific.
Neighbors from Hawaii were there.

I mentioned earlier that the younger brother, Bob, had given the eulogy.
I had met him before, but he was still in diapers and not yet even walking at the time.
He recognized my name but didn't remember me and I really didn't expect him to.

Mary took a microphone and thanked everyone for attending.
Then she took it around the room a put some folks on the spot by asking them to share a story or two.
(some folks, particularly vacuum cleaner salesmen, shouldn't necessarily be offered and open mike)
Those speaking told how they knew Rich, where they were from, and then related a brief tale.
I spoke for a few moments.
I opened by telling everyone the difference between a sea story and a fairy tale, and started out, "So, there I was..."
Then I told how, even though he was really tired, Rich had gotten up on a Sunday morning in January 1962 to show my kid sisters how to build a snowman on the front lawn at my parents home.
(it probably snows enough for a snowman about once every 30 years there)

That's the kind of man Rich was.
If he had something to share and he was able, he did it.

It's why he was a true friend  . . .for 54 years.
Fair winds and following seas, friend.

he really didn't change much in 54 years

'til we meet on Fiddler's Green

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”.
(that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline)

So, there I was*

By now some of you know I went to a good friend's funeral on Monday.
I'd know him for almost 54 years.
We'd met in boot camp and became fast friends at Radar School following basic training.
Yes, we'd managed to get into trouble a time or two.
If you've followed this blog for awhile, you read of one time.
I will reserve the telling of the other for another time.

The drive in each direction was relatively uneventful. . .  unless you consider the tule fog of the San Joaquin River Valley and Delta an event.
Like this. . .

MODIS true color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image (viewed using Google Earth)

 . . .or at eye level:

creative commons

It's like that here this morning   . . .musta followed us?

At times visibility was negligible, but mostly it was better than a quarter mile.
Once out of the valley the fog lifted.
It was bright, Sunny, and relatively warm on Monday and Tuesday. . .  except for the aforementioned fog.

The funeral was in Sonora, a former Gold Rush town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains just north of Yosemite.
Many of the streets are wide enough for one vehicle.
All of the streets are either uphill or downhill [depending on which way you face].
It was my first visit.

more tomorrow

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”.
(that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline)

What I did yesterday

Today is the ride home.

If that isn't the Oregon border at the top of the map, it's darn close. More proof that if San Francisco is in Northern California, we have to continue to tell others we're in the North State.

We drove down to Northern California yesterday.
For once there's someone else driving   . . .their own car.
I will tell you what I think of the Volkswagen Passat when this is over.

I mentioned on F/B about the passing of a shipmate (we actually only went through boot camp and 'A' School together) and he was an usher when I was married the first time.
It has been a 50+ year friendship.
His funeral mass was at 4:00pm yesterday.
The president of the Anderson Lions Club knew him and his wife from working for the US Post Office. . .   the pres has a newer car that doesn't need new tires.
The challenge is for me to stay awake when I don't drive.

Maybe I will have some stories to tell?

maybe not

I'm not saying I'm old

But then rumor has it that dirt had just been invented.

Untitled, too

Makes the squirrels look brilliant, eh?

Untitled

Saw this. . .

. . .and couldn't resist.

"For What It's Worth"*

"How many things have to happen to you

before something occurs to you?"

~Robt Frost

I guess that depends upon who's asked. . .

. . .what things they're talking about. . .

. . .and if you've been to sensitivity training.

Apropos, if not particularly connected, to certain current world events.

wake up!!!

*you'll figure it out

So that mood has passed

Now I'm angry.

It seems there are some who've declared war on virtually everyone else for no reason other than everyone else is not in total agreement.

We're forced to take them seriously because their response is to kill, indiscriminately.
Our [meaning organized government - the folks we pay to serve us] response thus far has been less than effective.

The man in the street is showing more initiative by not backing down.

I'm in

Yep. . . that was the word

I found this after the last post.

Post by BuzzFeed Video.

It's a mood changer.

temporarily, anyway

What's the word?

I'm in a mood.
Those of you at whose blogs I have commented may have noticed.
Some of the folks I know have used the following:

• feisty
• grouchy
• grumpy
• ill-tempered
• peevish
• petulant 
• irritable
• testy 
• cantankerous
• crabby
• surly

I beg to differ.

There's no one single thing to induce my current mood. . .  unless it's seasonal.
The days are too short (or nights too long).
The weather's been described as spring-like.
That just isn't right.
Maybe the daytime is spring-like, but early morning's downright miserable chilly.

at 8:00am

That's only one contributor.

Awareness is what's going to fix it.
Meanwhile I will go with this. . .

Perverse appeals.
Those who know me well understand.

I have to spend less time working my way through all of those places I visit on a daily basis. . .

. . .or start writing my posts a day ahead of time.

Maybe if I got up at 3:30am with the darn cat. . .

'nuff said

The question now is. . .

. . .should I even bother to look back at 2014?

I mean, after all we're six days into the new year.
'Tis a whole entirely different celebration today.
To some it is the "real" Christmas, the Feast of the Epiphany.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to dwell on the past year, other than to acknowledge it was a year of loss.
Four persons who contributed to making the world a better place passed on.
They will be missed, one perhaps a little more than the others.

It is far better to look forward, to think positive thoughts, and to remember good times, of which there are many memories.

So. . .  what have you been doing for the past couple of days, Skip?
Short answer:  Just kicking back.
I watched a little TV.
New Years Eve there was the Gershwin Celebration, Live From Lincoln Center.
I forget what else and I went to bed before 11:00pm.
For the first time in years I wasn't awakened by some clown shooting off his shotgun at midnight.
New Years Day there was a parade.



My main interest was to see the Lions Clubs International float and to find out of the commentators will talk about what the Lions do or about how many navy beans and coconut leaves there are on the float.

We did the traditional split pea soup and corn bread for the first meal of the new year.
It is good and it is almost gone.
We had to do something because the usual Thursday evening meal was unavailable.

Friday I went Costco and TJ's.
It was not the best day for a stop at either place.

Saturday we did Thursday's meal.

Somewhere there was a survey of states visited.

Create Your Own Visited States Map

I've been through some of those not yet marked, but didn't stop.
Perhaps I will put them [the unmarked ones] on my Bucket List.
I already have Li'l Rhody in my sights for later this year.
The main question is about timing, other plans, and fly or drive?

Sunday was the first weekend of the month which meant rising early to prepare the monthly fundraising breakfast for the Frontier Senior Center.

Monday was spent thinking about what to post after the Twelve Days of Christmas [less the first three].

The balance of the time has been spent stirring the pot. . .   because, you know, it's less apt to boil over if you keep it stirred [wink,wink,nudge.nudge].

the answer is goats,

what's the question?