Slacking . . . just a little

No, I have yet to follow up on what I posted Monday.

The camera is still on the floor next to the chair at the desk.
The luggage has been unpacked and the laundry is done, though.

We didn't see the celestial happening this morning.
The fog interfered.
I told MB that it was a big deal because it was when the Sun traverses between the Earth and the Moon.
She didn't believe me.

source: National Geographic*

only a little

*A red supermoon rises over hills near the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East. Photograph by Sergei Krasnoukhov, TASS/Getty

Monday update*

Hi!
It has been so long since I wrote a real blog post that I'm not sure I remember how.
Today isn't when I'm gonna start.
I have luggage to unpack   . . . that in itself is a longish story   . . . and pictures to download from my camera.
Then, maybe, I will sit down here and get creative bring y'all up to speed.
*I lied

Friday cat

source: Rhymes with Orange

Ya can’t get there from here

I tried to post a picture that explains the lack of traffic here.
Blogger won’t cooperate.

sorry 

Friday Cat

Even on vacation we can leave something behind.

not me!

Timing is everything

A glance at this satellite image shows the Hawaiian Islands in the bottom center, completely in the clear.
This early stuff is for the . . . .

c'est la vie

More about Hawaii

We are leaving sometime around zero dark thirty tomorrow to drive to San Francisco Airport [actually to MB's aunt's, where we'll leave the vehicle and get a ride].
Maybe we will beat the storm that is due to bring some considerable rainfall and snow in the higher elevations.
We are going to Hawaii, specifically Oahu.
MB has friends who have turned over the keys to their condo at Kapalei on the west end of the island.
There will be no laptops.
The usual Friday posts will appear only because they're prescheduled.
Maybe I can post a photo or two if the other portables cooperate . . .   Maybe?
It isn't on the agenda.
Of course the agenda is extremely flexible.

aloha!

About that Hawaii thing

No, not my vacation.
The other thing that happened Saturday morning.
(Yeah, I'm a little late to the party.)

source: The Economist

source: The Economist

The unintentional sending of a text via the Emergency Alert System during a drill.

It was rescinded sometime later, well after it should have been and after politicians got involved.
It seems the bureaucrats couldn't immediately decide what to do to remedy the situation.

It kinda brought to mind a rhyme we had in the way back:

When you're worried or in doubt
Run in circles scream and shout

Then, invariably, someone would say something like:

Blessed are those who go in circles
For they shall be known as wheels

...and they are receiving death threats [because that's the rational method to handle the situation].

"it's always somethin'"

. . . and it leads to more

Funny [ironic?] how one post will lead into the next even when there's really very little connection.

source: daily timewaster

Places to avoid bears in Europe.

bi&i look safe

About yesterday

coincidence?

Heh!

I've heard this about Grizzly Bears, too.

it's on Saturday this month

Friday cat

New project

Do y'all (both of you) remember how I moved about ten months and 26 days ago?
Then it took awhile to move "stuff" I want to keep?
Some stuff is still not moved, but that's another story.

Anyway, I was bemoaning the fact that the desktop PC wasn't connected because there was no place to put it.
Then in November it was finally connected . . .   and it had basically died.
I took it to the folks who'd built it and found the part that failed was still under warranty.
Unfortunately, that part was the key to retaining all that had been added since June 2014.
Actually it had even more than that because the previous desktop stuff was in there, too, along with the email program I'd configured to save me the trouble of scanning every little thing that hit the inbox.

It took some time for the company to rebuild the box and get it back to the reseller/configurator.
Then it took him some time to rebuild his aspect of the unit and bench test it and install the OS, which has been upgraded to Windows 10 and no additional charge because the original OS is no longer available.

[Heck! If Win98se was still available, I'd still be using it.]

It literally arrived on my doorstep yesterday [in a box that is eight four times the sized of the box the computer comes in].
Of course I opened it right away.
I finally got around to plugging everything in after about two hours.
I had been waiting, relatively patiently, since April.
What was another couple of hours?

As soon as I plugged in I realized there will be some issues before I can reclaim all that it was before.
Yes, there is a permanent [as long as I pay the bill] backup.
The only challenge is reloading the programs used before.
I have the word of the company that they will assist, even remotely accessing if necessary, the reconfiguration.
I know it's gonna take some time and there may be some issues with downloaded programs for which there are no discs.

wish me luck

Wait . . . what?

The MoB, MB's mom, had a flip phone until about six mos. ago.
She wanted to text.
Texting on flip phones in not a recommended exercise.

She went online to one of the magazine phone companies and ordered a smartphone with a big red I've fallen and I can't get up button.
It has given her nothing but fits since she got it.
Recently she found that it dropped the wi-fi signal regularly and put her way over on data [like three times the allowance over].

The other day MB and I were in Best Buy getting the batteries in our several year old iPhones replaced because . . .   well Apple made an offer we could turn down . . .   and our phones weren't holding their charge as long as when we first got them.
Whilst we waited we looked into finding the MoB something that wouldn't send here into fits of apoplexy.
They offered some suggestions and we returned home and passed the information along.

By Sunday it was pretty well determined we'd get her an iPhone with prepaid service.
She was happy satisfied with the sized of the phone and the ease of use.
We went back over to Best Buy and talked to the same sales person.
Unfortunately the phone we'd discussed was out of stock.
But he pulled up his magic pricing tool on the display and found there was a deal we really can't refuse.
We can purchase a new iPhone [one level above the current one I have, that's fully paid for] and port my number over to it.
Then we can transfer MoB's number from her current, not so great calling, phone to my old smart and much easier to use and understand iPhone.
Then with one minor change to the calling plan the monthly bill will actually be lower than the current payment.

The best part about the entire convoluted transaction is now I don't have to get MoB a gift for her birthday and I get a new phone.
Of course I still can't post to the blog from it.

happy birthday

More of the same

Weather that is.

Notice the weather service didn't even bother with the temps.
It's been constant since 4am yesterday.
In their words . . .

9:00am update 
3.65 inches since it started.

then it's supposed to clear again

Better'n nothin'

In keeping with whatever the tradition is about obsessive blog posting:

It's raining here this morning.
That is a relatively normal occurrence.
We are excited because it has been dry throughout December.

There is another post in the works, but it's taking me too long.
It will keep until tomorrow.

or the next day

It took a little reminder

While browsing blogs on my smartphone this morning it suddenly occurred to me I have no excuse for not having a post.

So, it rained on Friday night.
Saturday was sunny and relatively warm (60°F).
This morning it was like this.

It has only lifted a little.

thanks Sarge

Friday Cat

Still more

I may have mentioned we're going on vacation?

The mind is like that about remembering.

Anyway, since I think I mentioned it we have schedule two more excursions before the end of February.
On top of that, I have a brief sojourn to the North State right after we return from the vacation. 
MB has to stay home because, as the person who takes the blame business administrator, she's handling preparations for the congregation's annual meeting.
I'd just be in the way a distraction [the squirrels are bad enough].

airline miles

Yeah, it's been like that

Or it's always somethin'

MB and I gave ourselves some extra time this year, to address and mail the Christmas cards.

You ask, "How is that possible?"

It all depends upon how you celebrate it.

December 25 is only the first day.
It all culminates on January 6, the 12th Day of Christmas, celebrated as Little Christmas or the Epiphany, when the Three Wise Men showed up bearing gifts.

The only drawback to our plan is we hadn't taken into account outside factors such as:

• nasty diseases that lay up one family member for a week
• company from out of town for five days
• several unscheduled grocery shopping trips to multiple locations
• a leak under the kitchen sink
• a washing machine that goes clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk all through the spin cycle
• another leak in the hall bathroom
• lack of real motivation early in the process

On the plus side, we have plenty of cards and the names of recipients.

Anyway, with any luck those to whom we are mailing cards should receive them by Saturday unless you are in the U.K..
Those make take a little longer as I have to actually go inside the post office to buy the postage.

Once this is completed there are several other tasks to be finished in short order before MB and I leave on vacation.
A friend is letting stay in their condo on Oahu in Hawaii later this month.
MB has not been to Hawaii yet.
I get to show her around.
We will also get to link up with Cuz and Mrs. Cuz for a day or so.
They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary over there.
We may then decide if the twin cousins are going to have a 75th birthday celebration and, if so, where.

Resolution

I resolved long ago not to fuss about resolutions.
They routinely fall by the wayside.
That's not to say there aren't some things we should at least attempt:

• exercise more
• eat healthier
• stop smoking [accomplished so far for over eight years]
• declutter, unclutter, whatever [stop moving piles]

I have actually not resolved to do any of the above, at least not consciously and definitely not lately.
It has all been coincidental to something else.

That said, this year I have made one resolution.

I am not going to obsess about posting to the blog every day

We'll see how that works.
It's already been accomplished this year.

yesterday