Category: Uncategorized
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Dog kisses
I’ve long been uncomfortable with dog kisses. Using their tongue for toilet paper kind of disqualifies them from getting near my face. But then we got Luna. It isn’t just any dog, it is our dog. I still don’t like it, but I do tolerate it a little bit.
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The Pope on Writing (yes, it appears to be real)
Below is a link to an actual Pope speech. As far as I can tell, it is legit. I am not hiding the link behind text so you can see for yourself before clicking. Love this bit: When you write stories and develop your characters, you identify with them; you grasp their points of view,…
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Camping June 2026 edition
First camp hamburger this year. Fire setup for later.
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Teaching me to see birds
My wife is a wildlife photographer (among other things). She has an eye that can spot animals and birds like nobody I know. After 20 years, even when I am by myself, I look for birds. Even when she isn’t there with her camera, I look for animals. She has taught me to see the…
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Personal Trust and Computers
The cloud has enabled a lot of useful functionality in our computer systems. Our phones can do some amazing things. All requiring our stuff to go to someone else’s computers. This is in no way an argument against using our phones or the various cloud services, but I think there is a trust issue that…
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Candid Camera
This is a “get off my lawn” post. Skip if old people rants aren’t your thing. Candid Camera was a long running TV show with roots in radio and multi-generational hosts. I found it as a kid and enjoyed the hell out of it. They turned a VW Beetle into a massive gas tank. Stripped…
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Rush Tour Opener Review: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson’s Triumph
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/rush-tour-review-anika-nilles-new-drummer-neil-peart-1235573924/ I have been a Rush fan since freshman year in college many Many MANY years ago. A guy on my dorm floor introduced me to their Hemispheres album (thanks Jim W). I had mostly listened to pop music during high school and Rush blew my mind with the music and lyrics. How could three…
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Stay on the sunny side
My wife is a photographer. A very good one who gets amazing animal and bird shots. For photographers, the sun is a tricky thing. Too bright and it can wash out the shot. If the sun is behind, the details are all in the dark. She doesn’t use Photoshop to clean things up. She uses…
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View from Dover TN, take 2
I took this approximately 10 seconds after my alarm went off. Dover is definitely bringing the beauty.
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I’ve heard more Elvis the two days in Memphis…
The river cruise started in Memphis and we stayed at The Guesthouse at Graceland the nights before. Non-stop Elvis music everywhere. I’ve heard more Elvis in two days than I have in my entire life to date. Turns out there is some of his stuff that I like. Who’da thunk?
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View from Dover, TN
Dover is not a big town but the bend of the river where it exists is beautiful. These two pics were taken on opposite sides of the ship at dinner time. The rainbow was pulsing, every couple of minutes cycling brightness.
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Sunset on the Mississippi
Jupiter and Venus are in this shot but probably hard to see. There were a few other stars visible at this time, but they really popped a few minutes later when the sun went down completely. You can’t rush the view.
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Morning View
Woke up on the Mississippi this morning. Fortunately, it wasn’t a surprise. Pretty nice view with coffee in hand. Note: these posts are often long after the event. My trip posts aren’t live because y’all don’t need to know where I am unless it is a public event. Nothing personal, eh?
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View from Not-At-Home, Memphis, TN
A bit ago, we went on a river cruise with my 90+ year old dad and his wife. Very fun. Most of this view was the roof of another building but if you turned to the side and looked hard to the left, you could see green.
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View from Not-At-Home, Take off from MSP
Foggy, nothing to see unfortunately. Usually there is a nice view of one of the downtowns. This was a bit of a warning as shortly after we got going, we encountered turbulence and it was a rough ride the entire flight. It was hard to drink my coffee without wearing it, but it was coffee…
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Beale Street, Memphis TN
We had dinner at a sidewalk table right across from this. Ribs, live blues band, and my honey. Doesn’t get better than that. For more info on the facade in these pics, scroll down to #5 on this web page. Short version: fancy hotel, fire, bar. https://fromcommonground.com/thisplaceinhistoryii/
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Tech is fragmented
There are almost a dozen heavily used messaging systems, including basic text messaging. Each has different features and interoperability capabilities. The people we need to communicate with use a different combination of those systems. For each person, we have to know what they use if we want to communicate with them. Whatever app we use…
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We’ve always done it that way
In the world I spent most of my career, this phrase was a negative thing. IT changes all the time and businesses often keep processes longer than they should. But in some parts of life, this phrase makes sense. I was watching an Alton Brown video and he was explaining some of the chemistry behind…
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I can’t write that because I’m not…
This is a good article about writing about topics that you aren’t. In this case, a military guy explains why it is ok to write military if you aren’t in the military. The post is from a small publisher that puts out excellent anthologies. https://x.com/i/status/2063260849335112072
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Dinner
Trying to do more with veggies. They turned out pretty good.
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“Interesting”
The word “interesting” is, to be obvious, interesting. There are many ways to say it and each of them means something different. I’m sure each of us could come up with at least five different ways to say it. Frustrated, resigned, annoyed, snarky, delighted, intrigued, and so on. It’s a word I use too much…
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Chocolate Chips
When I brought home the four and a half pound bag of chocolate chips, my wife gave me a hard time about buying so many. She was convinced that we would never make it through the bag. But we did. The kids and grandkids got lots of chocolate chip cookies. Some might have been snitched…
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View from the Hill
There is a hill in a park near my house that gives a pretty decent view of the eastern and western sky. This was the sunset the other day. Usually the colors are just a band down on the horizon, but full coverage seemed to be the order of the evening.
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Growing old
I have lots of thoughts about growing old. My wife’s father passed at 89 years old. Her mom and both my parents are over 90. My sister passed a few months ago. Friends are getting hearings aids and I’ll need them soon. I’ve already had one heart attack and had a second stent to prevent…
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View when Not-At-Home
Orr, MN. One of the better views from a hotel.
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A gift from a restaurant
Vietnam Star is our go-to restaurant for dinner or take out. They celebrated an anniversary and gave away chopsticks and bowls gifts to some customers.
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Peanut Butter, Honey & Banana
Had the best sandwich today. Oh, and finished the bulk of the second round of dev edits. Sending it in tomorrow. Woot!
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Sometimes you just gotta sit by a lake…
Especially in the morning with coffee and a dog. This kind of view never gets old.
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Hey! Remember that time when you…
Once or twice a day, sometimes more, I hate my subconscious. Most of the time, my subconscious is pretty handy. It compiles a lot of interesting stuff and spits out useful things. Good decisions, writing ideas, etc. But every once and a while, it’s a right bastard. I’ll be minding my own business and my…
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Admin post: Changing Subscriptions
For those of you getting this via EMAIL: You are getting this email because you have subscribed through WordPress. I am turning WordPress subscriptions off and ask that you click the link below to subscribe to my separate monthly newsletter. It will keep you updated on my writing life and random things that I decide…
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65-year old man can’t jump
It’s been a while since I needed to jump. I used to have a decent vertical jump. Nothing fancy, but respectable. I needed to jump at the campsite to get a birdfeeder chain over a branch. It did not go well. No, I didn’t fall or pull anything. But, damn, I might have gotten off…