I, for one, welcome our feline overlords. They’re cute.
Category: Personal
Warm and Comfy
Not only does Kunoichi have a nice spot to rest her head, not only does she have some nice sunlight, but she has a very nice heater duct for her winter morning nap.
OBEY!
It’s been quiet. TOO quiet
Some folk might have noticed I’ve been largely not-online of late. (Most folk, I expect, have more than enough this-n-that in their social media streams to not notice.)
The Christmas holidays were a week en famile out in California, enjoying the usual Christmas bonhomie. That was followed by a week of my staying on while the wife and child headed home, helping prep for my mom’s move from SoCal to Colorado at the end of January.
I headed home after that, only to come heading back out when my Mom managed to fracture her left forearm (the ulna, for those physiologists among you), putting it in a cast and making her far less capable of dealing with day to day stuff, let along an impending move.
So there were a couple of weeks in California doing move prep, and then the actual move out here, and then … well, pretty much since then several hours a day helping with unpacking and getting her used to the (very nice) retirement community she’s living in, and all that jazz.
It’s been … intense. Remarkably (on both our parts), Mom and I are still speaking with each other.
(And sidebar kudos have to go to my parents-in-law who live in the same community and who’ve gone above and beyond to help my mom feel welcome, and to my wife and child who have both helped the effort overall as they could, and kept me relatively sane when they couldn’t.)
Things are by no means all settled and skittles and beer. My mom’s disinclination to change in her life (just one of several personality traits of my own that I’ve had highlighted in origin over the past couple of months) and the amount of change that’s been firehosed onto her even in the kindest and gentlest ways remain a challenge for her (and me). And her having to deal with being largely one-armed has not helped that situation at. all.
But we persist. And it will get better (as it already has). And, perhaps, I’ll be able to creep back onto the Internet again (both in terms of time and in terms of “Do I really need the aggravation that following current affairs gives me?).
This is a start, at least.
Caturday
Early Departure
So it was always the plan that, with the moving van arriving at my mom’s house on Saturday the 27th, I’d fly out there on Monday the 22nd to lend strong back, moral support, etc.
Then it turned out my mom fractured her arm over the weekend. Soooooo… I’m flying out today, instead.
Which changes a variety of plans, for all that it’s less than a week early, but if being unemployed doesn’t mean I can’t change my travel plans without worrying about PTO and ongoing project tasks, then what good is it? 😀
So, off to California again. Albeit this time a one-way flight, as we’ll be driving back. Exciting times!
A Family Guy
Been a while since I did a “This Is Your Avatar” exercise, but the “Family Guy Yourself” thing was too much fun to resist.
Like so many of these, it’s all a series of compromises, further complicated by one’s own idealized self-image. But, aside from the lack of Hawaiian shirt to go by, and the sense that the beard is a bit too heavy, I’m fairly happy with the result.
Detente
“I guess there’s enough hot air coming out from the kick vent to keep us both warm this evening. As long as I don’t have to acknowledge your presence.”
“What new crazy thing has Trump has done TODAY?!”
No, I jest. Rather than reading the news feed, I’m pretty certain Kunoichi is just keeping her butt warm on my laptop.
Which, all told, probably is in fact a lot more satisfying that reading about what new crazy thing Trump has done TODAY.
The Rise and Fall of Margarine
We were very much a margarine household when I was growing up in the 60s-70s — soft margarine in tubs was a convenience, as well as being (per the accepted wisdom of the day) healthier than all that milk fat.
Today, I’m more than happy to deal with regular butter (just as spreadable when not kept in the fridge, which isn’t necessary if you eat it on a regular basis).
Reading the history of margarine — why it was actually such a useful idea, the fight against its spread (so to speak) in the US, and how it peaked then fell — is an interesting glimpse into food fashion and how things were not always as they are today, and won’t be tomorrow, either.
I can believe it’s not butter: The rise and fall of margarine
You may not have seen the commercial in years, but you’d recognize the setup instantly. Sweeping chords play and a day-dreaming, bespectacled housewife sighs as the screen does that fuzzy flashback fade. There are quick shots of vaguely fairy tale locales—an Italian palazzo, stately fountains, a rose garden straight out of Beauty And The Beast—and our suburban soccer mom reappears in flowing gown and sparkling jewels. Then we pan to the best gem …
Moves of 2017
Since I looked at books, how about movies (since I record my movie-watching over at Letterboxd)?
I watched 40 movies in 2017 — 12 new ones, the remainders ones I’d watched before.
Looking at the 4.5 and 5 stars out of five, of the 9 movies I rated that way all but one was a rewatch (the exception was the chilling HBO WW2 film Conspiracy). It looks like I tend to be harder on first views than in rewatches (I even bumped Wonder Woman up a half-point on rewatch).
Overall, a good year in movies. Looking forward to the next!
Happy New Year and the Evolution of Traditions
I stayed out in California an extra week this year to help my mom get packed up for her impending move to Colorado. It was emblematic of how family traditions change. For Mom it’s an obvious change — a series of changes that she’s been dealing with for a number of years since Dad passed away, but faces even more as she leaves her home of forty years. We spent the evening at dinner than then afterward with some friends of hers from church, so it was a set of good-byes and thinking about the past.
That said, it was a change for me, too. I’m not sure I’ve spent a New Year’s Eve apart from Margie since we were married, but it was fun (if I couldn’t do that) to spend the time with Mom and her friends, and thinking about the changes in our family traditions (including since Margie’s folks moved out near us), and about how things will further change (for the better, but change nonetheless) with Mom’s arrival.
But thinking about change is a natural part of the turnover of the year.
I brought out some party favors and we actually rang in the New Year at midnight. Good times.
Books of 2017
Looking at my Goodreads records, in 2017 I read 92 books.
In fiction, I read 26 new books, and reread 27 (including a (re)read of all of Peter David Star Trek New Frontier series and quite a few Rex Stout Nero Wolfe). Nine were 5-star books; I think my favorite new entry, for a variety of reasons, was April Daniels’ Dreadnought, as both a very solid super-hero story and a great coming-of-age / establishing-your-identity sort of story.
In non-fiction, I read 6 new books (most of them audiobooks — the number was down with my commute being in abeyance. I gave 3 of them 5 stars (which seems high — 5 star ratings are sometimes impulsive, I fear). I’ll give top new rating to As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling, by Anne Serling as a great insight not only into the man (who was far more than a cigarette-smoking creepy voice artist), but also into television and writing of the 50s and 60s.
In comic TPBs / graphic novels, I read 15 new, and reread 14 old. Of the five 5-star books, I’ll give my top rating for new reads to Jim Zub’s Wayward Deluxe Vol. 1 as an incredible blend of traditional and new mythmaking, steeped in Japanese culture but with a fresh (and gorgeous) eye.
It’s altogether some have slipped through the cracks here, but that’s a pretty good set of numbers.
Fast away the Old Year passes
It’s been a… stressful year.
The biggest stress was the whole most-of-the-year-unemployed thing. Which would have sufficed, but there were enough other blood pressure pumped during the year — not even counting US political madness — to challenge my hypertension medication mightily.
On the other had, there was a lot of positive in 2017. Life with my loving wife. A kid who gets niftier with every passing year. Some satisfying writing in November (and elsewhen). One of the most enjoyable RPG campaigns I’ve played in perhaps ever. Teeing things up for a remarkable 2018.
And that year has so many possibilities. A couple of incredible trips. A new chapter with the kid heading to college. My mom moving to Colorado. And, one trusts, a new job.
Past realities. Impending possibilities. With friends and family to make it all worthwhile. I look forward to it.
(Picture from a few weeks ago. :-))
A campus visit
With +Kay Hill having been accepted at Scripps for the 2018-19 school year, we took advantage of a quiet day to visit the campus. It was all buttoned down for winter break, so we couldn’t go in anything [1], but we walked thoroughly around the campus, which is more beautiful and intricate than I recall from my visits in passing while attending neighboring Pomona and walking through on my way to classes elsewhere.
Fun time. We’re going to try to come out and visit at “Admitted Students Day” in April, when, one hopes, things will be hopping a bit more.
——
[1] Except for Huntley Bookstore, where we bought some additional college swag.
Scripps College – 2017-12
12 new photos · Album by Dave Hill
A bit of Personal Holiday Cheer
I finally got my mom’s not-actually-eggnog “Recipe” up on my wife’s recipe. She originally scribbled it down on the back of a bill envelope in 1975 when she heard Mike Roy on the radio (or maybe saw him on TV) giving it. With variations, it’s been a standard for Christmas Morning Gift-Giving at her house ever since.
And now will be for many years to come.
Perhaps I should get an exciting career as a warehouse worker
An executive networking group I’m in did some volunteer work at Food Bank of the Rockies this morning, helping pull donated goods (all corporate donations in our case) onto pallets, shrink wrap them, then identify what shipment they were for (mostly to food banks or religious groups that organize food distribution for poor in their communities).
In the course of the morning, the trio I was in loaded up six pallets six feet high full of light things (13 cases of Sriracha Cheez-Its! 30 boxes of Sweet Potato Flake Cereal) and not-so-light things (71 12-packs of Coconut Water! 12 20# bags of onions!), all for one particular organization. It was very tiring work, but interesting to see how it all worked.
FBR provides food relief for 30 Colorado counties and all of Wyoming, delivering close to 49 million meals a year. Volunteering helped me feel a part of that, which is a neat thing to do around the holiday season, but I suspect they can use help all year around. And I suspect there are other organizations of this sort in communities around the nation that could use help in these times.
(Also, they have a huge wall in the warehouse covered with giant checks — company X gives a $20K donation to the FBR, and there’s a photo op with the giant check, and they actually keep them here (after deposit, one presumes), mounted on the wall. It was kind of fascinating to see; not sure why I didn’t take a picture.)
Dog People and Cat People
Brainwave syncing, aging, and forgetting stuff
A change in how certain brainwaves sync up during deep sleep seems to be associated with getting memories to stick around for the long term. The challenge is, normal brain changes during aging interfere with this very process.
Older Adults’ Forgetfulness Tied To Faulty Brain Rhythms In Sleep : Shots – Health News : NPR
Go West!
Most of the family and immediate friends should have heard by this time, so this is more for the record. +Kay Hill has been accepted at Scripps College, one of the Claremont Colleges group in California, for the 2018-19 school year, having gotten back her Early Admission thingie by email this morning [1] as we were heading toward watching the new Star Wars movie.
+Margie Kleerup and I went to Pomona, another of the Claremont Colleges, so we know the school, and are tickled pink. Plus, this will mean another reason to go out and visit SoCal over the coming years.
Congrats to K!
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[1] UPDATE: The notification came out on the 15th, but got sucked by GMail into the spam filter because it resembles a lot of phishing attempts. High school seniors: check your spam filters!
