myxer

We scored an invitation a couple of years ago to the French Ambassador's residence for a reception hosted by Duke University. It was a fun evening.   I love to travel, and often those adventures are the inspiration for my blog. I recently updated my daily reads list, adding Eye Candy by Andy in Canada who loves to take photos and shares one of his favorites each day, and Sophie's French Adventure and dog's eye view of life in a French Village narrated by a wise and worldly Scotsman.  I travel vicariously through their daily postings. There is something these two have in common, they have a decidedly positive view of the world.  They spend time looking for beauty in the mundane.  I took off a couple of links, one to an inactive blog, and one that often didn't fit the family friendly mood that I am going for.  There are a few blogs not listed here, that I visit often, that I enjoy, or learn from, or find interesting. Some are simply to "ad...

Today is the start of my new role at work. A new title.  Director  No toasting with champagne , we have an alcohol  and drug free workplace (one of my duties will be to certify that for some funding sources.) I have been working for over 50 years, (I filed my first tax return at 12!)  I have made it to the top of the field, in a strange little specialty area. I have high hopes for the next couple, maybe three years.  I am experiencing a modest case of imposter syndrome.   And a modest but rather nice increase in salary.   

1: Do you prefer Print or E-books?  2: When was the last time you were in a physical book store?  3: Are you running out of bookshelf space? 4: How many books are you reading right now?  5: What book have you read the most times?  My Answers 1: Do you prefer Print or E-books? E-books for most things 2: When was the last time you were in a physical book store? Today, there is a new independent local book store near me.  3: Are you running out of bookshelf space? Yes, I have a donate pile 4: How many books are you reading right now? 3 5: What book have you read the most times? Walden  Please share your answers in the comments. 

  On the YouTube Channel Foxes Afloat Shaun is forever telling Colin "you can't say that!"  They even sell T-shirts with that quote on them.  I was sitting here thinking of my Saturday chat and I had some great ideas, the challenges of neurodiverse professionals, the importance of seeing the negative side of well meaning interventions, issues that are related to my work and the simple answer is I can't say that.  If I talk directly about my work, my employer owns the content. And I don't want that to happen, so I talk around it.   I suggested the other day that we take a position supporting a social service effort, and the reply was multiple reports of that effort either being ineffective or even leaving people worse off than if no one had done anything.  It is not that it isn't well intended, but that the execution is often a disaster.  A friend texted me (we trade snarky texts during meetings) concerned that I was frustrated by my idea bei...

I know this was done as a window display in a furniture specialty shop, but I wonder how many people have asked to buy this stack of books?  I was tempted.  I have a couple of funny signs in my office.   One says "Trust me I am a Lawyer." Yea, I know, I know, I have heard and met most the lawyer jokes.   Another one says "I Can Explain It To You, But I Can't Understand It For You." On the limits of understanding, I always reach back the concept of a "reverse triangular merger."  I had to describe how those work in an exam once, but I couldn't tell you today.  When I ask a room (Zoom) full of lawyers if they can explain that concept, they understand, that not everyone understands the things that they think are simple and common knowledge.  Sometimes we have to remind people that not everyone sees the world as they do.  Sometimes humor is a great way of triggering understanding.  How do you think a reverse triangular merger works...

  Two years ago this weekend, I had my hair cut. Trimmed up around my ears, scissors only, Jose knew how to make it look good.  A month later, as we were getting ready to go to Ireland I decided another haircut could wait a couple of weeks until after we returned, two years later, it has not been cut yet.   Shortly after we returned home, the shops were closed for a while, and when the shops reopened, I questioned if being in hands on contact with a person who is hands on with lots of people every day was worth the risk.  I decided it was not.   Most of the time I keep it pulled back and tied up, if I really work at it I can get a "top knot" to work.  But once in a while, especially on weekends I let my freak flag fly, and let my hair down.  When it is wet it hangs down between my shoulder blades in the back.  It has NEVER in my life been this long.  My hair is naturally wavy - curly - a mess.  I have often kept it cut sho...

The area I grew up in Michigan, was pretty well hunted out of deer from the 1950's into the later 1980's.  The area was overhunted, the local farmers thought the deer destroyed crops, and there were diseases transmittable between deer a cows that the farmers wanted to avoid.  Hence there was probably some out of season population control.  I never saw deer on the 80 acres that was home, rarely saw them in the surrounding area.   On rare occasions we visited northern Michigan, very rural area north of Saginaw Bay,  and there were always deer to be seen.  Sometimes only a few, sometimes large herds.  The area had more woodlands, and fewer farmers, and was far enough away from the population centers to have a much more dense deer population.   Hunting declined in the late 80's early 90's and when I visited the farm I would often see one or two deer.  In some areas the population exploded to the point of being a nuisance....

Sharon over at Phoenix Daily Photo has done several postings about the Chulluli Glass exhibit as Desert Botanical Gardens.  I love colorful glass, wish I was headed to Phoenix sometime soon.  There was a massive Chulbuli exhibit in Seattle three years ago when we were there.  Amazing colors.  A little expensive to tour, but worth every penny. I am glad I saw it when I was there.     

I know he did something despicable a few years ago and BBC sent him packing, he can be politically incorrect, even offensive, but he is very funny and he can write.  He is a silly oaf, but he knows how to put together a coherent English sentence - even whole paragraphs of them.  About the time Covid hit, the man who was leasing his 1,000 acre farm near Oxford, retired, he said, "how hard can it be?"  The Amazon Prime show about him farming is hilarious, and shows how hard it can be, and without subsidies (and Uncle Jeff's Prime money,) he would have made about 50-pence a day. He grew barley, that was used to make beer, here he is sampling the product.  I hope the producer drove him home. 

1: How do you feel about holding a frog in your hand?  2: Would you keep a snake as a pet?  3: How near to your house is a place frogs can live a happy froggy life?  4: Did you dissect frogs in school?  5: Do you think either of these would turn into a prince?  My Answers:  1: How do you feel about holding a frog in your hand? Repulsed  2: Would you keep a snake as a pet? NOOOOOOO!  3: How near to your house is a place frogs can live a happy froggy life? About half a mile, there are wetlands  4: Did you dissect frogs in school? 8th grade science  5: Do you think either of these would turn into a prince? I already found my prince, but unlikely.  Please share your answers in the comments. 

  I am back earning a living in my bedroom again.  I can go into the office, but it feels less safe than it did, and when I get there, there is no one around. A lot of people are in this position, or should be.  The challenge for me with work from home (WFH - it has become such a part of our culture that we even have an acronym for it) is balancing.  For me this is harder at this time of the year when it is cold, and often wet, and getting out for a walk seems less attractive. If I am not careful I find myself working 10+ hours a day.  I recently went five days without leaving the apartment.  Far too long to be healthy.  I am pretty good about turning off my office computer on the weekends and leaving it off.  But Monday through Friday it is my constant companion, and there are more things that need doing, than will ever be done.  Just reading the tone of this message, I can tell that this is weighing on my psyche.   The more o...

When I think of Fabulous I think of Prada, Gucci, Chanel, and others, but nature also has fabulousness.  There is an old ditty about favorite things, that includes birds on the wing, and a flight of geese can be spectacular.  Come visit one winter, we can go down to Huntley Meadows early in the day and see hundreds of them. The sound is amazing when 50 or 100 geese take flight, zoom by, then with everything extended, land in the water with a splash.    

A couple of weeks ago it was cold and I needed to get out of the house. I wanted / needed to take a nice walk.  I drove across The River, to the MGM Casino in Maryland, it has a lot of walkable indoor space and is smoke free as all casinos should be. This sign was in front of a closed Starbucks.  The casino was surprisingly busy, it was a cold day, people looking for something to do indoors, had stopped in for a walk and to spend a little money on the video games, or a lot of money thinking they can outsmart the table games.  (I left $6 behind, about what I would have paid to park someplace else to park so I could walk indoors, the casino has free parking in a land of $5 an hour parking garages.)  It was a day when Starbucks, or any coffee shop, should have been open, should have been doing a brisk business. Starbucks has a decent reputation as an employer.  Few people are going to earn a generous living working there, but they have a reputation of paying h...

  The last year I was in Kentucky I did two grand tours.  The Bar Association did a road show - a series of two day continuing education programs at various locations across the state.  The promise was that no member would have to drive more than 100 miles to attend the program.  I wrote a section of the program, and normally I would recruit volunteers around the state to present at a location near them.  In 2008, I booked myself for the far flung corners of the state, I think I did 6 of the 8 locations, skipping the one in my own backyard, and in Louisville.  Later that fall the state health insurance information assistance program (SHIP) did a road show, three locations, one near home, one way out in the western part of the state, and one down in south central closer to Tennessee than civilization.  I was doing a couple of hours on the agenda and I was assigned to drive one of the most experienced volunteers around the state.   This im...

  Travel changes me. The more I experience, the more I seem to understand the human condition.  I have a student intern coming in for the spring semester and one of the things that set him apart from others, was he has been around the world, lived in a variety of very diverse places, his insight into life is shaped by the experience.  His wisdom is beyond his years.   I am always looking for seeds of wisdom, insight into understanding the adventure.   Fresh Bread  A second part to today's entry.  I have made bread a couple of times recently.  I had gotten into the habit of buying from a local baker at the Saturday farmers market. The last couple of Saturdays it has been cold, like 10 degrees colder than freezing (23F about -6C) and I didn't go to the market.  As it has been for the past 250 years, the market is outside.   Bread is not hard to make.  It is nothing to be afraid of.  When I first made it I kneaded i...

If you post anything on social media today, make it a simple statement,  Congress Must Pass Legislation to Expand and Protect Voting Rights Now! Today the United States pauses to honor Dr. Martin Luther King. Almost 60 years after this speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, we are still struggling to fulfill the dream.  Racists don't realize that the issue is caused by them, not by the people they hate.  The racists are the ones who must change.  A racist is not a Patriot.   We need to work to develop understanding that difference is strength. No one should live in fear because of who they are. That all people are created equal, all should be welcome the table of Democracy.   All people who are different in anyway, age, gender, disability, origin, need to band together.  Our struggles are different, but connect.   None of us are truly free, until all of us are free. 

  1: Do you prefer your given name, or something else?  2: Have you ever lied about your age? 3: Can you read your own handwriting?  4: If you went back to school, what would you study?  5: What family member had the greatest influence on you?  My answers: 1: Do you prefer your given name, or something else?  Given name,  2: Have you ever lied about your age? No  3: Can you read your own handwriting? Sometimes  4: If you went back to school, what would you study? For years I would have answered medicine, I should have gone to medical school, at this age, Art.  5: What family member had the greatest influence on you? My paternal grandmother.  Please share your answers in the comments. 

We are a couple of weeks into the year already.  As they say, time flies when we are having fun.  The older we get the faster time seems to spin, my boss describes time as we age as being like the toilet paper roll spinning faster as it approaches the end of the roll.  I have been busy.  We are wrapping up a major year long research project in the office, trying to make sense of 40 plus interviews and over 300 survey responses (68 pages, single-spaced of survey narrative answers.) I am doing a reader report on the manuscript for a book - well written and needed. I am finishing up a book review.   We have a board meeting coming up.  My boss's last board meeting. We are a couple of weeks into the year, and a couple of weeks out from me taking over.  My workload has gone up, my email volume has gone up.  We are scrambling with introductions, I am shadowing him on as many calls and meetings as I can.  His immediate boss, soon to be...

  I grew up on a farm in rural Michigan, well with one exception,* until I was in the 8th grade, we had winters, and every winter we would eagerly anticipate schools being closed and SNOW DAYS.  Extra random weather related days off, days at home. Then I started spending winters in Florida where it is not suppose to snow.**  A weather related closure in Florida, is usually a hurricane and in 20 years of living there I only had two or three days when my office was closed because of a hurricane (I was lucky, the weather was worse after I moved away.) The first winter after I moved "back north" I experienced a few snow days, the first one I tried to ignore, I got stuck in the middle of the street at the end of the driveway.  I have learned not to ignore them, but to revel in them.   Living in DC, my office follows OPM, the office of personnel management directives on the office being open or closed.  With enhanced telework, the feds close less, but w...

YouTube has largely replaced broadcast and cable TV for me.  There are some really talented content producers.  There is a whole cluster of English Narrow Boat channels I look forward to my Friday evening with Foxes Afloat , a couple of times a month I go flying with Max , once a week or so I go hiking and taking photos with Thomas , and there are a bunch of others.  With YouTube there is a greater feeling of connection between the creator and the audience.  Even those with 100-200-thousand subscribers often respond to comments, and you get a glimpse into their lives that hollywood never gives.  YouTube is a more personal experience.  One of the challenges with this is people will sometimes disappoint.  For sometime I have been watching a young blogger from Toronto.  He is fun, and nice to look at, and not afraid to say or show much of anything (within the limits of what YouTube will allow, he basically makes a living from the advertising rev...

The essence of photography is capturing a fraction of a second, for later viewing.  This moment, probably 1/60 of a second was taken in the other house - the house in Lexington Kentucky probably 15-20 years ago.  At the top of the stairs with an open railing overlooking the great room, was our shared office.  On the plans there was a option to enclose it as a bedroom, the house was essentially finished when we bought it and the office/loft worked wonderfully for us.  The top rail, is visible just to the left of the box of Kleenex over my shoulder. There is a stack of training manuals on the top shelf, this is where I prepared probably 100 training programs.  The plastic tub with a green label, is some kind of foot cream, my feet dry out terribly in the winter, nothing seems to really help other than a pedicure and letting them sand my feet with the cheese grater.  The plastic storage bin, is filled with computer bits and pieces and probably a came...

A few months ago I did a series on some of the cars I have owned, lots of cars.  Most were utilitarian, a handful were spectacular. I love cars, I enjoy the design, the style, to comfort, the performance.  In the right moment, I like pushing car near its limits going through a tight corner.  But at the same time, I drive because I need to, not because I especially enjoy it.  Truth be told at times I hate driving.  Driving is better in a comfortable car, putting the top down on the little car on a pretty day, always lightens my mood.  If I won the PowerBall, there are a few fantasy cars I would try - a Rolls, a Ferrari, but even then I probably wouldn't draw great pleasure from driving.  I am weird that way.   The photo above?  We live in an area with a lot of nice cars, a lot of people with a lot of disposable income and good credit. The kind of a place where a teenager learns to drive in a Porsche. A fun place to live, I am not from her...

Opportunity, it looks a lot like the unknown, like risk, like something to be avoided.  And often we avoid it.  Or we try to force our way in, only to find we are unable to get that door open.  When we accept opportunity on it's own terms, the door magically swings wide.  Lots of symbolism, lots of life lessons in this series.  Nice short video with a big message. 

  We are still trying to make plans for a kitchen replacement. The joys    1: Have you ever moved into a new house?  2: Have you lived through a major renovation?  3: If you could change one thing about your current home, what would it be?  4: If money was unlimited, how large of a home would you buy?  5: Any great family stories of homes in past?  My answers:  1: Have you ever moved into a new house? Three times, I worked in the business I built two of them.  2: Have you lived through a major renovation? Both bathrooms in the condo 3: If you could change one thing about your current home, what would it be?  Well there is that kitchen  4: If money was unlimited, how large of a home would you buy?  Maybe 2,000 sq. ft., having offices would be nice. Anything larger is just more to clean and maintain.   5: Any great family stories of homes in past? In 1977 my grandmother moved to a home on the east coast of Florida,...

Between Christmas and New Year's,  my sweet bear had a bit of a funny health scare.  He was watching a YouTube video got to laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath, passed out and hit his head falling off his perch.  Calls to both his doctors office and the local doc-in-a-box recommended that he be checked at the Emergency Room (A&E in some parts of the world.) A thorough going over and few thousand dollars in tests found nothing unexpected. Passing out from being over excited is a known condition, a defined diagnosis.  Spo helped us translate radiologist and cardiologist speak into common English, and the answers were not to unexpected for an older person - the worst of it was a scrape on his head and being diagnosed as aging.  Current public health limitations prohibit "visitors" in the ER, the sign instructed me to wait in the car.  And I did.  The battery in his phone was running down, so we limited communication...

Is it genetic that I love a convertible(cabriolet,) a car with the top down?  This is my great grandparents on my mother's side. Cruising with the top down.  My father hated convertibles, and was not shy about his reasons why.  My mother was always strangely quiet on the subject.  I think the only car she ever really liked, was a VW diesel station wagon (estate car) they owned as a tow car during the motorhome episode.   If it is even moderately warm, and the sun is out, the top goes down.  Now maybe I know where I get that from.   Find a sunny day, and let your hair blow in the breeze.    

  I am tired of hearing people complain about 2020 and 2021.  If you are still alive to complain, the years were not that bad.  The years may not have been the party I wanted, but while I was here I decided I might as well dance.   Yes, there were things we wanted to do, that we couldn't do. That freed up time to do things I wouldn't have otherwise done. I have walked more, taken more photos, and found time to paint.    Yes, we had to change our behaviours.  Maybe we learned new ways to reduce our risk of getting sick, washing our hands, wearing a mask in crowded conditions and we will be healthier.  Yes, we spent more time at home.  Feather your nest, love where you are.   Yes, shopping has changed. I have learned to click, rather than fight the crowd, and curse waiting to check out.  Yes, we have eaten out less. My cooking has become more creative, and learned to make cakes from scratch. And when I do eat out, I treasure...

Back in the late 1960's early 1970's I started seeing images in print, from "Fish Eye" lenses.  Lenses with a 180 degree or greater field of view.  So wide that the corners start to round over, many of the lenses produced a round image. If I use this one on my full frame film camera the corners will be rounded off. The difference between a super wide angle 18 mm, and the 10.5mm fish eye is the difference between these two images just above.   When I started getting serious about cameras, in my teens, I dreamed of owning one.  Dave Snoffer the the graphic arts teacher at the high school in Michigan had one for his Minolta SRT101.  In the second semester of the introduction to graphic arts he would let the students use it.  I was so looking forward to that.  Before I had a chance the lens was stolen along with other lenses that were his personal property, stolen from the classroom.  Because the lenses were his, the school would not replace them...

  Thinking back, I have only had a couple of times when weather changed my travel plans.  A few years ago I was scheduled to fly to California one January, and the weather looked a lot like this that morning, the airline rescheduled me for the next day, and I missed a night in a hotel on the beach.  One fall I was flying to Florida, and a hurricane was  coming up the east coast, it had passed Florida, and was headed north.  I called the airline and asked if I could get out before the storm arrived here. The initial answer was no, then I reasoned with the reservations desk, if I wait 12 hours, the flight from here will be cancelled because of the weather, if you can get me out now, you get the revenue.  "Let me check with a supervisor!" A minute later the answer was yes, along with a "thank you we just changed the policy on changes, and by the way, I moved you into business class for the flight out." Sometimes it pays to ask nicely.   This is ...

For those of us on the northern half of the world, there are a few more minutes of sunlight each day.  The darkest, but likely not the coldest days of the winter have passed.   

I love airplanes, I love flying.  This weeks Sunday five is about things that fly. 1: Have you ever flown in a the Queen of the Sky, a 747?  2: Have you ever flown in a single engine airplane?  3: Would you know the difference between a piston engine airplane and a turbo-prop?  4: Have you ever flown in a helicopter?  5: Have you ever flown in a lighter than air aircraft?  My Answers: 1: Have you ever flown in a the Queen of the Sky, a 747? Three times 2: Have you ever flown in a single engine airplane? Grew up in them 3: Would you know the difference between a piston engine airplane and a turbo-prop? Yup 4: Have you ever flown in a helicopter? Twice 5: Have you ever flown in a lighter than aircraft? A Zeppelin  Please share your answers in the comments.