Feeling Christmas

It's finally starting to feel like December. Last week it got up to 80. Granted, it was windy, but come on guys, make up your mind! I moved the mead into the garage to make room for the tree and here I'm thinking I'm going to have to move everything back. A rainy Saturday morning in San Antonio. Fifty degrees and a good time to knock out the Christmas cards. Which reminds me, I need to pick up stamps.
Cleaning up the yard and driveway has been on my 'To do' list for a few weeks now. The acorns are all over the place and need to be raked up. The other day I actually skidded while trying to back out. It's hard to get good traction with crushed acorns covering the driveway.
I know! I can delegate some jobs to my kids! If they get out of bed, I can get them to help out. Don't laugh, it could happen.
Back in October I attended a meeting of Cervoceros, the local home brew club. In previous outings I'd attended a screening of a local film highlighting the growing brew pub industry. The club was making an Octoberfest beer from scratch and I wanted to see their technique. As soon as I walked up the drive, a shout went out; 'It's the mead guy!'
Well, if you must have a nickname, that one isn't so bad. Fast forward to the first week of November. My Dad and I attended a brew fest where we got to sample and judge a whole lot of up and coming beer makers. I would say it was a great marketing and networking event, because that led to what happened next.
A new brew pub called Weathered Souls opened last week and I sat in on a Cervoceros meeting. After that I got to talk with the brew master and discuss shop. I even got to pitch my idea for a mead tasting, which he was pretty receptive to. The next day I wrote a letter to the president of the club thanking him for inviting me and proposing I hold a tasting for the club and people interested in mead. The short of it is I will be holding a tasting some time in January in a location to be determined with several brew pub owners in attendance. Networking can be fun, but now I have to write a speech. I have an idea of where I want to go. I also have a pretty good idea who the audience will be: Professionals and craft beer enthusiasts.
This is a step in the right direction. Hopefully I can work with one of these guys and get something going. That to me is a great Christmas gift: New chapter, a fresh start, an exciting beginning. This is stuff I can look forward to.

An early start

Having survived Thanksgiving and Black Friday, we as a family decided to get a jump on the Christmas season.

We have tons of decorations, hand made ornaments, kitschy stuff, Kids commemorative bulbs and do-dads.

But we didn't do that this year. The angel doesn't fit on this tree so we put the ribbon and bow up. Festive and classy at the same time. We will add more to it as the days stretch on, but keeping it simple, clean and elegant really appeals to me.

My wife referred to this as the adult tree. I think she was going for the mature non-commercial aspect. Of course we all broke out into laughter. Blue balls on the adult-tree. If the puns start this early, it's going to be a fun Christmas.

There's a lot going on in our house, mostly good. Breaking out the tree was a good reason to clean the garage. I faced some unpleasant situations that needed addressing. There was rat poop involved. It's all better now. My oldest thought it was a good idea to put the sweet potato peels down the garbage disposal. The sink promptly backed up and I've been taking it apart and fixing it several times over several days. My little hand powered snake is not doing as well a job as I hoped. I may have to rent something a little more powerful, we'll see. 

I was hoping to get a few more projects out of the way, but my stomach isn't cooperating. Hopefully I can push through what ever is ailing me.

 

Cooler days

Yesterday on my way to work, I noticed a thin layer of morning mist covering the field near my house. My youngest informed me it would be the last time I would have to ferry her to morning band practice. Of course, we won the game that night. Another team lost in a separate game and according to the statistics our high school football team is now in the finals. Granted, it's the bottom rung of the ladder, but this wouldn't be the first time the underdogs have climbed to the championship. Go Mavericks!
I'll know for sure today if Dad's taxi service is still required. 
Today is clean up day, laundry and fix stuff day all rolled into one. I've about four or five mini projects that need addressing. Find this, clean that. I've started to think about the holidays coming up and what it means for my family.
Next week is the election and my family has already voted. Friends and relatives have informed me through Facebook they've done their patriotic duty, good for them.
Many people have vowed to leave the country if their candidate isn't elected. I find that to be a childish and immature stance to take. If it bothers you all that much, then by all means leave. Good luck where ever you end up. I have friends all over the political spectrum and I won't be breaking off contact with them over stuff like this.
Life will go on. People will dislike you over the course of time. Good thing I'm not holding out for universal popularity. The reason I bring this up is that I'm charting the course for the next five years. Depending on who wins I'll make adjustments. Is a candidate going to abolish Roe vs. Wade and women's rights? Are they going to face the scientific and economic realities we all face as a global community? 
I'm concerned because I'm seeing this as an increasingly global issue. What happens over here affects markets overseas. If we don't do the right thing, countries and economies would collapse. That's never a good thing. 
Look, I get it that people are pissed off and didn't get what they wanted, but that doesn't mean you throw everything away. If I wanted five things to happen in an election year cycle and one or two of them happen, then I would consider that a step in the right direction. You can't always get what you want. Deal with it.
  

Early voting

Like a lot of people, I am sick and tired of the three ring circus that calls itself the presidential race. Down here in Texas Early voting began Monday. Many of my friends voted. The local library served as our polling (voting?) center. I'm totally cool with that. the volunteers were kind and helpful. I even shook their hands and thanked them for doing such a great job. The line to get into the library was long. Down the sidewalk and around the corner. This is the biggest turnout I've ever seen, and it's not Election Day yet.  
My daughters were anxious to  vote in their first election. I wanted them to make up their own minds about which candidate to support. In the weeks leading up to today, I received fliers and looked at non-partial websites showing the flaws and strength of each person.
Unfortunately I had to go to places outside the US to get some honest journalism. The BBC had a lot to do with my information gathering. And it's not just the presidential race. I'm concerned with the Senators and the rail road commissioner seats as well. In trying to convey this to my oldest daughters, I got a bit over the top.
Yeah, I told them both to get their lazy butts off the couch and get down there to vote.
Today I got this:

As long as she voted

Think she's pissed at her old man? Well, I don't care. You talk the talk, you better walk the walk. No putting stuff off until the last minute, that's why I got pushy.
Whoever the next president is, they will select the next four of five Supreme Court justices. This will affect how my kids are going to live for the rest of their lives. They know that, but I don't think they understand the depth of what's at stake.
By the way, I voted on the way home from work. Now if I could just turn off the damn ads and commercials. I did my part, now go away.

You get out what you put in

When I was at the con two weeks back, a friend mentioned I needed to meet some people. Oh hey, networking! I love that. Turns out her friends were in SCA, the Society for Creative Anachronism. The guys who dress up in Renaissance clothes and beat each other up with swords. Yeah, those guys. I've been to a few SCA events. Friends of mine are in it. I've always been circling the fringes of this group for years. A friendly orbit, if you will. I contacted the guy who runs the 'tavern' at the event. No contest, but simply an opportunity to meet other brewers and discuss shop.
The event was a 40th anniversary of the founding of the Barony. Confused? 
Turns out they have different names for groups in regions of the country. The San Antonio/ New Braunfels/ Seguin area is considered the Barony of Bjornsborg to the SCA people.
See, this is fascinating to me. A wide group of people living a different life on weekends. This is a whole subset of humans from different walks of life. (Ranging from biology professor to retiree, I asked.) The thing that struck me most was everyone was so friendly! People were welcoming and social. It also helped that I was giving out samples of the mead bottle I brought. Another item I can put in the win column, I passed out all the cards I brought and nearly talked myself hoarse. Someone also contributed to my fundraiser. This will go towards ingredients for my next batch. I also got advice to try a type of drink called a cyser. Linguists will note that sounds a lot like 'cider', and they are not wrong in drawing the comparison. There is a bit of juice (apple or grape) involved. I'm looking forward to trying this next creation, but first I have to get the ingredients.
I liked meeting these folks, even if I didn't know their real names. 

Game Expo

October is a busy time for band parents. Friday night ball games, Saturday marching competitions, Sunday...
Wait, there's nothing going on Sunday? Well that's not entirely true...
Friends of mine run a con known as Game Expo. It's a little celebration of all things Geeky. Board games, Role playing games, miniature warfare scenarios and video games. A good time is had by all. Every year I volunteer to run a board game or two and help out in anyway I can. This is a chance to meet up with friends I don't usually connect with on a day to day basis. Even though I think the world of these people, we simply run in different circles. It's a different sort of family reunion.
There is an artist I've talked about before and I'm going to give him a plug now.
Freddy Lopez had his table set up and he was out in full force. Every piece of work he does provokes a reaction. From me, the emotion that surfaces the most is awe. He's that good. Funny, inspiring, and I just want to say; he gets it.
I have one of his works and I wish I had the money to buy all of his stuff. This weekend at the con he unveiled his latest creation, the Critical Dragon.

There are no words

Cons attract a lot of people. There are genuine artists such as Freddie, but for every diamond there are some cubic zirconias out there. Merchants who sell prints and imitations of artwork. They blot out the name of the original artist or simply claim or steal it as their own. Plagiarism at it's worst. I feel it is not only theft, but a slap in the face to the one who put in the effort that goes behind creating something this fantastic. I'd love to figure out a way to tag an artist's work and keep some low life hack from making a buck off of it.
Freddy has a distinctive style and if I ever see some street vendor selling the art as his own, then I'm going to call him out. The only real way for him to protect his copyright is for fans to be on the lookout for artwork being ripped off.
Here's a suggestion: look him up on Facebook and like his page. Get updates and get the word out on the stuff Freddie is doing. He is an illustrator worthy of following.

Truck repairs

Last week my truck blew a manifold gasket while a rain storm drenched the city. I barely got my youngest Jedi to school in time. Sadly, I limped home to call work and tell them I was going to be late. The folks at Auto Zone were more than helpful and the way they described the procedure I thought I could fix this.
Because the week was so filled with errands and running around, I only had about an hour each evening before the sun set and made it impossible to figure out what I was doing in the dark. That and I had to wait until Friday to buy the new gasket.

You know how one project can evolve into several mini projects? I put a new gasket on the thermostat as well as the manifold, a new air filter and even a new rubber tube that the mechanic experts at the store had trouble naming.

The You Tube videos I found were helpful to a degree, (The captioning sucks.) I ended up buying a repair manual to help guide me through the process. This was probably the best decision to come out of this experience.

I spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday under the hood. Cleaning, scraping, getting layers of grease off. At one point I dropped a razor blade into the just sealed manifold. I couldn't fish it out and I couldn't shake it out. Sadly, I ended up tearing the whole thing apart and started over. Even I knew I couldn't simply leave it in the engine. That means I had to buy a new gasket at 28.00 dollars a pop.

The wife unit had an idea: since I did all the hard work, and my oldest two daughters were good at putting things back together, I should let them do it while I'm at work.
To say I was a little worried would be fair. If I'm being honest, I felt my girls would do okay and things would work out.
Of course there were problems. I didn't have the manifold seated correctly and they couldn't bolt it down. They then did the next natural thing to do: they reconnected nearly everything else.
I gotta say I was impressed the fuel rods were on correctly and the alternator assembly was solidly in place. Except we had to tear the whole thing apart again to adjust the manifold.
The girls insisted I go inside and take care of dinner and make sure the little one was doing her homework.

After several setbacks, the girls are back on track. Manifold in place, things tightened down. I don't care if I don't get any sleep tonight, the truck needs to be done.
We've got lights set up and the girls are doing their best.

I am so proud of these two. They call me when they need brute strength to move or hold something and I'm going out there in a bit to reconnect the serpentine belt, but I have a feeling this is going to be done tonight come hell or high water.

P.S. We were done just after Eleven PM. Drove it around the block. My girls did great work. I'm proud of them.

Long time, no see

Summer is beginning to wind down, although you can't exactly tell from where I'm sitting. Our A/C went belly up last week and we've been toughing it out for the most part. Also semi-roughing it by setting up the tent in the back yard. My eldest padiwan ran an electrical cord out and set up the TV and her x-box. While I marvel at her cleverness, I can't help but wonder if that was time spent best. All of us have been working, running around town and generally keeping busy, only coming home at night. With temps in the house reaching the mid-nineties, I transferred all my mead over to a friends house to keep cool. It was as if I gave him the keys to the hen house, which I basically did. Then I brought out my inventory list and showed him every bottle was accounted for and not to get any ideas. His smile lessened slightly when I also reminded him these needed to age a few more months. By which time they would be back in my properly cooled house.
So just a few more days of this and we should be fine. We've gotten through worse.
The other day my mead-holding friend called me an hour before I got off work to ask for a favor. 
When you own a truck, there are two things people will ask you: 
a.) Will you help me move? and b.) Can I get a jump? I always carry two ratchet straps and a set of cables for just such an emergency. Unfortunately, I also had to get my daughter for our three times a week tutoring. About two hours of rush hour traffic later I show up, cables in hand.
The battery was dead, no doubt about it. Batteries work great right up until they don't. I wish there was a bit more warning than that. It wasn't even my friend's car. It belonged to his roommate. Adding insult to injury, my friend didn't have a wrench or pliers to remove the bolts. So, back to my house to get my tools. Upon returning, I told my friend to go ahead and loosen the bolts while I wrap the cables up. From the other side of my car, I watched him strip two bolts from the terminals. He sheared the heads clean off.
This short job just became longer.
"Righty- Tighty!" I reminded him with the most patient voice I could summon. (God, I deserved a medal for that.) Taking over for my mechanically challenged buddy, I not-so-jokingly asked him for his man card.
Three years old and the battery could only hold the bare minimum of charges: 6 to 7 volts. By the time we got back from the auto store, the sun had long set. However, the lights would dimly come on once the battery was put in. It still wouldn't turn over, even with another jump. He would have to bite the bullet and buy his roomie a new battery, there was nothing I could do for the old one.
Once home and a bit closer to my bed time than I'd like, I sent a text message to the roommate: That when the battery was bought, I would put it in and not trust his roomie with the task. What an end to a 16 hour day.
Meanwhile, I'm looking in my garage for some spare bolts that will fit and hold things together.
There are times when I don't think I have my act together, then along comes a misadventure like the one described above and I think to myself: How do some people manage to dress themselves each morning?
Because of the camp site rule, (leave it better than when you found it.) I'm considering putting a video together for my peers. 'Basic things you need in your toolbox and how to use them correctly.'

A different sort of review

When I review stuff, I normally complain about deaf accessibility. Today that isn't the case.
After a long hard week at work, I stop off at Spec's. It's a Wal-Mart for liquor. The standing rule with me is support your local businesses.
A friend owns a liquor store, I buy my beer or tequila from him. Simple, right?
But Spec's carries mead. I need to research what the other mead makers are doing in order to make my mead stand out.
There are two rules of thought there.
One: See what they are doing wrong.
Two: Make your mead stand out.

Too sweet. Too carbonated. Made with hops. The current trend is to make IPA's. Indian Pale Ales. Bitter to the point of pain. It's an acquired taste and I haven't acquired it, nor do I plan to. Just like I plan on never saying a kind word about Budwieser.

Mead made with hops just tastes like expensive beer. We can do better than that.

The selection at Spec's is small compared to the offerings from Anheuser-Busch or Coors, and I've sampled the local fare, but I'm here to talk about something else slightly different.

Guadalupe Brewing company is out of New Braunfels, Texas. Just up the road from me. I sampled the Texas Honey Ale, (A reward for a lawn well mowed.) A caramel semi-sweet ale that goes down easily.  Alcohol content came in at a whopping 7.38% 
(Remember: Texas climate is great for ales, lousy for lagers.)
Light brown and slightly cloudy, I spent my first glass evaluating how they made it. Much like a chef tastes the dish before him and deduces the ingredients. A bit of warning there: don't do that, it spoils the experience unless you are a trained chef or an experienced brewmaster.
After writing that I realize I put myself in the later category. There's no test for this other than; 'Do you make stuff that doesn't suck?'
Judging by the people who ask me when the next batch is ready and the friends who show up for 'quality control', it must be good.

The other ale I'm sampling from Guadalupe Brewing is the Scotch Ale. This is an award winning ale, 2014 and '15 Gold medal in Open Beer championship.
Slight taste of chocolate accompanies the dark brown ale which comes in at 8.17% ABV.
If hot chocolate were frozen and carbonated, this would be it.
When I bought it, my mind was on the 'Scotch' word.
Whiskey and Scotch are made from distilling beer. I was curious as to what it a Scotch would taste like after going through the entire process one and a half times. (Substitute water with Scotch in the beer making process, the results would be interesting. By interesting I mean; 'turn over your keys NOW.')
On a business note, do we really need to list the ABV out to two decimal places? I round up or down depending on reading. Does it really matter at that point?

When all is said and done, I'm back to refining what I do and don't like. 
When I was growing up, I witnessed a lot of adults drinking Bud Light. Promising myself I wouldn't be like that, I continued on to adulthood.
Generally, I found Pilsners and colorless beers to be less than useless. Didn't taste good for the buzz they gave and you had to pee a lot. If that was all that was offered to me, I would have been a tea-total-er. (Spell check won't let me spell it any other way, go figure.)

So what do we take away from all this rambling?  

Find your local brewery and see what they offer.
Get away from the colorless, useless brews.

Closing story: I was up in New England for a funeral. They serve weak, pussy beer. I'd be ashamed to serve it, let alone make it. say nothing about drinking it.
If New Yorkers are as tough as they claim to be, look in your fridge. If there is anything from Anheuser-Busch, consider your man card revoked.

Science time!

By Copernicus's ghost, who says we don't use science everyday? Or rather, we see science every day. This gives you an example of how much cardboard we use in a day's time or so. Currently my store is producing a bale of cardboard a day.

Now what happens when these torrential rains and said cardboard bale meet?

Sprong!

Expansion happens. The bales are bound with four wires of 12 gauge aluminum. The baler spits these out onto a pallet and we stack them in the back of the building where they are put on a flatbed headed for a recycle plant or something to that effect.

This happens every so often, especially after a rain storm and guess who has to re-band it? In all honesty today was a group effort. Rene and Sammi get all the credit for cleaning up that shit storm.

Oi Chihuahua, Madre a Dios, and a bunch of other stuff.

My partner Ronni and I were frantically receiving stuff behind this picture. I'm sure the paint department had some choice words for me as five pallets were broken down and available for stocking in the last hour of our shift. Not all the cardboard was soaked through, so we didn't have water leaking out as our baler compressed new bales. Well, not that much.

It could have been worse. Oh wait, it was! Why I didn't grab the picture of this, I will never know. A five gallon bucket of roofing tar fell off of a contractors truck in the parking lot. A whole case of absorbent was used to keep this stuff from spreading and making a bigger mess. We cordoned off the section of parking lot with some aisle blockers. I'm not holding my breath it stopped anybody. These are the same people who barrel (read: more than 20 mph.) on past our forklift and a truck of cement as we're unloading it. Typically there are inches to spare, I shit you not. Next time I'll take a picture, I promise. We put a bright yellow chain with a sign up across the access way, but they broke through that with little trouble. We placed whole pallets of sand and cement down. That discourages most people, but Lowe's shoppers aren't most people. A few drivers think, 'Hey, obstacle course!'

I wish that was the punch line.

One guy actually had the cajones to get out of his car (while on his phone, no less.) and demanded that I move those pallets blocking his path.

Folks, there is a perfectly good asphalt road not twenty feet from where we are unloading and it goes to the same parking lot you are trying to get to. Bonus point: my forklift won't have to play chicken with your Saturn SUV. A tiny part of me wants to see that happen. My concern for the safety of the forklift driver would be the utmost importance. My money is on the forklift and 18 wheeler carving up the SUV trying to sneak around the back of the building.

In a related note: they are bringing back that Eighties series Macgyver, this time on CBS. Let me see if I can get the link in here.

Oh my

My phone went off while I was looking for a topic to write about. Okay, I was playing Minecraft, but it frees up the memory circuits and allows ideas to enter my mind.
It was my Dad telling me he was on his way over. Normally I use the phone for text only messaging. This was a Face Time call. Do I accept the call? A little unsure of myself, I pressed accept. After all, it was my Dad.
The speakers clicked on and I heard a familiar tone pitch. If I closed my eyes, I wouldn't be able to tell what he was saying by voice alone. But combined with seeing his face, I could read his lips and put the pieces together. I was also aware that my tiny visage was shrouded in darkness. Moving to a more well lit room, the conversation continued. He didn't need to read my lips, but it wouldn't be polite to show just a silhouette. 
After I hung up, it struck me as to how communication has changed. Even more so is how isolated my channels of communication are. Not a day goes by that I'm thankful I live in this day and age. E-mail and text have been my primary means of communication. I would be a hermit if I didn't have the internet. Instead I can wish far off friends happy birthday and share in their triumphs and failures.
We are social creatures and crave the companionship of our fellow man in one form or another. Once I went six hours surrounded by people at work and not once did people talk to me. That happens a lot, but half a work day is the record.
Video calls don't cheapen the human experience, for me it enriches them.

Deja vu all over again

Try as I might, I often pick up stuff from the grocery store that isn't on the list. Today was no exception. I was supposed to get only two items, but I knew we needed coffee. The wife said we needed pasta as well. 'But what kind of pasta?' I wondered.
Knowing what was planned for dinner I made a best guess. Either I was going to get scolded or some form of admonishment from the wife, it was anybody's guess. I sent a text asking for clarification that was never returned. Turns out my youngest was using Mom's phone to talk to a friend of hers. Oh well, I made the effort. I picked up another thing that was on my mind: the latest episode of Star Wars. Later that evening after we finished dinner, I saw the DVD. Finally I could find out what was actually going on in that movie. After the end credits rolled, a lot of questions had been answered. The gaps were filled in. I guess I'm now caught up with the rest of the world.
I'm not going to go over old stuff about my running battles with movie chains, it's too much energy wasted. This whole thing serves to remind me how far the deaf community has come into being part of the mainstream world, and how far we've got to go. Fairly often I feel like a hermit or recluse. I'm a few weeks behind what everyone else is going through.

My wife is invaluable in making appointments and doing stuff over the phone. She set up an appointment with the vet, I took our sixth family member, Pepper, in to get his shot and flea medication.
Often times I have to preface conversations with, 'Could you repeat that please, I'm deaf.'
To which their response is, 'That's all right.' or, 'That's okay'.
Well of course it is. I think they mean well, no one is trying to act like a jerk on purpose. I in turn, must be patient and polite.
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance.

No one wakes up in the morning and says I want to go outside and kick a puppy into traffic. Instead, it goes more like this: I'm going to walk down the street and Nothing is going to get in my way. Certainly not that little puppy...

It's not evil, it's selfishness. Raising your leg to go over or around that innocent dog (who would more then likely lick your hand if offered. After all, it's only a puppy.) would not be that terrible an inconvenience for you.

I've noticed a common theme among people I know. Their mantra seems to be; 'I've got mine', with the corollary being screw you, get your own.
It's safe to say I don't consider these people friends. Seems a bit odd for me, considering things in my past. I generally give people second chances. A hand up certainly. However I can be a downright dick to you if you are not willing to get off your ass and waste the chance I'm giving you.

Often I have to look at my life situation and weigh the pros and cons. Usually the scale tips to the good. Things are going okay for me and mine. They could be better, but generally things are proceeding apace.  That's my problem: to put it in the vernacular, I'm chomping at the bit. I want to make more, do more. Live better. Provide for my family better. Bad things happen, I get that. I'm ready for the good news now.  The last few hands life has dealt me have been less than I'd hoped for. I need that ace to show up in my hand.
    

How it works

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, to herald new discoveries, is not Eureka (I found it!) but that's funny...
--Attributed to Isaac Asimov

There are online debates as to who originally said the above quote and I'm not going to go into that here. Asimov said many wise things. That's good enough for me.  Another guy recently had a 'that's funny' moment. In 2001 Roger Shawyer designed an electromagnetic propulsion drive. It was innovative, unconventional and defied the laws of physics, namely the law of momentum conservation.

-Momentum is neither created nor destroyed, but only changes through the action of forces, as described by Newton's laws.-

Are you with me so far?
Shawyer admitted he didn't know how his system increases momentum, but it did. By bouncing microwaves back and forth in a truncated cone, tiny amounts of thrust were created. He discovered propellentless drives.
Think about that. Every rocket we make has fuel tanks that make up a significant part of it's design. We're limited by how far we can go in the solar system by the size of our gas tank.
Of course the scientific community was skeptical. A few years back, some backyard inventors tried to get out the word they created a room temperature fusion. You know, fusion is what happens in the sun. Mind boggling burning temperatures, immense pressure, eyeball searing bright light (because hey, it's the sun.) If it sounds too good to be true, subject it to peer review and have an independent lab recreate your results. That was the problem: no one could recreate the result. Cold fusion went the way of the frictionless flywheel. But here's where the EM drive is different.
Several scientists have recreated the result, in a vacuum no less. UK physicist Micheal McCulloch has a hypothesis on how the EM drive works.  We have known about microwaves for a while now. Percy Spencer accidentally discovered microwave ovens at Raytheon in 1945 when the candy bar in his pocket melted. Talk about a 'That's funny' moment.
I truly believe we are in an age of invention. We (the human race) are plugging in things that normally don't go together, blending to create new and altogether different stuff.
This EM drive has a lot of promise. I believe it's a matter of time before we put the basics together and build a spacecraft for exploring the solar system and beyond.

Milestones

My eldest child turns 20 tomorrow.  Wow. There's not much point dwelling on the past, except to see how far we've all come. Getting to know all my children as they bloom into adulthood had been an honor and a privilege. They are going to be a fantastic adult, striking equal parts respect and awe in those they meet. They're not afraid of the small, petty minded stuff. In fact, they are going to make a dent in the world. I'm sure of that. Deep down I feel they were meant for more, that their sense of worth is higher than mine.
Back when my child was born, the first hands to touch their skin was mine. At that moment I stopped living for myself and began living for my children. My entire existence now revolved around them, as it should be.
My eldest child is finding themselves and creating a new world out of whole cloth.  You might have noticed I'm only using one pronoun to describe my child and that's because they are trying to figure out who and what they are. That's okay. The only thing I want them to be is happy.

A wise man can change his mind. He can listen to facts and opinions and come to a decision. He may have to reevaluate some previously held beliefs and conceptions. It took awhile for me to understand what they are going through; after all I have nothing in my personal life experience to base this on. But here's what I do know:
Casting blame, making them feel bad or criticizing them for being outside the 'norm', is a sure way to drive your own flesh and blood away from you. We've seen it all happen that way and I'm sure you know a friend who was cast out of their family for being gay or feeling uncomfortable in their own body.

I choose to not be like that. Not to give into hate or fear. Being compassionate and caring about my child's well being. After all, family is my top priority. One of my rules is I don't do fear. I don't fear someone who has different skin or religious preference. Certainly I'm not afraid of my child. That would be counter-productive. When my child came to us, the parents, the first emotion I felt was relief. Not shock, nor anger. The fact that they felt brave enough to come to the parental units spoke volumes.
I love my child and would do anything for them.
The first words I said were along the lines of; 'You're not getting out of the family that easily.'

I am proud of my child. Neither male or female. Rejecting society's norm and finding their own niche. The only thing I can do is be patient and be there for them.

Patterns

Back when I was in sixth grade, I noticed the similarities in a model of the solar system and an atom. The sun being the nucleus and the planets corresponding to electrons.
Nature has a way of repeating itself.
I just read this article and there has never been a greater temptation to simply cut and paste it here. The people who wrote the piece, Sagar Parikah and Fredrico Cruz, did a pretty good job and if you're reading this, go ahead and check it out.
Humans seek patterns for everything we see and experience. Nature it seems likes to smile back and say, 'that's cute'.
Despite what my low grades in high school seemed to indicate, I've always been fascinated with math and science and how they interact with real life. 
Fibonacci sequences and fractals explained as stand alone concepts bore most people to sleep. I know that's what happened to me my senior year. But introduce some real world application? 
Streams and brooks combine to become creeks, which in turn grow into rivers, eventually merging into oceans.
Lightning follows the same bifurcating pattern as the tree limbs they strike.
Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Three shapes are inherently the most stable: Triangles, squares and hexagons. If you were to stack a bunch of dice together, they could be arranged in such a way as to leave no space between them. Makes sense, right?

Think about that for a second

Take all the time you need

Sir Walter Raleigh posed a question to his assistant, Thomas Harriot. 'How many cannonballs would fit in a given area and what was the best way to stack them?'.

Makes you wonder how they'd stack if cannonballs were shaped like dodecahedrons.

That would solve a few problems

Being patient

Situations in my life are trying to teach me lessons. Either that or I'm drawing some strange conclusions from what's going on around me.
So my daily routine is hectic and complicated. Therefore I must strive to be more patient, focusing on what's important. When people are being pricks, I have to show patience and rise above the petty bullshit. That pretty much describes my day job in one sentence.
Another kind of patience came about this week. The Kepler spacecraft put itself in emergency mode, threatening it's ongoing mission.
What is unknown is what made it go into a little blue screen of death. Scientists and the mission engineers have to be patient, after all Kepler is 75 million miles from Earth. Signals take seven and a half minutes to get there. Just saying, 'Hi, how are you?' and 'I'm fine,' takes 13 minutes! Ah, the reality of space exploration.
So far Kepler had been pointed at the constellation Cygnus and the results are spectacular. 4,000 planets! Now of course these sightings must be confirmed. We've got 1,000 confirmed planets. Scientists have to pour over the data and sift all the facts out before coming to a conclusion. This isn't CNN, we have to verify the findings before making an official statement.
The planet hunter that could is moving on to it's next mission: Pointing itself toward the center of the Milky Way to look for more planets.
The question I get from time to time goes sort of like this: 'How come we haven't met aliens yet?'
Yeah, I wonder about that too.
Many people don't understand the size and scope of our galaxy. We are literally looking into the past when we gaze up with our telescopes. It is entirely possible that a civilization has sprung up on a planet we've observed in our neighborhood, but the light and tell tale signs haven't reached our radios yet.
Say you were 100 million light years away from Earth and you built a large telescope. Pointing your very large radio antennae at Earth, you hope to get a picture of your home planet. Guess what? You would see dinosaurs.
Size and scope.

Enrico Fermi was an Italian Physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. In the 1950's Fermi came up with what is now known as Fermi's paradox. Bear with me here, I don't have a date for when he first proposed this idea. Here's the condensed version.

• With billions of stars in the galaxy similar to our Sun, many older than our star.
• There is a high probability that these stars have habitable planets orbiting them.
• In that number of habitable planets, there is a high probability of civilizations on even a percentage of them. We're still talking hundreds of millions of alien life forms.
• A conservative estimate of these civilizations would develop space travel like we are now.
• So where are they?

The odds are still heavily in our favor of being visited by E.T. and there have been many theories surrounding Fermi's paradox.
Perhaps at this very moment there is a message streaking it's way across the stars, but it won't get here right away.
Size and scope. There is a picture I saw on the web. Let me try my Google-fu.
This came from a blog post by Emily Lakdawalla. She in turn got it from Adam Grossman and his blog.
Hey, cite the source when possible.
That tiny blue dot is how far our signals have gotten in the galaxy. In the center of that pixel is us, not visible to the naked eye. Puts things in perspective doesn't it?
Be patient my friends. The odds are heavily in favor of there being life out there. We'll find it eventually.

An unwelcome decline

If you are trying to change your life direction and experience resistance, then you are doing it right. If this is true, then the world does not want me to be happy.

  

I'm gonna unload here, so if you work with me, skip this post.

Lowe's has been keeping me so busy that energy for outside projects is down to zero. Delivery trucks often form a line trying to get in. They come weather they are scheduled or not. Taking notes and filing paperwork has reached a new plateau of difficult. Often times I feel like I'm cramming for finals back in college, with furious note taking speed.

Last week, my supervisor skipped towards me while I was untangling several orders. Three bays? Three trucks delivering at once. Sure I can multitask, but this is pushing it.

She wanted a high five while I was holding paperwork and a scan gun. All my control went into keeping my arms by my side.

'Aw, c'mon Will, don't leave me hanging!' she said.

One of our drivers behind her tried to be helpful. 'Dude, she wants to give you a high five.'

'I know.' was the only thing I trusted myself to say.

If my arm started to move, I would have belted her. She had just fired the other receiver the week before and I was doing more than twice the job load. Leaving the back end short staffed during a critical time is (I'm looking for a word... Insane? Asinine? Unforgivable?)

For future reference, an apology goes further with me then a high five.

She left us hung out to dry while we got our heads handed to us. Lowe's does all of it's purchases at once for the summer for the big spring push. All of March has been a big blur as I race from one end of the store to the other in order to count and scan incoming merchandise.

They started to hire replacements, but they are taking their sweet ass time getting there.

Friday can be counted on for several things. Local deliveries only. It's primarily a catch up day for whatever went on during the week. It also allows you to get set up for the weekend.

When the regional distribution truck pulled up I thought it was an April Fools joke. Nope.

We had to pull other people from across the store to unload the truck. Of course paperwork was involved. Shortly after we started, we ran into a problem. There was no place to put stuff.

'You can't bring those pallets onto the selling floor.' One manager cried.

Sorry, you can't have it both ways folks.

Did I mention the twice weekly appliance trucks? Yes, I have help unloading them, for which I am extremely grateful. The short of it is my body can't continue the abuse. My arms and fingers fall asleep within three minutes after I start driving.  That last sentence took several minutes to type. I had to shake my hands out several times. This is why I haven't been posting lately. My job is literally harmful to my health. The cheapass safety belts they give mitigate some of the muscle and back strain. I go through gloves every three weeks because they are made with the cheapest quality material allowed by law. I broke down and bought a pair of gloves so they would last longer.

What does Lowe's do right? It allows me to pay off my outstanding debts. Taking a look at my paycheck on April 1st, (the irony is not lost on me.) 250.00 goes to $ocial $ecurity and $tudent loans. That's not per month, that's every two weeks. So roughly 500.00 a month goes to paying off my debts. I'm not expecting a tax refund this year, nor did I get one last year. You can't escape the government. I've been paying them off for several years and each year I get a statement that says how much I've chipped off. I should be debt free in another 12 years. Almost in time for my retirement. 

Friends and co-workers have already had heart attacks and died either on the job or directly related to our jobs. Hello, didn't I have a concussion not too long ago? 

No wonder I regard my current job as indentured servitude.

Oh, and don't forget my wife's student loan, which we have not even begun to pay back. The vultures are circling...

Life in the Deaf lane

Those free movie passes were collecting dust on the shelf. Every time the captioning services at the Live Oak Regal Cinemas went belly up, I got free passes. Eventually there were about ten tickets. Yep, the craptioning sucked and no amount of free stuff was going to make them invest in better equipment. I had resigned myself to writing bad yelp reviews and encouraging my friends to avoid going to that theater.
Daughter wants to go on a date? Here are two tickets, kids. Enjoy yourself.
Superman vs. Batman came out this week and my daughters wanted to go, but I remained firm. I was done with the Live Oak cinemas. 'Other theaters would honor those passes,' my daughter said. So we went a little farther to the Northwoods Regal and I did enjoy myself... sort of.
The glasses worked. There were one or two spots that it sort of blanked out, but it corrected itself right away, so no complaints there. Usually I walk out of the movies in throbbing pain. The glasses pinch my nose and no amount of adjusting helps. They also dig into the side of my head, right above my ears. A headache is a small price to pay for being with my family for an afternoon's entertainment if the movie is good.
The movie was merely okay. Not great. If this had come out six or eight months after Man of Steel, it might have been better. This movie appealed to fans and not much else. It barely cleared my threshold of disappointment. It needed more one liners. The plot needed to move quicker. The second act went on far longer than it should have.
The best part of the movie? We got sneak peaks of the other heroes that are not Batman or Superman. I am so stoked about Wonder Woman finally coming to the screen. Why is DC dragging it's heels? These characters are unique and they have a story to tell.

Many nerds consider Aquaman to be the lamest superhero in the DC universe. When I saw the promotional pics of Jason Mamoa my hopes did rise a bit, but wait, it won't be out until 2018? The first Justice League and the Flash in 2018 as well? Cyborg and Green Lantern Corps won't be out till 2020? I hope the execs at DC will realize the actors starring in their films may die of old age before shooting starts. Worse, the audience may die of boredom before the lights dim.

Ow

They say no good deed goes unpunished. Last week I was putting together a basketball hoop for my daughter. The wife and I were feeling pretty confident we'd put this contraption together correctly. I stood it up, checking to see if it would stay upright until I got behind it. There was no movement and it was sort of being held back by an overhanging branch. Turning around, I meant to grab a bag of sand in order to fill it when, WHAM! The board and pole whacked me on the back of the head.
Blood streamed down my face as I struggled not to pass out. The board knocked my implant off and I wasn't sure where everyone was.
My youngest scrambled on the ground searching for my very expensive, easily broken device. Paper towels appeared thanks to my other daughter. My wife had the incredible task of keeping it all together, issue commands, and get that @#$% basket off of me.

Here's what it looked like at the clinic as I was cleaned up and awaiting my CT scan.

Yeah, I know. That bald spot is taking over my head. It's almost time to get rid of the hair completely.
In hindsight I should have called in for the week. Pride and ego got in the way though.
I fell down at the slightest difficulty. Then I noticed I was slurring my words.
That did it. I called in the next day. 
For the past few days I mostly slept. Occasionally the wife would come in and shake me to see if I hadn't slipped into a coma.
Been there, done that. No rush to repeat the experience. The swelling went down and I felt some improvement.
Today nearly wiped me out. I was nowhere near peak form and it took a bit out of me. I think I'm going to lie down. 

More than one use

Most of us like to get the most for their money. What's one of the major considerations when buying a car? 'What does the gas mileage look like? Really, it's often printed up in large numbers on the window sticker.

We make the most of our groceries. The wife and I can cut up a chicken or pork loin and have it go for three or four meals. I've actually passed up tools that I know will only be used once. That's not to say I don't have things gathering dust in my garage. Sad to say I've not had an opportunity to use my router on a project lately.

That may change. 

This morning I corked 14 more bottles of mead. Tomorrow if all goes well, I might be corking another 20 of a different flavor. Why am I mentioning meads when my kids asked me not to?

We're gonna need a bigger rack

I have a plethora of bottles. (I don't get to use that word very often.)

My house is modest in many ways. We have to use every square foot wisely to get the most out of living here. Also we have to do it on a budget. 

Some scrap wood. A few judicious cuts. Screws to hold it all together. The wife doesn't think much of my carpentry skills. Then again her grandfather was a master carpenter, so there's no way I could come close to her expectations. Still, I give it my best shot. Let's me blunt here. I need to store over 125 bottles in a corner space four feet square. Right now I'm over halfway to that number and I have 15 gallons by the desk ready (or nearly ready) to go.

I also don't have enough bottles to do the job. <Sigh> It's a good thing I like a challenge!

Bluebonnets and Birthdays

They haven't been seen yet, but I know they're around the corner. Those fields of blue causing me to stop and stare in wonder. I've lived in several states and many climates, but none spoke to me in a way those azure pastures do.

Connecticut was always a grey place for me. Florida felt plastic and fake. Pennsylvania had it's moments, but in the end Central Texas struck me with how diverse and amazing it could be. For what seemed like lifetimes I found I could relax and be myself.
There are times where I want to simply get out of whatever box I find myself in. A short drive takes me to some of the best fishing, camping or hiking spots you could ask for. Yes, the heat is high in the summer, but the humidity is low. Hands down nothing beats a day tubing down the river. Nothing.
One Christmas I drove up to meet my wife in Fredricksberg. The drive up into the Hill Country was chilly, but when I came over the hill crest I saw an amazing sight. A village complete with decorations adorning the streets and houses gave the town a warm cozy feeling. It was as if I'd stepped into a Norman Rockwell painting. And yes, it was snowing. Small flurries to make it look picturesque, but not enough to make you worry about getting stranded.
One night not too long ago, I found myself driving down a lonely section of road. Outside of a city, street lights are few and far between. Pulling over, I turned out all the lights in my Dodge and stepped into the bracing night air. Leaning back over the hood of the truck, I gazed up at the milky way. Excess heat from the engine kept me from getting cold, but I could take a few minutes and stare up at the meteors that were predicted to streak across the night sky. I wasn't disappointed.
No city outline on the horizon. No lights from civilization. Taking a few minutes from our busy lives certainly puts things in perspective. 
Long ago the wife and I threw a couple of sleeping bags into the back of my truck and we headed out to snuggle under the canopy of stars. I think it's time I do that again. This time I'll take extra padding and more pillows.
Change is good.
Why am I feeling nostalgic? Musketeer number three turned sixteen today. She asked about her drivers license. Seems like yesterday I was changing her diapers. Daughter number two is graduating high school in a few weeks. Where did the time go?  

Civics

Today and tomorrow are important days for my family. The oldest two daughters are eligible to vote. In fact, they insisted on getting registered on their birthdays. To say I was overcome with pride about that little fact would be an understatement.
Tonight I'm going to flex my Google-fu muscles and come up with a list of candidates, who endorses them, and their political voting record.
Yes, voting in the Presidential elections are important. You have to vote in the primaries in order to vote in the election. What's more important is voting in the state and local elections.
Despite it's name, the Texas Railroad commission does not have control over the railroads and commerce. It has a more important role: jurisdiction over the oil and gas industries. All the pipelines of natural gas, surface mining, and utilities to name a few. They have regulatory and enforcement responsibilities under the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation Recovery Act.
These guys are the ones who control how much my utilities bill is going to be as well as the quality of water coming out of the tap. So yes, I want to be familiar with them.
When I talk to my friends about voting, the typical response is, 'Oh, that's today?'
That's why I try and get in on early voting as much as possible.
If you don't vote, you can't bitch.
On the other hand, I think it's an awareness problem. People are honestly too busy running in a circle. Work, home, sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat.
"I have to do what differently today?"
When I first heard the idea of making voting day a holiday, I thought; 'Why not?' We'd certainly get better turnouts. I know far too many people who are afraid to take time off their job to go vote. Scary, no? It's like going to the dentist. People don't go out of their way unless there is a problem. The same mentality applies here.
If you don't vote, you are letting someone else decide your future. There is a part of me that is thinking my children are trying to take control of their lives by being active participants.
Really, I couldn't care who they vote for. It's a bit personal. I want someone who reflects my ideals and who I feel will represent me in a responsible manner.
Not only do I pay attention to who's running in the election, I get the news letters and e-mails from my senators and representatives. When they do screw up, I make a note of it and stick it in the back of my mind for when that person is up for re-election.

One of my rules is I don't do fear. That's not to say I'm never scared or afraid. I've faced my personal demons, stared them down even. When some politician tries to incite fear and paranoia in me, I know this is a person not worthy of my time. When he demonizes whole populations with broad strokes, I know this person is dangerous. More to the point: He's a waste of oxygen.

Don't trust a man who doesn't know how to play a musical instrument or create something by hand: He doesn't have patience or discipline. Beware of soft men who have no callouses on their hands. They don't know the meaning of work. That goes for scars too.
Most of all watch out for the guy who says; 'God wants me to run for office.' It's curious that his personal beliefs are exactly what he claims God wants.
No matter what color on the political spectrum you fall, get out and vote. 

Deaf movie review, no spoilers

Come April it will be anniversary number 25 with my gal and main squeeze Carolyn. Seriously, she's the only woman who will put up with me. But that's not what I'm writing about. The girls gave us (mostly) an afternoon off to enjoy Valentines day. So the two of us went and saw Deadpool. We enjoyed the movie. A combination of snark, humor and cartoon violence. Enough about that though, don't take the kids.
Long time readers know I've had a running battle with Regal cinemas and their spotty record at captioning movies. In my book, they're 4 in 10. Even if the captioning worked, the device I had to wear gave me a headache and pinched my nose and temples to the point where I was useless after the movie. For having to endure such torture, I have six or seven free movie passes from them. If anyone wants them, let me know. Gee, go back to a theater that causes you pain and there is a more than 60/40 chance they're going botch things up. No thanks.
So I did the smart thing: voted with my wallet. The wife and I went to the Rialto Santikos theater off of Perrin-Bietel on loop 410. I hope I'm spelling it right, because it's giving spell check a run for it's money.
The listening device had a round puck on one end that went into the armchair cupholder. From there a flexible cable arm snaked out with a box on the end of it. It resembled a desk lamp or one of those viewfinder toys we had as kids. I never wanted to make a Star Trek joke so badly before. It resembled that thing Sulu peered into while steering the Enterprise.
That said, I was able to follow the movie. I positioned the device so it was just below the screen, allowing me to glance up/ glance down. It's a good thing I can read fast.
They served beer. Sure the nachos and draft beer were way overpriced, but come on, it's a movie theater we're talking about. In all honesty, I've seen worse price gouging and the food wasn't bad. Nothing to write home about, mind you, but it didn't come with a free case of salmonella. A plus in my book. 
So, no headache. I enjoyed a movie with my sweetheart. Didn't have to sneak a beer into the theater. There wasn't really a downside to this.
The deaf guy says check it out.

The trend I've noticed

Mankind has a tendency to imagine possibilities before they become fact or reality. Was that sentence vague enough? Last week, scientists detected gravitational waves first predicted by Einstein one hundred years ago. There's a fair amount of science stuff that might go over people's heads in this next link, but skip down to the paragraph entitled 'Relativity'. The whole article is worth a read. I'm still trying to comprehend how dense a neutron star is. The scale is quite staggering to my meager imagination.
What does that mean for us? Well for starters, we are understanding our universe a bit better. Seeing things that were previously invisible to us. Gravity is invisible, but now we are bringing it to a visible spectrum. A picture we can see, quantify and relate to.
This reminds me of when Voyager 1 flew past Io, one of Jupiter's moons. Before the flyby, it was generally believed the moons were dead rocks floating in space. Oh how wrong we were. A scientist at JPL flipped a switch and viewed the Jovian moon in an infrared spectrum, something we couldn't do until a short time before. In that one moment we had to re-write what we thought about the solar system. All that from being able to view the universe in an otherwise invisible spectrum. Now that we know what to look for, I imagine a few more books are going to need editing.


First we imagine it, then we do it.
Da Vinci imagined the parachute and helicopter, among other ideas. Those were the first two inventions that sprang to my mind.
Jules Verne wrote about going to the moon and under the sea. Now we have submarines and rockets. I don't think the originators of the ideas they imagined would be done in just such a way. 
The original helicopter 'screw'

seems almost comical compared to this


The concept of the spinning rotor is the same, but everything else...
Different, but tied together.
You might recognize this equation: E=mc2. Think about those two black holes in the article above. The emitted energy when they collided and we can finally detect, measure and understand what happened. A quote from Tesla springs to mind: "If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration."
Sound waves, light waves and now, gravity waves. Infrared, ultra violet, X-ray and visible light. I see the connections and others more knowledgeable than myself understand it better. I'm humbled by the possibilities this brings. 

Spring, sort of

In a little while I'm going to be calling in to work. The cold that I've been trying to shake all week finally caught up to me. Slight fever, can't breathe and I'm coughing up all sorts of nasty stuff. I want to blame it on the weather, but it's actually been on the mild side lately. This is supposed to be my last week of visiting every store in the area, but we're 98% done with that. Getting up before sunrise and getting home after sunset can be considered burning the candles at both ends. I'm sure that factored in health-wise too.
But my biological clock is temporarily(?) set to wake me now so here I am, filling in the blank spaces. More than likely I'll get a nap in today.
Cleaning all those stores made me take a look at my living space. Now that I'm about to have more time to do stuff, I think there's going to be a purge, perhaps a garage sale. A neighbor lent me her power washer and I've started to do the sidewalk/driveway. The difference is astounding. Truly, I was unaware of how dirty the walk was.

Night and day, huh?

So I got started on the driveway last night and kinda, sorta pressure washed the street curb numbers off. They needed to be redone anyway. One project leads to another. Break out the stencils...

Projects

My 'special assignment' is almost complete. For the last two months or so I've been driving to all the Lowe's in the city and outlying areas. What do I do there? In short, we clean. Officially it's been called the downstocking initiative. We bring merchandise off the top shelves and fill the nooks and crannies. Twenty-odd people including myself descend on a store to do what's called zone, front, and left justify. That is retail speak for fill the shelves, present the merchandise at the front of the shelf, and neatly organize and label stuff. There is also a lot of dusting. 

I've been gifted with a fairly robust immune system. Some family will dispute that, however I've noticed that I suffer less from colds and allergies. The dust in these stores challenges that notion. Lately I've come to think of it not in the terms of allergens, but of tolerance levels. After cleaning all those stores, I've almost reached my limit. Fortunately there is only one more store to go. We also do it very early in the morning. 6 AM finds me at work getting a morning briefing and because the store is on the far side of town or in another town all together, most of the time I'm on the road anywhere between 30 minutes to an  hour.

Side note: Texans measure distance in time. In full disclosure, the store of the week can be anywhere between 20 and 40 miles away. At five AM there isn't that much traffic and some routes I manage to catch a lot of green lights.

People don't appreciate how abrasive dust is. Even with constant washing and skin  lotion, my hands feel like rough grade sand paper, and we all know how that can kill your love life. 

So this is starting to come off as a bit of whining, having a few hours sleep, having to get up before the crack of dawn and drive to places you only have heard about in passing. I'm at the point where I wonder what I did before my travelling adventures.

 

Almost spring

Don't ever let me catch you saying there is nothing to do. In fact, there's so much going on I can't realistically keep track of it all. There was a festival of sorts going on down town in the Blue Star art district. I found out about it an hour after it had started. The family was already committed to running around on errands and commitments. I only wish I knew about it a few hours earlier. I could have rearranged schedules and enjoyed an afternoon with the family outdoors.

If I have enough notice, I can move mountains. That's another one of my rules. I can think on my feet well enough, but I can't be in  three places at once. I once managed to be in two places on a single day. I spent Thanksgiving with my grandparents in Orlando, then rushed over to Tampa to pay my respects to the other side of the family. Awkward? Perhaps. These are people I like and love, but I'm pretty sure I blew through a couple of speed traps in trying to please as many people as possible. Lesson learned: I don't do that any more. It's too much of a strain. Perhaps if they were closer or lived in the same town, it would be a different story.

Up until a few years ago, I was spending over 100 dollars in postage alone to send out Christmas cards. It reached a point where I put my foot down and limited the cards to close family and friends. Even there I had to do some trimming.

Over the years my list has evolved. Generally speaking, those who send me cards get one in return. We would always like to do more than our wallet will allow.

We are due for one more cold snap here in Texas. It's been unseasonably warm and I haven't had to scrape frost off my windshield yet this year. Oh, and for those counting, the first hurricane of the year formed in the mid Atlantic. Hurricane Alex was one a class one hurricane for a brief time and only posed a problem for the Azores islands. Sigh, I remember when hurricane season started in June.

Tyson said it best: The planet will survive climate change, we won't.

I'm not losing sleep over that one, but I am trying to cut down my contribution to it.

science update

Remember when I said the Chinese are ramping up their lunar space missions?
Here's the latest.
At the rate the Chinese are going, they will have an established base on the lunar surface by the time we get there.

Called it.

This is a good time to be alive

I get a lot of science stuff in my news feeds. There's been a lot going on and I'm not sure everyone is as excited as I am about what is right around the corner.

• The impossible drive I posted on this subject a while ago, but it bears repeating. NASA has tested the propellantless drive and even made a few improvements. They added magnetic dampeners and cut outside interference to almost nil, and they still got some thrust out of it. They don't know why it works, but it does. The EM drive still needs to be peer reviewed, but Get this: It works by breaking Newton's laws. You know, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction? This has the potential to cut down our flight time to other planets in our system. This article explains how it can be done. Imagine: Mars in 70 days. A 90 day stay. A 70 day return.  Two hundred and thirty days round trip. Astronauts could fly to Mars and be home for Christmas. 
• Speaking of rockets, a private space company called Space X had a Falcon 9 rocket land. Rockets are at the most basic level, inverted pendulums. Having one launch and land successfully? First time ever. Oh, and they're going to do it again.
• We're going to Europa! We're going to Europa! This is the only time I want to hear; 'Drill, baby, drill!'
• From time to time you hear about Cassini, the spacecraft floating around Saturn, taking lots of pictures and doing science stuff. Now Jupiter is getting it's turn in the spotlight. In six months the Juno spacecraft and it's color camera will arrive in the Jovian system.

There's more, but I can't find it right away. I'm also fighting a serious desire to pass out. Tomorrow I'll be driving to the south side of town. 4:30 comes pretty early in these parts.