Nobody is Promised Tomorrow. . .
Work, yoga, dentist. Now my mouth feels like an army has bivouacked in it. And, I am more or less forbidden to eat until 9PM. Not to worry. I can drink and am having Guinness for dinner with my friends at the regular time.
Really shouldn’t take astronomical photos with a telephone. But, you shoot with what you have. And I had Shamu the Phone. This was at the bus transfer point this morning. I had just figured out that it was MONDAY for me, but it was SATURDAY for the bus service. And, that was why there wasn’t a bus. So, I turned to just walk the last mile – when I saw this fine moon setting in the west.
And, at the office. It was one of those “it must be the full moon” kind of a day.
You can tell it is getting close to Halloween…Because the stores have the Xmas decorations out.
But this gentleman, he has the pumpkin look down. Even to his shopping bag. Gotta love it.
I am feeling old and tired today. So, what’s new about that. Absolutely nothing. Goes with the territory.
In a little over two weeks, I will be heading off to Hawai’i. And, except for getting a ticket to ride – I have done NOTHING to get ready. I am going to try really hard to make this a minimalist trip. Don’t think I can just take the mini-backpack. But, I don’t need to take everything that I might possibly need. Amazon delivers to Kona.
Speaking of Amazon. I preordered some Alexa earbuds. They promise to deliver them by 8PM on Oct 30th. And since I leave at 5:30AM Oct 31, that is cutting it close.
Why? Because my Dr Dre’s died on my RTW trip. I really wanted new Bluetooth earbuds. And these are supposed to use Bose’s technology for noise reduction. And, like many Amazon devices, they are relatively inexpensive – because the job of the amazon gear is to sell you more stuff. Stay tuned. I am not usually a day one adopter. But, as I mentioned earlier. I am old. No percentage in waiting around.
Little projects:
I always love a parade. And, for years I was a regular photographer at the Howard University Homecoming Parade. I have become a little less faithful in attending. But, I rectified that today.
The parade was much smaller than it was during the Obama Era. A lot of things have gotten smaller since the Orange Lord Era began. But it was still a parade. And a good time was had by all.
This is homecoming – so they had adorable smiling kids.
And the weather was great, so the girls could show off their moves.
One of the girl groups had a guy. And, he had a wardrobe malfunction.
But, soon he was back in the game.
And, of course, there were Slingshots. Very fancy Slingshots. I would create quite a stir around The Asylum if I showed up one fine day with a fully decked out Slingshot. Or even a plain basic black model!
This is just an experiment. Please ignore. Unless you are one of The Asylum Keepers of the Web.
This is what it looks like if you embed the video in your page. It is the “best” way to do it.
Or you can just use a link: Like This
The link version kicks your readers out to YouTube. I am not sure about your software. I think you should be able to embed the link. Ask John.
A guy who lives here, was a wire service reporter. Now, he reviews cars online. He parks them at the Asylum. Today he had a very manly BMW and this sweet blue Bentley for my viewing pleasure. Just because I don’t have a car doesn’t mean I can’t admire them.
Today I was shooting with my phone, the two above. And a pretty marginal lens. The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7. It is slow, hunts focus, and sometimes delivers this:
I consider that a “feature”.
For the last few days, I have been shooting the same weed patch in the late afternoon. using different lenses. The same (?) common buckeye has been there every afternoon. Today’s version with the Olympus 75-300mm.
Ok, got birds, insects, and rodents. That is about the extent of our wildlife. Last year there was a black snake, but I haven’t seen it this summer.
All of these, including the butterfly, were taken with the Olympus Pen F and the modest Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-150mm f/4-5.6 II Lens.
Catalina continues to perk right along. I decided that Sidecar does every that I need so it will be bye-bye to Duet.
I am not designed for community living. Today I got a questionnaire in my box.
Now, what really worries me is that management paid a consulting firm to create this worthless survey. Wait, that would be a fine place to use one of my favorite unused words. Now, what really worries me is that management paid a consulting firm to create this nugatory survey.
My friends say I complain about everything here at The Asylum. Maybe it is time to move back to the real world.
But, it would be a better plan to try really hard to just ignore 95% of what goes on here. Just stay in my lane. Pretend that this is just a strange apartment that I happened to rent. And to hell with the “being engaged in community life” crap.
Bee and butterfly season is rapidly coming to an end. Got a couple of nice shots this afternoon. If the goddess is willing the bees and butterflies will be back next summer. And I will still be able to hold a camera. (These were taken with my current favorite bug setup. (Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens on the OMD EM1 body.)
Nobody is promised tomorrow. Much less next summer.
Found a generic “Impeach Him” button in my junk jewelry box. I am wondering what president I was annoyed enough with to have an impeachment button. Maybe Reagan? All of those other presidents that I loved to hate now seem like rational grownups. I dusted it off and wore it to dinner. It is back in style again.
I haven’t stressed it, but Catalina seems to be working fine for me. Your mileage may vary.
Well, I puttered around with Catalina this afternoon, after work and yoga.
It is really easy to use my iPad Pro as an external or 2nd monitor. I already have Duet which works fine, but it cost $50. Apple’s “sidecar” trick is free and works fine too. Lets me use my Apple Pencil as well. I have not tried it with my Logitech pencil and my iPad mini.
Catalina is rather like playing “Mother May I”. Every piece of software has to beg permission to access files. I am sure that after a week or two everything will have all the permissions required. And, things might be “safer”.
Everything I expected to work works. I removed my 32-bit programs before the update – but, I am sure that they don’t work. The only thing that I lost is the ability to update the firmware on my cameras. Updating camera firmware always scared me anyhow. No big loss. And, I am guessing that Olympus has a 64-bit updater if I would just go look for it.
iTunes is gone. But, the music lives on in finder via the Music App. Likewise, podcasts are in the PodCast App.
So, old woman recommends – if your Mac is mission-critical give it a month before you upgrade. Well, at least a week. And, be sure about your 32-bit apps. Also, be concerned about some of the old-time open source applications like Audacity. I don’t need it anymore – but – if I did – I would be a little antsy about moving on to Catalina just yet. Otherwise, go for it. The price is right – unless you have to buy new 64-bit software.
However.
Just to remind me that “Nobody is Promised Tomorrow”.
Note to Carlton: Just thought you would like to know that Leila is still working as a housekeeper at the hospital and she is 85 years old. Sort of makes us look like wimps, doesn’t it?
Well, Catalina is out. I am backing everything up. We’ll see if I install it tonight.
ps. Catalina is installed and the system has been rebooted. And, that is about it for today. Tomorrow is soon enough to find out what doesn’t work anymore.
All things considered, I would rather be in Kona. We really need rain. But all we got was clouds. Lots of clouds.
This getting old shit sort of creeps up on you. Today, I found myself reading an email advert from NatGeo. They were trying to interest me in going on a hiking vacation. It was shocking to have to admit that I am most likely not up to a “moderate” 8 day tramp around Provence. Much less a trek up Kilimanjaro. Not ready for this yet. The body is getting old.
Another thing I can not do is figure out how to deploy a bunch of Alexa’s throughout the Asylum to little old ladies who don’t have kids to set them up. Mostly, these little old ladies don’t have smart phones or Amazon accounts. 50 years ago, I could have figured out a clever solution. 25 years ago, I could have come up with a workable solution. Now, I can solve the problem for an individual little old lady. But, I can not figure out an “enterprise” solution for all the little old ladies. The brain is getting old.
That is looking out my window at sunset yesterday. A fine autumn sunset. With the barest hint of changing colors. Most likely the changing colors are due to drought conditions, however.
The clouds were more interesting than the waterfront today.
The weather was nice today so, I hopped on a bus and went down to Old Town Alexandria. Just wandered around. Looking at stuff. Playing tourist. Came home. Had a little rest then dinner with my friends. An excellent early fall day.
Nothing like learning a new origami to kick your self out of a little funk. This one is special. I will be sending some off to decorate a Christmas Tree at the Museum of Natural History in NYC. This is a rather interesting model. It is attributed to Endla Saar who was an unpaid kindergarten teacher at a displaced persons camp in Estonia in the late forties. They had fir trees but no decorations. So Miss Saar came up with this star for their Christmas tree.
Found this in my email box today. Now where exactly was a degree program Medical Cannabis when I was struggling through Kelvin-Stokes theorem? Maybe it isn’t too late to go back to college?
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UMB to Offer M.S. in Medical Cannabis Science/Therapeutics
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