Author: Peg

After yesterday’s technology issues, and logging a personal best on the Fitbit running around – I welcome the weekend. Hopefully, I’ll avoid a widow-woman-weekend meltdown.

The weather guy just now calls for t-storms tomorrow afternoon followed by 2-3 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Bill. Getting better on Sunday. Over 95 degrees for the upcoming week. Thankful for air conditioning.

Well Carlton, one of your old lady friends called this afternoon. She wondered why she hadn’t heard from you.  I told her that you are waiting for your next gig as a “first patient” at Georgetown. You’ll love all the attention.

Good:  The “new improved” old bat cave is perfectly fine. It has a tiny living room and a tiny bedroom. A big closet. A bathroom that is old school sized. Which is to say the sink, john and shower take up all the space. That is ok. A little closet. And a very modest kitchen. The three windows face east. I can still see the Washington Monument, and the Capital. Plus, I can see the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception again. Can not see south or west any more. Just east.

They will take down the wall – so I’ll end up with a single 23 by 15 foot room. With the bath, kitchen, and closets taking up the rest of the 590 sq ft. And, I’ll get a dishwasher. I’ll pass on the washer/dryer. Don’t want to give up the space. I can use the common washer and dryer. I am not much interested in the kitchen. My real cooking days are over. I might make a small pot of soup, I make salads, and baked potato, do things with eggs, and saute a little of this and a little of that. That is about the end of my cooking these days. Oh yes, and oatmeal.

I will pay for this hummer next week and move in in 3 months.

Sunspots: As I was trying to leave the office today – one of those things that sometimes happens with computer systems happened. It never happened before. Hopefully, it will never happen again. A record was unexplainably “jumbled”. I am sure it happened at about 10:55AM. So what? I was trying to leave to make my 1:30 appointment to see the old bat cave. I didn’t get out until 12:30. Our system “help desk” – had some mushy explanation. I understand they have to come up with some answer. I am going to say that it was due to “Sunspots”. Old computer hacks know that you can not fix a bug that you can not recreate. Sunspots.

Sad: What can I say about the killings in Charleston? What can anyone say? Evil. Pure evil.

The asylum called. I passed the mental exam. Silly people. They have no idea that they have let the original cage rattler into the asylum. And, it seems that due to residents moving to the next level – a more gracious unit has become available. It is 600 sq feet on the 11th floor with a “lovely city view”. Well, the view will not be as lovely as my current view is… but it will be better than 347 sq feet on the 7th floor with a “lovely grocery store parking lot view.”

This unit is in its original 1985 condition – so, renovations will be in order if I decide that it is my final destination. The new option costs more, but still way less than I am paying now. Not to mention the weekly maid and linen service, plus one meal a day. Inspection tour of the unit tomorrow.

Emptied the Airness’s trash can. Restarted the Airness. And checked the available disk space.

Apparently this is a rather common harmless “known issue” with OS X. I could use 140 terabytes. I’d never have to cull photos again. And, that might not be a good thing.

Guess what? Eight months isn’t enough. I still miss that man. I was sort of paralyzed by grief this afternoon. I approach grief by going into Energizer Bunny mode. The paralyzed parts were at war with the Energizer Bunny parts. It was well over 90 degrees, but I grabbed the camera and went bee hunting. Grief didn’t go away. But, bee hunting beats sitting on the floor crying.

After I do some yoga, I think I’ll pack a box. I don’t know where I am going to be moving to. I don’t know when I am moving. But, I am going to go some where. So, I may as well start packing. (Still haven’t heard from the asylum.)

But, on a positive note. The Donald is running for prez. Let the fun begin.

No news from the asylum as to the results of my mental interview. Wish Carlton had been in the room. He would have aced it. Charmed the panties right off the interviewers. What if I flunked my entrance exam to the asylum? What if there is no old bat cave for me? It will be pretty embarrassing if I can not get in. But, it would make a good story.

Assuming I am going to get in the asylum… attacked two vintage piles of junk in my “home office area”. As best I can tell, the piles were two years old. Scraps of photos, negatives, notebooks. I tossed some of the stuff. And, fitted the rest into one of Carlton’s many old tennis shoe boxes. I will move these to the old bat cave.

Made a little experiment with the android-Pod camera. I put one of the old photos on the window ledge and took a picture. Two years ago, I had scanned – using my rather poor scanner – here are the results.

 

This was Henderson Harbor NY – sometime in the late 1990’s. Thanks Mr C. We had a lot of great road trips.

Think I’ll print up the test photos. The android-pod approach is sure easier…

I also decided to digitize all my negatives. (I should rethink this.)

 

Yes, they shave their legs. Always have, for as long as I can remember. And, I have been a fan of bike racing for decades. They believe it makes them faster. And, it sure shows off the legs nicely. Most of them shave their arms too. As I said, buff guys in spandex.

Today I realized that the old bat cave is 2 inches too short for my beloved carpet. Well, the carpet is just going to have to deal with being folded or rolled at one end until a larger cave opens up.

I spent Carlton’s last tax refund on a Nexus 6 – I still haven’t decided what carrier to use – so it is still a HUGE android-Pod. Today, I remembered that the thing has a camera. So, I took it for a little test photo walk. A thunder storm came up – so the testing was cut short.

It isn’t too shabby as a camera.

As for the whole android experience. Well, it isn’t as sleek as iOS. Sort of like the A-Team did the apps for iOS and the B-Team made the android versions. Note to Apple: The BACK arrow is very nice. And, I completely forgot that my collection of earbuds/phones with mics and controls only work with i-devices. The ear part works – but the control/mic parts don’t.

Did a little work to help getting ready to move to the bat cave today. Things like measuring the rug and taking into account things like radiators. Also, consolidated Carlton’s three investment binders into one. I squeezed Carlton’s old tax returns into my tax records box. Mr C kept returns for 6 years. I keep them 4 years. Mr C now keeps returns for 4 years. I would like to keep this box in the storage cage. But, it might not be the smartest move.

Gotta get back with the getting ready to move program.

 

I bet this guy didn’t spend the last 4 hours culling 1271 paintings from today’s bike race down to 71. I am actually rather pleased with myself for:

1. Going to the race.
2. Staying for the women’s and men’s races – all the way to the end.
3. Deleting 1200 digital images.

Continuous shooting mode fires off a lot of shots with the newest camera. I got it late June last year as a “retail therapy” device. So, this was its first bike race.

As usual my race photos are only OK. But, OK is OK with me.

What’s not to love about a sport that involves buff guys with shaved legs in spandex? Sounds I little like the gay pride parade that also took place today. But, the old bat body wasn’t up for another 4 hours in standing on the street in the sun.

No bees today. It was really hot. I didn’t spend much time bee hunting. So, this rather common fly will have to do. For me, the fun part of bug photography is seeing what I manage to capture in the camera.

No news from the asylum re my acceptability. It is kind of like trying to get into an exclusive country club or to buy into a NYC coop apartment.

Addendum: Will it take an “Internet Pearl Harbor” for the US to secure our cyberspace? And, will we survive the initial massive attack?

 

Well, I spent an hour being tested for possible admission to the asylum. They wouldn’t tell me if I passed or failed. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if I flunked??? But, then, would I want to live in an asylum that would have me… to paraphrase Groucho.

After the tests and interviews, I measured everything in the proposed bat cave. And I inspected it’s 4 square foot chicken wire storage cage. I don’t think I would store anything in it that I really cared about. Rather ordinary snips would get anyone into the cage, and it is in the basement with the proverbial “overhead sewer lines”. Wondering what I might store in it. But, all the cages seemed to be full of mostly junk. Well, I guess I can keep my sewing box and electronics box in the cage. And, maybe a box of kitchen stuff that I could later move to a bigger apartment. If I move to a bigger place, I’d get a different (but same size) storage cage. Don’t want to get involved moving junk from cage A to cage B.

Note to Carlton: the asylum a soft ice cream machine. I had a small cone before bussing back home. Dolce de leche.

Today, after my nap, I decided to call my new digs “the old bat cave”. My definition of an “old bat” is the British one: an old woman who you think is slightly crazy. I think old bat describes me rather nicely. And I always loved Batman.

The big mental exam for the old folks asylum is tomorrow at 1400 hours. That is my naptime. Hope I pass the test. Note to self: Take it seriously. Remember the trouble you got into years ago when you didn’t take your DIA polygraph seriously.

What’s in a name? My 367 sq foot cell at the asylum. Possible names:

Cell
Room
Studio
Pad
Efficiency
Chamber
Pied-à-terre
Flat
Micro Unit

I am thinking that what I call it is important. I am leaning towards “chamber” or “micro unit”. In late April, I did test layout.

On my last visit, I located the outlets etc. So, I revised the plan.

After my mental exam on Thursday – hopefully, the “chamber” will be empty and I can get really accurate measurements. There is zero room for error. Absolutely everything has be measured. Also, I’ll add the bathroom, kitchen area, and closets. Maybe, I’ll call it a micro unit. (Carlton was always in charge of measuring and drawing layouts. He had an unused degree in architectural engineering.)

The Capital is undergoing massive renovations. (Too bad the occupants can not be renovated!)

Note to self: look out the window before you get on the elevator. If there is lighting – reconsider boarding the elevator. Especially with a skittish, elderly german shepard. The elevator stopped about 5 times. Each time we got it going again. I finally wised up and got off. But, had I learned my lesson? NO. I was on a mission. Going to Starbucks for a fix. So, I continued down. Via the stairs. When I finally made it down, the lobby was filled with large dogs and their owners. No one wanted to get stuck in an elevator with someone else’s dog.

I went off to Starbucks. When I got back to the dog filled lobby – decided to walk home. Up all 17 floors.

Nothing much going on. Nothing wrong with that.