Sometimes Truman does his own thing. Here he’s looking cute. A few moments after this photo was taken he bit my arm (gently, of course) to let me know the photo shoot was over. More kibble. Forget the please.
September 2022
Favorites.
One of my favorite photos of me in “aviator mode” is one of my earliest photos as pilot. Taken in January 2014 by fellow student pilot Nicole, I’ve always enjoyed my look of determination during my third flight lesson ever.
Because I grew up around airplanes and flew with my father quite often, my instructor Chuck said on more than one occasion, “you know things about flying an airplane that you don’t even know you know”. I can vividly remember this flight and the glass smooth air of the January skies in Upstate New York.
What a feeling.
RIP Her Majesty.
As an ignorant Yankee I don’t know a lot about the British Monarchy. I do know that I enjoyed Queen Elizabeth II’s messages at Christmastime and I admired her presence and poise whenever I saw her on television. She passed on at age 96 today. The longest reigning British Monarch, may Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, rest in peace.
Apple Event.
So I watched the entire Apple Event while working today. Actually, I didn’t. I tried to, but we lost our Internet connection for about 15 minutes so I missed bits and pieces, but I was able to catch up. If you haven’t seen it, here it is on YouTube.
The iPhone 14 seems pretty incremental in the way of updates from the iPhone 13. The iPhone 14 Pro seems fun with the new ‘Dynamic Island” thing going on around the “pill” that replaces the “notch” at the top of the phone. I’m quite pleased with my iPhone 13 Pro and will not be upgrading this cycle.
One of the things that really struck me about today’s event was the awkwardness of one of the presenters. Ironically, the presenter talking about the awesomeness of the new AirPods Pro 2 had a very awkward cadence to her voice, with very unnatural arm movements, which was all tied together with this weird shouting thing she did. At first I thought she was talking as if the had her new AirPods Pro 2 noise cancellation activated, but I surmised that couldn’t be it. She just had absolutely zero charisma that one would expect of presenters at an Apple Event. I mean, these events are legendary, and there’s huge shoes to fill with these sort of things, so I imagine the pressure is on. But it was pre-recorded, there could have been multiple takes to get it right, and honestly, I could do better with the scant amount of radio performances under my belt from a couple of decades ago. Yes, I’m critical, but this Apple and I don’t want to feel awkward when being convinced to spend money I don’t need to spend. I eventually turned the volume down until she was done talking.
I have loaded the iOS 16 and Watch OS 9 release candidates on my iPhone and Apple Watch and I’m quite impressed with the new functionality in these new operating systems. It’s a shame they were barely mentioned in the event today; it feels like that’s where Apple is really shining this year.
Heart and Soul.
OK, two songs on Tuesday. This is one of my very favorite tracks from the 1980s. I was always mesmerized (and still am) of the production of this track. The lead singer is singing with herself through most of the track and it’s like listening to two different songs at once that fit perfectly together. This is pop music perfection in my book.
From 1987, here’s T’Pau with “Heart and Soul”.
Heart.
Work consumed too much of my day today. So here’s Heart with “Who Will You Run To?”
By the way, I don’t enjoy the way they try to hide Ann Wilson in these videos. She has an awesome voice and deserves to be front and center.
Tubac.
My husband and I were first in Tubac, Arizona in 2003. In that blog entry, written 20 years ago, I mentioned the quaint little town in passing as we were on our way to Tucmacacori and Nogales. That’s also one of the first time I mentioned our plan of moving to Arizona for our retirement. I love it when a plan comes together.
We headed specifically to Tubac today for a nice ride on this Labor Day and to get some decorating ideas for the house. The little village is charming. I get the feeling that like the rest of the world, businesses were impacted by the pandemic, but many of the quaint little shops seem to be holding their own.
We strolled through many displays and have plenty of ideas for adding to the vibe of our home. Since it’s only an hour away, we’ll head back down and pick up things as the budget allows and the family agrees.
We had a nice lunch outside at Shelby’s Bistro. The table was a little wobbly but it was still an enjoyable experience.
Desert Life.
I will admit, I miss my family and friends back East and in the Midwest. Historically Labor Day has always made me a little anxious because it meant cold weather wasn’t that far away and there’d be snow and the like soon enough. I don’t miss that. Living in the desert just doesn’t work that way. And that makes me very happy.
