July 2024

Mechanics.

This blog is approaching 23 years old. Having started out as HTML pages built from scratch, then moved to Movable Type, and then moved again to WordPress, I think it’s been living on the same WordPress platform for 18 years or so.

WordPress has changed a lot over the nearly two decades I’ve been using it.

I’m not completely satisfied with my WordPress experience. There’s a lot of elements that just get in my way. But it does offer a fairly “low friction” experience when compared to some other workflows. I just want an editor where I can easily post media, write a bunch of words, and basically hit “Print”. WordPress still affords me that opportunity, albeit a bit slower than it did in the past. There’s a lot of cruft in the platform.

I’ve been tinkering with the idea of moving something a little less resource intensive, but moving 22+ years of blog posts to a new platform is an extremely daunting task. A good chunk of my life is documented in this blog thingee, missing photos notwithstanding, and I don’t want to lose the words I have written over the years. I also don’t want to lose the comments of others. Even though blogs are not really a “thing” anymore, I do get comments once in a while and they make me smile.

So while I tinker with the idea of moving the whole shebang to another platform, I probably will end up just changing the appearance and tweaking under the hood to make things run a little better and a little faster.

If you see me swinging around wallpapers and chandeliers in here, you know when the dust settles I’ve done everything I can to keep the history alive.

8 July 2024 by Geek 0

Off Grid.

As we waited for our table for brunch this morning, we took the opportunity to go to the adjacent bookstore. I stumbled across this book and I was instantly intrigued.

I’ve always been fascinated by those that choose to go “off the grid”. The idea appeals to me, which is quite ironic because I live my life very much on the grid. I know my husband would never have an interest in living in the middle of nowhere, even though from time to time I remark that I could easily live for a year working in Antarctica or something.

The civil engineering feats of building my own shelter or designing the perfect “tiny house” or something is intriguing. I don’t necessarily have the skillset to build something like this, but designing it would be a fun little activity.

I picked up “Off Grid Life” by Foster Huntington. Once I get through the book I’ll probably write more about it here on the blog.

7 July 2024 by Deep. Ponderings and Musings 0

Foam.

I know I am now in eldergay territory. Back in my day I spent many hours DJing at various bars and events, but one thing I never encountered was a “foam party” at a bar.

Jamie went to a foam party a few weeks ago and came home quite wet. Earl and I are in Phoenix for a quick getaway weekend and we went to one of the local bars last night. They had a foam party. Earl knew this ahead of time and brought an extra pair of shorts and a shirt for the occasion. I held his little bag holding these items while he played around in the foam.

Being the odd one, not only did I think of the scene shown above from “Bewitched”, I kept saying to Earl, “you’re soaking in it”. Knowing me like he does, he immediately got it and it smiled.

There were several men dancing around in the foam and they seemed to be having a good time. It’s not really my jam to do that sort of thing in public but I was happy to see so many folks having fun.

6 July 2024 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Caturday.

Truman listens as I explain the importance of not digging his claws into the new couch. He’s been mostly good about it, though he has given me a look of bemused disagreement when I give him a stern “no”. He then says, “just dispense the treats”.

6 July 2024 by He's A Feline. 0

Truth.

I was recently asked about my “coming out story”. The person posing the question was taken aback when I replied, “I’ve always known. Since I was in elementary school. It was never, ever a question for me. Being gay was the least of my worries. I was most concerned with fitting in with others. I think differently than most. It’s OK, I’m just different”.

I lucked out. My parents were awesome. My sister is awesome. I will always be the protective big brother and I love her to pieces. My relatives on both sides of the family never made me feel bad for being myself. My cousins just got me. My husband is forever. He is my biggest cheerleader and I hope everyone can find their forever love like that which I’ve found in Earl.

My life has been completely and thoroughly charmed. I’m living my life honestly, completely, and more enjoyably than I ever imagined. It’s all honesty and luck. What you see is what you get.

Life is awesome altogether.

5 July 2024 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Video: The Wilderness of Rocks Trail.

Here’s my latest hiking video, this time along The Wilderness of Rocks Trail in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson.

I had a couple of “firsts” on this hike, including trying out new hiking boots (which are wonderful) and a man stopped me on the trail and told me I looked familiar. When we talked for a moment, he mentioned he thought he’d seen me on a video about hiking Mount Lemmon. That was awesome.

I think this link works for the boots on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BFMNHW

5 July 2024 by Video. 0

Holiday Start.

I went for a hike early this morning, because I am really enjoying hiking these days. I hiked along the “Wilderness of Rocks” trail near Mount Lemmon. The video is forthcoming, but it was a great day for a hike.

4 July 2024 by Life In Motion. 0

Stormy Vibes.

I am a big fan of the YouTube (and PBS) series “Outside Beyond The Lens”. I recently watched their episodes about storm chasing, and it perfectly captures and shares the vibe and sentiment I feel when out on the Great Plains chasing storms. I hope you enjoy this beautiful piece of video art as much as I did.

2 July 2024 by Storm Chasing. 0

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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