Fun and Games Dept

I can’t believe the movie “Inception” is ten years old. It’s one of my favorite movies of the 21st century. We need to sit down and watch this again, maybe this coming weekend.

My husband put an appointment on the family calendar indicating it was time for us to go through his online accounts and rectify all the compromised and repeated passwords he was being warned about.

I’m so proud of him.

Since we are primarily a Mac-based family, he’s going through the list of accounts in Safari and following the links to change his password from something dangerous to something nifty. We are both smiles, with Truman stretched out at our feet.

There’s no hollering and Truman is able to take an apparently much needed nap.

We decided to go for a ride this afternoon. We headed toward Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista to get a feel for the landscape in that direction. It’s a beautiful day, so we were riding with the windows down. We stopped for a cold drink at a drive thru in Benson. The car in front of us ordered over $100 in food with special requests for each of the burgers. These things happen.

We were smiling on the inside.

We had dinner with Homer and Matt tonight. They introduced us to a small Mexican restaurant on the other side of the 10. I had vegetarian Cuban Tacos that were excellent. The conversation was a delight. It was nice to be out and about to and visit with Homer and Matt for a little while. We have common friends in the blogosphere. It’s funny to think that we’ve both met people that maintained blogs at one time, even though we’re all from different corners of the country.

The more I get to know Tucson the more I like it. I already knew I liked this big little town, but getting better acquainted with our surroundings is a good feeling. Even if we have to maintain our social distance or make sure we’re all vaccinated.

I didn’t take any photos. I’m deficient at my attempts at being a social media influencer. I don’t even know if people still read this blog as I never look at the traffic stats, but it’s still fun to write in it like it’s 2009.

It’s finally happened! ABBA as announced a new album, “Voyage”, due out in November. Going along with the new album, “ABBA” will be performing in a specially constructed venue in London. I put ABBA in quotes because the performance will actually be by ABBAtars, holographic representations of the group with younger looking features. They’re wearing their motion capture suits in the picture at the top of this page.

I would love to go to London to see this show!

Two songs of the upcoming “Voyage” album were released today. The first, “I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down”. I enjoy both songs and even though it’s been 39 years since the release of their last single, “Under Attack”, these new tracks solidly sound like ABBA. They sound as great as ever.

I can’t wait for the entire album to drop.

During our travels yesterday, we stopped at the Sunset Point Rest Area on Interstate 17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff. We did the same thing 18 1/2 years ago in March 2003.

So, we’ve lived in Arizona for five or so months and I finally found my “favorite road” to drive (thus far). We’ve been around a good portion of the southeast corner of the state, and State Route 188 has been deemed my favorite.

When we lived in New York, it was NY Route 177. When we lived in Chicago, it was Illinois 26 (especially south of Interstate 80).

State Route 188 here in Arizona runs from US 60 just west of Globe to State Route 87 south of Payson. The road is wide and open, with the speed limit as high as 65. Like favorite NY Route 177, Arizona State Route 188 runs through very few towns; one basically has to slow down to pass through Roosevelt and to go over the bridge near Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Much of the route passes alongside the Roosevelt Reservoir.

It’s open, with gentle curves, interesting desert scenery, and I find it a pleasure to drive. I look forward to doing it again soon.

I don’t know if it can be attributed to middle age or if it’s a result of pandemic and the general chaos of society, but I have really lost track of time. Moving from the Midwest to the Desert Southwest probably contributed to this as well. When I was in North Carolina last week I was surprised to see some maple trees starting to change their leaves; in my mind it’s somewhere between January 2020 and May 2021 and I’ve found it very hard to discern the current season living here in the desert.

This morning I was in the mood to throw on a t-shirt and a pair of camo shorts for work. Even though I’ve worked from home for over a decade, I still like to put on fairly decent clothes when in “work mode”. Today’s agenda involves writing a bunch of code and doing a few end of the week odds and ends. In a swing of incredible events, my calendar today was clear of calls. Hence, an Atari t-shirt and camo shorts. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m also in my bare feet while working today.

My work week flew by but I’m still ready for the weekend. I need to relax from this jumbled up timeline.

I like humor. I like funny people. I enjoy people that laugh and I enjoy making people laugh. I’m kind of good at it, but there’s a whole bunch of people funnier than me.

Growing up, I was a fan of humorist and newspaper columnist Erma Bombeck. I was a teenage young lad living in the Central New York countryside, but there I was laughing at “If Life Is A Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing In The Pits”? I giggled at Erma’s spin on life as a modern housewife and mother. Her take on life was funny, and more importantly, charming and I enjoyed her.

Fast forward twenty years to the 21st century and I discovered humorist and speaker Jeanne Robertson of Graham, North Carolina. I first heard a clip of one of her “speeches”, as she called them, on Sirius/XM radio. It was the channel next to Rawdog. She had a southern twang that was charming, she could tell a story like the best of them, and most importantly, the point of her speeches was to show people how to find the humor in any situation. Life gets better than way. Life is more manageable that way.

I’ve listened to Jeanne’s stories for the past 15 years.Back when they started featuring her on Sirius/XM the headlines read, “Grandma Goes Viral”. She’s a delight. Today I learned she passed (shaking my head in a gesture of respect) this weekend. She was 77 years old.

When work gets crazy, I have a small Post-It note near my computer or up by my webcam that simply says “Baton”. It’s a reminder to keep things light and to find the humor, even in the most stressful situations. It’s what Jeanne spoke about and keeping this in the back of my mind has helped me get through the workday on more than one occasion.

I’ll miss new stories from Jeanne. She had such a delightful way of conveying something to an audience. May she rest in peace.

For your enjoyment, here’s a clip from YouTube. It’s her Baton story.

I am aboard flight UA6321 from RDU (Raleigh-Durham) to IAH (Houston). I’ll have about an hour layover in Houston before heading home to Tucson. I’ll be arriving home at lunch time. I love the time change when headed west. My body didn’t really adjust to Eastern time over the 48 hours I was in North Carolina.

I’m in First Class, as per my spoiled self, aboard this E175 regional jet. This flight is Mesa Airlines as United. The two flight attendants are very nice, Mark with the very deep voice at the gate at RDU was very friendly, and the two pilots up front seem friendly over the Public Address system. They also appear to be know this aircraft well and so far it’s one of the smoothest flights I’ve been on in a long while.

Like the rest of the airlines, United has modified their service and amenities on flights. On Thursday’s flight I opted for the “Take Off” snack box on the flight to Houston, today I’ve opted for the “Tapas Box” snack box. I just ate a pack of olives and they were delicious. During my last visit with my family doctor in Chicago, he suggested I start eating more of a Mediterranean diet. This is a step in the right direction.

The visit to North Carolina was a fun adventure. I did a little work while I was there but it wasn’t too much of a distraction; it was just a couple of calls.

Even though I work in technology and I’m well aware of the advances in this space, I’m still fully amazed with being able to write a blog entry and post it on the Internet while flying in a metal tube 32K feet above the planet. It’s a little slow but fully functional.

Now I’m going to sit back, relax, and enjoy my Tapas Box.