I’ve asked our webhost to move our services to a newer, more robust server in their server farm. Performance on our sites, including this blog, has been poor for the past several weeks. The webhost is going to migrate our data tonight starting at 7:00 PM MST, so my blog may disappear for a few hours. Fingers crossed it will go smoothly.
I Can’t.
I was going to write about today being Independence Day and such, but with the current state of the country, and now another mass shooting during an Independence Day Parade in Highland Park, Illinois, it’s all I can do to not tear up when I think about what this country has become.
We used to do better. We used to be better. It’s heartbreaking to see what this country has become.
Drawing found on Pinterest courtesy of a Google Search.
Boots.
My dad gave me a pair of work boots as a gift in 1990. I don’t remember the brand but they were your typical brown construction-type work boots and they were very comfortable. I loved them. In true 1990s fashion practices, I tended to wear my work boots with shorts in the summertime. I never stopped the practice.
Nearly two decades ago I bought a pair of black tactical boots at the local Army-Navy store. They were incredibly comfortable and I’ve worn them regularly up through yesterday. I’ve tried inserting support pads from to time, since they were starting to feel quite flattened out starting about a decade ago, but I ended up always going with the original boot configuration. Yesterday the zipper on one of the left boot gave up the ghost. I knew this day was coming and on Friday I had ordered a replacement pair. The original boots were made by Magnum, the new boots are made by S.W.A.T.
They are incredibly comfortable. I think I’m going to go back to wearing these tactical boots more often.
Last photo of the old boots, taken at Windy Point on Mount Lemmon.
New boots on their inaugural outing in the driveway.
Caturday.
Truman enjoys watching the happenings of the birds and the like around the property. His two favorite places to watch these activities are the big window in our upstairs master suite and out the back door of the kitchen into the gazebo.
The big window is enjoyed from his strategically placed cat perch. Some doves have set up shop on the roof above the window. He keeps an eye on their landing patterns.
The kitchen view gives him ground level access to what’s running around out back. The dogs and Truman seem to have come to an understanding to not bother him when he’s in observation mode.
Tidier.
It was time for a change. I’ve had the big mustache for several months and quite frankly I was getting tired of having to wipe mustard and barbecue sauce out of it and waking up with mustache (mine) in my mouth. So I went to trim it. And the trim guard popped off the clippers and I took a chunk out of my mustache, right above the right side of my lip. Apparently the fates determined I needed to just go with an airline pilot style mustache again, so here we are.
If I ever get one my airplanes up over 12,500 feet I’ll have a great seal on the oxygen mask.
Throwback.
This photo was taken in early 1993 in Lexington, Mass. I was staying with a friend I had worked with at Digital back in 1990 and I had gone back to visit friends from the BGLAD (Being Gay or Lesbian at Digital) Employee Resource Group. Groups of this nature in the workplace are fairly common these days; back in the late 1980s and early 1990s it was quite progressive. Digital (or DEC, as it’s commonly called today) was a great corporation to work for. Once in a while I’ll have a dream where I’m working at Digital, trying to do the work I do today on my old VT330 terminal hooked up to a MicroVAX II. I have no regrets, but I wonder where I would be today if I hadn’t left the company in late 1990. My husband says, and I agree with him, “everything happens for a reason, and it was so you could find your way to me”.
It’s Not Friday.
Work maintains its insane pace and the hours are long. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not Friday.
Dr. Strange.
Photo from wikipedia
We watched “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” the other night. I enjoy spending time like this with the family and as I’ve enjoyed the majority of movies and other media in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was looking forward to this. I had liked the first Dr. Strange movie quite a bit.
This one didn’t do a lot for me.
Director Sam Raimi is known for his work in the horror genre, and there were some elements from that present in this movie. I know plenty of folks that enjoy horror, but it’s not my thing at all, so that probably tainted my experience a little bit. I also wondered if I was just getting sick of The Scarlet Witch. Her storyline seemed a little one-dimensional to me. The experience felt a little flat. Many of the special effects were cool but I did see a few leaks of green screen halo around characters. I found that odd.
Maybe I’m just getting old. I prefer my superhero movies to be a little more lighthearted. And I would think the MCU would be consistent on their “multiverse” rules from movie to movie, for example, why was there a completely different Spiderman in each multiverse, but Dr. Strange looked the same across the multiverses?
I should probably stop thinking too hard about these movies and just enjoy the popcorn.
It Just Keeps Getting Better.
Now that SCOTUS has ruled that teachers can lead classrooms in prayer, does that include Islamic practices? Wiccan practices? Jewish practices? Will those students of non-Christian faith be allowed the same amount of time and attention so they can pray in front of the school? Classes are going to get very long if teachers start a prayer and then need to address the diversity in their classroom. I can barely sit through anything Canadian being done in both English and French. I guess the students will need to skip study hall or something. For the record, I have absolutely no problem with your relationship with your beliefs or your faith. I have my own relationship with my faith and quite frankly it’s none of your business. If you find comfort in prayer, yes, absolutely pray. I never learned that it had to be done in front of everyone to get the message through.
Mmmmm.
Grandma and Grandpa City had cable TV in the late 1970s. The channel was changed by a box on a long cord with a button for each channel. I think there were 36 channels available but many of the higher numbered channels weren’t used yet.
I remember seeing this music video on a cable fed show; I think it was before MTV came about, and thinking that the lead singer was “cute”. I hadn’t reached my teen years yet, but I knew I was different in who I was attracted to, and Robin Scott of “M” in his mirrored aviators was quite hot to me.
The music video has 1980 written all over it and I find that quite a delight. I still find Robin Scott of “M” in his mirrored aviators quite hot.
