Fast.

While out for my morning walk I was awestruck by the scene of this routine day in the neighborhood. Garbage and recycling bins are out, per the Tuesday routine, neighbors were cleaning brush out off their property, and the ambiance was subdued.

This is life on a weekday in our little corner of the desert.

I remarked to my husband that we managed to move out here so quickly that my I feel like while I thoroughly enjoy the concept, my brain has not completely realized that we live in Arizona. The Real ID in my wallet is from Arizona. The temporary license plate is from Arizona. The computer time zone says “America/Phoenix”, the air is dry, and the temperatures are warm. There’s no “ding dong, doors closing” coming from the nearby Brown Line and the vibe is so much more relaxed.

I love it here. I just feel like it’s not quite permanent yet. However, it is permanent and I’m quite happy. It’s an odd feeling but nonetheless joyous.

Our rather limited interactions with our fellow citizens have been very friendly. I’ve always considered Chicago to be quite friendly for a major city, but folks here seem really laid back. On my one pass through a drive thru (for a drink) the attendant apologized profusely for neglecting to give me a straw without a reminder. All of our neighbors wave to one another. Several of our neighbors have come up to the house with a pastry or such and introduced themselves.

I wasn’t expecting that; it was a very pleasant surprise.

I have to keep reminding myself that COVID-19 is still out there and the country should be functioning in relative isolation. I’m looking forward to getting out and exploring all there is to explore in our desert home. We have online friends to meet in person and airplanes to fly and canyons to hike and rocks to climb and trails to ride bikes on. We’re almost done unpacking boxes.

I’m ready to unpack life in the desert.

6 April 2021 by Tucson 0

5:30 AM.

My body seems OK with getting up at 5:30 AM Mountain Standard Time for my weekday schedule. Truman stays quiet and still on the bed until I show signs of being awake. My husband doesn’t get up until later, but I tip toe around the room, do my business in the washroom, and then throw on yesterday’s clothes so I can tackle the early morning team meetings.

I wonder if my colleagues notice that I’ve showered, shaved, and changed clothes between my first and second meetings of the morning?

My mood has been surprisingly pleasant with early rising. I’m starting to feel this new routine and it’s not a bad feeling. I’m pretty sure I can do this morning thing for as long as necessary.

Someone just hook up a device to my Zoom meetings so I can be jolted awake.

Actually, I’m kidding. The only stumbling block I have with these early morning meetings, other than being unshowered and unshaven, is my speech patterns. Speaking coherently and trying to keep my mild stammer this side of outrageous in the early morning can be a bit of a challenge. Like President Biden, I have little tricks I use to try to keep things running in the same direction, but once in a while my words and phrases and such can go in six directions at once with a repetitive stammer.

I’m like Bob Newhart without the groovy theme song.

Once I get the cylinders firing on all thrusters, though, I’m in my element and not feeling any bad effects from being up so early. I used to think getting up early was a thing grandparents did.

I’m now shocked to realize I’m the age my grandparents were at when I thought these things about getting up early.

5 April 2021 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Truth.

Work hard, never take anything for granted, and enjoy life while you can. Happy Easter to everyone that has stopped by!

4 April 2021 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Caturday.

Truman had his first adventure outside yesterday. He’s not allowed outside without supervision and once he realized the rules he settled in on the patio to take in the sites of the desert.

He enjoys watching birds and other movement out back. He sniffed the air a few times and then just relaxed under my watchful eye.

3 April 2021 by He's A Feline. 0

Productivity.

I’ve been messing around with to-do lists, email programs, and other related fun and frivolity in this technological world. As a Mac and iOS user, I tend to lean toward “it just works” and go with stock Apple applications when I can, but sometimes they just don’t seem to be enough.

I’m a little paranoid about online privacy, so anything that squelches tracking is preferred in my book. Apple’s Safari web browser does the vast majority of this with features baked right into the experience, so I like that. However, Apple’s Mail app does not block hidden pixel-trackers in email messages. For those that aren’t aware of these things, many mass email outfits like to put a hidden element in their marketing emails so they know if you’ve read the email or not and confirm the validity of your email address. I never respond to “Wanda has requested a read receipt” prompts, so I really don’t want hidden elements tattling on my email management habits. So I’ve opted to use AirMail on my devices because it automatically blocks this pixel-based reporting back to the sender.

My other struggle is with my to do list management system. For over a decade I’ve used OmniFocus, but I’ve never been comfortable with the locking of data into the OmniFocus platform. I’m relying on their syncing between devices, their file format, and their addition and deletion of features. I like being able to automatically schedule tasks, for example, telling my to do list “I have a flight on Saturday”, and it builds all the tasks, and times them appropriately, for everything that’s needed to get ready for the flight. As I get older, the holes in my Swiss cheese brain get bigger and I rely on my productivity app to keep track of my life. OmniFocus let’s me automate, but it’s not the smoothest experience in the world.

Lately I’ve been bouncing back and forth between OmniFocus and plain text ToDo.txt, which I can control, read, and automate with ease.

The bouncing back and forth takes more personal bandwidth than just getting things done.

I need to make a decision and stick to it. I’ll have to put that on my todo.

Wherever it may land.

2 April 2021 by Ponderings and Musings Quirky. 0

No Foolin’

April Fools’ Day is my least favorite day of the year. I’ve never been a fan of the frivolity others find in pranks, lies, and other foolish things to celebrate the arrival of April. Even back when I was a kid I would dread the day because it just seemed unnecessary.

Now, this is not to say I haven’t found anything associated with April Fools’ Day to be amusing. Way back in the early 1990s, a local radio station started running ads and announcements that the United States had converted to Metric Time. They had ads from businesses announcing you could bring your microwave or VCR in to be reprogrammed for Metric Time. I thought that little campaign was clever. There’s probably been a couple others I’ve found amusing over the decades but since the Internet destroyed took over the world it seems like April Fools’ Day has just ramped up and amplified stupidity and idiocy.

I always look forward to April 2.

1 April 2021 by Ponderings and Musings 0

CGI.

This has bothered me since the “Downton Abbey” movie came out in 2019 and when the trailer was suggested on Youtube today, it finally hit me.

The did something with CGI to Dame Maggie Smith’s eyes in the final cut of the movie.

In the official trailer, Dame Maggie looks like Dame Maggie, as regal and glorious as ever.

In the same clip in the actual movie, they modified her left eye a bit.

Subconsciously I knew something had changed but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Not that I would put my finger in her eye or anything, but I’m happy I’ve resolved this little niggling in the back of my head.

And I wish they’d do another Downton Abbey movie.

31 March 2021 by Ponderings and Musings 0

The New Normal.

We are settling into eating dinner as a family on the gazebo. We are lucky to have such wonderful chefs in the kitchen. Some of us help out by setting the table and cleaning up.

30 March 2021 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Registered.

So amongst our errands for the day we had appointments at the ADOT Motor Vehicles Division office on the east side of Tucson. I’m always fascinated with Motor Vehicles offices such as these, so I was excited to see how the fine folks of Arizona handled things like issuing Driver Licenses and Motor Vehicle Registration.

A good deal of the paperwork can be completed online in their well designed web portal. This is where I took the opportunity to schedule appointments for our transactions. Surprisingly, the office was not particularly busy, so we breezed right through without an issue.

The friendly man at the front desk took our photos and engaged in pleasant chit chat. This is completely backward from anything I’ve experienced before; in both New York and Illinois they didn’t take your photo until you’ve been approved and you’ve paid your fees. Once we accomplished this, we were off to the desks, where we waiting in line for a few moments and then stepped forward when beckoned by the smiling faces behind the plexiglass. Earl took care of his license and the car registration; I just to take care of my license. No tests, not even an eye test this time. Show plenty of identification to prove who I am (I used my passport, my Illinois license, the official “change of address” mail from the USPS, and my Private Pilot Certificate). Answer some questions, get all of your documentation scanned, and off we go after $25.00. I received a temporary license.

Earl did the same, with differences in the paperwork, and then he quickly completed his car registration transaction. The only difference in this process is in Phoenix and Tucson you need to get an emissions test before you register your car. This seems a little out of order to me, but we accomplished this easily this past Saturday. I had seen the information on the website so that’s what probably kept the whole process simple.

We have a waterproof paper temporary license plate on the back of the car and for the first time in our car’s life it no longer has a front license plate bracket. ADOT issues random characters for license plate numbers now, hence the reason they send the license plate to you in the mail.

There are certain amount of feeling settled once you get all of your motor vehicle requirements registered to your new home state. I’m excited to no longer be driving around the area on Illinois plates. We probably still act like snowbirds but we no longer look the part.

29 March 2021 by Fun and Games Dept 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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