Jamie and Chris have a new Oculus Quest 2. It’s a fully contained, quite affordable Virtual Reality headset from Facebook. The experience is amazing.
I gave it a whirl and was impressed at how quickly I was able to adapt to the controls and how immersive the experience is. I could easily see this tech doing amazing things, and not just for gaming. I wonder how long it will be before we all just put VR headsets on for our Zoom calls.
I think the neighborhood has more Halloween decorations this year than the number of Christmas decorations last year. There’s pumps and compressors blowing up all sorts of ghouls and goblins. Lights adorn many fences and porches. Two and three flats are adorned with decked out balconies. Every once in a while a tree or a porch will make a screeching sound as one walks by. Motion sensor technology is cool!
A photo from a controversial film on “Netflix” or two folks going to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. You decide.
I know nothing about this film; the photo just made me smirk.
This morning’s sunrise was filled with glorious color. I tried to capture it in a photo, but the pictures don’t do it justice.
Mother Nature is awesome.
My husband and I celebrated nine years of legally wedded bliss today. There was no fancy dinner at a swanky restaurant to celebrate the occasion as the pandemic has changed all that. We did, however, have a wonderful home cooked meal (yay for a husband that cooks!) and great conversation.
One should marry their best friend.
Even though we’ve been together for over 24 years and as a gay married couple. have multiple anniversaries to celebrate, each one of them is special.
Especially when there’s flowers involved.
I have to admit I’m rather excited about the HomePod Mini. At an affordable price point, we’re going to be able to put one or two of these around our home to supplement our existing HomePods.
I know folks like to gripe about Siri but we rarely have an issue using Siri to play music, set alarms, or control our smart devices. We have Alexa in da house as well, and she seems to get more confused than Siri on a regular basis. Maybe I’m just wired to be more Apple friendly or something.
I’m also excited about the new iPhone 12 lineup. My iPhone X is going on three years old and I’m in the mood for an upgrade. I believe the iPhone 12 will fit the bill. I’ll probably sell my Canon camera to help offset the cost. I haven’t used it in quite a while.
I’ve been trying to take more photos to inspire me to write more. I took this shot off the balcony the other night. It’s blurry because I have an iPhone X, the last model before the night shot feature or whatever it’s called. The little buildings you see on the horizon are the Sears Tower, the Trump Tower, and the Hancock Building. They’re about four miles away.
There were no business gatherings on the rooftop patio across the alley from us this year. The trendy building has been mostly empty since the beginning of the pandemic. Once in a while someone will sneak up there to talk on their phone during the lunch hour but there’s been no one at the bar, no televisions, no games of pool. 2020 is certainly one for the history books. I wonder if we’ll learn from this round of history.
The clock on the clock tower is always 10 minutes fast. The clock was repaired the first week of us living in Chicago. Within a day of the crane coming down the clocks jumped ahead 10 minutes and have stayed that way for three years. I find it disconcerting. I like my clocks to be synchronized.
Earl and I watched “Star Trek: Insurrection” this evening. I believe it was the first time watching the full movie since its release in 1998. Tonight’s viewing is part of our recent tradition of watching a Star Trek movie on Sunday evening; we’ve been watching them in order.
While there were mixed reviews for the film back when it was released, I have to say it’s one of my favorites of the franchise. The strife isn’t so thick to be depressing. The movie feels like a natural extension of The Next Generation TV show. And the idea of a society that has shunned technology to go back to their “basic” roots is appealing to me.
One of the hardest things about watching these movies is knowing they were produced before these turbulent times. They were filmed before Y2K, 9/11, and of course an era when Trump was suppose to be taken seriously. I see an innocence in the production that one does not see in modern films. So many of our entertainment outlets have been spun in a more grim direction. I really felt hopeful after watching “Insurrection”, but then I took a peek at Twitter and was reminded that we are solidly in the 21st century with all its Second Dark Ages drama.
I closed the Twitter app. I’ll probably be back in a couple of days.
While I’m sure I can’t get any of my family to agree to this, I would really cherish the idea of buying an old farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere, but still within reasonable distance of civilization. Fires in a fireplace, plenty of land around, and being able to keep to ourselves. We’d burn incandescent lights and try to keep things simple.
How I’d love the ability to get away from all this. Even for just a little while.
Today is National Coming Out Day. Today is the day the LGBTQ+ community encourages support for those coming to terms with their sexuality. As I said on Facebook earlier today:
Today is National Coming Out Day. A LOT has changed since I came out in the mid 1980s, and the vast majority of it has been great progress for the community. Let’s keep that momentum moving forward and let’s respect the individual experience each member of the community has with their coming out process. We don’t all do it the same way or at the same pace.
Even though I came out in the mid 1980s when the AIDS epidemic was nearing full swing and there wasn’t a bunch of letters together (I think it might have been around the start of “GLB”), I didn’t have it too bad. Last night I was watching an episode of “V: The Series” (from 1984) and remember thinking on its original run that Duncan Regher was hot.
Looking at him today I don’t know why I thought that, he’s not really my type. It probably had to do with the hormones of a 16 year old.
Many years ago I wrote a blog entry about coming out, and you can see it here.
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!
