So here’s a photo of me sitting in front of my video editing computer.
I have an old webcam attached to this Mac mini that I use for testing scripts that I may record in future videos. I’ve been in my “creative flow” for much of the evening and it feels good. Being happy away from work makes it easier to be at happy at work.
Some folks in my social media circles are starting to lose their minds when it comes to the presidential elections. I wretched about it last night so there’s no reason to get my hackles up about the subject today. I rolled my eyes one too many times today so I just shut down the browser and went and did something productive.
Vice President Kamala Harris takes her official portrait Thursday, March 4, 2021, in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
So, Joe Biden announced yesterday that he is withdrawing from the presidential elections in November. He endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris to take his place. I suppose it will become official during the Democratic National Convention in August.
Of course the Orange Rapist is having fits and wants a refund on all the money he spent on screaming at Joe. This course of action has completely thrown off his summer golf plans. It also eclipses anything that happened last week during the Republican National Convention and spins the news media away from the outrageous bandage he’s been wearing on his ear. He paid for those props.
I sound cynical. I am cynical. In my perfect world, we’d just start talking about the president elections now instead of spinning up the hype four years before this cursed event.
Joe did the right thing. I was never crazy about voting for him this time around. It’s time for younger blood to come in and get things done. It’s time to change course. And now, Trump is the oldest candidate to run for president in the history of the country.
The media should be questioning Trump’s competence and mental acuity now. He’s way past whatever excuse we could call “his prime” and should also step down. That little Reddit troll he selected to run as his VP, the one that grew a mangy beard to look less ugly, wouldn’t stand a chance in the role, so it’d be fun to watch that go down in flames.
Overall I’m comfortable with Kamala, much more comfortable than I was with Joe. I think she has it in her and I’ll be throwing my vote in her direction come November. That is, if the country is still here, she’s still the nominee, and nothing startling has happened like twisters wiping out half the northeast again or something.
Good times. If it wasn’t a wasted vote I’d still vote for the Very Large Meteor.
I went hiking yesterday morning. It was a bit more humid than it’s been in past weeks, but it was still cool at the Summit Trailheads atop Mount Lemmon. This time I hiked down the fairly steep Lemmon Rock Lookout Trail. Next time I’ll take some hiking poles or something to be a little more steady on my feet.
I had a harder time than usual putting this video together. With the political turmoil going on and Earl yelling “breaking news!” from the other room every hour, I had a hard time finding music tracks I thought would fit the vibe I was striving to achieve.
I talk about being positive and doing positive things for the world in my videos. I truly believe that. But sometimes I need to listen to my own press.
In case you haven’t heard, we are experiencing what some have termed as “the worst global Internet outage in history”. It’s because of Crowdstrike, a security company used by many, many companies. They sent out a security patch to systems running Microsoft Windows yesterday, and that patch had issues. Computers that applied this patch then crash and can’t be restarted without removing said patch. The kicker is, getting the computer to a state where the patch can be removed is tricky, especially if the computer is not locally accessible by someone that knows how to do this sort of thing.
And because of this, airports and airlines and DMVs and banks and hospitals and telecoms and all sorts of businesses that run Microsoft Windows and use Crowdstrike to keep their systems secure and hurting bad today.
Apple devices (Macs, iPhones, iPads, etc) and Linux computers are not locally affected by this outage, but systems they access could be affected. Microsoft based computers on their own (not managed by Crowdstrike) are also not affected. I’m 99% sure your gaming computer is fine.
We have been dealing with Crowdstrike all day at work today and it looks like the fun and frivolity is going to continue into the weekend. Luckily, the applications my team at work supports all run on Linux based servers, outside of two legacy applications we inherited from another group during a recent re-organization at work.
I’m surprised a patch from a prominent security company made it into the wild with such a defect. Usually these things are caught well before they’re released to the public. As of this writing, Crowdstrike’s stock price is down over 11%. I’m a little surprised by that; I thought it’d be much more.
Mother Nature has kicked this year’s Monsoon Season up a notch, and according to the National Weather Service, this is just the appetizer for what may be an active weekend for storms.
I made my first Official Storm Spotter report to the National Weather Service office here in Tucson tonight. We clocked winds at 52 MPH at 18:28 this evening, which puts things into Severe Thunderstorm territory. Of course I was outside enjoying the majesty of it all.
I’ve been catching lightning shots all night. Lightning at sunset is glorious.
I just caught this strike on video about 10 minutes before posting this entry.
My husband and I have been watching Hulu’s “The Bear” over the past couple of weeks. This show, about a family owned Chicago beef restaurant, has been a frenetic ball of chaos since the first moments of episode one. It’s not something I would normally watch, but there are interesting moments and I get the whole “art vibe” of the production. The show has won awards all over the place and everyone is stumbling over one another to declare how much they enjoy the show. It’s the latest in a litany of Internet sensations and has earned its place among “Breaking Bad”, “Orange Is The New Black”, and the one whose name escapes me right now but I remember everyone hated the last season of it.
Chaos is entertainment in these chaotic times of the 21st century, and it’s apparent that folks just want more chaos.
We tried watching “Succession” and didn’t finish the first season; if I wanted to watch the Trump family be insufferable idiots I’d turn on CNN. I know actors like to stretch their craft by realistically portraying these whacked out characters, but watching “Fishes”, the Christmas episode of season two of “The Bear”, threw my anxiety levels through the roof. The direction was amazing, the portrayals were top notch, but I did not find one ounce of entertainment in the entire experience.
If I wanted to watch folks have inexplicable meltdowns I’d drive to the nearest Walmart or Safeway or hang out in one of the seedy areas of Tucson.
For me, entertainment is escapism where I can find something to celebrate. I find no interest in wallowing in completely mental situations of characters cooked up to scream and fling forks and turn over dining room tables while Christmas carols are playing in the background.
I’ll continue to watch “The Bear” with my husband, as he very much enjoys the show and I enjoy spending time with him. But when it comes to entertainment?
We are at midweek. I’m focusing on the good things and avoiding the bad things. This past weekend we went for a little ride up into Redington Pass. It was warm, it was sunny, and it was beautiful.
I’m sitting under the gazebo in the middle of July. This is not too bad for a Tuesday afternoon in the Sonoran Desert; it’s 98ºF but rather pleasant. There’s a decent breeze. The National Weather Service says we can expect thunderstorms but not until later tonight. I like that. Night lightning shots are cool.
Speaking of lightning shots, I’m very pleased with a shot I took during a storm this past weekend.
There’s a little bit of “lens blowout” (I don’t know the official term) at the bottom of the lightning strike but for the most part it came out well. I’m enjoying storm photography and my life videography in general as a creative outlet.
I have been thinking it’s Wednesday all day, though it is Tuesday. My husband is doing better with COVID; he tested negative yesterday. Mike and I are negative, but now Chris is testing positive. He’s just feeling a little rundown. I just heard that Jamie is coming home from barber school with a little bit of a scratchy throat. He partied in Los Angeles over the weekend, so it could just be that he’s tired.
I’m a few days into 56 and I’m feeling good about that. I’m looking forward to life’s next adventure, whether big or small.
I’ve been trying extra hard to avoid the news over the past 48 hours. My opinion is not important in the cacophony of analysis over what happened in Butler, Pa., and honestly, I don’t have the energy to care, let alone share thoughts and prayers.
I am at the point in my life where I just want to punch something every time I hear Wolf Blitzer’s voice, so I just put on some news noise canceling headphones and go about my day.
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.
