Last year Netflix rebooted the Norman Lear 1970s sitcom “One Day At A Time”. I’ve watched a couple of episodes and while updated for the 21st century, the vibe is pretty faithful to the original.
Back in January Netflix announced that season two was on its way with this clever promo: a remake of the original’s season two opening credits. I really like the attention to detail!
Looking serious at work today. The new glasses are really, really improving my computer experience.
During my team meeting today I mentioned that it was Wednesday but it definitely felt like Friday. With all the news and the Olympics and Mother Nature whipping her hair back and forth like something sounds like a Nay Nay, this week has felt like a solid year. And it’s only Wednesday.
I’ve blocked Trump from appearing in my Twitter feed, so all I know is that he needs crib notes to remember to be compassionate. Other than that I don’t know what that idiot is doing. I did see that the House representative from our old stomping grounds made some idiotic comments but that woman is a psycho anyway so I’m not surprised. She likes to grandstand because she has absolutely no idea as to what she’s doing, what she’s suppose to be doing, or how she got elected in the first place. I hope the people of NY22 smarten up in November and elect her out of office because she’s a blathering idiot. And no, I won’t dignify her asinine comments by mentioning them here.
I’m energized by the students speaking out about the Parkland High School shooting. It looks like Gen-Z may pick up the mantel where Gen-X and the Millenials have completed failed. More power to them.
Today is Presidents’ Day in some states of the United States. In some states it’s President’s Day, in others it’s Washington’s Birthday. Ironically, even though we live in the Land of Lincoln, today is Washington’s Birthday. The TV ads tell us we should buy a mattress because it’s Presidents Day.
What to do with that apostrophe?
When this holiday, whatever it’s called, rolls around in February I always fall out of step with the world around me. I don’t feel compelled to buy a car or a mattress. Today Facebook told me I should be buying Rosetta Stone language software so I can “speak like a President”.
In this day and age no one should aspire to speak like that idiot.
Today I took a moment to remember the Presidents I have experienced in 49 years on this planet. I remember everyone from Nixon onward, though my strongest Presidential memories start with Carter. We were served lots of peanuts in elementary school during his administration.
Remember when the President was presidential? Don’t let that memory fade and do something about it.
Olé!
Sometimes I lead, sometimes I follow. The more confident of us is the one with what I call Grrr-isma. He can own the room in seconds; I need to go through a few warm-up exercises and tip toe in from the shallow in. He is my rock. He’s my biggest fan. I don’t think words can express my true feelings. I’m rarely without words but he leaves me speechless.
He is my love.
There’s a lot of discussion these days about Facebook ads and Twitter ads and Russian bots and every other complication you can think of plaguing today’s U.S. society. So I’m proposing a solution to try to get a handle on this.
I still need a snappy name, but basically it’s a “U.S. Real Advertising Identification Law” (RAIL doesn’t really get headlines though).
Basically, it’d work like this:
These efforts would help curb this trend of online content providers trying to embed ads in their social media streams like just another post, much like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook do today. Any advertisement being disguised as a news source would be immediately identified.
I understand that much of what we see on the Internet is fueled by ad revenue. I’m not trying to impede these efforts, instead I’m trying to make sure there’s a very clear delineation between content and advertising.
I posted this on Facebook earlier today.
When I introduce myself to other pilots I tend to say, “I’m a third-generation Private Pilot. With the last name ‘Wing’, you kind of have to be.” Some will say, “oh, you’re a pilot like your Dad.” All of this is true, and while my Dad and I never flew together with me in the left seat, I’m sure he would approve of my aviator abilities.
On one hand, we are very similar pilots: Like him, I like smaller airports, I like seeing things fairly low and slow and I share his appreciation of the older GA aircraft that populate the skies. But in other ways we are somewhat opposite in our approach: I think the new technology is cool, I like low-wing (he did not), I like talking to ATC (he avoided towered airports) and while he wanted to build airplanes (and ended up building or rebuilding three of them), I have absolutely no talent nor interest in doing so. I want to continue my aviation path to CFI and maybe beyond, he was happy flying VFR in an open cockpit.
The one thing that is definitely common amongst all three generations of us Wing pilots: we have a big smile from beginning to end of each flight. In the photo of me standing next to the Archer III I’m wearing my Dad’s flight jacket. I wear it once in a while. It makes my smile even a little bit bigger. And I count my blessings for having a spouse that loves to fly with me.
One of the things I love about living in a large city is the availability of public transit. Earl and I live well within reach of one of the CTA “L” lines, specifically the Brown Line. We can be downtown in less than a half hour. We can be at Jamie and Chris’ house in Albany Park in less than 20 minutes. However, it does take us over an hour to get to O’Hare by train, as we have to go to the Loop, transfer to the Blue Line, and then ride all the way out to O’Hare. That part hasn’t ever really made sense to me.
When we decided to move to Chicago I declared it was my intention to use public transit or walk as much as possible. I’d take the train, take a bus, or enjoy the walk anywhere my feet would take me. If the train doesn’t go where we want to go, I always suggest Lyft before driving. I like to save the driving for places outside of the city, like when I go to Chicago Executive Airport to fly or something.
Everyone else in the family is more apt to drive.
It’s not that I don’t like driving; I love driving, even in the city. It’s just that it seems so un-city like to drive everywhere, especially to places where public transit is a very valid option. I’d rather deal with a drunk on the train than city in traffic on the Kennedy for an hour just to go three miles.
I think public transit is the wave of the future. Making a city realistically easy to navigate via train, bus, or as a pedestrian seems to be the way to go. And this is coming from a guy who’s dreamed of designing roads all his life.
Since a regular day involves working nine to ten hours in the home office, there are some days where I need to get out and be around people. I walk the neighborhood every day in the name of exercise, but I can get only so far during my 20 minute walks. After supper tonight I suggested to Earl that we go for a walk downtown. So we hopped on the train.
We decided to walk the Magnificent Mile. It was a beautiful night to walk; it’s seasonably comfortable and the energy of this beautiful city energized me to get me through the end of the week.
We took a brief stop over the river to grab a couple of shots. If you know where this is taken, the camera is strategically placed to leave out one garish “landmark” that was added to the downtown area in the past couple of years.
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!
