Truman hangs out in the middle of our suite floor, because there’s a nice breeze from the ceiling fan at this spot. He’s a Casual Cat.
Alert!
I missed important calls from work last night. The issue at work ultimately turned out to not be a problem related to my team’s work, but it took some time to get that figured out and since the crisis team at work couldn’t reach me, they started calling up the hierarchy chain.
I am disappointed in myself for not being on top of this.
One of the most irritating things about the modern age is that spammers and scammers are allowed to irritate and ring phones and send text messages at all times of the day and night without any sort of control efforts from our legislative bodies. Anyone that spams or scams my phone should be shot. Full stop. This is why I have my phone so locked down when I’m sleeping.
I figured out how to set up the “sleep” focus mode on my iPhone so I will still get calls from work. Normally my iPhone is ALWAYS in silent mode. I don’t even know what my ringer sounds like. But when I go to bed each night, I’ll have this reminder to prompt me to take it out of silent mode as I put it on the charger.
I’m not about to miss another call from work. I have too much responsibility and my team does too many great things for me to fall down on this.
And props to me for having the same alarm clock that I purchased at Ames in Worcester, Mass. in 1990.
More Hockey.
It was the second to last regular game of the season with the Tucson Roadrunners playing San Jose tonight. As one of the first 1500 fans in attendance, we both received Roadrunner bobble heads. Tomorrow night is fan appreciation night and it’ll probably be another raucous time.
We lost. Again. But we are in the playoffs. We’re holding off on purchasing playoff tickets until we see how the team does in the first round, which they’ll play away from home.
SKYWARN.
After decades of chasing storms, I finally went ahead and became an official SKYWARN spotter for the National Weather Service here in Tucson. Tonight’s class was very informative and enjoyable. I’m going to work on the advanced classes (which are presented online on an ad hoc basis) this weekend.
My storm chasing trip in 30 days away. I’ve been counting down to this trip since the first of the year and I’m really excited for the chase opportunities in May. I’m fortunate to be in a place and space that allows me to take this time off and do this sort of thing for a week. Hopefully Mother Nature will be a bit feisty and give me things to chase. Long range forecasts are looking promising, though I may have to go farther east than I did last year.
If Mother Nature decides to settle down a bit, there’s still plenty of exploring to do in the nation’s heartland. And I’m good with that too.
Colors.
My iPhone camera didn’t capture these colors as well as I hoped it would. These flowers were strikingly beautiful on my walk. They made me smile.
Warm.
Spring has sprung in the Sonoran Desert and it is lovely.
I was out and about today and decided it was too warm to go with the the windows down, so we switched to the Arizona default of constant air conditioning. Most folks in the area use air conditioning year round, but I like the fresh air when I can get it.
Today it was a little to warm for that approach.
One of the things I really love about living in the desert, especially at this time of year, is the warm breezes that blow at night. I enjoy sitting out on our patio well after dark, looking at a moonless sky and enjoying the warm breeze.
Yes, it’s a dry heat. And I love it.
I’m a month away from my storm chasing trip and I’m ramping up my meteorological studies so I can be in the right place at the right time more often this year. Last year I witnessed several awesome thunderstorms, some impressive straight line winds, and one F1 tornado in the very northeast corner of Colorado. I don’t know where the storms will take me this year, and as far as I’m concerned, anything is game, but I am really looking forward to the adventure.
Sunbathing.
Temperatures are firing up here in the Sonoran Desert, and our two canine family members love to sit in the hot sun for a few moments every afternoon. Lucky gets himself right situated on the landscaping rock and sister Jinx sits next to him, apparently holding watch, to make sure everything and everyone is safe.
We don’t let them spend too much time out there as we don’t want them to get a sunburn. I do believe they enjoy their brief doses of sunshine, though.
Be Better.
Good, Better, Best
Never let it rest
‘Til the good get better
And the better get best
I woke up this morning feeling energized and ready to take on the work week. This is the first time in a while that I’ve felt this way; last week was mentally exhausting for me and I don’t even really know why, other than it just was. Sometimes, it is what it is and it was what it was. The key to a successful life is to get beyond this and keep moving forward.
I’m continuing my decluttering exercises I started last month; I have a bunch of old technology ready for recycling, I have a bunch of old clothes going to Goodwill, and I’ve been throwing out paper and such that I just don’t need anymore. On the flip side, I’ve been looking at all the books I’ve accumulated over the years and I can’t bring myself to get rid of them. I was looking at a couple of titles by Erma Bombeck (one of my favorite humorists of all time), and I was thinking I might want to read those books again, because they always put a smile on my face. Then I got to thinking, I don’t really enjoy reading books on an electronic device, though I try over and over to make it something I should do. Perhaps it’s because I’m using an iPad instead of a Kindle or something, but there’s nothing like a real book and turning real pages.
I’ve also been cleaning up some of my computing workflows, namely trying to reduce the “friction” around capturing my thoughts. I’m using an app called Drafts, which is designed to capture text quickly. From there you can go back and process it through automation; I have built quite a few automations where I can push text to my to do lists, other lists I have built for upcoming adventures, such as my storm chasing trip next month, or to my journal. I forget things because I don’t write them down, and Drafts is giving me the ability to write things down quickly.
On a Monday, at lunch time, the work week is off to a grand start. I’m hoping to maintain this cadence through the week. Good things are ahead, and I’m doing what I can to get those good things as easily as possible.
Loud.
I stopped at a local gas station to put a bunch of expensive gasoline into our car. Fuel prices have jumped up a lot in the past couple of weeks, we are currently around $4.299 a gallon.
I feel like an oil executive is getting very rich because of this.
One of the things that agitates me quite a bit is the use of technology for dubious reasons. This particular gas station has decent sized screens built into the gas pumps, much like most of the gas stations in the area. This particular location has seen it fit to put advertising videos on the screen while one is pumping their gas, and the videos in question are very, very loud in volume.
That is, until you bang on the touchscreen enough times to shut things up while you’re being lectured on the virtues of candy and such.
I despise advertising. I used to make a living writing ads for a radio station and I still despise advertising. I am usually quite good at tuning out the idiocy, but when the volume is cranked up to 11, I’m going to start banging on keys until the volume goes away.
I won’t be stopping at this location again.
Caturday.
Truman started his morning rounds rather late today. In this photo he’s walking along the side our pantry, very catlike, while Lucky dog watches with a casual gaze. Jinx is always paying attention to Truman’s whereabouts, so she had to sit up on the couch to see where he was headed.
