I must be getting old. My tolerance for ass-hattery is pretty much shot. I mean, who doesn’t love firework displays? However, there is a limit. Last year, living on the wrong side of CA85, it was like a war zone on New Year’s Eve. I was hoping that by moving to the “better” side, with more single family homes, and fewer apartment and duplex/triplex dwellers, the volume...
2015 is in the books. Apart from a pretty lazy day in the office, and trying to keep Garrett from freaking out with the inevitable fireworks, you can stick a fork in 2015, it is DONE. Some big changes, we bought a house in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, a modest 1,400 sqft abode for a whopping $695K, and every cent we could get our hands on. For the first time ever, we had a significant amount of...
I am not sure who said it first: “All good things must come to an end…”, but it is a truism. Alas, the holiday shutdown and followup vacation days are now over. Today I go back to the office for the first time in 11 days. In the interim was Christmas, some time with family, reading a few books, finishing the latest edition of The Baffler (if you are a natural born cynic, who...
It is Christmas day in the Beck/Anderson household. The day started well, I slept until almost 5:00 AM, not bad for me lately, some fresh coffee, and about 6:00, I was lobbied hard for a walk by Tate. Today, Garrett didn’t join us, so Tate got a 3.2 mile walk in. That should tire him out! Since the boys aren’t too kind to trees, we don’t do a lot of internal decorating, and we...
I am sure I disappointed my dad growing up. He tried mightily to get me interested in electronics, even building many Heathkit projects with me. I remember an AM radio, and a few others, but for me it was boring, and as a pre-teen, I just didn’t get into it. He had a Heathkit oscilloscope, and had built our hi-fi system from Heathkits, among many others. We had a B&W TV that often...
Early on when I began to listen to streaming music, I got a Pandora account. Probably 2011 or 2012. At first, it was the only solution, and I listened, but I found that the depth of their catalog “felt” weak. Radio stations would repeat songs often, and it just fell off the radar. Spotify, and then the Google / Apple offerings came along, and I was satisfied. So I seriously...
Today, at noon, we started our holiday shutdown, so I am off work for a whole week. I am going to do plenty of reading, maybe some bicycling, fawn over my boys, and in general relax. However, I have the itch to do a project. Since our little Oregon Scientific weather station is getting a little tired, and the replacements all seem to suck, I am going to make a little weather station. Plenty of...
Since we moved back from Arizona last year, we are a lot closer to our families, and we need to take advantage of that. Of course Barbara has been much more proactive than myself, but that is no excuse. Last year we visited my sister, Tracey and her wife in their home in Mountain Ranch, California. A lovely place nestled in the hills of Calaveras county, and a modest 2.5 hour drive away...
In this year’s balloting for the biggest douche in the Universe – Drivers, we have a new winner. A position that has been literally owned by BMW drivers so long, it seemed hereditary, has finally been overtaken by Audi drivers. BMW drivers have held the top position for so long it is almost prehistoric. From the fact that they seem to come without turn signals, and that speed limit...
After the low speed, but still catastrophic fall cycling yesterday, I knew that the next day would be brutal. I am not disappointed. The swelling is down, the golfball-sized lump on my elbow is gone, and the scrapes are scabbing up. Yay. However, the other damage is now coming to the front. The inventory isn’t great, but I guess it could be worse. The Elbow isn’t broken, full motion...