The Mandelbear's Musings

If you're anywhere east of Seattle in the US it looks as though there's some bad weather headed your way: This is the first time I've encountered the term "bomb cyclone". According to the Washington Post, "The Weather Service office serving Buffalo is calling it a “once in a generation” storm system." (Which probably means that we'll see one every couple of years, given climate change.)

Here's WaPo's advice about how to get ready: How to prepare yourself, your home and your vehicle for extreme cold; 20 smartphone tips for weathering natural disasters. To which I will add: if you want to use an electric vehicle as a temporary power source, I found out that -- at least in the Chevy Bolt -- auxiliary power isn't coming from the main battery. There's an ordinary lead-acid battery that powers the car's electronics, and when it's totally discharged, nothing will work regardless of what's in the main battery. So if you're planning on spending an hour or two working on your laptop and charging your phones, hit the "start" button.

And if you don't have any plastic "space blankets" in your house and in your car, get some.

Be careful out there.

It's been a week. I bought a Molift Smart 150 Patient Lift (via craigslist), and a portable air conditioner (off Amazon, selected purely on the basis of delivery date). N and her kids were here Sunday evening through Thursday evening, and we spent much of Wednesday going through artwork, and got in a little band practice Thursday afternoon.

We have accumulated a lot of artwork. Mostly at science fiction conventions, but not entirely: there are things that Colleen and I have inherited from our parents and grandparents -- my parents were serious collectors of Inuit art (most of which I let go to my brother because I'm out of wall space). A lot of nostalgia there.

We are, of course, in the middle of a heat wave. Welcome to the Anthropocene. Tomorrow is predicted to hit 97, which is still about 10 degrees less than what's predicted for Seattle. I'm glad we're not living in San Jose anymore. (Did I mention that on Thursday? No, apparently not.)

Hot-weather tip: soak a dish towel in water, wring it out to where it isn't dripping, and hang it in the freezer. Take it out an hour later and wear it like a scarf.

( Notes & links, as usual [CW: medical TMI] )

One of the easily-predictable consequences of a warmer planet is more violent weather. The New York Times had an article a couple of days ago, titled What’s Going on Inside the Fearsome Thunderstorms of Córdoba Province?. Among its vivid descriptions is this one of the fleet of radar trucks being used by researchers:

Raised off the ground on hydraulic feet, the trucks are able to scan in winds that might otherwise peel asphalt off a road.

As anyone who knows me can easily guess, my mind went immediately to On the Storm Planet by Cordwainer Smith; curious readers may wish to compare this picture from the Times article with this one of a ground car bolting itself to the ground on Henriada, where

... Heavy ground cars make it possible to travel on the surface. When a tornado approaches, they use mechanical screw-like devices to bolt the vehicle to the ground.

(Just as an aside, On the Storm Planet includes one of my favorite characters, the turtle-girl T'Ruth, who you can see imagined by Virgil Finlay and Pierre Lacombe (pretty far down the page in both cases). Because turtle.)

Readers looking for something a little closer to home might also want to look up Mother of Storms by John Barnes. (Trigger warning: I remember reading a review that included the unforgettable phrase "the sex is as violent as the weather".)

Good grief! Got so wrapped in songwriting -- or is that FAWMwriting -- that I didn't notice it was Sunday. I will attempt to rectify that error.

I managed to start FAWM (February Album-Writing Month, in case you missed the announcements) pretty well; the silly thing's been well received, I think. You can also see the lyrics on yesterday's Songs for Saturday, but you'll have to click through to FAWM if you want the audio. Which is not too bad for something that was slapped together in under an hour. It's only the one song so far, we'll see whether I can make a second song come together by tomorrow night.

Related to that, I finally got around to uploading Coffee, Computers, and Song to bandcamp

It's still snowing here on Whidbey; we're well on our way to getting the predicted 3-4 inches. I am not crazy about driving in snow, but I can do it when I have to. I parked on the street this evening; I don't know what the driveway is going to be like after the slush freezes, but I don't really want to know.

The most useful links this week are probably the ones on Monday about Data Privacy Day.

( Notes & links, as usual )

We had a power outage Monday, from about 2:30am to noon. N and I promptly went and bought flashlights, rechargable batteries, bottled water, and other emergency supplies. Given that the island is subject to high winds on a regular basis (which is why the county doesn't allow living in RVs), we have to assume that some future outage might last days.

The other news is that I have a new phone -- another LG G5, this time from AT&T. Unlike the last one (which I eventually sent back), everything works on this one. There have been a few glitches, but on the whole it's been a pretty smooth transition. Oddly, the MyChevrolet app works! Weird. (The website is still badly broken, of course.)

I've been having some trouble sleeping, or more specifically getting back to sleep after waking around 2:30am. That happened twice this week, including a full-on anxiety attack Friday. Ticia came to my rescue, lying next to my face and cuddling. We have a wonderful cat.

( Notes & links, as usual )

It snowed last night. Emmy finally got to be outside while it was snowing -- she grew up in San Jose. Me, I'm just glad I don't have to try driving in it -- I'm long out of practice. I may walk to Trader Joe's later.

I've spent altogether too much energy trying to get Colleen's prescriptions transferred to Express Scripts. Depressing. My prescriptions transferred with no problems; I suspect that the problem with hers is that Walgreens' records have her birth date wrong. But the website(s) are miserable, and their tech support and customer support people don't know much about how they work - I got information that was manifestly incorrect from them. Bletch.

A couple of times I've just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. Is there such a thing as a depression attack?

Meanwhile, I'm worried about this year's taxes. Very worried. I almost certainly don't have enough withholding this year, so I'm likely to be screwed. My sign-on bonus from Amazon is completely gone.

A very productive day. Go me!

There are still an unknown number of email bugs left, but I nailed a couple. I got in a short but very brisk walk (and paid for it later with some muscle aches). And got quite a lot done at work: a major decision about directory layout on the server, and some related CGI programming.

Work has just gotten very interesting and busy, but in a good way. Eeek!

I bought myself a cup of chili and a little container of raspberries and blackberries, excusing it as a reward for the weekend's system administration work.

Insight of the day: you're supposed to get out of breath when you're exercising. That's the point. Oh. Right.

It was foggy this morning and, while not warm by any means, at least warmer than the last two days. Above freezing.

The last two days saw a thick layer of frost on the car in the morning. After freezing my fingers Tuesday I remembered to put on gloves yesterday; they'd been languishing in the trunk for at least a season, and maybe several years. Casting about for a more convenient place to put them, I finally remembered...

the glove compartment.

Silly old bear!

... when cloudy was the weather... I took the YD to school under a pearl-grey sky, through fog that came down to the ground in some places but had lifted to tree-top level in others. In the clear patches the sun slanted down between raggy clouds; in others it turned the fog golden. The trees run the full range from deep-green palms and pines, through bright reds and browns, to a few threadbare early shedders.

It's as close as California gets to autumn. I like it.

It's raining; a steady rain that marks the end of the dry season. I'm hoping that this won't be another year when the rains start early and end even earlier; we're coming off of two or three years of drought. We'll see. Every once in a while I can hear the wind howling in the trees and the wires. It's beautiful.

I managed to misplace my raincoat. It was, of course, exactly where I'd put it to get it out of the way for the dry season: hanging on the back of the office door.

Is the change in the weather a sign of other changes? The economy? Health care? It's too much to hope for, I know, but I'm going to try to be hopeful regardless, as the year winds down into winter.

There's a lot to like about a foggy fall morning: it's cool, and comfortable, and somehow very calming. But the best thing is still being able to pull out of my East-facing driveway without having the sun in my eyes.

I made dinner in the crock pot yesterday, at Colleen's direction, because the YD didn't want to. She also didn't go to the AJA concert because she didn't want to miss a call from her boyfriend.

I took a walk by Los Gatos Creek, but cut it back to an hour not because I was tired or sore but because it was too damned hot. My mind was rather unfocussed -- too many things to think about -- but it was a good walk anyway. It's going to be another scorcher today; I'll probably walk in the evening when it's cooler.

Colleen and I went to the Alexander James Adams concert in the evening - an all-acoustic gig (so he didn't have to drive). Good, as usual. I don't think it got much publicity; it was even more thinly-attended than the last one. He mentioned the possibility of doing "internet concerts" -- I think it's a good idea.

I made a little progress fighting entropy at the Starport, and got grab bars installed on the back bathroom toilet so Colleen can use it without assistance.

It's been feeling like summer all weekend; it's after dark and the air is still warm. I was glad to be wearing short sleeves for my walk this morning; about four miles alongside Los Gatos Creek.

I've been reasonably productive, too, cleaning up in the bedroom. I've been taking it in short spurts so as not to spend too long in uncomfortable positions, but I've made noticable progress. (Also added noticable boxes and piles in many awkward places, but presumably that's just a temporary side-effect.)

Not a whole lot done, all things considered, but I think more work (at any rate) than yesterday. The trick of keeping track and posting a "done" list for the day seems to be working for the moment. Eventually I expect it'll get onerous. Hopefully not until after I stop needing the crutch. We'll see.

Got a call from mangoavenger around lunchtime; it was raining when I tried to go walkies, so I took the phone into my car instead. Always fun, though a little surprising, to get a phone call from her.

Interesting observation: the odd rash on my lower legs, that starts just at the top of my socks and goes up about 9 inches, came back over the last couple of days. It had been nearly gone when I got back from Seattle. Something in the carpet at work? I tried tucking my pants legs into my socks today, and it seemed to help. They're cleaning the carpets over the weekend; depending on what I'm allergic to that could be either good or bad. We'll see.

And Colleen managed to get our astronomical cell phone bill from last month chopped down by $400 -- more than half. Loud cheers. Basically they retroactively put us on a more reasonable plan. Whatever works. There are a few more adjustments to come; AT&T has a plan that lets you put your cell phone and landline on the same bill: it gives you free calls to any AT&T phone.

On the other hand, I still have at least one bill to pay tonight, and I haven't done much toward getting email working -- it's just piling up in my inbox at rahul.net. We'll see whether any of that gets done before the end of the weekend.

Good morning! I crashed hard last night and slept a little longer than usual; the sun appears to have returned without my assistance. It always does, fortunately.

I live in what passes for a city , so I still haven't seen the sun above the houses across the street, but there was light behind the ragged high clouds when I stood on the porch to look this morning. The pink is gone now; I think I could see the sun by now, but the light behind the clouds is far too beautiful for me to wish them away.

A merry Yule and a happy Solstice to you and yours, and may this year's sun shine upon you with love, friendship, and happiness.

It was raining gently as I went out this morning to take the Younger Daughter to school; the air smelled clean and fresh, and the light was beautiful. I love the half-light of morning and evening, and rainy days with a little sun leaking out around the clouds.

We went to bed early last night; I think that of everything I've missed in the last month I've missed snuggling the most. I've written before of being a loner, and not wanting attention when I'm sick or hurting. That doesn't apply when I'm feeling lonely. That's a different kind of pain.

I woke up around 4:30 and got out of bed at 5:00; I should know by now that if I go to bed early that's going to happen. I should just get out of bed and make use of the extra time.

They were giving out free flu shots in our building at work; got mine. Very mild needle-stick; I'm getting some soreness and a bit of a fever now. Apparently I needed it.

Managed to get in a walk at lunchtime, between the morning and afternoon rains. I like rain, but I'm not really equipped to walk in it anymore: that really takes a hooded poncho and waterproof hiking boots.

It started to rain -- scattered drops, but big ones -- just as I was about to leave the pond-side trail and take the long way back to work. Changed course and pushed the pace to (I hope) just short of leg cramps. Didn't get all that wet.

The temperature was perfect: mid-60s, I think; just right for getting comfortably warm without overheating and dripping sweat.

...gustavbloggers.com, live from the Zipa datacenter in New Orleans. Via interdictor, who was there blogging Katrina.

Despite temperature in the very high 90's during my walk, I've been having a pretty good day. At least my knees didn't give me much trouble.

I've managed to do three loads of laundry since last night, and got my presentation for tomorrow afternoon finished at last (in OOo Impress). The seeming obstacle from yesterday evening turned out to be a non-problem, if not a feature, once I got things properly figured out.

The one problem is that now I'll have to actually build the damned thing, and run some actual experiments on it. And, as I think I've mentioned, it's way out of my field: electronics, not programming. Luckily, I have coworkers who are much better at orking that particular cow, and one of them is already listed as a coinventer.

Actually, I'm not the one with problems. Our IP manager is going to have to find me a lawyer who can actually understand the thing.

Did I mention that our sysadmin wants to learn guitar? And that his office is across the hall from mine? We tracked down a chord chart via Google, and I've taught him D, A7, and G. Other folks have showed him Am, Em, and G7, and C. He's made more progress in three days than either of my kids did in a week, so there's hope. Thursday or Friday we'll head over to Gryphon so he can get some new strings, a tuner, and a book.

Gryphon is still dangerously close to the Palo Alto Fry's. The only thing that could possibly make it worse is if they were further apart but still within walking distance: right now I have to decide whether I want a walk or a shopping expedition.

Two weeks ago today, a tornado ripped through Illinois. At points it was up to a quarter mile wide, and it did enough damage, cracking giant powerlines like toothpicks and yanking old-growth trees right from the ground, that it completely closed the major highway I57 for a 35-mile expanse south of Chicago.

I was lucky enough to be traveling that day (on the way to the airport for WWDC) and pulled off the road just in time to intersect with the tornado at its worst. Inside a gas station with no basement and plenty of active fuel lines, it was the first time in a long time—maybe ever—that I genuinely feared for my life, that I thought things were over. Watch that video above. Then know that I was a lot closer.

But as I've played the scenes back in my head over the last several days, it's not the storm that’s proven to be the most haunting. It's the way the people reacted. Because in the gas station, I watched a group of 20 scared people not take shelter, but stand in front of a wall of glass to record the event—to make some YouTube clips.

Just got back from a drive with the Cat. Smoke from the fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains made the sky an odd, dirty blue-gray as we were setting out.

Good walk this afternoon, after tasty shrimp wonton soup in our building's little deli. I love their soups. I like to eat at my desk from about 11:30, and then go out for a walk at noon.

My weight was 180.5 this morning! Even as the low end of a +-1 swing, it's an improvement.

I'm writing this in the living room on Matrix, our ancient Thinkpad. For the first time I've killed my IM client in the office and am running it here, sitting next to a sleepy flower_cat. Works. The screen, 800x600, is cramped, but at least it has a decent keyboard. It's so much like coming home that I'm unlikely ever to use any other kind of laptop anymore.

Death comes into it because I heard from my insurance broker yesterday; he had noticed the activity on my account. He mentioned that, rather than cashing out the policy, I could have borrowed against the death benefit instead. Right. As if the whole point wasn't to reduce my level of debt, and eliminate yet another monthly payment. There's a reason why I don't like to do business over the phone: I don't like having to make decisions like that on the spur of the moment.

Yesterday I downloaded the year-end reports from Paypal and Amex. That's all I need, since Amex is the only card I use for online transactions, and I have paper receipts for everything else. Started data-entry this morning; I'll probably have the checkbooks done today. I do my tax-related data entry into a flat file using Emacs, then compute the subtotals with a Perl script.

The next step will be going through the paper receipts for credit card (and debit card, now that I have one for my business account) transactions. I also still need to sort through this year's charity mail looking for more receipts, and do triage on last year's investment and banking statements. On the whole the shoebox method of organizing still works for me, although these days it requires a file cart and two banker's boxes.

It was raining gently when I got up this morning. Very calming.

... so this morning I took advantage of the fact that installing the new UPS required me to power down the entire bloody rack to re-route a few cables and to reconfigure the "interim" gateway machine that had been my main DSL router since last April when I installed it, and make it the "interim" gateway for the old DSL line. Pretty simple; I took down the mail server because I wanted to be around when I turned it on in case it didn't work. Good thing -- there are still some pieces of configuration that have to be changed. Like the hostname? Little things like that.

I left the old gateway turned off; the final uptime was 603 days. It will eventually become the main gateway.

At that point, I headed out to Fry's to get a new DSL modem. They had a D-Link for $50. Stopped at Sears on the way home for vacuum cleaner bags; by the time I got home it was raining hard.

One of my Linux laptops, Argo, is currently the interim gateway for the DSL line. It's taken me about the last 3 hours and a support call to get the bloody D-Link configured: apparently it's not really smart enough to come up in bridge mode by itself. That's going to keep causing me trouble, I suspect. (Come to think of it, my old modem probably just needed a reset...) (Never hurts to have a spare, though.)

I also picked up a cheap ($15) 5-port ethernet switch for the Y.D.; she's been complaining about slow wireless connections on her laptop. Part of that, and I suspect a lot of other network flakiness, was almost certainly due to the fact that the boneheaded family sysadmin (yours truly, of course) had the same gateway IP addresses configured on both routers. Probably never would have discovered it if the Y.D. hadn't told me she had an internet connection at a time yesterday when I knew that the main DSL line was down.

My shiny UPS (APC BX1500LCD) is currently showing a 17% load, and an estimated run time of 34 minutes. This makes me happy. I'd be even happier, presumably, if I didn't have as many machines running in the rack. I'm getting there...

Next in line for configuration are mail on the old gateway, DNS and possibly web on the interim gateway, and a re-install from scratch on the new gateway. Which will have four ethernet ports -- Whee!

update: 17:34 ...and a couple of firewall fixes later, mail is back up. Some messages may have been lost between early this morning and now; I sometimes wonder about forwarding. I *really* need to fix email. But not today.

I rarely, if ever, mention cloud pictures in my posts, but this morning on the way home the morning sky was exceptional, and there in front of me was a perfect little griffin. Sadly, it had vanished by the time I had turned the corner on Leigh and parked in front of my house, to be replaced by a somewhat unsatisfactory little unicorn. There was also a rather blurry running quadruped; it might have been a wolf if you were in the right mood.

I spent some time yesterday morning working on the track lists for the next two albums: Amethyst Rose and Hackers' Heaven; they're still extremely vague. Realized that AR was altogether too crowded already; there's going to have to be another one for most of the fantasy songs and the leftover computer and space stuff. Not sure I want to think about that just now, but part of the motivation for all this is the fact that I'm feeling particularly mortal these days.

(Note: if you follow those links (and I don't really recommend that you do), you'll find the directories on the other end to be really rough. I cut a lot of corners to get CC&S out the door; it will take me a while to glue them all back on.)