The Time Sink

...a bit of a general update: Our last rain was in April, which is making the roadwork a bit problematic for those who like things clean and neat. ...and those with allergys and such. The good news is that things are heading to a close (quite literally) on our street:

I'm betting they'll beat the rains on this chunk of work, but I'm also betting they're going to get nailed on that next leg about a half mile to the south...

...and weather wise, the nights are becoming cooler and we're seeing the start of maybe some dew on the car windows, but the temps this week are forecast to hit the nineties again. ...and we're still waiting for El Niño to decide how the Winter will go. So far it's looking very dry; usually we've had something blow through by the end of the raisin harvest and the start of the County Fair...

Speaking of the Fair, I felt well enough today to take some time off from work and escort Shelley there today; it's an anniversary of sorts for us, and we took the opportunity to head on over sans kids. ...only, we must be getting old and boring, because without the kids we only lasted a few hours! Sheesh.

Just a couple of minor notes for Aunt Minnie regarding Fedora Core 2... I had occasion this weekend to reload FC2 after some poorly planned (and executed!) changes to the NIC settings and aliases on the Shuttle. Yeah, well, it's a good idea to refrain from redoing network topography whilst ill. ...only I didn't remember that verse.

<sigh>

But as I was wondering (and wandering) about transferring some files off the machine before I nuked it, I tossed a blank CD in the cupholder (more or less forgetting to check whether I'd installed any burner software). Data point: FC2's default setting for what to do after a blank CD is inserted? It starts up a burner GUI and waits for you to drag and drop files onto it. ...and then all you have to do is tell it to burn (from the drop down menu). Hmmm...

That's not to say Aunt Minnie isn't going to need her nephew to set some things up for her, but it was interesting to explore some of the other default settings before I threw a fresh install on (with my 'final' wireless NIC choice sitting in the PCMCIA adapter <g>)...

There was enough progress on the road work and I was feeling well enough (read: stir crazy from being sick <g>) to head out blading yesterday evening... I'd intended to only make the short run to give my lungs a chance to work up to speed, but I'd forgotten that the roadwork would cancel that possibility. Hmmm... Well, heck, slow and easy should do it, -neh? Yeah, that worked until my body decided to push things a bit on the back side, but hey... Yes, I'm betting I'll be a bit stiff today, but it sure felt good to work out again!

Also doing some serious work (on behalf of the Daynotes Gang) is Brian Bilbrey; after a loss of communication from points north, he's taken Daynotes.org and Daynotes.net and merged them back into a cohesive unit. It's nice to have most of the old gang back on the same page...

...and not content with that, he's archived the "Lost Syroid Insights" and put them up so they can be utilized by those used to searching Tom's place for 'stuff'. Sweet deals all around...

At least the dust has settled...

The 'river of mud' is pretty much gone, and I can now get off the sidewalk and back onto the roadway to blade, albeit with a few bumps. ...but there looks to be a few more days of work coming up as they've ripped the road surface about triple the width of the trench in preparation for the top coating...

Friday! Yeah! ...and the school carnival at Brad's place this afternoon and evening! That sounds really low key, but it's one of those events that manages to bring ex-students back (both Daniel and the two neighbor kids will be going). ...and me.

Yeah, I'm usually ambivalent at best about these things, but this one is one that is worth the walk over (oh, yes "walk"; there's no parking at best, so it's a short mile to hike). ...and yes, the food is good: the pizza is delivered, but the tri-tip sandwiches are made up in the cafeteria. Oh, and the taiko group will be there again! Yeah, the local bunch has some decent drums and they know how to use them (yep, I'll try for pics, JHR).

When I headed out blading this morning, I ran immediately ran into a headwind. That boded well for the possibility that the rain forecast could turn out to be true! Winds from the Southeast instead of the prevailing winds from the Northwest are typical of a front passing through...

The kicker is the "passing through" part... The Friday night forecasts were only calling for a 20% chance of anything over the next several days. ...but as I write this late Saturday evening, they've bumped the odds up to 50% and the radar is showing some activity in the foothills. It's not much, but there's also some stuff heading inland from the coast. ...and it's not like we're not ready for a rinse cycle here:

2350 Update: A light rain fell for a few minutes...

Man, I'm beat! Yesterday's "Plan A" was to come back from blading and do a little bit of patio and yard cleanup and then spend the rest of the day inside. ...but somehow I got caught up in some very serious garden cleanup and tree trimming and didn't end up coming back inside until nearly nightfall! Heck, even lunch was some sausage on the grill so I could keep working while it cooked! ...but hey, this has been the first weekend in a while when I wasn't sick, the kids didn't have something going or when the temperature hasn't been in the high nineties. ...and things were overdue, especially in the area directly out from the kitchen window.

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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