The Time Sink

Technology and I are getting back in sync again: after being out of the loop on 'sounds' and 'tunes' for a while (meaning I just played CDs for the most part while at work or 'outside' at home) things are converging nicely. Burners have stabilized on both of the platforms I use (and in both hardware and software) and mp3 encoding is just a rip <g>. ...but the two tidbits that have locked things back in sync lately are the capability to rip a double or triple CD set to mp3 format, copy it to a memory card, and then have the Zaurus play the card via 'headphone out to line in' on my stereo at work (the more recent version of that stereo has a 2.5mm jack rather than a pair of RCA phono jacks for the "Aux in"). Oh, and the ability to burn the same album/series/sequence to an mp3 CD and have it playable by the low end DVD/CD/CDRW/mp3/DoWaDiddy players available lately.

...leading to things like the very nice afternoon I had Sunday with the latest from Queen + Paul Rogers (nee-Bad Company) on the outside system while I read the Sunday paper and wrote the outline for this post. ...and of course my next thought was something along the lines of, "Well, since that machine will play DVDs, I wonder how many..."

Ah, teens... As I was on my way back to the office after meeting a vendor my route took me past the brand new skateboard park in the town where I live. (No, I haven't gone by yet; I need to confirm bladers are allowed {although I thought I saw grind rails}, and I need get a helmet if I can go play because that's the minimum safety gear required.) ...and about a mile or so down the road I spotted three teens, two on boards and one on blades, dressed in their required black outfits so they'd look different (the definition of 'uniform' is?) and pretty obviously headed for the park. Why "obviously"? Well, they were each carrying their helmets under their arms as they rolled along. Yeah, no way were they going to wear them while on the public thoroughfare (regardless of California law); you just cannot be cool that way <g>. I do hope they made it safely and had a good time...

The hummingbird from today? Brad and I were walking early Saturday morning checking out the neighborhood behind ours when we saw motion in the area of a redwood tree across the street from where we were trying to get a decent shot of ants on a Rose of Sharon bloom (okay, we live in a bit of a different world <g>). Heading over we saw what looked like a hummingbird flashing in and out of one area of the tree. We didn't realize at first the homeowner had a feeder up for hummers, but after waiting a few minutes one came out of the tree and headed toward it...

I don't think either of us really expected to get a shot, certainly not one with the bird perched on the edge ot the feeder; but that's what happened for both of us. Yes, it was at the edge of our cameras' capabilities, but we both came away with workable photos. ...and the thought of adding a feeder to the gazebo out back now that we believe they'll nest in redwoods!

Well... We're discovering that Wednesday and Thursday evenings are the heaviest on homework around here. ...and hence the worst for trying to get anything else done. ...and after helping Daniel work on "idioms versus metaphors" until way too late for either of us, I found myself waking up on the couch on the couch around 0100.

I'm off to the last elementary school carnival for the boys. It's almost hard to believe this is the eleventh one in a row. ...and the last, barring grandchildren and such (no, none planned at this point!). Of course, these are being replaced with Friday night football games; but this particular one is some sort of milestone, or so it seems, as I head out over to check out the pizza and tri-tip and tacos.

My floral analog is up over on the photoblog today: to say I'm 'not a morning person' doesn't begin to cover it. ...and this bloom on a vine in back pretty much said it all <g>!

Hey, the carnival was fun last night; I got some decent photos (yes, maybe some of the Taiko, John) and Shelley and I had a chance to just wander around together after a while. ...and we had chance to see how Daniel's classmates are growing up. Yep, the high-schooler; it has become a tradition for the junior and senior high kids that graduated from this elementary school to come back and check in during the carnival. ...and since Daniel's class was the charter kindergarten class when the school opened they're kind of special to everyone.

Also kind of special were the Stones tickets going as a pair at the silent auction! Yeah, decent seats for the show about five miles away next month. I believe they went for something like $575 for the pair.

...and today? Today was declared a day of rest; neither of us slept well last night and I spent much of my time in the big recliner falling asleep to whatever football game I could find. ...and since the local team just won in the rain in Las Cruces I think I'll go take an extended nap in our bed.

...and we'll call today an active day of rest; we'll start in mid-morning at the local fair and spend half of the day checking out the exhibits and games of no-chance and the food.

Then we get to blast home and clear Brad off to a birthday party while the the rest of us head of to a seminar at church. Yeah, a full day here for sure!

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

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