The Time Sink

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday MondayII

A mundane Monday. Today I'll find out if I have dial tone at work. ...and voice mail. ...and fax capability. And one vendor will reap the reward of having an email presence on Friday; today will net him around $7000 worth of business as he was able to communicate with me during the Great Telephony Crisis.

...and tonight we'll see if DocJim will even care about the games down the street. Hopefully Portland will manage to steal one; then again, when you lose a player from the foul line...

...and it looks like we'll be at the coast at the end of the week; several personal planets are in conjunction and it looks like Grandpa's place will be available over a three-day weekend. I usually have trouble adjusting to the first vacation of the summer; there always seems like there's too much to do and I just cannot seem to relax. This time I think I'll be able to kick back with ease.

It's gonna' be one of those weeks... I can just tell; I get into work yesterday and not only is my phone line back down, but the vendor tells IT that the problem is on our end. Hellooo? I have no dial tone in my office off the last circuit I ran before I transferred Telco to IT; and I have no dial tone in the warehouse where I conveniently left Janeen's and my lines live when we left that part of the building. We're talking two separate circuits from the demarc; and you're telling my people the problem is in my wiring? Suddenly? After six months, it just stopped working? The day of a service cutover?

I leave my response to this as an exercise for the student.

The air quality has held so far. That won't last long; outdoor exercise will likely be a death-defying feat until close to sundown very shortly. On the other hand, the pool deal is working out for me; the boys and I jumped in when I got home and I managed to get some yard work done between cool downs.

Book stuff involving typing is on hold for the moment; outlining and writing the old-fashioned way is still okay. If you have questions or "Get Wells", feel free to write to Dave; he cannot write back, but I'll touch base from time to time over the POTS and post updates here as warranted.

Beat to death. That's as good a description as any. I spent last evening (and well into the night) changing out sprinkler heads and risers in the front yard. Between the bobcat rumbling over things and general wear and tear, it was past time to change out the strip and side. I figured moving everything on that valve to the same brand would help with consistency.

So off to the front yard after dinner. ...with some cloud cover (the remnants of the storm that hit the Bay Area (see Brian's and JHR's posts). ...and the temp still in the high nineties. Dig ten holes about a foot deep and a foot in diameter. Start to change out the risers... And discover that the genius who installed the line had no idea of level. The first head was below grade with a standard riser and normal head. I had the clue: remember the "foot deep" above? Sheesh. ...off to the local Ace hardware (five minutes away at 1945 and they close at 2000) for riser extensions. Back to it until I lost daylight. Drop into stealth mode (squint). Finish and test. Clean up mess. Check time. Uh-oh. The family...

Shelley had done all the boy's homework with them, managed their showers and had gotten them both into bed. Usually we split the duty as it can be somewhat stressful on her. But they're all alive and well. Okay, Daniel is grounded until he is twenty-five for some comment he made to his mother; but other than that...

...and tonight is packing night. We're off to the central California coast for a few days of R&R. Only that's not 'rest and relaxation' with my crew. Shelley will want to go shopping and the guys will want to play in the sand. Me? I'm more partial to a cold one and trying to drop my metabolism rate as close to zero as is healthy. But I know who'll win...

Shelley spent the day packing the boy's and her bags. That means at least two changes of clothes for all potential climatic conditions, from Sahara heat to tundra cold. ...and a few games and videos.

I'm packing after they're all in bed. I mean, like, really, what's involved? It's the beach; throw several pairs of trunks and a few tank tops in a bag (and one decent shirt in case we go out) and I'm done. Well, okay; the laptop, zip drive (with all the downloads), a program or two to try out, the spare HDD with Linux, the digital camera, the transfer cable for the camera (no, wait; I'll see if I can find the FDD adapter for the smart media), that book on Perl, OIANS, Optimizing Windows for Geeks and Freaks (or some such; I haven't played much with the laptop in Win95 config), maybe a keyboard (did I ever bench that docking station?) and, and, and...

Today is a travel day. Yes, sometimes spelled "travail". I've been putting a little extra time into the workplace karma account this week with the intent of withdrawing it today. That should allow me to bust out early to pick up the kids just as school lets out. ...and just about the time the GM releases everyone early for the holiday! Regardless, it's a three hour cruise, I mean trip, and I'd like to do it early. Check-in time is whenever; but if we can get to the store and get the shopping done, it means a total beach day on Saturday.

...and all those holes for sprinklers on Tuesday? Just a warm up for the beach. We don't build sand castles as I have exactly zero talent (unlike my buddy Clark who does things like scale models of Navajo pueblos), so we build holes. Big holes... Really big holes... On the order of eight by eight by four. ...as a tune-up for the really big ones in July. ...and we build them just below the high tide mark. That allows the boys to defend their territory from the onrush of a force of nature. No, not their Mother; the ocean.

There's a bit of design theory involved: too deep and you end up with a hole full of water; that's okay, but only at the end of the day. Too shallow and what's the point? To high on the tide line and you have a nice castle but nothing to look forward to the next day. Too low on the tide line and you're swamped too quickly. The idea is to build a gigantic fort, expand it laterally, and then try to keep the ocean out as the tide comes in. Design changes abound; this year we're going to try ablative armor and see what that will do.

We made it; I'm typing this about 150 feet from the Pacific ocean; the sound of the waves breaking helps complement the foam on the beer in my hand <G>. Details in a bit.

Good morning! ...or afternoon. ...or evening. ...or whatever time it might be where you are <G>. The grin is due to one of my favorite configurations on the laptop: Xearth set as the wallpaper. This little gem allows me to keep very aware of which portions of the planet are experiencing daylight while I'm off relaxing. F'rinstance, as I type, it looks like it's coming up on noon in New Delhi, and Sydney is about to slip into darkness (Hi Don! ...if you're on that side of the continent<G>). ...all in all a handy little tool. I do need to copy over the file with the latitude and longitude coordinates for the gang; that would add some panache to the overlay.

We made it safely to the coast (one estimate projected 24 million travelers on the road in the US for the Memorial Day holiday, with another 10.5 million traveling on hired conveyances). Frankly, I had it easy; the roads weren't that crowded and we made good time. We even have the grocery shopping done for the weekend and are set to spend our time playing either on the beach or with the various electronic distractions we have available.

Soon it's off to the beach to dig and hunt sea shells and dig and eat and dig and get sun burned and dig and watch the ocean roll over the days work.

Traditionally, Sunday would signal the close of the week. I don't think I'm going to handle things that way in my world; today is now officially the second-to-last day of this week. That way, tomorrow becomes the last day of the week and next week is only four work-days long. Makes sense to me; I'll allow the three-day weekend to pull dual duty for me<G>. Wow, I can hardly wait until next weekend...

We had some family-style fun Saturday; Bradley spent some serious time in the water trying to surf on his boogie board

while Daniel and I dug a hole (small version).

Later, the tide came in and provided some entertainment for the guys:

           

I hope these images show up okay on your screens. I'm working from the laptop; and with the LCD screen, I just cannot tell how well things will render.

...and the week continues. Ya' know, I kinda' like the concept of a four day week starting tomorrow. It makes the weekend seem so much closer. ...and this one is extending rather nicely so far.

Today's once again a travel day; we'll join the rest of the crowd headed home after we've made the place presentable. We thought we'd catch a break and not have to clean up as Shelley's brother usually doesn't come over in June and her Dad is headed off on to Europe for the month (must be rough). But, it looks as though her brother's brood will be here in a few weeks, so we'll leave the place presentable. We'll be back for the July 4th holiday, part I of our traditional summer break from the valley heat.

Tom will be glad to know the weather was terrible here today also; it was so windy we simply couldn't play with the Nerf Balls and there was at least one cloud in the sky that shaded the sun slightly for about twenty minutes <G>.

A perspective picture or two as I continue to explore what I can do with the tools I brought along; a shot of the beach from the condo (that's the boy's in the middle distance playing on the remains of their excavation) and two shots of the Cayucos pier first made famous by Brian and Marcia:

       

I may check in this evening; that more or less depends on how the travel timing works out. Regardless, for those of us living in countries kept free by the sacrifices of others, please join us in remembering the meaning of the holiday we celebrate today.