Happy Winter Solstice! Here is my latest contact information: Robert . where-I-live my-Oakland-voicemail-number (voicemail) our-San-Jose-phone-number our-Oakland-cell-phone-number (cell) http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert http://www. My solstice update is below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ News Lifestyle * Careers * Spam with poi, er, boy. Our group at work managed to get some low-cost labor over the summer by bringing my nephew on board to do some small programming projects. During his time in June, July, and August, he ended up contributing to a daily report that's still being used, and did some small spam research projects for me. * Home * Futon the bill. We knew that our old hideabed wouldn't cut it for my nephew, not to mention other future guests. (Of course, it was Ikea couch and it was always very uncomfortable, partly because the legs that came with it the wrong length resulting in the mattress resting at an angle.) So, in May, we purchased a convertible futon couch which, we hope, will last us many years. * An indecision tree. It was not our choice for the branch full of fruit on our persimmons tree to come crashing down to the ground. But, come down, it did. And, luckily, none of the people who had been sitting there for shade at our potluck just a week before had been hurt due to this tree failure. * Pets * It's always the neighbor's dog. I was convinced to join nextdoor.com earlier this year and was somewhat surprised to find out that the primary topic are people's pets: losing them, finding them, caring for them, deciding what to do with them. The secondary topic seems to be security and crime, but that may just happen to be on people's minds where I live. * Transportation * Bicycle * I like the night life, baby. Riding my bike on roads crowded with cars was getting more and more scary. The problem with going on the bike trail, though, was that there is no lighting. I made the plunge and invested in a 550 lumen headlamp. Although some people on the trail don't appreciate my presence much, my commute has become much more pleasant. * Health * Sepsis, schmepsis. While cooking a meal, I managed to cut my thumb. I didn't think much of it at the time, just wrapping some toilet paper and a piece of tape on it; then, graduating to a bandaid after Noelle found out. It didn't get better after 2 weeks and looked all puffy, red, and full of pus. We went to urgent care and, after the painful biopsy and after taking antibiotics, I was diagnosed as completely fine. * Yoga * So psoas. Noelle gave me an unusual birthday gift - the opportunity to stretch my limbs in unpleasant ways. It was a yoga class called Trauma Release Exercises. The idea is to hold a position until the muscle begins shaking; the shaking is supposed to allow the muscle to settle into a more relaxed state. The founding practioner of this technique, David Berceli, focuses on the psoas muscles, which, at the time, was causing me troubles. * People * Missing persons. I continue to no longer have email addresses for these people: Clayton Glad Louise Zivnuska Bruce Moreland Scott Fraize If you're in contact with any of these people, please tell them that I am missing their email addresses. * Miscellaneous * Passe paper. In October, we made our annual trek to the stationery store to buy our paper organizers. For the first time, I was dismayed that they had stopped carrying my beloved 4" day-to-a-page Letts of London appointment book. The alternatives (all larger models) were unacceptable. I ended up finding the new Letts model on their website and ordering it. But, I am fearful that my paper world is ripping apart and is crumbling down. Entertainment * Movies * Expanding Jobs. It seems like we're all so cosy here in Silicon Valley. We got a flavor of that when, in January, we saw the "Jobs" movie with a group at a friend's house, and there was a special guest who happened to be Steve Jobs's neighbor and knew him fairly well. I can't say that I appreciated nor enjoyed the film, but it was different. * Just another pineapple express. The Asylum film studios puts out zillions of films, and many of them are bad. Rifftrax felt compelled to take advantage of that by making fun of "Sharknado", which we, including my nephew, saw in July. The film was about big storms hitting Ca and bringing things with them. This concept is especially relevant right now with our current rain storms ('tho, not nearly as dramatic). * Same old story: freedom under threat. It took the tragic suicide of Aaron Schwartz for me to recognize his achievements, and the movie "The Internet's Own Boy" showcased them all. It was only by sheer luck that we got to see it since it played just a single day at our local theater. (Netflix seems to be carrying fewer and fewer films these days as well. This probably would've been our only opportunity.) * Other flix. You can see my Netflix queue at http://tinyurl.com/nosnetflixqueue . Unfortunately, there's no way to share our Netflix instant watch queue (a.k.a. My List) nor share my Movielens ratings any more. * Music * Not-so-sweet music. Noelle heard a band on a local radio station and then discovered that they were touring, and we saw them in downtown where-I-live in June. Pinata Protest plays accordian-backed hard-rockin' gypsy punk-style music on a variety of topics; they hail from San Antonio, Texas and are true to their mexican american roots. * Put aside the alienation. A friend had her big 40th birthday this year and invited us to her favorite activity: karoake. Neither Noelle and I had ever done karoake in a group setting before. In order to minimize embarassment, we decided to sing a song together (Rush's "Limelight"). Of course, it sounded terrible since hardly anybody sounds like Geddy Lee, but it was fun. * Books * Prophet for the atheists. Although Barbara Ehrenreich has been a confrontational journalist, speaker, and writer, her latest book is more personal and focuses on unexplained phenomena and how that strengthens her atheism. Back in April at a local bookshop, we were enlightened as we listened to her speak in front of a live audience. * Outdoors * Hikin' for lichen. I'm always surprised at how complex the natural world is. Lichen is a good case in point. It's a mixture of a plant and a fungus. In January, we went on a group hike lead by a docent who was knowledgeable about lichen. There were all sorts of colorful variations and creepy variations (like mistletoe). It was unfortunate that we didn't bring a camera. * Feeling grovey. Vacations options are very limited for Noelle with her current job. So, we've been trying to take short, local getaways. Our trip to Pacific Grove was one of those. In late March, we stayed a weekend in Pacific Grove at Asilomar and rode bicycles (actually, Noelle was on her trike) around the area, including Monterey. Pictures can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/sets/72157643266340214/ . * Going wild with the natives. We found on a docent-lead hike in April that wildflowers in Ca, especially during a drought, aren't big, showy displays. Rather, they are very subtle. You can see pictures of wildflowers and some lichen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/sets/72157644366137902/ . * You can put your mind at ease. Our friend was transitioning out of the Navy. A formal ceremony is held called "Change of Command" when this happens, and we attended his ceremony in Alameda in April. Some photos can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/sets/72157643485747865/ . * It takes a lickin'! Despite the expectation of our visit to Lick Observatory in August to be focused on its "history", it turns out that some current research is happening there. It was all fascinating, and we got to view some astonomical objects, including nebula and planets. * While I Mendocino, Ukiah. One of our short getaways in October involved us travelling north, close to where we went last year (Clearlake). Our stay in Ukiah was at Vichy Springs, where Jack London and other luminaries stayed to soak in the mineral waters. We only got to go on a short hike since it rained most of time there; the water was warm, which was a relief. As we did a few years ago, we stayed at Stanford Inn so we could pig out on rich vegan food. Flicks can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/sets/72157649033417225/ . * Theater * Mime redux. We always love seeing the SF Mime Troupe and especially because, in July, we got to bring my nephew, but it was again bittersweet this year that, due to limited funding, they had an abbreviated show with a small cast. The message was relevant, 'tho, telling us something that we often forget: that even people in high tech are workers, too, and can be exploited just like all workers. * Art * Stretching the mind with a distorted view. Along with a friend, we hit the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco in May to take in the yoga exhibit. Naturally, it being the Bay Area, it was quite popular, with a zillion people there gawking at the poses and positions. Frankly, I think it was way more than ever wanted to know about yoga. * At least I don't think they're martians. The fact that there is art that nobody wants can be sad. But, sometimes, you just cannot get rid of it for sentimental reasons. Such was the art from my great uncle. It was a strange painting with a couple of unknowable green people. My parents were moving and needed to unload it in May. There was a possibility that we were going to get it. (I had ideas of mounting it on the ceiling so most people wouldn't see it easily.) But, we ended up donating it to the Boston-based Museum of Bad Art and we were estatic when it was accepted. You may be able to see it at https://www.facebook.com/77346695969/photos/a.381656245969.162064.77346695969/10152789837925970/ Politics/Society * Voting/Elections * A panoply of lack of choices. The election here this year was probably the worse in my memory. I was happy to vote for Green Party and Peace and Freedom Party people in the primaries, but, because Ca has adopted this "top two" system, there was almost nobody I could convince myself to vote for; I ended up leaving most of my ballot empty. It is really no surprise that turnout was so low. * I want too much information. It always confuses me when people tell me that they get overwhelmed with too much information and too many choices. I like information; I like choice. So, it was with fear of losing yet more choices that I decided to register (with the top-two system, Ca now calls this an "affliation") with Peace and Freedom Party. There was a possibility that the party would no longer be included in the primaries if there were too few people registered with them and I didn't want to lose them. Technology * Computers * Hardware * Networks * Dying your routes. Our Linksys router finally started failing, dropping connections and generally flaking out. So, I went with a Buffalo router because it would allow me to run open source router software on it. I merely need to get around to installing said software on it. * Software * Linux * Phoenix reborn. After years of running the same old version of Firefox on Noelle's computer, I finally got around to upgrading it. Needless to say, a lot of things broke. Eventually, I got everything to kinda look OK, but it's only barely better than the old version. At least, now, it will continually be updated with the latest, safest version. * Windows * More than just a cold. This was a first, but a computer in our household actually got a virus. It was Noelle's work laptop. We did manage to remove it, but Noelle's company insisted that the laptop be replaced instead. Thankfully, since I don't run Windows at home, it didn't manage to spread. * Internet * Liberally bleeding hearts. Like most people, we were affected by the OpenSSL heartbleed bug, and changed our passwords appropriately, making our lives even more complicated and filling our minds with meaningless strings. It really hit home at my workplace, leaving them scrambling to push out a new release of the software to avoid customers being unnecessarily exposed.