Happy 2015 Winter Solstice!

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (Robert)]

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.

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News

Lifestyle
  * Careers
    * Not a portal into the soul.  This year, my nephew worked at a
      friend's start-up instead because there was a bit of a mix-up at
      my work place.  It's a health care portal internship and (horror
      of horrors) he had to commute to the place on his own.  At least,
      he didn't have to drive, but learning the public transit system
      takes some getting used to.
  * Family
    * Peak experience.  In a last, late minute move, we failed to arrive
      at Pinnacles National Park before sunset on Christmas Day with my
      parents.  We saw what we could see, but eventually just turned
      back.  Some pictures can be had at
      https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/albums/72157649988867172 .
    * Nothing changes.  On New Year's Day, we celebrated Noelle's dad's
      birthday party in Santa Barbara.  There was much haggling over the
      food there, but there were some things acceptable to me.  And the
      setting was a kind of funny because there was problem with the
      fireplace and there was a thick smoke in the room.  Some photos
      can be found at
      https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/albums/72157650070585646 .
  * Home
    * Fixin' a hole.  We found a roof leak in the living room, front
      room, and bathroom, and was forced to re-felt the roof in the
      front of the house.  Obtaining replacement tiles and getting them
      installed took weeks.  Of course, after this mess was fixed up,
      there was a big painting job left for the rooms affected.  And,
      lucky me, it turns out that one of the rooms had all my computer
      equipment in it.  In order to have meaningful computer access
      during this tumultuous time, I spent a couple of hours to move and
      set-up everything in the dining room.  When dust finally settled,
      everything was covered with a thick layer of paint dust.  The
      story ended happily with all the electronics surviving.
    * Snowballing stucco.  It seemed like such a small task: we hired a
      handyman to fix a small piece of stucco falling off the garage
      side.  In September, upon discovering that it was due to
      pernicious rot of the garage structure, it grew into a multiday
      project.  I was glad to give work to this handyman, but I think
      we ended up with much more than we originally bargained for.
  * Transportation
    * Bicycle
      * A mountful on Thanksgiving.  So that we didn't end up with just
        a day of stuffing ourselves, we packed up our folding bike and
        trike into the car and took a trip to Pinnacles National Park on
        Thanksgiving Day.  It was beautiful, clear, and brisk day and it
        wasn't a terribly extensive ride, but it was a good getaway.
        Some pictures are available at
        https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/albums/72157660280528534 .
      * Now, live from where-I-live!  Our city wanted set aside a day with
        a space within city limits where walkers, runners, and cyclists
        could all gather together safely without the danger of car
        traffic.  Called "Viva Calle", this event happened in October
        and we rode the entire 6 mile stretch both ways.  It was nice.
        Pictures can be found at
        https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/albums/72157657407577123
  * Travel
    * Watching people sashay.  For our first visit to a state in the
      deep south, we visited New Orleans in late September.  Noelle had
      her annual health information profession organization conference
      there and it was an opportunity for us to go.  Sadly, Noelle was
      only able to get 3 days off to go there.  We were able to do some
      exploring, 'tho.
      https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/sets/72157658929004069 .
    * Castro on the hill.  In June, our friend met us in San Francisco.
      Being a native, our friend took us on an extensive tour of the
      Castro district.  I had never hung around the Castro much -- it's
      usually been brief trips.  I learned a lot.
  * Money
    * A day at the breach.  Beginning in March, letters started
      arriving saying that I may become an identity theft victim due to
      the various breaches, primarily from those involving Blue Cross.
      Naturally, I took advantage of the offers to get identity
      protection.  It's very disappointing that, due to lack of
      inadequate laws and policy, we are all left so vulnerable.
  * Food
    * Sonoma whine.  Our friends are members of a winery wine club and
      suggested we join them for a picnic there along with their dogs.
      What should have been a 2 hour trip, my nephew Alex, Noelle, and I
      ended up on the road for 4 hours on a drive to a winery in Sonoma
      county in August.  I can only imagine what it's like commuting on
      this route on a weekday.  In any case, because of the traffic, we
      only had enough time to eat and leave.  On our way back, Alex was
      able to see Golden Gate Bridge close up for his first time on our
      way back.  Copious pictures of stuck cars can be seen at
      https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/albums/72157657242652368 .
  * Health
    * Eyes
      * Return of the retina.  I went to a retina specialist to look at
        my eye again.  The retina is slightly malformed causing
        distorted vision in my straight-ahead focus eyesight, primarily
        my right eye.  If it gets much worse, there are a series of
        operations which may correct the problem.  It's definitely
        annoying; using large fonts on my computer helps.
  * 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.

Entertainment        
  * Movies
    * Not so on-demanding.  Per usual, you can see my DVD Netflix queue at
      http://tinyurl.com/nosnetflixqueue .  Neither my Netflix instant watch
      queue nor my Movielens ratings can be shared.
  * Music
    * Patience is rewarded.  We saw what may be Rush's penultimate
      tour in July.  We got fairly good seats, but it turns out that
      being too close to the stage can have its own problems.  Our
      friend, who had seats further away seemed to have a better
      experience -- both better sound quality and superior viewing.
    * Visiting the human exhibit at the zoo.  The Redwood City city
      plaza was pretty crowded with people waiting for Zoostation, a U2
      cover band, in August.  Although not a big U2 fan, I tagged along
      so I could meet my friend there and ingest some food.
    * This Dublin is not cool and comfortable.  The Scottish Highland
      Games were in Pleasanton (near Dublin, CA) this year.  We do not
      typically go, but some compelling bands were playing there in
      September, including Albannach, a band that Noelle had seen
      before, and another band we discovered playing there called
      Brother .  It was oppressively hot and crowded.  Because of the
      crowds, we missed out on a few things, including the Scottish
      whiskey tasting.  At least, the music was good.
  * Books
    * Canadians among us.  During yet another trip to Redwood City in
      October, we caught North American "science fiction" (she doesn't
      like this label) writer Margaret Atwood speak before a large
      audience.  She was there to tout her latest book, but audience
      and host questions were asked.  It's amazing how spry and quick
      on her feet she was.  It was good hearing her stories.
  * Theater
    * Repetitive repeats.  My parents visited a second time in Aug.  We
      attempted to see the SF Mime Troupe show with them in Santa Cruz
      again, but failed due to a big traffic jam, again.  We ended up in
      Los Gatos since the alternative route failed.  We didn't capture
      the excitement in pictures, but we have some other parental
      pictures here:
      https://www.flickr.com/photos/noelle/albums/72157657242652368

Politics/Society
  * Labor
    * Slaves to free trade.  There was a lot of media about Obama's
      Trans-Pacific "Partnership" a.k.a. the TPP.  ("Partnership" is
      used instead of "Agreement" in order to prevent it being treated
      as a treaty and the associated legal procedures.)  I've been
      following this legislation scrupulously since it will be very bad
      for workers, the environment, pharmaceutical drugs, electronic
      privacy, and software freedom.  It's a particularly frustrating
      experience since Ca Senator Feinstein is completely gung
      ho about getting this passed into law; my struggling to find the
      words to change her mind is draining.
  * Privacy/Liberties
    * Listening in.  We attended a presentation about civil liberties
      and electronic privacy rights featuring journalist Robert Scheer
      and his most recent book, "They Know Everything About You", in
      March.  It was a small panel discussion.  It made me realize that
      these digital intrusions are really a result of the government
      wishing to spend less money.
  * Misc
    * A big, feisty gift.  For my birthday this year, Noelle brought me
      to see Barney Frank, the former democratic congressman.  (Again,
      in Redwood City.)  He talked about his life and told some
      stories.  It was all very entertaining, but it definitely gave me
      a clear view into his belief system.
    * Mahna mahna.  There has been some controversy about the remaining
      Air Force radar tower on Mount Umunhum here in where-I-live -- about
      whether to keep it and paying for its existence and maintenance.
      In August, we attended a detailed presentation on the radar tower
      and and the history of the Almaden Air Force Station that was
      there from 1958 to 1980 (see http://www.umunhum.net ).  Of course,
      since it is easily seen and a structure known to all around here,
      its disappearance would be sad.
Technology
  * Computers
    * Hardware
      * Networks
        * Invasion of the Windows machines.  Since starting my current
          job and Noelle's new job, there are now more Windows-based
          machines.  Because a number of security issues have been
          revealed and Windows sucking up all the network bandwidth, I
          have partitioned them to a separate LAN.  They can now fight
          among each other.
  * Telephones
    * Sometimes I feel I've got to run away.  Our cell finally went
      soft and bit the dust in September.  After long resisting it, we
      decided to upgrade to a smart phone.  I'm still a bit fearful of
      the information it's revealing to who-knows, but I have every
      intention to locking it down as much as possible.
  * Internet
    * Email
      * I am spam.  I discovered that, between January and June of this
        year, all email sent to a certain friend was never received.  It
        had to do with some complex configurations and the fact that I
        was using my ISP's SMTP server to send mail.  It took a while to
        diagnose, but I ended up having to change my qmail configuration
        so that it connects to the SMTP server directly instead.