Not So Hot

It is looking like Saturday and Sunday may come in under 100F. Wow. That would be nice, even though the temps are accompanied by thunderstorms. That would probably put a damper of the GRANDS coming over tonight to swim. Still, cooler weather sounds fun.

Also fun is that our new (to us) fridge is nice and cool. So we will clean out the old one and replace it with the new (to us) one tomorrow afternoon. Whoo Hoo. The freezer section has not been keeping everything fully frozen, and I see condensation around the seals. No, a different kind of seals, silly.

Speaking of leaking, a centerpiece of downtown Tempe has been a lake created by damming the Salt River. One of the rubber bladders burst last week and there is no longer a lake. That implies the annual Tempe Triathlon cannot occur there...since there is no lake for swimming. So, what if the political battle around whose fault it is became the events of the sports event?

Alison will be moving in with a friend sometime during August. Good for her. She should be spending more time with friends her age than certain old fogies like parents. Now, if I can get her to take all her clothes to free up closet space....

Crazy busy at work this week. How about yours? I see I have completed 5 of the 12 items on this week's To Do list. Hopefully, I can get to 4 or 5 of those today.

One good thing. IT'S FRIDAY! That helps most everything. Even though it is Friday, though, I've still got a work day in front of me. So, heigh ho, heigh ho. See you next week.

Cool? I Hope So

No new photos posted today. We stayed busy for a while last night moving a new (to us) refrigerator into the kitchen. It turns out that we could not get it through the door between the house and the garage, even after removing the fridge doors. So, we had to drag it over rocks to the back door. Once we plugged it in, the freezer seems to work well, but the fridge side seems to be cooling slowly. I hope it works. Also, when I removed the doors, there is a line for the ice maker that runs from somewhere in the door through the frame to the water intake. I think we may have broken that. We'll see.

We then went to eat and pick up the dog after grooming, so not much time for TV, either. Still, I thought of a TV-themed CoV.


My pool is definitely cooler now that the aerator works again. I have it on halfway so that it will not spray all the way over the pool into the yard, so it is not cooling as completely as possible. I may need to raise that a bit, since I went in last night and it was neither hot nor cold. Yes, you know what I did. I spewed it out of my mouth.

I also had no time last night to do any work on a photo book. I am way behind on that. Maybe I can get after it by Saturday, because I think Blurb has a sale ending Saturday night. However...

The GRANDS are coming over tomorrow night for swimming. Well, assuming the monsoons don't hit during our swim time. Whoo Hoo.

Just when I am hitting my creative stride, work intrudes. I gots to go. Thanks for sitting a spell.

The Halfway Point For This Week

We are barreling down the road toward the halfway point for this week. Just a few more hours and then, we can begin anticipating the weekend. Whoo Hoo.

We've got a lot to cover today, so let's get started. If anyone comes in late, just have them sign the attendance log and pass it up to me when the class is over.

We begin with today's Clarity of Vision about kids who add "L"s to the end of certain words.

Last night, I uploaded some photos to share today. I did have all my photos on the MacBook Pro, but since it died, I had to pull them from my home backup.

This first one is the Bed and Breakfast we stayed in while in New Orleans in mid-June.

And while there, we went to visit a few plantations, including Seven Oaks.

Then last week, we went to the Grand Canyon. Here is a shot from a sunset we caught between rain showers.

And another of the evening sun on the cliffs.

Brenda, both were shot using the 12-24mm wide angle lens.

One lucky thing about my machine problems is that they left the Dell keyboard and mouse and I was using them with the Mac while Apple hardware was ordered. Now that I am back on the old Dell, I have full compatibility. So, full size keyboard. Whoo Hoo. Two button mouse. Whoo Hoo.

I have targeted today as finish-getting-caught-up-after-last-week's-vacation day. That's a mouthful, for sure. Anything special going on today with you?

I'm too excited about reaching the hump of Hump Day that I cannot think. So, I'll stop writing before I write something we would all regret. Bye.

The Mac is Dead, Long Live the Mac

I am typing this on an old Dell while waiting for Tech Support to look at my Powerbook. They installed PGP file encryption on my machine yesterday and it would no longer boot. The other guys in our team who have Macs all use Boot Camp for Windows applications and never boot their machines directly into Windows. I may not either when they get me fixed.

Luckily, Powerpoint runs in both Windows and Mac OS.

Since I just got the Windows box booted, I am running late and cannot sit around and chat all morning. I've got to go get ready for the 8:30am meeting. You can stay, though, if you want.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Sleep

I am just about caught up on sleep. The girls spent the night Friday, and Bella started waking up around 3am. She stayed going all day after that. And I do mean 'going.' Not me, though. Luckily, Kathie actually got up with her, but I didn't sleep well after that. So, we slept late yesterday and then it was so hard to get up this morning. Have I reached the senior adult slowdown? I think maybe I have.

However, my commute was not slowed down this morning.

I returned my rented lens Saturday, but left the lens cap at home. So, they charged me for a new one ($26!), but they will refund it when I return it today. Yes, I do have it with me.

I loaded Photoshop Elements onto one of my hard drives (I lost the original copy when my iMac dies in May). However, my old machine's drive won't read discs, so I added my work MacBook Pro in Target mode and used it's drive to load things onto my hard drives. Elements loaded OK, as did Keith's photos. However, I could not load iLife stuff because that will only load onto the boot drive, which is full. Still, I am hoping I am set up to be able to work on pictures again. I want to create a Family Reunion book.

Well, I owe my new boss some data before 9am, so it's time to say goodbye...to all my company. MIC (See you real soon). Oh, sorry. I got pulled into the song for some reason. I'll be back tomorrow, though. (Why? Because I like you)

Hot and Cool

It is still plenty hot here, even with the cool down to 102F today. And the pool isn't any better. I will get the aerator going this weekend, whatever it takes. That should help cool the pool, which is probably 95F or higher. Our neighbor said his is 98F.

Also cool is the fridge we bought from a neighbor for $200. We have had ours for around 30 years, and the freezer is not as efficient as it once was. So, this refrigerator looked in good shape, so we bought it. Alison and I went to pick it up last night, but no one was home. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

We hope this fridge is cool. It looks cool. Speaking of misinterpretations, here is the way I listen to platitudinous proclamations at work.
I have heard that the girls are spending tonight with us. I don't know if we can stand to be in the pool or not, but they will probably want to swim. I am not sure what else we will plan.

Both Kathie and Ali are getting ready for school to start. Yesterday, they worked in Ali's room in Casa Grande. I think today, they will work in Kathie's room. Soon, school zones will be turned back on for our morning commutes. The speed limit for school zones here in AZ is 15MPH. Wow, that is slow (but I understand why).

I have not figured out how to get the trip photos moved from the Mac side of my machine to the Windows side yet. I loaded a copy of them in a folder that said it was shared, but the Windows side still cannot see it. I need to find someone who will let me have admin permissions on my laptop. Then, I can regale you with impressive images and pretty pictures.

I will start my weekend later today, but I will start my weekend break from this blog right now. Have a good one and check back in on Monday.

Back to the Heat

Well, we are back in the heat as of last night. Now I need to get my pool aerator fixed so the pool will get down under 97F.

Speaking of heat....
I had trouble with my internet connection at work this morning, so I just now have access to this site. It will need to be brief because I am well into the time constraint for getting ready for the 8:30am meeting.

Yes, I do have photos of the Grand Canyon, but will need to wait until tomorrow to share any. Ooo. How's that for a tease? Actually, I am not sure how to pull them from the Mac side to the Windows side. I just tried and it says it cannot access them. Anyway, we had a great time, even with the rain. The only thing we had hoped to do that got cancelled was a helicopter flight over the canyon to the North Rim. That just gives us something to do next time.

A Five Day Weekend

Whoo Hoo! It's my Friday. OK, it is your Friday, too. However, since I am heading up to the canyon on Sunday, I won't be at work again until Thursday.

KLIK came over last night for our annual swim party that we hold each Thursday. The aerator on our pool is broken, so it is way too warm in the pool. We did not swim long.

Speaking of things being broken, that is the topic of today's CoV.
Half of the people in our area of the building are working from home today since their stuff is being moved to another building. So, I am the only one up here. New people are also being moved in, so when I get back next week, the floor will be repopulated. That also means there was plenty of covered parking today. I will probably lose my spot, though, since I am going to lunch with my new boss.

My new MacPro was acting kinda flaky yesterday afternoon. It does sit on my desktop, and with the warm room, maybe it just got too hot. I have it elevated on a Kleenex box today to see if that helps. Hopefully, the person whose box I stole won't notice. Ha ha. Oh come on, I was kidding. It's my box.

I have one of those desk calendars with 365 funny things and today's is cute. Richard Dawson on Family Feud: Name something that can kill a lively party. Contestant: A gun. Oh, come on. That's funny.

Since we are on a Time-Of-Day plan with our electric company, the cost per KWH is high until 8pm, then lower than normal. So, I find we need to eat out more at night because the house is so warm. Still, I think it is cheaper than higher electric bills. Well, I hope that is true. And right now, we run the pool pump the majority of the night, so that is one reason we chose this plan.

Time to mosey over to the reports for the day. Thanks for spending some time here. See you Thursday or so.

Another New Boss

I now report to a new boss. This is my fourth or fifth since I joined this company. I hope it doesn't change for a year or so. It makes it interesting to fill out the annual performance appraisal when your boss wasn't around the entire previous year.

Ah well. It's not all bad. I'm still employed. Speaking of bad, that is a central theme to today's Clarity of Vision.Check out the CoV blog for an explanation of the creative process for today's comic.

It is swim night. However, between the heat and humidity and the temperature of the pool, we don't even have to jump in to be wet. And when we are in the pool, it feels like the temp of the air. When we get out, though, it does feel cooler for a while.

I talked to a guy at work who leaves on vacation today. He also rented a lens for the week, although he chose a 200mm telephoto. He is heading over to San Diego for a few days. We also discussed the best way to capture a sunset, but also have people in the shot that are not too dark to be seen. We talked about fill flash, dialing down the intensity, and setting it to synch the flash at the beginning of the shot.

I am struggling to find more topics for the blog today. So, I think I will just end without further rambling. After all, tomorrow is FRIDAY. Maybe I'll have more to say then.

Early in the Middle of the Week

We are almost halfway through this week. And then, Grand Canyon. Well, at least for some of us. That means I am only 3 days away from renting my wide angle. Brenda, it is a 12-24mm F2.8. I did not want a fish-eye because I don't always like the distortion it introduces.

Sure, I am renting a lens, but don't sue me. I don't need a law firm, although I see ads for them all the time on TV. Like this one, maybe?
It looks like we should reach 116F today. That is a bit warm, even after living here for decades. Still, we expect it. I imagine the northeast is really uncomfortable with 100+ temps.

I've got a deadline today that is already calling my name. Don't you hate that? So, we have a meeting with one VP today at 1pm and then a meeting with the CIO tomorrow about all the project requests that we have been cleaning up. So, I'm going to get to cleaning. Lock up when you leave, OK?

Stop. Rewind.

OK, the big move scheduled for this Friday? It's off. Another business group apparently trumped our need, so for now, we stay put.

Worse than that is the weather for the rest of the week. Thursday and Friday should both reach 115F. since we are near our monsoon season, we are around 40% humidity. It's pretty yucky.

I rented a wide angle lens for my Nikon DSLR last night. I pick it up Saturday. I wanted to go by and talk to a specialist before I rented, so I had not called. That was a mistake. Several of the options were rented already. Now as I looked at the screen when she brought each up, they have been rented for over a week, but still, if I do this again, I will contact them earlier. She talked me into a lens that will go down to F2.8 so it will be better for evening shots. Grand Canyon, here we come.

Let's take some CoV, shall we?I hope you read the search me statement with the correct inflection to show puzzlement and not a challenge. Good.

I mentioned that we are not moving to another building. That is true, but now, the group that includes my fellow game players is moving. What a drag. I am sure they will take the game Who Stole Ed's Pants? with them. Can you imagine a day without playing that? In truth, I have only played it once, but with a name like that, it has got to be worth owning.

Do not let me forget about Chorale practice tonight. I don't think I will, since I did work yesterday and I should not think today is Monday.

Note: There are no photos of dead bears here. If your tastes run like that, head over to Lindsay's blog.

Well, I am feeling like getting to work on today's metrics. Until next time, I will see you online.

The Reviews Are In

We had our annual game night that we hold about every two weeks this past weekend. I finally got the group to play Dominion with me. Let me share some of the exciting comments made. "I cannot believe how much fun this is," said Mom-cum-baker Lyndsay Walker. "This makes the guns in Bang! seem like cap guns," said professional skeptic Kyle Walker. Yes, it is that much fun. Get your own copy soon.

Wait. As I review my notes, I may have misquoted the two statements above. They were more like "If this lasts much longer, I'm going to have to become a drinker" and "Please use the rest of these cards so this game will end" and "OK, we played your stupid game. Now can we play something fun?" We also played Ticket to Ride card game, Set card game, and ended the night with Five Crowns card game (The game isn't over until the Kings go wild).

Let's not go down that path to negativity. Here's today's CoV.
That was better, right?

I am excited to be moving to a different building because availability of parking and proximity to home are better. I am not excited because I will be separated from the game crew and will not learn about new games, and there is some covered parking here at the current site. It's always something, isn't it?

I need to get over to Tempe Camera this week and make a decision about renting a lens for the Grand Canyon. I have decided I want some type of wide angle. If the price looks right, I will pick one up. I am willing to go up to $50 for the week. If not, I will build my own wide angle shots using the panorama feature of Photoshop. Well, as soon as I get a machine that can run Photoshop.

We are still getting used to the new washer. Stuff still comes out very wrinkled after the spin cycle. We are experimenting with speeds and cycles. And it is discomforting to see how low the water levels are. Stay tuned on this one.

Whew! It could be an uncomfortable week. It was 90F and 42% humidity when I left for work at 5:50AM. The high today is only 107F. We should reach 113F by Thursday.

It sounds noisy behind me, which means work beckons. I need to act like I am doing some of my own. Thanks for slogging through this post.

A Hot and Muggy Friday

We have reached the annual monsoon season here in the Valley of the Sun. It is looking like rain over the weekend. OK, sure, we only get 7" or so of rain a year, but it all seems to come in 7 or so storms. So, today, even though we should still be above 110F, we are moving up towards 50%+ humidity. Luckily, we have both a pool and A/C. So, here in PHX, we count the days until winter arrives so we can get back down to the 70s.

Didn't I mention that we recently moved to a new building? Guess what? It is time to move again. Apparently, we are scheduled to move to a different building next Friday. It is a bit closer to home, but I will be leaving the game crew behind. That is how I have found all my recent acquisitions. No, I am not looking for the dark cloud behind the silver lining, but that is a shame.

Speaking of shame, here is today's cartoon, and it is nothing to be ashamed of.
Well, I thought it was funny, and that's what matters.

I think we have something planned over the weekend, but I don't know what. Well, I know that the East Valley Chorale is singing at the AZ Veteran's Home on Sunday. I know that high efficiency washing machines are weird things. It has some kind of pulsing impeller instead of the older back-and-forth type. I know that LeBron is heading to Miami and the Cleveland papers are calling him LeBum.

I have not had a chance to P90X much this week. We were out a couple of nights, and hit the pool on the others. Maybe we'll get back on it this weekend. Lyndsay has apparently been pretty consistent, so congrats to her.

I just remembered we may be having a game night over at KLIKs. Maybe I should borrow Dominion one more time in hopes they will play it with me. I hope Alison comes with us. One, the girls like it when she comes, and two, she played it last weekend and can help me get everyone else going.

I'm feeling a bit worky, so I'll free those impulses and leave the rest of you chilling in the pool. Have a great weekend and come back soon.

Post 730

Well, friends, we have now been together for 730 posts. Some happy. Some sad. All of them semi-interesting. Thanks for staying with me. I am sure you have been even more tested since I started Clarity of Vision. In fact, here is an example.
I apologize for not having posted pictures in a long time. Since our iMac dies, the older Mac just does not have the oomph to handle photo management. I have put a few photos there, but have not been able to clean up or crop. Hopefully, soon, we will get that remedied.

Yeah, the new pool fill valve works. Now, it will not get too full for the skimmer to work and I won't always have gunk floating around on the surface. After all, tonight, the girls come over to swim. Oh yeah, I think their parents are coming, too.

Hey, somebody scheduled a 4pm meeting on Friday afternoon. Come on. That's uncool.

The new washer is weird. It is a high efficiency GE washer, and the water level is not even as high as the clothes. That doesn't feel right. yes, it does say on the inside of the lid that water levels are low. Plus, everything is coming out wrinkled after the final spin cycle. Also plus, it did not come with a manual, so I had to look one up on the internet. If you don't have home internet access, I guess they figure you don't get any hints on your washer and its usage.

Speaking of washer, the washer and dryer are in the garage. We do not have a laundry room. So we are in the midst of the uncomfortable time for laundry. One day, we should probably consider at least setting up a window-type AC unit in the garage. I see some neighbors around that have done that.

There is some ruckus going on behind me, so I will step away from the blog and go back to work. Have a good day and evening and let's meet again tomorrow.

I Remembered

Some time in the last few weeks, I missed Chorale practice because I did not work on Monday and so thought that Tuesday was Monday. This week, Kathie and Alison helped me remember. And this coming Sunday, we sing at the AZ Veteran's Home. Of course, we have prepared several patriotic pieces. Last time we did this, they set us up in the hallway at the top of the stairs. Our director has assured us that we will actually be in a room this time.

Let's talk about literature and movies, man.Well, he almost made it to the book, right?

The new washer is to be delivered today. So, the old one died Sunday morning. In the past, it would stop working, then start again an hour or two later. Sounds like an overheating motor, right? This time, it had not restarted (yes, we left it on) by Monday night, so we bought a new one. However, it finally restarted yesterday morning. Yes, 48 hours later. I think it is time to replace it. Then again, sometimes I will be working and then stop, only to restart 48 hours later. I hope they don't replace me.

I need to replace the fill valve on my pool, too. I have the new one, but want to do it during daylight, just in case something happens. I will try and get to that tonight.

Dad remembered to ask for the photos of the reunion trip from Pastor Bro yesterday. I don't know if he also sent one to Architect Bro or not. I kept meaning to write to them, but I don't have their addresses here at work and that is where I usually remembered. After we get everything, we can create a photo book of the best shots. Whoo Hoo.

I have been thinking about the Canyon trip and maybe, if I get a good deal, I will rent both a wide angle lens for the canyon and a macro lens in case I see nice flowers and stuff. I said maybe.

Hey, I am outta here. Thanks for visiting.

Post-Holiday Already-Behind-Itis

How can stuff that I need to get done at work pile up when nobody else is working either? I already feel behind. However, it is not so bad that I would want to give up holidays.

I borrowed Dominion from the crew at work to play over the holidays. Nobody wanted to play on Saturday, although we did play some other games, including Highrise. I finally got Dad and Mom and Alison to play it with me yesterday. Ali won. I started off trying to explain it and finally, we just started playing and they learned as they played. It is the same thing we had to do with Bang! Then, when I got to work today, I found that I only brought back one of the two boxes (I actually borrowed an expansion game, too, in case more than four wanted to play.) Uh oh. I hope they will play something else during lunch.

P90X is a crazy intense workout program on DVD. We kind of took a break over the holidays, but have to get back on it starting today. So, look at the name of this program one letter at a time. That is what I did for today's CoV.
We watched the fireworks at Schnepf Farms on Sunday night. They were good, although are a bit less impressive when you compare them to Disneyland, which our group tends to do since they are there so often.

I have decided I would rather rent a wide-angle lens for the Grand Canyon trip than a 300mm telephoto.I will then (assuming I remember) compare the photos to at least one panorama from stitched together regular photos. I also hope to convince myself to get up at sunrise (around 5:25am) for some dramatic canyon shots. Sunset is 7:45pm, so I will almost certainly be up for that, too. The rental will be around $36-$45 for the week (at Tempe Camera). Hey, maybe I should rent a Nikon D3 body, too? Just $600 for the week.

Speaking of spending money, the washer finally died. We know we had it before Mexico, so it is over 10 years old. We bought a new GE from Lowes. It will be delivered tomorrow. So, tonight, I need to get the wet clothes and dirty water out of the old one. Yes, it died during a wash...doing what it loved best. I am sure that I how it would have wanted to go.

Hey, thanks for dropping by. I am going to mosey into the workplace now. Y'all can hang around here or go see what other blogs have been updated since you last came by. I will almost certainly have something different to say tomorrow.

Friday 'Not So Light' Nights

Hey, I used to enjoy the downtime of Friday night. Now, I have to go home and do this stinking P90X routine. It's difficult, and I don't get to vegetate and watch TV. In fact, we are really getting behind on our TV watching.

Still, it inspired today's cartoon. I started with another punch line in mind, but this one fell out as I was writing.

Bella and Kendall are taking swim lessons, and the skills were evident last night at swim time. Kendall can kick well, and Bella is doing very well at swimming to Mommy and Daddy. They were working with her on keeping her arms moving as she swims.

The other day, I sort of detoured through a parking lot when I reached an intersection under construction. Since I passed by a Goodwill store, I checked on games. That's how a friend found his copy of Who Stole Ed's Pants?. I found a different kind of domino game called Highrise. Maybe I'll make someone play it with me this weekend. It cost $1.99. Even if it is bad, it could be worth that. And I have been playing Dominion with the lunchtime game crew these past couple of weeks. We sort of alternate that with Bang!.

I need to check on maybe renting a bigger lens before we make our trek up to the Grand Canyon for our anniversary. Yes, that taste of the 300mm I got to use during our family reunion made we wonder about what my next lens should be. Maybe I will go with a 12-24mm for gorgeous wide angles? Or maybe a zoom with a 300mm top end so I can zoom down into the depths of the canyon? We'll see.

Do You Have Coffers?

Doesn't everyone have coffers? No, not coffee. No, not even coffins. Coffers, as in a place you store your money. Yeah, I guess this guy may not have any, either.
I seem to remember a song about smoking that was clever. Check this out.

Well, it is time for another annual swimming get-together, held every Thursday with the granddaughters at our house. Speaking of Grands, I heard their A/C went out again. Man, that is horrible. I have not heard about the timing for getting it repaired yet, but even today is a long time without air conditioning.

I may need to get my body repaired after doing some P90X with Kathie and Ali last night. I am certainly feeling it today. Maybe I should stick to Wii exercise games.

I am having a PB&J for lunch today, made with the homemade jelly from Aunt Martha that she gave us at the family reunion. I can hardly wait.

It is almost Friday. That's good, right? Let's got finish today so tomorrow can come. See you then.