Brief moment of panic yesterday when I (re-)learned that you can't charge the Pentax MX-1 in camera. Couldn't find the charger in the drawer full of chargers. Spent an hour or so cleaning up my desk (got about a third of the way through), when it dawned on me that it might be in the box. This camera came with the box and all the docs and I hadn't thrown it away. Quick trip to the closet and there it was!

I'd been wasting some time watching YouTube camera videos and decided I wanted to play with the MX-1.

(The real subject of this post should be the wasteland that YouTube has become with regard to camera videos. But what does one do in a wasteland but waste time?)

Mitzi and I biked over to the garden and I brought the MX-1 along. Tough to compose with just an LCD in that much sunshine, but I got a few shots. More up at Flickr.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:04 Wednesday, 29 May 2024

<img src=“https://nice-marmot.net/Archives/2024/Images/P5262350.JPG" alt=“My wife calls these “Blue my mind."">

A couple of moon shots up at Flickr from yesterday and this morning, but I wanted to post something different yesterday. I didn't get around to it, so here it is today. Took the XZ-1 out around the house after my walk. Mitzi calls these "Blue my mind" flowers. ("Blew my mind?" I don't know.)

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 09:11 Monday, 27 May 2024

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:34 Saturday, 25 May 2024

I've been walking in the late afternoon to ensure that I close my move ring. (Current goal: 840 cal.) I don't press in the afternoon, because it's warmer and I just need to close the ring, not work up a sweat.

So this afternoon I brought along the Stylus 1s, just to get familiar with it again. Turned out to be a fairly prolific walk, as far as pics go. I liked this one though.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 17:47 Wednesday, 22 May 2024

We were making turkey burgers last night when I noticed something perched on this relatively newly broken tree back in the swamp. The E-M1X already had the 100-400mm zoom mounted with the 1.4x teleconverter, so it was a matter of switching modes to try for bird.

Photos informs me this is a little blue heron, perhaps a juvenile transitioning into its adult plumage. It spent most of its time preening its feathers.

This is an uncropped image, lightly sharpened in Topaz SharpenAI. I tried Topaz PhotoAI, but it sharpens the image beyond what I think is acceptable, introducing artifacts and distortions. (Full resolution image available at Flickr.)

Since I've been walking without a camera, I've been taking far fewer pictures. The upside is, I have less "work" to do on them. I was shooting in drive mode on this bird and even with the "slow" setting and shooting in bursts, I still had a ton of images to go through.

Shot the moon last night too. Also up on Flickr.

I've been trying to take advantage of the more reasonable weather to get more exercise. I've been managing to close my Move ring several days in a row now. It'll get hot and humid soon, and I won't be as willing to press as I am now. But this has begun to feel "good," and it recalls some of the feeling I had back when I was running. It's also made me consider trying it again, but that'll be in the pre-dawn hours when it's dark and I'm less likely to encounter people.

We'll be heading up to DC at the end of the month to see Mitzi's daughter and son-in-law, so I'll be bringing a camera or two along then.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:03 Monday, 20 May 2024

Shot this just before bed last night. The night before last wasn't cloudy, but it was definitely hazy. I like this shot, there's a larger version at Flickr.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 14:41 Sunday, 19 May 2024

Good seeing tonight. E-M1X, handheld high-res shot, 100-400mm zoom w/MC14 teleconverter. 1120mm effective focal length.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 21:48 Thursday, 16 May 2024

It was a truism in the navy that while watchstanding when something demands your undivided attention, a compelling distraction will arrive.

Went to the movies yesterday with my son and his family and I used my Apple card to pay for something at the concession stand. The Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes wasn't bad. There were dangling plot lines, buy my son said it's the first installment of another trilogy. I'd give it a C+, what is that? 2.5 stars?

Anyway, I get home and I'm fooling around in the house, not doing anything I'd intended to do, when I get a notification from Apple Wallet that a charge has been made on my Apple Card from Amazon for an amount that didn't seem unreasonable.

I order a lot of stuff from Amazon, which is perhaps also inconsistent with my intention to "do my best," and "don't make things worse." But I knew I didn't order anything yesterday.

I checked my email for an order confirmation in that amount and couldn't find one. I went to Amazon and looked at my orders page and didn't find one for that amount. It seemed pretty clear my card had been compromised. I'm not sure how, I can't be certain it was at the movies. I had my wallet out because I gave my daughter in law some cash for their popcorn and sodas. I got my treat and for some reason, perhaps because I had my wallet out, I pulled my Apple Card out to pay for it. (Gotta get that 1% cash back.) The transaction seemed to be taking a long time, so I ended up using my phone. That's why I suspect that's where it got skimmed.

So about 1930 yesterday evening, I'm chatting with Goldman Sachs reporting the card as compromised. About the same time, my ex-neighbor called. He's headed out to see if he can get a photo of the aurora. Apparently it was visible as far south as Florida, people had gotten shots from a little town west of here, Hastings. He figured he'd go to the beach and set up a tripod and try his luck.

I'm trying to wrap up the thing with Goldman Sachs and figure out whether or not I want to try my luck with the mosquitos and maybe catch a shot of the northern lights from Florida.

Obviously, I ended up going. Put on some bug spray but still got eaten alive. I'd sprayed a bandana to tie around my neck, I ended up just putting it over my head, secured by my hat, to protect my ears.

We never saw the aurora (I think. There's a greenish glow to the northwest in many of the shots, but I suspect that's just skyglow from Jacksonville.)

We got to the site just after sunset and started getting set up. Not only did the mosquitos come out, but also many people who seemed to have the same idea, and all the headlights driving into the area kept ruining shots.

A fellow member of The Jacksonville Astronomy Club showed up and he and Pete struck up a conversation. I'd moved my tripod over to the north edge of the parking lot so most of the light from arriving or departing cars would be behind me. At some point they yelled over to me to look up at the moon and I saw something I'd never seen before, a train of Starlink satellites. I'd already started a live composite shot (I figured I'd just get some star trails as long as I was there.), and so I was able to capture the light trail they left behind. But it doesn't really capture what it looked like to the naked eye.

I thought there must have been a launch and we were witnessing a deployment. But no, apparently this is a familiar phenomenon. I could see a number of satellites, perhaps as many as a dozen, all in train, tracking to the south beginning from below the moon and passing directly in front of it. Looking closely at the light trail, I think I can make out around nine, but I have the impression there were more than that in trail. I tried grabbing a shot with my phone, because why not? It actually caught something, but it was essentially a long exposure, so it's no help in figuring out the number. I'll put it on Flickr in a bit.

Anyway, that wasn't the first unexpected celestial subject that evening.

Not long after I'd moved to the north edge of the parking lot, I'd started taking live composite shots for star trails. Pete yelled over to me (his gear was still set up on the south side of the parking lot) that the ISS was overhead. I didn't recall getting a notification that it would be visible last night, but sure enough, there it was. I'd already started the live composite shot, so I got pretty much the whole time it was visible overhead. I think I ended it one frame too soon. That'll be up on Flickr later too.

Anyway, this morning I've been going through and changing credit card numbers for all the subscriptions I use my Apple Card for (and logging all those changes in Captain's Log). The non-profits I make recurring donations to don't have an "accounts page." I'll have to work with each of them on the phone to get this billing squared away.

This happened last September when I went home for Mom's 90th birthday. It's a pain in the ass. That time, whoever used the card number was making purchases out in the Pacific northwest, which tripped an alarm for Goldman Sachs and they made an active effort to reach out to me to point out potentially fraudulent transactions. This time I think an Amazon purchase in the range of normal purchase amounts for me slipped under their radar. But fortunately, I have notifications turned on for Apple Wallet and it got my attention.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:52 Sunday, 12 May 2024

Put the drone up this morning to look at the array again. I had it up while they were cleaning yesterday. Judging by their reaction, I'm not sure anyone has ever done that before.

They are cleaner than yesterday, but perhaps not as clean as I might have liked. They used a hose and scrub brushes but no soap. Plus, the water is hard. We'll see how the output goes today, weather looks similar in terms of cloud cover.

If I can figure out a safe way to get on the roof, I may try to do it myself next year, with soap.

We're still making more power than we use and the "problem" is likely more cosmetic than production, but if I can get more from them, I want it.

I put a "before" and "after" example up on Flickr.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:10 Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Well, I guess I'm an artiste now. My first exhibition at the Anastasia Club. Heh.

At the last photography club meeting, they asked if someone wanted to put some of their photos in the community club display. Nobody raised their hand, so I did.

Made a QR code of my Flickr photo stream. So far, no uptick in visits. (Nor do I expect one. Not sure how many of these folks understand or would use a QR code.)

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:42 Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Did a series of "before" pics this morning. Supposed to have a crew out here this afternoon to clean the array. First time I've paid to have it done. Not cheap at $400, but worth it in terms of performance and longevity of the array. I'm going to guess we'll see about a 10% increase in output, but that's just a guess.

"Rain" was supposed to be enough to keep them clean, but the pine pollen is pretty sticky. On the closeups, I can still see where I couldn't reach a couple of years ago when I used an extendable RV washing brush to clean them the last time. Ideally, I'd get on the roof and do it myself, but I'm getting to the point where I feel that discretion is the better part of valor, and I'll let someone else do it.

I'll take another series this evening and see how they did.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:01 Tuesday, 7 May 2024

We're in Montgomery, Alabama this morning. Shot is from yesterday on Florida I-10. Basically, drive west until the time zone changes, then turn right. Our ultimate destination is somewhere north of here for my nephew's wedding. It's a chance to see my youngest brother and do a little sight-seeing.

Staying in a Marriott Springhill Suites near the heart of Montgomery. I should write "stayed," because we check out today. But while we're here we're going to visit some of the civil rights history locations.

Made an entry in Captain's Log to put together a travel bag of cables. I have what is likely not a comprehensive set in my backpack that I use when flying, but since we're driving on this trip, I used my little, much battered, roller-bag. So I put together another bag of cables the night before last. Did pretty well, but forgot one, USB-C to USB-C (alternatively, a USB-A to USB-C), so now I can't charge the iPad mini. It's at 50%, and it's non-essential with the MBP I'm writing this on, but it's annoying. (Why bring it at all? It's nice in the car when I'm not driving.)

Today's modern life, unless I choose to forego all my "devices," requires USB-A to Lightning, USB-C to Lightning, USB-A to Apple Watch, USB-A to micro-USB (thanks OM Digital Systems) and the absent USB-C to USB-C. I expect to get either an iPhone 16 this fall, or perhaps a 15 if that seems preferable, which should eliminate the need for a Lightning cable if I don't bring one of the 10" iPads. Well, check that, just recalled the AirPods. I have the USB-C to MagSafe connector, but I could use USB-C to USB-C and omit the MagSafe cable. The Watch remains an outlier.

One other handy travel device is an Anker Power Bank. This one is new to me, though it may be discontinued by Anker. I didn't see it at the "Anker Store" at Amazon. I also have a preceding model with roughly the same capacity, but one less USB-C port and less output on the PD port. The extra USB-C port is main attraction on the new one. In many of the places we've stayed, power outlets are problematic for one reason or another, as they are in this converted warehouse. The Power Bank solves that problem and I can charge everything wherever it's convenient, often next to the bed. Then recharging the power bank wherever it's convenient when we're out during the day.

All of this complexity suggests something to me that I don't wish to think about too much.

This modern life.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 05:11 Friday, 3 May 2024

I walked first thing this morning, because the biting flies are back and they're more dormant before sunrise.

The flies are bad, but they're mostly just annoying. The reaction I get to their bite it short-lived, only a few hours, unlike mosquito bites which will itch for days. And, make of this what you will, each year it seems as though there are fewer of them. When we moved here almost five years ago, they were dense. I would wear a bandana sprayed with Deet around my neck and spray my hat and my legs and arms. They'd still harass me. Nowadays you'll get one or two as you pass beneath certain trees. Some of them are very slow, and if you notice them landing on you, you can kill them. I got three the other morning.

But when I'm carrying a camera, I only have my non-dominant hand available, so it's more challenging. Fairer for the flies, I guess.

Anyway, I wanted to get out before they were bad, relative though that may be, so I didn't shoot the last quarter moon first thing this morning.

I was surprised the handheld high-res shot worked as well as it did. I often get failures with this phase of the moon. Perhaps not enough features for the camera to be happy with the alignment. Since it was essentially almost daylight by the time I shot this, I de-saturated the image for a gray-scale result.

Then the fun began.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:39 Wednesday, 1 May 2024

Slept ok last night.

Felt productive yesterday morning and attempted some maintenance on the water softener. The issue, again, is periodic episodes of very salty water. Started last November. Not good. No error codes on the controller. Checked the manual, apparently there's some annual maintenance we're supposed to do on this thing, which we haven't been doing. There's a "salty water" fault, and a few possible causes in the trouble-shooting section. One recommended action is related to the maintenance item we've not been doing. That seemed like the most promising lead.

Plumbing is not my forté. Looked simple enough on YouTube. Of course, my particular model, although allegedly the same, was different.

One unanticipated problem was with the float switch. The bottom of the tube it sits in is filled with salt. Came out easy enough. Trying to put it back in, I couldn't get it down all the way to the bottom to allow a little plastic bolt near the top to get through the hole in the tube to secure it. Tube is too small to get my arm down. How to remove salt?

These little frustrations annoy me, irritate me and make me angry. I have a little spring-loaded grabby-thing for when you drop stuff into relatively inaccessible places. I used it to pull little pellets of salt out, one by one, slowly, tediously, until I'd removed enough to get the float low enough to get the bolt through the hole. I rinsed it with fresh water after, but I suppose I'm going to have to buy a new one soon.

Then I tried to put the part I removed back on the control valve. As it happened, it wasn't clogged, so it's not the source of our issue.

Of course.

Two screws, one above, very accessible, the other below, nearly inaccessible. The video warned to be careful as a screw might enter the brine tank and then you'd have to go "fishing for it." I thought I'd be smart and use a magnetic bit.

It's not a ferrous screw.

Of course.

Despite my best efforts to be exceedingly careful in getting this screw into a black hole in black plastic beneath a block of black plastic with a flashlight in my mouth...

Tink!

Into the brine tank.

So, by hand, I remove nearly all the salt and most of the water. I'm looking for the screw as I remove salt and water, but no joy. I'm placing the removed salt and water into two buckets. Mitzi gets home and we find another bucket. We start removing salt from one bucket and putting it in the new bucket, again looking for the screw. She found it on the third or fourth handful of salt.

God bless her.

I get the thing put back together, but by now I'm exhausted and my hands are scraped and burning, especially my fingertips and finger nails.

I should know better by now.

Anyway, before this I tested the water from the street and again after the "maintenance." Very little difference. I suspect the resin bed is fouled somehow. I'm going to run some extra recharge cycles and see if it recovers, but I'll do that at night. Failing that, at the next episode of "salty water," I guess we're calling a plumber.

Such is life.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 09:10 Tuesday, 30 April 2024

While much of yesterday felt like wading through molasses, we did manage to make it to the garden to check on the plants. Probably 10 tomatoes coming in, a few beans starting and the peas are still struggling.

Because I was running at about half speed, I didn't bring a camera with me, but I did have the phone. These weren't our sunflowers, but I enjoyed looking at them.

Slept fairly well last night, but I'm still feeling pretty far from "refreshed."

We started watching some Japanese series on Prime last night, I can't recall the name just now, but it's about a U.S. nuclear sub crewed by the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. At first I was put off by the way they depicted the Americans, then I recalled reading in the credits it was based on a manga series and then it made sense. They're remaining pretty faithful to the manga style(?) (tropes?). Not that I'm intimately familiar with manga, but I have seen some. We watched two episodes and felt, meh. But it did put me in the mood to watch a movie about submarines with subtitles.

So we (started) watching Das Boot (The Director's Cut). "Started," because it's more than three hours long, if I recall how much time we had remaining when I stopped it.

It seems hard to believe that movie is over 40 years old now. We are farther from when that movie was made than the movie was from the events it depicted when it was made.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 05:53 Monday, 29 April 2024

We've been having some kind of issue with our water softener since November. I suspected the water softener, but Mitzi insisted it couldn't be. She'd had this model before in her townhome and never had any problems with it. But the water was salty and the only source of salt is the water softener.

I don't think I've got it resolved yet, but I think I know what I'm looking for now.

At any rate, I put it in bypass last night and then ran the water for a while to test the unsoftened utility water for total dissolved solids (TDS). They were lower than what I was getting out of the softener. Then I put the softener into recharge (wash the resin with brine), but forgot to take it out of bypass. I remembered that about 0430 this morning, for reasons I will never understand.

Anyway, it was pointless to lie in bed anymore thinking about it, so I got up to go check. Sure enough, it was in bypass. So I put it in service, and ran a recharge cycle.

At which point the drain hose blew off!

Hilarity ensued.

I vaguely recall "thinking" what do I do now? Well, I grabbed the hose and shoved it on the discharge fitting and held it there. Problem solved.

It now has a hose clamp. (Hurray for "junk" drawers.)

Cleaned everything up and let it do its thing. Went back into the office and watched a few YouTube videos on water softener maintenance. Read the manual some more, then decided to go for a walk.

I didn't see much in the weather forecast last night about rain. Sky was cloudy with an eerie red glow in the east. I carried the E-P7 with a Lumix 12-32mm/f3.5-5.6 compact zoom mounted. Neither camera nor lens is weather sealed.

I also made sure to pick the outdoor walk on the watch. More about that later. Maybe.

Anyway, it was warm, 70°F, so just a t-shirt and a ball cap and I was on my way.

A little over a mile in, I started feeling a light rain, very light. Didn't worry too much about it. Kept the camera cupped in my right hand.

About a mile and a half in, at roughly the halfway point, it was no longer "light," it was raining.

Seemed like my morning for getting wet.

Fortunately, it didn't last long. Did the best I could to shield the E-P7 with my hand and after it stopped raining I let it swing freely from the strap to perhaps "air dry." Got home, looked it over and it was dry everywhere I could see. Seems to be fine. Time will tell.

Made breakfast, watched a few more YouTube videos on water softener maintenance. Figured I'd attend to the marmot, and now I'm going to go take a shower and think about running to Home Depot for some more salt before I take this thing apart. I may take a nap first.

May not be my day for taking apart the water softener, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what to look at.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 09:32 Saturday, 27 April 2024

I didn't walk yesterday. I did bike to the garden and look in on the plants. We have some tomatoes coming in, but the peas look like they're struggling. The pole bean plant is climbing, but no beans yet.

Slept fairly well last night. At least, I didn't wake up at 0300 and struggle to fall back asleep. So I was able to get up shortly before the alarm feeling fairly refreshed. Shot this morning's moon and put that on Flickr. Browsed some of the activity feeds there.

Went through the RSS feeds, read Heather Cox Richardson's post and got exercised, which resulted in a blog post.

Then I took a walk. It was warm, so no vest with a pocket. I put the E-P7 (not the PL7) on my wrist with a Meitu 14-42 compact electronic zoom mounted. It's essentially the Lumix 14-42PZ (power zoom), re-badged for a short-lived brand. Got it for a song, but it's white so it looks kind of odd. I got rid of all my white cameras, though Mitzi has a white E-P5. I figured since the silver mZuiko 14-42EZ had died, I might as well use the Meitu.

The image above is one of the shots. It's a nothing shot, but it made me think.

The lens did draw the eye of the folks I passed.

When I rode my bike yesterday, I recorded it as my workout. When I was in New York, I got on the treadmill at the hotel once and recorded an indoor walk. (Incredibly boring, even with a podcast.) I recall looking for an indoor walk, because I know there are two, outdoor being the other. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I recorded outdoor walks. No problems. Rode my bike yesterday, and this morning I brought my watch up and touched the workout complication and selected what I thought was an outdoor walk.

For some reason, which I can't figure out at all, about a minute after I'd taken this picture, my watch asked me if I was finished with my workout. Now, it'll do this on an outdoor walk if I stop and spend some time taking pictures, offering me the opportunity to "Pause" or to "Dismiss" the query. But I hadn't stopped very long to take the shot, and I was moving pretty quickly when it interrupted me with this question.

Then I noticed that it wasn't recording my pace. It was recording distance, but not my pace. I didn't figure it out right then, I thought something must be wrong with GPS.

Well, when I got home I learned I had somehow selected indoor walk as my workout. As I recall, but can't swear to, the most recent workout is the default choice when selecting the workout complication. So it was probably outdoor bike, but I selected the first "walk" icon I saw. Apparently that was "indoor." Why? I'd done three outdoor walks previously.

I don't know why this happened. I'm so tired of Apple. Stuff works. Then it doesn't. I'm pretty sure it's no better on Android or Windows, and I'm pretty embedded in this ecosystem, but Apple is just disappointing. Size and success have spoiled it. I didn't welcome the interruption on my walk. I didn't want to wonder why it wasn't reporting my pace. I did want to know what my pace was. In hindsight it all makes sense, except why it would offer me an indoor walk at all. I've never done an indoor walk at this location. So much for all that "machine learning" bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit.

Old men bitching about newfangled stuff. A tale as old as time.

I have no interest in whatever it is Apple plans to announce on May 7th. I'm reading rumors that MacOS is up for a major UI overhaul soon. I'm like, "Please, no. Just don't."

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:24 Friday, 26 April 2024

For whatever reason, I'm skipping my walk this morning. I'll probably bike to the garden later.

D-cells aren't used in very many devices these days, but I have a few old radios that use them, and the iPod HiFi and a huge MagLite flashlight ("What it can't blind, it can bludgeon.") So I wanted to get some rechargeables a couple of years ago. At the time, I hadn't learned quite as much about batteries, and Panasonic doesn't offer an Eneloop in the D cell size. EBL seemed to get good reviews on Amazon, so I ordered a bunch of those.

They work, but I wasn't impressed with their longevity. At first I thought it was because NiMH native cell voltage is only ~1.2v, and so they were "dying" in the radio simply because the voltage was too low.

After watching a lot of battery tests on YouTube, I noticed that EBL batteries consistently underperformed their rated capacity in tests. So I ordered some Amazon Basics in the D-cell size, hoping they'll last a bit longer in a radio. I immediately noticed a difference when I took them out of the (very sensible, sustainable, plain brown cardboard) package. They were heavy.

Put one of each on the scale and this is the result.

So if you're shopping for NiMH rechargeables, I'd stay away from EBL and stick with Eneloop or Amazon Basics.

Hurricane season is just around the corner.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:28 Thursday, 25 April 2024

Haven't done one of these this month.

Thinking about riding my bike to the garden and then walking from there. Change of scenery.

Mowing the lawn yesterday has me feeling it in my knees. Not painful like Lyme, just like from exertion.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:19 Thursday, 25 April 2024

The mZuiko 14-42/f3.5-5.6 EZ lens died shortly after this shot. Pretty sure it's a ribbon cable issue. I have three of them. Well, two now.

Started late this morning. Got back, had breakfast and then I mowed the lawn.

I don't usually mow the lawn. But Mitzi's been gone for over a week and doesn't get back until Saturday and someone will write us a ticket if we don't keep our useless patch of grass neat and tidy. So I mowed.

Now I've got to call someone about VA Aid and Attendance assistance. First I need to make sure I write down all my questions. I think she meets all the requirements, but I'm not sure about income. Her net worth is well below the threshold, but her income is relatively "high" even though it's insufficient to meet her present expenses and we're drawing down her savings, which again, are modest.

Anyway, time to get some ducks in a row...

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:31 Wednesday, 24 April 2024

"Productive" may have been optimistic. I've just been sucked into a time-sump figuring out whether or not my two external SSDs are operating as fast as they could be on my 2019 27" iMac. I remain unconvinced, but it's possible that they are. For the moment, further investigation seems futile. Or at least, boring.

I have decided to copy the Photos library over from the iMac to one of the SSDs which has over 3TB free. I can hear the fans spinning over here in the recliner while I leave the iMac to do its thing.

For the moment, I intend to maintain the Photos library on the external drive. I quit Photos before undertaking the copy, and I'll relaunch Photos from the external library. I'll need to ensure that it's the "system" library at that point. Once, which is to say that it's the library sync'ed with iCloud. Once I'm confident that is the case, I'll delete the library from the iMac's internal SSD and stop worrying about disk space.

Shot the title pic this morning on the walk. Nice, crisp morning. I dialed my pace back a bit because I went fairly aggressively yesterday and my achilles tendons feel tight, which has historically been a precursor to a bout of tendonitis. I'd like to avoid that. May also be due to switching from a pair of worn Columbia "hiking" shoes to a pair of New Balance "walking" shoes. My gait is jacked up anyway, my shoes wear grossly unevenly with the right sole wearing out at the heel and ball areas long before either part on the left sole.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:27 Tuesday, 23 April 2024

Despite being pretty tired from the early morning, I didn't sleep well last night. Got up around 0400 and watched YouTube videos about battery charging and NiMH batteries.

As one does.

Went for my walk, had breakfast and took a nap.

Spent the last couple of hours looking at how to apply for VA benefits for Mom. I think I've got it mostly figured out, but naturally, it's confusing. Probably should have done this a year ago, but I wasn't aware of it. My wife's sister-in-law informed me yesterday when I was talking to Mitzi. She just went through it for her mom. Need to coordinate with my siblings, but waiting to hear from my sister the nurse.

Anyway, saw this from the window yesterday and thought it was interesting. As usual, I took too many photos from the window. I suspect this is a disturbance in the cloud layer left by an aircraft that descended below the cloud layer heading into Detroit.

Stuff I don't see every day.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 11:52 Monday, 22 April 2024

Well, let's see if this works.

Got up a little before 0300, out of the house a 0315. No traffic at that hour. No line at TSA pre✅. Somehow my phone fell out of the x-ray bin, but fortunately I realized I didn't have it before I left security and found it on the floor next to the conveyor. I guess it came out when I pulled my backpack out.

Two plus hour layover before heading on to Albany. Figured I'd play with the marmot. Brought the OM-5 along and shot this with it.

Dozed a bit on the flight out of Jax. Wouldn't mind a nap right now, but that's kind of difficult. Made the mistake of getting breakfast at TGI Friday's. Horrible. It was supposed to be an omelet, but it was just a mess.

Connected up to wifi through my phone's personal hotspot, seems pretty speedy.

Tried doing an online check-in with Hertz, but since I reserved the car under the name "Dave Rogers," I can't confirm check-in because that doesn't match the name on my driver's license. It's 2024 and we're worried about AI taking people's jobs and we can't have a computer figure out that "Dave Rogers" and "David Rogers," each with the same address and phone number, aren't the same person.

I guess in an era of ubiquitous surveillance and corporate, government and malefactor intrusions the fact that computers and the software they run are so limited ought to be encouraging.

Can't say I enjoy traveling at this hour, but it does have the advantage of avoiding crowds. It also gets me out of Atlanta before the weather starts getting weird. Summertime is worst, but I'm not sure you can rely on past patterns anymore. Flying at this hour is more affordable too, to the extent that I was able to book first class without breaking the bank. It really is hard getting up that early though.

Ok, rambled on enough. Let's see if this will upload.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:30 Thursday, 18 April 2024

Brought along the E-P7 this morning, with the Lumix 20mm/f1.7 on it. Did the bench and the arches again, probably upload those to Flickr after I get finished here. I played with in-camera RAW processing, choosing different built-in profiles.

After shooting the arches, it dawned on me I hadn't been notified by Delta to check-in for my flight tomorrow. So I opened the Delta app on my phone and saw the flight to Albany, but not the return leg. Spent some time fooling around trying to figure out what was up with that, and decided it would have to wait until I got home.

After some confusion on someone's part, I don't think Delta's system was running properly, I finally got the whole itinerary listed and checked in for tomorrow's oh-dark-thirty flight to Atlanta. I'm getting up at 0300 tomorrow to get to Jax for an 0520 flight. Oy. I'll park in the parking garage ($$) because it's just for the weekend, and I'm only bringing a carry-on and maybe a camera bag.

I printed my boarding passes, just in case, and then noticed they omitted TSA pre✅ (let's see how that renders). So I went to the app on my phone, which couldn't find my whole itinerary previously, and had to wait while something happened in the background. Now all is well, and everything is up to date. The electronic boarding pass has the TSA pre✅ logo, and now they're in the Wallet app.

I tried to do Hertz's "touchless" check-in, which is pretty creepy because they want to enroll you by having you take a picture of yourself and your driver's license. I initially declined, then thought about it and figured we're all screwed anyway as far as privacy is concerned, might as well make it convenient.

So you start on the computer in the browser, it then sends a "secure link" to your phone, where some web app is supposed to step you through taking photos of yourself and your driver's license. For better or worse, it wouldn't work, so I guess I'm standing in line to get the car. No big deal.

Planning on bringing the OM-5 with me tomorrow. Maybe the 14-42EZ pancake zoom, the 20mm/f1.7 and the 45mm/f1.8. Mostly going to be indoors with Mom, no sense going crazy.

One question will be exercise. I've been pretty consistent for the past few months, getting my walk in. Maybe I'll use the treadmill and listen to a podcast. It'll be a lot cooler up there, high for the weekend is supposed to be 61°F. I'll bring a pair of shorts in case I use the treadmill, but looks like jeans weather to me.

Watched two more episodes of Fallout. Moderately more interesting than the first four, but it's basically just ripping off Silo now. Am I entertained? Meh. I'm mostly just watching out of curiosity, I'm not emotionally invested in any of the characters and the plot just seems lazy and weak. The energy question was answered... "Fusion cores!" Of course! The "I oversee..." and the "overseers" threads were tied together with a 2x4 over your head. Vault 4 was "scientists" experimenting on "the effects of radiation on human DNA," so of course you shouldn't go down to Level 12.

It's not "art." It's just a cash grab.

I won't finish it tonight. Last night's effort left me with "unpleasant" dreams. I'll watch the rest after I get home. If you don't have Prime, you're not missing anything.

Anyway, guess I'll work on the bench a bit. Then there's a photography club meeting this afternoon, so I can get my "socialize" check in the block.

The beat goes on.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:39 Wednesday, 17 April 2024

Light was off in the library at the clubhouse. Wouldn't have been as nice a shot. Plus, I'd meant to bring the E-P7 and try it with one of its built-in B&W profiles.

Anyway, grabbed a couple of snapshots while I was focused on keeping my heart rate up. I liked this. Probably a nothing shot, but I liked it.

Next a shower and then a maintenance check with my physician.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:45 Tuesday, 16 April 2024