Day 71: Today I got to do first aid/CPR training. My partner was a little stiff and not very talkative, but at least they didn’t complain when I practiced chest compressions on them.
Personal
The stuff about me and my life. The “diary” side of blogging.
Year 50 Day 70
Day 70: Waiting outside one of our classrooms before getting a low-vision student set up with an Enhanced Vision Acrobat magnifying device so they can better participate in their class. It’s a fairly simple device — a screen with a camera that can be directed at the table to magnify papers, or around the classroom to zoom in on the instructor, whiteboard, or other students — but it makes a big difference. And reminds me a lot of a very similar (but much lower-tech and not at all portable) device that my grandma used as her vision deteriorated over the years that I would play with when we went down to visit them.
Year 50 Day 69
Day 69: Time to get back into the evening exercise routine. No real goal other than just being a little more active. The actual doing isn’t necessarily fun, but it always feels good to be in the habit of doing a bit of this regularly.
Year 50 Day 68
Day 68: Out at a park for a picnic and evening performance of Romeo and Juliet by GreenStage, one of the Seattle-area Shakespeare in the park companies.
Year 50 Day 67
Day 67: A treasure of ours — a vintage pachinko machine that my wife inherited from her grandfather, who brought it back from when he was stationed overseas with the Navy. We’re not sure of the exact age (somewhere between the ’50s and the ’70s), but it was mounted in a wall of her grandparents’ house when she was growing up, and got lots of play from all the grandchildren. She inherited it a few years ago, we spent some time cleaning it up, and now it’s mounted in a wall of our basement. The mechanics work decently, though some of the bumpers have degraded and could use replacing, and someday I’d love to see if I can get the electronics working too. But even if that never happens, it’s fun to take a few shots when we walk by.
📚 Mere Anarchy by Mike W. Barr et al.
32/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Originally published as six eBook novellas, this series tracks a single plot line — a natural disaster on a non-Federation planet and the resulting aftermath and recovery — through decades, from just before TOS’s “Where No Man Has Gone Before” to just after the intro of Star Trek: Generations. It makes for a neat look both at the Federation’s long-term approach to working with non-aligned planets (after all, how often have we seen an adventure and then never heard of the planet or culture again?), and how the core TOS crew evolve over the years. This is helped by each novella being written by an author specifically chosen for their expertise in a particular era of Trek history. Definitely one of the stronger Trek omnibus stories I’ve read.
Year 50 Day 66
Day 66: My wife and I hopped on the light rail (for the first time since the pandemic hit) and went up to the Seattle Center today. We got some (mediocre) food (the Armory’s food options just don’t really work for us), sat for about an hour watching people play in the fountain, and then went to MoPOP to see the Laika exhibit (and, of course, the SF, Fantasy, and Horror sections; we skipped the music stuff, because there are only so many times I can feign interest in Nirvana memorabilia (that is, it was interesting the first time, but those exhibits aren’t as engaging on repeat visits)). I took a fair number of photos, but used my “real” camera for most of them, so they’re not ready to go yet. Eventually!
Year 50 Day 65
Day 65: A few 80° days will really make you appreciate both air conditioning and having a job that doesn’t require pants. (Don’t get me wrong — you have to wear something. But kilts are perfectly acceptable.)
Year 50 Day 64
Day 64: Whether because of the heat, the drone from the air conditioner, or just pure orneriness, I was having trouble sleeping, when I suddenly realized I’d forgotten the day’s photo! Turns out a green nightlight in the restroom makes for a nice moody (if a little goofy) late-night photo opportunity.
Year 50 Day 63
Day 63: We’re not really much for the patriotic thing, especially these days (I try to be hopeful about the future, but don’t quite feel like celebrating the present). However, we do like a nice meal out in our pretty little backyard with a small fire going.