Photos

Photos, usually taken by me. May be mirrored or imported from other services.

Year 50 Day 167

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Me in front of four identical white IKEA bookshelves. Every shelf has books laid sideways atop the books that are shelved properly.

Day 167: IKEA bookshelves are simple and convenient (and all Fight Club snark aside, I really don’t mind the IKEA aesthetic), but I really do wish the shelf spacing was tighter, or that they were more adjustable. Hardbacks have a good four inches of wasted space above them, and there’s nearly room to get two rows of paperbacks for every single row that these allow. I occasionally daydream about finding the time to replace these with custom-built shelves. Properly done, I could probably increase my book storage in this room by at least 50%, possibly more.

Year 50 Day 166

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Me in the car, with soap covering the side window, and everything bathed in green light.

Day 166: I may be 50, but I still do get entertainment value out of going through a car wash, especially now that they have colored foam and neon lighting. It’s like a disco foam party!

Year 50 Day 165

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Me, wearing a Jack Skellington t-shirt and black facemask, standing in a hotel meeting room with a number of other people sitting at tables and chatting with each other behind me.

Day 165: Today was this month’s Norwescon planning meeting. Our theme for the meeting was Halloween, so I wore my Jack Skellington shirt, while other people had pointed witch’s hats, Pikachu onesies, a corn costume, an Alf mask, and probably other things that I missed or aren’t remembering. Lots of good progress being made — but lots to do over the next few months as well!

Year 50 Day 164

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Me crouched in front of my desk. In the foreground, on the desktop, is a plastic Halloween teddy bear skeleton, with two tiny plastic human skulls at its feet.

Day 164: Happy Spooky Friday the 13th to all who celebrate! Nothing particular happened today, so here’s a peek at my some of my desk decor in my office at home. The skelebear usually sits atop my Mac Mini with the skulls at its feet, like a little sacrificial altar. The bear, of course, came from silly Halloween shopping one year; the skulls were 3D printed by a Norwescon member and hidden around the hotel during the con a couple years back, and these are the two I found and kept (I spotted more, but left them for others to discover).

Year 50 Day 163

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Me next to a white bookshelf with a number of science-fiction books visible. Next to my head is a small bust of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E Neuman with his ‘what, me worry?’ phrase on the pedestal.

Day 163: I inherited this Alfred E. Neuman bust from dad when he died. While monetary value certainly isn’t the point, I tried looking it up once, and if I did it correctly, it could be worth somewhere in the $150-$400 range. If I ever get the chance to head to Antiques Roadshow, this would probably be one of the things I’d bring along.

(Also, based on the tags WordPress is suggesting, I think I blogged about this at some point in the past. But hey, I haven’t done it this year yet!)

Year 50 Day 161

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Me standing in my office, wearing a shirt with a print of dragons flying and breathing fire. Visible behind me is a Star Trek art print, and on my desk is a silly plastic octopus skeleton Halloween decor.

Day 161: Since I was doing a presentation for a group of students that had already greatly appreciated my shirt with multicolored dinosaurs, this time I went with dragons, and it was also a hit. I’m going to have to keep track of which shirts I wear for presentations this year to keep them all interested.

📚 Guises of the Mind by Rebecca Neason

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56/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A somewhat surprisingly Catholic approach to Star Trek. Not badly done, though as other reviewers have noted, does give it a very monotheistic viewpoint; though it does note that there are other options, those definitely aren’t its focus. Given that, outside of DS9, religion isn’t often focused on in Star Trek, I found it an interesting approach, particularly the choice to focus on Tori rather than Data, the perennial outsider (though his interest is a present side thread).

Me holding Guises of the Mind

Year 50 Day 160

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Me standing at the kitchen sink and doing dishes.

Day 160: I’m not much of a food-oriented person, and so have little in the way of cooking skills (though I can manage a pretty darn good take-out pizza or Kraft Mac-N-Cheese). So I make up for my limited usefulness in dinner prep by being responsible for the cleanup. It’s better than not bothering with the kitchen at all!