Photos

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

📚 Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe et al.

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31/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hopepunk and Afrofuturist stories in the world of Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer. A really good set of stories, written with a lineup of coauthors. There wasn’t a story here that I didn’t enjoy. While not strictly necessary, I do recommend at least watching the Dirty Computer “emotion picture” before or along with reading this for a little more background on the world and its characters. And, of course, Monáe’s Dirty Computer album, along with the rest of her albums, is excellent.

Me holding Dirty Computer

Year 50 Day 59

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Me and my wife standing in front of a large shark's jaw.

Day 59: Since my wife has the summer off and my schedule has shifted to four tens until fall quarter starts, we now have our Fridays free. Today, we started our day with a trip to the Point Defiance Zoo. It’s a little smaller than the Woodland Park Zoo, but makes up for that by having two aquariums…well, usually, at least — one is closed until next year for renovations. Still, we always enjoy this zoo, and it made for a nice way to spend our morning. Now we’re back inside and hiding from the sun once again.

Year 50 Day 58

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Me standing outside in front of a chain-link fence. Behind the fence is an active construction area, with workers and heavy equipment visible. In the far distance are the tracks for an in-construction light rail station.

Day 58: Eventually (sometime in 2025), there will be a light rail station just across the road from Highline College. In the meantime, one of the area improvements is a major upgrade to the entrance to the campus. The work on that project is underway over the summer and should be complete by the time fall quarter starts. Not much to look at right now, but should be a good upgrade when complete, and it’s going to be very nice to have the light rail station here when it finally opens.

Year 50 Day 57

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Me standing outside one of the buildings on campus, wearing a blue button-up short-sleeve shirt with a print of stars, astronauts, and the NASA logo.

Day 57: I’ve just been feeling a little spacey today. And no, you don’t need to be a dad to make dad jokes. I also have NASA-themed swim trunks which are, of course, referred to as my “space suit”.

Year 50 Day 56

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Me sitting on our back deck, wearing black cargo shorts and t-shirt, holding a bowl of chocolate pudding with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.

Day 56: It is really nice to have the kind of weather that allows us to sit out in the sun and have dinner out on our back deck. Plus pudding for dessert! And a new pair of shorts that my wife found for me.

Year 50 Day 55

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Me wearing a Nine Inch Nails 2020 tour t-shirt

Day 55: This shirt makes me laugh — for non-obvious, personal reasons.

I discovered Nine Inch Nails right after Pretty Hate Machine came out, and for years, they were my favorite band (as evidence, I present my 1996 “woody’s obsession with nine inch nails” webpage). However, living in Alaska, I never got a chance to see them live, and even after moving to Seattle, they never played close enough at times when I had money and transportation, so I’ve still never been to one of their shows. (Plus, to be honest, while I still enjoy them, they’re not as much of an obsession as they once were, and I’m much less likely to listen to their post-Downward Spiral work.)

So, when the pandemic hit and they had to cancel their tour and put their tour shirts up on their website, it just seemed perfect. If I’m going to have a tour shirt from a band I’ve never managed to actually see on tour, what better one to have than for the tour that got cancelled?

📚 Somewhere to Belong by Dayton Ward

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30/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Taking place not long after the end of season three of Discovery (after solving the riddle of the Burn), this uses an adventure tying back to earlier Discovery moments as a framing device, but also nicely exploring an area that the show rather skips over: how the crew of the ship adjust to their new circumstances. There’s some entertaining lampshading of several DIS events, an interesting answer to why one of the alien races encountered in DIS were never seen in later Trek shows, and some very amusing movie night choices bookending the action.

Me holding Somewhere to Belong

Year 50 Day 54

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Me standing on my back deck with green trees in the background, wearing a black t-shirt with the Star Trek delta made of rainbow stripes, holding a small garden gnome sculpture; the gnome is wearing a rainbow striped hat.

Day 54: Though I didn’t make it out to the parade or festivities, this little nudist gnome (except for his rainbow hat) and I would like to wish everyone a happy Seattle Pride day! Hope you all had a good day, whether at the festivities or elsewhere.

Year 50 Day 53

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My wife and I cuddled up on a couch.

Day 53: Had a nice uneventful Saturday, enjoyed a really good dinner out on our back deck, then curled up for a movie-and-champagne evening (Polite Society is delightful).

Year 50 Day 52

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Me in my living room with an unimpressed expression, holding a plate of hot dogs, beans, and chips.

Day 52: The plan was to get dinner from Aguacateros, which has been our favorite local Mexican restaurant since we moved to this area. But when I got there, I discovered that at some point recently, they’d closed for good — signs down, windows papered over, the works. Really disappointing! So instead of really good Mexican food, we got a “what’s here and easy” meal of hot dogs, beans, and chips. (Admittedly, it wasn’t bad…just not what we’d planned on.) And now we need to find a new go-to Mexican restaurant!