Year 50 Day 91

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Me standing outside in a parking lot in bright sunlight, next to a red car with the driver's door open to let hot air escape.

Day 91: One of the advantages to my wife having the summer off before she starts teaching in the fall is that I can park in the lot next to the building I work in, instead of in the upper lot closer to the building with her office. Of course, the disadvantage to this is that the lot close to my building has no shade, while the upper lot has spot we can almost always grab that is directly under a big tree and nicely shaded. On days when the outside temperature is in the 80s or higher and the temperature inside the car at the end of the day is likely well into triple digits, I’m not sure the advantageous parking spot is really that much of an advantage….

📚 The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

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34/2023 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A good second half to the far-future grand-scale space opera of Hyperion, moving away from the Canterbury Tales-inspired pilgrim’s tales to spend more time with the rest of the universe as the story progresses. Definitely best seen as the second half to a singular work than as a sequel.

NOTE: Given Simmons’ descent into right-wing politics, including Islamophobia and publicly attacking Greta Thunburg, he has earned a space on my “milkshake duck” virtual bookshelf, collecting those authors whose work I discovered, enjoyed, and might still enjoy, before later realizing that they are what I consider to be rather horrible people.

Me holding The Fall of Hyperion

Year 50 Day 90

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Me in our living room in front of a window, smiling and wearing a black t-shirt with a drawing of a sloth riding a bicycle and the text 'slow rider'.

Day 90: The latest addition to the ridiculous t-shirt collection. We thought it would be my wife’s, but the cut wasn’t quite right for her, so I got it instead. She’s a bit disappointed, but I’m not!

Year 50 Day 89

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Me standing outdoors on a paved path through a grassy clearing with trees to the sides and in the background. A power line tower is behind me. The sky is cloudy, but sun is shining where I’m standing.

Day 89: Started the day with another nice morning walk, this time three miles along the Soos Creek trail. Then off to a little shopping, an excellent lunch (and later dinner with some leftovers) at El Piketon, dozing on and off while watching one of the Women’s World Cup games and World Aquatics Championship events, and a convention planning session in the evening. All in all, not a bad day.

Year 50 Day 88

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Me in the middle of a room, with the background motion blurred as I spin around.

Day 88: Shopping in the morning, a mid-day nap, and then house work in the afternoon which had me busy and running up and down the stairs multiple times. Spining in place to get a good motion blur on the background seemed a good way to capture the feel of the afternoon.

Year 50 Day 87

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Me standing by the side of a pathway running alongside the bank of a river on a grey cloudy morning. The bank is overgrown with green plants and trees.

Day 87: Started off the day with a nice four-mile walk along the Green River. The only thing I don’t like about having 4-on/3-off weeks during the summer quarter is knowing that I’ll go back to standard 5-on/2-off weeks come fall.

Year 50 Day 85

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Me wearing a black shirt with daisies printed on it, sitting in a grey chair in front of several white bookcases, all filled with books and knicknacks.

Day 85: Nothing of any particular import or interest today. Another decent but uneventful day at work, now at home and soon to have dinner. Nothing wrong with a day that’s just a regular day.

Year 50 Day 84

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Me, my mother-in-law, and my wife sitting in our basement. I and my MIL are sitting on a couch, my wife is at a card table in front of a just-started puzzle. A shelf full of movies and more puzzles is behind her.

Day 84: My mother-in-law is visiting for a couple days. After a pleasant dinner and walk around the neighborhood, we came downstairs to watch the World Aquatic Championships and work on a puzzle for a while.

Year 50 Day 83

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An old photo of me at around three years old, sitting in my mom’s lap as she sits in a rocking chair, dressed in a pink robe, holding up a Playboy centerfold and showing it to me.

Day 83: Well, it was bound to happen eventually – not only did I forget to post, but I forgot to even take a photo on this day! As penance, a shot from my childhood, as my mom introduces me to the wonderful world of pornography.