Monday Meanderings - 9.18.2017

Significant changes under way for our volunteer activities. After logging about 9,000 miles  delivering for Meals on Wheels, Barb has turned in her insulated bags and retired from her route. She passed the 10-year mark earlier this year and decided that she had fulfilled her commitment. When asked what she was going to do now, she said, "Sign up to receive meals." Since she's still tutoring her Burmese families on English and Citizenship requirements, I'm not sure she's going to notice any slow-down in her schedule.

And on my side of the house, no more twice-weekly trips to the studio for recording sessions. Learning Ally is closing all of their studios.  No, they are not going out of business - they are transforming into a completely virtual organization. Everybody is going to work from home.

Learning Ally has been preparing this transition for a couple of years. There are 7 physical studio locations around the country, in addition to the headquarters in New Jersey. These studios, in the past, have been fairly autonomous; each responsible for all aspects of the assigned recorded book production.

Recently, a lot of the common infrastructure, like the log-in and log-out and time keeping has been consolidated into the "cloud" and some specialties have moved into "virtual communities." For example, those highly-skilled folks known as "math readers" have already been transformed into a collaborative network of readers, checkers and support personnel that exists globally, rather than scattered among the physical locations.

Now, all of the volunteers and almost all of the staff is becoming part of this virtual community, and almost everything we do can be done from home; selecting and signing up for reading and checking assignments, recording the audio, quality control (checking) and finalization.

I have, for some time, been checking audio files for accuracy here at home. Now I'll record them, as well. All I need is a microphone. And a wind screen, or pop filter. And a boom stand to position it properly. And some quality over-the-ears headphones. And a powered USB port because my computer is old and under-powered.

Oh, and a quiet room. A very quite room. No, quieter than that - I can still hear the neighbors air conditioner. So foam squares. And blankets. And maybe more foam. Wait! This chair squeaks! Is there a hum? I hear a hum.

However, probably the biggest impact these changes will have is about 8 more hours weekly of "together" time for Barb and me. Just remember, Barb used to call my boss and say, "Isn't there some place you can send Bob? He's really getting on my nerves."

So, to keep the peace, if you need me, I'll probably be shut up in my "recording studio." Looking for the source of that hum.

Monday Meanderings - 9.11.2017

When Barb and I fly, our preferred seating arrangement is aisle seats - across from each other. This sometimes confuses helpful attendants, who want to find us seats together, but we assure them that we like our arrangement, thank you.

But a few weeks ago, on a flight from Fresno to Denver, there were some open rows (unusual these days) and the visibility was good, so I slid over to a window seat for a change and watched the landscape pass below me.

On Google Earth you can see what I saw out the plane window, and that's a whole lot of nothing. About 875 miles of nothing, as the crow - or airliner - flies. Fresno is located in the Central Valley of California, on the eastern side of the state, only about 150 miles from the Nevada border. Only problem is, the Sierra Nevada mountain range and a string of Eco-sensitive national forests effectively limits travel in that direction. Not to mention Death Valley.

But that area fairly teems with civilization compared to the desolation that begins almost exactly with Nevada's western border and (following our route) continues on for another 200 miles to the Utah border. The 350 miles needed to cross Utah is not much better, at least not in the southern part of the state that we crossed. Not until you get to Colorado - and again, the change is almost exactly measured from the border - does the landscape show any real signs of civilization.

There are only two major highways in Nevada; IH75 from Los Angeles that crosses the Mojave Desert and passes through Las Vegas, exiting the state to the east at St George, Utah, and IH80, which makes a big northern arc from Sacramento through Reno to Salt Lake City.

Three quarters of the state's 3 million citizens live in Clark County, home to Las Vegas. Another half-million live on the northwestern border in the Reno area. That leaves a big swath in the middle of the state that is virtually empty. Of the 18 counties in Nevada, half have a population density percentage of less than 2 people per square mile.

Utah is more of the same. Although they have a whopping 110,000 more people than Nevada does, almost everybody lives in the Salt Lake area. Here's a map.

Outside of St George, way down in the bottom left corner, there's nobody home in the part of the state we crossed. Actually, there's no home for anybody to be in.

About the only conclusion I can draw from all this is that I'll stick with my aisle seat. Nothing to see out there.

Monday Meanderings - 9.4.2017

Summer is making an exit; temperatures have moderated (thanks in part to the massive weather event named Harvey) and Fall is peeking in the windows. Come on in. We are ready for you.

I have a few left-over items I've been holding on to. Like summer, it's time to push them out the door. Like this:

The 29th annual Hatch Chili Fest. This year's outstanding menu item was the Ricas sauce.

And here's a puzzle for you.  Any idea what this gizmo is?

 Here's a clue:

Of course, just as I did, you immediately recognized this as an electronic jump rope. Complete with a digital counter to keep up with the skips. But, you might say, the rope does not connect the two handles. That's the beauty. You can't trip over the jump rope. You just swing the little weights around and hop up and down. Or, like in my case, pretend to hop up and down.

Barb acquired this item for participating in a medical study at her endocrinologist's office, along with quite a bit of additional swag, such as a scale that measures in kilos and shows the body mass index, if you can get close enough to the tiny little read-out window to see the value. Oh, and a digital kitchen scale (with the same read-out window problem), and a Yoga mat with a DVD, and multiple gym bags, etc. There may be a theme here.

And this picture poses a question. In the fine print on the back of this gasoline filler nozzle, it says: "Licensed drivers only." Why?

And my final bit of trivia points out one more thing that the City of Austin will provide a rebate for.

Chicken coops! What will the neighbors think?