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Tuesday Tidbits




Florida Engineering

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My Cabin in the Woods awaits.


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So the primary season is over.  Americans have voted and we have our candidates for the White House.  Two people whose "unfavorables" are off the charts.  If you thought it was fun up to now, get a load of the next six months.

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As is always the case whenever I travel North, posts may be spotty in the next couple weeks.  

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A few months ago I purchased A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.  It won the Kirkus Prize for Fiction in 2015 and was a Man Booker Prize shortlist finalist, a National book Award for Fiction shortlist, and Andrew Carnegie medal for Excellence in Fiction finalist. 

I put it in my queue on Kindle and savored having it but not reading - waiting like a kid in line for ice cream.  It is not a short book, at approximately 700 pages.  Great premise about 4 college buddies who start out their careers in New York City.  One of them has a secret - apparently an upbringing of abuse.  The reviews were all excellent.  

At around the 100 page mark I started skipping pages hoping for something other than the boring prose that was never ending and never moving the book along.  I put the Kindle down weeks ago and have been avoiding it like it has leprosy.  I haven't read anything since.  It's like it took that gene out of my DNA.  

I will attempt to get into it again - the problem must be mine.  But I think I will buy a mindless Patrick O'Brien historical maritime sailing novel to get my head back in the game.  

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I will miss babysitting Alfred. I happen to think I'm good at it, and she gets 1-on-1 care all frickin' day.  Not at all like she will be experiencing the next few weeks.  Not only am I good at it, but I will also miss the incremental advancement in growth.  When I started it was a bald blob.  Now it is a somewhat hairy walking screecher.  Almost human. I have been told I will have the job again when I return. That is good.

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This picture looks blurry in an ethereal sort of way.  That is because  Alfred had it in her mouth most of the day.  I didn't have a chance to clean it before I spotted a drone in the parking lot at Bedlam.  I walked out and had a nice long chat with this fellow.  I asked about his drone and damn if I didn't think I was getting it on video, only to be disappointed when I got back in.  

This is a $600 dollar jobbie and from what I could see has many bells and whistles.  Running lights that turn red when rising and green when descending.  He hooked his smart phone to the controls and can see what the on-board camera is seeing.  He also has an app that tells him when he is near restricted areas.  It has a 25 minute running time before he has to recharge, but by getting a set of spares he run for a lot longer.  The camera is on a swivel so if the wind gets it or he jerks it the recording will remain steady.  It can go 35 mph and can go up to 400 feet high.  And record it all.     

I want one.

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The bald pony-tail seems to be a singularly Florida style.  Let's hope it doesn't cross state lines.

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My girls.  I'll miss you both.

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A Mexican magician is at a children's birthday party.  He says, "For my next trick, I will make myself disappear on the count of 3!"  He counts off slowly, "Uno (a hushed silence goes over the crowd), "Dos!" *poof* - he was gone!
Disappeared without a tres.

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Wander outside before dawn, look to the southwest.  That brightest non-twinkling object is Mars.  And yes, it has a red tint to it.

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Norah insists on making me look my best when I travel to Northlandia.  



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