The ER interfered with my beauty sleep over the weekend (no surprise) but not too much. A good night's sleep tonight (Monday-Tuesday) and I should be fine. Weather here mostly around 90 degrees, give or take a bit. Nice, especially with a breeze in the late afternoon/evening. Sunday at work it was both hot and windy outside; not so much at home. At my primary job we have gone from being on the verge of having to let some people go a few months ago (because of the near loss of our biggest client) to picking up work because the state lab is terminating some of its services and it looks like a lab a couple of counties away is imploding, leaving us as the logical (indeed only affordable) replacement. Reminds me of the dictum that winning is not the most important thing--the most important thing is not to lose.
In my spare time over the weekend I winkled out a little more information about the first three generations of my family in North America.
It seems there is a lot of cotton planted this year; it's not far from flowering. Some fields seem to be fallow after the crops planted during the winter--probably because of limited water supplies. Corn varies from six inches to ten or twelve feet high. Probably the taller fields are for grain, and the smaller plants for silage. I saw truckloads of tree fruit, probably peaches.
Thanks for all the observations, Alan. I enjoy "seeing" what you see as you travel along.
Sounds like your job is secure for awhile! Will you be needing to hire a few people?
The IBM plant here just laid off something like 450 employees. :-( A very close friend was spared, but our library director's husband lost his job after 35 years with IBM, right out of school. I wish that if Dean can't be our President that he could at least be Vermont's Governor again.
Quiet, rainy day here. With a flash flood watch. Which I'm thinking isn't going to happen, judging by the radar. But who knows. The car is up the hill for the nonce.
LOL! I'd never heard the word ever, so went and looked it up. The difference between the traditional meaning and the urban meaning made me laugh and shake my head. :-)
Wow! A tornado hit Denver International Airport today! No damage, but here's an interesting tidbit from WU...
Tornadoes are difficult to observe, since they rarely move over instruments that can directly measure their winds. A rare exception occurred on Tuesday, when an EF-1 tornado obligingly ran directly over the weather station at Denver International Airport, which recorded a wind gust of 97 mph. Remarkably, the weather station was not destroyed, and continued to transmit data after the tornado had passed. There was no major damage reported at the airport.
Ah, my--a poignant reminder if ever there was one. Howard Dean's plan to compete in every district, for every seat, never got this far. Is there a little political progress hereabouts? Maybe, but at less than a snail's pace, it seems. If I were just down the road I would surely attend the reunion, but a 6,000 mile trip is not in the cards.
I, too, would go if it were nearer. But too many trips all at once. I'll be at a science fiction convention in suburban Chicago weekend after next, then the following Wednesday will leave for one in Minneapolis-St. Paul (well, Bloomington).
My weight was stuck for seemingly the longest time around 180 lbs, but it has started down again. I don't know how to describe it, but I can recognize a particular feeling when I am losing weight. Only about 8 lbs left to go to get to my target weight (167 lbs--down from 209.5).
I have been speculating that perhaps the reason for the plateaus on the way down is that fat in a mobile (and expendable) compartment is depleted, then must be replaced by fat from a storage depot, and while the redistribution is going on, weight loss is minimal. No idea if it is true--just a hypothesis.
I stumbled across the Selfish Brain Theory [Click] of obesity. It rings true, in my experience. A homeostatic mechanism gone awry, with psychological, behavioral and metabolic consequences, because of the abnormal availability of high calorie "comfort food."
I do know what you mean, Alan, about that feeling you get when you know you are losing weight. And I like your hypothesis. If true, it could remove some of the guilt people feel when they are trying and not seeming to have results. Some give up just a little too soon. The Selfish Brain Theory is likewise interesting. The more we know about how our bodies work, the less power the "awry" aspects can have over us.
Huzzah for Dean!
ReplyDeleteThe ER interfered with my beauty sleep over the weekend (no surprise) but not too much. A good night's sleep tonight (Monday-Tuesday) and I should be fine. Weather here mostly around 90 degrees, give or take a bit. Nice, especially with a breeze in the late afternoon/evening. Sunday at work it was both hot and windy outside; not so much at home. At my primary job we have gone from being on the verge of having to let some people go a few months ago (because of the near loss of our biggest client) to picking up work because the state lab is terminating some of its services and it looks like a lab a couple of counties away is imploding, leaving us as the logical (indeed only affordable) replacement. Reminds me of the dictum that winning is not the most important thing--the most important thing is not to lose.
In my spare time over the weekend I winkled out a little more information about the first three generations of my family in North America.
It seems there is a lot of cotton planted this year; it's not far from flowering. Some fields seem to be fallow after the crops planted during the winter--probably because of limited water supplies. Corn varies from six inches to ten or twelve feet high. Probably the taller fields are for grain, and the smaller plants for silage. I saw truckloads of tree fruit, probably peaches.
TTFN
Alan
Thanks for all the observations, Alan. I enjoy "seeing" what you see as you travel along.
DeleteSounds like your job is secure for awhile! Will you be needing to hire a few people?
The IBM plant here just laid off something like 450 employees. :-( A very close friend was spared, but our library director's husband lost his job after 35 years with IBM, right out of school. I wish that if Dean can't be our President that he could at least be Vermont's Governor again.
Not as many processor tomatoes this year as I used to see. Lots more pistachios, almonds and grapes, at least planted if not yet producing.
ReplyDelete--alan
Quiet, rainy day here. With a flash flood watch. Which I'm thinking isn't going to happen, judging by the radar. But who knows. The car is up the hill for the nonce.
ReplyDeleteAh, I assume you are using "nonce" in the traditional sense
Deletehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nonce rather than the modern context http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nonce
Not being British, the first meaning was the only one I'd every heard.
DeleteThe latter is both jargon and an acronym. Outside my ken as well.
Delete--Alan
Me, too, Bill, lol!
DeleteLOL! I'd never heard the word ever, so went and looked it up. The difference between the traditional meaning and the urban meaning made me laugh and shake my head. :-)
DeleteWow! A tornado hit Denver International Airport today! No damage, but here's an interesting tidbit from WU...
ReplyDeleteTornadoes are difficult to observe, since they rarely move over instruments that can directly measure their winds. A rare exception occurred on Tuesday, when an EF-1 tornado obligingly ran directly over the weather station at Denver International Airport, which recorded a wind gust of 97 mph. Remarkably, the weather station was not destroyed, and continued to transmit data after the tornado had passed. There was no major damage reported at the airport.
DEAN REUNION article:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20130618/NEWS03/306180024/Howard-Dean-staff-mark-10th-anniversary-presidential-campaign
Ah, my--a poignant reminder if ever there was one. Howard Dean's plan to compete in every district, for every seat, never got this far. Is there a little political progress hereabouts? Maybe, but at less than a snail's pace, it seems. If I were just down the road I would surely attend the reunion, but a 6,000 mile trip is not in the cards.
ReplyDelete--Alan
I, too, would go if it were nearer. But too many trips all at once. I'll be at a science fiction convention in suburban Chicago weekend after next, then the following Wednesday will leave for one in Minneapolis-St. Paul (well, Bloomington).
DeleteMy weight was stuck for seemingly the longest time around 180 lbs, but it has started down again. I don't know how to describe it, but I can recognize a particular feeling when I am losing weight. Only about 8 lbs left to go to get to my target weight (167 lbs--down from 209.5).
ReplyDeleteI have been speculating that perhaps the reason for the plateaus on the way down is that fat in a mobile (and expendable) compartment is depleted, then must be replaced by fat from a storage depot, and while the redistribution is going on, weight loss is minimal. No idea if it is true--just a hypothesis.
I stumbled across the Selfish Brain Theory [Click] of obesity. It rings true, in my experience. A homeostatic mechanism gone awry, with psychological, behavioral and metabolic consequences, because of the abnormal availability of high calorie "comfort food."
--Alan
I do know what you mean, Alan, about that feeling you get when you know you are losing weight. And I like your hypothesis. If true, it could remove some of the guilt people feel when they are trying and not seeming to have results. Some give up just a little too soon. The Selfish Brain Theory is likewise interesting. The more we know about how our bodies work, the less power the "awry" aspects can have over us.
DeleteWhere and How is Catreona?
ReplyDelete