Category: technology

Thursday’s Theme Music

As promised, we have Thursday, October 27, 2022, upon us. Your reality might vary.

Thin fog was the acting doorman when sunrise made their 7:38 AM entrance. The fog stole the show. It’s burned off since then, with the temperature rebounding from 38 F to its present 6 degrees C, on the way to a high mark of 62 F. Clouds have vacated the sky. Sunshine glints off yellow leaves like they’re pure gold.

The Neurons have brought up a song from 1978 called “Whenever I Call You Friend”. The song was written by Kenny Loggins and Melissa Manchester, two big names from the 1970s pop scene. Kenny recorded and released the song but the female on it was Stevie Nicks, who was uncredited, all stuff learned from American Top 40 back in the day.

All this came about because my beer group met last night. Prior to that, I’d sent the group a Youtube link of Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits performing a fantastic live rendition of “The Sultans of Swing”. Everyone enjoyed it. Discussion started with one member, who was a DJ at the time, about the music which came out then. He recalled playing songs on both 45 vinyl and CDs. That was a surprising mix to me; I remembered Sultans coming out in 1978, but I remember having the album on CD. I didn’t buy my first CD player until 1984, and knew they were being sold at least two years before, but not in the late 1970s. I realized, though, that I’d not initially purchased Dire Straits’ debut album. I was just back from the Philippines then, living in Texas, and then left the USAF and bought a restaurant and was running it. I had a juke box and listened to the music on it. I was also going to college then. Money was tight, so I didn’t buy the album until later, after I’d re-enlisted in the Air Force, having failed as a restaurant owner.

All that soon had The Neurons circling 1978 like a train set around a Christmas tree. I was thinking about my beer buddies and how I enjoyed their friendship. Hello, The Neurons replied, and began playing, “Whenever I Call You Friend”. It still resides in my morning mental music stream which brings us to now.

Stay positive, be cool, and test negative. The coffee is brewed and ready to flow into action. Here’s the music. Also, since I mentioned it, here’s the Dire Straits video, too. Have a better one, friends.

Cheers

0

Sunday’s Wandering Thought

*throat is cleared*

He has a small, really tiny rant today. Websites like to entice him with a headline. While he reads that article, a video plays about the same article. Then, though, another video about a different article begins.

Seriously, WTF? It’s chaotic and annoying. They must think we’re children, running around, high on sugar and caffeine, too buzzy to pay attention.

0

Tuesday’s Wandering Thought

Years have passed since he’s spent much time at a place with cable television. Flipping through the channels, he’s astounded how many of the stations offer hours of the same thing, such as sitcoms like “Everybody Loves Raymond”, “Friends”, “Seinfeld”, and “The Office”, along with movies shown again and again. The Shawshank Redemption and Top Gun have been the offerings he’d seen time and again. “Mannix” is there, and Perry Mason. There are live game shows and the news and weather. But it’s mostly a wasteland lively with the reruns of yesteryear.

It has expanded. There are many more shows offering more specialized insights. None of them on retirement, cross-dressing, or cooking, seized his attention.

It reminds him exactly why he cut the cable over a decade ago.

1

WordPress Issues

So, anyone wondering why I posted two theme choices today, I didn’t. Ol’ WordPress posted an error message.

you are not allowed to edit the jetpack_post_was_ever_published custom field

Okay. The error appeared out of the nether. I haven’t tried doing anything different than usual. I attempted different work-arounds and fixes to address the error. MEANWHILE, the post published despite the error message. So, huh. It has to do with posting to social media, apparently. Anyway…now you know.

0

Thursday’s Wandering Thought

His computer was having a senior moment today, making it an unnecessarily trying and irritating morning. Tabs would close, tabs wouldn’t open, websites couldn’t be reached and loaded slow.

Could be worse, he philosophized. Could be worse.

2

Sunday’s Theme Music

The Neurons stuck “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” by Chicago into the morning mental music stream. I think the group may have been the Chicago Transit Authority when the song was recorded. It’s from 1970, when I was fourteen, instilling thoughts about what year it is and how old I am. The song was delivered when I looked to my wrist to check my Fitbit for the time. ‘Lo, it wasn’t there. Apparently, the FB faked me into believing all was well. Then its symptoms returned. I charged it and charged it again but had to remove it from my wrist because it was going off every three seconds — notification — which becomes v — notification — intrusive to m — notification — processes.

Yes, the Fitbit is no more. I thought about searching for DIY repairs. Had done that tentatively. Maybe later. Maybe I’ll purchase a new one. I don’t know. It’s too early to talk about replacing it. Plus, there’s the irritating issue of how to dispose of this technology piece without contributing to further environmental damage. Yes, it’s small, but it all adds up.

Sunday, July 31, 2022, finds us shrouded by smoke, sent to us by the McKinney fire a few miles away on the California and Oregon border. Truly nasty smell. You can’t breathe it, so keep the pets in and close up everything. Mask up when you’re outside or suffer the consequences.

The cats were very cool about being kept in. When I responded to their request to go outside with an explanation about what was going on with the heat and smoke, they replied, “Oh, that is very distressing to hear. Thank you for your concerns about our health, Michael. We appreciate it.” Then they groomed themselves and went to sleep.

What do you think we should call that fairy tale? Because that’s what that story was.

No, the cats took being kept inside like Mel Gibson screaming for freedom, constantly and persistently, hour after hour. OMG. The floof people insisted that they’re free animals, meant to roam the outdoors except for eating, having bowel movements, drinking water, and snuggling with humans. Oh, and playing with toys. Oh, yeah and catnip — mustn’t forget catnip — and looking out the window, observing people like a spies following troop movements.

Today’s sunrise was at 6:03 AM and sunset is at 8:31 PM. It’s presently 26 C outside. The high will ‘only’ be 99 F, which is much closer to our usual average. It’s supposed to cool for the rest of the week, dropping to 90 at one point. Of course, the hot weather has generated thunderstorms galore, adding to the wildfire threat, given the looonnnggg drought and the dried-out land that we’re enduring.

Stay positive and test negative and take care of yourself and your people and animals. I’ll try to do the same. Coffee? Yes, stat. Enjoy the music. Cheers

6

It’s Alive

Three AM?

An insistence buzzing breaks my sleepwall. As consciousness is dragged forward, so comes awareness that this noise is arriving from the Fitbit on my wrist. Yes, I’m one of those who sleep with a bit on my wrist. Use it to wake up, check time, a quick splash of illumination when necessary, and such matters. But why at whatever broiling dark thirty hour was it going off?

Don’t know. Checked the digitalware and found it cycling through its functions. Perhaps it’d gone crazy from heat or being with me. It’s a Charge 2, an old device that’s not even supported any longer. I’ve worn the bugger for years, going through fasteners and bands.

A smart person would have plucked that sucker off their wrist and gone back to sleep. But I ignored it, leaving it on my wrist, as it came up and buzzed every three seconds, announcing, “Notification” like it was telling me nukes were inbound or fire was consuming the house. Eventually, no surprise, all those notifications sucked the life right out of it. It was totally dead when Tucker awoke me for Sixes, his affectionate term for a six AM feeding. He was meowing, “Get up, get up, time for sixes.” I put the FB on a charger. My wife started her day shortly later. I told her about the Fitbit and asked her to wake me when she left for her exercise class because I was going back to bed.

“It’s probably dead,” she said. “You probably need a new one. It is old.” Then she promised to wake me.

The final exchange left me wondering about electronic lifespans among devices and their ratio compared to human years. It probably varies to some degree between, say, microwave ovens and iPhones. I decided, without real reason except how often and quickly our tech marvels expire, that one human year equals ten digital years. Your ten-year-old electronic device is 100 in digital years. JMO.

When I checked on the Fitbit an hour later, it was fully charged and alive. My dashboard showed no data lost except for about two dark hours.

All’s well, then, though, looking at it, I could use a new band. This one looks fifty years old. Makes sense. I bought it four years ago.

2

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑