Love It. Love It. Love It!

Jay generally goes to the gym on Mondays and I take that time for four or five-kilometer walks around home.



Going uptown via Fourth Street lets me check in on Tipperary Park, near City Hall. That is truly an oasis as is the whole heritage neighbourhood on the other side of Royal Street. It is an especially satisfying climb when the weather is like this.

After a trip to the municipal library, I chose to walk down the busier Sixth Street. There is little shade so I got a full dose of the sunshine. The eastern end of downtown is surely growing as new residential towers rise in my neighbourhood.



I admit to having my big, over-the-ear headphones on. I was blasting current music as I use walks as a time to keep up on contemporary pop music. I've got a special library of 100 tunes featuring current artists. It's good to not simply fall into a rut of listening to just music with which I grew up. I submit for your consideration that people can stay younger if they act younger.

Ducks Come Home to Roost

It finally felt like summer, after the first half of this dreary June. We were invited to the downtown West End for one of our reoccurring duck-swap dinners.

Before dinner, we walked across the Burrard Street Bridge and out to the end of Vanier Park. The bridge's upgrade to separate bicycle and pedestrian pathways made for a safer crossing. The view from over False Creek is always an interesting way to see the city of Vancouver.




After returning, we enjoyed the food and chatted. How nice to have the windows open wide! It stays light so late now, as well. Shinji had to work later for his night shift so things wrapped up early. Jay and I stay for a bit, but, of course, Tim needed to work tomorrow as well. Ah, those souls who have to put in a sustained effort of employment; I can kind of sympathize. A little.

The rubber ducks came home with us, meaning we need to host next. We'll hear of Ed's schedule in a few days and we can try to set a date in July to have the gang out to New Westminster.

The Second Half of June

The gas fireplace was running on low for the first half of June. I was able to shut it off this morning. For that, I'm very thankful.

I'm also thankful for corn, even when it comes from California.

Lastly today, I'd like to give thanks for the colour blue.

When Serial Ports Were Serial Ports

Before my OnePlus 6 arrived a few weeks back, I made sure to order a few extra USB-C charging cables from Amazon. I always wore out the older micro-cables very quickly. I nearly vowed I'd start purchasing them by the dozen.

On Mastodon today, I found this in my feed:


Remember the sound of an old modem? It was uniquely comforting to have audio confirmation of the handshake process. (Excuse me while I go find and listen to an example. Got some! Try: Sound Jay.) I'm wiping my eyes now and it is surely because of the pollen outside.

Even the photo of the old serial bus connection allowed me to reminisce. I liked how one really felt sure when plugging two devices together this way! That was a connection! It felt more manly than the wimpy little connector by which my phone is currently connected. It was sort of like the tactile feedback provided when inserting an old 1/4" plug on a pair of headphones. Sigh.

The talk of modems reminded me how I convinced my college to buy an 8-port 'Galactiboard' for our BBS system. I wonder if I still have an early 1990's copy of THE MAJOR BBS, or WorldGroup Server, on floppies somewhere? Long live RIPscript!

Keep On Movin' On

Next week at this time, we'll be in San Francisco for a four-night weekend. We were there for one day at the end of September. However, a prior visit would've been YEARS before that. We planned early enough so that we could get a hotel room over SF Pride. We're pretty thrifty and usually stay at bonafide fleabags. So this might be the most we've ever paid for a room, ever! We entirely deserve it though.

I was looking at the calendar and thinking about the months ahead. I think Jay and I need to plan at least one other week on a trip or cruise before winter. We know the exact date in November on which 'our' winter begins because we already have air tickets. We'll be in SE Asia again; however, at different locations than those of the last one.

Anyway, during the next five months, we should plan to go somewhere. A week in the fall might be a good time to check out someplace we've never been. I'm thinking about this city.

Thunder

As I'm typing this, a rare thunderstorm is taking place. There have been several large bolts. Determining the distance is difficult; for all I know, they may have hit in Washington State. Of course, I could not catch lightning on my phone's camera as the strikes were too random and rare. I love seeing a good thunderstorm nevertheless!



Last winter, our apartment rental in Penang was an especially excellent place from which to watch the quick evening lightning storms. There's nothing quite like a thunder and lightning storm in SE Asia! Tropical weather can be quite forceful and demonstrative.

The Imagine Dragons pop song of a similar name was a favourite at the time. It was also an Air Asia favourite when passengers were deplaning. We got off thirteen different short-haul flights over the winter. The music seems a peculiar tradition for the amazing, low-cost airline.

It's Not Just for Hay Fever

I used to think antihistamines were only for people with hay fever and flu-like symptoms.

However, my body's recent allergic reaction to something or other has convinced me to keep a bottle of Benadryl® in the apartment. The old school drug really does cause rather severe drowsiness, but I can live with that rather than the itching. In fact, on the internet, I read that a normal adult dosage would be similar to blowing a .1 on a cop's breathalyzer. That is the equivalent of being legally impaired on a road in British Columbia.

We did go to our vegetable shop this morning. I was between doses, so I carefully navigated to the Burnaby location. And back.

Itching for the Raincheck

Timothy was going to come over today and we were going to go drink beer. That was the plan.

I called him up at 10:30 this morning to verify a raincheck on the activity and our trip to Surrey's Central City Brewery. I didn't sleep well last night for all the scratching. Apparently, I have gotten some type of hives. I haven't a clue as to what triggered this allergic reaction, but my arms and legs are both covered with reddish patches. Boy, do they itch!



As Timothy suggested, I walked to the Shopper's Drug Mart for some over-the-counter diphenhydramine-hydrochloride tablets.

I'd never had a chance to scan my Shopper's Optimum card via the phone app. I also used the phone to finish the purchase through Google Pay. I found that a breeze, too. So I guess, there's a silver lining to everything. And actually, although the malady is mildly annoying, there are far worse afflictions in the world.

A Tiny Bit of Cavorting

It was a quiet Sunday. On the way to the uptown Walmart, we took a detour into Queen's Park. On Memorial Day weekend we visited the city's summertime petting zoo but hadn't seen it since. A calf had joined the small farm animals and a number of new kids were romping around.

It was on and off again sunshine. Today felt pretty cool at about 16C.

Thaipusam 2019 at Batu Caves

I have got an extensive collection of personal photos on Flickr. In fact, I can do a search there to locate just about anything from my life for which there is photographic evidence. Of course, the pickings are a little slim, for the majority of my days, before the advent of digital photography.

I was wondering how long it's been since Jay and I first visited Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. After my little search, it seems we travelled there after seeing some cities in mainland China. We were in KL during the fall of 2011. That was the first and only time we visited the nearby Batu Caves.


The Batu Caves are one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India and the site is dedicated to Lord Murugan. Luckily, we should arrive in Kuala Lumpur just about a week before the Thaipusam festival. (We will be coming after spending a couple of months in Bali.) More than a million Hindu devotees should begin celebrating at this spot around January 21st next year. It will be something we'll surely not miss.

This year, we were witness to these festivities in Penang.

A Replay of 'the Best' of January

It looks as though we still get a chance to commiserate with folks who stay year-round in Vancouver. For many years, we used to put up with the rainy, gray winters. Yet now we try to plan an annual, dreary-weather escape as early-retirees. I thought by coming back mid-April we'd miss much of a chance to experience the typical January climate.

Fools on me, I guess! It seems that we are getting sufficient chance to experience this year's June-uary!



Moments after running to take this outdoor photo, I pushed the hot tub control panel for 15 minutes of activation. I sat for the duration looking at the outside mist and raindrops collecting on the windows.

Fifteen Thousand Four Hundred

The last 10 years of Internet use has left me feeling really weighted down. During a decade or so of Web 2.0, I tossed around an enormous amount of inconsequential data. One should not be saddled with a crystal-clear digital past. We all change over time but those old status updates don't. Over the past few months, I have been chipping away and cleaning up my enormous mess.

Of course, getting rid of my Facebook account was the most important step. At least Google allows one to periodically clear all the crap they have saved. Why would I want them to have location data from 2002? Just because everything can be saved surely doesn't mean it should be. There may be a justification for convenience over privacy in the short term, but why allow a dossier to accumulate? Depending on the information, about one year is usually enough.

Being able to forget is a very human attribute. Our machines should make it easier to do the same.

I just deleted 15.4K of tweets from Twitter going back to November 2008. Many were automated copies of blog postings or photo uploads. There was a lot of wisdom in the mix but tweets are not the best way to save one's essence. So, I kept the account but have started fresh from today.

It feels great and I feel much lighter.

Mid-November 2018 to Mid-April 2019

Of course, I went out for some exercise today. I found the morning was cool. In fact, June has been much colder than when we arrived in BC seven or eight weeks ago! I also drove over the Pattullo to fill up several growlers at Central City Brewing.

I thought the weather would make a good segue for the following two pictures. They are supposed to represent our upcoming winter. We have arranged accommodation for two months in the first location and for three in the other.


I would like to thank the Flickr users for allowing me to use these. Click on each photo to visit the photographer's page on Flickr.

A Starr Before Ringo

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Someday, history may note my lifetime as an era in which the world moved from analog to digital. My generation has walked that line and, quite frankly, those on either side of the divide are a little clueless. We have insights which folks of other ages simply cannot grasp.

Luckily from this side, it is now possible to get glimpses from then. Hell, it's even easy to go back before one's own existence.

I was catching up on 2018 pop on a music streaming service. There is some damn fine music being created nowadays.

Then, on just a lark, I decided to peek at some songs which accompanied World War II. So, it was today, in my online meandering, that I sort of fell in love with Kay Starr.

Not 16:9? Then It's No Longer 'Normal'

I don't mind carrying around with my Nikon with the huge lens. It's heavy but I'm fairly butch. I like to snap things around me although I wouldn't classify myself as a serious photographer. I did find a phone cannot 'cut the mustard' when it comes capturing those far away objects.

However, the baby pinecone was the first time I tried the close-up setting in Open Camera. I like the app much better than the native app which shipped with my OnePlus 6.

I shoot almost exclusively in 16x9 and have for a few years now. It seems the normal way for me to frame a photo now. This is not an option in my new phone's native camera app. I know, as others are quick to point out, that I am wasting pixels on the top and bottom of my photos. However, my images are never printed, ever!

When viewed casually, they are seen on the screen of a computer or phone, and when shown publicly, they show up via Flickr on my living room television. If I were to include those 'extra pixels' in an image, I'm left with the traditional black bars like the type seen on pre-HDTV shows and movies. I'll take filling up the screens that matter, thank you.

Don't try to tell me that a 19:9 aspect ratio is a better option, Oneplus engineers; it's most definitely not!