Category: General

Heather’s Winter Concert 2024

December 21, 2024 2:53 pm

Heather is in advanced orchestra this year by virtue of this being her second year in orchestra on the cello. Of the six cellos she placed as third chair.

At their winter concert they played several songs. First, “Prelude to Te Deum.” Then two Halloween songs: “Creatures” and “This is Halloween” (from The Nightmare before Christmas). They followed that up with “Le Froid de l’Hiver” (“The Cold of Winter”). And after a number from a newly created “Chamber Orchestra” comprised of the top players of each section (not included in the video), the full orchestra finished their performance with “Forever Joyful!”

Download here: Heather-orchestra-winter-2024 (124 MB)

Garage Shelves

November 30, 2024 7:43 pm

I spent Sunday last weekend installing new shelves in the garage and then reorganizing our storage.

Before:

The new shelves (Everbilt heavy-duty, steel, shelving system):

I didn’t even reach the point of wanting to throw stuff out a window. And I only missed the stud once out of 33 screws.

Now all the Christmas stuff can be in one location instead of scattered all over the garage:

And the final state:

Games November 2024

5:49 pm

I got even less game playing in this month than last month. Hopefully I’ll be able to turn that around next month.

Jess and I completed Quest 10 in Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall. We didn’t manage to destroy the giant moth monster, but we escaped without dying and reached our objective. So kind of a draw.

At the board-game meetup I played Creature Comforts. A very cozy game about collecting little luxuries and comforts to prepare your woodland-creature home for the long winter. Make the coziest home to win. I lost.

Had a friend over and played Wyrmspan with Jess. Jess won handily.

Books November 2024

5:43 pm

The Circuit: Executor Rising by Rhett C. Bruno

Humanity is clinging on throughout the solar system after a cataclysmic collapse of Earth. But the story has little to do with humanity’s fragility. Instead we’re focused on one man’s vendetta against humanity’s continued existence.

He’s kind of a mustache-twirling cartoon villain.

The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

The classic science fiction story of a man who finds a way to turn himself invisible through a series of bio-chemical reactions. Unfortunately, it also drives him mad.

The Curiosity Cycle by Jonathan Mugan

Theoretically a discussion about how to inspire curiosity in your children. But it feels mostly like a bunch of blog posts smashed into a book. A disappointing lack of serious research analysis and more of “here are ideas I like.”

Recoding America by Jennifer Pahlka

This was a book group pick for work. Was not originally expecting to see Mike show up so much in it.

Long story short, government bodies fail at technological implementation because they’re structured to operate in a 19th century world and actual implementation of policy is considered an annoying detail that politicians don’t want to be bothered with worrying about.

It doesn’t have to be this way. But it currently is. I see a lot of the same organizational faults at the Lab and it’s supremely frustrating.

Whiteout by Ken Follett

It’s Christmas and trouble is brewing for a BSL-4 laboratory in Scotland housing some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens.

Meanwhile a monster of a snowstorm descends upon the region and everything gets more complicated.