Orb Designs

  • 04 September 2016

    Happy Birthday, Pete!

    *      *      *

    It’s been a fun week. It was a three day work week for me – I took off Thursday and Friday to burn some hours and make a five day weekend happen. I got some chores done. We went fishing (and Marcia caught a small-ish big mouth bass that we gave back to the lake):

    Marcia caught a bass
    Marcia caught a bass

    And on a long walk around the neighborhood, Lexi was perplexed:

    Two turtles fornicating
    Two turtles fornicating

    The Fitbit says I did five days of exercise, although I only did three dedicated exercise days, truth be told. But the work counts. Sadly, so do the muffins I bought during the shopping run today. I’ll have to work those off this week.

    *      *      *

    I didn’t make DragonCon this year. Okay, I’ve never made DragonCon, and my luck I probably won’t. But that’s okay. People I know and know of had a good time, and that’s a good thing.

    I also finished my re-read of Anne Leckie’s Imperial Radch series: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy. I read these books as they came out, and it was good to read them again, binge-ish. Such good writing, compelling characters, and wonderful plotting. They continue to be Highly Recommended.

    In my queue right now: The August eBook from Strange Horizons, the September issue of Clarkesworld, and Stephenson’s The Diamond Age is my bedside reader at the moment. I go to reading on dead trees when I wind down at night before sleep.

    *      *      *

    DoD announced no new casualties in the last week. Grateful. Ciao!

  • 28 Aug 2016

    Well, another busy week gone.

    Sadly, I’m a cranky bastard today because they had a late-night party at the pool last night that ran until midnight (a bit later, actually) with loud music. It was a neighborhood-approved event, so I didn’t set the cops on them, but I’ll bitch about it to the management and the board. If they can’t control the volume, I don’t want my HOA fees going to that sort of event. The restless first part of the night leaves me feeling altogether unrested. Sigh. The good news is that next weekend is the last weekend for the pool season. Yay!

    Exercise for the week was acceptable – 5 days with more than 10K steps, 4 days with significant exercise including the normal stretching and calisthenics followed by 35-45 minutes on the elliptical. So I’ve got that going for me. It’s still quite warm and humid in these parts. I’m hoping that fades out over the next week. Where I exercise, in the top floor, has been pretty warm. It’s a good workout, but too draining.

    On the computing side of the ledger, I spent part of the weekend (for work) migrating a legacy system to a virtual environment, and patching another one. On the home front, I’ve got a test system with FreeBSD 11 RC2 installed and I’m doing some ports builds to exercise the OS. Since I use FreeBSD for both home and website, it seems fair that I not only kick the Project a few bucks a year (I do), but also test the latest and provide feedback as necessary, as a service to the OS and dev team that serves me well.

    I harvested half a basket of assorted bell peppers out of the garden today.

    *      *      *

    Our condolences to the family and friends of Staff Sgt. Matthew V. Thompson, 28, of Irvine, California, who died on Aug. 23 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, of injuries caused by an improvised explosive device that detonated near his patrol while conducting dismounted operations.

  • 21 Aug 2016

    A busy week at work, a spot of fishing untroubled by fish, some chores and some shopping. That’s the week in a nutshell.

    *     *      *

    DoD reported no new casualties in the last week. Ciao!

  • 14 August 2016

    [Muttered, from the stack of bodies on the cart]: I’m not dead, yet!

    In the week leading up to last Saturday, I had five good days of exercise: pushing pretty hard. Then on the Saturday, I spent most of the day working out in the sun on an August summer day, and I destroyed myself. Lawns, yardwork, and deck/furniture cleaning. All that I did on Sunday last was relax, and crawl up the stairs to bed. I also took it far too easy this last week: just work, no working out to speak of. It’s too hot for nearly everything. I could make the house a lot cooler, but it would cost us several hundred dollars a month to do so. This will be over soon…

    *      *      *

    Last night, we went to Turn of the Screw, another staged reading at the Annapolis Shakespeare Company! 70 minutes of harrowing horror, with shards of fun piercing the veil from time to time. The reading was superbly executed by Laura Rocklyn and Tony Tsendeas. I can’t exhort you to go – the Summer Staged Readings series is over, with the last of My Fair Lady on stage as I write these words. But there’s still time to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), and come October, the 2016/2017 season swings into action. I cannot recommend this company highly enough. I’ve been going to live theater (including LOTS of Shakespeare) over the last few decades, and I’m head-over-heels about this Company.

    *      *      *

    The weather has turned to thunder and lightning, and the dog needs my attention. There’s not much else to report, though. Be well.

    *      *      *

    Our condolences to the families and friends of these fallen warriors:

    • Lt. Col. Flando E. Jackson, 45, of Lansing, Michigan, died Aug. 4 in Southwest Asia from a non-combat-related injury.
    • Staff Sgt. Christopher A. Wilbur, 36, of Granite City, Illinois, died Aug. 12 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from a non-combat-related injury.

  • 31 July 2016

    Fun weekend! I took the day off on Friday, and we  went fishing (no fish, but fishing doesn’t require that) nearly first thing in the morning. In the afternoon, we went to see Star Trek Beyond. A good entertainment, that. I like this cast, and my worries about Justin Lin’s (ed: not Jason, sigh) direction were just that: worries. Good fun flick.

    Saturday evening, we went to Annapolis Shakespeare Company‘s staged reading (and singing) of My Fair Lady. I’ve seen this show twice, now. Once was with Rex Harrison, back in the 1980’s. I’ll tell you – for me, this one was better! And extraordinary: the show we saw was the result of 8 rehearsals and an opening night. Are you near Annapolis? Go see this show. Go see Turn of the Screw, which starts soon. Subscribe to the upcoming season, which looks wonderful!

    Today, shopping and helping a friend fettle a new computer and get stuff copied off the old, likely powned old one.

    Spots of exercise and days over 10K steps this week, but nothing to write home about. More, soon. Seriously.

    *      *      *

    I don’t like politics, and I’m not a fan of politicians. But anyone who’s not planning on voting this Fall needs to pay attention. Register. Vote. Even if you disagree with what I say next, please register and vote. Please. However much I’d like to vote for Gary Johnson this year, I can’t participate in nadering this election. I’m with Hillary this round, because the alternative would be worse than Nehemiah Scudder.

    *      *      *

    DoD announced no new casualties in the last week, for which I am glad. Ciao!

  • 24 July 2016

    Not much to report – a busy week with friends in from out-of-town for several days. Temps steadily in the mid-90’s with humidity to match. Yardwork yesterday, and out for supper last night. Exhaustion today. Made more salsa, though, cut my hair and cleaned the coffee roaster. Good times.

    *      *      *

    Our condolences to the family and friends of 1st Lt. Anais A. Tobar, 25, of Miami, Florida, who died on July 18 in Southwest Asia from a non-combat-related injury.

  • 17 July 2016

    A long week, and not much in the way of exercise, either. I only got one proper day of exercise in, on Tuesday. The rest of the days were too busy, too hot, or both. But there was some good news:

    First 2016 salsa
    First 2016 salsa

    Yup, first salsa! Huzzah! Still no jalapeños, so here’s the ingredients:

    • 2/3 of a bowl (that bowl, pre-chopping) of roma and sweet cherry tomatoes, chopped fine.
    • 1 yellow onion, finely diced.
    • 1 clove garlic, crushed and minced.
    • 1 immature red habañero.
    • 3 immature serrano peppers (to taste, natch).
    • cilantro to taste (a couple of tablespoons is my sweet spot).
    • 1 teaspoon cumin.
    • 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes.
    • A couple of grinds of sea salt.
    • A few grinds of black pepper.
    • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder.

    That made a mighty fine salsa!

    *       *       *

    Of note, I went to a CALUG meeting on Wednesday, where Berend Tober spoke on his PostgreSQL-based trading game, Fairwinds. Interesting stuff, because I know less about PostgreSQL than several of the other database systems extant. Now I know a tiny bit more, thanks to Mr. Tober.

    Friday I took the day off work, so that I could do chores, wash the car, etc.

    Today I spent mostly doing remote work, with a long break in the middle. New production deployments require non-business hour work – that’s how the game is played, and it’s a joy to finally get some of these systems into production after long preparation and testing.

    *       *       *

    DoD announced no new casualties in the last week, for which we’re grateful. Ciao!

  • 10 July 2016

    Let’s work the week backwards, just for fun.

    Today was all about the mowing. The weather was not as hot as most of the week, so I had that going for me. But it was still a miserable sweatball of a day. But the lawns have been sheared, and I did some weeding as well. Bell peppers out of the garden today, a few tomatoes, and a couple of cucumbers. Here’s how the garden looks as of today:

    Bilbrey garden - July 10, 2016
    Bilbrey garden – July 10, 2016

    *      *      *

    Last night, we went up to Annapolis to see ASC‘s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presented outdoors in the gardens of the Charles Carroll House. It was a wonderful production, and cool enough by the harbor to be tolerable, even for July weather. This company continues to impress me. If you’re in the DC area, look into going to some Annapolis Shakespeare Company productions, and supporting them if you can, as well.

    *      *      *

    The four day work week was busy and productive. On the exercise front, I’m moving back into the groove.

    (Legend: Sit  ups / Squats / Push ups :: Elliptical steps / in Minutes)

    Monday:  Holiday – just over 7k steps logged on the Fitbit.

    Tuesday:  40 / 20 / 21 :: 5350 / 39 – 18k+ steps logged.

    Wednesday:  60 / 30 / 27 :: 7400 / 54 – 17k+ steps logged.

    Thursday:  80 / 40 / 32 :: 5350 / 38 – 15k+steps logged.

    Friday:  Recovery, nearly 11k steps logged.

    Saturday:  No specific exercise, but 15k+ steps logged.

    Sunday: No specific exercise, but yardwork, leading to 15k+ steps logged.

    Last week’s total steps logged (Sunday through Saturday): 97,000.

    *      *      *

    DoD announced no new casualties in the last week. Ciao!

  • 3 July 2016

    Nearly happy Fourth of July, USAn’s!

    *      *      *

    In the garden this week, I pulled out some zucchini and broccoli on Tuesday. Yesterday, I hauled out half-a-dozen large zucchini, and weeded out the pepper bed. During that latter exercise, I made a horrifying discovery: I managed to plant a box full of pepper plants, and not a single Jalapeño among them. (I rectified that today.) Also today, I harvested another couple of zucchini before they got gargantuan, and ditto for a pair of cucumbers. And joy: The first tomato of the season.

    2016 garden - first tomato
    2016 garden – first tomato!

    Being a reasonably nice guy, I gave the first tomato to my lovely bride.

    Also yesterday, I got the lawns all caught up with the mowing, front and back. There are plenty more chores to go, but a nicely manicured lawn makes all the difference to the look of the yard.

    Today, after the shopping, I went down to the woodshop and finished up the project for my dad with a couple of coats of polyurethane. That’ll get packed up tomorrow, so that Marcia can ship it in the week coming up. Then the shop needs a cleanup, along with the rest of the house.

    *      *      *

    Exercise – I managed to get the Fitbit to recognize two days of exercise this week, including yesterday’s stellar 25,000 step day, but I did no dedicated exercise during the week. Getting back into routine after vacation is challenging, and work/chores come first.

    *      *      *

    DoD announced no new casualties in the last week. Ciao!

  • 26 June 2016

    A week off, and away … in Maine, visiting with Marcia’s sister.

    We brought Lexi with us, and actually took her out on the boat on Sunday. She and I were out on the front deck of the pontoon boat (aka “party barge”) when she decided something in the water looked interesting and leapt into the water, while the boat was underway. Good thing I had her leash on – she would have been canine frappé before Nancy cut the prop power, otherwise. I leaned forward to find the little dog swimming forward for all she was worth, trying to keep up with being dragged through the water by the leash. But other than that excitement, she was a good girl, and seemed to enjoy the trip.

    For us, we were fishing.

    Marcia caught fish
    Marcia caught fish –  a large mouth bass
    Brian caught fish
    Brian caught fish – a northern pike

    We fished every day, and overall catch was about a dozen fish, about half of that northern pike (which were fun fish to fight!). But they all went back to the lake. It was a pretty lake.

    Lake beautiful by night
    Lake beautiful by night
    and lake beautiful by day
    and lake beautiful by day

    And today, after shopping and washing all the bugs and dust off of the Volvo, it was time to visit the garden, which has been doing well since we left it on the 18th:

    Zucchini and cucumber
    Zucchini and cucumber

    Oh, and no exercise to speak of: Vacation, yo.

    Now to deal with several hundred accumulated emails..

    *      *      *

    Our condolences to the family and friends of Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew J. Clement, 38, of Peabody, Massachusetts, who died on June 21 of a non-combat related injury, while deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.