My favorite science fiction author is apparently gay, and she mentions her significant other frequently when she blogs. I don’t know what she looks like, but I just realized that the image in my head is confused with the SO of another woman, a local photographer I know. I don’t think the connection is simply that they are both the SO of gay women. Both women are, from my perspective, in the background behind a more publicly notorious figure. I don’t think I will mention this to any of them.
Another thing I have just realized is that if I want to take my summer vacation at the preferred time, I have only four more months to prepare. Consequently, I have been researching tents, and I have bought one. And probably I should soon buy the sidearm I want to take (a Ruger Redhawk), so that I have a little time to get acquainted with it and test a load for it.
It occurs to me that the Thompson submachine gun (a.k.a. the “Tommy Gun”) may be the cause of all those people firing from the hip. Not because you don’t need to aim a fully-automatic rifle, but because the Thompson is so ridiculously un-ergonomic. Not to mention heavy. I’ll have to look into this. I may, in fact, be wrong. It seems to me that folks have referenced The Rifleman. Then again, that was television, which would not have predated WWII. Yes, this bears some research.
I am learning the Ruby programming language this weekend. I am fluent in numerous other programming languages, so learning a new one is relatively easy for me. The plan is to coach the rest of the team to learn it as well. I have to say, quite a few features of the language are mind-blowingly brilliant.
I am finally a user of reading glasses. Starting a couple of years ago, I have become a bit farsighted. It is getting worse, or at least less marginal. The paperback I’ve been reading is fairly small print, and I noticed last night that it was quite blurry. I was feeling eye strain because of it. Instead of digging around to find the reading glasses I bought years ago and never seemed to need, I went to the drug store to buy a new pair. For now, a +1.25 diopter seems to work best for me, giving me the deepest and most useful range of focus. This pair doesn’t look horribly bad, but I will have to keep my eyes open for nicer looking pairs.
The park near the home in which I grew up has changed rather significantly. It was a neglected place until several years ago, but now it is bustling. There used to be a home-grown trail system through the forested part of the park, and I knew it like the back of my hand. However, a few years ago, the county blazed a completely different set of trails, actively blocking off the old ones. Much of what I knew is no longer applicable. Since I don’t live there anymore, I have only been on the trails a few times since they were reshaped. I should make an effort to learn the new trails better.
Speaking of Cliff Cave Park, the county’s web site claims, “In October of 2009 the cave was gated to protect a population of Indiana Bats which live in the cave.” This is a lie. The cave has been gated since 1993 after several children were killed during an ill-advised field trip led by the Catholic Charities. (While looking this up, I stumbled across an interesting set of historical notes about the cave.)
