Category: Life

Tuesday, January 5th 2021… What to do?…

I am trying a different WordPress theme. Nevermind, I had to revert – the theme was short lived. It seems like I couldn’t figure out how or where to read an actual post. Don’t know what to think. It was smooth but lacked usability. Something to try in development and staging. I like this WordPress block editor now. I wouldn’t like to go back to classic at this point. Started some basic categories and will retrofit all my posts with them. Should make it easier to sort. I need to create 2 things for the site – a logo and a site icon. I think I’m going to utilize a yin-yang symbol for the site icon and I don’t know what to do with the logo. Well, I have a basic idea, Heh, heh, heh.

Was hanging some of my art for my wife today. New and slightly old stuff that i never framed. Downstairs, I found all kinds of blank paper that I forgot I had. Getting back into it again. Watercolor class starts Wednesday night. Bought a new sable watercolor brush yesterday and unfortunately trashed a beautiful, long handled, flat, hog hair brush with purple acrylic paint (forgot to wash it out). I am pissed about that one. I liked to use it for oils. I just needed one in a pinch for some quick, basic touch-up on a acrylic paining that I never finished to my liking. Was pressed for time and forgot to clean the brush. We shall see.

-Rat

Friday, January 1st 2021 – Happy New Year!

Trying out this new block editor thing. I think I’m going to like it. If it’s what I think it is (it reminds me a bit of quattro pro – if you remember that, or was a spreadsheet experimentalist). Actually, 2020 was a fairly decent year for me. I really enjoyed staying and working from home – it gave me time to focus on the things that are important and it gave me time to reflect on things that I thought were important. It was kind of a reflection year.

One thing that I figured out was that – art was important to me. Not that it was a big surprise, but I liked doing it often, and can probably make something out of it from a career perspective. I honestly wasn’t so sure. I think that ill take to retirement like a “fish to water” was another thing that I figured out. I also wasn’t sure about that either. My daughter calls me “The man with a thousand hobbies” which I think is true. It may stem from the fact that I love to learn new things. There are so many things in life I want to learn and experience. I wish I had forever. But why do I love to learn new things? I don’t really know. Do I think that I have to master them? No, I do not. I guess I just love the process.

What do I want from this year? I would like to lose some weight, bet back in good shape. Start Tai Chi again, continue my painting, begin meditation, get my ham radio license, continue my studies of WordPress, php, and content management systems. Survive work for another year – this year is going to be a bitch. We are moving the datacenter, migrating off the current hardware to another newer updated platform, migrating the current legacy business applications to our DR providers hosting platforms, patching our current business application to a new tools release, and god knows what else. All while keeping a 1.5b$ company running. I will need my sanity and a diversion or 2.

-Rat

Sunday, December 20th 2020… COVID, Schmovid…

Taking the next 2 weeks off work. Yay! Hooray! Going to work on some painting, finish learning php and wordpress. Gonna do the octane, workout when i can, and listen to some albums. Probably work on the “Honey-do” list. Cook some, eat some, loose some weight, and maybe ride a bit if the weather holds. We shall see. Hopefully I’ll get to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Maybe even photograph it. Isolating has not been fun, but its part of our current life. Just got to deal with it. Kind of like cold weather. No big deal.

-Rat

Thursday, August 27th 2020… Nothing to say… lately…

Work sucks, been riding when I can in the mornings on my bike with Vikash. Been watercolor painting when time permits. No martial arts, no lifting, no life drawing – here in the desert. My only real entertainment is the birds and learning Dutch.

I have 2 bikes, a hybrid which is a cross between a gravel bike and a mountain bike. Basic front, lockable suspension, thin-ish knobby tires with a road stripe, and disk breaks. It can be taken off road, rode on gravel or street. Its a workout on the trail around my house. I’ve rode it on the “Bike the Drive” ride and it have me awful chaffing. It wasn’t made for a 30 mile ride. I learned the hard way. I also have a road bike with 700×25 tires which I purchased used in March this year. It was made to roll. Carbon frame, awesome gearing, skinny tires. While I haven’t ridden it 30 miles yet, I’m sure it would handle it with aplomb. I’ve ridden it for over 500 miles this year so far. Only 2 flats. I decided I’m getting some gator skin tires. They should be delivered tomorrow. I will have them on for a 30 mile ride on Saturday.

So, I have been taking a watercolor class with John Howard. He’s an AA Art Grad and all around good guy who teaches watercolor and drawing at McCord. He’s got some mad watercolor skills. Pretty funny, a guy I went to school with from AA back in the day, had a art show at McCord – Dale Popovich. He was a hell raiser when we were in school, or that is what I remember :). Anyway, my watercolor skills have a ways to go. I’m better than most, but I know what I’m capable of and what I think I can aspire to.

Lee’s has been out of the question with COVID and stuff, same with the gym – off limits. Cant wait until there is a vaccine. No life drawing here in the South Side Desert. I’d have to go to Elmhurst but with working from home so much, ill wait until the winter time if we get a vaccine. We bought a recumbent elliptical machine for the house so we can exercise when the weather gets shitty.

I’m an avid bird watcher. I try and make sure their feeders are stocked and the birdbaths are filled. I have 5 feeders. A hummingbird feeder, a thistle feeder, a cylindrical songbird feeder, a suet feeder, and a black oil sunflower feeder. They (sparrows, finches, cardinals, doves, chickadees) are like a bunch of toddlers, its fun to watch them. I can be entertained for hours. Then there is the occasional hawk, which is always interesting. I just wish he’d get a chipmunk or 2.

I’m learning Dutch via Duo Lingo. Which albeit is fun, is really a labor of love and is a bit of a grind. I am following a few people who I would like to think I know! Hope springs eternal. I am truly an optimist.

-Rat

Monday, June 8th 2020… I don’t know what to think….

I kind of like this stay at home thing however, I don’t like this working nonstop thing. It was nice to have an actual weekend off. I didn’t have to do anything…except what my social coordinator tells me. So, I dug up rose bushes, planted new plants, put out the garden trinkets, and watered the plants. I got the new belt for the dryer (the old one snapped last week). I put out the low voltage lights, set up the hummingbird feeder, set up the mosquito dynaTrap, put out the big wind chimes, and made a batch of sun tea. Oh and washed the kitchen floor and did the taxes. Ah, the honey do list.

Bizarre, sometimes the header pictures work, sometimes they don’t in Firefox. I downloaded Edge today to see if i can see any difference. Maybe it will give me some clues. Its easier to flush cache though.

-Rat