Just some random clouds...

It's been a week of high humidity here - 100 to 110 degrees and it's been tough to want to do things outside. 

News this morning said there's a massive heat wave going through parts of Europe as well. I've checked in with my friend Rachael, who lives in England, and so far she's okay, because she was recently visiting another part of the country so she didn't feel the effects of the heat in London. I'm sure she will be fine, but I know they're not used to it. I remember when I went to visit her in 2009, it happened to be one of those weeks where they had randomly high heat, but to me, it wasn't that bad. Considering I've since moved to Florida, there's definitely a difference in region and climate. 

It stands true when Rachael said to me today, "[T]he humidity makes it worse due to the 'wet bulb'. In other countries it regularly gets that hot but they are better set up for it". She's right; other areas of the world are used to the heat and humidity, and it all depends on where you are - there are places where it's a dry climate, so 115° isn't as sticky and drippy as it would be in the tropics (for US readers, think of Las Vegas dry versus Louisiana bayous wet). 

Before I started this post, I looked at the Weather Channel App on my phone and it was already 86° and felt like 90. I'm sure by the time I'm done writing, it'll be higher, as this time yesterday, it was already nearing the "feels like 100". 

Last night I had to get something out of my car and the sun setting was giving the clouds such an interesting share of salmon colored pinks and bee colored yellows. I wish my phone picked it all up better, because it was very apocalyptic outside. 

The pictures don't pick up everything, but the cloud coverage was strange in the fact there are some small swoops going on. Like bubbling on the outer edge of the flatter areas. I'm no meteorologist, so I don't have the vernacular to explain everything in detail. I just thought the color of the sky and surroundings, mixed with the way the clouds were forming, it was interesting. 

Maybe it's due to all the warmth we've been getting lately, that the sunsets are so different. Go ahead and call me weird. At least we haven't had a named storm yet, as we're officially 23 days into season. Let's keep it this way, even though some of us are a little hesitant to bring it up, as we don't want to risk a jinx on our heads... 

That's about it for now. I've got to get some stuff done early this morning before it gets hotter out, so I'll check in another time. Hopefully the temperature doesn't go past 105 today.. 

Take care of yourselves and totally get some water in you!

Cheers;

Happy Birthday, "Eddie" if you're still reading these posts...

See Also

* Have you read Rachael's book yet? Sangre De Toro

* The Weather Channel App via Amazon

* It's Prime Day with sales... are you buying?? 

This is..

... Sparta?

No.

... Anfield?

No.

... Fog?

Yes.

Sunday was one of those days where I had to be at work for 8:45am and would be there for 12 hours. Unfortunately, it was also one of those days where the fog was so thick, it was a little dangerous to drive.

Or, as my friend Cat said after receiving multiple photos, "It's so eerie" and after seeing a video from when I parked at work, "it looks like a horror movie". 

It felt worse than a horror movie, although it was the type of gloom where I needed to take a different road to work, as the flyover bridge I would have taken, would have been a bit dangerous to use. The merging into traffic is horrible on a normal day; trying to get off the bridge and into oncoming traffic in fog? Good luck, buttercup; I hope no one is coming down the road at the moment you need to get into the next lane. 

Therefore, I had taken a more "scenic" route to get to where I needed to be. It doesn't defeat much traffic, but it's a little safer. Weirdly enough, the end result takes me to the same intersection that completes the merge from the bridge. 

Except the intersection is probably a couple blocks away. It's a landing zone and hard to explain. 

At any rate, the photos below are the "before" photos, taken with an iPhone 11. No editing: WYSIWYG.

This is the intersection where the flyover bridge is. You can barely see road signs in the distance, which are attached to another crossing bridge. 

The bridge is to the right of this tree; I'm about to turn into the "scenic area" part of the drive, so I can bypass the bridge.   

This photo is another intersection. One more past the merging intersection one (closer to where I work).

The photos below are the "after" photos, taken the next day (Monday) with an iPhone 11. No editing: WYSIWYG.

As you can see below, this is the first intersection with the bridge. Just past the second set of trees in the second photo, is the exit for the longer way. 

I just passed the "scenic route" entrance so this is the bridge road. 

This is the merging issue once you get up in the flyover and onto the other main road:

Cars don't like to let you in!

Which is why it was going to be easier to take the other road and not risk getting hint. The fog was too thick to try it, unless I was already on that side of the road. 

It's a risk no matter where you go, because fog is fog. I know that. But early morning crazy drivers tend to not pay attention. I'd rather be safe than sorry, especially since I was going to be working a very long day. 

It did become pretty hectic at work, so I'm glad I did the easier way. I'm also glad I got proof how wild nature can be around here, even though we already know, due to the massive amount of rain in the summer as well as the random hurricanes. I'm not immune to seeing thick fog, but up north, it's usually with some sort of melting snow. 

Change of scenery, but not a change of nature?

Seeing how today is Christmas Eve, I'll keep this rambling short and let everyone go do their thing. Hope you all were nice enough to stay off the naughty list!

Cheers;

See also

* "This is Sparta" comes from the movie 300.

* "This is Anfield" comes from the mantra of Liverpool Football Club

* "This is fog" comes from pointing out low lying clouds. 

Fan light | Posing | Seafood Day! | "Has it been that long?"

Went to visit Chester and his parents last weekend and there's a new light over the dining room table. It's not a formal dining area, as the table seats four and it's immediately off the kitchen island. It's a nook area, so it's not meant for large groups. It's big enough to sit comfortable and be able to quickly get up and get plates washed when done eating. 

The fan and light that is now over the table is different than what I've seen in various rooms. The fan is super quiet and gives off just enough wind that you know it's on, but it doesn't freeze you. The light bars are circular and it looks like a drawn out atom. However, upon trying to image search a photo, the common answer is it's more like Saturn in its design than an atom. Which makes a little more sense once you compare the two. The fan inside would be the planet and the main center light ring would be the ring around the planet. The other rings are bonus lights.

For reference, Amazon has a similar one in brushed nickel from a company called Fanimation and it's called "Fanimation Obvi 3 Blade Ceiling Fan 19.96 Inches Tall and 22 Inches Wide with Brushed Nickel Finish and Clear Blades". It's not "cheap", as it's listing for $649.99. There's a black version as well, with the same price point. 

Overall, it's sleek and a conversation starter because it's not an every day, "normal" ceiling light you see. It's unobtrusive in a way, so you barely notice it unless you're directly under it while the fan is going. You can feel the blades going, but they're not that powerful where everything is moving or it's too noisy. However, it gives enough light, that the table was very well lit as we ate. It didn't matter if it was breakfast or dinner, we could all see everything as we sat at the table. 

Yay for new things?

As it was a weekend of a fur baby, he not only got a new toy, he got a haircut. 

Chester doesn't sit still for one minute, so trying to take photos of him, I get very interesting side eyes and poses. On one of the nights, I happened to get a video of him slowly moving his head towards me to give me the stink eye but when he realized I was filming, he quickly moved his head back. It was all in the matter of 5 seconds, and really not a long enough clip to post on Youtube and link here. It was a funny thing because he was sitting down, waiting for me to throw a toy down the hall for him. 

Other photos I was able to get are below, and like always, I did some minor editing and they were taken on an iPhone 11. 

The photos of him on the bed is part of his night time ritual. First he knows what time it is (8pm) and starts clawing and barking at everyone, as if to say "time for bed!!!". If there is company over, he's told "it's too early; go play". So he plays for a little while and by 8:30, he's trying to go to bed again. If a movie or show is on and is over at 9, he's told to continue playing. By nine, he's had enough and the whining happens. So now everyone is sick of him scratching and complaining, so it's off to bed. 

Obviously, Chester runs the house. 

Once everyone is off to do their own nightly routine, the first thing that happens for the dog, is he gets lifted onto the bed (because he sleeps with his parents). From there, he looks for a sock (or two) on the bed, which may have "accidently" been left. 

As Chester loves stealing sneakers / shoes and socks, there's always one he magically finds under the covers. It's like a final game at night, and once he finds it, it's like his binky; he never lets go of it. 

The other photos of him are his foofy haircut and an expression of a demands man. He wants to play and he wants a toy and he wants it all now, instead of having his picture taken. 

It's always a long, draining weekend because Chester likes to annoy everyone if he's not the center of attention. He does have his moments when he's calm and hanging out with everyone, but sometimes he gets the spurts of wanting to do things. 

The life of having a pet... never ending!?

When I went to the library the other day, for a pickup, there was some setup on the information counter about the day. Every day is a different theme. The librarians research what day it is and offer books to read about that particular thing. 

For example, I went in last year on September 17, and it is not only my friend Cat's birthday, but it's also Cassandra Peterson's birthday. If you don't recognize the name, maybe you'll recognize her "alter ego": Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. When I saw all the books at the desk, along with the placard, I texted Cat and said "you share a birthday with a famous goth girl". Cat liked hearing that. She thought it was cool. 

This year I didn't go in on that day, so I don't know what they put up. But I was in on the 25th, and the sign said "It's National Lobster Day" with some shellfish books around it.

The books looked good; if we ate more shellfish, I would totally think about purchasing them on Amazon to have on the cookbook shelf. 

The pages I took photos from, were out of the "Lobster: 75 Recipes Celebrating the World's Favorite Seafood" book by Dana Moos. Only because the publication company is from Maine ("Down East Books") and it talks about everything relating to Maine lobster, including other ways you can add seafood to your diet. I wanted my mom to see what was out at the library that day. 

I had to giggle at the publication company name because not a lot of people will get the underlying reference of "Down East" unless they're from (coastal) New England (primarily Maine) or have been around long enough to understand where the term comes from. As I've lived the first part of my life in Massachusetts, traveling to coastal areas, I enjoyed seeing a company call themselves out for what they do and where they're located. It's a nice opportunity to "keep things local". 

Off topic for a second but relating to Maine: there is a podcast I listen to, where it takes place in the home state of Stephen King. It's from Realm and called "Undertow", which every season is a standalone series, even though there's a small connection early on. It's got so many other seasons and spin offs, it's hard to tell what's airing now, especially since it's been a while since I listened to it. I have a lot of shows to catch up on. But with the Amazon link, try to sort from "oldest to newest" and you'll get the first few seasons. If you listen in other podcatchers, do the same there. You'll not regret it if you're a horror fan. 

There's also QCODE & Endeavor Content's "Blackout" which takes place in New Hampshire and is voiced by Rami Malek.

Anyway, back to the book.

One of the things it talks about is the ratio of meat to pounds (yield) - "One 1¼ to 1½ pound lobster = 4 ounces or ½ cup". No wonder they seem small. They may be meaty, but once you start chopping them up, they're not as plentiful as you think. That's why there's always something to go with them. 

Noted: I put my name on the photos simply because I took the photo. I do not own the copyright to the text on the pages. Just that I took the photo. 

The other book takes place in the Seattle Washington area: "Shellfish: Recipes with the Fresh Taste of the Sea (A Seafood Cookbook)" by Cynthia Nims. The publication company is, rather fittingly, "Sasquatch Books". I didn't get any pages from that book photographed as I was more interested in the lobster one. I don't think I looked through it enough to want to do anything with it. I don't know enough about the Pacific North West to make any viable comment on how good or bad their seafood is. 

This weekend marks the third anniversary of Hurricane Ian. A lot of places are still suffering the consequences of that storm and when we got Helene and Milton last year, it pushed back a lot of the rebuild. South Seas resort on Captiva is finally reopen and is doing a triathlon thing this morning. Or they were, because at the time of this writing, it should be over. The resort finally opened last month, I think, after being completely destroyed since 2022. 

Not to jinx anything, but we haven't gotten a blink of a storm this season so far, so everyone may be a little on high alert, especially while the rebuilding from Ian is still happening. Too many people are reporting they're still living in shambles because it's so hard to find work, get work, obtain materials for their homes and businesses. Fort Myers Beach is not even a quarter built back up. I'm told they're still looking messy. They can't win out there. But with tourists and snowbirds coming quickly, something has to be done. At least Margaritaville is there (I haven't seen it)?

I can't say much about what's going on with everything and the storm. I haven't traveled anywhere to see what places look like. I see the news talk about it and it was mentioned this morning we're three years into it. The area I am in looks okay to a point, but there are some spots that are still desolated. The mobile home parks are somewhat flattened and RVs are in the spots where the homes were. It's harder for those people to get their lives back, than it is for someone in a regular house. The insurance is bad for everyone, and if you own a double wide (or any other mobile home), no one is quick to insure you because of what you're in and what the storms are. It's rough and people are actively trying. 

I don't know what else to comment about with it because I am not actively in it. So rather than try to make something up or report on old news, I'll end it here. 

Plus, it's late enough in the morning where it's time to go do some errands. 

Until something else piques my way into here, take care and stay cool (it's still lower 90s here).

Cheers;

A little addition to the morning coffee

I need to start off by saying I'm in no way advocating for what I'm about to post. I am not a medical or health professional and I advise you to seek the advice of your doctor or someone with more field knowledge than I. What I did this morning is on me and me only. If you want to try this, please do it with caution and speak to a practitioner, should you decide to go forward and make this a routine thing. 

This morning I decided to add a shot of olive oil to my coffee.

Yes, all that wording in the disclaimer to say "I put olive oil in my coffee". 

I got it in mind to attempt it this morning, after having tried it last year at Starbucks. At the time, it was an expense and not the best, as some of the drinks they were adding the Partanna to, were just weird. Out of the limited options, I found that the "Golden Foam Cold Brew" was the more palatable drink, although I wouldn't have purchased any of them again. The cold brew was smoother and although the oil separated quickly, it left a richer taste in the coffee. The whole experience left me wondering what I did, as it was an unexpected outing into the coffee world. 

Tay had been talking about adding olive oil to drinks for a few months prior to Starbucks rolling out their version. He's a big olive oil enthusiast, putting it on everything, including using it as shampoo (trust me on that. I'm not going deeper into discussing it, but let me just say I know things about him I shouldn't and can't / won't share). He had tried it in his own coffee and I think tea at one point. He thought it was interesting but couldn't legitimize buying it at the big coffee chain. I think he did, at one point, just to see what the fuss was about. I don't remember his reaction, sadly, except he hoped that the chain would try adding it to tea. Obviously that didn't happen. 

As short lived as it was, it's also been forgotten about. There were too many challenges with this. One, it turned into an added expense for people. Two, it was limited to just a handful of drinks. Three, customers were having ill effects from consuming it. Olive oil and coffee are already laxatives in their own right. so adding them both together, you get a war going on in your stomach and the only way to end it is by dropping some bombs in the toilet. 

Which is why it's not something normally advised to do on a daily basis, let alone a single drinking session. 

There's also the added high monounsaturated fats content in the olive oil, so if you're on a specific diet or watching what you eat, this might not be something you want to put in your gut unless you're using it in a salad (so those items can "soak up" the oil and transfer it into something else). Left alone with coffee, you're going to be losing a slight bit of those calories, but for what benefit? Unless you've got an iron stomach and it doesn't effect you, on top of working out, I don't know what it would do long term. I haven't read any studies about it.

That being said, today was a one off adventure. I thought about Tay for a minute and decided to try putting a little bit of "EVOO" in my coffee this morning, just to see what it would be like. I had bought some Death Wish k-cups a couple weeks ago, so I thought I'd try the olive oil in one of those. Spice it up a bit. Adding some Chobani creamer, it was overall okay. The oil did separate as I added it last. It sat on top of the coffee, even after stirring. I couldn't taste the oil in the coffee, so maybe the creamer and coffee was masking any flavor of the oil, or I just used too random of a bottle. Either way, about 45 minutes later, it made its way out. 

TMI, I know. But if you want the truth, there it be. It could have been the snacks I had yesterday, my smoothie prior to the coffee, or it could have been the olive oil. I'm probably not going to be trying it again, as olive oil isn't cheap, so adding it to coffee "for shits" (literally) is not a good idea. Plus, it only lasted one trip in to the bog. I'm feeling fine and I felt fine when it happened. It was just a surge of "gotta gooooooooooo" and it was done. No sickness, no nothing.

To each their own I guess. Again, I'm not advocating for any one thing. I'm just giving an experience I had today and letting you know what went down. 

I really need to shut this down right now. I hate to make it quick and random. It's 4:31pm and the sky is getting black out. There is a ton of lightning and thunder outside and it's getting more frequent. Way to finish out the day, considering I also had to buy a new battery for my car this morning. My car was deader than dead - it absolutely would not turn on. So AAA came to my house, installed a new battery and I'm good for a few more years. 

But more on that another day... I need to get off before we lose power (which has happened before in these storms).

Be safe, be dry and if you're in the path of Erin, be extra careful!

Cheers;

See also (aka some articles about Starbucks coffee)

* Starbucks Oleato (via the Starbucks site)

* CNBC Article: Starbucks discontinuing Oleato olive oil drinks at U.S. cafes

* CNN Article: "Starbucks abandons the olive oil coffee that was the brainchild of its former CEO"

* Amazon link for Partanna Olive Oil in the event someone wants to try to replicate one of the drinks

* Amazon link for Starbucks Espresso Beans with a link for a grinder.

See also (aka "other")

* Amazon link for Death Wish coffee

* Amazon link for Chobani Creamer

Summer is already over :(

This time next week, the kids will be back at school. 

Where has the last three months gone? 

Considering we have been reaching over 100° (with humidity) for the past several weeks, the kids are going to be drenched in sweat as they wait for the bus, but freeze in the schools because the air conditioning will be on full blast. What a way to get sick the first week! The high numbers have not been every single day (to make or break a record), but it's been enough of a notice, that even the normal storms are like "nope. Too hot". We must have had only a week's worth of rain lately. Or so it feels. Normally we have something every day by this point in the year. 

The Saharan Dust is what is keeping a lot of the crazy at bay, so what we're missing in water from the sky, other areas have gotten, and then some. Although the northern border states (next to Canada) are getting inundated with the Canadian wildfire smoke right now. The news keeps showing how the air quality is so bad in places like Chicago, New York City and Boston, that you can't even see in front of you. We have (snowbird) neighbors who are living in North Dakota. They are about an hour from Canada and the woman said to me via text that "it's really bad here". Just because they aren't getting heat and humidity (it's in the 80s though), doesn't mean they're not getting something worse than us. 

This seems to be happening more frequently as the years progress: The fires from Canada enshroud a lot of the United States and it becomes a health hazard to those who have breathing problems. Florida gets stuff too, but when the dust settles (literally) and the haze goes away (it was orange yellow last night, so it's still floating around), we start getting into trouble. 

There are three storm systems in place right now in the Atlantic. National meteorologists are watching them, and luckily, we aren't halfway through the alphabet like the Pacific is. For the Atlantic, the most current name is Dexter, and he is just hanging out in the ocean, doing his thing. He's vibing with the sharks and chillin' with the fishies. Dexter seems to be staying enough off shore, that anything he does, may only affect the tides, not the continent. However, there seems to be two more disturbances behind him. Hopefully they'll follow his lead and stay out in the water and not step on land. We are at that point in the summer where these things start to slowly ramp up and the east coast gets pop after pop of low lying crazy. 

Considering tt's projected that Fort Myers is going to be 100% rain the rest of this week (into the weekend), but we'll see. They've been saying for a couple weeks we'd have daily rain and we haven't. We've gotten some thunder and lightning (ooh, there was a quick strobe last night around 1am. I got up to pee and all of a sudden my room flashed like someone was doing a security sweep. There was no thunder with it, though) but that's about it. Bone dry. Which is also why the 105° humidity is so brutal. The moisture in the air isn't enough to make the clouds do anything except help the sun beat on everyone. We're all sweating here and fat kids shouldn't be sweating so profusely. It's gross and feels gross. Trust me - I'm in the fat kid club. It's not a good feeling, although "swamp ass" makes it all worse for everyone - the skinny kids too. 

It's the price you pay to not have snow, I'm told. I'm not amused or sold on the idea. There's something inhumane about the constant "blah. Too hot to do anything". Even Tay would tell me it seems so immoral to be "living in the tropics". If my mother didn't feel like my shoveling 4 feet high snow in the middle of 2010, just for an oil delivery (for an oil delivery), we may still be in Massachusetts. Who knows. I would like to go back though. Permanently. Just need to find work. 

Finding work is hard these days, especially locally. Summer is when things close down in the area. The tourists and snowbirds aren't around, so businesses don't keep a lot of employees. A lot of companies start letting people go "whenever Easter falls" and will then pick up and hire workers "around Halloween, sometimes a little before". 

For summer work, I've been told by numerous hiring managers that "hours depend on business needs" and the amount of projected hours they can give would be 8-15 a week. Nothing more, but maybe less. Everyone they keep for the summer also needs work, although one manager told me that majority of her staff have two or more jobs, so she has a little more freedom to give an extra hour to someone, but that's it (strangely enough). It's because she won't take away an hour or two from a long standing employee, just to give the new kid some extra time. She also knows when people say they can work 15 hours a week, they're working 15 somewhere else. Or they have a family they're dealing with, so they can't work more than that. 

That may work for those people, but I'd like to know that if I'm committing my time, effort and energy to your business, you're going to reciprocate and do the same. I'm not looking to have multiple jobs. It gets too confusing and I won't know if I'm coming or going. If I have "open availability" for one job, then please allow me the benefit of working more than 20 hours a week, every week, but I'd prefer over 32 for insurance purposes. 

It's not fair to expect people to be at a beck and call and able to work whenever, but you only give them 8 hours in five days. I know everyone is different and I'm no better than anyone around me. I don't claim to have special privileges or want to be treated differently. I'd like to just find work where I can hone my skills while learning new ones, experience life and be able to help both myself and the business I work for, grow, all while working 32 to 40 hours a week. It seems simple enough, but it's not. One company said they have a minimum of 4 hour shifts some days, and due to the fact it would take me 30 minutes to get to the business, it might not be fair for me to work there, especially since they too, only offer a maximum of 15 hours a week. That and they weren't hiring when I walked in to inquire. 

I know New England isn't immune for no work due to lousy weather. Winter there can be as bad as summer, but business don't close down so severely that they basically fire 80% of the work force for six months. The only hindrance of "the daily grind" is snow, and I've worked at plenty of places before moving to Florida, where I got stuck at my job for a couple extra hours due to an incoming / ongoing storm. Or, I got delayed at home a little bit when I went to start my day. I know what it's like to commute over an hour on the train in bad weather and the tracks are frozen. I've been there and it caused me an extra hour of time so I'd basically be within 30 seconds of start time, rather than have 30 minutes to collect my thoughts before start time. I'm aware of the differences. But the fact that you can see the snow and touch (shovel) it, is far more of a reality check for "incoming!!!!!! *boom*" than a tropical depression turn storm turn hurricane. Hurricanes are far more powerful than snow, and in a shorter amount of time, once they arrive. Snow is cold and can knock out power so you may freeze in a situation, but there is no excessive water that decides to go swimming in your house and ruin the integrity of the structure. Unless your pipes burst due to freezing over. That's not an every day occurrence though. When I was little, we got flooded on our property a few times, but that was because we were the end of the street with a sewer system that the city didn't admit was there. Luckily, we never got water inside our house, but we did have a lake in our yard. It happened to be in summer and fall when it rained for more than 3 days. The ground was so saturated, the water had no where to go. One year, it was so bad, a quarter of the street was blocked off and we couldn't get out of the driveway for a few days because the water was that night and due to being at the intersection of another street, we watched neighbors try to figure out how to get to their place without riding in the water. It was the oddest thing. We survived though, and I think only one neighbor needed to fix one of their cars because they didn't realize how deep the water was. You live, you learn. 

Nature is cruel and crazy. Much like how I squirreled this post. I'm going to end it here so I don't get any more wild, talking about random things. 

If you live "in the south" and have kids, now is the time to make sure your child has all their back to school stuff ready. Keep an eye out for the storms. If you're anywhere else, especially "in the north", be safe while breathing in that wildfire. Stay indoors and don't do anything stupid. For everyone else, just be kind and do what you need to.

Cheers;

Feels a little apocalyptic

Past few weeks, whatever is happening in the world, the sunsets have been wild. 

Burst of reds, oranges, purples.. colors so vivid and odd, it really feels like a scene in one of the "end of the world" movies. The type where the undead will come creeping out of a corner if you're not careful because you thought you checked every inch of that abandoned town you've been hiding in. 

But we aren't there... yet. It's still too Hollywood science fiction. 

What we have is something completely different and it's just as weird. 

I think part of the reason the orange is showing up more, is due to the Saharan Dust coming our way. It's lingering a bit longer this summer and won't stop until the end of the month. So they say. It's also why we haven't had an influx of tropical storms turned hurricanes. The sand is prohibiting the Atlantic from doing it's churning and delivering us a big case of "oh damn, get the shutters up". 

The photos and video I'm posting were taken on an iPhone 11. No edits on the photos except my name. There are two with different fonts. Those I put my name on via the photos app in my phone and sent them to friends. The video was edited in Pinnacle Studio, and all I did for that was add my name and stock music (which came with the program). 

When I sent the photos to my friends, Shawn had said that one of them "looks like it could be a postcard, calendar, or something tourists would buy up" and that overall, they are "really cool picture[s]". 

That's why I'm going to do a little housekeeping and say "like what you see? Show some support. I am using a site called Ko-Fi, if you want to drop something there [aka "Buy me a coffee"]. Comments here are welcome as well". It's not easy generating stuff on a weekly or monthly basis and I keep saying I'm working bettering my photo skills. I'm trying to get enough work done where I can swiftly and easily do so much more. Everyone likes my photos and videos, but I know they need work. That's why Ko-Fi and comments are helpful if you're looking at my blog and potentially saving a picture or two (I know it happens. I'm not that naïve). Hence, drop a dime, drop a line. Be nice. 

Anyway, without further ado, the proof or it didn't happen:

Overall, the pictures and video also prove that there is a difference between being able to auto focus in a phone and being able to know your digital camera (or film camera) well enough to focus and manipulate the images before processing. During the film days, there were more blurry photos than still photos in my books and with digital, it may be easier to delete the image, but there's still trial and error. Look at my moon pictures from yesterday. The difference between holding a lightweight machine the length of a brick (but the heft of a small pack of crayons) can take a better image than holding a camera with a heavy lens, and have some shaking going on. Even if you use a tripod, you're probably better using a wired remote to shutter the lens, or you might not get the photo you're looking for. I should have used a tripod yesterday, but I didn't. I used a phone last night. It's literally night and day, even though it was not totally night nor totally day when they were both taken. Just happened to be 14 hours apart. 

I don't know. I'm probably talking nonsense. It's still a valuable lesson and it's a learning experience and experiment. Things happen. 

Much like I was texting Cat and she was telling me about her daughter wanting to go into photography as a job, but "due to AI, photography is dying", so the girl will probably pick a more favorable employment opportunity. I told Cat that her daughter should still check it out - there's still random types of work to do. It's not the best, but she could do the "school picture day" pictures with some sort of roaming portrait studio. If she can get some sort of low level apprenticeship or internship with a local photo studio, she can still learn a lot and gain valuable skills. As long as the drug stores are printing photos on the big plotters, there's a need for photographers. 

I worked for two different photo studios and one of them actually went to Costco for bulk printing. I learned a lot from both companies - talking with the graphic designer and printing tech at the first one, taught me how to use the newer versions of Photoshop and how to use industrial printing machines. I was able to do a lot more corrections and manipulations with speaking with them and watching them, than I was doing on GIMP. I knew enough that each keystroke translated and transferred easily to the Adobe product, but I still was a novice. I still am a novice; I admit that. I also got to know more about processing photos. What it takes to edit the image for proper sizing and printing on big chemical machines like the Fuji photo printer lab contraption we were using. I had dark room experience from college, but this is a whole different ballgame. The other studio I worked at, made me aware that you really need to type out your business materials in a Word document or have someone else read the information before you embed it on a photo in Photoshop. We were printing flyers (business information) that were so misspelled and misaligned, it was a real embarrassment. Yet no one checked for errors because it was one of those in house promotions and there was a need for foot traffic. I learned more of what not to do in a business from this one shop, than anything else, quite honestly. I know that sounds mean and rude, but I learned a lot about how to run a company and what stuck with me was how things were being done from a business standpoint instead of a client standpoint. Flash in the pan easy and quick to get a body in, versus take your time to make sure you get the right person in. If you're doing professional portraits (headshots), you need professional advertising. Don't have half your flyer read like a second grader wrote it. 

Yes, I have my faults. "Don't throw stones at glass houses". My blog is littered with problems and I know that. I also know I'm not an LLC or a proper business. This is something I do as a hobby - share reviews, pictures, opinions. I don't mind talking about things and I hope people read what I type and maybe change their own thought about the topic. I'm not looking to convert anyone. I'm just free writing until my mind says "enough". If it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense. I tend to ramble and not check my work. Yet here I am, talking smack about a company who didn't check theirs either. I only worked there - I didn't have a major stake in the company, so their advertising was on them. I wasn't part of those meetings or that department; I stayed in a corner working on videos all day. 

It's not a bad thing and it's not a good thing. It was something I learned and can pass on to other people. Which is why I said to Cat her daughter should still think about doing photo stuff. If anything, she will learn some new ways to do everything and if she goes a different job route, so be it. At least she has gained more knowledge on something she likes to do. 

Isn't there some sort of adage where "knowledge is power"? We should be enabling our kids and our friends to seek out things they like to do and encourage them to work / collaborate with others to learn more about whatever it is. Just like I am slowly learning more about my own camera and I try to do things with it, even if the picture comes out horrible, I know what not to do the next time. 

Long story longer, I completely squirreled away from the original idea of this post. 

At any rate, stay glowing and keep your eyes peeled to the sky (and ground. Always look around you)...

Cheers

See Also

* Kind of feeling like "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" by REM (off their "Document" album - track 6 for reference)

So close, yet so far away

No, it's not about the Carole King song, but it's about the moon this morning. 

I had to be up early because I needed to go somewhere. It also happens to be trash day, so I took out extra trash to be picked up.

That's when I saw the moon. 

I really need to work on my picture taking better. I didn't have enough time to set up everything (tripod, camera) so I went back in the house and grabbed my Canon, popped in the battery and SD card, screwed on the 75-300 zoom lens and back outside I went. 

I put the camera on manual mode and played around with the settings a little bit. For giggles, I am adding some bad photos in this post, as a comparison reminder to myself on how I really should learn my camera more. Although, the "bad" photos came out a little weirdly okay (like the way one of the photos looks like I shot into the sun and it's flaring a bit). I know they're a little fuzzy in places and not as clear as they should be, but it's all in the experience and experimenting. I'm no professional by any means.

Part of the reason I need to work on the photos is due to the fact it was 6:25am, not 12 midnight. The sky wasn't as dark as the black background seems to be. It would have been nice to get the blue sky that was popping up as I stood outside with everything. 

The minor editing I did on these was a sharpening and my name in Photoshop. A few of them have been manipulated with auto tone, color and contrast. Another reason that I'm not using ace equipment. My HP laptop is not calibrated to edit photos the way it should be. Especially since the laptop is 12 years old and I'm trying not to kill it. I know I need an updated computer - this one is running Windows 8.1. I'm not good with change and updates on things. I get a little crazy. One day I will update everything. One day... maybe if I ever move....

There's nothing much else to say about what I did and did not do to the pictures. The main garbage bin got emptied around 8:30am and the recycle around 9:15. The city is sending out the pickers early now that it's summer because of the heat and humidity, as well as the random rain we've been getting.

Boy, has it been storming pretty good here. Not like it's been in Texas. That's really awful and it's sad that the flooding happened. The news keeps replaying the same information and you feel bad for everyone there. On top of it, my mom saw on her Facebook yesterday, that the Expressway in Massachusetts was completely closed off by 11am due to flooding. People were getting trapped on their commute and had to turn around because the staties were closing the roads. Comments were wild - main roads, some back roads... places were underwater. All from the storm that hit Texas and moved east and north east. We're getting massive thunder and lightning but haven't had the flooding rains yet. We don't need it, but it'll be inevitable. We're just hoping we don't get hit with a hurricane or two.

Put on your tin foil hat, kids. Randomly, my friend Cat texted me the other day and asked if  I had heard anything about the UFO sighting in Fort Myers from the day prior. I hadn't, but apparently there's some rumbling on whatever social media she follows, saying people are reporting strange (almost nightly) sightings in the air. I honestly haven't heard anything about it, and am not going to try to link anywhere or post to anything. I don't know where she finds the videos, as she didn't tell me how she came across it. I did try to search for it myself, but I came up almost empty handed. There was one video of someone saying they were watching a webcam from a place down on Fort Myers Beach, and they finally saw some lights flickering. The angle of the webcam was facing what used to be the pier and the person zoomed in to the dark sky to show a string of lights or windows or something. It is one of those things where the user stated they know the beach is visited frequently by outer worldly guests, but this was the first time in a long time that the ship was caught on camera. Again, I cannot validate any of this as I have not been following it. 

Had Cat not asked me about it, I wouldn't have tried to look in to it myself. I don't know how real it is, but I also am not saying it's truly faked. I'm not judging and I'm not going to attempt to sell anyone on the idea that there is something going on at the beach. Oddly, it would make sense if there was more going on than what we think, since the area is still trying to build back up from Ian's destruction, but I don't know to what extent this would happen. Maybe that's why things are taking their time to finish? There's some magic in the air prohibiting a rush? It's all part of the southern slowness of "why hurry"? I am not sure and I don't want to jump to any conclusion. I'll gladly share the news, but I'm not going to say exactly what's going on as sometimes you just don't know. Things can be manipulated, hacked, etc. Choose your own path with it and see where it goes. 

Therefore, I think I'm going to cut it here and go to the gym. It's early enough that if I do my ~2hr workout, I can be home in time to take a nap. I didn't sleep well last night and since I had to get up at 5:30 this morning, I'm going to either need a few more cups of coffee  or a major snooze if I expect to not pass out before supper tonight.

Until then, be safe, take care of yourselves and always look to the skies. You never know what you'll see. Listen for alarms as well... you don't want to end up being swept away in anything...

Cheers;

See also:

* Carole King, "So Far Away" off Tapestry (track 2 for reference)

* Amazon Prime Day 2025 ends tonight, July 11, 2025 (as of this posting, there's 16 hours, 50 minutes and change left). Did you buy anything?

Finished the bag...

... but not finished the drink.

Yet.

Finally finished the Teeccino Almond Amaretto Coffee Alternative. Made the last of it as a cold brew and it's been hanging out in the fridge. 

There was probably around 12 tablespoons of the mix left when  I poured it into the cold brew system container. I felt like if I did the same amount as previously done, I'd only be leaving less than a great amount for the next time. Plus, who leaves a little in the bag? Make it stronger by finishing it up.

Honestly, I don't think "make it stronger" really works for this lot. I mean, it's fairly decent with some Aldi brand of coconut creamer (brand is called "Barissimo"), but I wouldn't go out of my way to be like "dude, drop everything and make it just like thisssssss!!". It's good, with the coconut giving it a slightly different flavor profile, and it wasn't super duper strong. 

My mother actually took half a cup of it and added it to her Starbucks Blonde Roast Iced Coffee (with regular half and half). She decided, on a lark, that maybe the Teeccino would "jazz up the Starbucks a bit". She loves her Seattle java, but figured she'd try a little of the non-coffee coffee in what she had. She said it really boosted her drink and she would definitely do it again. 

Guess I shouldn't have made the rest of it and thrown out the empty bag? Or, does this mean we could potentially be buying it again (perhaps in another flavor)?? I don't know. But once we finish this completely, it's back to regular coffee as cold brew. I don't mind it, as long as it's something that doesn't end up tasting like it's been sitting in our cabinet for ten years and we finally decided to get rid of it.

Which has happened before. 

Although, you don't realize how good coffee is, until you're four days into a natural disaster scenario and you're drinking instant coffee from water boiled on a grill. The best part of waking Prior to Ian, the last time I think I had instant coffee was in college and didn't have access to my own coffee maker. So I ended up getting various brands of instant and sneaking down to the cafeteria at all hours, just to get some hot water and get my brew on. I had half and half in my room (dorm fridge), but just needed the juice to make it good. Then I got wise, bought an after market coffee maker and started heating my own H₂O in my room. I didn't have a microwave and I hate nuked coffee as it is. 

The coffee maker was interesting - I made friends quickly with that bit, I'm not going to lie. 

Although, making friends with the facilities guys is better because I got to have some really nice conversations with them and ended up bartering when I needed to. All because they wanted hot water themselves for tea and other incidentals (a couple of the men were from "the old country" - Greece, Hungary. Didn't help they were actually in their late 60s and early 70s at the time). It all worked out in the end and I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

You live, you learn. 

Boiling water in a pot on a grill is new too. Something I can take on another life adventure if I need to. 

Maybe all the reality shows I watch about going out into the wild and fending for yourself can help one of these days. Not that I want something drastic and bad to happen, but at least I know I can do something when needed. 

Right now I'm needed out in the living room to help my mother with something, so I'm going to cut it off here. 

Be safe, be well, go explore your surroundings. Have a banging cup of joe and don't over stimulate yourself.

Cheers

See also (aka limited exclusive):

* Amazon Prime day deals (July 8-11, 2025), the Teeccino Almond Amaretto Chicory Coffee Alternative - 11 Ounce - Ground Herbal Coffee That’s Prebiotic, Caffeine Free & Acid Free, Medium Roast is currently 20% off, making it $11.98 instead of $14.98

* Teeccino is not offering anything special, except they're on the "get 10 dollars off your first order" referral program. I get ten dollars, you get ten dollars (providing you buy something. Remember, it's $59 and over for free shipping).

* Amazon is not offering a Prime Day Deal on the particular Starbucks Blonde Roast this weekend, as the drink sells out of Whole Foods currently. Watch the price because it's $7.79 with a $13.95 delivery charge because it's part of the "Amazon Fresh Products" plan. It's cheaper to buy this in any supermarket, even when it's not on sale. You could buy three bottles for what you'd spend online. Unless this is something that is so much easier to get online because you're shopping for other stuff.. then go for it. #Nojudgement. There are other Prime Day Deals for coffee if you search for it.

* Not a Prime member? Click here. Monthly charge: $14.99, Yearly: $139, Prime for Young Adults: $7.49 a month. Prime Access: $6.99 a month. All after free trial. It's worth it - whatever option you choose. Solely based on better shipping opportunities, video streaming, music streaming, college kids have access to certain discounts, there's a lot you can do. Even though there's a number of people who have negative reviews about the service, it's beneficial to others.