Monday's Missives

• Yesterday (12/19/2016 @2029) while reading Brave Men I noted Ernie Pyle mentioning he toured Pompeii during the invasion of Italy. He said to the effect that it wasn't Vesuvius that buried Pompeii as most people presume but Somma- a now extinct volcano nearby.  I had to check it out. Sorry Ern' everything on my internets says Vesuvius was the culprit.
• My hands look horrific and are in agony from torn cuticles due to the dry weather.
• First world problems...
• When you hear the tired old trivia that Russia sent their cosmonauts up with pencils instead of pens to solve the gravity dilemma just say, That is bull caca- they had pens, grease pencils, markers and pencils- just like US astronauts! as well- it is true. People use that erroneous trivia to make us look ridiculous for spending a million dollars to develop a pen that writes in space and to make Mother Russia look primitive. I hate to say it but yeah- there might even be a bit of racism to that old claim as well.
• My Marsona sound conditioner had not been used in 2-3 weeks so I loaned it to a friend to see if it would help his wife sleep and help her with a tinnitus problem. Predictably, I am having trouble resting tonight without it.
• Humans are weird.
• There are a couple of demanding skills I have nearly perfected and combined with complex processes done at work that I have taught myself to do well.  Consequently- multiple people have gotten it in their heads I am am the only one who can do those things.
• File that under the Good/Bad column if you will please.
• 98% of the time I am totally cool with coming home to an empty house and doing what I want when I want. 2% of the time- sucks.
• Although THE EDGE lost their way a long, loooong time ago it is still a shock to turn over to the new STAR 102.1 and hear Xmas music and ads for their impending change to adult contemporary format.
• The term adult contemporary always makes me pause and I have to consciously shake the feeling it is code for something seedy.
• This past weekend (today is 01/04/2017) Zac and I talked about the attack on Pearl Harbor. He may have been a little impressed at my knowledge of the event but I sensed he was a bit taken aback when I discussed how incredibly bold, brave and smart the Japanese were.