Plans

For once, we have big plans for New Year's Eve. Got bowl tix and a room reserved downtown at the team hotel. I hope this goes well. Let me tell you why I'm nervous about this game. Because it is TECH playing in a BOWL.

Not enough, you say? OK, there's more: It's the Peach Bowl (no matter what they call it now, this particular bowl is not among the fifteen different bowls that Tech has won in the past). We're favored. And ranked. And playing an unranked opponent. And the fanbase has grown cocky and confident. And lots of people are picking us to win. And this is TECH playing in a BOWL (look up our bowl record of late). See? All the makings of an Epic Fail. I hope I'm worrying for nothing. We do have a helluva coach now, and some motivated players who want to end the season on a high note. But LSU is the defending national champ. They still have a lot of those same players. This game makes me nervous.

Have you figured out what you're going to do with that extra second we're getting this year? There is still plenty of time to plan. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you a happy New Year. Cheers!

Merry and Bright

Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays from Fermicat and the kittenses.

Analemma

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone!

Eat Mor Chikin

Silvio loves him some cow.

The Voice of the Enterprise Has Been Silenced

RIP Majel Barrett Roddenberry.

So what would happen?

...if we just said "screw it" to getting any Christmas cards mailed out this year?

I'm pretty sure the world won't end, but if it does, please accept my apologies in advance. My bad.

Coolest Advent Calendar Ever

Here it is.

Hat tip: LeNelle

Some Serious Change

$332.50

That is how much change we have rolled up after today's session, not counting the dollar coins. My old silver dollars have sentimental value. The oldest dates to 1899. But all the other coins are just a nuisance.

We haven't dealt with our spare change in a couple of years, and it shows. We had several stashes around the house, not including what we keep at work and in our cars. And there was already a large amount of previously rolled coins that we never did anything with.

A pile of metal isn't easy to deal with as a unit of exchange. We'll be converting the stash into Christmas gifts and charitable contributions very soon.

If you haven't scrounged around your house, cars, coat pockets, couch cushions and other hidden places for spare change lately, I suggest you give it a try. You will be surprised how much money you might have just lying around.

Demon Spawn

Looks cute, doesn't he?

Mrack! Meow! Mwoooowwwww!

Silvio has been getting the midnight cat crazies in a very vocal way lately. Last night was no exception. He was napping peacefully on our bed until about 12:20am. Then he turned into demon spawn -- stampeding through the house, howling, meowling, knocking over stuff, and terrorizing the other cats.

He had no trouble getting up early this morning for Round Two. The humans... not so much.

'Tis the Season...

...for procrastination.

I haven't done much about whittling down the list of gifts I need to buy. Even after deciding to do it mostly online, I am not feeling any sort of inspiration. I want to find unique and original things for people, but I don't even know where to start. Other than a few very cool things I picked up at an arts festival, I have only gotten a couple of other items. There is a long list to work through. I'd like to do a good job and find things that the people I love will really enjoy. This is probably one of those situations where my near total aversion to shopping of any kind is getting me into trouble. If you never set foot in a store, you generally don't ever see things that you think someone else might like. Then you sit in front of your computer like an idiot, wondering where to look and what might be out there. *sigh*

And Christmas cards? Yeah, haven't even started.

Moxy Has Moxie

Unlike Silvio, Moxy took the crowded house in stride last week. She was comfortable in spite of the chaos and friendly with everyone. Plus, she had all the toys to herself and lots of people to play with her. Silvio spent most of the long weekend hiding in the closet and under the bed. Zima was outside sunning herself and chasing critters during those brief intervals when she wasn't napping.

The Evening Sky

The last of our family left today and we had a quiet evening alone for the first time in more than a week. And the robocalls have finally ceased (runoff election was today). Ahhhhh, silence.

Did you catch the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus with the crescent Moon last night? The thin cloud layer obscured the view of the planets here, but they are still dancing with each other tonight, even though the moon has moved on. Jupiter and Venus will slowly pull away from each other in the coming days. Look toward the constellation of Sagittarius just after sundown to see the pair shining bright.

My photos of the sky tonight didn't turn out well (no tripod handy), so I've posted a shot of the October full moon instead. I worked late that day and the rising moon greeted me when I walked out of the building. Instant mood changer. As for the conjunction, here is what it looked like for people with clearer skies than ours.

UPDATE 12/4: Astronomy Picture of the Day had an outstanding photo of the conjunction taken from Austria. It shows the Moon just before and after occulting Venus.

Pic Four

It's been a while since I've been tagged. Dr. Sardonicus did the honors this time.

The deal is to look at your "My Pictures" directory, pick the fourth photo no matter what it is, post it and then write four things about the photo. Then you tag four other people. I had to create a workaround, since my "My Pics" directory is full of a hierarchy of subdirectories. Instead, I looked into an image archive location on my D-drive that has a more or less random selection of stuff in it. That directory has some of my cropped and retouched images for posting and also is a bit of a dumping ground for images I grab off the internet for whatever reason.



1. These Adirondack chairs were hand-crafted for me by my former next-door-neighbor in Massachusetts. They are identical to a set that he has been using daily in his yard for years. They are very comfortable to sit in.

2. The first Adirondack chairs were designed over a hundred years ago and were made of 11 pieces of wood that were cut from a single board. The deep slant of the seat accommodated placement on a steep slope. Originally they had a straight back and seat, but today's versions usually feature rounded seats and backs. The wide arm rests have been retained, and are a great place to rest food and drinks.

3. Since I moved these chairs to Georgia, they have an irresistible attraction for carpenter bees. Even though these bees do not sting, they still freak me out.

4. This amount of snow has been known to cause mass panic in Atlanta, Georgia.

I won't tag anyone specifically - if this meme appeals to you, then do it. Many of my blogger friends have been tagged already.