April 8, 2020

Spring is Here

Nature is, of course, completely unaffected by COVID-19. Spring has arrived in the NYC Metro area. The dogs and birds enjoy looking out the front door. Of course Freya prefers having the door to herself. Squirrels understand how glass doors work, it seems. This chipmunk is the master of their domain. We hung out a new bird feeder a couple of weeks ago. It’s become a neighborhood hot spot. And, my wife broke out the bird house collection and hung them in the yard.

April 5, 2020

Pandemic Life and the Slow Burn

I could hear the birds outside while I was meditating this morning. That means Spring is here. I want to go for a bicycle ride instead of working out in the basement and enjoy the sunrise on the road. But I can’t. I need to cut the workout short, get showered, grab my mask and gloves, and go wait on line in front of the supermarket. This is life during the pandemic.

April 5, 2020

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March 31, 2020

Bridge 108

Imagine a future where the climate has destroyed industry, flooded nations, and driven immigration to the places that are still fertile to the point that those countries have become dystopia. Not hard, is it? This is the world that Bridge 108 is set in. The story revolves around Caleb, a 12-year-old boy that is forced into what is really slave labor in all but name. While he is the primary character in the story, six different character provide first-person narration in this novel.

March 19, 2020

Inevitable Coronavirus Post

Two weeks ago I took my wife to the emergency room. She’s better now, but that led to two and a half days in the hospital and five days (three working from home) to take care of her. I went to the office for a single day of work, and haven’t been back since. (She's fine now.) This, combined with the background of potential war with Iran (remember that?) and impeachment (wait, wasn’t that the 90’s?

March 17, 2020

Bowie's Revenge

Life on Mars - My Way Despite the click-baity title, and being two minutes of content in a six-pound bag, this is an interesting video. I had never heard this story before. I'm familiar with Rick Wakeman's contribution to the song, but had no idea that it was (loosely) based on My Way. I didn't even know that My Way was based on another song!

March 11, 2020

Review: Counterpart

This is a review of Counterpart, a TV series that premiered on Starz in late 2017 and was broadcast for two seasons. It’s available on Amazon Prime now. While I am not going to spoil specific plot points, I will ruin a few surprises and cover the general direction of the series. Proceed at your own risk if you haven’t seen it. Better yet, go see it! The best science fiction is about how people, society, and cultures, react to fictional science.

March 6, 2020

The Clock and the Ugly Candles

There’s a clock in our living room. It’s flanked by two ugly candles. I love that clock. It was my father’s, and now it’s mine. It’s coated with a black laquer finish, and my father used to pick the clock up with a rag to protect the finish when he wound it every few days. The clock chimes with a deep tone that belies its small size. You could hear it throughout the home I grew up in, and now you can hear it throughout our home.

March 2, 2020

Killing Two Birds with One Dehydrator

Freya has been struggling with recurring tummy issues for almost a year now, maybe longer depending on how you look at it. Trying to isolate and identify possible causes has been like nailing the proverbial Jell-O to the metaphorical wall. So, after seeing a specialist, we’re working on a restricted diet. For the couple of months, she’s going to be living on tilapia and sweet potatoes. For her regular meals, this is actually less work for Dagmar, who’s been cooking chicken breast, chicken innards, mixed vegetables, and rice.