On the way home, Memorial Day 2021

 Well, we couldn't just ignore the guy. And look what happened (on the 10 o'clock news) upon stopping at the Hindsdale Oasis. 

https://abc7chicago.com/community-events/parades-ceremonies-mark-memorial-day-across-chicago-area/10721899/

Morning may become Electra, but not me (sorry, Mr. O'Neill)

Welcome back to daylight saving time! And I mean that very sincerely. After all, it’s the mechanism that makes mornings a bit more bearable here on the eastern cusp of the Central time zone.

Sunrise, which announces itself through our south-facing bedroom window, has been creeping ever earlier since January. Last Saturday, it came at 6:11, but thankfully slipped back to 7:09 on Sunday.

The blazing Sun will again continue to wake us earlier each day from now until mid-June – and that’s OK, and as it should be. But being on the eastern edge of the time zone means that by then, which is to say June 13 and 14, the sun will be up at 5:14:40 a.m. Without daylight saving time, sunrise would be at 4:14, which even for a “morning” person is pretty early.

I’ve recently been working with a Scottsdale, Arizona-based company, which helps to put this whole switching back and forth thing in perspective. Except for the Navajo Nation, the state of Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. (For an interesting explanation of why, check out this ASU article; it boils down to avoiding the heat of the day). Suffice it to say, however, that even without making the switch to daylight saving time, the earliest that people in Scottsdale are awakened by the sun is 5:17:09 — which happens on June 11 — not quite as early as we in Chicagoland will be awakened two days later, when we will be spared the indignity of an ungodly early light of day only by the coming of DST.

I'm sure if I were a farmer, I'd have a different perspective. But I'm not, and I'm glad daylight saving time has once again arrived. (Wake me in an hour.)

Brrr!

Merriam-Webster doesn't address this term we so often employ at this time of year. But the Internet seems to think three R's is appropriate, so I'm going with that.

Well, it’s been cold here in Chicago – again! But that's no surprise.

When we moved here in 1983-1984, a friend in who grew up in Sterling, Ill., warned us that it was a lot like Pittsburgh only more severe. He was right.

The hot, muggy summers are a lot more so, as are the bone-chilling cold winters. So, this year’s polar vortex, for which one local TV station noted Chicago was the vortex, came as no surprise. Cold as can be and lovin’ it (more or less).

It all brings back memories of our earliest Chicago winters, when we had just moved here from the more temperate climate of Pittsburgh.

During the winter of 1983-1984, and the year after as well, I was making the 75-mile commute each day from Palatine to Braidwood with Jay Johnson. We would leave early in the morning to arrive at Braidwood by 7 a.m., then set out on our return about 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. Working in a warehouse temporarily converted into office space, there were days we never saw the sun in that bleak midwinter.

Because of the extreme cold of 1984 and 1985, whoever’s turn it was to drive also ended up going out to start the car at lunch time, letting it run long enough to warm up and make sure things didn’t freeze up on us in the course of the day.

And so we revel, once again, in extremes, and anxiously await the spring thaw. Enough is enough; come on, spring!

This is a good week to sleep in

The 2018 winter solstice (the shortest day of the year) is now safely behind us. But strangely enough, sunrise continues to occur later and later for a few days beyond the solstice. It's at its latest–7:21 am–this week, from January 1 through 6, and only then does it turn the corner and begin coming earlier each day.

However, even before the solstice, sunset also began to move later in the day (the earliest sunsets were from Dec. 6 through 12 at 4:20 pm). And next week, when sunrise and sunset both again are diverging, we may begin to sense that spring is coming.

These times and dates are specific for Palatine, Illinois, varying slightly for even nearby towns and villages, and more for places further away. But the pattern is similar (at least in the northern hemisphere.)

Tables of sunrise and sunset times are available by city and state (and international locations, too) on the U.S. Naval Observatory website at https://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php.

See the full-size table for Palatine here.

By the way, the USNO folks offer a much more complete explanation of this phenomenon–three explanations, actually–at https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/rs_solstices.php. It's worth a look.

Word of the Day: tabula rasa

Paper or virtual, nothing is more daunting...

One extended period of pride (4-1/2 hours plus)

Zachary ran his second New York City Marathon today. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology (e.g., a great app from Tata Consultancy Services, video coverage from ABC 7 New York, and a few live-from-the-scene photos from Christina), we were able to track him all the way (which made it a bit of a nail-biter, but we loved it).

The local ABC station was streaming live from the finish line and we were able to see his finish, an exceedingly cool thing! He appears at about 6:50 in this video, which is the batch of finishers from 2:45-3:30 (Eastern time). He comes up along the left side of the screen wearing a blue t-shirt, tan baseball cap with earphones, and dark shorts with a red or maroon stripe. Just at the finish line he zigzags to the left (his right) to get around a guy in an orange t-shirt.



Congratulations, Zachary! We're very proud of you.

The actual link, in case all else fails: http://abc7ny.com/sports/2017-tcs-new-york-city-marathon-find-your-finish-on-demand---see-finishers-from-245pm-until-330pm/2607217/

Note to self: push chair in

I have to remember to push my chair in when I step away from the computer. Otherwise, our newest canine border - Alita, the Chorkie (or Yoruaua, as Uncle Mark put it) - is likely to do a little independent editing.

I'm sure she's just trying to help out (or earn a few shekels on the side).

Alita, editor wannabe

 ("I don't know why you put those red lines in. Isn't that something people could figure out on their own?")

Thumbs up for iPhone

This week I upgraded my phone to iOS 10 and it pushed me into setting up the fingerprint identification system. I resisted that with the older OS, where it was simply an option; I continued to just swipe to get in. But now, it seems, my only choices are an ID by fingerprint or entering a six-digit passcode. Fingerprints seemed to be the lesser of two evils.

Let me save you a few days of bother. Set it up so one of your fingerprints is a thumb.

I didn't, at first. But after a day or two, I found that using an index finger was awkward and inconvenient. But then, realizing that my thumb also had a print, and noticing that I usually had my thumb on the home button anyway ...

It works. Awkwardness solved (although it sometimes still demands my passcode instead.)

Whale heading north - read all about it

http://www.thespacewhale.com/project/

I love what I do. For example, I just got off the phone with Lindsay Adams, a guy with “a wide skill set,” as he puts it, who is deeply involved in the creation of a life-sized humpback whale for this year’s Burning Man. A degreed electronics engineer, he has had a lot of hands-on experience in many fields over the years, and says he’s more of a woodworker than a metal worker. Up until a couple years ago, Adams was primarily involved in software development. But in 2012, he signed on as technical director of The Generator in Sparks, Nev. The Generator is a 34,000 square foot facility that provides free space, as well as access to a host of hand tools and power equipment, for artists to use in creating whatsoever they wish.

Adams is also the go-to guy for a new plasma cutting table, provided earlier this summer by Torchmate as a beta test for its new 4800 series equipment. The bottom line here is that these artists now are using a top of the line piece of equipment, and because it’s so easy to pick up, they’re not batting an eye at its capabilities. That’s a pretty good acid test, if you ask me.

Anyway, Lindsay tells me his group’s Space Whale leaves on Sunday for Burning Man, the once-a-year festival held in Black Rock City, Nev., a temporary “metropolis city in the desert” some 120 miles north of Sparks.

But here’s one of the interesting little connections that makes what I do so much fun, namely, the surprising things that emerge from researching the background. Skrillex came to Reno on May 27 and held a benefit concert for the Space Whale project. You can read about it here and see a 7½ minute video that does a great job of summing up a lot of what’s going on. Now that’s remarkable enough, but for me it turned out to be a wee homecoming of sorts. Huh? You might ask. Or perhaps, who or what is Skrillex?

Back in 2012 when I started this freelancing odyssey, I blogged about working for a day in a Bangladeshi sweatshop. That turned out to be my introduction to dubstep, and although Skrillex wasn’t cited in that post, that’s when I remember first learning about him. How delightful to stumble across him, and dubstep, once again in the context of the Space Whale! It all comes around…

Meanwhile, this is one of the oddest alternate routes I’ve seen in Google maps. The blue line route from Sparks to Burning Man is 114 miles (about 2 hrs). Or, you might prefer the gray line route, out to the left, which loops through Northern California and is 294 miles (5.5 hrs). Exactly why would I want to consider that western loop?

Addendum: Just found this preview of Burning Man 2016 - featured on Flipboard August 27 - that talks about the Space Whale. https://www.fest300.com/magazine/big-ass-burning-man-art 

Lexicon sampler, 2016 Q1

Discovering a previously unknown chunk of the English language is one of the joys of doing work in a new field. And the more I notice such terms accumulating, I find that listing them brings the pleasure of focus, helping me count my blessings, as it were.

Thus, this short list of newfound words and phrases culled, or perhaps gleaned, from this spring's work in healthcare finance.

opine - a shorter way of saying someone is giving an opinion

hypervirulent - easy to grasp the concept of this one, but only if you know what virulent means

armamentarium - surprised I was to find this in the dictionary, keeping company with armaments and arsenal

dyad - although a perfectly good word to describe something with two parts, it has a decidedly snooty sound

evince - more familiar than some of the others, but just as rarely used by this writer

drug-eluting stent - a phrase with quite a ring to it, but which does not lend itself to a one-line summary

combinatorial complexity - a poetic way of describing having way too many cooks in the kitchen to be able to figure out what actually ended up in the soup

comorbidity - a frequently used term, apparently well understood, but with which I do not want to be associated (or be described)

CMS, CMI - the institutions behind Medicare that are frequently in the news but that I never before understood, and I'm still not sure I do

bonus/malus - which referred to a French incentive/disincentive plan I came across while working in a different field (this pair probably wouldn't have made me blink if I had taken Latin way back when)

So there. Let us continue our quest for clear and precise communication. :)

The 8 gig episode

The other day I thought I had lost my mind. You know how they say "the memory is the first thing to go"?

As it turns out, I left it in the pocket of my khaki trousers.

Three Quickies: No. 2 - Which way up is up?

Sometimes I just like to be contrary. So one day when I was frustrated by how poorly the dry-erase markers were working, I tossed the red one back into the holder upside down.

I mean, we all know they should be caps up, right? That's a lesson learned from the old leaky-fountain-pen-in-the-shirt-pocket episode.

So there, I thought. Take that!

Imagine my surprise the next day when I went to use the red marker and it wrote like it was brand new! No more dried out, barely pink scribbles. It was bold red again - voila!

So you see, Timmy (more about that another time), it's not that they've dried out, even though until recently they've been used very infrequently. The problem has just been gravity, which is now working in our favor.

And to think I almost threw them away. Chock one up for the contrarian.

Farewell, Shelby

Shelby came to live with us about a year and a half ago. As our son's no. 2 dog, she had been Hemi's sidekick and a fun part of the family for a dozen years before. Always energetic and full of joy, Shelby was the perfect dog. Walking, chasing tennis balls, lounging around the house and yard patiently when all the rest of us were too busy to play, she was a delightful addition to our household.

In February, when we brought home a new little Yorkie puppy named Quinn, we had a few concerns. Not to worry. She and Shelby were equally curious and enthusiastic about each other. It didn't take long for them to become fast friends and playmates, despite the 13-year difference in their ages. (Remember, in dog years that's 91 years.)

Shelby even taught Quinn how to chase tennis balls - which of course are too large for a Yorkie. But Quinn didn't know that, so the two of them romped joyfully in pursuit of the bouncing balls. Quinn even learned to bring them back, a fine point that Shelby was always fuzzy on. For her you needed at least two balls to play - one for her to drop when you threw the other.

I didn't realize just how much Shelby had brought into our lives until she died last Monday. We knew she wasn't 100% well, but more from the vet's blood tests than anything else. Even on Sunday she was chasing Quinn around, hogging the toys, just generally being Shelby. What a good friend! We'll miss her.  

A little about the traditional web

Just a snippet of evidence that we're doing our part to maintain the balance of nature here in our little corner of paradise. 'Tis just slightly post-Halloween, so this spider is arguably still in season. He/she/it has definitely found a reliable spot for grazing, and doesn't appear to have missed many meals!

My part in this whole thing? Well, I'm just glad the light bulb hasn't needed changing in a while. With a little luck, it'll last a bit longer, too - perhaps until the snow flies and our resident spider has retreated to a warmer spot.

Three Quickies: No. 1 - I love you, honey

For years we've kept a small bear-shaped bottle of honey in the corner cabinet. And every year as the temperature drops - and after we haven't used much honey over the summer months - it has turned from clear amber to a cloudy, congealed, unappealing blob. I should note the corner cabinet is on an outside wall...

This year the thought occurred to me that perhaps this change wasn't as terminal as we usually imagined. Low and behold, when I went to www.suebee.com, as the label suggests, I found an interesting bit of information in the FAQs: Honey is supersaturated with sugar and naturally crystallizes over time. And that process is hastened by a drop in temperature. Aha!

In fact, the experts say, when the temperature drops to about 65 degrees Fahrenheit - which it regularly does in our home in the cooler months, and remember this is on an outside wall so it goes even a bit lower - the crystallization process accelerates. So that explains how we got here. But what to do?

Well, that's the really cool part - the crystallization is reversible. Just heat a pot of water, they say, then set the honey in it and wait until it ... de-crystallizes?

We tried it, and it looked like it was working! But I'm not as patient as I should be, I guess. Rather than taking it off the heat and letting it sit while the crystallization reversed itself, I kept the pot on the heat.

Ever notice the warning to not microwave the bottle of honey? It turns out many of the containers are PET, or PETE, plastic. And that stuff doesn't take well to microwaving. Or, as became evident, to serious heating of the contact variety, either.

Suffice it to say our bear-shaped bottle now has a rolly kind of bottom. The honey is fine - clear again and tasty as ever. But instead of just setting it on the shelf in the cabinet (we've switched to keeping it in a cabinet on an inside wall), I now have to make sure it's propped up in the corner. But that's a very small concession to make to have our honey back.

NEXT: The secret of the dry-erase markers. 

Ready, Set, ... (Go is on Sunday morning)

This is an exciting weekend. You may not realize it, but you know someone  (although it may be by proxy) who's going to run in the 2015 New York City Marathon. Come 9 a.m. Sunday (Eastern time, as adjusted for Daylight Savings), Zachary will be huffing and puffing down (up?) the 26.something-mile course. I can hardly imagine what that will be like.

He's been gearing up for this for a year or more now, and I'm surprised at how excited I am about it. We talked about going out to see the real event, but that didn't work out. Fortunately, we've got it covered, thanks to Tata Consultancy Services.

(1) We've downloaded the free app -- TCS NYC Marathon -- which will let us track his progress throughout the morning. (You should too - it's free!)

(2) Once the worship service is over Sunday morning, we expect to be watching the marathon -- THE marathon -- live via www.tcsnycmarathon.com.

You know me - I'm the world's worst sports fan. But not this Sunday.

Get the app and look up Zach Klemens. More later.

Good bye, old friend

The day has come. It's time to take this old dog to the vet one more time. Hard to believe he was born in 1999, the summer after Jonathan graduated from high school 16 years ago. He got Hemi that fall, and he's been a good dog from the start. Quirky, yes. Shiba Inus have personalities, intelligence, intensity and independence. But also a lot of devotion.

Hemi shared a lot of experiences with us, and we'll miss  him. But the curl has long gone out of his tail, and the fire in his eyes as well. He staggers about once again, a few steps at a time, then stands with his head in the corner. We know now it's our turn to be a good friend to him. This is hard.

Fare well, old friend, farewell.

"Aha," he said, about what she said

I'm beginning to see a pattern in what qualities make me want to read more of an author's work. It's the clarity of thought and strength of conviction that allow the author to make insightful observations supported by evidence of some kind, usually anecdotal, whether fiction or reality.

One good example is George Eliot, who at the end of most chapters summarized the lesson to be learned from what had just been recounted. I've noted a few of my favorite examples from her writing in the Quotes section of this blog. (You'll need to scroll down a wee bit.)

The most recent "Aha!" in this regard came as I was reading Willa Cather's "The Professor's House." As is often the case these days, I recently realized I'd never read any of her works, even though she is held in high regard as an author. Once again the Palatine library rose to the challenge of providing the material to put this author to the test.

I've gotten out of the habit of noting quotable quotes as I read these days, but I'd only reached page 6 when I realized I should reinstate that behavior. It was just a turn of phrase, but a very nice one.

In the middle of a paragraph describing Professor St. Peter's garden, we are given this observation: "St. Peter had tended this bit of ground for over twenty years, and had got the upper hand of it."

That simple phrase caught my attention, but a couple dozen pages later Cather stopped me dead in my tracks with this:

The Professor made no reply to this. Lillian [his wife] had been fiercely jealous of Tom Outland. As he left the house, he was reflecting that people who are intensely in love when they marry, and who go on being in love, always meet with something which suddenly or gradually makes a difference. Sometimes it is the children, or the grubbiness of being poor, sometimes a second infatuation. In their own case, it had been, curiously enough, his pupil, Tom Outland.

Now that's an interesting observation. Time to get back to reading.

In the waiting room

There were no four-year-olds around to stop me from doing this.

 

Sharing tennis balls

Quinn, the new little Yorkie, discovered last evening that she can grab a tennis ball and race around the back yard just like Shelby does. Very cute.

Three seems to be the magic number. With only two balls in play, Shelby jealously shepherds both of them. But when a third ball is available, Quinn can usually manage to steal one and take off running. (They both slept very soundly last night.)

Amended April 18: A still picture just doesn't do this justice, but it's almost as hard to capture the scene on video.