Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Two Identical Snow Flakes Fall In Anchorage

What I don't know about set theory would fit in a book, tentatively titled Everything There Is To Know About Set Theory, A Boxed Collection or Group. But I'm pretty sure that if a set isn't infinite, then there is (or perhaps, are) a finite number of ways to arrange it. So, if there are only so many (so very many, but still) water molecules to freeze into flakes, then eventually, the pattern must repeat. Since a very large number, perhaps half an infinity, have fallen here this winter, then ergo, flakes of a feather, flocking together.
Some people here are cheering for the snowfall record to be broken. I was in Boston when they won the World Series, and it was cool and all, but I couldn't really take any pride in it; I hadn't hit a ball anywhere. By the same token, I guess being somewhere when a record is broken would be interesting, but this record isn't so much breaking as falling on us.

Monday, February 27, 2012

One Character Per Inch Of Snow. Twitter And Snowfall Achieving A Weird Convergence.

As of this morning, Anchorage's snow total for the season is in the top five all-time ever recorded. The Weather Service doesn't want us to give up hope that we might still break the record (we've long since given up hope that snow will ever melt) since the two snowiest days on record were both in March. Slogging through snow day after day, has sapped my will to blog, but I have managed to get a few tweets off, and I just realized that if I dragged and dropped them here, I'd have a post.

Santorum for ayatollah. @BuddyRoemer for president.

"Casino mogul funds Newt's superPAC" Newt for pit boss.@BuddyRoemer for president.

Romney to Detroit: "Let them eat cake." Mitt for Baker-In-Chief.@BuddyRoemer for president.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

You're Not The Boss Of Me! Oh, Sorry, I Guess You Are

I'm reading the advance copy of Karen's will. There is a trust set up to take care of the beneficiary if he's disabled. In order to protect assets, the beneficiary has to abide by the trustee's rules. I was feeling pretty sorry for the poor sap, until I realized he's me.

Monday, February 20, 2012

You Can Look For Me On Facebook

But if you believe them, you won't be able to find me. This story may make me seem old (other things that may make me seem old: my birth certificate, my face, my triceps that are always just slightly behind the beat).
Yesterday, I created a Facebook account so I could stay in touch with my friends around the world. But, no sooner had I created it, than I realized how much Facebook creeps me out. They seem like the kind of person you just met that stands way too close, puts their hand on your arm, and breathes in your face, and wants to do everything with you. When they wanted to "help" me look for my friends on their service, they didn't ask for my friends' names or email addresses,  they wanted me to give them my email address book so they could look for me. They want to identify me in pictures and tag me in them, whether or not I'm really in the picture, or if I want to be tagged. I didn't find their privacy settings easy to adjust, or even find at all.
I get that google does similar things, but google search provides me a service that makes it seem like a fair trade. Facebook seems to be constantly playing gotcha with their members. So, unless you searched for me in the two or three minutes from when I created my account, to when I deactivated it, I should be impossible to find. If you can believe Facebook.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

An Open Letter To Kirkus Reviews

Maybe you need a refresher.
Review:  "...a critical appraisal of a book, play, movie, exhibition, etc., published in a newspaper or magazine."
So, if you are reviewing a book called A Dog's Purpose, you don't reveal the dog's purpose. You let the author do that.
What you're writing isn't exactly a synopsis; it's a
Spoiler:  "...a description of an important plot development in a television show, movie, etc., before it is shown to the public."

The Little Post Office That Could

I mailed a package last Thursday  to my sister, who lives outside Palm Springs. Inexplicably, according to their tracking, it spent three days in Denver, and still hasn't been delivered, but, also according to their tracking, they expect to deliver it two days ago.
It's hard to believe that an organization with that kind of can-do spirit, can't overcome anything.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Weather Report

As you may know, we have had lots of snow this year, followed by crazy cold, and then way more snow. It's warmer now, although snowing really, really hard right this minute. Since it's warmer, snow is melting off people's roofs, and then dripping onto their porches where it refreezes. It's so icy and dangerous that I'm starting to feel like Tonya Harding's mailman.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words. Is it? Is It Really?

I'm asking because I am really proud of the phrase "front range of the Costco parking lot."
But you can decide for yourself:

Similarly, if I tell you I'm a rakishly handsome bicyclist, is that any less effective than this:

Public Health

I went back to the doctor today for a follow up visit. I ended up getting a vaccine booster shot. It turns out that even as you age, it's never too late to be a revenue opportunity for doctors. If I don't become autistic (self-absorbed doesn't count), can we just stop talking about that and go back to talking about something really absorbing, like me?
My blood work looked really good, and I had lost 11 pounds since my last visit. Mostly by taking off my winter coat and leaving my book at home.

Whiteout

You may have heard that after a soul (and finger)-chillingly cold January here, February opened with a blizzard. Crews have been piling snow higher and higher. to make room for more. On Sunday, we had to park near the front range of the Costco parking lot.
Yesterday my manager "consulted" with me about adjusting my route again. She took pages of notes, and added them to the piles already on her desk. Just another place where avalanche conditions are high. I should be in better shape considering how much I participate in these exercises in futility.

Sunday, February 05, 2012

Getting Ready To Rest Is Anything But Restful

We went to a financial advisor recently. He advised that because of Karen's disability, it was important that I not die intestate which does not refer to a Jake Barnes type injury.  I hated to make a new will after the controversy of the last one. Sarah helped me resolve that, though. After we die, Instead of going to live with my sister or Karen's brother, she said she could stay with her husband.
In any event, finding the answers to questions about insurance policies and beneficiary forms, and on and on ad lucem  is so tedious, and so tiring, that it makes one long for the comfort of the grave, which is the one place you can't go until you finish your work.

Friday, February 03, 2012

Writing Is Easy

I was trying to think of a way to work the word, "frenzy" into a sentence, and then I realized, "Hey, problem solved."