Sunday. Friday the 13th came on Sunday this month.

If the title is confusing, it comes from an old Pogo comic strip.

If you don't know about Pogo, well, I can't help all that much - you are probably too young to understand the humor that Pogo and his pals were wont to use.

It is Sunday, and when I got up it was  raining.  I guess it doesn't matter that the new battery for the Guzzi has not yet arrived - I wouldn't ride in the rain anyhow.  So it was off to church in the old Volvo to be a choirboy again this morning.  I've been doing this so long that it feels very strange to sit in the congregation - I don't know how to behave with only hymns to sing.

Right now I am at work - I volunteered in a moment of insanity) to cover a shift today and tomorrow for which there was no coverage. I got here a bit early to pick Margaret's brain(since I haven't run this shift in a couple of years, and Margaret is the source of all knowledge about any shift that I haven't had to work for a while.

I don't expect all that much activity this afternoon - for one thing, there's a Ravens game that will keep most folks either glued to their TeeVee or suffering in the weather, shouting their voices bloody at the stadium. This evening some stuff might happen, but it isn't here yet, so I can just sit and wait, and blather on about things that matter to me (and probably nobody else in the known universe.)

Next week is just full of things to do - Monday has a dentist visit and a 3-11 shift, like today.  Wednesday has a visit to the surgeon that patched the hole in my gut a little while back.  I expect he'll want me to go and have an upper endoscopy, which will shoot one whole day for me whenever I have to have it done, but I am interested in knowing what there is to see down there, and if it looks better, worse, or the same as it did the night I had surgery. I'll also be interested to know if there are to be any medication or dietary changes.

Brought a couple of toys with me today - my tablet, my phone and one of my laptops, a headset and a little gadget I picked up a while back.  We don't have WiFi most places where I work, so I have a little access point - about the size of a jump drive that will plug into an ethernet cable and make a local wireless zone. I got it when I found that many motels are now wired and don't run wireless into rooms - and if they are wired, they have only one cable connection and with more than one device that is networkable (particularly when phone and tablet do not have ethernet connections, only wireless) this makes my life a whole lot easier.

This is what it looks like, if you are curious:

Tiny Access Point / Router / Wireless adapter

I got mine from eBay, but they are available all over the place, and at all kinds of different prices.

I just looked over at Facebook, and see some bleeding-heart libs are attacking the Conservatives again - calling them names, telling them their sources are crap - but they don't seem to be able to supply any real refutation of the conservative points - or else their minds are not so oriented that they think that real information is required.  They seem to be from the school that says "shout louder and insult and you'll be believed, or they'll get pissed and go away - which leaves yours as the only voice."  I don't feel line engaging this afternoon - I'd rather just be here in this space and read, or write, or drink coffee and/or answer the phone and think my thoughts.  No rants today - I just don't feel like expending the energy only to cast pearls before swine....

Hmm.  That wasn't nice.  Pretend I didn't say it.

I just learned that the Blue Man Group is to be in Las Vegas during the time I am there.  I wonder if I can arrange to see them?  Tickets aren't cheap, but it might be worth the time to go.  I have this feeling that I'll not have much time for fun at all over that weekend - too much to do in a strange town - and I am told that there is nowhere to walk that takes less than half an hour....  With my knees and one leg the way they are, it doesn't sound like a real fun time - but we shall see.  If I can find a couple of other folks that wanna go, it's on!

Last time I was in Las Vegas was a little over 40 years ago, and I imagine that nothing will be where or as it was then - not that I'd remember all that much as I was only there for the day.  Jamie had been born, and our Uncle Jum was taking some of us to Las Vegas for breakfast.  He is a physician and has had his own airplane for many years, so we were flying in.  Lovely trip, and I actually got to fly a Mooney and didn't even scare him (as far as I know.)  But we left before midafternoon, because the air over the mountains that we have to cross to get back to San Bernardino gets pretty rough in the heat of the day, and the Mooney is just too small to accommodate airsick travelers. It was an interesting trip, and the damnedest breakfast buffet I have ever seen - easily ten times the size of the largest I had ever seen before.  Bad place for a fat guy...

This time I won't have time to gamble - too much other stuff to do.  Last time I think I won about $20 in dimes from slots (remember, this was 40 years ago - and $20 was a bunch of money to lots of  people....)

Only 6 hours to go in this shift.  I may have to go upstairs to my office and borrow some music or something to keep me buzzing around - nobody even to chat with and I'm not a really great person to leave alone somewhere.  Maybe I can find some speakers - I already have a thumb drive with some music, or I'll go to the Big Server at home and pull some down.  I also have Netflix- maybe I'll watch a movie.

Well I just had to do a little work.  Makes the time go faster, it does.  I also had to admit to an end-user that I could not help him because I didn't know how.  Oh well....

Just discovered that Google Chrome has a bunch of apps or builtins - gotta try a few to see how this TeeVee stuff works in here.  We supposedly have a pretty fat Internet pipe - I think I'm gonna go see what I can find.

This window has been open too long - y'all have a fun evening.  I'll stop in again if I find anything really exciting - or if the urge to start a rant overwhelms me.