bobmueller

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Pool Party

Short post this week, but it’s heavy on the images. Diana and I had gone back and forth about what we were going to do for a pool this year and considered taking a loan out for an inground pool (along with some debt consolidation). We decided not to do a loan, in large part because it would have been additional debt that we didn’t want or need to take on just now. That meant no inground…

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The Ultimate Injustice of The Death Penalty

Sigh. I guess it’s time for a Voice post. Stop Killing People Years ago, like in my twenties, I was strongly in favor of the death penalty. I don’t know why I came to that belief, but I understood that it was the classic deterrent. No executed person has ever committed another crime, after all. But my twenties were back in the 80s, before DNA, before the research into eyewitness…

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I Am The Lawnmower Man

It was one of those weeks. Last weekend, Diana got the mower out to get started with mowing season. Less than a minute after she started the mower though, oil started flowing from around the oil filter. Sigh. I knew it was overdue for an oil change. I’d bought the parts late last season but hadn’t gotten around to actually changing the oil. Monday, I set to work on it. Craftsman very kindly…

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Of Sibling Love and Support

Last Saturday night, after I’d already finished that week’s blog post, a bunch of us gathered at Number Two Son’s house for his birthday celebration. The younger girls were there, and at one point, Middle Daughter announced a disturbing climax to some sorority relationship drama. It affected her personally, and she started crying. I went to the bathroom for tissues, and when I came back to the…

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Hard Drives and Hard Lessons: Thunderbird on the New PC

I finally got my email completely set up, so the computer stuff is now down to onesie-twosie things. I’ve even got the games installed, though OpenTTD is the only one I’ve fired up so far. It got a little windy Friday here in the Plains States. At one point, OHP had shut down any oversized loads in the state. They investigated a boatload of overturned tractor-trailers, too. Winds here at…

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When Plans and Desks Collide: Saturday Was Supposed to Be Easy

Sorry I’m late. Saturday was a day. Computer Update Thursday, CyberpowerPC notified me that my computer was assembled and awaiting final QC. That pushed me to make my final decision on a monitor, or rather monitors. I decided I was going to go to true multi-monitor setup. I’m currently using the laptop and an HP monitor. I do most of my writing and editing on the laptop screen, and put my web…

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Hobbies That Shaped Me: A Journey Through Passion and Time

This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge, hosted by Long and Short Reviews. Check out other bloggers at this week’s post. This week’s prompt was “Favorite hobby and why.” I’ve had a number of hobbies over the years. My big three probably group into models, motorcycles, and genealogy. There are tons of things I’d like to spend more time doing, like photography or flying…

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When Your Pump Starts Beeping at Bedtime (And Other News

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The One About Computers And Superheros

Phanteks Evolv X2s Mid-tower case New computer is on the way. I pulled the trigger on a (mostly) prebuilt system from CyberpowerPC. Found it using TopRigz, which is a tool created by people at the /Prebuilts subreddit. I swapped out the case for something I thought looked a little cooler, and courtesy of their one-day Valentine’s Day special, got a couple of upgrades. I’m getting smarter in my…

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146 Weeks and Counting: An Update & A Preview

Short post this week to maintain the streak. I’ve been busy looking at desktop computers because I’m tired of my MSI laptop constantly crashing. But switching computers means I’ll have to buy another monitor plus a keyboard, and man, there are a ton of cool keyboards out there. So that’s been taking a lot of my time this week. I’m also working on a long Music For A Sunday Afternoon post about…

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Ships In The Night: Californian or Carpathia?

A meme about the Titanic came across my Facebook feed this weekend. For background, as Titanic announced her situation to the world, Californian was about 20 miles from Titanic, stopped for the night because of the ice. She was, by most accounts, much closer to the stricken ship than Carpathia, and could have reached Titanic sooner. Between the two ships, it’s believed that many of the 1,500…

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On The Road Again: Home From Pennsylvania

Heading Home Kimo halp pack! I headed home Tuesday from Pennsylvania, passing through Pittsburgh to see Oldest Son again for lunch. I stopped off for the evening in Richmond, Indiana. The weather was iffy going into the trip; eastern Pennsylvania got five or so inches of snow Sunday and it turned bitter cold across the upper Midwest, dropping into the high (low?) negatives. First Leg…

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Week Three

That’s a lame post title, I know. I’m being lazy this week. Still in Pennsylvania until the 21st, which means I’ll get to drive home through the polar vortex that’s supposed to be hitting the Midwest. That could be fun. I went to church last Sunday and no lightning bolts ensued. That’s a good thing, right? Editor Friend watched the online service the week prior, since she was just a couple of…

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Reflections In The Snow: A Journey Down Winter's Memory Lane

This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge, hosted by Long and Short Reviews. Check out other bloggers at this week’s post. Then In my younger school days back in the mid-to-late 70s, I looked forward to winter, always hoping for snow, because I loved sledding. The Mid-Ohio Valley didn’t get a lot of snow, but what we got made things fun. There were a couple of small hills I…

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Week Two

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New Year's Road Trip

Coming to you from Eastern Pennsylvania. I’m spending the next few weeks helping Editor Friend as she recovers from ankle fusion surgery. I drove from Oklahoma to Ohio on New Year’s Day, then on from Ohio to eastern Pennsylvania on the 2nd. Stopped off to have lunch with Oldest Son, too, which was nice. I hadn’t seen him in several years. I hit 90,000 miles somewhere in Ohio. We took our…

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New Year's End

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay I said I’d talk a little more about Nutcracker this week, so here you go. This year we did three shows at two venues. Our standard venue in one town raised its prices beyond what we could afford, so we were prepared to not do a show in that town at all. But then the city offered their civic center auditorium for free because they appreciated the show so much. It…