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WEEK 52 2015

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Thirteen
Years
Ago,
This
Week
2002

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This Week,
2011

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2012

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Year
Ago
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2014

Thursday 31 December 2015 Thursday - OTR. Inspecting.

NEW YEARS EVE!

In short: We pretty much finished the project - at the least all the pipe is now in the ground and inspected, so we have "beneficial occupancy" and the District is off the hook for the big fines they were liable for if they didn't get the project done.

I wrapped up in the field at 3:30pm, then went back to the rental house and started packing the Explorer. I got almost everything in: the beds, the clothes, the books and laptops and tablets and all the inspection gear. Pretty much everything but a few fans and miscellaneous items that Tim was kind enough to let me store in his room until I can get down there and retrieve them.

I also need to clean the bathroom a bit, but it was getting near 6pm and I didn't want to be on the road late with the drunks (and the DUI checkpoints), so I'll come down and do those next week when I need to do some punchlist stuff in the field and some office stuff with Tim.

I was going to bring some tacos from Los Comales, but when I called in for pickup they said they were closing early for New Years. Because, I guess, no-one ever wants a plate or two of hors-d'ouerves for a New Years Eve party. Sigh.

New Years Eve was pretty quiet. Since I was running a bit late I headed straight to R&S's place.

We watched some videos, had a nice dinner, and I think everyone napped at one point or another. Finally it turned midnight, the dogs freaked out from the gunshots and fireworks, and I was able to go home and sleep in my own bed.

Book #53 was The Mind's Eye, by Oliver Sacks. Sack's talks here about how the brain processes sight, and of the various odd things that can happen if the portions of the brain that interpret sight are damaged. Loss of a hemisphere, loss of 3D vision, lost of the ability to imagine in 3D, increases in the ability to imagine in 3D, and so on. Each story is told with a centerpoint being a patient with an affliction. And, it turns out, Sack's himself has problems, both from childhood and with a cancer of the cornea late in life, and he talks (at length) about his personal issues. Recommended.

New Years Eve was pretty quiet. Since I was running a bit late I headed straight to R&S's place.

The Year in Books - 2015

#1 The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin #2 The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel #3 Cyador's Heirs #4 As Chimney Sweepers Come To Dust #5 Dragon Weather	#6 The Dragon Society #7 Dragon Venom #8 Wicked Bronze Ambition #9 Foxglove Summer: (A Rivers of London Book 5) #10 Hawk (Vlad Taltos Book 14)
#11 Secrets of a D-List Supervillian #12 Working God's Mischief #13 Small Town Heroes #14 How To Build a Tin Canoe: Confessions of an Old Salt #15 The Eyre Affair	#16 Lost In A Good Book #17 The Well of Lost Plots #18 Something Rotten (Thursday Next #4) #19 First Among Sequels (Thursday Next #5) #20 Prospero Lost: Prospero's Daughter Book #1
#21 Prospero in Hell: Prospero's Daughter Book #2 #22 A Call to Duty (Manticore Ascendant Book #1) #23 Prospero Regained (Prospero's Daughter #3) #24 International (Monster Hunter International #1) #25 Monster Hunter Vendetta (Monster Hunter International #2)	#26 Monster Hunter Alpha (Monster Hunter International #3) #27 Monster Hunter Legion (Monster Hunter International #4) #28 Monster Hunter: Nemesis (MHI #5) #29 Oregairu, Vol.1 #30 Sleeping at the Starlight Motel
#31 Oregairu, Vol. 2 #32 Oregairu, Vol. 3 #33 Oregairu, Vol. 4 #34 Hard Magic (Grimnoir #1) #35 The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Steadfast	#36 The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan #37 Spellbound (Grimnoir #2) #38 Warbound (Grimnoir #3) #39 Impulse #40 Exo
#41 Seveneves #42 Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) #43 The Architect of Aeons #44 Fool Moon (Dresden Files #2) #45 Dreams of Earth and Sky	#46 Uprooted #47 Nemesis Games #48 Grave Peril (Dresden Files #3) #49 Trapp's Peace #50 Trapp's War
#51 Summer Knight (Dresden Files #4) #52 Blood Rites (Dresden Files #6) #53 The Mind's Eye

This obviously wasn't a big year for reading, I blame the work on the app, the work inspecting, and watching anime, in that order....

Oddly it is the same number as the last couple of years, roughly one a week.

Books-2015, A Brief Evaluation:

Book of the Year, Fiction: #29 Oregairu Vol. 1+, a high school kid with a bad attitude is forced to help others with moderately disastrous results.
Second Place Fiction: The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin by J.G. Lamplighter. YA Christian fiction, in a Harry Potter vein.
Book of the year, Non-fiction: How To Build a Tin Canoe: Confessions of an Old Salt by Robb White.
Second Place, Non-Fiction: The Mind's Eye, by Oliver Sacks.
Hardest Book: Nothing really stands out.
Worst Book: None this year. Some were disappointing, but none were a direct insult to the reader.

The Year in Books, A Historical Listing:

Grand Total: 814 for the last eleven years....

Wednesday 30 December 2015

Wednesday - OTR. Inspecting.

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Tuesday - OTR. Inspecting.

Monday 28 December 2015

Monday - OTR. Inspecting.

Sunday 27 December 2015

Sunday - Did a few things in Lancaster, but mostly just rested for the coming push to finish.

As I said last week: if we finish in time - and it'll be close - it will probably be on New Years Eve.

Saturday 26 December 2015

Saturday - Nice to be back. I am so very very tired of being on the road in general, and of this project in particular. It's a mental effort to make myself go down after each weekend.

Soon, soon, it'll be done.

Hung out with my friends for most of the day.

Friday 25 December 2015

Friday - Merry Christmas.

No snow here, alas. We did get a bit on the hills around us though, which is nice.

Thursday 24 December 2015 Thursday - OTR. Inspecting.

I picked up a Honey Baked Ham for Christmas dinner in Ventura, I'd ordered it last month, and kept it in the cooler in the car for most of the day.

We broke early for Christmas, and I just hopped in my car and headed north, without going back to the rental like I'd originally planned. Traffic was OK, and I got back in a reasonable amount of time.

My good friends Roger & Sheryl had me over, and their son Kirk was in town on Christmas break. It was great to see everyone, though I was a bit embarrassed that I'd done no real Christmas shopping.

The ham was excellent, and we all had a good time. I had one beer - I didn't dare drink anything else or stronger or I'd have fallen asleep.

I received no less than three bottles of good scotch! Wow!!

Wednesday 23 December 2015

Wednesday - OTR. Inspecting.

Tuesday 22 December 2015

Tuesday - OTR. Inspecting.

Monday 21 December 2015

Monday - OTR. Inspecting.

Sunday 20 December 2015

Sunday - OTR. Slept in a bit. did the usual minor chores, headed south fairly early.

If we finish in time - and it'll be close - it will probably be on New Years Eve. I'm already pretty sure I'll be working at least a half day on Christmas Eve. Sigh. But so it goes, the Lord knows the extra money from all these project extensions will come in handy.

Picture of the Week

glider over baden powell

Glider over Mt. Baden-Powell, 2015.

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