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What’s Going On At Ward Manor

April 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

It’s been three years since The Wife and I established residence at Ward Manor. It’s kind of hard to believe that we’ve only been here for three years.

Last week, we took our Sphinx Boo to the kitty cardiologist for his eight month follow-up. We got good news. The issues with his ticker aren’t progressing. He’s such a submissive cat, that he didn’t even put much of a fight while getting the ultrasound.

One of my oldest friends and I have decided to start playing City of Heroes again on a recurring basis. When we’ve played before, he’s always been the brawler while I’ve always been the cannon. We started up a couple of fresh new characters and switched roles. It’s very unusual getting used to having to get up in the bad guys’ grills to hack them down.

Friday, The Wife and I set up our new digital calendar. It’s kind of like one of those picture frames where you can upload pics, but this one uploads your calendar events. Yes, we had a white board one, but with the new jobs, we were having a hard time getting that one updated regularly. Let’s just say, this had ended up causing some problems. So, we tried a technological solution. So far, so good.

Saturday was new furniture day. We bought our old sofa, couch, and ottoman from a local furniture chain. Let’s just say after multiple bad experiences, we’re no longer dealing with that chain. The old furniture’s upholstery started flaking off about a year after we moved into Wayne Manor. After a while of picking up black flecks, we put cloth covers. Those helped, but there were still problems. Finally, it built to a crescendo and The Wife and I were just done. We found an inexpensive living room set on Wayfair. Assembly actually went relatively smooth. Getting the old stuff out was much more of a problem.

Sunday was a couples’ day for The Wife and me. We scored a couple of relatively inexpensive seats to a matinee production of Hamilton at the Van Weezel in Sarasota. The Wife has been a big fan of the musical since we saw it on Disney+, and has wanted to see a live production of it. We had good seats and enjoyed ourselves immensely. This was followed up with dinner at The Melting Pot. We had a bit of frustrating in traversing the less than two miles to the restaurant. Because downtown Sarasota has been liberally seeded with roundabouts. I don not understand transportation planners’ fascination with roundabouts for busy intersections. Less busy? I can kind of see it. Anyways, we had a fun time at The Melting Pot and then enjoyed just falling into bed.

Macross Monday

April 8, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I decided to forgo Monday Links because I don’t have a lot. Day job meant not a lot of fishing for articles. But a couple came in surrounding Macross. Can I state just how enthused I am that most of it is coming to Disney+?

First from the Zimmerit blog, an article on the development of the original Veritech/Valkyrie mecha designs.

Next is a video from Secret Galaxies on the Macross Saga. Not the storyline, but the shenanigans behind the scene.

And just for fun, here’s a Forbes article on the above video. h/t Friend James.

Ward Manor Happenings

April 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This last weekend we had the family over for Easter dinner. We just did it on Saturday because that worked for most of us better than Sunday.

The great-niece and her mom came over early because the community was holding its Easter Egg hunt. The little girl had fun filling up her egg basket. Then there was the craft-fair version of “Build-A-Bear”. Not only Great Niece, but The Wife came home with stuffed animals. Dog and Highlands Cow respectively.

Dinner was crowded but good. Lots of food. During the celebrations, we learned that Shootin’ Buddy and his partner welcomed their first child. Mom was showing around pictures of the little girl. Many congrats were sent. We look forward to meeting her in the future.

Monday Links

April 1, 2024 / / 0 Comments

There was some temptation to do a bunch of April Fools links, but in all honesty, I didn’t have the time to set that up. Maybe next year.

Let’s do our Reason segment.

DeSantis signed a bill mandating age verification for social media. There are some things that I think are good ideas, but don’t trust the heavy hand of government to do. Getting kids under the age of fifteen/sixteen off of social media is one of those things.

We keep hearing how long it will take to fix the Francis Scott Key Bridge. One of the reasons is a protectionist law? Cue shocked Pikachu face.

A court decision reaffirms the Second Amendment rights of public housing tenants. Who often are the folks most in need of those rights.

We end Reason’s segment with a trio of articles about squatter’s rights.

Stossel illustrating the problem.

Court cases on if laws surrounding squatter’s rights should be considered takings.

Finally, how big of an epidemic are squatters?

In case you were curious, no, I’m not big on squatter’s rights. If you’re occupying my building or land without a contract in place, I should be able to have you arrested for trespassing.

Now on to other items.

From Ground News, the people pushing a new geologic epoch because of all the damage humanity has done have been denied.

An article on drone swarms and the possible irrelevance of the Air Force. I learned a new term – air littoral space. Drone swarms are definitely going to change the battlefield.

Tam has an article over at Shooting Illustrated on the impact Glock has had on the pistol market. It was certainly the right product at the right time, and it certainly ushered in what I would consider the modern sidearm.

We end on a sad note. The passing of Louis Gossett Jr.

Some Changes Coming to the Blog

March 28, 2024 / / 0 Comments

At the beginning of the year, I stopped posting Friday Quotes. It was becoming more of a chore than a joy – and since this blog is supposed to be fun…

So, starting with April, the Metal Tuesday B-sides will go over to Fridays.

So, for the rest of the year, we should have Monday Links, Tuesday Metal, B-Side Fridays, and Anime Recommendations around the middle of the month.

Plus whatever family journaling or other items of note.

Baltimore Bridge Collapse

March 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Dramatic video of the Francis Scott Key Bridge being struck by a cargo vessel and collapsing.

The local paper has its account.

A massive container ship adrift at 9 mph issued a “mayday” early Tuesday as it headed toward the iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge, losing power before colliding with one of the bridge’s support columns. As the vessel struck the bridge, it caused a din that could be heard ashore and immediately toppled an essential mid-Atlantic thoroughfare into the frigid waters.

Several cars were knocked into the Patapsco River and as of Tuesday around 11 a.m., authorities were searching for six construction workers who had been repairing potholes on the bridge. Two others were rescued — one who was briefly hospitalized and another who declined to go to a hospital. Extensive rescue efforts were ongoing.

Baltimore awoke to the tragedy: States of emergency declared by both the mayor and governor, search-and-rescue efforts for those missing, a bridge disappeared.

Before the collision, the ship’s crew notified authorities that the vessel had lost power. That “mayday” allowed Maryland Transportation Authority Police on the highway above to prevent many cars from driving onto the bridge just before the catastrophe.

“These people are heroes,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a morning news conference. “They saved lives last night.”

Moore added that there was no evidence that the collision was a terrorist attack.

Of course, there’s already wild speculation that it was a terrorist attack. Because the internet is a fucking cesspool sometimes.

The administration has already stated that the feds will pick up the tab for clearing and rebuilding. Which, honestly, is what the federal government should do. Still, it’s going to be a long road. And the supply chain is going to be fucked up until the disaster area is cleared.

Still, this whole incident gave me eerie vibes to a local event back in 1980.