Running some backups tonight I ran across this photo.
Edmonds City Fair in #Burnaby in 2018. I was hired as the event photographer, and my friend Lori Geosits saw me and got this shot of moi loaded with gear.
A couple of Nikon DSLRs with short and long zoom lenses, and a belt pack full of flash units and extra batteries.
It will be great to have such events again some day. Stay safe, folks. . .
Photo credit Lori Geosits. Thanks!
Breathing new life into an old notebook.
I got this Dell G3 with an IPS full HD screen nearly two years ago, and despite its classification as a “gaming” machine with a dedicated video card with 4GB of VRAM, it always seemed sluggish.
I upgraded the stock 8GB of RAM to 16GB about a year ago, but that made little difference in boot time and app load time.
As I wrote the other day, the 1TB HD had been getting increasingly flaky, so I bought a 1TB SSD. Today I cloned the HD to the SSD, then opened up the machine and swapped the SSD for the HD.
Yowza. It seems to be booting up and loading programs in about half the time now.
Happy boy, eh?
I’ve written before about burgeoning concerns with my Dell G3 laptop.
I’ve had to run utilities a couple of times now to keep the 1TB HD functioning, and it still seems to be getting slower and slower.
I’ve got a Terabyte Drive Image clone running to an external USB 3 HD as I write this, just in case the drive dies completely.
So I figure it’s time to replace the HD. I was happy to see that SSD (solid state) drives have come down a lot in price, so I ordered an internal 2.5″ 1TB Sata 3 SSD for $C104 from Canada Computers to replace the flaky HD . They have a handy location just a few minutes drive away.
I’m hoping the SSD will also result in significantly faster boot times and overall responsiveness. . . The stock HD in this laptop spins at 5400rpm, about 2/3 of the 7200rpm HDs in my tower, so the laptop has always felt sluggish in comparison.
Will report back after the new SSD arrives, and I get it cloned and installed in the laptop. . .
When you go off to refresh your tea, and you return to find that the office assistant has staged a coup d’état and assumed a senior management position. . .
Some time ago I wrote about the increasing polarization in society between those who understand the need to hunker down and follow the recommendations of health authorities, and those who are getting increasingly irrational about imaginary abuses of their “rights.”
As I surmised back then, that polarization is increasing, and more people are acting out, threatening fellow citizens, and our entire health-care system.
I am not an expert in constitutional law, nor am I a scientist, or a doctor. But I respect people who have dedicated decades of their lives to education and research.
Conversely, I have decreasing patience for adults who refuse to listen, refuse to learn, and refuse to behave in ways respectful of the health and well-being of their fellow citizens.
There is overwhelming evidence that Covid is real, and that it kills. And that it kills and seriously sickens not only the elderly. Those who survive it carry scars both physical and emotional that could last their entire lives.
So how is wearing a mask in public spaces such a horrific imposition?
I am tired of folks testing, stretching, and bending the rules. When in doubt follow the precautionary principle, not “can I get away with this” childishness.
If your group activity, be it sports, be it religion, be it whatever, is not on a list, just assume the better choice would be to use caution and stay within your family, or your small bubble.
“Well, gee, we didn’t see dodgeball for 50-to-55-year-olds on the list, so we thought it was OK,” just doesn’t cut it, eh?
Don’t turn on Dr. Henry. I see more posts along the lines of loving her in March, but hating her now. How the heck is that logical? She has little control over where this is going, especially if we can’t follow the rules.
And give her, and all the scientists and health-care professionals working on this some space. I know it drives some people crazy that science and medicine is constantly shifting. That advice changes. That recommendations and regulations change.
But that’s how it works. You trial something, you see the results, you trial again. . .
Yes, we’re tired. Yes, we’re stir-crazy. Yes we miss family and friends.
I haven’t seen an 88-year-old aunt since March, though she lives a five-minute drive away. We talk at least every week on the phone. Sad, but that’s the current situation.
Can we please keep on keeping on, and stay safe?
UPDATE (Dec. 12, 2020): I submitted this to the Burnaby Now as an opinion piece and it was published today.
Schools are reopening in British Columbia, and I know many parents, teachers, and staff are nervous, even with various new protocols in place.
My PT job teaching a watershed-based environmental education program shut down in March. We’re starting back up again toward the end of September with stringent sanitization protocols and revised methods of program delivery.
I have to admit that I’ve had concerns, but the Stream of Dreams Murals Society team has thought things through carefully, so I’ve agreed to work a few days and see how it goes.
It’s going to be a new ball game. . .
A thread on FB about less driving these days made me curious about our situation.
I figured out our mileage since the beginning of March at about 6km/day (~3.7 miles).
It would have been even less, but when Yumi’s office in downtown Vancouver was shutting down we had to drive there twice to retrieve a computer, monitor, and key files.
If this average kept up for a year, that would make for a total of ~2,200km/year!
In previous years we’d drive between 15,000 to 22,000 km/year depending on how often we got out of town.
So at this point, we’re driving roughly 10% of what we used to.
So as the number of US deaths from Covid19 in less than a year approaches the entire US death toll in the Vietnam War over some 15 years, I wonder what monuments will be built in Washington DC some day to commeorate the blindness, stupidity, and bull-headedness of the current administration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial
Some of my friends were having a discussion on FB about how the Covid situation was impacting them, and how some were becoming afraid to go out, even with physical distancing. Here’s my contribution, slightly edited since it’s now out of the context of the thread:
Fear is good. Fear is how we’ve survived as a species for millennia. Anyone who claims they are never afraid of anything is bullshitting.
Humans are terrible at judging risk, and hopefully that’s when a bit of fear steps in to get us to do the right thing, at least in the short term.
For humans are also really bad at remembering history, learning from the past, and staying the course long term.
To some degree I think we need to embrace fear, and let it guide us, but try not to let it overwhelm us.
We’ve all been seeing our lives disintegrating to various degrees for several months. We’ve all been dealing with jobs lost, contracts dwindling, friends and families distancing, plans derailed, reservations cancelled be they for music or theatre or travel, or simply going out with friends. . .
These are tough times. And things will continue to be tough for who knows how long?
So let’s not be hard on ourselves. Let’s admit our emotions. Let’s cry a little. Let’s acknowledge we’re having trouble sleeping and are having nightmares.
And then let’s check up on each other, and help each other along this road.
Virtual hugs to everyone!