It was 60F (15C) yesterday. It’s going to start snowing in a couple of
hours. I am so over winter.

I think this is only the second weekend this year that I have not worked
at least one day. I probably should have been productive today, but
instead I ranked Tesla’s albums. I also added some more records to my
in-progress list of albums I was listening to in 1986.

https://albumwhale.com/chris-odonnell/1986-40-years-later
https://albumwhale.com/chris-odonnell/tesla-albums-ranked

A couple of weeks ago, I took 3 days off so we could attend the Hammock
Coast Birding Festival. In looking at my billable hours forecast for the
month, I’m going to end up working 100% of my hours. Does a vacation
even count if you just work all the missed hours on weekends or at
night?

Virginia Master Naturalist training is ongoing. I’m 5 weeks into my 13
weeks of classes, and I attended a 3-week field trip on James River
Geology yesterday. I’m learning a lot, having a lot of fun, and hanging
out with like-minded, environmentally focused folks. Next weekend I’ll
be learning abut oyster shell recycling and participating in the effort.

Last night Michelle asked me if we are officially crazy birders now.
I’ll let you be the judge. We drove 90 minutes RT to spend about 30
minutes standing in a field trying to observe the mating ritual of the
American Woodcock. The male bird starts chirping after sunset, and if
his chirp attracts a female, he then flies 300 feet up in loopy circles
before dropping back to earth like a lead balloon, taking control of the
drop in the last few feet to a perfect landing in the spot he left from.
I saw and heard at least 20 of the birds, but seeing a plump brown bird
300 feet up after sunset is tough. Impossible even.

Also, yesterday was the 39th anniversary of the day I met the girl that
would become my wife. To say her initial impression of me was “meh”
probably gives me too much credit. The story is here.

https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/today-in-history.html

Reading
I’m currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, the story of a guy and his
ex-girlfriend’s cat that survive the alien destruction of the earth and
get sent to the dungeons. Except this dungeon is a reality show in which
the surviving humans are thrust into the role of dungeon explorers in a
universally (literally!) popular TV reality show, where almost all of
them will die. So think The Running Man, with D&D style dungeons and
monsters. I also greatly enjoyed Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz,
which is a novella in which a restaurant robot realizes he has been
powered down for 5 months in the independent state of CA, and that he
and the rest of the robot restaurant crew need to make some cash to pay
off their lease before they get sold into slavery in the US, of which CA
is no longer part.

Listening
I haven’t bought any new music since the last occasional update. I find
it impossible to browse the new release section every Friday on YT
Music, as I assume any band I don’t recognize is probably AI. I likely
need to track down some music blogs to follow.

Watching
I’ve watched far too much Olympic curling. We also finished up season 1
of ST:TNG. We also watched Sinners, which was fabulous, and the
Hitchcock flick Notorious. I’m sure there was other stuff, but I’ve
already forgotten it.

And that is all I have for now. I’m barely keeping up with the blogs I
want to read, let alone cataloging links to share.

Remember, in a world where you can choose to be anything, you can choose
to be kind.