Photograph: "Flower Inspector"

An insect inspecting another May flower in our backyard.  In this case, the flower is allium.

"Flower Inspector"

by Bruce H.

Photograph: "Purple Clematis"

Continuing my May flowers postings, a couple of purple clematis blooms from our backyard.

"Purple Clematis"

by Bruce H.

Book: Charles Fernyhough's "The Voices Within"

It seems like it's getting harder to find non-fiction books that interest me.  The crop of non-fiction books are either retreads of subjects I've already read or are biased one way or the other.  So for my next read, I selected a field that I haven't really given much thought to ... the psychology of thought.  Specifically, what we can learn about thought from the voices in our head.  The book is Charles Fernyhough's "The Voices Within".

We all talk to ourselves, silently or out loud.  I know I do ... a lot.  I hope to learn something from this book but I have to say that there wasn't much in this book that I didn't know already.  Oh, there were a few little tidbits here and there that were new to me but all in all, there really wasn't much of a revelation in the book.  If there is a revelation it's that there is very little known and very little consensus about what we do know about the voices in our head.

I gave this book three stars out of five on Goodreads.  I was expecting more than what I got.

My Sixth Caminoversary

Today is the sixth anniversary of the start of my first Camino.  This was the view at 8:27 am soon after I left Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France.

The start of my first Camino.

It was the first of many beautiful vistas along the way to spiritual healing along the Camino.

Photograph: "A Small Flower Up Close"

It's been a beautiful May so far and the May flowers are blooming.  This is a close up of a rather tiny flower on the window sill of our guest room.

"A Small Flower Up Close"

by Bruce H.

Comedy: Jerry Seinfeld With Mark Schiff

Photo from Wikipedia By David Shankbone

Last night I went to see Jerry Seinfeld at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Omaha.  Seinfeld had come through Omaha a few years ago and I'd not taken the time to see him then so when I saw he was coming back, and I was back in Omaha, I bought a ticket (The Wife was not interested in going).

I had a pretty good seat though there really aren't any bad seats in the Orpheum.  Once again I should have had a camera with me since there was very little security and no metal detectors so bringing a camera in wouldn't have been an issue.  From my seat, I would have gotten great pictures.

The show started fairly promptly with the warm-up comedian Mark Schiff.  It took me a while to warm up to him but I did start smiling by the time his twenty-minute set was over - I'm pretty tough to impress when it comes to comedy.

After a short five minute transition (it may have been shorter) Seinfeld came out and for the next hour or so he went from funny to hilarious.  I really enjoyed his comedy and his delivery.  He was very folksy with the crowd and It felt like sitting around with a funny friend.  I was laughing out loud.

He was fun and I'm happy I went.

Filling My Entertainment Schedule

Well, since my schedule unexpectedly opened up, I've been busy filling my summer.

It started yesterday with a movie.  Namely, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2".   Other movies I will be seeing in IMAX later in the year include "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and "Thor: Ragnarok".  As you can see my movie viewing has a strong Marvel theme.

Tomorrow I will be going to see Jerry Seinfeld.  I expect to laugh a bit.

Then comes the music.  In May it's KC and the Sunshine Band at Loessfest.  In July we have Queen w/Adam Lambert, Blondie w/Garbage, and Sir Paul McCartney.  In September I go see the Cranberries.  It's been a while since I saw this many concerts in a year.  Six years in fact.

In between, there will be several short activities including the Brownville Flea Market, British Fest, Family outings, Birthdays, and Anniversaries (twenty years!!!) among many others I imagine.

Who knows, I may even start walking again.

A Tablet Replacement

My tablet, a Nexus 7, turned four years old last November.  In computer and gadget terms, four years old is ancient.  Over these years apps have become more demanding of the hardware and my Nexus has slowed down to a crawl.  Things it could do when I first bought it will now take forever, or worse, crash.  It was time to upgrade.

My choice of upgrade was an Acer Chromebook R 11.  The laptop/tablet/convertible is faster than my Nexus, has a much larger (11.6") display, and a physical keyboard.  The keyboard can be folded back to convert it to a tablet.  The screen is, naturally, a touchscreen.  I find myself alternating between using the keyboard touchpad and touching the screen - I like that flexibility.  It was also cheaper than my original Nexus.  So far ... I love it.

My intention when I bought it was it to be a replacement for both my Nexus and my desktop.  The past week or so of playing with it has shown I've met my goal by about 85% - 90%.  The Chromebook is essentially a front end to the internet.  If you want to do something you have to have a website or in the case of this Chromebook an Android app, that will do it.

So far I have only run into a couple things that the Chromebook can't do.  I was unable to find an app to geotag my Appalachian Trail photos using my GPS generated GPX file.  I had to use the Geosetter program on the desktop.  Also, the scanner app for my printer/scanner could not find the scanner on my network.  Fortunately, there is a multi-step workaround to use the scanner.

That is what I am finding out.  To do things it often takes a two or three step process on the Chromebook to do what takes a single step on the desktop.  This is more a matter of getting used to how things work on the Chromebook than anything else.  I'm sure I will find more things that I cannot do on the Chromebook but I'm also sure more apps will be written to fill some of the gaps as well.

And what of my Nexus?  I've removed most of the bloated apps that slowed it down and now has mostly reader apps.  I've relegated it to being an e-book reader.

Photograph: "Little Doves In Our Future"

Doves have been visiting our backyard for years.  Their return each spring is always a welcoming sign.  The doves have built a nest on the vent of our gas fireplace (turned off for the season).  Looking forward to a new generation flitting around the backyard.

"Little doves in our future"

by Bruce H.

Book: Becky Chambers' "A Closed And Common Orbit"

I wasn't thinking much about reading books this year which is why I was a bit surprised when one of the first things I did when I got home from the trail was download a book to read.

The book, Becky Chambers' "A Closed and Common Orbit", is the sequel to "The Long Way to a Very Angry Planet" that I read last year.  That book was a very low key book buoyed by interesting characters.  The sequel, to my surprise, was also low key.  I was expecting a building story but what was offered was the story of two of the characters of the first book.

The book alternate between the character of Pepper, a tech in the first book, and the ship's Artificial Intelligence (AI) now in a humanoid body.  One storyline follows the AI as it learns how to be a sentient being under the tutelage of Pepper.  The other storyline is about a young Pepper.  The ten-year-old Pepper is a bioengineered child laborer who escapes from her factory and is raised by a shuttle AI stranded in a huge junkyard.  The two storylines mesh together nicely complimenting each other.

The climax of the book is, like the first, fairly anticlimactic and low key.  The book, and the series so far, is less about space opera action and more about characters and character development.  Fortunately, those characters are interesting to me.

I like this book but I think it's not for everyone.  I gave it four stars on Goodreads and I am looking forward to the next book of characters.