Another Lost Day...and a few laughs

We've lost a day again. We never seem to find those days once they're lost. We left on Tuesday and somewhere over the Pacific, when we least expected it, it was Thursday and Wednesday flew the coop with no trace. This is really too bad as we need all the days we can get right now.  

Luckily, though we were flying on different airlines, we were at least on the same plane and the same flight. David flew in the Virgin Australia section which happened to be in the seat next to my Delta section. We flew in coach class, but service on Virgin/Delta international flights is pretty good. They serve a couple of reasonably edible meals with beverages and snacks in between. There are more movies to choose from, both new and classic, than one could possibly watch and there's all types of music and games and TV series. Then, of course, there's the free wine.

One of my favorite pastimes on long flights, when I'm bored with movies, not eating, drinking, playing on my i-Pad or snoozing is to look at the SkyMall magazine of “new and innovative products”. This is, without a doubt, one of the highlights of the flights because we know people actually spend their money on many of these products. Let's take the astro-turf with a scented hydrant for dogs ... great for apartments and condos. No walking the dog, but you still need to pick up the poop.

Or how about a plastic singing gondolier that floats around your swimming pool and serenades you?

Maybe you need Skele-Gnomes in your garden? We thought gnomes were bad enough, but the skeleton version of them is over-the-top.

You could choose a life-size yeti (what is life size for a yeti, by the way?) or an Easter Island moai statue, a flying super weiner or perhaps a velociraptor would be more to your liking. It really depends on your taste and your garden and, of course, your budget.

Long flights require odd and sustaining types of amusement.

Dreading a New Computer

 

My old laptop has seen better days. It still works, but has problems recognizing the battery. We bought a new battery hoping that would fix the problem, but it's not the battery. It's the computer. David searched on-line and tried all sorts of suggested remedies. Nothing worked. If we were always in the land of plentiful power, it would not be a problem … I'd just leave it plugged in. But on the boat it's another story, so regretfully we set about finding a new laptop to take back to the boat with me. We find that laptops have an expected life of 2-3 years on the boat. Considering how hostile the environment is, I guess that's not bad.

I specified what I wanted and David, God bless him, did the research. We were working within a modest budget, but my requirements aren't that stringent. Long battery life, enough USB ports, SDHC slot for picture upload, enough memory to hold current data and fast enough to edit videos, photos and books without causing me to blow a gasket waiting impatiently. We've always had good luck with Toshibas. The one I'm replacing is an HP and I hated it from the start. Yet, getting rid of a computer is always a bittersweet thing. All that data to be transferred.

So I bought the new laptop a month ago and it's been sitting on Mary's kitchen counter since then waiting for me to do something with it. I dreaded the data transfer … it always take forever. I dreaded doing the virus scan … it takes forever. I dreaded using the new computer … Windows 8. Really, Bill Gates, do I have to put in my password every time I sign on even though the computer never leaves the boat? How do I get to the “classic” look versus the new Apple look? I mean, if I wanted an Apple (and I did, but it was too $$), I would have purchased one.

Well, nothing like waiting till the last minute. We're a couple of days from departure and I'm only now starting to begin the data transfer and I don't mind telling you, I'm particularly grumpy. David backed up everything to an external hard drive and scanned it all. He actually did all the hard work and still, I'm complaining about the data transfer to the new computer. It's a Toshiba Satellite … some version or other. It's faster than my old computer by a long shot. It's also bigger which required a new case. A charged battery has a 4-hour run life which is double the old one, when the battery was working, that is. Some of the keys are in different places. It's going to take some getting used to. Did I mention it's a Windows 8 operating system?

I'm slowly transferring the data and re-loading all my programs. It's a tedious task. The countdown clock is tick, tick, ticking. Mary's inheriting my old computer … keeping it plugged in isn't a problem for her. I'll erase all my old data and Mary will begin transferring hers to her new computer. I hope my new one lasts a long, long time.

Monsoon Season ... in the Mojave Desert?

 

For some reason, when I think “monsoon”, I think wet. I think of West Africa, Indonesia, Southeast Asia and India. Las Vegas never comes to mind. Yet this time of year is termed the monsoon season here and I was interested in finding out why.

A monsoon is traditionally defined as “a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation.” There's some debate as to whether the North American incomplete wind reversal is technically a monsoon, but that's what the U.S. National Weather Service chooses to call it.

It's more a seasonal change here that brings moist winds from the Gulf of Mexico and raises humidity levels, sometimes developing into dramatic desert thunderstorms that can cause flash flooding. Even when there is no rain, the season brings a rise in dry lightning storms increasing the risk of lightning striking dry trees and causing fires. We've witnessed flash flooding here. It's not pretty.

According to the National Weather Service, the wettest monsoon season since they have been keeping records was 1984 when 3.94" of rain fell. The driest was in 1944 when only a trace of rain was recorded at the official weather monitoring station at McCarran International Airport.

It's early yet. So far, monsoon season has been an increase in humidity and therefore discomfort, and enough raindrops to prompt the weeds in Mary's backyard to start poking up. The pigeons have had an opportunity for a little splash in the puddles. We'll see how the season progresses, but we're hoping we'll be back to sea soon … no fear of flooding there, but monsoons … that's a different story.