SatMorn

Pumpkin stayed curled up against me all night, and made sounds of disapproval each time I shifted. At about 2:30 am I woke up shivering, it was 44° outside, and 63° inside. The gas furnace downstairs had not kicked in, and the electric heater in the bedroom was set for 66. Fixed both of those, went back to bed, Pumpkin curled up tight against me.

Got out of bed around 8, started up the PC and set it back to auto start-up. It had missed the 7 am weekly backup so I started that by hand.

Also started converting the raw (.NEF) photos from the trip into JPGs, which takes a while. First I had to change the time on all of them to an hour later - the camera had the daylight time feature turned off because it uses the old dates for the time change. Lots of pix, especially of stunt kayakers which I took at 7 fps and 3 fps speed modes. Shot at 1/8000 which froze the water splashes real well. Almost done, it's 2/3 through the snow pix from the return trip.

Was supposed to have a photo shoot tomorrow afternoon, but they moved it to the end of the month, and the shoot which was my backup plan is sold out.

In other news, something has been drinking from the upstairs hummingbird feeder.

The moon was out last night in a good location to shoot pix from the balcony, I wish I had the right kind of telescope to take advantage of that.

My CPA's email was broken last night, phoned him this morning, was kind of surprised he was at work until I remembered what week this is. Looks like it's back up & running, so I sent him a bunch of paperwork.

Glad I took the train ride, happy the timing worked out with snow on the trees on the way back. Photos will be up on Flickr Real Soon Now.

Stunt Kayaks on the Truckee River

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Originally uploaded by how3ird.

Click on the image to see the whole set.

Rotary Snow Plow Train

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Originally uploaded by how3ird.

kevin_standlee and my other train aficionados - looks like several of these were lined up at the Roseville yard yesterday. I did not know there were so many.

Reno Convention Center Skyway

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Originally uploaded by how3ird.

For my friends planning on staying at the Atlantis, this is the walkway to the convention center as seen from the hotel side. Note that it is at the opposite end of the hotel from the rooms (about a 10-minute walk).

The Beer Culture

Note: The following is not meant as a value judgment of any kind.

There was no beer in my house when I was growing up. My parents did not like the taste and hated the smell, and in my father's mind beer was the drink of choice of the stupidest people. I had a Bad Beer Experience when I was in grade school - long story short, a beer can with a cherry bomb in it exploded a few inches from my face. That's the first time I had really smelled beer, and exploding warm beer is not the best introduction to it.

We did not have wine with meals, and while there was usually some in the house for religious ceremonies, it never came out for secular enjoyment. My mother liked Concord Creme Wine, but she rarely touched the stuff. There was also a bottle of Cherry Heering for my father's mother when we lived in New York, but I don't remember any after we moved west. She liked to sip a small glass of it after dinner. My father enjoyed a shot of Wishniak or Slivovitz every now and then, and we kept a medicinal fifth of 100 proof Southern Comfort in the dining room cabinet. The latter could kill any microbes which had the temerity to invade the bodies of me or my sisters. It is also strong enough to not encourage children to experiment with it.

My parents did not throw parties except for family, and that stopped when we moved to Seattle. My father was nobody's buddy, nobody came over to watch the game which means there was no reason to stock beer. And there was no after-work martini or other drink. It was just not part of my parents' culture.

When I moved to California I loved to go to wine country and tour the wineries, but I soon discovered that wine makes the hinges of my jaw hurt. So does any alcohol after two or fewer shots. Apparently I am allergic to alcohol.

As a result of all this, I don't connect with the movie/TV sitcom beer culture or the "let's go to a party and get bombed" crowd. The latest round of Budweiser commercials which show what lengths men will go to (and women too) for a Bud seem even more ludicrous to me than to my friends (who know what crap Bud is).

Do I feel left out? Not really. All my alcohol-enjoying friends still invite me to the parties, and don't seem to be insulted when I have something non-alcoholic. I may take a taste of something new out of curiosity, but that's about it. My AA friends like the fact that they can not-drink around me without guilt. And I'm a bit saddened that they have to struggle to refrain while it's a non-issue for me.