twice, not once or three

The sleep agent that was used to make it so that all of the people in the world would sleep one or two extra minutes did not cause anyone to remember to set their alarm clock appropriately.

The awake agent that was used to make it so that all of the people in the world would stay awake one or two extra minutes did not cause anyone to remember that the sleep agent had done anything at all.

Perhaps this is why they had not set their alarm clock appropriately.

Had the sleep agent succeeded with two extra minutes while the awake agent managed to keep people awake only one minute, this would net the sleep agent one minute.

Had the awake agent succeeded with two extra minutes while the sleep agent kept asleep for only one extra minute, the awake agent would net one minute.

Had either done both, had neither done either, the net would be null, in which cause there'd be no reason to set the alarm clock at all.

who could have asked the question

This morning I walked from my apartment to the 485 bus stop and on the way saw this:

Not the clearest rainbow, but there was heavy rain falling in the midst of it. It had been raining heavily the previous day and when this happens and the ground gets saturated, this leaves no room for worms to breath and so as I was walking I found hundreds of worms out on the sidewalk pretty much everywhere I walked.

The 485 bus takes me to Hema-Quebec where I went for my bi-weekly plasma donation. Today the nurse who worked with me was named Anne-Frederique; a particularly uncommon name. She had a sunny disposition and after her busy part of the session and my donation is simply flowing I told her that having her bright cheery way of being was very pleasant for me and made me happy. She blushed a little and was gracious.

My readings (taken early on in the process) looked good today.

After my donation was done, just outside of the Hema-Quebec site I found this guy:

I took a video of him squirming along as he was actively moving at the time I approached him (her?) but the video didn't load to this blog. There were probably millions of worms out of the ground across the region given how many I saw in the distances I walked.

I caught the 201 bus home and was fortunate that the transit fare reader recognized this as a transfer rather than a new ride and so I wasn't charged an extra transit fee.

image

On Monday this past week there was a total solar eclipse that passed through a swath of eastern North America including right over where I live. Where I live was on the northern edge of totality and so the duration was but a minute; the center of it that had about 3.5 minutes was in Sherbrooke at my latitude.

The above is the photo I took of it at the time that the moon was completely covering the sun; of course, my mobile device can take good photos, but not of something like this.

I did not have eclipse glasses and so I just looked at my surroundings as the available light got dimmer. At the same time I found a website that showed for my location a continuous video feed of what the eclipse looks like had I been wearing the eclipse glasses, so I kept an eye on that and just made sure to be out on my balcony at a minute or two before totality. It was impressive to see the totality in person being safe to look at it. I did manage to see one or two other celestial bodies while it was at the peak of darkness, probably Venus and/or Jupiter. As I was witnessing this from my balcony which is from the third and highest floor of my apartment building I had a clear view of the distance where I could see that it was brighter due to the edge of totality not being too far from me. Had I been in the center of the eclipse where there was 3.5 minutes it would have been darker.

I regret a little not having made a plan to have gone to one of the many gathering places where hundreds or thousands of others were together to experience this. Even if I just sat among them not speaking or interacting with anyone it would have been a more memorable experience. We are in our peak period of my job and so I couldn't get the time off.

I have read about people who are 'eclipse chasers' who go to that center of totality at any total solar eclipse irrespective of where in the world they take place. It does not interest me to do this with perhaps one small exception. On August 12, 2026 there is a total solar eclipse that part of which passes through Spain, with an edge passing over Valencia, where my brother lives. If he and his wife still live there at that time, perhaps I will split the cost with them to travel a little further away where the eclipse is of a longer duration than it would be in Valencia.

unrelated to the trip to

Friday morning I walked to Hema-Quebec for a plasma donation; the nurse in training that took my details was practically disbelievingly uncertain that my walk of 70 minutes is something she could/would do. Everything went smoothly up to and including when they put the needle into my arm and the machine that does the apheresis kicks in. Perhaps two minutes later one of the discs that spins which helps to push the blood that has come out of me into the spinning cannister ceased spinning. I alerted them to this and soon enough three of the nurses were there to try to see what could be done; they had to undo the Allen key screw, pull the disc out, put the plastic tube in place and try to put the disc back only it was being finicky, so then another nurse took over. Once that was settled the machine was beeping as there was a problem that given the amount of time that had passed and no plasma had been extracted that it perceived a problem. The instructor nurse figured it out - to first do a return cycle back into me, and then start anew as if it was at the very start, and this worked. I completed the donation as expected with no problems, and then walked back home.

On the walk there and back I counted exactly zero squirrels which seemed to me at the time to be very peculiar. I did, however, hear and see a large number of birds of quite a variety, including crows, sea gulls, robins, cardinals, blue jays, sparrows, mourning doves, Canada geese (high over head), red-winged black birds and I got reasonably close to a mostly black bird that had bits of blue and green only in the upper part of its wing. Of all of these the robins were the most audacious, often on the suburban lawns not far from the road and not scurrying away at my distantly perceived arrival.

Saturday I was hoping to watch the Miami Open Women's Singles Final between Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins. I was about as disappointed as I ever get that TSN did not show it. The women's singles semi-finals, quarter-finals and earlier rounds were all shown, so why not the final? 

Saturday night was the Easter Vigil mass at my church, a long and complicated celebration. This morning was Easter Sunday mass and there were a lot of unfamiliar C&Es there. 

When I got home I found this guy hanging out on the upper part of the side of my kitchen sink:

I do not know what kind of bug this is; but it has been hanging out in my kitchen for the last few days, mostly in positions that didn't bother me.

Shortly I will be leaving to go to my mother-in-law's house to watch the Miami Open Men's Singles Final between Jannik Sinner and Grigor Dimitrov; the former Italian the latter, you guessed it, Bulgarian. I made certain with her over the phone that she was able to get it on her TV as I know that I can get it on mine as TSN is gladly showing much more men's tennis than women's.

symbol cymbal sentinel

Falling off a cliff into the depths not knowing where it ends.

Collapsed into a puddle of desiccating flesh without bones.

That being cryogenically frozen could offer a solution, like a drop in a well worn hat.

Racing, extortion, elation, sordid, or did or not.

Cot, caught.

Slot

Sloth moth mouth

putting aside the elbow macaroni

I went to my first plasma donation yesterday morning, for the first time this year; it went smoothly in all aspects.

I watched most of the first set of the second semi-final of the Indian Wells BNP Paribas tennis tournament, I fell asleep before the set ended and when I awoke I saw that the tennis was no longer showing. I checked my mobile device and found that Sakkari had beat Gauff 6-4 in that first set, but that it had been suspended. So I stayed awake until midnight and the match was still suspended at that time. Apparently it rains in a place that is called the desert. I awoke this morning to find that Sakkari had won; they played the remainder of their match after I went to sleep.

The two men's semifinals are being played this afternoon/evening, but there is an event at my church I am volunteering for; it is a games night where we open the table tennis table, put out card tables with chairs for other kinds of games and will have snacks and drinks. So I won't be able to watch the tennis.

taste the bar stool

Who would have guessed that Huey Lewis and the News song Jacob's Ladder would have topped the charts on this day in 1987?

I for one, like some of their other songs better.

I want a new drug
If this is it
Heart of rock and roll
Hip to be square
Heart and Soul

image

It has taken 18520 days for me to receive my first and I hope last dog bite. As I do not own a car I am often walking to get to and from wherever it is I am going. On the walk home from church this morning I passed a man walking his dog; this is not an uncommon occurrence as many people are walking their dog at all hours and so often I cross them. The dog looked tame enough as I passed, but the leash was loose and as I passed, the dog attacked me and bit the back of my left leg, fortunately only once.

Soon after taking the photo I washed that part of me with soap; it is still irritating at the moment but I expect that to diminish over time,

There have been news stories across North America over the last decade of the occasional attack that is far more devastating, with people having their faces mauled, or arms broken open, or neck torn at. I am glad that this is all that happened, and can remotely sympathize with those others who were very much more damaged.

I do not know if there is a protocol for me to have dealt with that dog owner in that moment, but as I am conflict averse, I just continued on my walk home.

crouch then jump

It isn't every day that I get to post on a leap day. These happen rare enough that I ought to do something special on this day, but alas, I haven't anything happening that is different from the modus operandi or status quo.

That this day falls in the midst of my job's very busy season means I am unable to take this day off of work, which is perhaps one thing I would do to make it special.

If you read this today, or any day subsequent, I hope you will have had an excellent leap day.

bent, not broken

Last week, no online banking; too risky.

This week, no such things as dinosaur fossils as erosion, earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes would have pulverized any bones.

I voice what we know of the universe started about 13.8 billion years ago; the look she gives me is clear that what I am saying is nonsense.

There is a wind storm outside, I can hear it through the windows, walls and ceiling/roof of my apartment. This wind is the bringer of a flash freeze, dropping 25c in about twelve hours from about above to below with the center at 0c.

I am watching tennis in Acapulco; a place when I was a kid was only imaginary. As it is on the west coast of Mexico, it was never a place anyone I knew any time would consider as a vacation place, given I live in the eastern half of the continent. As is true at anytime I watch tennis on TV (Tsitsipas vs Cobolli) I dream of actually going there at some time in the future to watch the tennis in person. The previous week was in a place called Los Cabos which is at the bottom of the Baja Peninsula; so I could imagine flying to Los Cabos to watch the tournament there, then see if there is a boat that could take me across to Mazatlan and then take a bus down to Acapulco. Watch the tennis there for a few days, and then fly home. I do not speak Spanish in any way whatsoever so this would be an obstacle for me; though I suppose I could learn a few basics.

Both tournaments seem to have their matches only starting in the late afternoon to avoid the crazy sunshine heat. This means some matches will go past midnight. If I was to attend I would for certain change my sleep schedule to awaken later in the morning than I do here since every night would be a late night.

The best part of the idea about it, the more I give it thought

box kite small fight broad light

The MT put me asunder, without the pantomiming, putting aside the wish, the dream, the solid sleep.

Hopefully the divorce settlement arrives in time.

Slouch, couch

Rough, tough, stuff

Prize, size, rise

Perhaps Capitalism is at fault, we'd need to paint it all shades of equanimity. Mite.