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.

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.

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.

Posted on February 22, 2026   #Weekend_Update