Thursday, September 17, 2020

Day 3920

I guess it was inevitable. I can no longer use the old Blogger layout to write the blog. I kept switching back to the original legacy version of Blogger for as long as I could, but today that option disappeared. I don't know why this is a big deal to me. I guess I just hate needless change. My familiar Facebook timeline is going away as well. I keep pressing the "return to legacy view" button, but I've been warned that this option will disappear in September. Hmm. I guess it already is September. I'm even reluctant to install IOS 14 on my phone because I've heard that Apple is changing the way the screen looks. I'm used to the way my phone screens look. I don't want anything new.

I don't have to worry about change on our morning walks. These walks are remarkably consistent. The seasons and the weather change of course, but natural changes are much easier to deal with. The seasons are actually very consistent. I'm not surprised by Fall weather. It is supposed to be cooler at this time of year. The motion of the moon and planets is extremely consistent. You can plot their positions for years in advance. Even the ducks and geese at the lake are fairly consistent. They are always in the water at night and routinely come ashore right around daybreak. 

I'm very comfortable with nature. It's people who are inconsistent. People get bored easily and like to change the way they dress and the types of cars they drive for no reason at all. All this needless change drives me nuts. As soon as I manage to find something I really like, it's gone. Maybe this is why I keep trying to fix old things. I guess I'm supposed to throw away my old computers, printers, and cars after three of four years. It is probably actually cheaper to toss things when they become obsolete. I keep trying to patch them back together. Old things are familiar and comfortable. Who really needs a faster computer or a car with LED headlights? I'm tired of all these needless changes.

I send the low resolution pictures to Sky & Telescope this morning even though they probably won't be needed for several months. I also wrote some people in Florida to find out more about upcoming launches. There are several interesting events occurring in the next several months, but I can only really afford to go to one. It's hard to decide, especially when Covid restrictions reduce access to everything. 

It's weird. Smoke from the West Coast wildfires is dramatically reducing visibility at dark sky areas all over the country. The Rio Grande valley, where the Boca Chica Space X facility is located, currently has the highest rate of Covid infections in the country. Florida and the Gulf Coast is having an unusually heavy hurricane season. It's almost like the universe is telling me to just stay home and wait until all this is over.

It probably would be wise to hunker down and forget about travel plans for a while. I've already been doing that for most of the year however. Eventually boredom and cabin fever become a significant part of your decision making process. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's decided that 2020 totally sucks. Unfortunately nobody has figured out how to hit the fast forward button and move on to something better.

I doubt that tomorrow will be better, but it probably won't be worse either. The weather still looks good and I bought some fresh strawberries for my smoothie. I just finished taking this weeks trash to the curb. I'm done for the day. I think it's time to hit the new orange "publish" button on my Blogger layout and see what happens.