Monday, December 7, 2015







The Daily News

1  I want publicly to thank my daughter Caitlin for saving The Daily News.

2  I'm close to tears.

3  Yesterday I thought I had deleted my entire gmail account.

4  I Googled stuff like "I accidentally deleted my gmail account," which followed with horror stories by others who had done same. 

5  It interrupted my entire morning. I went through a period of time yesterday where I thought I had lost all of it: my website, my contacts, my archives, my writing lessons, everything.

6  What perhaps killed me most was the thought that I wouldn't complete my twentieth year of writing this.

7  I kept trying to get the account back, but nothing worked. My common sense told me that it was something simple, but the very thought of losing this really unnerved me. 

8  Enter Caitlin. <Metallica up, and loud.>



9  She took around ten minutes to straighten everything out. 

10  Consider today's DN a Hallmark miracle. 

11  Thanks K.T. As always, you rock.

12  Moving On, Part One: The resolution of this, coupled with a 49ers heart-pounding win, turned all of yesterday around. I turned to decorating the outside of the house for Christmas. 

13  What is funny is that I wanted to get the outside of the house looking Christmassy, but lots of cords, lights, and other things have disappeared since we moved here in May. 

14  I had the garage organized back then, but things have come in, forcing me to move stuff around. Also, we have electrical issues at the house. We have blown fuses, for one, something that wasn't happening back in San Jose. 

15  I always used garden lighting to dress up the holidays. I used to light my trees different colors using garden stakes and seasonal lamps. For the rain gutters, I had a lovely set of lights, old-school lamps, that fit them perfectly. I could reach those on a two-step stool. 

16  My house in Sacramento requires going high up on ladders, something I would do when younger. I used to go up A-ladders when I directed at Mills High School, and routinely appeared at Y.B. high up on a ladder. 

17  Evergreen Valley had ladders that went straight up to lighting bridges over the audience, fairly easy to do. 

18  But going up a tall ladder outside my new home is scary. A lot of areas in Sac have slanted front yards, I assume for flood control. River town. I find it scary even to consider going up high. I have great ladders, but yeesh. I go around six steps up and I become Jimmy Stewart. Or Mel Brooks. 

19  I said it Friday and I'll say it again: Don't get old. 

20  Ah, it's a lousy job, but someone has to do it. 

21  Moving On, Part Two: A couple of days ago, Helene told me about laser Christmas lights.

22  I Googled laser Christmas lights and found an awesome website that featured these projection lights used for events at Six Flags. 

23  The pictures showed spectacular stuff. Here is a link: 





24  I became an instant fan. One small garden light complete with plug, remote, and stake. I got the thing at Fry's, and I am the envy of the neighborhood. The lights are green. I took a pic with my iPhone, but it didn't do it justice. 

25  It lit up the trees, as well as the front of the house. Loved it. 

26  Is there a drawback?

27  Well, yes. 

28  You almost have to be directly under it for it to be effective. 

29  So it needs to be accepted as a subtle effect. But it brings smiles. It's a reasonable price at around $60 and change. But honestly? You don't have to go up ladders. You don't need to risk your life to get a nice winter effect. I may purchase a few more by day's end. And it frames the Christmas tree beautifully.

30  And you're completely done within twenty minz. That includes unboxing, an odd new term. 

31  DISCLAIMER: The gentleman writing this is getting paid nothing from these laser people. He is convinced they descended in his back yard and told him about their leader, Krll, who lives and dances in El Cajon, California. 

32  They're the spacemen who purportedly captured Betty and Barney Hill, a UFO legend.

33   Anybody lookin'?



34   I love being random. Get old. El-oh-El. 

35   I'm short-circuiting. I think I'll go into auto-disconnect.

36  Moving On, Part Three:  I just got up and did some walkin'.

37  Just call me Christopher.

38

39  'Cuz I'm walkin'. 




40  Where's that dame with the pie?

41

42
Mabel Normand, A Noise
 From The Deep (1913)

43  Pretty sure that was the first pie thrown in a movie. Film geeks? Little help?

44  Nothing but quality today, man. 

45  

46  Is there a back door outta here?

47  'Cuz I'm headed out the door. 

48   Retirement. I tellya. I now realize what it means: I get tired, and then I get re-tired. 

49  Didn't I so that at age 27? I seem to recall...

50  Gottago.

51  More to come. 

52  Have a GREAT day.

53  See you again.

54  Thanks again, K.T.

55  Peace.


~H~














fin.














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