Wrapping up 2025

Trip Report: Gallifrey One and Universal Studios Does this count as a staycation? Well, two nights in two hotels, so technically we were away from home… It’s Gallifrey, there’s always a TARDIS! Photo: Amy Fredericks Gally The Gallifrey One Doctor Who convention happens every February (usually, but…

Certified Platinum! I finally did it. I got us the American Express Platinum card. The most premium (expensive) credit card I’ve ever gotten! I might need to breathe into a paper bag for a bit… Platinum! Hand model: Keeley Fredericks-Shade. No comments on her manicure allowed! Photo: Amy…

Trip Report: Kauai Our first trip of the new year was to the one major Hawaiian island we hadn’t been to yet: Kauai! Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, we’ve done them all at least once (I actually lived briefly on Maui 25 years ago). Now all that’s really left for us is the smaller (and less accessible)…

Gotta bring back Tim Russ!

Sorry for the Lack of Updates! It’s the little things that keep me going… (Hidden House Coffee) Photo: Amy Fredericks Life happens and this year we moved my mom into assisted living. It’s been tough. Between dealing with her care and work, it’s hard to find the time to work on blog posts. (Which…

SoCal earthquake quick everyone post about it so we know the site has the juice!

Saw a (double, actually) rainbow Wednesday, btw 🌈🌈😜

The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who in 1959-60 took part in a privately funded research program run by physician William Randolph Lovelace II, a private contractor to #NASA, which aimed to test and screen the women for spaceflight #InternationalWomensDay en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury...

This is a scary one…

What’s in my wallet? Yeah, that’s actually my wallet! Can you guess what they all are? Photo: Amy Fredericks I thought I would do a post on my credit card earning strategy…so here it is! It’s nothing fancy or elaborate...I won't even claim I'm doing things the best way... I think my first credit…

I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F. 18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it. We made this website to tell our story: 18f.org

Just got my 2nd shingles shot. Going to take a walk, see if I keel over. 😂

Portuguese editorial cartoonist Zez Vaz reaches back to Tiananmen Square to call on American defiance.

Stand with science. Always.

Spotted a dalek at @gallifreyone.bsky.social

We are just leaving the house!

the first ever image of the entire earth and moon together, taken by voyager 1 in 1977

Aliette is an amazing, powerful, ingenious writer, but more importantly she's an amazing, kind-hearted person who deserves all that is good in the world, and instead she's in a tough situation. If you can afford to help her out at all, please do so. gofund.me/0835f91c

Normalize pronouncing DOGE as DOUCHE.

Happy Black History Month, and yeah, we're still doing that.

As a Gen X kid, I was promised two possible futures: 1) Post-apocalyptic wasteland where people fought for the remining scraps of civilization 2) Techno-Hell where our lives were ruled by megacorporations that took over the government Looks like Option 2 was the winner. Still time for 1, though

I’m telling everyone: Do not open the door or say a word unless you’re expecting someone and know exactly who it is. Know your rights. Pass these around…

Coming home from Kauai. Pooh got his own seat!

Breakfast view

Trip Report: Phoenix – LA Weekend Trips We love Phoenix but the real purpose of this trip was to test how well we could do a short road trip in Rob’s Ford Mustang Mach-E. It's our first fully electric vehicle (I drive a hybrid). And the answer is…very well! Driving to and from Phoenix Rob has had…

Gavin Newsom launched a website to combat the wildfire disinformation spreading about Los Angeles, because people can’t be bothered to do a simple Google search before sharing nonsense. And because people suck! Get the facts: californiafirefacts.com

We are watching One Piece and I just find Chopper so ridiculously adorable.

Rory McCann (aka The Hound) will be taking over Ray Stevenson's role as Baylan Skoll in Star Wars: Ahsoka season two: reactormag.com/star-wars-ah...

A reminder that Los Angeles had its hottest summer in history last year. Southern California has received just 2% of "normal" rainfall during the current "rainy" season. These fires are a direct result of a warming & drying atmosphere caused by burning fossil fuels. We are in a climate emergency.

The current and all of the former presidents gather to honor President Carter.

NEW IMAGES OF MERCURY FROM BEPICOLOMBO’S FLYBY YESTERDAY!!

We live walking distance from Disneyland, so once a month we visit. Today we’re starting out with lunch at the Hungry Bear. We’re sitting next to the railroad tracks, so video of the train is in the comments… 🚂

Jeff Bezos never wanted this cartoon to become public. He killed it, and as a result, pulitzer prize editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit. Make sure everyone sees this cartoon.

Trip Report: Catalina – LA Weekend Trips If you are in the LA area, there are lots of great places to go for quick weekend trips. So I plan on highlighting a lot of them on this blog. One of our favorites is Catalina, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California.

No explosions in our neighborhood yet but I’ve got our pup’s thundershirt out and ready. Sigh.

Just remember: no matter what the Borg may have told you, resistance is NOT futile.

jimmy carter’s message that was included on the voyager spacecraft. rest in peace, jimmy carter 🌌

We failed him so badly in the election. 😖

As you go farther back lots of repeats in those slots…cousincest has been a human tradition since time out of mind.

I forgot to post at the time but I did get my first shingles shot a week and a half ago. Didn’t really have a reaction other than feeling like someone had punched my shoulder hard for a few days. 2nd shot scheduled for February.

Sometimes my dog finds things on walks and tries to sneak them home by hiding them in her mouth. I catch her when she drops them on our patio. Mostly bones. Today it was a rib. (And now I’m hungry for ribs.)

The End of 2024 Ok, I just started this blog a minute ago, so a year-end wrap up is a bit silly but what the hell... Our big trips this year were to Disney World back in January, and Glasgow Worldcon in August. We usually take a Spring Break trip but had to prepare for my mom's move to California,…