2024 January - 5% diary

It's a diary of my normal life, the 5%. Just posting my replies to the monthly newsletter questions between the family and cousins. Dragon comments are after, "in the record".

David --

So, how were your Holidays? I went to Sacto for Xmas. The food, presents, and fun was great. We played dominoes and peanuts. Meera did some violin playing for us on her new violin. I got a cheese slicer and vintage potato masher for gifts from my kids. These are excellent gifts. I am hard to shop for. If I get something that I can not store it in my 600 sq ft flat, it has to go. Otherwise, Xmas was excellent! See the pics and videos below.

New wire cheese slicer

Xmas dinner

Meera trying out new violin 1

Meera trying out new violin 2

Meera trying out new violin 3

Meera trying out new violin 4

Friends of mine did a Xmas garden light show in North Carolina. See playlist link below.

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden light show

Did you watch any college football bowl games or NFL playoffs? No. I do watch folks who talk about football. I understand that there were several prominent coaches who retired. And there was a big controversy about Florida not being in a bowl game.

One thing I will admit about football is that everything seems tidy about it now. I would watch the games Dad watched and see all the players dirty with mud and grass stain. Now baseball is a dirty game. 

Are there other winter sports that you enjoy? The winter olympics.

When reflecting on the year 2023, what first comes to mind? What heat wave? It turns out that California, Nevada, and Utah dodged the warmest temperatures ever bullet. See map here: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/monitoring-content/sotc/global/map-percentile-mntp/map-percentile-mntp-202301-202312.png  I remember hearing on the news that those three states missed the warmest ever. So I looked it up on the NOAA site to verify it. See the attached blow up of the map for parts of CA in white. If you look at the NOAA surface temperature anomalies map here: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/global/202313 you see that CA entered a mini Ice age.  See pic where CA has blue.  

- In the record, it is amazing to see how Weather avatars can shape the world we live in. 

What made me happy? See all that Sierra snow and having Tulare lake back. Per the previous newsletter, it was an amazing site to see all that snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. See before and now pic

What are you most grateful for this year? That 2023 is over.

Conversely, there was much craziness in 2023. What could be done better in 2024? Electing an all Democratic Senate, House, and Prez. Perhaps something good may happen like another check from the government. The last check for $1.4K the gov gave me, I used to buy my new TV.

Any wisdom or advice to share? The GOP had a chance to impeach him twice and they blew it. If you don't want him for prez then throw the bum off the ticket. A thank you goes to Colorado and Maine for trying to do that. 

What TV shows and movies did you enjoy most in 2023? I watch the news,YouTube and anime. Nothing changed for me because the SAG strike did not affect voice actors. See pic.

Did you read any good books? I do read a science mag, but mostly I gave up reading.

Any big plans for 2024? Not really. Busy being a facilitator for support group meetings, secretary for the BAHVN, and doing projects around the house.

The sour grass is back. See pic. I will take another pic when the flowers bloom.

My desktop computer died and now I am on my son's laptop. My next project is to resurrect the Window 7 computer and put Window 10  on it. I miss the graphics card and the CPU is a 4th generation chip which can still take 10. Wish me luck on that adventure.

Everyone stay safe and enjoy the New Year.