Day -169 -- Happy 4th of July

Howdy to all,

I tried to do a video from my trike this morning. Oh, my… Very, very bouncy and shaky. Made me seasick trying to watch any of it. So, this one won’t go up… I will try it again, on an early morning when it is less hot (already high 80s). Next time I will ride to a spot, get off the trike, do a few moments of video/talk, as a clip, then ride and repeat. Not enough image stabilization in the world to fix this video.

But, I do want to say Happy Independence Day to all. My personal independence is still 169 days away, but it is getting closer.

This long weekend, I am on-call as my coworker (replacement) is making it a long camping weekend with his family. He deserves the chance to do this while he can. Hopefully for me there won’t be many, if any, issues to handle. We will see.

It has been rather quiet around the neighborhood this weekend. Finally heard a couple of firecrackers today. Usually the people with more money than brains, shoot off tons every night for the week before through the week after the 4th. I fully expect tonight to be loud, bright, and long. Each year I hope for rain — isn’t that sad? But I am tired of picking up burnt rockets from on top of my screen enclosure and throughout the yard.

I am still revamping/refining my vacation trip to see areas to which I might choose. Eliminated some of the Georgia areas to the north / west of Atlanta. I spent time on Google looking at the towns and what was around them. While there are some nice little colleges out there, and lots of trees and hills, there is not much else. The “biggest” towns are less than 10,000 people. That means any real commerce is pretty much missing.

And some of the towns/cities that seem to be “proud” of their, quite a bit less than liberal, political life, to the point they highlight needing national guard to protect themselves, are not on my list anymore. Not going to say their point of view is wrong, but it isn’t mine, and I don’t want to see fights from either side of any walls.

So, I am adjusting my itinerary to see the North East of Atlanta, towns, and then to Lake County Ohio. And, after the recommendation of stand alone Condos, from friends, I am leaning that way. Nobody making noise on the other side of the wall, and I still won’t be outside mowing and pushing snow. Kind of like that life.

Thus, the “perfect” place will be 2-3 bedrooms, (need a office/den if no third bedroom — for computer toys), 2+ baths (I am not waiting if someone else is there), and a nice basement area for a workshop. Still not sure if that will be with my existing tools, or a Digital workshop (3d printing / CNC router). Also a 2 car garage — one bay is for Trike.

Oh, and no well water, and no septic tank nonsense. Good Internet is a must.

Anyhow… That’s it for now.

Except for this quick clip from the neighborhood fireworks displays. The folks down the street were shooting off these little displays, and I thought it would be cool to ride my trike towards the display as it went. Well, instead, they shot off this set that went zooming up over our heads. Scared me pretty darn good. Watch below..

Be sure to be safe this weekend and

Enjoy