The good and the bad

A great tree in the neighborhood over the past few weeks.

And another loss

Mail

Good thing there are still three people at home or we would have received only one piece of junk mail.

A mountain bike magazine
College mail
Postcard from relatives in Chile

Triennial Event

Maybe it happens more often than every three years, but it has been a while.

Helping put on chains was a first for me.

You can learn more here.

One thing leads to another

A friend recommended a set of podcasts and a couple days later they were bought by a big Swedish music streaming company. I am trying to listen to all the stories before it changes, and I have loved the first two I have heard.

Stamps was the topic of the first podcast and that led me to the USPS site, which led me to hop on my bike and zip down to the post office. It was February 1 and they had no love stamps! I bought a few online, but it was not as satisfying.

I took a look at upcoming releases and am looking forward to many of them, including

these by Ellsworth Kelly. Sharing this with D.'s mom led me to learning that her brother-in-law did his taxes! One podcast leads to learning family stories!

The next podcast idea came from someone having a snowglobe confiscated at the airport. Did you know you can buy

thirteen pounds of multitools online? The opening bid is $10 and so far only person has bid. Hurry up and visit this site if you are interested. Some items have to be picked up, like

these assorted weights. I am curious to know who would pack a fifteen-pound weight for a trip.

So far I have not bid on anything, although I did look at the site to see where in California I could look at confiscated items. I will try to avert my eyes because I just don't need

fifteen pounds of Swiss Army knives!

Chemistry

I have been doing some nanny work, which is a good excuse to take miniature field trips. Last week we went to feed the koi fish and then wandered around campus.

One stairway had a series of alternative periodic tables.

Just days later there was an article in the paper celebrating
the 150th anniversary of the creation of the table.

Did you know there were so many periodic tables of elephants? Also there are period tables of

• dessert
• beer
• text messages
• cupcakes
• sports cars
• Empire Strikes Back
• presidents
• Minecraft

But, wait, there's more!

Enough! You can waste your own time finding the variety of tables out there. Or just read the LA Times story.

January tidbits

Visiting labs at Harvey Mudd College

Nice day for a ride

It was slow, except for these last few pieces!

Go Hens!

I learned a bit about the plans for 2020. Fingers crossed it all works out.

What I brought back from Ohio.

Cheering for Sagehens at an away game

75th Ceramic Annual

How lucky we are to be able to walk a few blocks to explore an exhibit of contemporary ceramics. All the pieces were from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer, who acquired over 1500 pieces and donated the collection to Scripps.

It was also good to be part of the artsy crowd, to enjoy tacos made on the spot, 

and hear some good music.