TA DA!: It finally happened! We have a daffodil in full bloom! Isn't it lovely?
It's been such a long darn dark winter. This is a real pick me up!
I promise I'll stop posting about daffodils soon. Probably right after the dozens along our driveway do their thing. :)
IN PROGRESS: CJ is at The Museum of Flight tonight, for his museum apprenticeship program. He's working on a display that launches next week. Here's a sneak preview of just the background and the headline banner ...
You can probably see that it's going to be about how dogs were used in the war effort during World War II.
It has been fun learning about how dogs were employed in the war effort, and which kinds of dogs were pressed into service the most often. In the photo below, they were still accepting all comers. This changed before too long, as certain breeds proved to be not really cut out for the military life.
FLOWER POWER: Though I've seen fully blossomed daffodils all over town, the ones in our yard seen to be taking their time.
This specimen seems oh-so-close, but it's definitely not fully there yet. Maybe one more sunrise is all it needs.
NEW MOON: Did you hear the news? Earth has a new moon! According to numerous articles online, about a week ago, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona spied a dim object moving quickly across the sky. Researches at six more observatories spied the object, as well, over the next several days. Turns out an object about the size of a car has been gravitationally bound to Earth for about three years now. It's been dubbed 2020 CD3. The Minor Planet Center, which operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Harvard in Cambridge, Massachussets announced that “no link to a known artificial object has been found,” implying that it is most likely an asteroid caught by Earth’s gravity as it passed by. This isn't the first mini moon Earth has had. Accourding to New Scientist, the first known asteroid to be captured by Earth's gravitational field was 2006 RH120, which stuck around between September 2006 and June 2007, before it left Earth's gravitational grasp.
REMOTING IN: With me being at work from 8:30 to 4 or so, its a little bit difficult to ride herd over the MPA student body, but I'm doing the best I can with a smart phone. I am able to use texts, email, and, of course, phone calls to check in and edit work. Also, before I leave in the morning, I sit down and make a loooong to do list on the whiteboard that helps keep us all on track. Today, Christian was able to get off early and take the kids to the gym (Defy) and to their weekly "Game On" session at the White Center library, so that was nice. Tonight, CJ was supposed to have Japanese, but he was in class for all of 10 minutes before he tapped out, citing nausea. I'm really doubtful that he has coronavirus or something like that. I suspect that someone has been making really poor food choices while I'm at work ...
FEEDING TEENS: It seems like they should feel so far apart, but the fourth Friday of each month seems to come so close together. That's the date on the calendar we're responsible for helping out in a bigly way with a meal at Teen Feed.
This month we went with a relatively easy menu: Jumbo chili dogs with all the fixings. That means quarter pound franks with options of four kinds of chili, three kinds of cheese (or vegan substitute), onions, jalapenos, Fritos and more as toppings options. On the side, carrots and celery sticks with ranch, plus a cookies and milk dessert buffet. (Regarding dessert, guests had their choice from eight different types of cookies by my count, including all of the favorite Girl Scouts' offerings, since 'tis the season.)
The diners were appreciate, as always. And they were so hungry, as always. As the meal lead/planner, I usually help assign people to serving positions, then hang back and jump in where needed. One gentleman I helped serve was coming through for seconds - and he walked away with FOUR quarter-pound hot dogs and heaps of chili. These poor young folks are so darn hungry, and so very grateful. One diner, as he left, made it a point to come back up to the counter and put his hands together and did a slight bow and effusively thanked us for the food and our service. It was very thoughtful and much appreciated.
WORKING IT: So, suddenly I have a full time job. It's a bit of an upset to our schedule, but it's temporary (just for the next couple of weeks) and it's for a good cause (I'm helping with the 2020 presidential election).
The King County Elections center happens to be at the bottom of our (big) hill. So the commute is a breeze!
I've been in training all day since Monday, and will be working pretty much full time from here to March 10, election day, I do believe. I learned of the job from an ad on Facebook, interestingly enough. I applied not knowing where or what might be doing. Most of the jobs are screening ballot-oriented, but based on my extensive customer service background, I'm guessing, I was slotted to work the front lines, answering voters' questions. So, that will be interesting. This week's all training. I'm really looking forward to the hands on/public interaction part of the job. There's a lot to learn, for sure, but it feels super doable so far. SUPER SONIC: On Sunday afternoon, the kids went to a move based on a character from a super popular video game franchise. Annabelle can tell you more about it. ...
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) pays homage to the original Sonic games that it is based on in many unexpected ways. The film follows a CGI-animated version of the titular character, who has been living in the shadows on our Earth for years, observing humans’ lives and wishing he could be part of them. When he causes an incidental power surge at a local baseball field from running around it too fast, he’s forced to connect with the humans around him much sooner than expected in order to escape the evil Dr. Robotnik that is attempting to capture him for research purposes.
The movie is definitely meant to be a not-too-serious “fun for the family” type movie, not taking itself very seriously at points and making plenty of gags and jokes. That being said, it does have a surprisingly cohesive plot and well-done CGI, especially when compared to the original trailer’s meme-ably terrible designs. It’s a fun movie if you’re a fan of the original games or want an easy, for-laughs movie that can be watched with a large age range. It’s quite refreshing to see the character of Sonic given actual personality and motivations other than ‘being cool,’ especially for long time fans of the series.
