Yesterday afternoon I was driving along a rural Florida highway just minding my own business when a single solitary fish scale appeared on my windshield.
I’m no detective, but curiosity got the better of me. Where did this fish scale come from? And how did it get on my windshield?
So I quickly I pulled over to investigate. I walked along the highway looking for clues.
All I found was a small mess of unidentifiable carcass lying on the road. It was fairly mangled, but I could clearly make out a few fish parts. Like fins. And tail. And meat.
So I quickly deduced that the fish scale which had suddenly appeared on my windshield had somehow come from this mangled mess of fish carcass.
But how?
And why?
I was at a complete loss.
Maybe you can help me solve this strange and complex mystery.
Below are some photos of the fish scale as it appeared on my windshield.
Now that I think about it, I did notice a big bald eagle launch out of a tall tree and fly overhead while I was walking back to my car after finding that mangled fish carcass.
Again, I’m no detective. But all clues seem to point to the following:
So this is something that I’ve been kind of thinking about for a few years now. What if I made a podcast? What would I talk about? Would anybody listen?
Well, my friends and I actually did it. I present to you the Dumb Stuff Podcast!
What is it?
This podcast is essentially a lightly edited audio recording of a weekly Zoom meeting between myself and several high school friends. We’re separated by several thousand miles but now we’re brought back together thanks to a global pandemic quarantine and a regular online meeting.
So what do we talk about on our podcast? Well, anything and everything! Whatever is on our minds!
Is it entertaining? Well, we can guarantee that this podcast is more fun than a hot poker in the eye! And we’ll even give you your money back if you’re not 100% completely satisfied!
100 plays!
We’ve been publishing our podcast for a month now and we’ve just hit 100 total plays, which we think is amazing! It’s not a huge number, but come on … we’re just talking about dumb stuff. We didn’t actually expect thousands of listeners or millions of plays!
5 stars on Apple Podcasts!
We’ve got a perfect 5 star review on Apple Podcasts right now! Sure it’s from only 2 reviewers, but we’ll take what we can get!
Like many of you, I’ve been working mostly from home for over 9 months now. And, like many of you, I’ve tried performing my daily work routine from a few different locations in my home. Seeking out the perfect spot for efficiency and for productivity. But also needing to be able to step away from work at the end of the day.
Right now I’m set up in our guest room which may not be the best work location in the house but it definitely lets me step away and forget about work at the end of the workday.
One thing that made our guest room not ideal for working was the desk situation. But I think I’ve fixed the problem.
Putting the table legs up on blocks of some sort would accomplish that goal fairly easily and inexpensively. But it would also keep me from sitting which I would probably want to do occasionally. So what other options are there other than buying one of those really expensive motorized adjustable standing desks?
It occurred to me that the entire surface didn’t need to be at standing height. Just the part of the tabletop that holds the laptop, keyboard, mouse, and 2nd monitor. So I grabbed some cardboard and I started measuring and cutting out a template.
Here’s what I came up with:
Then I went out to my shop and made this new tabletop out of some scrap wood that’s been out there collecting dust for years.
At first I wasn’t sure how to hold up this new tabletop above the base plastic table. So I just temporarily used some old milk crates and some scrap 2x4s to get it to the exact height that would fit my elbows and eyeballs. This temporary configuration allowed me to try it out and make sure the height was correct before committing.
Essentially I had created a desk with different levels for different uses. On the right side is where I stand and do most of my daily work. But the notched area on the left side is where I can sit down at the table and read or write or think or whatever.
After a few months of working in this temporary configuration, I bought some solid inch square stair rail balusters which are the vertical pieces of the stair rail sometimes called spindles. I cut them to the exact length I needed and just screwed them to my custom tabletop.
I also made a smaller tabletop for my laptop and docking station and I used the same balusters as legs, which takes up less room than the little wooden lap desk that I was using before. Just need to paint the plywood surfaces and it will be complete!
An unplanned by-product of this multi-level desk design is that I ended up with some decent storage space between the levels. There’s actually enough space down there to organize and store folders and papers and books and stuff like that.
I’m really happy with this design and I’m even more happy about how inexpensive it was to build!
If you have any more ideas or suggestions, please leave a comment below!
The incredible story of the early days of the U.S. space program, based on the iconic bestseller by Tom Wolfe.
This series is highly fictionalized and dramatized and doesn’t follow the book perfectly. And that’s okay. It’s getting some heat from reviewers in this vein, but I think everyone should just calm down and realize that there was no point in copying the 1983 movie in this new series. This series is not an exact historical account. And who cares? The movie wasn’t either.
If you’re on the fence, this behind the scenes trailer might help get you pumped up for it:
And here’s the official trailer:
Besides being sort of a space nerd myself, the other thing that got me interested in following the production of this new series is that most of it was filmed right in my back yard. Several scenes were filmed on Florida’s Space Coast. And most of the rest was filmed on a soundstage at Universal Studios, Orlando. Additionally there were a few scenes that were filmed in downtown Orlando, Lakeland, and Tampa.
The most amazing thing about this series filming locally is that I had the amazing opportunity to be cast as an extra in several scenes of several episodes. See if you can spot me! Just remember, long haired and bearded hippies weren’t really a big part of the early space program, so imagine me without any facial hair. Type your guesses (episode number and time hack) below in the comments!
During these strange and trying times of the current global pandemic, everyone seems to be trying their best to distance themselves from others while still getting their daily work accomplished. Many people also have the double duty of little ones that need to be managed in the midst of their teleworking duties.
This photo series gives you just a glimpse into my new life of teleworking from home, mixed in with the tasks of trying to handle my little ones too. I hope you enjoy it.
Swarmies love to watch me work! Maybe they’ll work for NASA when they grow up!
TV is never a good Swarmie-sitter, but sometimes a parent just needs a break from the chaos.
Sometimes an empty box is more fun than all the expensive toys in the house!
The doorbell rang this afternoon and nobody was there. Here’s what I found later on the doorbell camera.
Swarmies just love to help out around the house! Will they still be this helpful when they’re teenagers?!?
I heard a commotion from the next room. I ran into the kitchen to find this.
Swarmies and I had a long hard day today. Sometimes you just need a nap.
The Swarmies tried to run away today. Luckily I caught them before they got too far down the road.
This is the Swarmies most favorite bedtime story. Not sure why. Seems like an odd choice to me.
It’s moments like this that make raising Swarmies totally worth it!
So there you have it. There are good times and there are not so good times. But we do the best we can and we roll with the punches. Good luck to all you teleworking parents out there who are doing double duty these days! Stay strong!
Legal Disclaimer: Teleworking With Swarmies was done completely off the clock. No tax dollars were used. In addition, no Swarmies were harmed in the making of Teleworking With Swarmies.
Thanks for visiting, Kurt & Sam Leucht Titusville, FL
