I like John Green’s excellent writing. His novels are well written and are a good read including this one but, my favorite is his book “Anthropocene reviewed” and the eponymous podcast.
Finished reading: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green 📚
Actually DNF. It started out very well but became too violent and I didn’t want to keep reading.
Finished reading: Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor 📚
“To be alive is to be missing.”
— Turtles All the Way Down by John Green a.co/hDdwZZM
Started watching season 5 of “Fargo” over the weekend. Really liked the first two episodes. Acting, storytelling, pacing… everything is just excellent! Have to find a big chunk of time to binge watch the rest of this season.
Bright blue skies on today’s hike. The spikes that I bought for my hiking shoes are working really well.
It was a cloudy day with light flurries but not too windy and cold. Perfect for a forest bathing session. Did not see a single person on the trail. I had it all to myself. 😄
During yesterday’s Nor’easter someone slid on the icy road and knocked down my mailbox. The granite post was broken in half, and the vehicle probably had significant damage. It was really nice that they reached out and offered to fix the mailbox. Good to live amongst responsible people!
Here it is from before the accident
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
Heart nebula in Cassiopeia is an emission nebula located in the Perseus arm of Milky Way galaxy at ~7500 light years. This is a large region of gas and dust that spans about 100 light years across.
This image is a stack of 28 two-minute exposures. 
This year’s presidential election in USA comes down to selecting a good, decent man over trump. Nothing else matters. It is not a difficult decision that requires any thinking. Just shut the fuck up, go to the polling site and vote for Biden without any doubts or reservations.
Big fat snow flakes coming down. Can’t wait to finish some work and go out for a walk in fresh untouched snow.
A nor’easter is barreling down upon us and everything is shut down - not only schools but even work!!! Perfect opportunity to go for snowshoeing today.
“We are about to live the American Dream, which is, of course, to benefit from someone else’s misfortune.””
— Turtles All the Way Down by John Green a.co/2tFgDJC
On the second ride of this weekend learned about some local history. The president of Connecticut women suffrage association lived in my neighboring town.
Snagged the really warm day for my first outdoor ride of 2024. It was just beautiful! The forecast for the weekend is more of this. Look forward to 2 more rides.
Last night, it started out as a Facetime call from my son to discuss some chemistry problems he was working on. Then, he added my daughter to the call and they made a ‘dad’ playlist on Apple Music that mostly consisted of Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. This went on for almost 2 hours. So much joy! Happy that they wanted to spend time with me. 🥰🥰🥰
Another attempt at capturing the horsehead and flame nebulae in Orion. This time, there was no narrowband filter attached to the camera like it was while taking this photo, last month. The difference in the colors of these nebulae is quite striking.
We visited Barcelona during the last holiday break. On the way back home, our flights were cancelled twice and we were stuck there for 2 extra days. The airline staff in Barcelona told us (as required by law) that we were covered by EU regulation 261 that provides protection for travelers who are affected by long delays and cancellations. We filed the necessary paperwork with American airlines and received 600 euros per person for each cancelled flight. So, basically, we had free travel to Barcelona on this trip. Well… it wasn’t really free; we paid for it by 2 wasted days at airport hotels.
This protection is applicable to all flights originating or ending in an EU country. So, if you are delayed by more than 4 hours on your trip to Europe, make sure you submit a claim under EU 261.