Re: Happy 2024 Winter Solstice!

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: Marty Miller <http://www.gmail.com/~marty.goshawk>
 > Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2025 20:38:19 -0600
 > 
 > I meant “assorted” not sordid!
 > 😄. Siri.
 > 
 > And “French cleats“ on my garage
 > wall—a fancy wall organization technique first used it
 > is said by French ship builders in the 1800s.

😏

Responses below.

 > > On Jan 2, 2025, at 10:45 AM, Marty Miller <http://www.comcast.net/~marty.miller> wrote:
 > > 
 > > sordid

 > From: Marty Miller <http://www.comcast.net/~marty.miller>
 > Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2025 10:44:34 -0600
 >
 > Happy New Year Robert,
 > 
 > Thanks for keeping me and all your sordid and sundry friends in the
 > loop on your life. Sorry to hear about your employer’s
 > shenanigans. But as they say, when the gods close a door they often
 > open a window (and throw us out?). Here it seems they just reopened
 > the door?  Capitalists man.
 > 
 > NOTE
 > 
 > I wanted to ask you if you would please change my email on your
 > distribution list so I can continue to learn more about your
 > trifles and travails in the year ahead. The old Comcast one
 > I’m trying to kill off. My regular one should be on the
 > cc (gmail).

Got it, will do.

 > I’m still in Mpls.  I’ve been
 > “retired” from the corporate shuffle for
 > going on 10 years. All is well. I have a partner who lives and hour
 > and half north of me (Elaine). We travel back and forth to each
 > others pads on weekends and holidays. Leaves me some good time to
 > write and ponder and recline in the splendor of solitude.  And then
 > it’s date night all over again.  Not bad.

Seems like everybody I know is retired.  I'll try to board that train
as soon as I can.

 > Tech-wise, I am a late adopter. My 12 year old iPhone finally
 > stopped receiving updates so I upgraded to an iPhone 16 Pro. Then
 > my old MacBook Air aged out so I got the new M4 Mini.  And two
 > 27” monitors.  And an iPad Pro. 😏. That
 > should hold me for a decade.

This whole upgrade nonsense is why I completely stopped buying Apple
products.  It started with an Apple Mini way back in 2005, which we
abandoned about 7 years ago.  So, now everything, except my work
computer, is running Linux.  Right now, I'm writing this on a 2011
Macbook Pro running Linux.  (They offered this laptop to me from one
of my past workplaces when I left, and I accepted it and put Linux on
it when I discovered that Apple would stop supporting it.)  The
hardware is amazing, but I really really hate Apple, their software,
and their policies.

So, I've become a "no adopter", I suppose.

 > I’ve also been getting into woodworking. I bought a
 > table saw, and a miter saw and put fr much clear on the wall for
 > holding all manner of fancy tools in the manner befitting a master
 > woodsmith. (I am not).

Cool.  I don't know why I always get so wrapped up in constantly
tweaking my computers and stuff.  That seems to suck up more time than
is probably justified.

 > I really wish I had something groundbreaking to tell you I created
 > or did in 2024. But I’m sad to report it was not a
 > banner year. But I enjoyed it thoroughly like a good Indian meal.
 > I ate up everything that was served, loved my companions and the
 > news of their loves and lives, ordered more samosas, and bought the
 > next round. And now I stand with drink in hand looking into the maw
 > of 2025 with some trepidation, eager to mix a little of its
 > impending darkness into my palette to make something beautiful.
 > 
 > May you, my long time friend, enjoy good health, good work, good
 > cheer, and may your inclusive kindness cause well-wishes to flock
 > to your heart like birds to their roost. Peace and love in the New
 > Year.

Thanks.  Right back at you.

 > Marty