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Today in seminary we were talking about Flat Earthers. Don’t ask; it’s not important.

What is important is the part where one of the teenage girls in class said “I actually know someone who believes the earth is flat!”

One of the boys snorted and said “He must be a Democrat.”

She replied, “No, he’s not.”

And he responded incredulously, “You mean he’s a Republican?”

We all kind of laughed it off, but later, as I thought about the exchange a bit, I realized it bothered me for a couple of reasons. First, this young man– who’s a great kid and quite sharp– seems to believe that all people can basically be defined by their political beliefs. You’re either a Democrat or a Republican, and that’s it. And second, he clearly feels that the former are idiots and the latter are geniuses (or perhaps better stated, Democrats are wrong and Republicans are right).

I feel like this pretty much sums up the way American society is today. So many people have an “us and them” mentality, where they place anyone who believes differently than them into a category, and then turn them into an enemy. And everything– literally everything— is politicized. I long for the Good Old Days when we were the United States, and where polite, respectful discourse was the norm, not this bitter rancor we see now.

Sigh.

It’s not officially the Christmas season until I’ve printed, stuffed, addressed, and stamped 300+ cards to send to friends and family.

These puppies are ready to drop off at the post office. It’s officially the Christmas season.

I’m working on a new house project: remote temperature sensors. With a house as big as ours, I feel like it’ll be useful to understand the temperature of various places, so we can be more efficient in our heating and keep those pesky electric bills down. I looked online for wireless sensors, but they’re both surprisingly expensive and frustratingly un-useful. Most require a special phone app, and have no way to export the data.

Well, I’m a Linux geek and I love electronic gadgets, so I decided to buy a handful of Raspberry Pi Zeros (Zeroes?) and attach them to some digital sensors. Once they’re connected to our wifi, I can ping them every few minutes to collect temperature (and humidity!) data. I’ll stuff it into a database and generate some cool graphs. Even better, when we’re away from home we’ll be able to monitor things and make sure nothing is freezing or whatever.

I installed Linux on the Zero and plugged it into a monitor and keyboard, and BAM away we go! What’s really cool about these little guys is how incredibly small they are… maybe half the size of a credit card. In the circle below is the Zero: a full-featured Linux computer!

I’ve successfully written a Python program to grab the data from the sensor, and now I have to figure out how to collect it remotely and aggregate it.

It’s good to have hobbies. And gadgets.

One might argue that since I’m retired, I don’t need to “keep up” with web technologies or computer programming in general. But I would retort that because I’m retired and enjoy programming, I should spend some time learning and practicing. Keeping the saw sharp, as they say.

Also, I’m kind of a geek.

Every December there’s a famous programming challenge called the Advent of Code, where each day there are two tasks which require a computer program to solve. You can use any language you want and build the program however you want; all that matters is that you end up with the right answer. This year I’ve decided to tackle the challenges in Python, a cool language I’ve dabbled in over time. I don’t consider myself strong in the language by any stretch– I tend to spend a third of my programming time reading documentation!

But I’m off to the races, having finished the first couple of challenges. The ol’ saw’s in good shape.

What’s red and bad for your teeth?

A brick.

What’s blue and bad for your teeth?

The same brick going really really fast.

“If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?”

– George Carlin

It was fun to have a full house over Thanksgiving week. All of us chose a part of the big Thursday dinner: I made some cranberry bread, Kyra did a green bean casserole, Kaitlyn put together a sweet potato casserole, Julian cooked some amazing mac-n-cheese, Alex chose pie, and Pepper took care of the turkey and dinner rolls. In the end, it was far too much food for a single meal, and felt more like one of those all-you-can-eat buffets where you just choose a little sampling of each food.

The next day, Kyra and Pepper foraged through the leftovers for their lunch.

The week was filled with games of pool…

… and board games like Hexteria, Dominion, Smash Up, and (shown here) Wingspan:

There was relaxing…

… and comic books (also note the tiger-print pants):

And let’s not forget the trip to the Big City, where we had a great dinner and Alex and Kaitlyn were able to catch some Pokemon (there aren’t any Pokemon near our house, since we’re in the middle of a forest).

It’s so quiet and empty around here today, now that everyone is back home. I’m glad we had a crowd, and we’re excited for a Christmas in Utah in a few weeks.

I was today years old when I learned there’s such a thing as a neck fan. I stumbled across one while browsing some Cyber Monday sales online. I guess it’s for those times when your neck is hot and there’s just no other way to cool down. Here’s how it works, complete with little white clouds of cool air:

I couldn’t help but notice the only people wearing these things are gorgeous women. Where are all the overweight sweaty guys who have hot necks? This woman is clearly overheated because she’s… reading a piece of paper?

And this one didn’t get the memo that it’s a neck fan.

As tempting as one of these may be, I don’t think it’s going to make my Christmas list this year.

Despite having a full house this week as Alex, Kaitlyn, Kyra, and Julian visited, we definitely missed Zaque and the rest of the family. Fortunately we have the internet, and as a result we were able to join in video calls with my entire family in the early afternoon, and then with our awesome missionary in the evening.

Here’s the whole gang, including Thom, Katie, and Sefton trucking through Snoqualmie Pass while the rest of us relaxed at our various homes:

Later we had a chat with Zaque, and his hair was… something. The way it caught the fluorescent light behind him was magical.

The call included a few times when all of us were roaring with laughter, including his demonstration of how to create “leg hair dreadlocks” (it’s a long story):

He regaled us with stories of driving through a mob, “backing” the car, and narrowly escaping a street thug who was looking to “mess up” some Mormons. He even strummed his ukelele for a bit.

Our two family calls, coupled with an amazing dinner where each of us contributed a favorite dish, made it a grand day. I love these kinds of days.

I’ve continued to scribble on my digital tablet, and I’m having a grand time drawing funny little pictures. When I was first learning how to use it, my technique left something to be desired. Now, almost four whole weeks later, I’m practically Michaelangelo. I’m using colors and shading to better effect, for example.

Take a look at this one, inspired by Thom and entitled Top of the World:

On a whim I drew a guy in a squirrel suit, then added a background and suddenly he looks like a weird superhero. But for some reason I think he’s a load of fun.

Encouraged by Dirk, I’ve also taken to drawing some Star Wars scenes, and it’s led me to my new hobby.

Cartoonist.

Yep, like Bill Watterson and Gary Larson before me, I’m putting together some little scenes that tickle my funny bone. In keeping with the Star Wars theme, my comic strip is called Far Far Away. Here’s a sampling:

Both of these are sort of “meta” jokes, and you’ll only laugh if you know the movie pretty well. I’m proud to report that Pepper got both right away. She didn’t laugh at them as hard as Dirk and I did, but you can’t win ’em all.