This and that….

It’s 10:08 PM on Sunday evening and I’ve been doing some sort of commentary on Sundays recently, so we’ll see what I can put together in the time remaining tonight.

My current work schedule has me working from 4 PM until midnight during the week and I’m staying up late over the weekends just to maintain continuity. I am not setting the alarm clock to get up in the morning. Since my contract is nearly over, I expect the alarm clock won’t be getting any use at all after the end of the month.

As it stands currently, my contract ends Friday, March 1. This is what has been planned all along, so there is no surprise.

On the right is the workstation where I do quite a bit of my work. The two screens on the right are monitors that I use to observe the students in the simulator. The one in the middle is the monitor for the computer that is used for controlling video cameras and recording video. The other two screens are associated with the computer used for controlling the simulator.

Once the contract is over, I’ll be back to retirement. This is the fourth contract I’ve taken since I retired in 2007. I’ll probably be off most of the rest of the year.

Watched the second half of the Super Bowl after we got back home from Fort Smith.  We had the radio on in the car for the second quarter. That’s the first pro football I’ve watched since we got back from our fall trip to Wisconsin.  It really didn’t matter to me who won.

The weather here has been pretty typical for January, I think.  All of the ponds have filled back up.  There is water flowing in most streams that pretty much dry up during most summers.  We’ve been over the Arkansas River at a couple of locations and it seems plenty full. I’m not going to say that the drought is over, but it certainly isn’t evident right now.

We’ve got daffodils starting to come along the trees next to the highway.  That’s generally a better sign that spring isn’t too far away – certainly a better predictor than some rodent named Phil back east in Pennsylvania.

It won’t be long until the next national political season gets started in earnest.  2014 is just next year – the representatives all have 2 year terms and 1/3 of the senators will also be up for reelection.  One thing that certainly is out of control is campaign financing.  An effective limit on contributions would be welcomed by many as would some kind of limitation on when campaigning can occur.