Wednesday, we were planning a Mexican food truck dinner with the Jones, but the food truck didn’t show up. Undaunted, we got Mexican food from a local restaurant and partied anyway. Friday we had a neighborhood hamburger party. Today we’re going to our meet and greet for our HOA. Busy busy. We’re enjoying some very nice weather, which should continue for most of this week. It’s great for cycling.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

For our excitement this week, we went to a concert at Luhrmann Woods. Danita made a stunning dinner. You can see it for yourself if you visit the website.

I love cool calculators. Not all calculators, just the cool ones. The very first CC is the Antikythera mechanism. Made in about 100 BC, it uses intricate brass gears and at least two face dials to calculate the position of the planets. Moving to modern times, there are slide rules. I have over a dozen. They are cylindrical, round, 6″, 12″, metal, wooden, and even a tie clip. My favorite is my well-used yellow Picket that got me through four years of engineering studies. With 18 different scales, it could calculate seemingly anything. It comes with a case and belt loop, and it bumped against my leg on many trips across campus. Another favorite is a rule that was supposedly owned by an engineer in the Russian space program.

When it comes to coolness, I have a special spot for HP handheld calculators. They are extremely well built and amazingly long lived. The first ever scientific handheld calculator was the HP_35S (1972). There were plenty of HP scientific calculators, but they were big and expensive. When HP decided to offer a handheld scientific, the design teem asked Mister Packard (the “P” in “HP”) what the dimensions should be. He said the calculator had to fit in his shirt pocket. So they measured his pocket. That set the size of the 35S. It was amazingly cheap compared to the old desktop calculators, but still far too costly for me to buy one.

Just one decade later, I bought the classic HP-15C (1982). This supported dozens of scientific functions including complex numbers, an equation solver, matrices — and it’s programmable. (Not that it’s likely I will ever again use the advanced features). And it still fit in Mr. P’s pocket. My 40 year old unit still works perfectly and until recently, it was the calculator I reached for. The keyboard is very good. The case looks nearly new. It was so popular that in 2023 HP made a 15C Collectors Edition. This used newer and faster chips, but the point was a celebration of calculator coolness. You can still buy a 15C Collectors Edition new in the box, but I much prefer my 40-year old version. The 15C had some interesting siblings. If you need cash flow, net present value, and other financial functions, pick up a 12C. This baby is so cool you can still buy it new today. If you were a programmer bit banger, the 16C was the one to have.

By 1988, advances in electronics made it possible to have one calculator that could serve all three user groups. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the coolest handheld calculator ever made, the HP-42S . The calculator supports enhanced versions of all the features of the 15C, 12C, and 16C. It still fit in the pocket. The 15C has 39 buttons, many of them with three functions. Clearly the button count was at its practical limit. The 42S overcame this by using a larger 2-line display and grouping functions into a multi-level menu. It needs only 36 buttons, none of which have more than two functions. The layout and design of the calculating features is incredibly good. It would have been the calculator I use — if it had worked. Unfortunately, HPs legendary reliability fell short. Some keys in mine didn’t work, making it completely non-functional until …

Imagine my delight when I found out the keyboard can be fixed! Thanks to YouTube, I saw what was required, I immediately decided I needed to find somebody with a prior experience and a steady hand who would fix mine for me. The fixed calculator came back this week. It is a real beauty. I enjoy using it immensely.

You may ask why anybody would want a calculator when they have a computer. First of all, it’s fun knowing I am using one of the coolest machines of all time. Plus I can use a calculator without opening still another window in my computer screen. Still, it is a good idea to have a calculator app on my smart phone and computer, just in case. Unfortunately, every scientific calculator app I could find had irritating quirks. And that lead to another delight.

Somebody wrote an app the perfectly duplicates the operation of the 42S. It’s available for both computers and smart phones. I love the way it works, both with a mouse and keyboard and with a touch screen. The program is Free42. As the name implies, it is available for a donation. My 15C is relegated to the bench. Long live the 42S. I am completely “wiggle my toes” delighted.

I hope this finds everyone doing well.

Columbia Association had their usual blow-out fireworks show July 4. But the weather forecast called for isolated showers and possible T-storms. We decided we didn’t want to spend hours in the extreme heat to get damp, and maybe wet, and perhaps even forced to seek shelter from lightening. So we didn’t go. Instead, we had dinner out at the Corner Stable.

We also got a food truck this week. It was a new truck offering Indian food with only one dish available — but we had a choice of beef, chicken, goat, or vegetarian. Danita and Carmel tried the food truck, while Jeff and I got Mission BBQ. It turns out the truck didn’t have the beef option. The dinner was mostly rice, and they wanted a fairly high price. The food truck was a bust but we had a nice dinner anyway.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

For our excitement, we went to Essex college and watched “Jerry’s Girls”, the music of Jerry Hermon (Hello Dolly, etc.). We managed to skirt the rain all the way home.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

This was a big mistake. Our vacation will be January 8 – March 1. I’ll let you know when I’ve figured out who I can blame for this mistake.

As big of a mistake as it is, it doesn’t compare to Microsoft. I was trying to get one computer with an extended warranty. There a website that shows all my devices and the associated warranties. The help desk person had a different screen with the same information (allegedly). My screen showed computer #1 had an extended warranty, the service desk showed computer #2 had an extended warranty. Which one is correct? Here’s an idea. I can live without the extended warranty! Microsoft refunded the cost of the extended warranty and I returned the second computer. At long last, an end to a month-long issue.

JAMMM stopped at our house for a couple of days on their way to San Diego. The extreme heat and the stress that comes with moving limited our activities. The big event was a couple of hours in our neighborhood kiddie pool. That wasn’t a lot, but at times it was quite intense, Fortunately, everybody made it to San Diego in good form. There are a few pics on the web.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Each of our children are going through major exciting times. (It’s all good.) Well I’m here to tell you we are no slouches for excitement right here at 8800. Why just today Danita went to the pool while I was on a bike ride. Add in neighborhood parties and food truck dinners with our neighbors and it’s easy to see just how exciting life is here in Columbia.

For the last month, I have been working on a new computer. I ordered a Microsoft Surface Go 4th edition. It’s 10.5″ display makes it perfect for travel. Adding an external monitor offers a nice big screen when using it at home. I received the new computer a month ago. It’s working fine, but the extended warranty I purchased was not linked to the computer. After 3 phone calls, Microsoft decided to swap it out with a new computer, this time applying the warranty to the new computer. I got the new computer, but the warranty was applied to my original computer. Now I have a month-old computer with a warranty, and an RMA to replace that same computer, and a brand new computer that doesn’t have a warranty. It’s all quite confusing. I hope I can get this settled out this week.

We’re getting serious about setting up our next trip. This one will be January 8 – May 1. It will involve ships, planes, trains, and automobiles. I don’t want to give away everything just yet, but it will include some quality time with JAMM in San Diego. Woo-hoo!

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

I already wrote about JaMM’s visit and the good news about Danita’s wrist. But there was still more this week. I am retired from my retirement. I used to support our community’s IT needs and our website. Another guy took over the IT support before we went on vacation. We got another guy to volunteer to support our website. He had a lot of experience in IT, but knew nothing about websites. That’s OK. He was a quick study. I hung up my spurs at 3:30 Thursday. Now I’m not supporting anybody for anything. Hurrah!

Tonight we joined the Chaprnka’s for a concert in Catonsville. Danita made a beautiful and tasty quiche for a picnic dinner. And it looked as good as it tasted. You can see a pic on the web. I also got a snapshot of the concert. These concerts are very well attended. More than 3/4 of the audience is out of the frame.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Jiajia had a conference in Baltimore. Mark and the girls joined her. We had a number of adventures. Jiajia was even able to participate with us one afternoon. The pics on the web site will give you a good idea.

The other news is that Danita was finally able to see her orthopedist. She is cleared for normal activities. Hurrah!

This week all the pics are in the Email.

Jul had a seminar in DC. She decided to leave a little early and pay us a visit. We watched the movie “Fall Guy” (recommended) and visited the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge. The visitor center has a wealth of information about the area, but we focused on a mile and a half walk around one of the lakes. It was a beautiful day. One if the highlights was a beaver lodge. It’s a beautiful place to visit.

Memorial Day weekend is the Parkton Cup, hosted by Ed & Lynne. This year there were more people and more babies than ever. Mira and Maia did very well with the food. But they weren’t totally sold on the pirate theme.

Competition was as fierce as ever. The audience awaited the winner while enjoying quiet conversations. This year, Ed won the grand prize.

I had extremely good luck at Charlestown this week. Mom received her speech-to-text phone. I took it home to figure it out. It’s a well designed piece of equipment, but it needs access to the internet. At Charlestown, before you can add a device to the network, you have to register the device. While I was walking towards the car, I saws two guys approaching the building. The idea popped into my head that they looked like IT guys. So I asked. Indeed they were IT. I was standing there, holding the phone, in front of a couple of IT guys, so I asked them how to register the phone. Normally, IT guys won’t let this kind of information out. But good fortune shown on me. They told me exactly what to do. With a little more good luck, I will quickly get the new phone up and running when I visit Mom Tuesday morning.

As you can see, it was quite a busy week for us. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

This hasn’t been our best week. I came home from a ride while Danita was at the pool. Without thinking, I locked the garage door. When Danita came home, I was in the shower and couldn’t hear the doorbell. Danita didn’t know where the emergency key was. She spent quite a bit of time ringing the doorbell and banging on doors.

I took my bike to the bike store because the gear shifter wasn’t working properly. The store found and fixed a problem, but it turns out there was also a second problem. I tried to fix it but I only made it worse. After walking my bike home, I took it back to the store. I turned a minor problem into a multi-hundred problem.

While I was doing not good things to the bike, Danita was working in our garden. She was trying to remove a plant. The shovel slipped. She fell. Hard. She scraped her legs and bumped her head. But the real damage was her wrist. It appears her tendon in her left hand pulled some bone away. It appears that everything will heal itself eventually. Danita will call an ortho guy newt week to make sure. In the mean time, I am her … what? I can’t be a lady in waiting, because I’m not a lady. Man servant sounds better, but Danita isn’t a man. I can be her sous chef, but that is only for cooking.

Here’s a quick picture taken surreptitiously, offered without comment. I wish it had come out better, but I really didn’t want to embarrass anybody. I hope this finds everybody doing well.