Hey There! It's 7:27 AM EDT, 55°F, Wind 6 mph SW, sunny
The weather has been spectacular, and I'm afraid that by mentioning that, it will go away soon. These are the days where living where I do is nothing short of exhilarating. Plenty of sun, cool mornings, highs around 70°. Can't ask for more, and I have to remember weeks like this when the bad weather rolls in.
Yesterday was busy enough, and it's always good to be a little busy. I got up early and had to move through my morning routine to get to the park by 8:30 for the opening of work days on Discovery Trail. Yesterday through this coming Friday, a local community group is building a children's discovery trail on the edge of the park. I was asked to take drone footage, which I am doing today as well. So I spent the morning walking about the site with my drone taking some video. I am by no means an expert, and can barely fly the thing, but I think I got some usable footage for the foundation that is financing the build. It seems there are enough people for the build, but I think there could be more.
Then I had to go back home and re-charge all the batteries and download the footage. Unfortunately DJI built the drone in such a way that you have to charge the battery while it's in the drone; there's no charge port on the battery itself. This, of course, is to make you buy their battery charging accessory for another $50. I don't use it often enough for that, so I have to charge each battery separately while on the drone. It takes time.
While this was happening, I got a text from my upcoming project partner about joining a meeting for a chance to move the project to Buffalo in the spring of 2027. She assumed I would say yes, so I had to write to her and tell her I was not interested in any projects after the upcoming one. I was a little miffed she took my participation for granted. But I managed to be gracious enough with my refusal. At least I hope so; one never knows what's under the surface. It's a two-sided coin: I'm flattered enough to be asked, but I would have liked to have been asked first and not assumed to be included.
I went back to the park in the early afternoon and shot some more video. I am still learning, and one thing I have to keep in mind all the time is to hit the "record" button and make sure the audio is being recorded as well. I don't have a remote controller, so I am doing everything on my phone. That works well enough, but is not the most precise way to fly the thing. But again, I don't use it enough to justify the cost of buying the controller. I got some decent footage of a tour I took through the site, and some other footage as well that someone who might edit this stuff could use. Once I had exhausted the second round of batteries, I called it a day.
I came home and put into motion the recharging process and downloading the video. While doing that, I took advantage of a free 3-month trial of SiriusXM in my new EV, plus $2 for another three months after that. So I have SiriusXM for 6 months for $2. But they seem to have dropped the Spa channel from the broadcast lineup. which sucks. I have to use the app on the phone to get that. So in the end I might drop the service on both cars and just use the app through Bluetooth.
DW and I got dinner from a local seafood place, and it was quite good. Nothing like fresh seafood made with fresh ingredients. That brought me to ball game time, where the team lost. They lost with their best pitcher starting the game, so not a good start. DW had a serious conversation with her niece, I think. She's dealing with a sister who is 79, has many health issues, but won't go into assisted living, even though she needs a good deal of help. She's really in deep denial of her situation, and her daughter and DW have been begging her to move out of her house and into assisted living. It's a hard situation.
After the game I think I rolled with one or two videos. Bedtime was 11:30 PM.
Notable deaths: Peabo Bryson, pop/soul singer, 75. Marcia Lucas, film editor on husband George Lucas' early movies and the early Star War films, 80.
'Til We Meet Again!