Lonely but busy weekend looming

[altivo]

Sooo... Gary took off for a Civil War recreation event up in Wisconsin this morning and won't be back until Monday morning. I'm not used to being here by myself for that long a stretch, and it feels... weird. He often goes into Chicago on Thursday to take his mom shopping and to the doctor, and stays overnight, coming back Friday. I have to keep reminding myself that he won't be back tomorrow because it means adjusting my routine to accommodate taking care of all the critters here all the time. Normally I can rely on him to do a big share of that.

So, tomorrow I'll probably be turning horses out an hour early so I can muck stalls before going to work. ;p Otherwise I'd have to do that first thing after getting home from work, which is even less fun than doing it at 6 am.

Had my handspinning study group this afternoon. We're working on flax yarn at the moment, and I managed to complete a nice one ounce sample in time (i.e., at the last minute) so that was good. Turned in the last of my show entries, but that doesn't mean I'm done. I have two shifts as gallery sitter, an appearance as a model in a fashion show, and two shifts as a demonstrator. Also, Monday morning I go in to help with the judging for the spinning portion of the show. (We have an outside judge coming in, but I'll be helping to take notes and match up entries with the proper forms and comment sheets.)

BOINC was raining credits today, as seven of my first ten work units completed. Four of them were accepted immediately (125.11 credits) and three were left "pending" (137.18 credits) for some reason. I assume they'll all be accepted eventually though. These were all SETI@Home, which has smaller work units so they finish up faster. One unit for Einstein and one for ClimatePrediction are still running on my desktop at work, but those are going to take a while because they're huge. At woodychitwn's urging I signed up for World Community Grid's AIDS research unit as well, and joined the us_furries team. That will run on my desktop at home. Thanks, Woody for the pointer. And thanks to corelog for some tips that have helped me consolidate my management of the four machines I have running.

Rain passed through briefly this morning, but it was a beautiful clear afternoon, and I'm probably going to take a peek outside at the stars before going to bed. For anyone who doesn't know, Venus is a brilliant morning star just now. Look for it in the east an hour before sunrise. Yes, I know, you probably never get up that early unless you've been up all night. But it's worth the effort. You can go back to bed afterward if you have nothing better to do. As of yesterday, there was also a chance of some northern lights displays for the next couple of days. Check for those in the north around midnight local time. A clear dark sky is needed unless you live quite far north (like maybe North Dakota? or Canada or Alaska?)

Comments

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Ah, so it is Venus floating out there. I was supposed to check that one, but I happily forgot once I got back inside to the warmth. It is almost distractingly bright too, even when the other stars are partially shrouded with clouds.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it has to be either Venus or a UFO. Nothing else is so bright. Feels like it could cast shadows all by itself.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

My friend was a member of the Sealed Knot, and I used to tag along with him every now and then. You should go to one of Gary's events every once in a while. If you don't want to just watch, you can play the part of a baggage horse. :D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, we do go to each other's stuff fairly often. But animal care is essential too, so if one of us will be gone more than a day, the other has to stay home for that. He'll get the duty when I go to MFF in November.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

That's true...you don't want to get back to your homestead after a long break, and find that the animals have rebelled in your absence.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh, no, not that. Though with our lot, more likely we'd find them all lying around watching television and arguing over whose turn it was to cook.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Ahhh....vegging out in front of the TV? More of an apathetic over-developed Western state than an ideologically corrupt communist one. I am sure Orwell would have considered that scenario instead had he lived now, rather than in the 40s. :D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Precisely. Even the dogs, who get energetic a couple of times a day, would spend most of their time sleeping in front of the telly.

[corelog.livejournal.com]

"Pending" credits means the workunit hasn't reached quorum yet. Most projects require at least two computers to return the same results for the same data, so people don't cheat the system for extra credits. :P Pending just means you're waiting for the other computer working on the same data to return a result that agrees with yours.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That makes good sense. I poked around a bit looking for an explanation and didn't find one, oddly enough. Plenty of people complaining about being stuck in a pending state for too long, but no explanation of what it is. Thanks. :)

This is interesting, though. I should have tried it a long time ago.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*sits looking out the window of his house wishing he had somewhere to go*
What was that? That was your life mate. Do I get another? Sorry.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, that was a little confusing. Nowhere to go?

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Sorry, I mean it looks like you two have plenty to do :) Kitty really needs to get out more.

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you won't be so very lonely

we all like you

:O)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't think I'll have time to be lonely, actually. But I'm not particularly fond of being here by myself, either. ;p