Kansas Transportation: Throwback Thursday

http://kansastransportation.blogspot.com/2014/03/throwback-thursday.html?m=1

O my goodness!  I remember this storm (I was eight). The flag pole in our front yard was bent over 90 degrees to the ground but did not break or pull out of the base. My dad’s amateur radio tower did not fare as well though.

For the next 10-15 years I was terrified of thunderstorms and tornadoes. But once the Andover tornado chased my kids and I home, I conquered that fear and put it permanently behind me.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Watch a staggeringly beautiful time-lapse video of Yosemite National Park

http://io9.com/5878091/this-time-lapse-video-of-yosemite-is-staggeringly-beautiful

I’ve been to Yosemite twice. I loved it. It would be the only reason I would ever move to California.

[vimeo 35396305 w=500 h=281]

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

This stunning time lapse combines several of my favorite photography subjects into four breath taking minutes: sunrises, sunsets, moon rise, Milky Way with meteors, nature, landscapes, etc.

And if four minutes wasn’t enough, try the five minute sequel from Project Yosemite:

[vimeo 87701971 w=500 h=281]

Yosemite HD II from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Book Review: A Highly Unlikely Scenario by Cantor (3 Stars)

A Highly Unlikely Scenario or, a Neetsa Pizza Employee’s Guide to Saving the World by Rachel Cantor

3 out of 5 stars

Read in February 2014

Suggested reading for the Kansas City Public Library Adult Winter Reading Program “Stop Me If You’ve Read This One”

Publisher’s Synopsis:

In the not-too-distant future, competing giant fast food factions rule the world. Leonard works for Neetsa Pizza, the Pythagorean pizza chain, in a lonely but highly surveilled home office, answering calls on his complaints hotline. It’s a boring job, but he likes it—there’s a set answer for every scenario, and he never has to leave the house. Except then he starts getting calls from Marco, who claims to be a thirteenth-century explorer just returned from Cathay. And what do you say to a caller like that? Plus, Neetsa Pizza doesn’t like it when you go off script.

Meanwhile, Leonard’s sister keeps disappearing on secret missions with her “book club,” leaving him to take care of his nephew, which means Leonard has to go outside. And outside is where the trouble starts.

My Thoughts:

I read this new novel with every intention of joining the local real-life book discussion group.  I try to participate in at least one or two book discussion groups during the annual adult winter reading program at the Kansas City Public Library.  Continue reading “Book Review: A Highly Unlikely Scenario by Cantor (3 Stars)”

Movie Review: Seven Days in Utopia (2.5 Stars)

Seven Days in Utopia

2.5 out of 5 stars

Watched in February 2014

Synopsis from IMdb: After a disastrous debut on the pro circuit, a young golfer finds himself unexpectedly stranded in Utopia, Texas and welcomed by an eccentric rancher.

My Thoughts: Friday night after a short but long week at work and a wicked day of firefighting on the IT front line at a large law firm, I came home to an enjoyable dinner of tasty tacos with my hubby.  He had scheduled a band practice for the evening (the second one of the week), so I attempted to read, but couldn’t concentrate.  I switch to surfing through my Netflix streaming queue and stumbled across Seven Days in Utopia, seeing that Robert Duvall starred in the movie.  You can rarely go wrong watching Duvall, so I started watching while the band in the basement practiced classic rock covers.

Continue reading “Movie Review: Seven Days in Utopia (2.5 Stars)”