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Stardate: 20190125.13h09 | |
Virtual Location: USS Nostradumbass NCC-1541-D | |
Physical Location: Picnic table @ park near my house. | |
Input device: Surface RT w/ LCARS Interface | |
Audio: Enterprise Bridge Sequence, chirping birds, rumble of | |
the freeway off in the distance. | |
Energy: 65% | |
Mental: 70% | |
Emotional State: Grounded. "All of my neurons are | |
functioning smoothly yet still I'm a cyborg just like you!" | |
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I just finished practicing my guitar for the past hour in the | |
woods at the place that I like to call, "Sanctuary." It is | |
this place off of this trail that goes outside the park and | |
up the mountain. There is a cluster of oak trees growing in | |
different directions and a place to sit as well as place my | |
tablet with my sheet music. Not too many people walk there, | |
especially today around noon. I saw no one. Just me, some | |
birds, some squirrels, the trees, nature. I feel very | |
grounded right now. | |
The axe I brought with me is my Martin Backpacker Travel | |
Guitar. I usually keep it in my trunk for practice during | |
lunch or any free time when I am out and about. Since I was | |
walking to the park, I slung it on my back, along with my | |
tablet, and headed on out walking around in the woods. | |
Being in the woods, I am reminded of this game I've been | |
playing way too much over the past... year or so? It's | |
called The Forest. It's a survival/crafting type game. | |
Basically, you are were on a plane with your son that crashes | |
in a forest filled with crazy cannibal cults and mutated | |
monsters from some lab or something (?). Well, I haven't | |
completed the game and just have fun building stuff, | |
exploring, and fighting cannibals and mutants. I used to get | |
all creeped out when I first started playing, especially at | |
night with headphones. I can get really sucked into games | |
like that so I usually set a timer for myself. I used to | |
play Minecraft with my kids when that came out... God only | |
knows how much time I spent in that world. At least with | |
games from Steam, you can see how much time you have spent... | |
which might not necessarily be a good thing (tm). | |
This park with my guitar brings back an unfortunate and | |
embarrassing memory from a couple years ago. I wanted to be | |
more mobile with my travel guitar and not risk damage to the | |
instrument, so I thought that it would be a good idea to look | |
for a hard case for it. The case that came with the guitar | |
was flimsy and not adequate. I checked around for cases, but | |
there were none available for the guitar size. What I ended | |
up doing was picking up a cheap hard shell rifle case from | |
the sporting goods store. It had foam inserts that I was | |
able to cut into the shape of the guitar and have extra room | |
for accessories. It worked out great! | |
One Saturday morning, I took my guitar in the new case to the | |
park to practice at this cluster of rocks under some oak | |
trees. This area was by the dog park. I set up and started | |
practicing. I had noticed that there was a couple police | |
cars that pulled into the parking lot. I thought nothing of | |
this. Next thing I know, I see a couple police officers | |
carefully approaching me from opposite directions. One | |
yelled out from a distance inquiring what is in the case. | |
The case was leaned up against one of the rocks and the | |
guitar was around my shoulder. I said that there was nothing | |
inside and that it was my guitar case. The other officer got | |
on the radio and the one who inquired eased up and approached | |
me, asking to look in the case. I said sure and he found it | |
empty. Apparently, someone from the dog park said that there | |
was a sniper at the park with an ammo can. They had mistaken | |
my olive drab 3-ring binder with my sheet music as an ammo | |
can. The rifle case, being what it is typically for, was | |
understandable. By then, there were all these dog owners | |
looking in our direction. How embarrassing! | |
NOSTRADUMBASS!!! I quickly apologized for causing alarm and | |
gathered up my things to leave after they took my | |
information. Since then, I keep the hard case at home and | |
take the flimsy case out and about. | |
This device I am writing this is a Surface RT tablet that I | |
received as part of SQL Admin training for work a few years | |
ago. I mostly use it for my sheet music these days and also | |
the LCARS Interface.[1] Man, I love this GUI! I think it's | |
the only app I purchased for this device and I still use it | |
quite a bit. It's nice to have other choices of editors | |
every now and then. This one is more immersive. I feel like | |
I'm in Star Trek, especially with the bridge sounds. It has | |
all of these functions that are built into the interface, | |
like the Log Editor I am currently writing in, clock, | |
calculator, media player, file manager, weather, image | |
viewer, "holo cam (camera)," eBook reader, and PDF reader. | |
All LCARS themed! And that is only the apps section. It | |
also has a ship section where you can control the ship, | |
transport the away team, and dump the warp core, etc., and | |
there is also a simulator/game. I'm not sure if this is | |
available for Windows 10 or other devices, but I still use it | |
in RT. I should visit the developer's website again. [2] | |
It's kinda weird doing LCARS and Star Trek like this in the | |
park.[3] Let's just pretend that I'm part of the away team, | |
sitting at the picnic table guarding the cloaked and hijacked | |
Klingon Bird of Prey, waiting for the rest of the away team | |
to get back here with those sheets of transparent aluminum. | |
Anyhow, I should get back to the lab. Adventures in | |
computing awaits! | |
[1] Last update was in 2016. | |
[2] There are more recent updates on their Facebook page. | |
Windows 10 version still not released. | |
davstarapps fb page | |
https://www.facebook.com/Davstar-Apps-482769015122696/ | |
[3] USS Nostradumbass NCC-1541-D | |
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