photos.ALBj.net

photos.ALBj.net → 2020 → Miscellaneous 2020

Miscellaneous/random shots taken in 2020 which I did not include as part of any other set of photos.

Four family members, one chair
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Finally enjoying a taste of the Christmas gift from my bro- and sis-in-law; wow, this stuff tastes wonderful!
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Welcome to my weekend—video services for Women’s Ministries Annual Retreat #DareToShare2020
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Not the worst hotel room view 🙂
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Had a great day with Lori and my parents at Strawberry Festival in Plant City—caught a tiny glimpse of Bobby Bones and the Raging Idiots performing
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Took a detour past the hospital where I was born
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Dealing with locking bathroom tissue holders
Pro tip for workers whose offices use these silly locking toilet roll holders and hate when custodians don't pay attention whether the roll is going over the top. You'll find a little button on one side that you can depress with a small tool, such as the one pictured, to release the lock. Just note that the roll holder only reattaches the same direction, so you will have to take the paper off the holder, turn it around, slide it back on the holder, and put the holder back into place this same direction. Now, we just need a hack to avoid the wobble these rolls create—I presume to help keep them from spinning out of control and dumping a bunch of paper on the floor.

Landmark achieved—time to back down
Having surpassed the 3,000-coin threshold for the first time on Swarmapp (née FourSquare) and closing in on 300,000 lifetime coins, I'm choosing to simplify my life and back down on my former heavy use of Swarm. I had really played the "game" of it checking in as often as I could and using various methods to multiply coin earnings. I used to think that, eventually, all those coins would become valuable to redeem for something. But after six years (Swarm was spun off from FourSquare in 2014), they're still open to suggestions on a scalable idea for redeeming coins. I don't know that they'll ever come up with anything. Yes, I'll continue checking in at major locations I actually visit since I have often found it helpful to be able to look up when I was at XYZ location. But I'm putting the practice of drive-by check-ins to rest.

Frightening—house fire a block away from mine; apparently began in rear living room, most kids were outside playing, everyone else got out, and all are safe
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Hangin’ with the local wildlife at my office
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I was quite clear this morning that today was going to be a really long day—good night!
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Local public elementary school teachers did a drive-by parade through neighboring communities for their students staying at home
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Local public elementary school teachers did a drive-by parade through neighboring communities for their students staying at home
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Celebrating birthdays with a chocolate LEGO cake
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Millennium Falcon Rice Krispie dessert (yes, the antenna was the first piece to be removed)
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Mason’s a goner but Maddox will exact his revenge
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Behind the scenes of an ambitious Zoom event
Had a load of fun this evening. This weekend was supposed to be the Pathfinder and Adventurer end-of-year Red Zone weekend at Camp Kulaqua. In response to the COVID-19 quarantine, a virtual event was planned called iRedZone. Tomorrow and Sunday will have other events on other social platforms, but tonight was done with program participants in a Zoom conference which was broadcast live on Facebook where many Adventurers and Pathfinders watched live. I offered to manage media for tonight’s event in the form of me being in the Zoom meeting and sharing content that I prepared in ProPresenter. Other than not accounting for internet latency creating a bit of delay between audio I played from media and people in the Zoom conference singing along, everything else worked out great. I was thrilled to be able to “plus” the overall production, and had a great time doing it. Kudos to all the program participants for a wonderful event. What you’re seeing in these photos is me juggling two computers. The laptop ran ProPresenter and the Zoom app to which I occasionally shared the ProPresenter output screen. The two other monitors are connected to my personal computer which I used to monitor ProPresenter output and have visibility of the rundown schedule, Bible texts to display during the sermon, and a chat window with the Pathfinder director to keep each other in the loop on what was coming up next. If you’d like to have a look at the production, go to Facebook and search for the “Florida Conference Adventurers” and “Florida Conference Pathfinders” Pages, then look for the archives for the respective iRedZone live videos.

Godspeed, SpaceX crew! (Photos by my wife, Lori)
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Congrats to my nephew, Riley Alexander Bennett, on his high school graduation!
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Sunday evening visitor
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Neighborhood stepping up tonight from all directions
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Crap, I’m old
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This is the first time I realized the Post Office that services where I work memorialized my high school classmate, Staff Sgt. Stacey Mastrapa, who was killed in action in Iraq
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Enjoyed assisting a family photo shoot today with this beautiful 1949 Cadillac convertible as a prop
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I Voted! (local elections—sadly not yet time to vote out DeathSantis)
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Happiness is family sharing a dozen different flavors of ice cream
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LEGO challenge—build something you think is at least 100 years old
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Celebrating 10 years
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This is my scene for the day—production for agapeconference.org (hopefully emcee Darren is cool with the photo swipe!)
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Masked friends
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Ambitious Zoom event redux
I had collaborated on an event back in May that streamed participants in Zoom to Facebook and YouTube. My role was managing videos, media, countdowns, etc. It was a huge experiment that came off really well with a couple caveats that we have now worked through. In August, we did it again with even greater success.

A bit of nostalgia
I found a collection of keepsakes tucked away in a box. Left to right, top to bottom: Commemorative belt buckle for the first North American Division Pathfinder Camporee in 1985, held at Camp Hale, Colorado. Commemorative belt buckle for the second NAD Camporee in 1989, held at Mt. Union, Pennsylvania. Commemorative belt buckle for the 1990 Adventist General Session in Indianapolis. My old Malibu Grand Prix license. Ticket to a Baltimore Orioles game that was part of my high school senior class trip. One player hit a foul ball pop fly backward to where our class was sitting and I managed to retrieve that ball from under a bleacher and still have it today. Ticket to the first Michael W. Smith concert I ever attended which was during my Junior year at Andrews University. Ticket to the first Amy Grant concert I ever attended which was during my Senior year at Andrews University.

A reasonably successful first-go using a Taylor egg timer
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My wife, her sister, and their mother took a trip to Texas, so we guys got together for Saturday lunch
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We managed to surprise Lisa with an early birthday gift—the chargers she had been eyeing but couldn't get enough of the same style in one batch
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My young nephews wanted to try coffee for the first time
Worth while to note that Lisa's drink was flavored and sweet. Danny's, on the other hand, was typical coffee flavor.

It's install day for our new production copier with an awesome new booklet finisher
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I have spoken!
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Allow me to introduce our spiffy new SDD full bleed booklet trimmer and square fold finisher—it’s SO awesome!
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Celebrating my mother-in-law’s birthday WHOOOOO happens to love owls—what a hoot!
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I lost horribly in my first time playing Ticket to Ride
I was the yellow pieces. First, I missed 20 points coz stinker Mason (blue) blocked my only chance to reach Calgary from Phoenix. Then I missed another 35 points because the game ended *one* round before I would have completed the final leg of my route from LA to Miami. As such, six-year-old Maddox (red) managed to completely cream me into a distant last place.

I learned today is International Wear Your Summer Camp T-shirt Day—my childhood camper shirts are long gone, as is my 1989 staff shirt, but I do have this seven-year-old 60th anniversary polo
Now, can someone please explain why a day celebrating summer camp is held in November?

Y’all, my egg-peeling game is getting strong (and they were perfectly cooked, too)
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Welcome to adulthood, Meg
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Rinse and Repeat—what have you been busy doing this afternoon?
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The scenery at the spot I found to wait for my wife’s 1½-hour appointment does not suck
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My part of tree trimming is complete; Lori does the ornaments next
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Other than the fact I don’t have any paprika, my first go at making deviled eggs was a success
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Deviled eggs redux—mixed in a little salt as I should have done the first time, and had access to smoked paprika; YUMMO
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My parents visited today for Christmas gift exchange, a little help updating outdoor light fixtures, and yummy lunch
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Revealing my creative wife’s transformation for the front room of the house
This is a 10-second iPhone Night Mode exposure of an otherwise very dimly lit room—basically just the string of lights framing the center window.