Category: Life

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They’re finally fixing the elevator problem!

Sort of.

Elevator under construction

The parking structure near work has elevators at two corners. One set connects every floor, but the other starts at a second floor landing that connects to a flight of steps. That’s not a huge problem for offices, but the structure is also shared with two hotels and an airport shuttle service.

More than once I’ve seen people dragging luggage down the steps, or looking around in confusion trying to figure out how to get to the airport shuttle. On several occasions I’ve pointed out that if you go all the way to the other side of the structure you can take the elevator all the way down. Fortunately, the disabled parking spaces are on the ground floor, but still…

Anyway, one of the office buildings has been under conversion to a hotel over the last year, and they’re almost done. Rooms are furnished, signs are up, a parking turnaround has been built, landscaping is going in…and now they’re going after the elevator.

…But look back up there at the photo. The top of the new column is anchored to the third floor, meaning this elevator only goes up to the second. So if you’ve parked on the fifth floor, you need to take an elevator down to the second, get out, walk around the corner, and take another elevator down to the first.

This seems really inefficient for travelers, but then I suppose it’s more efficient for construction. Maybe it would have been hideously intrusive to extend the existing shafts down another floor. And maybe it wouldn’t have been safe to add an essentially-freestanding seven-floor elevator column.

On a final note: Here’s what that spot looked like last summer.

There are a lot of jacaranda trees in the area, lining the walkways through the business and hotel parks and lining the sidewalks along the street. There are also a lot of these trees, which look so similar that I assumed they were more jacarandas until the first spring I was here, when they bloomed bright yellow instead of light purple. From what I can tell, they’re Tipuana trees, also known as Pride of Bolivia trees, and despite the similarities, they aren’t closely related.

The flowers act the same, though, dropping in thick blankets as spring turns to summer.

Just…somewhere else. Not here.

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I’ve seen several articles lately that offer tips for those whose New Year’s resolutions include reading more books. A common thread: suggestions for what to read, or who to follow to get ideas what to read.

That’s not the problem I have.

I have stacks of books I want to read. The problem is time, not inclination. The problem, I’ve started to realize, is that I want to set aside large blocks of time to read properly, but I don’t have large blocks of time that don’t have something else that needs to be done. That, and overcoming inertia when I’m already distracted by the internet, where all the articles and streams are more suited for short blocks of time (but include a hook at the end to keep you going).

What I need to do is just grab a few pages here and there when I can. It may not be as satisfying as sitting down with a book for an hour or two, but at least I’ll get through it.

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Venus and Mercury

I walked out of the office building this evening and just stopped. There, framed by the treetops along the street and the awning and wall of the next building over, was clearly Venus, which I hadn’t seen in months (since the last time it was visible in the evening), and below it a pinprick that, unless I’m mistaken, was Mercury (which I’ve only ever seen on a handful of occasions). It’s certainly in the right place, and I waited to see if either light would move (there’s an airport literally across the street) before deciding that they were both planets.

A few minutes earlier, Mercury would have been too faint. A few minutes later, it would have been below the trees. Not long after that, Venus would have been too low to see as well.

Update! The next two nights were too cloudy to see anything, but Friday evening I was able to spot them again! You can really see how much Mercury has moved relative to Venus in just three days.

Venus and Mercury 2

Update 2! And here’s the view the following Tuesday, one week after the first shot. I had to move to the left a few feet since they were behind the building now, which is why the light pole is visible this time. In retrospect, I wish I’d snapped it in all three shots, because that way I’d be able to make sure I was presenting them all at the same zoom level. I’ve been eyeballing it, and I think it’s close enough to get the idea across.

Venus and Mercury 3

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Umbrella shadows and reflection

Late afternoon sun reflecting off a decorated window into the shadow of an umbrella.

We went out for frozen yogurt yesterday to celebrate finally putting all the Christmas decorations away, only to find that the shop still had their Halloween decorations up. I didn’t feel quite so bad after that!

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