2025 Week 31-48: Photos

2025-12-02

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Photo of the week (week 31):

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When our ferrets first wake up, they are quite slow, as are most animals. One adorable aspect of their lethargy is that their tongues stick out slightly from their mouths. Mocha displays this trait as she arouses from one of her hammocks.

Photo of the week (week 32):

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Costco is well-known for stocking seasonal items well ahead of time. It's one of the methods by which they receive discounts from suppliers. I was shocked, though, to see wrapping paper and Christmas jewelry tucked into a quiet corner of the warehouse this week. Personally, I have to draw the line at engaging in Christmas consumerism before local summer breaks have ended and outdoor pools are still open.

Photo of the week (week 33):

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My parents are cleaning out their garage this week. Over the years, they've held onto two bicycles they purchased several decades ago, and today they asked me if I wanted to take them. I was especially interested in this Fuji Espree, which belonged to my mother. Next week I'll take it to a local repair shop to be cleaned up.

Photo of the week (week 34):

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I opened a repair ticket with uBreakiFix about my smartphone's shattered camera lens caps back in May. It's now August, they still don't have the parts in, and I'm tired of waiting. I recently bought a bona fide point-and-shoot camera off of Amazon, and it arrived in the mail the week. I was rather impressed with the photos it took out of the box.

Photo of the week (week 35):

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Our first butternut squash came form the garden this week. At least two more that will be ready for harvest in about a month's time. Surprisingly, this gourd is bigger than many of the squash I see for sale at the nearby grocery store, so I'm rather proud of how it turned out. We'll likely make a soup or roasted squash with this.

Photo of the week (week 36):

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Our family visited the Kansas City Renaissance Festival this weekend. One of our favorite stores is a pottery shop that also sells stickers, posters and other art. While some other shops at the festival are fairly basic, this store goes all out with English decoration. This little corner was particularly aesthetic to me.

Photo of the week (week 37):

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My mother has lots of old electronics, perhaps most notable of which is a very old DOS PC with a 5.25-inch floppy drive. She also has several boxes full of such floppies. A few months ago, I bought a Greaseweazle magnetic flux floppy reader to dump the collection of disks. This week I finally had a chance to come over and try the dumper. Unfortunately, most of the disks are in Apple II format, which this drive does not read correctly.

Photo of the week (week 38):

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I like playing pinball, and I often go to local pinball arcades with a friend. This week we went to one I'd never been to before, featuring lots of old and obscure machines as well as popular classics. This Star Wars table was set up for tournament play, displaying the player's score on a nearby TV to the rest of the contestants.

Photo of the week (week 39):

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This week I participated in ROOPHLOCH for the second year in a row. I've already written a dedicated log entry about how my ROOPHLOCH post came together, and that entry included some photos of various attempts to get my mobile ground station to work. This is the setup that ultimately worked the way I wanted it to.

Photo of the week (week 40):

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I want to train up for a charity cycling ride next year. To do so, I particularly need to build up my endurance, because I very rarely ride for distances longer than about 10 miles. This week I went on a ride that covered just over 18 miles, which is the longest I've ever ridden without significant breaks in the middle. This photo of my odometer commemorates the event.

Photo of the week (week 41):

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This week Kansas City's Union Station celebrated the 250th anniversary of the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Lots of displays and events took place there, and we visited for a short time to check it out. This model of the USS Constitution impressed me due to the level of detail. It uses a piece of wood from the real ship, and it was assembled without using any glue or nails.

Photo of the week (week 42):

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This weekend we were in Omaha, in the US state of Nebraska. My sister was with us, and she told us about a store called Hollywood Candy. While the name implies a simple confectionery, it also contained a thrift shop, an arcade, a '50s-style diner, a small toy and candy museum, and even a miniature movie theater. The building was packed with memorabilia as far as the eye could see. This photo show just one room in the labyrinthine shop.

Photo of the week (week 43):

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As part of some last-minute preparations for Halloween, we went to a pumpkin patch this weekend to get carving pumpkins. I love trudging through the muddy fields, surrounded by gourds of all shapes and sizes, poring over each one to make my selection--it's a big Halloween tradition for us. Of course, I also take several photos, and I like how this one turned out the best.

Photo of the week (week 44):

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This week, we visited a coffee shop near Kansas City that also sold baked goods and various gifts. While waiting for our order, we spotted this elaborate wood cutting on the wall. Each strand of wood is a city street, forming a lattice that creates a map of downtown. The intricacy of the cut astounded us.

Photo of the week (week 45):

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My morning routine now includes cycling around various places before work. Near the end of one such ride, I needed to cross a set of railroad tracks to get back to my car. A very long freight train was stopped in the middle of the crossing, and I couldn't get by. Fortunately, I'd brought my company laptop with me, and I simply connected to my smartphone's hotspot and logged in to work while waiting for the train to pass.

Photo of the week (week 46):

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I continue to be impressed with the color fidelity of my point-and-shoot camera. Perhaps it's because I don't buy flagship smartphones anymore, but I love it when a photo comes out particularly striking. This deep purple sunset, captured on the way to an appointment this week, is unaltered apart from resizing and the application of dithering.

Photo of the week (week 47):

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With the modern proliferation of smartphones in our world, payphones have now almost completely vanished. I happened to visit a conference center this weekend, and while I was there, I discovered this wall of divided booths in the back corner. It's clear that telephones were once mounted here, but they've since been removed, leaving only a set of metal cubbies behind. The sight saddened me a little bit.

Photo of the week (week 48):

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My wife loves to cook, and that means Thanksgiving is one of her favorite holidays. Even though we didn't have a large family gathering this year, she still went all-out on preparing gravy, stuffing, sides and desserts. My parents also brought a few dishes, further adding to the immense cache of food. We'll be eating leftovers from this meal for weeks.

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[Last updated: 2025-12-02]