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December 17, 2023 (Sunday)

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was sunny and unseasonably warm, today not so much. A large storm i heading its way to New England. On this day I decided to get ready for Christmas and write this journal entry.

FOMO

I was in Cape Cod when my kids told me that I had a case of FOMO. It stands for “Fear of missing out”. I was lamenting not being able to participate in every activity that they had planned. It happened again yesterday. I received an email telling me that they missed me at the monthly Dunn State Park music jam. This is one of my favorite venues. The jams are held in the visitors center which overlooks a pond. It has a fireplace and great acoustics. I hadn’t marked it on my calendar. I have the FOMO blues.

Dunn State Park visitor center
Visitor center at Dunn State Park in Gardner, MA

Green Center Cameras

The Green Center was open on Saturday, the last “shopping” day of the year. I stopped in to say hello and browse around. I found two point and shoot cameras. I don’t need another camera but I was curious to see if they still worked. They were similar in size and specs to my very first digital camera, a Canon A80 that I bought in 2004. That one cost me almost $200. Times have changed, nobody wanted these.

It is easy to see why these are becoming obsolete. The Sony uses a “Memory Stick Duo Pro” card instead of the more common SD cards. It also has a proprietary USB connector. The Nikon has a USB plug which is different than the dozen other ones I own. It is easy to see why people use their phones to take photos. I was not deterred by these setbacks. A USB cable and Memory Stick adapter were fairly cheap, so I ordered them. My two “free” cameras now have a cost. We’ll see how they fare in the coming weeks.

Clean Water

I’m happy I cleaned the gunk and algae from the bird bath yesterday. The bluebirds were around all day drinking clean water.

Daily Picture Theme –

I served with the Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 1 during the Vietnam War. The mission was search and rescue for downed pilots during flight operations from carriers. Frank Chupko and I lived on the beach in Imperial Beach, California until it came our time to deploy to Vietnam. I was on the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard and Frank was on the USS Oriskany. Frank was a rescue crewman and I was a technician. Because we were on different ships I didn’t learn until much later that Frank was involved in a sea rescue. It was quite the feat. This is the account.

Frank Chupko
Frank Chupko enjoys a cigar and takes in some sun outside our apartment at Imperial Beach, CA during our Navy Service.

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