Greg's Horrible Waste of Internet Bandwidth

 On the 1979 Wichita Falls TX Tornado Lightly edited, as published on social media, my web site, and in the 2011 book, "47 Miles"   On April 10, 1979 I was a freshman in high school and an amateur photographer and weather buff. The storms had been brewing to the west all day (typical April afternoon weather in that part of the country) so I hurried up with my paper route and ran home and climbed onto the roof to watch the weather.   For reference, look at that map linked below ; our house was right on the north edge of the green band, right at the “H” in "Western Hills". Our house happened to be pretty much at the current most-west edge of town - there was almost no development to the west except for some factories far off - so I had an unobstructed view of the prairie/scrub land that direction. I was watching to the west as the storm rolled through, clouds low, black, and harsh, and it seemed like the far back edge of the storm was about to move past us a...

On (P)retirement Someone asked me the other day why I decided not to go back to work at age 60. "How did you get there? What planning did you do for early retirement?" My answer was simple: there was no real planning, it just happened. A little backstory. Most of my close friends wouldn’t be surprised that I have a fairly checkered history in IT, bouncing between jobs. I got a Bachelor's in MechE in Texas (after realizing my eyesight disqualified me for Navy aviation) and then an engineering job right out of university. It was an OK job but career success suffered from my being constantly distracted by my fixation on amateur motorsports (convinced I would soon enough convert that to a professional motorsports career...right). That distraction eventually led to a layoff about three years later followed by a Sisyphean (and frankly ridiculous) chase for racing success in Connecticut (that’s  a longer story ). But that brief stint in a large corporation also re-introduced me ...

I kinda enjoyed last year's " 2024 Year in Review " so I figured I'd try a 2025 version...  2025 Highlights... Life:  Well, I stayed "pre-tired" in 2025; hell, I didn't even look for work at all. It's kind of boring - I do need to get out and be more productive - but it seems I work hardest at trying not to work hard... Again, though, if something juicy pops up then I'll certainly consider it, but I don't have any motivation to go looking for it. In January, the VITA tax prep thing started up again and this time they not only made me a site coordinator they also put me on their steering committee..."no good deed" and all that. Fantastic program, well worth the time and effort. Volunteer to assist, if you're so inclined (you'll get trained). In May we both enjoyed a nice week in Cancun, courtesy of a German fraternal organization I belong to (its annual convention and I am a delegate). Cancun is neat but I think we enjoye...