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Stardate: 20190125.13h09
Virtual Location: USS Nostradumbass NCC-1541-D
Physical Location: Picnic table @ park near my house.
Input device: Surface RT w/ LCARS Interface
Audio: Enterprise Bridge Sequence, chirping birds, rumble of
the freeway off in the distance.
Energy: 65%
Mental: 70%
Emotional State: Grounded.  "All of my neurons are
functioning smoothly yet still I'm a cyborg just like you!"

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I just finished practicing my guitar for the past hour in the
woods at the place that I like to call, "Sanctuary."  It is
this place off of this trail that goes outside the park and
up the mountain.  There is a cluster of oak trees growing in
different directions and a place to sit as well as place my
tablet with my sheet music.  Not too many people walk there,
especially today around noon.  I saw no one.  Just me, some
birds, some squirrels, the trees, nature.  I feel very
grounded right now.

The axe I brought with me is my Martin Backpacker Travel
Guitar.  I usually keep it in my trunk for practice during
lunch or any free time when I am out and about.  Since I was
walking to the park, I slung it on my back, along with my
tablet, and headed on out walking around in the woods.

Being in the woods, I am reminded of this game I've been
playing way too much over the past... year or so?  It's
called The Forest.  It's a survival/crafting type game.
Basically, you are were on a plane with your son that crashes
in a forest filled with crazy cannibal cults and mutated
monsters from some lab or something (?). Well, I haven't
completed the game and just have fun building stuff,
exploring, and fighting cannibals and mutants.  I used to get
all creeped out when I first started playing, especially at
night with headphones.  I can get really sucked into games
like that so I usually set a timer for myself.  I used to
play Minecraft with my kids when that came out... God only
knows how much time I spent in that world.  At least with
games from Steam, you can see how much time you have spent...
which might not necessarily be a good thing (tm).

This park with my guitar brings back an unfortunate and
embarrassing memory from a couple years ago.  I wanted to be
more mobile with my travel guitar and not risk damage to the
instrument, so I thought that it would be a good idea to look
for a hard case for it.  The case that came with the guitar
was flimsy and not adequate.  I checked around for cases, but
there were none available for the guitar size.  What I ended
up doing was picking up a cheap hard shell rifle case from
the sporting goods store.  It had foam inserts that I was
able to cut into the shape of the guitar and have extra room
for accessories.  It worked out great!

One Saturday morning, I took my guitar in the new case to the
park to practice at this cluster of rocks under some oak
trees.  This area was by the dog park.  I set up and started
practicing.  I had noticed that there was a couple police
cars that pulled into the parking lot.  I thought nothing of
this.  Next thing I know, I see a couple police officers
carefully   approaching me from opposite directions.  One
yelled out from a distance inquiring what is in the case.
The case was leaned up against one of the rocks and the
guitar was around my shoulder.  I said that there was nothing
inside and that it was my guitar case.  The other officer got
on the radio and the one who inquired eased up and approached
me, asking to look in the case.  I said sure and he found it
empty.  Apparently, someone from the dog park said that there
was a sniper at the park with an ammo can.  They had mistaken
my olive drab 3-ring binder with my sheet music as an ammo
can.  The rifle case, being what it is typically for, was
understandable.  By then, there were all these dog owners
looking in our direction.  How embarrassing!
NOSTRADUMBASS!!!  I quickly apologized for causing alarm and
gathered up my things to leave after they took my
information.  Since then, I keep the hard case at home and
take the flimsy case out and about.

This device I am writing this is a Surface RT tablet that I
received as part of SQL Admin training for work a few years
ago.  I mostly use it for my sheet music these days and also
the LCARS Interface.[1]  Man, I love this GUI!  I think it's
the only app I purchased for this device and I still use it
quite a bit.  It's nice to have other choices of editors
every now and then.  This one is more immersive.  I feel like
I'm in Star Trek, especially with the bridge sounds.  It has
all of these functions that are built into the interface,
like the Log Editor I am currently writing in, clock,
calculator, media player, file manager, weather, image
viewer, "holo cam (camera)," eBook reader, and PDF reader.
All LCARS themed!  And that is only the apps section.  It
also has a ship section where you can control the ship,
transport the away team, and dump the warp core, etc., and
there is also a simulator/game.  I'm not sure if this is
available for Windows 10 or other devices, but I still use it
in RT.  I should visit the developer's website again.  [2]

It's kinda weird doing LCARS and Star Trek like this in the
park.[3]  Let's just pretend that I'm part of the away team,
sitting at the picnic table guarding the cloaked and hijacked
Klingon Bird of Prey, waiting for the rest of the away team
to get back here with those sheets of transparent aluminum.

Anyhow, I should get back to the lab.  Adventures in
computing awaits!

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