40,000 men and women every day

So the current flavor of social media has a section where you can see things that were posted on this day last year, 2 years ago, etc. Most of the time it's fairly benign, often nostalgic, sometimes a good solid memory.

Sometimes it tells you that people are dead.

Not directly, no. I found one such memory from just a few years ago, discussing my move out of Buffalo. Turns out one such conversant was now a memorial page.

I can't tell you how surreal it is to think about the people I personally know that are now dead. There was a wave of funerals in my early 20's, but they were elderly and infirm relatives. Then there was the tragic cancer case (She was only 27) then what seemed like nothing.

Turns out they've all been dying and I had no idea. My 20 year high school reunion last week had a memorial table that was too full for my comfort. Quick google research tells me that 95% of people born in my birth year are still alive.

...dang.

High School Reunion again

Remember this? Just about ten years ago now. Well it happened again, and from the looks of it I didn't miss much.

Twenty years later, I didn't recognize anyone. I also barely remembered any of them. My short list of hopefuls from last time weren't even on the list this time. I admit I wondered if I would be missing out, but that was quickly settled by the pics that flooded the site during and after.

It looked like a room full of strangers. Some of the names were familiar, but that's it.

I stayed in that night and watched cheesy movies with my wife. We stayed up late and made fun of bad screenwriting.

Defensive vacation planning

There is a time and a place where I want to relax and enjoy myself. Where I'm comfortable, where I can party.

That is not with my coworkers.

It's not that I dislike them - far from it. We get along, but there's a bit of a hierarchy that separates us. As such, we're not *really* friends. So when there are work parties (which is really only twice a year), I feel like the freshman alone at the party.

I'm thinking of planning vacations over the same weekends.

Bowman Lake

So I've been camping. It's a thing I do. I take my older sons with me and we disappear for a couple of days, then come back smelling like campfire and... not lemon fresh.

Last year we stayed at Green Lakes state park. It's nearby, which is safe. It also makes it busy - you get a *lot* of people staying there. I always go on Mondays, which always sees smaller crowds, but the camp sites are smooshed together and you get a lot of noisy kids.

This year, I found what is apparently the least well known state park in New York. We were the only people in the tent area.

Only people. We had about 12 camp sites to ourselves. The entire loop was ours.

Of course, going right after everyone spent themselves over the 4th of July didn't hurt, but still. My only regret was not pre-loading the map into my phone, because there was no signal at all. I had to stare at a map like Magellan until my phone finally caught a tower on our way out.

One hundred and sixteen degrees

It's been hot out. It capped off at a hundred, but with the humidity it felt like one sixteen. The thermometer has been in the high 90's for several days.

That's hot for us.

My basement, being complete, is a refuge. There's a solid 25 degree difference between the basement and the bedrooms. I almost feel cold down here.

The humidity is oppressive. I can't swim, never really could. Going from my house to the car required flotation devices.

And then it rained today. The kind of rain that happens when air that's entirely too hot consumes an insane amount of water, then gets pushed upward rapidly by an encroaching cold front.

I couldn't see the end of my car on the drive home, the rain was so heavy.