Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

We have had a dry spring weather-wise this year. But now Mother Nature is making up for it. There was flooding on what we call "The Connector" in Atlanta. The connector is both I 75 and I 85 running through downtown. Needless to say it is a very large artery. The forecast looks like it will be rain for about 10 days. Here is a rare picture with at least a piece of each car in the current fleet. It is too many vehicles. It takes too much attention for all the care and feeding. The Humvee goes on display today. Maybe an interested party will buy. Jewel the Turkish Angora enjoying nature

Yes, it is election day in Georgia. We have Early voting but today is the official voting day. From what I saw at the poles and the lines at the early-voting polls, turnout has been very high. I like to put the flag out on Election Day. Gracie doesn't care.

MARTA is the mass transit train system in Atlanta. They just upgraded the ticketing system. It was totally free for about 6 weeks, no ticket kiosks, or need for tickets, just walk through the turnstiles ... crazy stupid. I have sworn off using Marta several times and I still find myself back on it... We have been ridiculed, and been made very uncomfortable and worried about our safety a number of times. But it continues to be the best option getting to and from the ATL airport. I take the train from Doraville to the Airport. The entire length of the Gold Line. The city (I guess) is trying to get MARTA a bit more orderly before the FIFA events in Atlanta this year. They have a lot of work to do. Although I saw a few more security/MARTA Police and quasi security foilks, the same crazy bullshit is still happening. It is home to people who want to stay cool or get warm during the operaing hours. It's not a place to be... its a place to travel. The unmedicated mentally ill folks se...

I am continuing with the soft launch of wisdomino (wis-do-mino). My partners and I are consulting in the Technical Information space. We have some really cool, gamechanging apps we are testing, sharing and getting feedback. I attended a Association of Equipment Manufacturers meeting in Milwaukee. Very good event.

I am back from my most recent roadtrip. I loaded up the Tesla and started letting the hands-off Full Self Drive (FSD) supervised take me to points North. First stopping in a campground in Tennesee and up to Pittsburgh for the CIDM Convex Conference (which was the best conference in years). There was a celebration of the 20 years of DITA XML. I was an earlier adopter. My presentation went well and I semi-stealth launched wisdomino. I demo'd some extra cool software we developed and will be selling in weeks to come. It's truely game changing. Of course, there will be much more than that to come. After that it was on to Franklin, PA. to meet with some colleagues in the mining division and onto the farm stopping in Olean NY for the night. I am pretty sure it was the first time I had driven across the entire Allegany National Forest. I ended up driving through the very dark forest expanse during a night time thunderstorm. Although I normally trust the Tesla FSD on the Interstat...

It seems like the last couple weeks is about broken stuff. Angie was rear ended on her way to work. The car is broken. The refrigerator also decided to croak. Trying to catch up, gain back lost ground. We have a new car, very similar to the rudely smashed up car. I had it shipped from Texas. Also have a new a new fridge and backup freezer and fridge. Spring is very sprung. The pollen seems worse that usual this year. In Atlanta we complain about the traffic and the pollen, neither one is really as bad as we say.