So Far, So Good

10:15 Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 14.72°F Pressure: 1028hPa Humidity: 58% Wind: 11.16mph
Words: 374

Fixing the marmot gives me something to do in the morning in lieu of doom-scrolling. I think I've got every January in the archive fixed now. Discovered that I had somehow re-exported January 2024 with the corrupted dates, and uploaded it to the server. I'm going to try to remedy that now.

We went to a middle school robotics exhibition or program yesterday evening. Our neighbors home-school their children, but they involve them in a lot of community activities. There isn't a lot of STEM emphasis in the local school district, so some teachers have taken it upon themselves to create extracurricular activities with a STEM focus, one of which is the high school robotics team. We met the coaches last night.

They've been trying to get middle-schoolers engaged, because it's easier to interest them early, before they encounter all the distractions of high school. These middle-school parents, home-schoolers and public alike, stepped up and created a team, and last night was the culmination of this year's effort.

There are organized competitions, but since this was their first year they decided they wanted to give a presentation for the experience, rather than compete.

I was impressed with what they accomplished, and learned that they're resource challenged. I haven't been doing a lot of "giving" since we moved here, partly to save money for the new house, but also to discover what organizations I'd like to support. This is one of the first. I'm going to give them $500 to help them get their equipment updated. There are also entry fees, the yearly "challenge" setup and so on, so $500 won't underwrite the whole effort, but it should give them a significant leg up.

The kids were great, and it was nice meeting the high school coaches. They tried to rope me into volunteering, but I said I served my time as a den leader and assistant scoutmaster. I'm happy to support them financially; but I'm not sure I have the emotional resources to cope with a weekly group encounter with middle-school energy. It's probably a character deficiency, but I'd rather cheer them on from the sidelines than get in the trenches with them.

The beat goes on...