"I have a mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it." - Groucho Marx

I know this feeling.

My name is hard to hear. When I'm someplace where they ask for my name I inevitably get something like, "I'm sorry?" or if I'm lucky, "Greg???" I think it's the combination of a diphthong (double vowel) and a final g. Lately I've taken to saying "Mac" in hopes of avoiding the confusion. But once again today I got my Starbucks cup with "Matt" written on the side.
Do I look like a Matt??? (no, I'm too tall to be a Matt.)
I think I may start giving them Bill, or Frank.

Working on an old vehicle is like working on an old house; expect issues. I spent an hour this afternoon getting the left front shock absorber off, and ruined two bolts in the process. But a very rusted shock is in the trash and new bolts have been purchased, ready for the new shocks when the chassis is done.

Luke Air Force Base is less than 10 miles from our house and in between here and the school where we meet for church. This weekend Luke is hosting their every-other-year open house, of particular interest this time because the very first F35 is making its debut. At $159 million each it's supposed to be the U.S. fighter plane for the next 30+ years. Luke and all the communities around the base lobbied hard to get the F35 based here because without it Luke might have been closed. Instead local pols are talking about the millions of dollars the F35 will pump into the economy every year.

The skies over our house are going to be noisy this weekend. But we should see some cool planes.

I'd be looking forward to this conference a lot more if it wasn't in Michigan where temps might make it into the 40's. Hearing that we'll be in the mid-80's here all next week doesn't help.
I'm thinking about how I can maximize this week, get the most out of the opportunities available, both formal (conference sessions) and informal (setting up coffee conversations?). It's been almost six months since I got away and we won't go on our camping trip until mid-July, so I need to get the most out of this.

I confess to some senioritis setting in.