My online persona (which is the same persona I am IRL) is a man who loves three things: technology, his wife and social justice. I mention all three of those things with some frequency, although tech is the only thing I do much consistent long form writing about. Aside from an occasional blog post, my political discourse is usually in the form of memes or micro-posts of 300 words or fewer. I'm often speaking to an audience of fellow travelers, rather than trying to convert Hitler's children. I don't expect many conservative people to even read what I write unless we established a relationship around something else that is strong enough to survive my low opinion of the MAGA crowd.

Mastodon is where I spend most of my social media time, having made nearly 6,500 posts since I joined in January. I cross post most of what I write to Facebook, Bluesky and Threads since I want to promote my writing to as big an audience as I can. I've been on Facebook for 16 years. I stay there mostly to keep in touch with family, although I have numerous friends because of a viral post I had in 2017. It's a horrible place run by a horrible man. I acknowledge that. I hope that Bluesky continues to grow. It's a good place to interact with people outside the advanced tech and blogging crowd that I've met on Mastodon. I joined Threads on the first day, like 18 million other people. I spend very little time there because I don't like the algorithm. The posts I see are not interesting to me, and I don't have the time and energy to do much more than cross post there.

Today, I made an observation about Elon Musk's growing influence over the Republican Party. He threatened a group of Republican House members if they supported a bi-partisan bill that the Speaker had agreed to that would have ended the budget stand-off. The bill contained disaster relief funds that are much needed in my home state, NC, which received $16 Billion is damage from a hurricane in October. What I wrote touched a nerve on both Meta platforms, and I had hundreds of people react and comment on it. 

Here's what I said — Elon Musk took actions yesterday that cancelled Hurricane Helene relief for Western North Carolina.

I got lots of support because as I said, most MAGAts long ago should have ignored me because of the vitriol I throw in their direction. Surprisingly, though, there were still plenty of offended people who Meta thought needed to read Lou Plummer's take on the Washington cesspool today.

Their posts were just about all the same:

• Nothing in Washington is Trump's fault because he hasn't taken office yet.

• I made the whole thing up, and Musk did no such thing.

• I am an idiot who believes what is reported by the media.

What was much worse were the nasty comments from Democrats who live in safe blue states. These people seem to think that 100% of the citizens of red states have Trump flags in their yards. They said things like:

• It serves NC right because they voted for him

• I hope NC likes what they caused. I have no sympathy for any of them.

What the hell? NC voted for Obama in 2008. We have a had a Democratic governor for the last eight years and just elected another one. The same goes for the attorney general's office and other statewide races. A lot of what has happened here is due to gerrymandering and voter suppression. Our GOP controlled legislature has passed numerous laws that have been overturned in the courts and backtracked on others, like the nation's first bathroom bill that cost the state billions of dollars in lost revenue because of boycotts.

There are people who somehow think they have progressive values, yet have no sympathy or feelings of solidarity with those of us fighting the good fight in southern and rural states. I was mocked and ridiculed by them today, and it stung a bit. I don't give a shit what any Republican thinks of me, but I expected more from the stereotypical coastal elites than I got today. Not to belittle a point, but there is truly a difference between a progressive and a liberal. Today was not a good day for one of those groups.

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One of the best parts of December is the variety of "Best of" lists. Here are collections for TV shows, movies, podcasts, books and albums. Enjoy!

Television

• Best TV Shows 2024: 'Lioness,' 'Shrinking' and More
• The 25 best TV shows of 2024
• Best TV Shows This Year - Metacritic

Movies

• The 50 Best Movies of 2024, According to IndieWire Critics Poll
• Best Movies to Stream at Home (2024) | Rotten Tomatoes
• The 40 Best Movies of 2024

Podcasts

• The Very Best Podcasts of 2024
• The Best Podcasts of 2024 | The New Yorker
• Top Best Individual Episode: Podcasts | The Webby Awards

Books

• The Best Books of 2024 | Best Books of the Year | Barnes & Noble®
• The Best Books of 2024 | The New Yorker
• Best of 2024 | Kirkus Reviews

Albums

• Best of 2024 | Kirkus Reviews
• The 50 best albums of 2024: The Guardian
• The Best 100 Albums of 2024
  
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I'm in much need of a mental health day or two away from the world. Living with a bipolar disorder diagnosis for nearly 40 years has given me the insight into my own thought patterns, feelings and behavior to recognize what's going on with myself and to take action. It starts with vague, uneasy, paranoid feelings. "Why is everyone mad at me?" (They actually aren't. It just feels that way) Then I feel a deep sadness and isolation for no apparent reason. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, becomes difficult. I dread having to speak to anyone. For many years, up to the end of 2008, I medicated these feelings with the help of distilleries and breweries and the occasional pot dealer, but I put that behind me finally and for the past 16 years, I've dealt with the black dog on my own.

I'm from the pre-Prozac generation, who had to endure old-fashioned tricyclic anti-depressants with all their many side effects back in the 80s. Modern psychotropic meds have come a long way. I've taken a whole catalog of them over the years and these days I have what my doc calls a poly-pharmacy that has few side effects, isn't addictive and is readily available from just about any druggist. Despite meds though, I still have weird mood swings and feelings that are a product of haywire brain chemistry rather than the events going on around me. The reality is that I have a low stress life, no financial pressure to speak of, no real enemies or resentments, an easy job and a good home life. That's why it is so maddening to feel so low. There is nothing to fix.

Experience tells me that this too shall pass, as long as it isn't the start of a downward spiral, and this doesn't feel like that. I still have an interest in plenty of meaningful things. I'm still functional enough. My current mood is conveniently happening right before a long scheduled break from work. It's a time when I will have almost no responsibilities. I'll be able to get plenty of rest. The only person I'll have to deal with will be the one I love the most. All of that is good.

I'm sorry that I don't have anything that interesting to share today. I'm struggling, but I will be OK.

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There is a recent trend among certain prominent individuals to discourage young people from attending college. Politicians with Ivy League Educations who have children attending Ivy League schools via legacy admissions shamelessly stand in front of the cameras and tell the rest of us to send our kids to trade school or have them go join the military. And, if we absolutely have to send them to school, whatever we do, we should not let them study the humanities. It's STEM only for today's boys and girls.

First the facts - attending college is good for you in very measurable ways.

College graduates live an average of eight years longer than people who only graduated high school

Life expectancy gap in America widens depending on college education

Lifetime earnings are dramatically higher for college graduates. The gap starts in your 20s and increases exponentially over your lifetime.

Is college worth it? Yes, according to this Fed data

Why do politicians discourage people from going to college?

Why do so many Republicans hate college? - The Washington Post

Why Politicians Don’t Want Students to Think

Is it working? Are fewer people attending

College enrollment is falling at a ‘concerning’ rate, new data reveals | US universities | The Guardian

OK, we've established why it's good for people, but why has the cost of education increased at a greater rate than inflation in general?

Inflation affects the price of everything—including a college education

I'm a high school student who wants to ignore all that stuff and skip college. Help me convince my parents.

51 Successful People Who Didn't Go to or Finish College

Full disclosure - I did not attend college, but even I know what that's cost me since 1983.

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The power structure in America has a lot invested in the people being continually afraid and craving protection. The people of this country put up with half our tax dollars going to military related spending or to service debt on previous military spending. It's framed as “defense” spending as if we are continually under so much of a threat that we must spend as much on our military as the rest of the world put together. When we do go to war, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, we incur debts our grandchildren will still be paying off for little noticeable safety or increase in quality of life.

We also put up with squadrons of militarized police who enjoy near immunity for taking civilian lives, particularly minority lives. All they have to do is claim to have feared for their life over the toy your child was holding, and they can and do escape justice. We build prisons with money that could be used for schools. Politicians from both parties but these days primarily Republicans tell blatant lies about the crime rates to get elected and then rob social services to hire more cops and put more people in prison.

Americans buy environmentally unfriendly SUVs because they think them to be safer than cars that get better gas mileage. The home alarm industry is thriving as people pour money into unreliable and easily defeated systems to keep out the bad guys. We throw out perfectly edible food because of arbitrary and misunderstood dates stamped on the can. Large sections of the population are now resisting vaccines because they are afraid of some unspecified and unproven boogeyman.

The more afraid the ruling class can convince us to be, the more they can make themselves look goof by promising to protect us. The more money they can steer towards their cronies in the defense industries, the more they can consolidate power through quid pro quo donations and kickbacks. Where does it end?

It permeates into everyday life. Most American workers, especially in non-unionized workplaces live fearing arbitrary layoffs or discipline without due process. Productivity and forward progress is often stymied by workers who fear making a decision for fear of “getting in trouble.” There are entire workplace cultures built around "cover your ass” practices that add nothing to the mission or the bottom line.

Conservatives tell those who are the most privileged in society, white, Christian affluent citizens that their way of life is threatened by, you guessed it, non-white, non-Christian, non-affluent people. They demonize the immigrants who pick our food, build our homes and work in our factories with lies about their criminality and cost to society.

I'm so sick of it. I've felt real fear, the kind you feel when you think someone is going to do great violence to you. It's a horrible, shameful, emasculating feeling that can, in just a few moments, alter your entire life. I never want to feel that again and ever since I had that experience, I've tried not to let fear of any kind be a feeling associated with my self-identity. I'm not afraid of immigrants or terrorists or gangs of crazed criminals or of getting fired because I didn't get the boss's permission to do X. I reject all of that. I choose to live in a world where I believe we can solve the problems we face with something besides cruise missiles, more cops and restricting the rights of whole classes of people.

The ruling class better be careful. The scare tactics are working today, but in all of human history, no society has remained as subjugated as ours is becoming without the pitchforks coming out in the end. We are developing a societal case of PTSD based on the lies we have been fed and the results will not be pretty.

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In the modern age, it takes a real strategy to protect yourself from invasive mega-corporations who want to track you, bad actors on the malware front and in your face non-stop advertising. Whatever tools you choose have to balance with usability because we all have work we have to get done.

Next DNS

The classic uBlock Origin ad blocker was deprecated by Google Chrome in favor of a less powerful Light version. With the ever-increasing need for security ,Mac users have the option of downloading the NextDNS configuration app from the Mac App Store and setting up a free account with the enhanced DNS server. If you aren't into acronyms, DNS stands for dynamic name service and it is what translates IP addresses into the URLs we use to name websites. You can use a special DNS service to block malware, ads, trackers and other unwanted traffic from ever reaching your computer by using one.

NextDNS is free for up to 300,000 queries a month, and you can use the same account on multiple computers, mobile devices and your router. It works on Macs and PCs, iPhones and Android devices - on anything that allows you to enter your network settings. If you have a large household and require a paid account, it is just $1.99 a month.

Technically speaking, you don't even have to use the app. NextDNS can automatically generate a profile for you to use on your Mac and mobile devices and if you have the right kind of router, you can set it up without having to make ANY modifications to your computer.

NextDNS Features

• Ads and Trackers - currently blocking 119,372 addresses
• Block domains known to distribute malware, launch phishing attacks and host command-and-control servers using a blend of the most reputable threat intelligence feeds -- all updated in real-time.
• Block malware and phishing domains using Google Safe Browsing -- a technology that examines billions of URLs per day looking for unsafe websites. Unlike the version embedded in some browsers, this does not associate your public IP address to threats and does not allow bypassing the block.
• Prevent the unauthorized use of your devices to mine cryptocurrency.
• Block domains that impersonate other domains by abusing the large character set made available with the arrival of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) -- e.g. replacing the Latin letter "e" with the Cyrillic letter "е".
• Block domains registered by malicious actors that target users who incorrectly type a website address into their browser -- e.g. gooogle.com instead of google.com.
• Block Parked Domains
• Block any Top Level Domain
• Block Newly Registered Websites
• Block CSAM
• Optional Parental controls for YouTube, Safe Search, Time-based rules, specific apps, websites and games

Sign up here

Nord VPN

My next level of protection starts with my VPN choice, Nord. I run Nord on all my devices, Macs, iPhones, iPads and Apple TV. I don't have a compatible router, but it can be installed on ones that are. Nord has many security features including a malicious URL blocker, web tracker blocker, ad blocker, URL trimmer and a DNS filter to block ads and malicious domains before they reach my device.

Little Snitch Firewall

Little Snitch from Objective Development is truly the most configurable consumer oriented firewall for the Mac platform. The Little Snitch Network Monitor shows you where your Mac connects to on the Internet. You decide what you want to allow or deny. If an app has no need to access the Internet, you can cut off its access. It's easy to use and configure and as a bonus, you can download and install preconfigured block lists from several sources to make your computer safe.

Other firewall options are Lulu from Objective-See and Lockdown Privacy Desktop, which is what I install on my Mom's Mac because it is set it and for get it.

Block-Block for Realtime Protection

BlockBlock monitors common persistence locations and alerts whenever a persistent component is added. It alerts you whenever something is installed and you can decide whether to allow that or block it. It's a free product. You can get more features in the paid version of MalwareBytes or use their free scanner that must be run manually.

uBlock Origin Lite for Browser-Based Protection

There are many factors that go into making a selection of what browser to use. I use Vivaldi's built-in ad and tracker blocking along with uBlock Origin Lite multi-spectrum content blocker plugin to block ads, trackers, malicious URLs and more. Among the most security conscious Mac users who don't need to use a Chromium browser, it is generally accepted that Firefox with uBlock Origin provides the best experience.

These products all work together to provide as safe an environment as I feel I can craft on my Mac. If you have ideas for improvement, please contact me.

Testing

You can use these three sites to check the effectiveness of your security setup.

Test Ad Block - Toolz

AdBlock Tester: test your AdBlock extensions

eXtreme Test - Can You Block It ?

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For new users, Drafts Pro is 50% off the first year.

Drafts was the first app I installed when I became interested in iOS and Mac automation. The power users of the world explained it to me as the universal quick capture app for my phone. I was advised to always enter text into Drafts no matter where I eventually wanted it to end up. I dutifully put it into my dock, and it's been there ever since. In this post, I'm going to go over eight different ways I use Drafts. It's important to note that it pays off to give it a prominent place in your iOS sharing setting for ease of use. On macOS it should show up in the share settings by default.

1. Copy to Obsidian Inbox

I am all in on Obsidian the massively popular note's app with a robust 1600+ plugin architecture. It does a lot of things amazing well but mobile quick capture is not one of them. To solve that, I use this Drafts action which saves the text to the default save location in my vault and uses the first line of the text as the note title/file name. I use a couple of other Drafts to Obsidian actions including Add to Obsidian Daily Note and Add to Daily Note Plus which add text to my daily note in different ways using a time stamp and a geolocation.

2. The Things 3, Fantastical, Day One Combo

The Quick Journaling Action Group lets me keep one running note that I can process at day's end to send the individual lines as entries into Fantastical, Things 3 and Day One.

• Lines starting with "-" are collected and sent to Day One as a journal entry
• Lines starting with "⁎" are sent to Things inbox
• Lines starting with "@" are sent to Fantastical

3. Things Parser

Using Task Paper syntax I can create a note in Drafts complete with due dates, areas, projects and tags that get correctly imported into the Things 3 task manager using the Things Parser. I use this with a Drafts template to create daily and weekly checklists for reoccurring tasks. I also use the action group, Things for Things which includes actions for:

• Inbox
• Today
• This Evening
• Tomorrow
• Pick date
• Work
• House
• Personal
• Pick a Project
• Make a Project
• Selection to things
• Bunch of todos
• Process notes from
• Prompt for new task

4. Mail to Evernote

Yep, I still use Evernote for some tasks. Old habits die hard. Evernote eliminated AppleScript a while back and their API has become more and more problematic , but one feature they still support and that works equally well on iOS and macOS is the mail to Evernote feature and this Drafts action accomplishes that without you ever having to use your mail client.

5. Micro.blogging

This blog is hosted by Micro.blog and I can create entries in Drafts and have them posted online by running an action. I use the action Post to Micro.blog with Title by the great blogger Matt Birchler.

6. OMG.LOL Status

I am a big fan of the almost indescribable web community at OMG.LOL. One of the fun features there is a status board you can share with other members, post on your website and cross-post to Mastodon (where all the cool kids hang out). The OMG.LOL Status action does it all.

7. Run Shortcut to Save to Thoughts Inspiration Manager

One of my favorite things to do online is to collect quotes from various sources, I save my quotes in an app called Thoughts Inspiration Manager. I don't have a Drafts action to write directly to Thoughts but it doesn't matter because I have a Shortcut that does. I just need to run the Drafts shortcut action explained in the user guide.

8. Personal Assistant

Drafts can serve as an interface with OpenAI by using the Personal Assistant action. (using your own API key) It's a helpful action to run when you know you are going to use the AI generated text in another app. This action allows the user to get an AI-assisted response to a prompt:

1. The user is prompted to enter input, which can be pasted from the clipboard or manually entered.
2. The input is then sent to the OpenAI API, and the response is inserted into the current draft 3 lines after the cursor.
3. If there is no selected text in the draft, the user is asked if they would like to use text from the clipboard. If the prompt is canceled or the input is empty, the action cancels.
4. If there is no response from the API, the output is set to "No reply received."

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When Wonder Woman and I were a new couple, we lived in a house with a pool in the yard. In case you didn't know, pools are a giant PIA. One day, the pump just quit working. It wasn't all that old, but it seems that few things last very long anymore. In situations like that, my inclination is to make phone calls, to a plumber, a pool guy or a general handyman, until I can find someone to come resolve my problem. My wife's mind does not work like mine. She inspected the pump, got the specs, ordered a replacement overnight from Amazon, and the next day, she installed it be herself. She is a CPA by trade, and I don't think they teach that in accounting school. 

I was a lot handier early in life when I could not afford to hire people to fix things. I let those skills atrophy when I finally made enough money to pay someone else to relieve me of the burden of handyman duty. Computers are the only thing I enjoy working on. Wonder Woman uses some of her vices as tools to get things done. She is not known for her patience. One of the reasons she is so quick to repair plumbing and electrical issues is that when she takes care of those things, it eliminates having to wait on someone else's schedule. Although she is generally friendly and personable, she is a true introvert. Having a stranger in the house who might talk to her or ask her questions is one of her least favorite things on the planet. In the entire time we have been married, she has never answered the door when I was home. That is my job and I don't really mind.

There's just the two of us at home, and the division of labor falls more heavily on her than it does on me. I am responsible for cooking dinner. Cooking is one of my talents and enjoyable when I have the time. . Since I went back to work, however, we have been eating things that can be prepared quickly. We used a meal service, one of those that mails you food, for a while, but it eventually became repetitive. I've promised to go back to cooking from scratch when I retire for good. I am also responsible for the yard, which at one time meant that I mowed it once a week, but now means that I am the one to write the check to Juan, our yard guy. He needs to get Venmo!

I help fold clothes. Sometimes. I unload the dishwasher. Occasionally. We have a housekeeping service in a couple of times a month and I sort of help straighten up before they come. Mostly, I am spoiled. Wonder Woman moves fast and in the span of time it takes me to figure out how to do most things, she has already done them. It isn't weaponized incompetence on my part. She is just faster at doing everything than anyone else around her. It doesn't matter what the task is or who the other parties are. On group bike rides full of alpha males from all walks of life, when someone has a flat tire, she's the one who usually changes everyone's tube for them. She is just good like that.

She doesn't even like me to fix her IT problems unless it is something truly devilish. I've only been doing computer support for 30 years. She'd rather get mad and scare her laptop into acting right than she would hand it to me so I can figure out what's going on. She's classic Type A over achiever material. I can't tell you how many times I've been chastised for the sin of walking all the way across a parking lot without having the keys out and ready to use when I get to the car. She starts rolling her eyes the second she sees me stop at the car to dig around in my pockets. I don't know what she planned to do with those three extra seconds, but it was undoubtably critical.

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Where I'm from in NC, we generally call soft drinks - drinks, occasionally sodas, but never pop or any of the other names people use around the country. One of the most unusual references of beverage is the one my brother uses. He grew up in LA, Lower Alabama that is, and down there people ask you in total seriousness, "What kind of coke do you want"

It is perfectly OK to reply to that question by saying "I'll have a Pepsi." Weird, huh?

Another thing I like about soda culture is the prevalence of regional drinks. In North Carolina, we have two, Cheerwine and Sundrop. When I hiked up north, i was delighted to find out the folks in Maine have a popular drink called Moxie Soda

• Coca-Cola History
• The History of Pepsi
• The Unknown History of Mountain Dew
• History of Dr. Pepper
• The History of 7UP and Charles Leiper Grigg
• A Brief History of Sprite - It's German! Who knew?
• The haunting history of Fanta - Too weird not to include
  
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One big feature missing from Apple's new Passwords App is secure notes to store data besides passwords. While you can make notes within the app, it isn't designed to store that kind of info. You could opt for the Apple Notes app since it's secured by the same security and allows you to password protect individual items with a password. It even supports templates, but you would have to build them yourself. If you want a secure, ready-made solution you can use on iOS and macOS, Access may be right for you.

Access has templates for the following kinds of data:

• Payment card
• Bank account
• ID
• Document
• Driver's License
• Insurance
• Passport
• Medical Record
• Rewards program
• Membership
• Software license
• Gift card
• API keys
• Secure personal entries (address book format)
• Notes (useful for all those 2FA code backups)

Every entry has room for user-defined custom fields and attachments, so not only can you have easy to copy info from your important documents, you can also have a photographic copy of them as well.

The layout and appearance of Access is identical to that of the Passwords app. Since privacy is paramount considering the types of data stored in Access, the developer goes into great detail to explain it "Your information is backed up and kept up-to-date across your devices via iCloud. Access is using Apple’s industry-leading iCloud Encryption to protect your information. No data is ever sent to any server other than iCloud. The app doesn't create, access, or store keys for any encrypted data. With Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, all Secure Data stored in Access is end-to-end encrypted and is inaccessible to the Developer, Apple, or any third party at all times. For an added layer of security, Access supports authentication with Touch ID. All data stored in Access on your device is automatically encrypted and decrypted by the system."

Access has a free version with limited functionality, but to get access to every feature, you'll need to purchase lifetime access for $29.99 or subscribe for $9.99 yr/$3.99 mo.

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One of the primary criticisms of social media is that people present an idealized representation of their lives. We get to see the beautiful photos of the beach they sat on while on vacation but we don't see the mildew in the resort bathroom or the credit card bill they incurred for the privilege. People are more than willing to share the pictures of the prefect steaks on their grills without also showing the seven Lean Cuisines they ate in the past three days. We don't see pictures of how our friends look after just waking up or read a lot about the opportunities they didn't get at work and are therefore not pleased to announce on LinkedIn.

I am as guilty as anyone in some ways. I would rather not be a Debbie Downer or mark myself as a whiner by complaining online. Who really wants to hear that? As a photographer, I'm going to take 1000 pictures to show you 10. That's the way it works. Most of us are not pretending to be someone we are not. We are just putting our best foot forward, sharing things we are proud of or that we are celebrating. I know my friends well enough to know they don't have perfect lives, regardless of what it looks like on Facebook, Bluesky or Mastodon. Hopefully, I don't have too may friends still using Twitter.

As a blogger whose style is autobiographical, I strive to be honest. I don't mind revealing a few warts. The people who know me, know I have them, and what do I really have to lose if the people who don't know me find out my various imperfections? I would hope they would get it on some level. By not pretending to be perfect, I think it makes the rest of what I write more relatable.

I'd like to be able to present myself as having been born with great political sensibilities, but that isn't the case. Teenage me had no understanding of politics. The vote I cast in my first presidential election isn't something I talk about much. There was no passion and not much thought behind it. I voted because the country gave me the privilege because I'd managed to live for 18 years. I even skipped a couple of elections. I felt vaguely guilty about it, but it just seemed like a hassle. In 1988, I could not have told you much of anything about George H. W. Bush or Michael Dukakis.

When it comes to tech, the field where I made my career, there are many, many areas where I have little aptitude and less interest. I was happy as a K-12 IT specialist for two decades. In tech, like other fields, if you want to advance, you have to leave the keyboard and mouse skills behind and take up the soft skills of managing people to advance. Call me a slacker, but I was not interested. I'm finishing out my working years in higher ed, doing end user support with no interest in becoming a network engineer or a system administrator. I'm not having a contest with anyone in real life or on the Internet to be the smartest computer guy in the room. I just want my paycheck and room to do the job I have.

In my personal life, what you see is mostly what you get. I do, in fact, adore my wife. She treats me great and while I won't tell you her every complaint, I can assure you that they are all warranted and none of them are selfish. I have some family relationships that are more difficult than others, but again, the truth is that I love being a Dad and a grandfather more than just about anything apart from being Wonder Woman's husband.

I am just another regular guy with one list of things I am proud of and another list I don't want to talk about. I'm pretty happy in general, although I'm worried about the world, both right now and in the future. I do my best to be genuine, even if my story telling instinct can be a bone of contention between me and my personal fact-checker (Wonder Woman).

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One thing I plan to do during my holiday break from work is to spend some time catching up on shows that I've been wanting to watch but haven't had the time to see. Here is what Wonder Woman and I plan to watch as much of as we can.

Silo - AppleTV+

We both read the book this series is based on and we have seen season one. Not every episode of season two has been released yet, but we plan to catch up. "In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo."

Shetland - BritBox via Amazon Prime Video

We've watched all eight previous seasons and are primed for another one. Shetland is the story of the detectives on the Shetland Islands, a beautiful location of the north coast of Scotland. Although the wonderful Douglas Henshall is no longer playing Jimmy Perez, the lead detective, the cast is still solid and the show well-made. This season's description - When a woman goes missing with her nine-year-old son, Calder and Tosh set out on a case that blurs the line between the personal and professional."

Black Doves - Netflix

We've just heard about this Netflix show, but we are partial to British actors and this one has the lovely Keira Knightley along with Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire. It's a six episode run that tells an interesting tale - "When a spy posing as a politician's wife learns her lover has been murdered, an old assassin friend joins her on a quest for truth — and vengeance."

Man on the Inside - Netflix

Wen enjoyed Ted Danson in the Good Place and look forward to seeing him in this crime comedy that has gotten good reviews. It's an eight-episode run described as "A retired professor gets a new lease on life when a private investigator hires him to go undercover inside a San Francisco retirement home."

Time - Brit Box On Amazon Prime Video

We watched season one of this British prison drama with Sean Bean and Stephan Graham. Season two features Jodie Whiitaker and Siobhan Finneran and centers on the story of incarcerated women. Season two is described as "Orla, a single mother serving her first sentence, Abi, who is incarcerated for life, and Kelsey, a pregnant heroin addict and repeat offender, begin their sentences at a women's prison."

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There are many paid options to discover and track movies and TV shows, most of them being subscription-based. Cronica, donation-ware from Egger, Inc., full-featured right out of the box, with no limit on usage. The app can be employed for various purposes:

• Tracking episodes of TV shows or movies you've already seen
• Discovering new movies and shows through trailers and descriptions from The Movie Database (with an option to watch the trailers via YouTube)
• Notifications when movies are released or new episodes of shoes air
• iCloud syncing between your Mac and iOS devices - no account required with the app's developers
• Get suggestions based on your watch history
• Share links with others from within the app, using The Movie Database
• Suitable for international audiences. Allows users to choose a region.

Cronica is available for download from the Mac App Store.

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This evening, Wonder Woman and I treated three of our daughters, two sons-in-law and eight of our grandchildren to a ride on the Polar Express train ride sponsored by our state’s transportation museum, located between Winston-Salem and Charlotte. Even though we are spread across the state, we gathered for the experience for which we’d purchased tickets months in advance.

Prior to boarding the train, we stood with other families in the chill air. Most people, including most of us were wearing pajamas. Local actors performed a few skits. We sang Christmas carols and judged three kiddos in a contest to see who could say “HoHoHo” the best.

Once on the train, we had our golden tickets punched. We were greeted by young actors playing characters from the book. Then we were served hot chocolate and cookies while we listened to an actor read the book to us. We stopped briefly at the North Pole where we disembarked to visit with the elves.

When we reboarded, each seat had a gift in it. Then Santa made his way down the length of the train and gave every passenger a silver bell. Before we knew it, we were back at the station.

The kids, ranging in age from a couple of kindergarteners up through a high school freshman, were all well behaved I was happy to make this memory with them. I’m up past my bedtime, but it was worth it.

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