For my double nickel birthday, Courtney took me to see the Avex Ensemble directed by John Jesensky, who played the live score for Blade Runner. It was truly phenomenal to hear the score live with the movie. Which is also one of my favorite movies of all time.

Recently over the New Year, Courrtney and I got to spend some more time in the British Museum. This time we looked at many of the English artifacts that starts with the arrival of Anglo-Saxons (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) from the 5th century AD onwards, we saw some items of personal adornment, weaponry, and daily life. 

We also got to spend some time in their clocks and watches gallery which I really love.

Here are some fun pictures that I took of various watches and clock pieces:

I am very excited about the new Piano M from Roli. Love how they can be small and mobile and two can fit together to make up a decent sized midi controller. They keys are fantastic with the colors and it can go from learning mode to pro mode that includes expressive gestures. I have added a picture and a link below.

https://roli.com/us/product/piano-m-create

Last weekend I got to attend the 2nd UT Longhorn Home Football Game vs UTEP and I filmed a bit of the UT Longhorn Band see video below.

On September 6, 2025, Courtney and I got to go to our first UT Longhorns Home Football Game. It was a fun day. We were blown away by the kickoff and the flyover by an Air Force B-1 Bomber as well as the sighting of the Goodyear Blimp. Here are some photos below:

The University of Colorado's iconic live buffalo Ralphie VI, nicknamed "Ember," is retiring after four years of service as college football's greatest mascot. I am glad that Ember will get a great retirement but also disappointed that Ralphie will not run for this year's home opener.

I was lucky enough to get to see the debut of Ralphie VI at the Sept 3, 2021 University of Northern Colorado at University of Colorado football game and I will never forget it. See the great video below with a wonderful September Colorado sunset.

So today, I went with my father-in-law, Joe, to the Indy 500 Racing Experience. Which means we got to take 2 laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at about 165 miles per hour in a two seater Indy car. It was so much fun to do this during speed week at Indy. 

We had a great time and had really good weather for it. I will not forget what it was like to go that fast around the track and see the stands and all of the items on the track go by in such a blur. 

We want to thank all of our friends at North Mechanical who got us on the list for such a treat.

I had a great trip this past weekend to visit with my mom and aunt, now that travel is a bit easier. Had a couple of great walks along the Reedy River in downtown Greenville, SC.

So we did get a chance to finish up my home networking project this weekend. My friend Conrad helped us rewire and straighten things up. By the end of the weekend, I have a new wifi6 setup (netgear mk86) as well as a 16 port switch that is activated on all the data ports in the house. See below for before and after.

Video of new switch up and running! (thanks Conrad :)

Home Networking Project 2021 from Robert H. McDonald on Vimeo.

I really love this set of images from 2018. Great times and fun photos!

So I just found out about the Joby Aviation vertical lift all electric car. Toyota seems very interested in it. I have pasted one of the first videos of the car flying below.

So my friend Conrad will be coming for a visit in the near future and we are working on a home network project that should take things in our home to the next level. Working to setup all of the cat 6 in my place to run through an unmanaged switch and help me connect my mesh network through a wired backhaul to the service provider.

Still trying to decide on which system to use for the mesh network. Looking at several options. I wish Eero my current mesh had better PoE options - but they only have a proprietary option that is difficult.

Instead will look at netgear nighthawk mk83 - brand new as of March 2021 and does wired backhaul as well as PoE and WiFi 6. Also will be using a netgear unmanaged switch at my switch box to connect all of my wired connections in the home.

I really like this vintage piece. It is a Heuer Camaro with a manual winding Valjoux 7733 movement.

So over Christmas I got a new watch and I really love it. Reminds me of when I was a kid. It is a Hamilton PSR and is a remake of tthe Pulsar Time Computer shown below.

Google just announced OnHub a new router featuring six antennas and mood lighting.

So I was delighted to hear that Pebble is coming out with a new watch called Pebble Time that they are also funding on Kickstarter. Looks pretty interesting to me.

So I just saw this watch the other day and really think it is one of the coolest designs I have ever seen. Not a bad price but for a top notch time piece. It is called the Ressence Type 1.

Ressence Type 1

If you have not heard about this it is really a cool story. Phil Venditti teaches public speaking and he took a sabatical from his day job at Clover Park Technical College in Washington state to create this group of 50 videos of prominent public speakers. These are now open content for use with many different types of classes for this subject. There is a great piece on this at Creative Commons - http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42373 but you can check out the videos on Phil's YouTube Channel.

Just got my latest watch in the mail from an ebay auction. It is a Doxa anti-magnetic analog watch from the 1950s - really cool watch with a little wear and tear. Could be my smallest, thinnest watch ever! A first!

So I just got a new watch a Seiko SSC015P. Really nice solar powered analog movement with chronograph. Keeps excellent time and has nice screw down pushers for the chronograph.

Thinking about putting a NATO type band that I have on it but so far I do like the stainless bracelet that it came with.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-04/the-real-story-behind-bubba-watsons-hovercraft

I really want this watch but i think it is a bit over priced in general

http://hypebeast.com/2012/8/eric-haze-x-casio-g-shock-ga-110eh-8a

My good friend Jim Mouw designed this Kuail OLE watch at the Boccia Watch Site.

So I just got this fantastic shot in my email from friends at NCSU. Showcasing their newswall visualization area. Like they say a picture is worth let's say hundreds of thousands of words on this one!

(The James B. Hunt Jr. Library NewsWall at North Carolina State University.)