anticipation

The time before a vacation, the anticipation, is the best. 
If you have the post-vacation blues you should plan something to look forward to, like a new trip.

I may have a work trip to Cape Town at the end of this month. Even if I don't, I'll have a work trip to Pretoria in early 2023. 

Cape Town has penguins, seals, beaches, and cliffs. Cape Point Nature Reserve sounds fantastic. 

Today I went in to work. I put on a suit. The suit fit. The top and bottom matched (no blue pants that I thought were black). The style did not say, "I was bought when shoulder pads were everything." Everyone on my team felt feelings about being in an in-person work setting, ranging from social awkwardness to giddiness. I guess I have had just enough in-person work interaction now that I escaped these feelings - this time. We met people. We were all engaging and interesting and had a good time.  

There is an organization that is working to help ensure renewable energy development is done in a way that doesn't endanger birds by situating wind turbines out of migratory zones and using properly insulated wires so birds don't electrocute themselves. Having dealt with an organization that was just anti-windpower no matter what accommodations were made, I am happy to deal with an organization that wants renewable energy, but just wants it done well. 

There was the most delightful commercial on tonight. Remember the sheep who approached me and let me scratch his head? https://youtu.be/IMvodS9puLg

Ukraine troops have cold weather gear by donors. They have night-vision goggles. Russian troops are already shivering at night and asking when they will be paid. No one believes that Russia can train, equip, and supply hundreds of thousands of new troops. Most of the Soviet era equipment is garbage. There are protests and arson attacks against military recruitment centers, esp in poor, ethnic minority areas who have been providing a disproportionate share of the Russian troops. In Dagestan, a Muslim region, women are protesting repeatedly. >200,000 men have fled to Kazakhstan, whose leadership is delighted to have them as they are educated and potentially a major boost to the economy. ~66,000 are in the EU. 70,000 are in Georgia. Hundreds of thousands more, without passports, are hiding, having left their jobs and homes. 

Contrast this with when ordinary Ukrainians joined forces with the military and saved Ukrane. As Russian troops rode toward Kyiv, Ukrainian locals were waiting for them with a cement mixer and a bulldozer blocking the road with the words on them: welcome to hell.

After the Russians invaded in 2014, the West began training and equipping Ukraine, and it helped soldiers to work autonomously in small groups. A property developer came up with the idea of blowing up the dam to the north of Kyiv and flooding the banks, creating a barrier to Russian troops, even though it flooded some people's homes. 

With Ukraine's heroism and wins, support among the Western public continues. 74% of Germans want to maintain support despite rising energy prices, up from 70% in July. Majorities in each of the parties support sending tanks. 

Ukraine recently captured a bunch of military equipment from fleeing Russians. The greatest discovery was a T-90M tank. It is a new and sophisticated tank and now we can take it apart and study it. Some analysts think Russia wasn't deploying the T-90Ms because they were reserving them for a possible war with NATO. 

Ukraine has been sending information so Russians know how to surrender. They promise money if someone brings an armored vehicle. The instructions are very specific, such as detach the magazine from the rifle, sling the rifle over the left shoulder, pointed down, hand in the air holding white paper or cloth. They've been discussing surrender with Russian forces in Kherson for weeks because the Russian's ammunition is running low.