Yours portly is continuing to work on his collection of pond-based tunes, Koi Dance. I introduced some rosy red minnows to our koi pond about a month ago, which inspired today’s piece.
Tag: just for fun
Free Belated Valentine’s Download!
Dear readers,
In honor of a belated Valentine’s Day, a short “best-off” collection,💘🤖Technological Romance🤖💘 is FREE to download today (Monday, 16 February 2026) only.
Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!
—TPP
Phone it in Friday CXXII: YouTube Roundup CLXXXII: House Cleaning
This week I’m really phoning it in, as the video today is showcasing someone else’s hard work.
My pastor started a cleaning business, Cornerstone Cleaning Solutions. He specializes in carpet cleaning—and, boy, does he do an amazing job—but he also does general house cleaning, including my least favorite chore: dusting.
I had to get my house on the market and it was suffering from seven-odd-years of an overworked man’s routine. Without a regular feminine presence, the dust had piled up into thicc (as the kids say) layers. It was pretty disgraceful, and definitely not fitting for showings.
Yours portly worked overtime for about two weeks to dust and declutter simply to prepare for my pastor to come in and work his magic. He spent eight hours on his first visit deep cleaning the carpets, dusting, etc.
I’ve hired him to do twice-monthly visits until the house sells (it’s currently under contract, so God Willing, the closing will be soon). I made this video after his second visit (just three hours compared to the initial one):
TBT^16: Getting Medieval… with LEGO
Yours portly has worked to ween himself from his “crippling LEGO habit,” as I called it last year, in large part because it’s just too expensive, and because it’s rare I have huge chunks of quiet alone time during which I’m not trying to get something more productive done. That said, I have a backlog of awesome sets to build, and I hope to get to those soon.
The set that I think of as the beginning of my “modern” LEGO era is the one detailed in the posts below. I also think this set represented something of a shift for LEGO itself as a brand with mostly kid sets with a few specialized sets for adults to LEGO truly embracing its adult fans.
It’s pretty clever on their part, and they’re cashing in on the same kind of nostalgia as Nintendo does when it re-releases classic titles on their latest consoles. There are lots of Millennials who want to build LEGO sets with their kids—and lots of Millennials with no real responsibilities and a modicum of disposable income.
The latter describes yours portly; God Willing, the former will in a few years. Regardless, I’ll never give up LEGOs, and I’m looking forward to building more sets soon.
With that, here is 13 February 2025’s “TBT^4: Getting Medieval… with LEGO“:
New Music Tuesday V: Pond Ball
I neglected to feature this week’s piece sooner, although it did show up in an addition of Phone it in Friday. Well, better late than never!
The structure of this piece is slightly unusual. It’s a string trio, but the violin doesn’t kick in until the second half of the piece, when it adds harmonies and a countermelody of sorts to the work.
Monday Morning Movie Review: Superbowl Halftime Show
After a long day in the parks we got back to our rooms last night and settled in for sub sandwiches and television. I had forgotten that the Super Bowl was airing last night, but my older brother did not, and he had the game on in our room. While I rested and unpacked, the game entered halftime, featuring the infamous Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, began to unfold.
By the end of the show—or by the point I stopped watching to get dinner in the other rooms—I was convinced that we needed to grant Puerto Rico its independence (while probably maintaining some naval bases there or the like). It was the least American halftime show I’ve ever seen.
Universal Studios
Yours portly is with his family in Orlando, Florida, at Universal Studios. Dr. Wife, sadly, is not with us; she’s on a difficult hospital in-patient rotation. Residency is the gift thar keeps on giving!
Here’s a picture from last night as the park was shutting down:
More to come.
Happy Sunday!
—TPP
Phone it in Friday CXXI: YouTube Roundup CLXXXI: Snow Murph
My old bull terrier, Murphy, loves winter. She really seems to come alive in the cold, and even loves frolicking in the snow.
This Friday, I have three videos of Murphy adapting to some wintry climes:
TBT: Civilization VII is Coming
It’s hard to believe that Civilization VII has already been out (almost) a year. Tomorrow will mark the fateful day that big spenders (like yours portly) began their early access to the game, which was clearly incomplete at the time of release.
That said, the game—for all of its flaws—was still fun. Indeed, I still find it super fun. If anything, the game has gotten better—much, much better!—over the last year.
Perhaps the best improvement to the game has been the big naval update a couple of months back. That added lots of new water resources and improved naval combat. It also added Edward Teach (Blackbeard the Pirate) and, in the Exploration Age, The Republic of Pirates. I currently have a game going as Blackbeard and it is really fun.
Will the game ever reach the heights of Civ VI, it’s much-beloved predecessor? It seems doubtful at the time of writing. Have I played Civ VI since VII‘s release? Nope! That’s a testament to how much I enjoy this game.
With that, here is 5 February 2025’s “Civilization is Coming“:
New Music Tuesday IV: “Moonlight Shimmer”
I’m continuing to work on my pond-based pieces, and have a fourth piece completed. This duet incorporates whole tone scales, which possess a mystical, mysterious quality. The piece is broadly in Bb major, but the second and third sections feature some secondary dominants that, at times, push the key closer to D major. The whole tone scales also give a sense of atonality to sections of the piece, representing the mystery of moonlight.
The Portly Politico 