Why Didn't I Think Of This Before Dept.

For some time at work I've had a non-ideal monitor arrangement. The monitor was low and I was always looking down at it a bit. I'd asked around about a monitor stand on and off for a while. Nothing ever came of such inquiries.

Yesterday, just before leaving for the day, I looked around for something that might be a workable substitute. The only thing that had come to mind before were books or a ream of 11 by 17 paper, neither of which was really a good idea. Then the obvious finally got noticed. For the last year, if not longer, I've had an NCI 7820 sitting around taking up shelf space. I'm not even sure why I have the thing. I suspect there was a short-lived reason and whoever had it before really didn't want it back. I don't recall ever having to work on one. But it's an ideal monitor stand! The height is just right, and the feet in the corners are adjustable so it can be leveled nicely.

After a bit of cleaning and moving things around, I now have a little more shelf space and a monitor at about the right height. The only annoying thing is that it took me so long to realize the solution was sitting only a few feet away from me. D'oh!

Streetlights and Holiday Decorations

Streetlight.

What did you just picture? A bright somewhat orange light? A bright pure yellow light? A stark blue light that seems to be at once too bright and too dim?

The first thing I picture is generally that last choice, the bluish mercury vapor light that was the only streetlight I saw around when I was quite young. They cast light, and could seem bright, yet somehow also seemed dim. It's probably that the light was mostly blue. One result was that holiday decorations that were put up on the light poles really stood out. They were bright and brightened up the pole they were on.

I remember, somewhat, the old decorations, curved somewhat spiral wreath-like things with lights inside colored plastic globes. These were the most common decorations in Merrill. At one entrance into town there was another item, it was made to look like a candle in a holder, and also a sign that vertically spelled out NOEL. Downtown, there was one corner where a string of lights was strung overhead, diagonally across the intersection. All that looked impressive at the time, the streetlights still gave the light, but the decorations stood out.

Then came the sodium vapor lamps. These have some advantages. They're cheaper. They give more light. They don't use mercury. The low pressure type are a pure yellow, the high pressure type are more broad-spectrum (whiter) but have a bit of orange to them. Merrill, like many other places, switched to the sodium vapor lamps. Merrill also got different holiday decorations.

It was rather disappointing to look at. Part of that is the change of decorations are a change away from my childhood memories. The old decorations likely were in bad need of replacement, but they're what I remember. The other part is that all decorations seem washed out when bathed in the bright sodium vapor light. In that downtown area, not only were the mercury vapor lamps replaced with sodium vapor lamps, but there were now two lamps per pole, making things brighter still. With my interest in astronomy and a dark sky, I found such excess offensive and wasteful.

Moving to Fairmont, I still notice the decorations which are, of course, different. Pretty much all street lighting is now sodium vapor. I prefer the yellow low pressure sodium vapor rather than the high pressure. Some say it's unnatural. Well, it's bright light at night, of course it's unnatural. But low pressure is cheaper to run and maintain - and easier to filter out, something I consider important. The decorations hung from light poles are, like the ones in Merrill, washed out by the bright streetlights even though the decorations use exposed bulbs now.

Fairmont seems to do more with street-level decorations, having illuminated wire sculptures in parks. These stand out better than the pole-mounted things. Fairmont also feels more commercial, mainly from timing. Merrill would put up the decorations sometime in November, but would leave them unlit until the night of Thanksgiving. It made for more of a contrast in the season. Stores might do Christmas stuff early, but the decorations weren't lit until Thanksgiving.

Fairmont has a parade in November to start off its Christmas shopping season. This is done the weekend before Thanksgiving. The lights go on for or during the parade. The first Friday in December is another shopping event. While I like these for my chance to meet Gerry and the team of belgian horses again, if it weren't for that I'd likely not care. I was a bit surprised the first Winter here, when a parade blocked off the way I'd intended to get home from someplace (with my rapidly cooling supper) and also when the decorative lights were lit, to me, early.