One of the things I’ve done to treat myself recently, was to buy an Apple Watch.  It’s stainless steel, space black, and I love it.

Things I’ve done with my Apple Watch: Checked the time, sent and received a text, sent and received a phone call, Shazamed a song, bought a candy bar from a vending machine, checked my pulse, counted my steps, kept track of my calories, checked the weather, got turn by turn directions, did some deep breathing, used it as a TV remote, and, drum roll….. took a shower.

Anyone who knnows me, knows that I am a huge Apple fanboy. I have an iMac, a MacBook, an iPad, and iPad Mini, and an iPad Pro, an iPod, and of course a iPhone. Everyone in my household has at least two of those of their own. So when I found out that they were offering Apple Camp to teach 12-year-olds, I just had to sign up my sweet niece.

Well, halfway through the 1 ½ hour class, I passed out. It turns out I accidentally overdosed myself on my antibiotics. The Apple store employee helped me find a cool place to lie down, brought me a pillow for my head, a cold cloth for my face, and a bottle of water. He offered to call someone for me, but I had already called my wife by then. He and another Apple Store employee checked on me about every three minutes, even after my wife had arrived.

That’s going above and beyond.  And believe me, they treat you just as well if you have a computer problem.

If you’ve never heard of Perry Rhodan, check him out on Wikipedia.  In Germany, he’s like Star Trek and Star Wars all rolled up in one– hugely popular.  Back in the 70s, there were English translations of the first hundred or so Perry Rhodan adventures (out of nearly 3,000), and I was really into them.  I remember taking a cross-country trip with my family and stopping at every grocery store and bookstore and news rack in every town we stopped in, trying to piece together my collection.

Well, now a six-part storyline from the Perryverse has been translated and published and is available at your favorite ebook store.  I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to.  Ain’t nostalgia great?

For my birthday a little over a week ago, I got several very nice presents from my family, including a new Apple TV set top box.  We’ve had the previous (3rd gen) for a while, as well as a Roku box in the other room.  Both of them are good.  The new Apple TV though has a potential to be much more.  It will all depend on what kinds of apps come out for it.  I’ve downloaded a few games, but mostly we’re still using it like the old Apple TV, which means we’re not yet getting our money’s worth.

As you read this, I’m back home and probably happy to be so.  As I write it however, I’m sitting poolside at the Airport Merriot in Los Angeles.  It is a mostly cloudy 75 degrees, so it’s quite pleasant and even though I’m out in the middle of the deck, it’s not too sunny.

Sadly, there are no bathing beauties walking around in barely there bikinis– Just a couple of families splashing and talking around the pool.  Of course there could be women looking at me and thinking much the same thing, in reverse.  I’m sitting here in slacks and a shirt, because I didn’t pack a swim suit and forgot to even pack shorts.  There you go.  Not that my choice of clothing would make much of a difference.  Even old ladies are not particularly interested in what a fat old man is wearing.

Hey!  There’s guy that looks just like George Lucas!  Nope.  Not him.  Great hair though.

I updated my two Macs to OS X El Capitan this week.  While my iMac is better than ever, and had no problem, my little macbook air decided to turn into an expensive brick.  Between the fact that Macs are pretty easy to troubleshoot and the fact that it wasn’t my first computer crash rodeo, I had it back up and running after about 6 hours work.  That includes getting all my apps and files restored.

I was really happy that I bought Microsoft Office from Amazon.  I was able to redownload it and get my install key from the Amazon site lickety-split.  Nice to have them looking out for me.

Stella’s cell phone rang again.  She picked it up from the night stand, slid it open, and held it to her face.

“Yeah?”

“Stella?  It’s Dynagirl.”

“Hey, Dina.  Perry’s not here.”

“I know he’s not there.  This is an EAS call.  We have a situation.  We’re being invaded.”

“From Canada or Mexico?”

“From space.”

“What, again?”

“Yes.  Get ready and keep your phone with you.  I’ll call again.”

Stella got out of bed and took a quick look out the window.  A massive mother ship was moving into position over the city.   She hopped into the shower.  There was no way she was going to fight aliens without first washing her hair.  After brushing her teeth and throwing on a little hair gel, she squeezed into a fresh All American Girl costume.   A glance in the other bedroom told her that Linda was still not home—not the best time for Skygirl to go AWOL.  Stepping out onto the balcony, Stella sat down in the patio chair and waited.

The gigantic ship stopped at a point where it was almost exactly centered over the Sears Tower, or Willis Tower as they were trying to get everyone to call it.  Stella estimated it at five miles in diameter and about a quarter mile thick.  Around it were buzzing dozens of small craft, more every minute, though it was unclear to her from what point on the great craft they were launching.

After several minutes, Stella went back inside and sat down in the living room, turning on the TV.  Tanya Everson appeared on the screen.

“Word comes to us this morning from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that the spaceships we see above us arrived on a trajectory that seems to indicate they are from 61 Cygni, a double star system that is approximately 11.4 light years from our sun.  What else can you tell us, Bill?”

The picture changed to newsman Bill Drake standing in Lincoln Park.  In the background, Stella could see that the statue of Johnny Liberty was back in place.  He was still missing his cape.

“Viewers will remember that it was just three years ago when the Earth faced invasion from Epsilon Eridani.  Ironically, scientists tell us that the two space fleets were actually flying through the vastness of interstellar vacuum for much of the same time…”

“That’s not ironic, Bill,” said Stella to the TV.  “It’s just coincidental.”

“…also that the earlier invasion was only stopped at a great cost, including the loss of arguably Earth’s greatest hero, Skyman.”

Stella’s cell phone rang again.

“Linda?”

“No, it’s Dynagirl again.  Do you know where Skygirl is?”

“No.”

“Well, if you find her, keep in contact.  I’m on my way over.”

“Really?”

“Yes.  There are no ships attacking Detroit.”

“I guess that’s one good thing about the population shift,” said Stella.

“I suppose so,” replied Dynagirl.  “I’ll see you soon.”

“That’s enough waiting around,” said Stella, and with a leap flew out the balcony door and into the sky.