Weekly Update 01/24/2026 – 01/30/2026

Things at work are going well. I’m learning a lot about integrating APIs with PxPlus using the Cordedll system.

 Apart from work, this has been my annual week of remembrance, with January 27 marking the anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire in 1967 and the 28th marking the anniversary of the Challenger disaster. Next week we have February 1^st and the Columbia Disaster.  Remembering these events made me think about memory, especially visual memory and visual memory deficit: “a functional limitation in visual recall or recognition that interferes with daily tasks such as reading comprehension, spatial navigation, or visual learning.” It seems that you, Muggles, have a much greater ability to recall visual memories than I do.

That made me think about what visual memories I do have.

I remember being in a car, turning left from Riverside Drive onto Van Nuys Boulevard, when I heard the announcement about the Apollo 1 fire.

I remember standing next to the TV in my mom and dad’s room, the biggest screen in the house, while watching coverage of the Challenger launch on January 28, 1986. I don’t remember the explosion itself, but I was watching TV when I turned to look down the hall. I think I was screaming about the explosion.

I remember sitting on the couch in the front room in the early hours of Saturday, December 21, 1968. I was sick as a dog, but I was still up watching the launch of Apollo 8, the first trip of humans to the moon.

I remember December 8, 1980, driving on the I-405 freeway to pick up my parents at LAX—not the normal loop, but the West Imperial Terminal. When I heard that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I can still see the road lines and the way the freeway curved at that point, and I thought about the Beatles no longer being able to get back together!

I remember sitting in the second bedroom of my home here in Vancouver. I think I was sorting laundry around noon on February 1, 2003, when my mom called to tell me about the Columbia shuttle disaster.

Of course, the morning of February 9, 1971, a little before 6 a.m. For some reason, I woke early, sat up in bed, and started looking at a book. I was nine years old. When the house suddenly started shaking, there was first a loud rumble, then the sound of water splashing against the house. It turned out there had been a tsunami in our pool, and I thought it was a tidal wave! I just sat there as the shaking continued, watching my father run from the back bedroom to the front bedroom where my sisters were sleeping.

Later that day, I remember standing outside our home—which was undamaged—while my parents spoke with our neighbors, trying to explain that the evacuation order issued because the Van Norman Dam might collapse did not apply to us. Because of the Sepulveda Dam, we were outside the boundaries of the order.

Finally, I remember that night watching the eclipse, a blood moon, and thinking it was red because of all the people who had died.

Well, I hope you have a great February!

 

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