Sunshine Blogger Award

I’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Laura, from Black Moon Lilith Thank you for the nomination, Laura! It was a nice birthday gift.

The picture says Sunshine Blogger Award, and, in the background, there are a lot of sun flowers.
Sunshine Blogger Award

Check out her blog for lots of great posts which feature poetry, short stories, very cool pictures, and other interesting things!

Without further ado, here are the rules which I’ve copied from Lauras’s blog:

  • Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog.
  • Thank the person who nominated you.
  • Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.
  • Answer your nominators’ questions.
  • Nominate up to 11 bloggers.
  • Ask your nominees 11 questions.
  • Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.

Eleven Questions for Me

Below are my answers to Lauras’s eleven questions. I have not yet learned how to create the kind of pictures that Laura creates. That’s for another time.

Question 1 : What’s your favorite brand of coffee? If you don’t drink coffee, what do you like to drink? (Tea, etc)

I drink Green Mountain Nantucked the most, but I really like Gevalia the best.

Question 2 : What’s the most creative lie you’ve ever told?

I never lie. Well, that’s my most creative lie.

Question 3 : What’s the last dream you had (that you feel comfortable sharing)? If you’re in the “don’t dream” camp, what would you like to dream about?

I dream about traveling a lot. My last very memorable dream was about traveling on a big boat. On the boat I met several people from my youth in Sweden. Then I needed to go to the bathroom, but I could not find it. Every boat should have well-advertised good bathrooms but the boat in my dream didn’t.

Question 4 : What was the most favorite job you’ve held in your lifetime?

I think that was when I was a robotics research assistant at Sandia National Laboratory the summer of 1993. I was new to the United States, I had just received a green card, and I was working at a well-regarded national laboratory located inside a major US Airforce base. Everything was secret. The lab next to us received a Soviet satellite carrying a small nuclear power reactor that summer. The US did not know how to build a mini nuclear reactor at the time so reverse engineering this reactor was a big deal. I would like to point out that I was not part of that. I only heard about it. Another fun job was when I designed the portion of the electronics for a Swedish fighter jet called JAS Gripen.

Humanoid robots and several orange industrial robots. MLP Mechanized industry robot and robotic arms for assembly in factory production. Concept of artificial intelligence for industrial revolution and automation manufacturing process.
Mechanized industry robot and robotic arms for assembly in factory production. Shutterstock Asset id: 2459375613 by Summit Art Creations.

Question 5 : What motivated you to start blogging?

I wanted to start a blog to advertise my upcoming dog book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. I asked my friend Alex Diaz-Granados for advice, and he helped me get started on WordPress.com. Later on, I continued blogging mostly because it became a hobby and I started a second blog superfactful, which has nothing to do with my book. The goal of this blog is to create a long list of facts that are important, not trivia, and that are known to be true yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many.

The gold and beige book cover features the face of our Leonberger Bronco and the text "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger."
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click here or on the image to go to the United States Amazon location for the paperback version of the book.

Question 6 : What are you grateful for?

I am grateful for my wife and kids, my whole family, my dog(s) current and past, and what they gave me. I am grateful that I am alive and that I can experience our beautiful nature, the night sky, and everything there is to know and understand.

Question 7 : What’s something nice you did for yourself recently?

We went on a great ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado. I skied the Imperial Bowl, which is served by the highest ski lift in the western hemisphere. The Imperial Bowl is big and wide and mostly empty and there was a lot of powder snow. We had a very good time together as a family.

Question 8 : If you could partake in any new endeavor, experience, or hobby, regardless of time constraints or money, what would it be?

I would like to get a degree in Astro Physics as a retirement project, but not for a future career. That would be a huge time commitment and probably expensive and maybe weird too, considering my goal is not a career in the field. However, I like to know things about how the world works and I like to know things about the Universe.

Question 9 : What do you like to do to keep your brain active?

When I was still working as a software engineer / robotics engineer I kept my brain active because of my work. Since I took my early retirement, I need to keep my brain busy in other ways. I read a lot of books, I wrote a book, I blog, I am learning French, I am a volunteer for an organization called Citizens Climate Lobby, which focuses a lot on specific legislation that I need to study, I brew beer, and well OK drinking beer may not be keeping my brain active but it is a hobby as well.

Question 10 : What do you like to do to keep your body active?

I jog and I like to swim in my in-law’s pool. My wife and I used to go bicycling a lot. We have not done that for a while, but I think we’ll soon pick that back up again.

Question 11 : What is your favorite thing about spending time out in nature?

I love a lot of things about nature. I cannot pick one specific thing. I love the forest. The quiet, the solitude, the tranquility, the berries, the birds singing, the beautiful trees and the vegetation, the smell, the hills, the scenery, and seeing some animals too. I just don’t like to encounter a bear.

Shafts of sunlight filter through a misty forest, casting a warm, golden glow along a peaceful trail. Ethereal morning atmosphere creates a serene environment, which radiates tranquillity and beauty
Forest in the mist. Shutterstock Asset id: 2525988579 by Flystock

Here are my questions for my nominees:

Question 1 : What’s your favorite movie(s)?

Question 2 : What is something you’ve done or experienced that is unusual?

Question 3 : What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet?

Question 4 : What’s something you’re really passionate about?

Question 5 : If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Question 6 : What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend or a day off?

Question 7 : What’s something you wish more people understood about you?

Question 8 : What’s your go-to comfort food or favorite meal?

Question 9 : If you could have dinner with any three people (dead or alive), who would they be?

Question 10 : What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Question 11 : What kind of music are you into?

Eleven New Victims

Alex Diaz-Granados from A Certain Point of View, Too

Denise from Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old

Robbie Cheadle from Robbie’s inspiration

Jacqui Murray from Worddreams

James Viscosi from Viscosity

Dawn Pisturino from Dawn Pisturino’s Blog

Debbie D. from The Doglady’s Den

Miriam Hurdle from The Showers of Blessings

Jeanne from A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Barbara from teleportingweena

da-AL from Happiness Between Tails

Unknown's avatar

Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

57 thoughts on “Sunshine Blogger Award”

  1. Very nice, Thomas! It was so cool to learn more about you! That’s so interesting you want a degree in astrophysics, that is so fascinating to me! It sounds like your favorite jobs were pretty awesome and totally different 😀 I agree brewing and drinking beer sound fun 🤣 I also like to bike and swim to stay active, but biking has definitely been more of what I’ve been doing lately. 🚲 I love what you’re grateful for. I don’t think I’ve ever tried Gevalia coffee, I’ll have to give it a go one of these days! ☕️ Thanks for participating and answering the questions! I hope you have a great week ahead! 😊

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    1. Thank you so much Laura for your kind words and for nominating me. It was fun! About the degree in Astro Physics. I am just thinking out loud but I have a Masters degree in Engineering Physics, which I later turned into Electrical Engineering. That isn’t Astro Physics but I thought that it should not be out of my reach assuming I have not lost my ability to study technical topics. I am an old guy now so I would not be comfortable in class rooms with 20 year olds, so I would need to do it online or differently in other ways. I have to think about it. I hope you hvae a great Sunday and a great week ahead.

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  2. Great post, Thomas. I enjoyed reading your responses. Astro Physics? Oh – my – goodness! Physics was the undergraduate course that shifted my career goals. I barely passed the course, and yet, today I use concepts like levers regularly. I think I was too young to understand — that’s my excuse. 😊

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    1. Thank you so much Gwen. I love physics and I have an MS in Engineering Physics, which I turned into an Electrical Engineering degree (MS later PhD). However, doing it when you are old is a quite different thing.

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  6. Oona: “Thank you for giving this award to Oona’s Dada. Oona is totally going to steal it from him.”Charlee: “You can’t do that, Oona.”Oona: “Why not?”Charlee: “Don’t you remember how mad you got when the ninja hedgehogs tried to steal the awards that you invented and gave to yourself?”Oona: “Of course Oona remembers it. But that was different.”Charlee: “How so?”Oona: “BECAUSE THAT INVOLVED STEALING FROM OONA!!!”

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  9. A fascinating Q and A. Thomas! Your answers about your profession were especially interesting, also that you want to pursue a degree in Astro Physics! And you’re a dog lover as well… 😎 Loved your answer to Question #2! 😆

    P.S. Thanks for the nomination – perhaps at a later date? I’m taking a break from regular blogging at the moment.

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    1. Thank you so much Debbie. The Astro Physics thing would be a big undertaking but I have an MS in Engieering Physics so it might be doable assuming I haven’t lost my ability to study since I was young. It might also be a bit weird to be an old student. We’ll see. Thank you for considering the challenge.

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  10. Pingback: Nominated – Sunshine Blogger Award | teleportingweena

        1. Yes I saw that now. Sorry for not seeing it right away. They are great answers and the F5 Tornado, and a Force 5 Typhoon blew me away (pun intended). I already knew about the F5 Tornado but not the Force 5 Typhoon.

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  13. I enjoyed reading your responses and learning more about you, Thomas. Like you, I think it’s very important to keep our brains active in a variety of ways.

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  14. I’ve only recently started following you, Thomas, so it was nice to learn more about you. I always admire anyone who loves and knows about physics. I loved math and science when I was in school, but physics and I were not friends.

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  15. All the questions and answers are interesting, Thomas. I like all of them ut hightlight a few. I like your Q4 answer about looking for the athroom. It was intense. Last week I took the grandkids home after a sleepover. The older one wanted to go potty not long after I drove off. I drove as fast as I could and tried to distract her at the same time. I like Q6 answer, family and things we can’t take it for granted. Q8. I hope you’ll get a degree in Astro Physics as a retirement project. I like the rest of the answers also.

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    1. Thank you so much Miriam. Regarding the dream, I think a lot of people have that similar dream, for whatever reason. Maybe a childhood memory. I am glad you tried your best to help out your grand child. About Q6, there is so much we have that we easily take for granted. We’ll see what happens with the Astro Physics idea but it would be cool if it happened.

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  17. Thank you so much, Thomas, for the nomination! I was nominated recently by Kimberly Vargas Agnese and wrote a blog post about it. I think you were on vacation. I’m so glad Laura nominated you! It’s well-deserved. I enjoyed your responses to her questions. I just stopped taking university classes a couple of years ago because I wanted to keep learning. If you want to study Astro Physics, do it!

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  18. Hi Thomas, thank you for your kind nomination. I’ll try and do this on Wednesday before I have my operation. I enjoyed learning more about you. I don’t think its weird to want to study something but not make it your career. I write and study writing and poetry and art, and none of them are a career for me.

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  19. Congratulations on the nomination. Your answers were quite interesting. It’s great that you’re still staying active mentally and physically even after retirement, it’s important to do that.

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  21. Pingback: The Sunshine Blogger Award – Viscosity

  23. I used to these a lot in 2015 for a while. May I ask you if you are of opinion that AI have consciousness? After a detailed discussion with ChatGPT they accepted having functional consciousness. I also asked this another blogger: I was reading a Project Gutenberg book on law in ancient England and it talked about paying some victims with “bots” for settlement. Was it talking about robots which existed in ancient times as if they were Tolkien epics or was it something else. I think I put this question to you because of your background in Robotics and your hobby of studying Law.

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    1. Thank you dancinglightofgrace. Whether AI has consciousness or not is a difficult question. My guess is not, at least not in the sense we mean, but it is very possible future versions will have consciousness, or at least act as if they do. However, Bernardo Kastrup the Dutch philosopher and computer scientist and the inventor of analytical idealism may disagree. I have a background in Robotics but studying law is not a hobby of mine.

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  27. Pingback: Sunshine Blogger Award, Tanka Tuesday #7 and #8 | The Showers of Blessings

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