A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

Recently, I've gone somewhere, done something, or seen something amazing I've shared in these pages. Here, you'll find my most recent posts, covering a wide range of topics that pique my interest. Whether you're passionate about travel, captivated by photography, enchanted by music, or intrigued by computer programming, there's likely to be something here for everyone!

Dive in and explore the latest insights, stories, and adventures that I have to share. Enjoy your stay!

Surya's Memorial

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/4/2025 Posted: 1/20/2026		Page Views: 106
Hashtags: #Surya
Saying farewell to Michael's sister.

Today we said farewell to Michael's sister, Surya Hood. She was 89 years old, so as my (also late) friend Jock would have said, "She had a good run!" (Jock had been in show business.) As she had many friends in the Episcopal Cathedral where she attended, we had the memorial service there.

OrganicaLib: OrganicaStrings

By: Paul S Cilwa	Posted: 1/21/2022 Updated: 1/18/2026		Page Views: 1,273
Hashtags: #Organica #VisualBasic #vb.net #ClassLibrary #OrganicaLib #OrganicaStrings
Creating extension methods to the String object type.
Estimated reading time: 9 minute(s) (2084 words)

The low-level classes provided by .NET 5.0 are nevertheless very powerful. However, they inexplicably omit some also basic, and very useful properties and methods. While the effect of these missing elements can be performed by another combination of elements, doing so doesn't usually make for more readable code. And that's where extension methods and properties come in.

Cellulitis

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 9/23/2025 Posted: 1/17/2026		Page Views: 196
Hashtags: #Autobiography #Cellulitis #BannerOcotilloMedicalCenter
That time cellulitis kept me from a trip to the Bahamas.
Estimated reading time: 4 minute(s) (918 words)

I was supposed to join my daughter for another vacay at her condo in the Bahamas. I had already bought my ticket, and was really looking forward to spending time in the ocean and tropic breezes. But then I noticed my leg turning red. Really red. I went to the E.R., (a different one, Banner Ocotillo. Same franchise, but a much different hospital) and they admitted me, and I could only hope I'd get enough broad-spectrum antibiotics to get me better before my flight on Sunday.

Look, Ma, I Cleaned My Room!

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 12/2/2025 Posted: 1/17/2026		Page Views: 183
Hashtags: #Autobiography #LivingRoom #RecumbantBike
Tidying and rearranging my home space.
Estimated reading time: 2 minute(s) (250 words)

A small domestic reshuffle can feel strangely energizing, and today proved it. I carved out a new rhythm in the living room by giving the recumbent bike a proper home and finally positioning the MIDI keyboard where it's easy to reach instead of something I had to work around. The space feels more intentional now, like it's ready for both movement and music without either getting in the way. And once the furniture puzzle was solved, I rode that momentum straight into the kitchen and gave it the kind of deep clean that resets the whole house. It was a practical kind of progress, but it left the place humming.

OrganicaLib: ColorWheel Control

By: Paul S Cilwa	Posted: 1/17/2026		Page Views: 76
Hashtags: #ColorWheel #UserControls #vb.net #ColorHarmony #OrganicaLib
Here is a Windows Forms control you can drop into your project for selecting mathematically harmonious color schemes.
Estimated reading time: 13 minute(s) (3011 words)

ColorWheel is a Windows Forms UserControl that lets you pick colors by clicking or dragging a marker on an HSV color wheel—with optional harmony modes (complementary, triadic, tetradic, adjacent, monochromatic, and freestyle) that automatically produce a coordinated palette. This is perfect for building theming tools where you want fast, visual color selection and consistent derived colors without hand-calculating offsets or relying on your innate good taste.

OrganicaLib: OrganicaColors

By: Paul S Cilwa	Posted: 1/16/2026		Page Views: 79
A practical, developer‑friendly guide to OrganicaColors.vb, a modern extension toolkit that enhances System.Drawing.Color with HSL, HSV, and HCL conversions, perceptual adjustments, blending utilities, and accessibility‑focused contrast helpers for building reliable, dynamic, and readable UI color systems.
Estimated reading time: 26 minute(s) (6010 words)

The System.Drawing.Color class is a solid foundation for working with colors in .NET, but it was never designed for the kind of nuanced, modern color work developers and designers often need today. It stores RGB values cleanly, provides named colors, and integrates well with WinForms and GDI+, yet it stops short of offering any meaningful tools for manipulating color in perceptual or design‑oriented ways. There's no built‑in support for HSL, HSV, HCL, Lab, or any of the other color spaces that make tasks like lightening a shade, generating harmonious palettes, or checking contrast far more intuitive. By adding a dedicated module of extension routines, you can transform into a far more capable type—one that can convert between color spaces, adjust brightness or saturation with perceptual accuracy, compute contrast ratios, and generate variants or harmonies with just a single method call. This approach preserves the simplicity of the existing structure while layering on a powerful, modern toolkit that makes color manipulation both expressive and mathematically reliable. And that's what my OrganicaColors extensions do.

Canoodling with Colors

By: Paul S Cilwa	Posted: 1/14/2026		Page Views: 39
A guide to how computers represent, manipulate, and display colors.
Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s) (1017 words)

As Walt Disney used to remind us every Sunday, the world is a carousel of color. And, thanks to high quality color monitors, smartphones, and other devices, so is the Internet. If you want to create web sites or even boring apps, you still need to know at least the basics of mathematically-calculated colors: How to create them, compare them; how to lighten, darken or ensure readability of one against another.

A Year In Fort Myers

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 2/1/1986 Posted: 1/11/2026		Page Views: 21
Hashtags: #FortMyers #Florida #GriffithBusinessServices #dBaseII #TurboPascal
Going to work for my best friend in Florida.
Estimated reading time: 10 minute(s) (2208 words)

On an earlier visit to Florida, I'd visited my friend, John Griffith, at his home in Fort Myers, Florida. Unlike me, he'd continued in college, gotten a degree, and became an insurance adjuster. But, like me, he'd been looking at the new "personal" computers with an eye to using them for business applications. So he asked for some advice on what to get to create a bulk mailing program that Deb, his wife, could use for a job of her own.

Meet The Sulcatas

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 8/26/2025 Posted: 1/11/2026		Page Views: 106
Hashtags: #Autobiography #SulcataTortoises
We've added a couple of slow-movers to the family.
Estimated reading time: 4 minute(s) (781 words)

Every family has that moment when a new pet arrives and instantly changes the household dynamic. In our case, we doubled down—literally—with two African sulcata tortoises who have already made themselves unforgettable. Their names are Harold and Rose, and they lumbered into our lives with the quiet confidence of creatures who know they'll outlive us. (They'll certainly outlive me!)

My Favorite Dog Moments of 2025

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 12/26/2025 Posted: 1/11/2026		Page Views: 117
A look at Lilly and Finley at home.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s) (73 words)

Is there anything more soothing to the soul than the site of a couple of dogs sleeping peacefully? Or more fun than to watch a couple of them play flighting?