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It's been a day. Got up this morning and came downstairs to the thought, "man, it feels cold on the first floor of the house." First call was to the boiler guy, praying that a circulation pump had crapped out overnight. Verdict - WRONG ANSWER. He quickly determined the boiler was doing it's thing but the pipes for the zone that heats the first floor were not. Shit. Phoned a friend whose husband is a plumber. Started chasing frozen pipes a little before 11am. Finally found the culprit at 2pm. Had it fixed and flowing heat again by 2:30. All told, it felt like a bargain at under $1000 given that a pipe could have burst and we've got another 10 days or so of freezing temps ahead of us. Still managed to make scones for Lily's best friend who slept over last night and turns 18 next week (JFC) and also still made dinner - pork chili verde with cast-iron-skillet cornbread. There will be barrel strength bourbon in my future. Oh and we've already got almost a foot of snow and I've cleared the driveway once. I believe I will sleep tonight.

@HemiSam - goddamn, that thing is awesome! I hope you enjoy the hell out of it.

Smoked bologna

Sweet Jesus that looks gorgeous! What does she do in the quarter?

I have been wanting a MOPAR B-body restomod for some time. Thought I would buy a partly built project or the like and built to suit. Couldn't pass up this 1969 Road Runner that was on auction and local. The wheels could use some work, but such is life... Not much of a show car guy so I need to put some miles on her... HS

The results from last night -- very tasty, but the other brand (Nature's Soy) was spicier and had a delightful málà taste to it.

From last night. I was dysregulating last night something fierce, so I performed one of my comfort activities -- learning to wok.

Dusty, half this family isn't Jewish, but they bought in....to celebrating Jewish family and events, as well as the Shiva mourning. Call it Shiva or not, to me it's a good thing. There is a lot of formality to a Shiva, many times it is not followed 100%. Personally, I find it the beginning of healing. Family and friends come to pay respect, connect, tell stories, and eat. The formal period is 7 days/nights. When Karen passed, I was tearfully surprised by one of my two best friends flying in from California and spending all the days/nights of Shiva visiting (3 days for us). It's that type of love and connection that helps the healing. It's just a good thing, no matter what it's called, what religion it follows, etc.

I feel that. My sisters and I "sat Shiva" (not sure that's the right way to phrase it, since we're all gentiles) when my mother passed away. It was nice -- don't know how else to phrase it. We weren't dancing around or anything, just very...sober, for lack of a better word, but not morose or mourning.

I meant kick-start the HC travel team back into being, whether or not Marc has Red Oxx bags.

Went to a Shiva visit tonight. Facebook friend's father (94 years), I went to HS together with said FB friend's sister-in-law. Found out today that he also went to a Summer camp with my oldest brother. A wonderful celebration of life, and I caught up with my HS friend and her husband, haven't seen them in over 15 years! As much as one doesn't want to catch up with people at a funeral/Shiva, it was a life well-lived, and it was great to re-connect. It will NOT be another 15 years before we see each other again!

I feel like any band called Tropical Fuck Storm has a fair bit to prove?

@crappyjones123 - For the longest time I've been shooting landscapes for work, where the A7IV is honestly way more than enough and I also managed to pick up an A7RV for work last year as well. But with both topping out at 10FPS as I've started to shoot more sports it's been a little limiting. Which is to say my skill is limiting and some of the improvements the A7V offers would certainly be helpful. I am tracking the lack of RAW support but I've had really good luck tweaking settings and shooting SOOC jpgs and doctoring a little in Lightroom after the fact. Fine art is not on my menu. Those lantern festival shots are fantastic by the way. RE: Nikon focus issues - I consistently had back-focus issues with the various bodies that I owned over the years. Some less so than others but shooting wide would often produce results like you posted above. The camera would think it was nailing focus but the results showed otherwise. I have not had this issue with either Sony body.

William Eggleston’s Lonely South https://archive.ph/2026.01.24-204543/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/william-egglestons-lonely-south https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/william-egglestons-lonely-south

The original bag lady

I’ll add one more Rob. Feels very 2025/6. Cons and Clowns.

Topping DX5 II breaking down and killing headphones

from

I listened to it this morning after you posted a song last night. Thanks for linking and promising! Her more simple, more country-leaning 2020 Old Flowers was HUGE here as we stumbled through early pandemic feelings. You may want to give it a listen if you haven't already. Al saw her, if I remember correctly, as the silly audience ignored the stage.

Courtney Marie Andrews - Valentine https://open.qobuz.com/album/hny90dvm03jlc She has a, Joni Mitchell, Aimee Mann, expressive innocence, and her songwriting is equally great. It grows on you the more you listen as well. Simply put, I has a new favorite.

Happy Belated Birthday!