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I am officially fucking re-tired....and retired. A wonderful last week of work, topped off by a small celebration with some team members, and our CIO (blond-haired woman). The first couple of my cube, with the obligatory note that - as of today - everything is now MY fault. But a shirtload of notes on multiple cards and extra pieces of paper. I ended up topping the night off with a call with a hometown friend. She is a troubled soul and needed a supporting voice. We talked until 3:30am this morning! I wish I could do more to help people, but being a good listener and supporter is good for now.

Super happy for you. Me: didn't die. Not even joking.

Highs and lows.....sorry if TL;DR The highs: I love my neighborhood, and the people within. I maintain a website for the "Bunco Babes" here, a group of women who would get together monthly to socialize, play bunco...and drink. Since Karen passed, much of the organizing has dropped off. But the OG's of the babes invited me to a get-together; little did I know if was partially to thank me for the web site and congratulate my retirement. Pics below. A low with a little bit of high: we have a local "Buy Nothing" FB group, for free things. I have refurbed and donated computers perhaps a dozen times now. Gave two laptops away this weekend, one to a gent who has been out of work for almost 4 years because he was in an accident where a Mack truck blew a red light and slammed into him. He is now in somewhat constant discomfort or pain, and can't do much physically; insurance fights every step of the way. He even gets PTSD driving long trips.... Yet still, he does a lot of nice small things for others, and we shared our stories about that. Oh, yes: we had one FB friend in common, a wonderful woman with whom I used to work. She passed away from cancer and pneumonia complications recently; it turns out this is her distant cousin, and he didn't even know of her passing. The lower low: another laptop I gave to a woman who has an autistic son (two other kids too, one of whom has pretty high functioning autism). I volunteered to bring the laptop and a full docking station with monitor setup I had over. This amazing woman and her husband spend almost 24x7 watching her youngest, as he has non-verbal autism and also has a potentially deadly condition where his digestive tract will get blocked. Constant monitoring and care, advocating for him at hospital and doctor visits, etc. Hugs and tears resulted. They don't even have a place right now to set up the full monitor, so I told her I will come and help when they do find the space. You can see the strain, yet the strength all at once. Humans are such amazing creatures. But the two situations above point out how much the system works against so many, though!

Just got home from our SF/Phoenix trip. ‘Twas fun and great to see my brother and his wife and our son. Gratuitous pictures

Yesterday: Finally had a clear "two person" day, so Out with the Old. Well 💩, that explains a lot. No time to tilt the the house, so In with the New: Good enough for one day. I must say using a laser level is a game changer ensuring that things are level and line up, even if the building is out of true. Just remember: And then today, some finishing touches, and cable management. And then finally voice automation. Because: Of course. Some non ideal / contrived syntax commands because: reasons, but that's balkanized home automation. Looks nice though (Marin OLED 2 time club)

Couple things.....my LinkedIn transformation is as complete as I think I'll get. Added a pronoun (Red Lectroid) and updated my profile pic. Next up: met three school friends, all Jewish women, one of whom I hadn't seen in 40 years! An awesome time catching up, and spending time with them all. The woman I hadn't seen in 40 years gave me 3 things from her scrapbook: my Bar-Mitzvah invitation, the Party Invitation, and my Thank You note to her. All about 48+ years old! It was incredible! She and her husband live in Southern Maine, not far from my condo up there. So we'll definitely get together! I am fucking LOVING retirement!

I've finally been able to see the photos I took in London (I was there 3 weeks ago)

Forgot to post last night, grabbed dinner after meetings in Mississippi concluded. Turns out the south knows how to do chicken and waffles.

A very exciting Sunday in Hell. No spoilers this time! Apropos of Roubaix, I put some 40mm slicks on to try out. I am very interested to see how they feel.

Last night Andrew made me dinner to celebrate my retirement. Also got to see his condo just about fully done with renovations. This kid did amazing design work for it! Even the Designer he worked with - who also did our bathroom remodels in 2024 - said he had an great sense of taste and style, doing some things even she didn't think about..... Dinner was awesome, roast seasoned chicken (amazingly tender), dan dan noodles with a decent kick/spice, and sauteed and seasoned spinach. Watched Buckaroo Banzai (*) and listened to a bunch of music and just chatted. A really wonderful night! (*) I updated my LinkedIn profile to list my "new" job as Laser Engineer, Oscillation Overthruster Division at Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems. That is the fictitious company in the movie. Only one person got it so I had to update my "About" section to tell people to Google it, and that I was retired.

Shee-it. I went to Chicken Alley today and they had an Apple A1407 Thunderbolt display for $28, sold "as is" because they had no means to test it. I lugged it home and worked perfectly. The only part I can't quite figure out is which revision this one is. It has a physical latch that blocks off the webcam. Every other version of the Thunderbolt Display that I've owned has lacked this feature.

Son Andrew and I saw my favorite band The Chameleons again, his third time with me. This ranks as one of their best shows for me....incredible passion and energy throughout! First opening band was my second time seeing them, Lovina Falls. Lots of great music, and got a couple nice pics: one with Reg Smithies of The Chameleons; he doesn't pose for pics that much and when he does, he points his finger at his picture partner. I got to do the same. And Valerie Forgione from Lovina Falls took a nice pic with me as well.

I don't normally do birthday greetings for long absent Head-casers, but noticed that @Duggeh turned 40 today. Seems like only yesterday that he was a young Scottish squire experimenting with large obscure headphones. If you happen to see this, then I hope you are well, Duggeh, and would love to hear tales of your middle age! Cheers!

Thirsty Barrel Taphouse Our Signature 6oz All-Grass-Fed Beef/Lamb patty with a twist! Stout Dijonnaise, Pomegranate Gastrique, Caramelized Onions, Chèvre Goat Cheese, and Arugula on a Brioche Bun + Pliny on tap & patty for the dogs.

new to me. Pretty melodies plus soundscapes.

Got the Cervelo back out on the road on one of our few sunny spring days so far. It was windy, but still a nice rip around town.

Up at the Maine condo this weekend, a cloudy & cold day turned into a stunner of a beautiful one! Went into Kennebunkport and next to no one was there. Had a great walk around, bought some arty shit, and stayed for dinner. Have always enjoyed Alisson's Restaurant for better-than-pub dining, tonight sat at the bar and had a Lagavulin 16 and my favorite of theirs, the Lobster Bisque Lobster Roll. Worth the $, along with a brief chat with a couple folks at the bar.

bœuf

You're an amazing person, Todd. Cheers! EDIT: And that was before I saw the other post. I'm at a loss for words. Thank you so much, Todd and everyone.

Yesterday: Installed (functional) matching tie backs. Fixed hissing / pinprick leak in valve that caused rise from set point to edge of overflow by replacing entire valve assembly after replacing and lubricating just the washer valve failed to improve the situation. Now stays silently at set point. Today: Then: For the house. Replaced With one of For the 'fridge. I think I may deserve a Usual after all that.

I decided that it was time for a proper camera to capture the kids. My iPhone appears to have over-processed the shit out of this photo of the photo-taking tool.

I will see your Brit Brunch and lower you an Irish Interlude.

Well deserved time to rest and focus on yourself -- even though you started by helping someone else! You'll always be a mensch, which is one of your many great traits. Cheers on joining the formerly employed! 🎊

It's an interesting unit Not the sharpest thing in the world, but it focuses quickly. The out of focus areas are warm and fuzzy, so it has good bork-eh. Probably best used outdoors.

Whenever I visit London, I always end up taking photos of these three places. The colors really catch my eye: blue, red... I'm posting some of the many photos I took, although I haven't looked at them all yet. In my defense, it's hard to concentrate while chasing after your pre-teen son... although I did manage to sneak a nod to Wings.

April 23, 1976, the Ramones released their debut album. Hey, ho, 50 years ago(!) As I snarked in 2016, "Sheee-it, some tiny insignificant punk rock album by a band you've never heard of dropped 40 years ago today. It sold poorly, probably because it didn't have any good songs on it." I know I don't have to explain the significance of the Ramones to the crowd of codgers that is head case. I will be lecturing some mostly uninterested zoomers on the subject.

A few updates. Bought the above Obscura, but returned. Really loved the idea, but less robust than I like (Magrette Regattare being my only automatic reference). Also photography related, Increment Labs is releasing their first watch in a couple weeks with a light meter built in. That’s interesting, though the design is not. Take a look Casio lovers - https://www.increment-labs.com . Hope it succeeds. My Obscura refund money needed to go somewhere (besides the obvious savings), so being an Ohio native and a veteran, Lum-tec Watch Combat Field X5 Titanium 24H incoming. Even bought from a reseller near where I used to bike in high school. Apple Watch holds on the other wrist.

The bike is looking SWEET! I got out for a nice 27mi windy rip around town this afternoon. Felt good to be back outside again before I have to travel for a few days and be away from the bike.

^^ Because it's a goddamn brilliant camera. I got to shoot with a D4S at work for a bit but have too much Sony stuff at this point to ever practically think about another system. Speaking of Sony, the A7V's 30fps is goddamn bonkers. Sounds like a Gatling gun but allows for capturing some pretty great shots even in mediocre hands. Edit - yes, that's Andrew with the glasses running the 800m today.

My kayak instructor from Chile is playing as “Granny’s Mason Jar” tonight. Good bluegrass.

Thank you, Todd. This last post of yours helped me to recover some faith in the human race, which I’ve been losing for a few years now.

No worries at all! I had found your original comment funny too, but this is even better! BTW, forgot to mention that I even put "John" as my....nickname? And no one asked me about that as well! (For those that haven't seen the movie, the aliens, both good and evil/male and female) are all named John or some variant)

"Fly me to the moon..." https://www.twitch.tv/nasa Direct on Twitch. getting pretty big.

The Carpenters

If, like previously, from memory without sheet music.

Welcome to the club. We are currently sitting in the Phoenix airport waiting for our son’s flight to land. Oh and we are both drinking a beer because what is a better deal than airport beer.

Here are a couple of posts in Audio Asylum from the late Mr. Charles Hansen (founder of Avalon speakers and later Ayre electronics) where he illustrated the history and inner working of HDCD. There are many more related posts you can find in Audio Asylum. I found them both educational and very interesting read. https://www.audioasylum.com/audio/digital/messages/18/184385.html https://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=digital&n=184436&highlight=HDCD+pacific+charles+hansen&search_url=%2Fcgi%2Fsearch.mpl%3Fsearchtext%3DHDCD%26b%3DAND%26topic%3D%26topics_only%3DN%26author%3Dcharles%2Bhansen%26date1%3D%26date2%3D%26slowmessage%3D%26sort%3Dscore%26sortOrder%3DDESC%26forum%3DALL

Turned This: Into This: Because: This:

Few more from the interwebz via my drive. The one about chocolate I especially love because it is SO much Karen - sent it to her sisters and one said she cried she laughed so hard.

Oh, man....I just had a triggered flashback (no drugs involved!). My grandparents used to take us 3 boys out to an IHOP near their condo many (many) years ago. Tuesday nights were 2-for-1 pancake nights; always super-busy with lots of "opinionated" older people. I would often order a huge apple pancake, quite good and could never finish it so would have leftovers. One time, the waitress delivers my dish, and my grandmother practically jumps down her throat, saying "...it looks sick, bring a new one...." (it DID look like one of those above). I saw the harried and worried look on the waitress' face and told her to leave it, I'm sure it will be fine. Relieved, she did, and indeed it was fine. Later I got a nice smile and a mouthed "thank you" from her. Since then, I will always give the "first" pancake the benefit of the doubt 🙂 Funny the stuff one remembers.....I must have all of like 10 or 11 years old.

Brit Brunch

Lot of hate for these guys back in the day as grunge pretenders, but I enjoyed the throwback.

Watching these guys go fast...

But does it HDCD? Finally, a more objective analysis of Pacific Microsonics' technology:

I can make it about 2 min before losing interest. Good for them for their marketing (costume) and bringing something new (not really new) for the kids to get excited about. I should invest in microtonal fretboards and guitars. Id imagine sales will start picking up soon.

Also hung some non functional "decorative" curtains.