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Decided to bike to vacation.

I haven't mentioned it before now, because it's been a bit of a scramble, but today I signed a lease on a new apartment. I'm going to miss my current place, but my landlord's Father is getting too old to care for himself completely, and he's going to move into my apartment, so that he can still have some sense of self reliance. But Sheri can better help him out. My new apartment is 20 minutes West/Northwest, in a sleepy town called Nicasio. I use the term town loosely. I'm in the middle of giant Redwood trees. And I do mean in the middle. It's absolutely gorgeous! Maki will have 5 big dogs as neighbors. The landlords are dog softies and have foster failed with each one. Though Maki will have her own fenced yard. And this apartment has a doggy door, which is phenomenal. It's a bit smaller than my current place, but does have a sizable deck overlooking the forest of giant Redwoods, and much more kitchen cabinet space for my abundant kitchen appliance collection. Maki can bark all she wants, and I can crank the music as loud as I want. Currently my apartment is below a house, and that keeps it quite a bit cooler than the house above me. This new place is below a garage with a concrete slab floor, and the trees block out a lot of direct sunlight. So it should be even cooler than this place. It was quite comfortable at 4:00 today. I've had the heater vent blocked since the day I moved in almost 7 years ago. And will never need the heater in the new place. Still have my Alaska blood. Should be in on the first. Will take some pics after getting situated. Nate, do you remember the hike we went on last time you were out here? It's just a little further up the road from there, and very similar surroundings. The only downside is no in-house washer/dryer, but that's not the end of the world. It has two large closets with hanging rods, where my current apartment has none. And as a gay man, I do have an adequate clothing collection. I threw out about 20 pair of old shoes today. So only about 80-90 pair to have to move. Norm Abram would covet my plaid collection. Haven't counted but at least 40-50 plaid shirts alone. 50-60 hats, etc... You know, a perfectly reasonable wardrobe. I did slim my T-shirt collection considerably today, and have about 50 to take to Goodwill/Salvation Army. My 50-60 pair of boxer briefs and 100-120 pair of socks will remain intact. I get nervous with less. I will most likely be thinning my crazy audio cable/adapter collection soon. Will post to give anyone an opportunity to claim any unwanted items. Only 20 minutes from Compound Bedecarre, so Al, Claire and Dorothy won't easily be rid of me.

WTF? I'm thoroughly confused! I haven't exchanged a word with Jacob in years! I have no idea where this is coming from. Bazaar!!! However, I'll attempt a reply at what I can only assume ws some kind of drunken rant. Firstly, I don't distinguish between Queer and Gay people. Or Lesbian, Bisexual and Transexual people. We're lumped into one group for a reason. Because we're all discriminated for our sexual identities. They're all my family in this fight. They all deserve the same respect as our heterosexual counterparts. Secondly, I have no memory of you ever coming out to me. That's not to say it never happened, but unlike many, I'm not at all shocked when I hear that someone is coming out as LGBTQ+. So it doesn't leave a real impression or memory. Especially if it's someone I have very little contact with on a day to day basis. When I came out on this forum in 2010 I believe, I had a few members private message me to tell me of their LGBTQ+ status. I did not share those revelations with this forum, because that's not my place to do so. Nor did I have any desire to do so. I felt honored that they'd want to share that with me, but if and when they choose to out themselves is their business and nobody else's. Jacob and I have never shared any kind of comradery on either forum. He was always standoffish to me, and I let that be. I remember the first time we met face to face. It was in 2010, Chicago Can Jam, just before I came out. I wanted to meet everyone I could face to face before coming out, because I wanted them to meet Steve, not 'the gay guy', if that makes sense to you? Anyway, the day I arrived in Chicago and met several people, a group of a dozen or so of us decided to get some lunch at a local restaurant. Jacob was one of those people. At some point during lunch Jacob announced "hey, you seem like a nice guy. I really expected you to be a complete asshole". Noone really said anything to that. Including myself. How do you answer a statement like that? Especially when it's stated in a public setting? For me that kind of set the tone for our relationship, or lack there of. While I've never put any member on ignore, I pretty much just skipped over his posts. Then came the giant explosion, where Jacob deleted most of the forum, by accident or on purpose. Again, I assumed alcohol related. I had a lot of back content lost forever. Posts and pictures of building things. My turntable, headphone stands etc... pictures that I had no other backup for. And yes, it pissed me off. But we move on. Then when Jacob reappeared I continued to pretty much ignore him. I have no idea of the events in his life. I couldn't tell you anything about him. I've had no contact of any kind in many years. And I've been more than OK with that. I've not encouraged or discouraged other members from interacting with him. In short, I really just haven't thought much about him in any way. Maybe that's the source of his anger? Maybe not? Honestly I don't really care. However, suddenly accusing me of some kind of prejudice against Queer vs. Gay is just silly. It doesn't really deserve a response, but I guess I chose to do so at any rate. Now I'll go back to ignoring Jacob. That's what works best for me.

Actually, I first want to express my deep gratitude for the complete acceptance that I have received from this very fine group of people! I joined this forum of beautiful people at a time in my life where I was again facing idiotic mindsets and manurisms from those around me, especially at my workplace. And this place, and you people were my respite from the ignorance of those that I dealt with at the time.

My first "serious" test for the next cycle here in Gran Canaria. It is practically the same route as the race. Thought and mood are something very curious... while I was climbing, although I was having fun with the beautiful day (we reached almost 40º C) I had the sensation of going slower than usual and when I returned home I was quite tired. I thought it was the treatment's fault but nevertheless, when I saw the data this afternoon I saw that not only climb faster but I also set significantly better times. Sea of clouds in the north of the island In Tejeda it´s the Parador (something like a Hotel) Top climb Jose needed breakfast today....

Got my new power supply ready for my KG amp collection

I finished inputting into a spreadsheet all of the shows that Claire and I have kept ticket stubs for. She started the project years ago and logged over 300 shows from her journals, ticket stubs and scrap books. Now that I have finished all paper tickets we still have and added some that I have in memory but not on paper, the total is over 600 concerts, mostly rock (broadly defined) and jazz with a mix of symphony, bluegrass, rap, country, etc. There is a small percentage that we went to separately and I am not done scraping my memory and my friends' memories, but the bulk is now recorded. We're wondering if we will hit 1000 shows before we slip this mortal coil. Actually, that reminds me that I think I saw that band and definitely saw Dead Can Dance...

Had a surreal moment at work the other day - I was out walking with our public affairs staff planning for an upcoming major event when my specialist made the following comment, "Maybe we should use the nice camera in the closet for this?" I responded asking WTF she was talking about, what was this camera, where was it, how long had it been sitting around, etc. What followed was a mind numbing conversation about how her higher-HQ had shipped her a camera last year to use to document some of the work we're doing. She took one look at it, decided it was way-too-complicated and put it in a storage closet. So on Monday I unearthed a mint condition Nikon D4S complete with a Nikkor 28-300 lens. I have always wanted to tinker with a Nikon FX body. I am the only one that can figure out how to use a camera without a green auto function 🤦‍♂️. So I've got it home with me for the long weekend trying to figure it all out and re-learn some Nikon functions after going to the dark side of Sony for the last three years.

Holy necro-bump Batman!! 🫣 I just got the new Mini Shangri-La - aka. Jade 3.0 (as the last one didn't sell) so instead of making a new thread or filling up the Stax thread, this kinda belongs here. I don't know how Hifiman does it but these manage to feel even cheaper than the Jade 2... this "new" headband works just fine but premium it sure as shit isn't. Same trash cable as on the rest of the lineup, why they continue to use this I can't even fathom. As for the sound... "mehhh" comes to mind quite a bit over the last 4 hours I've used them. They like to be played pretty loud but nothing really stands out, they are inoffensive, rather bland sounding. I'll play around with them some more but the highlight is they are reasonably comfy and they fit large heads.

Last night, a sashimi dinner and two orders of uni

Got a cat from the shelter two weeks ago. Stormi is a 3 year old who already had a litter of kittens. They had all been adapted out, but after a couple of months she was still there. She was all skin and bones. She is very timid and the shelter told us she should be an only pet and in a home without kids. It's been two weeks. She looks a lot healthier and happy. Very curious and playful. She still spooks easily. She follows around behind the wife from room to room. She also has explored everywhere in the house, and likes sitting in the screen room in the back bird watching. It's hard to get pictures since she seems to react by running away.

I've been getting to know the new flattop and liking it a lot. Made an epic breakfast sandwich on it this morning. Last night was fajitas.

I bet you say that to all the boys!

Made brisket tacos the other day.

Spent the day in Castle Rock Park. Possibly saw evidence of the original Ohlone people or aliens or maybe local kids who had seen too many A24 films. Hung out with some down on their luck trucker who waxed poetically (or at least consistently) about their hatred of bugs, the heat, and people taking their photograph. Finally caught the fireworks.

Given We decided to By heading over to the Point Reyes National Seashore and enjoying the cooler temperatures, before they are swarmed on the 4th and completing my Point Reyes Visitors cliched photographs, bingo card

Thanks guys, it is a ride I’ve done once before and is in essence uphill the whole way. I mean yes, there are descents after the big climbs but as a point to point there’s a lot more up than down. And a persistent headwind out of the north was not something I’d bargained on. Oddly enough, what freaks most people out is my HR data. AVG: 158bpm, MAX: 178. Not too shabby for a 48 year old.

Visited the Pacific Pinball Museum today. Here are a few shots of a Jerry Kelley and Christian Marche working machines exhibit with a M9M and LLL 1966.

The drinking game is called "Hi Bob" because the number of times it was said per episode essentially became it's own joke. RIP to one of the true greats. I think I will listen to The Buttoned Down Mind of Bob Newhart because it's been a very long time.

She was perfectly cast as Olive Oyl. Reunited with Popeye now.

Did someone say bald?

I'm starting to get to know my new Canon R6 Mk II. A very different world from my 90D. I know there are hundreds of videos on YouTube about this but please, do you have any tips or recommendations for me? Shooting the 90D continues to give me great joy (within my complete ignorance of course) but photography (like the music) has been one of my favorite distractions during my treatment and at the moments when I couldn't ride a bike. You already know that I am generally very clumsy. These are some photos that my wife asked me to take of her flowers with the 90D.

Finally got to Howlin' Ray's for a hot chicken sandwich and it was excellent! Went with Medium+ heat level at my brother's suggestion, but should have gone all the way to hot. No multiple hour line on a Friday at 4:00pm. In fact no line at all.

So I have been running Roon as my go to audio software for listening to my digital library and integrating it with Tidal and Qobuz. The software works very well and they have kept upgrades. I have been using a 2018 Mac mini to run my Roon server and it has worked very well though not without a few hiccups in keeping it running on a continuous basis. A picture of that setup is below. It consisted of the mac mini and a 10 TB USB disk to hold my library and Roon backups, a 27” monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse. The previous generation of Roon nucleus appliances were quite pricey compared to the Mac mini so I never really considered buying one. However when they announced the Nucleus One for $499 that changed everything. The nucleus has an advantage over the Mac mini as you can install an additional drive internally to hold your library so even with my $600 8TB SSD the price was actually less than the Mac mini and external USB drive. Obviously the Mac is capable of doing more than the Nucleus but I was only using it as a Roon server. So the primary goal was to simplify the setup and hopefully provide a more stable platform with higher up time. Replacing the Mac with the Nucleus One allowed me to get rid of the pieces below. This is all now doing duty as an additional workstation in our guest room. The new audio system is below. It has been very reliable and has been running continuously as long as power and the network is up. It also comes back up with absolutely no intervention when power/network connectivity is restored. It has also motivated me to reconfigure my network as we have both a personal network as well as the University network. Prior to this last week neither my Ropiee devices nor Roon Arc worked. But after a weeks worth of network reconfiguring and port forwarding hell, everything works correctly. I now have the Oppo attached directly to the network via a Ropiee device and I was able to use my iPad to connect to my Roon server from work using Roon Arc. I am happy with the purchase and most people with standard home networks should be able to get everything working in a day. The longest part will be transferring your library to the internal disk if you decide to go that route. It does have two USB ports on the back so you can also use an external disk. EDIT Note. Corrected price of Nucleus one from $599 to $499

When I was your age I trained for a long distance hill run called the Bob Graham Round in the English Lake district. 63 miles with the height of Everest in it. 42 peaks, a lot on bouldery broken ground. You have to complete it in less than 24 hours. If I was not climbing at 160bpm plus on an ascent I wasn't working hard enough. Now if I get to 160bpm in the gym, at 68, I think I'm going to die. Age is not your friend as you pile on the years. Mind you at 61 I did the Yorkshire 3 peaks. Biggest hills in Yorkshire - a marathon distance but with 6,500 feet of ascent. I trained hard for that, and did 7h15m.

I hope it's more effective than shark repellent

Speaking of which

I can't think of Richard Simmons, without thinking about his appearance on Who's Line is it Anyway.

Went to take a shower today, and a very young mouse was visiting in my tub😮 Should have taken a pic, very cute little thing. Put it in a box with air holes until I could take my shower and put it outside. The dichotomy of our reactions: Karen: "Oh, gross, we need to get rid of it and any others...." Todd: "It's SOOO cute, we should get a habitrail and keep him...." 🤣 I did let him outside, but fear he's too small to survive on his own. And we got some no-escape traps to see if others are here and can be captured. I also plan on getting some humane packages of those mint or other deterrents....

Dire Straits by Dire Straits (1978) https://album.link/i/307029087 Example:

We had a new restaurant / bar open we have been awaiting, Bar Bludorn. Enjoyed a nice meal Friday night with our son and his girlfriend. Drinks were very good. Love that I didn't have to ask someone to use less can sugar in the old fashioneds. The ham beignets with ricotta and a berry jelly or the like were standout. Wagu smoked brisket rueben also wonderful. The duck was very good but I think the PB&J fried chicken was more interesting. HS

For what it's worth, Steve, my wife and I first met you at MOA after you had already come out to this group. You might have been the only openly gay man there (I do not remember) but when my wife and I talked about you later you were "the woodworker". This was before everyone here became woodworkers.

Is my wedding day so I feel like I can finally finally wear my wedding watch.

Gratuitous cat picture that didn't make it into my Tivoli Model CD post.

I don't think this year I´l achieve the good result of last year but I am working very hard for this: This year the 10th edition is celebrated and a much tougher journey is expected, Despite not being at my best physically, I am happy to return and share this special day with my friends and colleagues from other teams. During this time I have received many calls and messages of support and encouragement. No drama, I'm glad to be back

I've been playing with the D4S all weekend. Man, it's funny how familiar the Nikon controls feel after so many years with the D7000 and how easy it is to fall back into workflow/process. Still working on nailing focus points. Low light performance is impressive. That was in an essentially dark room with the little man lit only by the light of his phone.

Steve Miller Band the joker xrcd

I just recalled a bad memory.... When my stepfather passed away, he had a nice Rolex in wonderful condition, had it for literally decades. In his will, it was left to his oldest son. That son didn't care one bit about the memory or what that watch meant to his dad, and sold it for I think close to $15+K.... My mom was pissed, though of course he had every right to do what he wanted. It was just a lack of respect to my stepfather's memory in our eyes. EDIT: I contrast that with my wife, who got an expensive Cartier watch from her mom after she had passed. Even though she'll never wear it, she has trouble selling it based on how much her mom loved it. THAT is respecting a memory. That said, both her sisters said they'd be OK if she wanted to sell it.

Dire Straits is one of my favorite bands, if not my favorite. Love all of their albums and Mark's solo stuff and collaborations as well.

Well I took them apart so some pics: The earpads just pull off and are much better made than the 009 pads. Remove 5 screws and the back just falls off. Notice the hole next to the top screw... yeah that's a port. Stax did miss a trick here as they could have sealed the back and front completely with a rubber gasket similar to the HE60. Here is the other side and the drivers is just held in place by those 4 screws. The plate holding the driver together appears to be made from metal and it does exert a bit of force down on it. I don't love the soldering on this though... Screws are out and I did look inside the drivers and it's standard Stax fair from the x07 series. Metal stators and metal retaining rings for the diaphragm and dust covers. Here is a port block idea but I can't really test it as this set is borked...

Deck Dessert

I assume that there is a single street size tortilla under the mound of meat on a plate. mmm taco...

Red white and blue Deck Brunch Happy 4th Y'all.

Anybody notice that Mark Cavendish yesterday won his 35th stage win in the Tour de France? Aged 39, he has finally won more stages than the legendary Eddy Merckx? Actually Merckx won his 34 stages in a combination of wins - mountain top, breakaway etc. Cav has done his 35 stage wins all in a bunch sprint. He actually threw his chain as he crossed the line, having gone from 1700W into the bike to freewheeling kind of instantly. When one stage win is a defining moment for a pro cyclist for most riders in the Tour, 35 stage wins is heroic. Everyone who he outsprinted slapped him on his back as they crossed the line in his wake - and all riders, including Tadej Pogačar in yellow almost queued up to hug him - a popular win by the whole peleton. The "Manx Missile" finally has the 35 wins monkey finally off his back.

Bringing out the big guns: Cracking open a roll of Velvia 50 for the first time in 16 years. I've been going out to Sweetened Water Farm (the property across the street from me) many evenings during the golden hour. It's an amazingly scenic vista that is largely unspoiled. The family that own the farm were smart and bought up a lot of MV property when it was cheap and have sold it off over the years. That means they've been able to keep such prime real estate in its agrarian state. Normally I shoot with with my 5D IV and either the 50/1.8 or the 17-40, with a side order of iPhone. I thought "what if I do the same thing, but make it much more difficult and expensive." That thought process lead me to best (and among the least forgiving) film stocks on the planet. Of course, this evening came and I didn't expose a single frame of Velvia. For the past few days there's been a spectacular spider web floating in space by the pond. I tried to capture it with my 85mm (which I had attached for the above shot) and realized immediately I a significantly longer focal length. I dug out my 300mm Nikkor and spend half an hour wrestling a tripod framing, manually focusing and cursing. TBH I could really use a 400 or 500mm lens. Don't hold your breath. With that said, 300mm is not exactly a useful focal length for normal photography. I really have to work to do ...anything with it. I puttered around the yard, attempting to find interesting things to frame. I didn't get much, but I do like this shot:

Jacob is acting like a cunt no matter what sexual orientation he wants to claim. And I don't believe for one second that he came out to Steve except in his twisted imagination. I don't know why he was let back onto the forum after blowing up half of the content but he'll stay on ignore as far as I'm concerned. I won't see any reply from him so I won't be as gracious as Steve and try to respond to him.

Well it's the last day of Pride Month, and I can't think of a better ending than this...

My first exposure to Alan Holdsworth was when I was in high school and my guitar teacher gave me a homemade tape with several different guitarists on it. The song Rhoad Games sounded unique. It's what got me into him. Since then, its been a regular album that I revisit from time to time.

Your posts are becoming self aware....