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I became officially non-single, again, today. I had been worried that I wouldn't have somebody to go to my favorite pumpkin patch (the one next to the semi-abandoned amusement park, which is perfect for Halloween) with. Once again, I prove that I can talk nearly anybody into anything, even semi-abandoned amusement park adjacent pumpkin pickings. I'm very happy. Oh, wow: I just realized that I'm primarily vegan. Wow.

For the last 35+ years, I've loved Tom Petty's music. When I first heard "You Got Lucky" on the radio and immediately set out figuring out who it was. In the early 80s, the only members of my family who had cable TV were my grandparents. They had MTV, which was a new and gee whiz thing. They also disapproved of me watching it: "it'll rot your brain." I had to sneak in my viewings, and I was lucky enough to see the video for You Got Lucky. I was too young to understand the Mad Max references. I just knew I liked the song and Tom knocked over an arcade game. Several years later I got my first cassette player, and I bought Long After Dark and Damn the Torpedoes ("Refugee" was another favorite of mine.) As my musical tastes evolved and changed from metal to techno to ambient, I have always revisited Tom's music and loved it.

Saw Tom's 3rd to last show at the Hollywood Bowl last Thurs, been listening to nothing but his music since. They were great live, not a single filler song for the 2+ hours and they could have played another hour worth of singles. They did a 12 min version of 'Good to Be King' that was incredible. RIP Tom Petty.

So I am feeling the itch to upgrade my digital front end with a streamer and DAC or Streamer/DAC. The contenders right now are the Bryston BDP-3 and Bryston BDA-3, PS Audio Directstream DAC w Network Bridge II or the Directstream junior DAC (most likely the latter as the former seems too expensive given the differences), Auralic (either the Altair or the Aries and Vega) or the Nativ Vita and Wave. I know we don't really discuss audio components anymore but if anyone has any positive or negative comments (relevant or not), about any of these or any other suggestions would be appreciated as I am still in the early research stage. Now back to discussing alcohol and other matters of more importance.

RIP Tom. I'll admit to wanting to do you harm when your CD got jammed in the CD changer. It was on the fishing boat, in the Bering Sea, and it played repeatedly for over a month. But that was no fault of your own. You made some great music and did things your way!

Tomales Bay mussels with smoked bacon, tomato, chickpeas and, uh, bread. Standards are not being maintained ...

Stretch and I were just discussing the waning interest in owning ANY media. Disc players are way passé (as you long ago demonstrated with a disc giveaway) and even piling up data on servers and hard drives is starting to seem clunky and unnecessary. I am also looking for a streaming device that doesn't require a computer and I think it is going to be best to focus on the interface and streaming capability. I think I may just skip the hard drive/server models because I don't like managing the files and still have lots of silver discs and vinyl. The Auralic DAC was not my favorite when I was comparing dsd dacs a few years ago, but that is pretty dated info. I may just get a good streaming device and run it though my Playback Designs DAC because I still like it so much (and it plays discs).

Yep, I am one of those that like the Sonica. It’s ability to stream was what convinced me I would like a more capable streamer.

Seafood paella

I have to say Reks, I enjoyed a mostly vegetarian diet during my stay with Doug and Erica. Due to both of them being very good cooks, I thoroughly enjoyed the meals! Don't tell Stretch or Al, but I could easily gravitate toward that. Although I'd have to include some fish, as did Doug and Erica.

Yours is safe. But just take a careful look before starting populating the Beast.

My Gen 5 is somewhere between Los Angeles and Sydney.........

* Narrators voice * It did not.

Rough watching all of the endless recap of this shit in Vegas, fucking sickening. So many innocent lives taken and others will never be the same. Don't even know where to begin, how to even think about it. RIP all, nobody should have to die like that. Then the up and down all day long with Petty being reported almost dead, then dead, then not dead, and dead again... what an awful 24 hours all around. RIP, Tom. You did well with your time here.

My God... recstar24 is Philip Glass!

No idea where this memory surfaced from ...

It was annoying, but do-able.

Sad day. He will be missed. ?

Did the gen 5 upgrade to my Gumby this morning. It took about 30 minutes, start-to-finish. I'll leave it to others to describe any change in sonics, but I figure it can't hurt the eventual re-sale value. EDIT: If anyone wants the prior gen USB board to play around with, PM me and its yours for the price of shipping.

Very fun day driving. Lost to a ex-national champion and his co-driver in a 2002 Celica

Hold your horses, Steve. This is full on Straight Eye For The Queer Guy. No feature walls. No coordinated throw pillows. Just places to sit and spots for gear and a few other amenities like a kegerator with beer, wine and Diet Coke taps for your HC guests. ?

Quite robust fellows up close!

Neat Burger with duck egg and Niman Ranch Bacon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Went next door for dessert ...

It's not what I did, but what others are doing for me. I just found out that Al is at my new apartment, setting it all up for my arrival. That is so touching and so very cool! I seem to be alternating between grinning like an idiot and tearing up like a little kid. It's been like that since it all became real a few weeks back. I hope that I'm able to express how in awe I am at what everyone has done for me! You people have my heart always! This is the best group of people I've ever known! Head-Case Strong, Head-Case Proud!

And dessert: Pastel de Elote

Is there a bunny underneath, we can't see? http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pancake-bunny

center tap on the high voltage windings is optional.

Dogs with Wings tour...Saw him perform Last Dance with Mary Jane at Market Square Arena for the first time...1995?... crushed...You Wreck Me is probably my favorite song of his... only two Wilburys left...