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I bought an e-bike. Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 Super Light 2022 edition. Claire got a 4.0 step-through.

I've hardly taken photos in the last however many years, but what I have been doing since I got this shiny M1 Macbook Pro is blowing the dust off my editing skills. July 1, 2006, the first week I had my EOS 30D and its "better" kit lens. October 4, 2006. Taken by a friend of mine with his Kodak V570 panoramic camera. A photo taken by an unknown person with an Olympus C3040 Zoom point & shoot, sometime in 2001. I found it in a folder of images all from the 00s that I had not thought about in over 15 years. I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with this one, but I suspect the woman in frame sent it to me in hopes I'd clean it up. Well, here I am a decade and a half later. The original jpeg was quite a mess: low resolution (far below the C3030Z's native 3.3MP), poorly exposed, set to sepia tone (ugh), and with a couple digital glitches in it. I fixed ...most of the problems. I ran it through Topaz Labs' Gigapixel AI software, which upscaled it hugely, then converted it to black & white in Photoshop, manually adjusting the settings. Finally I did a bit more work on the levels. I did not attempt to fix the jpeg glitches, but a friend of mine stepped up and made use of his Photoshop skills. I actually like the photo now, as a character study. May 26, 2008. This chucklefuck destroyed a tube guitar amp he borrowed from me. May 26, 2008. The fella on the left is now a moderately famous YouTuber, known for his extended reviews of the Disney Star Wars films. July 19, 2013. Taken on the side of the road in Hadley, MA. A farmer came by in his tractor, stopped it, got down and yelled at me for trespassing (I was 5' off the road.) I told him I was leaving and got TF out of there. May 19, 2019. IR 5D + 17-40L @25mm. I spent considerable time editing this photo then prompty forgot about it. November 6, 2021. Two antique lamps I restored plus a network switch. iPhone 6S. December 21, 2015. Same lamps during the day. May 18, 2019. IR5D + 17-40L @25mm. April 27, 2022. iPhone 13 in an Aldi Parking lot during the golden hour. July 6, 2008. Taken at a party in a club in Springfield, MA where I only worked once. April 25, 2019. Taken with my IR-modified 2001 vintage Canon PowerShot G2 and a wide angle adapter. I cleaned it up using Topaz DeNoise AI then loaded it into Luminar 4 where I made a bunch of tweaks and applied a lookup table. Lastly, I did a bunch of further editing in Photoshop. I did not attempt to correct the somewhat comical fisheye effect caused by the wide angle lens. It doesn't bother me too much. April 17, 2019. iPhone 6S. No edits at all. Februray 18, 2019. Very odd light in my yard. iPhone 6S. May 6, 2019. IR 5D + EF 50mm F/1.8 (Mark I). The sleepy little street I live on. Oct 9, 2009. The absolutely ancient mixing console from a now-closed nightclub. A re-edit of a photo I took with the mighty Canon EF 85mm F/1.2L USM that a friend rented and let me borrow for one evening. The 85L is one of those magic lenses that lives up to and even exceeds the hype surrounding it. Revisiting the image, I de-noised it using a Topaz plugin in Photoshop, made adjustments and applied a lookup table in Luminar 4. Then I imported the photo back in to Photoshop, further adjusted the levels and did a de-noise pass to remove posterization artifacts. There is "narrow depths of field" then there's "85L depth of field."

Thanks Brent, I will likely be in touch on accessories. Mine has the top tube screen and will pair to my phone for additional controls and the ability to shut the motor down and turn on an alarm with a PIN. It was a fun ride home, and there are some things to learn about cadence and such to get the most out of the assist.

Nice, Al! I helped my LBS sell someone on the same bike about a month ago! LMK if you want a line on accessories, like the range extenders. They're hard to come by, but I have a good source. There are also some cool things you can add to that seat (like, say, a small kit that bolts right on to the seat that will hold a tube/levers/CO2 w/head, etc) that means you're never left stranded. You're gonna LOVE this thing! Oh, and do you have the top tube comp with the screen, or the button and bars? (New for 2022, but I think it's "subject to availability" as to whether or not the bike gets it).

I've been to the penis marketplace more times than I can count.

Where I grew up we had a well-know marketplace, Penni's....as you might imagine one of the N's was stolen a bit regularly. Sadly there was a fire in the 90's and it is no more.

No KGSS Klassik has ever come in for servicing so highly reliable I'd say. Closest comparison would be a fully modified 717.

Congrat Shelly! As for myself, packed for a trip to Alaska tomorrow. Going for my Brother's memorial. He passed last winter, but his wife wanted to have the memorial in warmer weather. I'm happy about that, because when I was up there for my Sister's passing 3 years back, it was Christmas, and cold, and dark and depressing as hell. I haven't been up there in the summer in at least 15 years. Actually looking forward to it.

Lovely ep/small album, by ex-lead singer of Sixpence None The Richer, Leigh Nash. Does a nice version of "Kiss Me" on this. She's playing locally this weekend, may go see her as well as long I test negative; venue has good vaccination and mask policies. Also, her web site has a background pic of her in water, and the water moves a bit; kinda neat.... https://www.leighnash.net/

Prince and the Revolution - Live Recorded at the pinnacle of the Purple Rain tour. This one rocks.

If you look carefully you will see that the horizontal part of the metal connector is recessed deeper into the housing. Plus I have them in my parts bin.

Call it a learning curve. Or a learning V, in this case.

Congrats Shelly and Yumi! I'm very pro CO meetups, even if I myself am thousands of miles away. Durango is a truly charming town, and while the price of houses now is eye-watering, you sure chose a good one.

Congrats to both of you, Shelly and Yumi! House looks awesome indeed....LOVE the views! Safe travels to Steve. And Jim, welcome to New England! How does it feel to not pay Sales Tax buying in NH?

Not today, but yesterday: Yumi accepted a job in Durango and we are under contract for this place. Higher interest rates and COVID pricing is a bitch but at least we’re not buying in CA. Time for another HC meet? We got a big basement god people to crash in. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/96-Walker-Ln-Durango-CO-81303/13939794_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

Watched Milo rescue what we assume was a waterlogged field mouse of some sort. We just happened to wander into Stretch's garden and Milo miraculously spotted what he first thought was a mole, in a PVC drain pipe. He was barely able to keep his head above water. No telling how long he was trapped in that pipe. Assuming he fell in while looking for a drink. Milo was able to grasp him with some kitchen tongs Stretch grabbed. He set him in a bushy area to hopefully regain his strength and resume his/her field mouse duties.

Up in Maine for the long weekend, after some quick but heavy rains got a nice view (our neighbor's place is basically the same as ours).

Went out for a ride with Xavier and Colin last week. I've almost recovered from the ride, so finally able to post it.