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What I haven't mentioned yet is the other big change in my life. That's a career change. The company that I've worked for the last 7 years has had less and less work for me. And the last job I did for them had 137 stair steps from the street to the job site. And there was rarely parking anywhere near the stairs leading to the job. On top of that, the homeowners insisted that we load our tools up daily, because they were afraid the tools would cause a break-in, which they were worried would lead to vandalism. So I was lugging many, many tools up and down those miserable stairs every day. Some tools quite large and heavy. I was having dizzy spells that I assumed at the time was related to the ascending climb as well as my ascending age. I've since discovered that my Hypertension meds needed to be adjusted, and I'm feeling better now. However, I've decided to try a career change. This old dog is trying to learn a new trick. I turned in my Resume to the local Fairfax Lumber store about a month ago, and was surprised when the cashier rushed myself and my resume back to the President of the company immediately. As it happened, they were looking for a new hand at the lumber desk. They needed someone to revive the tanking contractor sales. The President got a bit excited as he read my resume, then offered me the job on the spot. I accepted. I started a few days later, but on my first real day of work, I started having really bad dizzy spells after simply stocking shelves. I thought I was going to pass out, and my vision was getting blurry as well. It shook me up, and I had to tell the President that I couldn't complete the day. The good news was that the next day I went to see my Doctor, at the insistence of Al and Dorothy, for which I'm very grateful. The Dr. was pretty sure immediately that the issue was low blood pressure. That was caused by the 3 meds I was taking for Hypertension working too well. Partly due to an over 20 lb. recent weight loss. Anyway it was a relatively easy fix, except she told me that I needed to be as inactive as possible for two weeks while the deletion of one of the meds cleared my system. Not the best timing, with a brand new job and a big move happening. But I'm the guy that has the most incredible friends imaginable! Al, Dorothy, Dorothy's friend Gavin and Dorothy's Mom Rini moved my entire apartment to my new place. Cleaned my old apartment (no small feat), and insisted that I chill and do as little as possible. I can tend to freak out a bit when things come at me hard. Al has this incredible way of calming me down and making me see what's possible, instead of what's impossible. And I don't usually make that easy! After my session with Dr. Al, I went and talked to the President of Fairfax Lumber, explained my medical situation and the two weeks off that I needed. He agreed to give me that time and a bit more to complete the move. I just completed my first week on the job yesterday. It's going great! My experience as a carpenter is definitely crossing over. I've been able to solve customer's project questions, am learning my way around the myriad of goods that we sell and above all the boss is impressed. At closing yesterday he pulled me aside and told me how happy he was that my health issue has improved, and how happy he is with my knowledge and customer service. The last guy they hired in my position was there only a few weeks, then died of a heart attack. So I understand his relief. Well it seems I've created another marathon post, but just wanted to fill you in and express my gratitude for friendships I clearly don't deserve, but will do my utmost to repay!

Got to see (again) my favorite band, The Chameleons. My son joined me for this one. Two of the original members, plus an extremely talented 3 other musicians. This was the best I think I've seen them since the full group reunion in 2000/2001. Just an amazing show, my son agreed. They had incorporated some keyboards into some of their music, and usually didn't tour with a keyboard player. This time they did, and it added a great extra layer of sound/ambience to many of the songs. Interesting tidbit more for local music fans: the second opener was a band called Lovina Falls. The singer was the lead singer of a 90's dream-pop type band in Boston called Mistle Thrush; I have a couple of their CD's. I was today years old when I found out the current Chameleons drummer was the drummer for Mistle Thrush! Spoke to the lead singer about it after the show, she couldn't stop praising him; and was so happy to open for the Chameleons - she's apparently a good fan. Lovina Falls and Chameleons

Thanks! It's a bit strange, because I'm used to being the guy that's 100% confident in his abilities on the job. But it's good to shake things up now and then. Also, there's a local carpenter named Jack that has done lots of work on Al's Fairfax house. In 2013 I worked with him on a bathroom remodel above the garage (Frank's old place). And he also saw me building some stuff for Al and Claire. Well on Friday he came into Fairfax Lumber, saw me working there and inquired about that. Augie (the president) started to introduce him to me, and Jack told him that we had worked together several years back. He also said that I could build anything and that I was the best carpenter he'd ever worked with. Not only did that make me feel great, it seemed to impress the boss even more. There's a guy who rents space from Fairfax Lumber who builds furniture on site. His name is Dean. Dean was also standing there, and told Augie to be careful or he'd steal me away from him. Just nice to be recognized for something I put decades of passion into.

Al is a good dude. Congrats on surviving, new job, new place, weight loss. Did I miss anything?

That's dinner. Al's niece Dorothy, who I will refer to as my niece from now on because I've claimed her, cooked a big breakfast this morning. Eggs, bacon, bagel w/cream cheese and a big bowl of fresh fruit. And I'm still full.

Lower pool platter

The band of heathens recording to follow.

I can't help but pronounce that name in my head like Les Nessman any time I see it in print (which isn't terribly often these days). RIP Señor Rodrigweez.

I'm very glad for you Steve. Good things must happen to good people It's awesome that you lost 20lb and now you need lower medication dosage. Remember that if you keep losing weight, and don't get it back.

Or they knew it was junk and named it appropriately.

Spanish in Mexico and other American countries is sometimes different to Spain. This word birria is one of those cases. With some investigation I've learned that birria in Mexico is a type of BBQ of lamb or baby goat. Now it makes sense

Love you guys, thanks for the quick start. Time to head out for a training ride in the balmy 85F/85% humidity. 🥵

Yes - Roundabout (2008 Remaster) Sometimes a tune will just pop into my head... obviously a staple of classic rock FM radio. Most of the comments are about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean on Netflix.

A Vietnamese play on birria tacos...these are "pho" style. (had to edit...spellcheck got the better of me) Really could have used a hot sauce like sriracha on the side for some kick, but I did like the dish conceptually. From the Blind Goat here in Houston. Overrated IMHO despite all the foodie pundits... HS

So it's that time of year once again where I call upon the incredible generosity and support of this community to help me raise money for the Kelly Brush Foundation. Nate's Donation Page This year is no different than years past, in early September my friends and I will gather in Middlebury, VT to join 800 or so riders for the event. We should have an even bigger team this year with my friend Paul returning from a two-year stint in Poland so it'll be fun to get the whole band back together that started participating in events nearly 20 years ago. For me this is the 13th year of active participation after a few early years of serving as an event photographer. Anyway, this year KBF is hoping to raise $1.5M to support individuals with spinal chord injuries to regain an active lifestyle which means I need to get my ass in gear and do my part. This organization and cause remains something near and dear to me as someone who takes the simple ability to get outdoors and do whatever I like, when I like, somewhat for granted. But each year, participating in this event helps refocus and recenter my appreciation for those that chose to not be limited by life-altering injuries, illness, etc. The foundation helps people discover adaptive sports and recreation, hosts camps to immerse people in sports and community, and most importantly, provides hundreds of grants per year to people that just want to return to the activities they love. So as you are able I'd very much appreciate your support. To sweeten the pot, every $100 donation will get a custom d-_-b laser engraved slate coaster shipped to the address of your choice. I'm producing the prototype today and will post a picture. Thanks in advance, Nate Last Year's Crew

Belvedere banquet

That’s awesome Steve!

pretty close to production now.

I did too! I couldn't get the donation under Brent's name.

I had trouble with your donation page yesterday. Fortunately, it's working for me today.

Done! All the best Nate!

You missed nothing Rob.

Quite the gourmet you are there. Make sure you hydrate a lot, multiple liters of water per day. Being dehydrated can cause low blood pressure which causes dizziness and well you can probably guess the rest.

We have the easy part! You're the one that does all the work! And for an excellent cause. Respect! Wish I had more to give.

Thanks everyone!

Birria Tacos? OMG they probably don't know what birria means in Spanish

I have a long post about wedding photography brewing, but that's going to take some time to assemble. In the mean time enjoy this shitpost.

Every now and then I put this on, Bjork with a backing Jazz Band. Really lots of fun and pretty good music! One of my favorite songs

When I think of Brent, and that's a rare moment. I can't think of him except as a continuous loop in my brain, of him falling off of a bicycle. So, falling off of a bicycle is my answer.

Small earthquake just now...anyone know what Brent is doing?

Berlin was good. Lots of good beer and we both like German food. It was a work trip and that part also worked out well so overall the trip was good except for the last leg.

Godspeed, Chi Chi Rodriguez. May all your putts fall for you.... HS

So we finally made it home from Germany this morning. Brent must have had a huge biscuit this weekend. So we were supposed to fly out of Berlin to JFK on Saturday morning around 11 am Berlin time. Shortly before we were to board the flight was cancelled. It seems the plane we were to take to JFK arrived from Amsterdam the previous evening and sucked a bird into one of the engines on its landing. The plane landed fine but they needed to check the engine internals for damage. There are only two ways to do this. Tear the engine apart and then put it back together or use an endoscope designed for the task. Unfortunately the nearest endoscope was in Amsterdam and was set to arrive later that day. So the flight was cancelled and they put us up in a hotel until we could get another flight out. Unfortunately the Delta website and app was not operating very well and it took us most of the day to get a flight booked for Sunday. We finally boarded our flight and made it to JFK where we remarkably landed on time, which was 2:45 pm NY time. However we had to sit on the runway for over two hours since we did not have a gate as no planes were permitted to leave their gates because of thunderstorms. We finally got to our gate, got through customs and got to the Delta lounge where Karen had several beers and I had a Bloody Mary and two Martinis as well as some food. We had a fairly long layover as our flight to Burlington was not scheduled to leave until about 11:00 pm. At approximately, 9:30 pm Delta canceled our flight due to weather. At least this time they scheduled us for another flight to Burlington on Monday morning. At this point we had no confidence that Delta could actually get us home so Karen called her sister, who lives in Forest Hills, to see if we could borrow her Jeep Cherokee and drive home to Northfield. We took a taxi from JFK, picked up the Jeep and drove home arriving here around 2:00 am this morning. Delta was not finished with us, I actually canceled our flight this morning on the way driving back to Northfield. I received a boarding call for the flight on my app this morning. So I say, “Fuck you Delta Cunts” and again I blame Brent.