Leaderboard

Friday Volcano check... Yup, still there.

Breakfast at Marvin's in Novato. Cheers Mikey!

Sunday sauce style ghoul ash -- ground turkey and pork loin cubes for meat; mushrooms, beans, okra, carrots, onions for veggies, pizza sauce and rocoto pepper paste and spices to bring it all together. Meat, spices, oil, and eventually onions were seared in the bottom of a pot, then all of it was transferred to the slow cooker while I day drank. and...ah, shit, I forgot the celery...dagnabit...

🐔 🍛

I got stuck on the second season of Fringe, which decided to make the advances of the deep plot slower. So watched Adolescent or Adolescence. I only liked the 3rd episode, the rest was just meh for me. I was expecting more drama or perhaps something more realistic. Right the beginning with half of Scotland Yard assaulting the kid's house seemed too dramatic and exaggerated. Looking for something funnier I started Chuck yesterday. Being only one season I think it's very likely that it wasn't good enough, but to be honest, I don't care . Oh, I just learned that they delivered like 5 seasons...

Just to be extra clear, if you’re thinking The Pitt is simply an updated ER, St. Elsewhere, etc… it’s not.

Bach: Keyboard Concertos, BWV 1052, 1053, 1054 & 1056 by Beatrice Rana (2025) https://album.link/6kncwnnqswkjg Example: A touch slower than I am use to for these works, but all are well done, and very enjoyable to listen to. Looking at their catalog, this might be my first recording from Rana.

I went outside today. Chopped some wood, smoked my churchwarden pipe, had a Fremont beer.... So that is what a blue sky looks like. ... cool 😎

Not cute, but he can cook, so that counts for a lot!

So sorry for your loss, tkam. Godspeed beautiful boy... Sam

I finished Zero Day Dinero wasgraet in it Recommend watch.

Too much loss!

So sorry Todd. RIP Sam.

Congrats to your nephew -- that is, indeed, very cool.

Congrats! 🚀

Wasn't sure the best place to post, but this is pretty cool. Chris is my nephew, he is brilliant (as is my niece, they met at MIT). https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-chris-williams-assigned-to-first-space-station-mission

So sorry Todd.....even seeing the recent deaths posted here, I always look at pets as the perfection of love without conditions. Their passing hurts so much too.

Sorry Todd 😢

Pre Tariff 🐔 🍛 + 🍌 What will tariffs do to 🍌?

This. Sorry for the loss of your furry friend, Todd.

Today is the day that we bury my brother Tom, which is a hard sentence to type. In keeping with my family's tradition of over-long obituaries, and given the scope of his impressive career, we have created a website to post a memorial to Tom, along with some photos. You even get to see a sullen 12 or 13 year old Voltron on the steps of Congress with Tom and then congressman Leon Panetta whom Tom was interning for. Penetta later was director of OMB, White House chief of staff, CIA director and Secretary of Defense. Obituaries have appeared in AdWeek and other publications, as well as his former agency, but I am not sure which newspapers will run one or even already have run one. For anyone interested here are a few links: https://bedecarre.family/ https://www.adweek.com/agencies/akqa-co-founder-tom-bedecarre-has-died/ https://www.akqa.com/news/a-lasting-legacy/

Everybody just relax...

Slight health scare. Went down with the "cold from hell" in October last. And it seemed to come back four or five times over the next 5 months. Feeling wrecked most of the time. Considered Covid, so took a test - negative. Eventually made an appointment, and saw the Trauma nurse at the practice. Put a blood oxygenation clip on, and sounded my chest "It sounds really rattley ". So packed into one morning in mid March, I ended up with a course of kick ass antibiotics, a full spectrum blood test, and a chest X-ray. Saw the Trauma nurse again yesterday. Antibiotics worked wonders, so the problem must have been an opportunistic bacteria had moved in. Blood test was all nominal (who knew there were 5 different kinds of white blood cell; not me), and chest X-ray was completely clear. So finally after 5 months of recurring misery, I'm finally firing on all cylinders again! Back in the gym, leading 14 mile walks, and running. Happy days!

My set of ES-2a and EX-1a arrived last Thursday. Have had some time with them. I am enjoying them. Agree with @spritzer on the ES-2a. Excellent reiteration of the original ES-1a. As for the EX-1a, I think it is very enjoyable too. Not quite as a big soundstage as the ES-2a, but excellent transparency and easy to drive. I had tried it off the Mjolnir Carbon and currently on the 007t (with CCS mod). And for the prices that Benson is charging for them, they are great value!

I'd rather have an RX1R II, much smaller, wonderful f/2 lens. I have to say, I miss it despite all the issues, hard to find now for a good price. On the other end of the spectrum: "Say hello to my lil’ friend!" Otherwise known as Nikon 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR One way to make use of all the noisy planes distracting listening is to shoot them. All handheld from my window, this is FF on a D3s, no crop: Maximum reach on a D200 with the 1.25x teleconverter (1500mm equiv.): 1200mm equiv: Hopefully one day, I can find a much better locaton, maybe a Z8 to make use of all its performance. Or maybe I will revert back to something reasonable, this is cumbersome to transport, very big and conspicious... good workout though.

This happened last Friday but I wasn't ready to post about it till now. One of my cat's, Sam was diagnosed with liver disease in September of last year. A cause was never determined and the only realistic course of action was to put him on a regiment of various meds and keep him comfortable. Last week he took a turn for the worse, not moving around as much and no longer able to control his bladder. He was put down on Friday, it's one of the harder things I've had to do but it was time and he's at peace now. Sam was 2 months shy of his 7th birthday and his older brother Jax is 15 and still going strong!