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One and done, with quesabirria tacos today. I'm With Her was enough and now we're happy to be back in Fairfax before the traffic jam.

Man it's been a good 10 years since I had a kidney stone. I'm glad to only have had one and you're quite lucky to not have felt the passage from kidney to bladder (unless it really was just a bladder stone). Just about all patients (Steve and I included) experience the worst pain as the stone makes its way from Kidney down, simply because that's the smallest pipe. But all that said, completely agree, passing a solid is not fun. Side note - look for areas in your life where you are letting yourself get overly dehydrated or taking in too many salts/minerals. My brother in law had stones 4 or 5 times until he realized that taking his kids leftover multi-vitamins on top of his own daily vitamin was overloading his kidneys. Talk about a painful lesson.

I'm with her acquired. Everything else if gravy... Oh, and Cimafunk yesterday was a killer set.

I’m coming up on 200 miles on the new bike and still very much in the honeymoon phase. I did a 35ish mile ride today and had a blast. This thing is a riot to get out and ride. I love how much distance I can cover, and it feels like a proper machine. The farm roads where I live are infinite, and with the radar I’m not caught off guard when motorists do want to overtake. I’m starting to get used to the clipless setup. No wipe-outs since the initial one. As I’ve developed a more deft touch on the brakes it is easier to dismount under control. I still have close calls every now and then so not ready to crank the pedal tensioners up yet, but I’m getting there. I’m ready for a bike fit and booked one with a local place that a co-worker recommended that uses the Retul stuff. I don’t know what I’m doing outside of going by feel, so hoping they can help me out. I’m not sure if my saddle is right or not, and I do get some shoulder soreness on longer rides. I can see fit being more and more important as I do longer rides. I’m also going to bring the bike back to the shop for a break-in adjustment and cleaning. She is getting filthy and I don’t have access to a hose to spray it off.

After the morning jaunt, the plan was to start with Dan Tyminski but I took a nap instead. Claire went and enjoyed it. I arrived at the blanket one minute before Cimafunk started, which was pretty ideal. They are from Cuba but live in New Orleans now apparently. Fun stuff. Made our way to the adjacent stage in time for Tweedy to come out and bore the snot out of everyone. The sun was in his face and his deathly pallor clearly indicated that was not routine. When he finally spoke, he said that he didn't know the sun would be here and "that's not cool, man." Wilco's California Stars was the only song that got the crowd going. At the end of the show he said that it was the first show touring for his new triple album, and thanked us for listening to a lot of new stuff. Definitely the weakest of many Tweedy shows I have seen with Wilco, solo, and with this band with his two sons that he used to call Tweedy. Oh well.

No point in ever turning up the pedal tensioners until you've pulled out of them because you're cranking so hard. I doubt you ever get there, I never have even when pulling 1000W in a sprint. More than anything I'm glad you're enjoying the bike. As your fitness increases and your body adapts to the positioning more and more it'll become even more fun. And she's sexy, that much is for sure.

Guido Barbujani - The Invention of Races - Science Against Racism Well I'm already anti-racist and I think "race" is a looooong outdated concept but still it feels good when science agrees with your point of view. Really good book, has no pseudo-scientific bullshit in it, not easy to understand, going to take a bit longer to finish than my regular reading materials. But still a good read.

The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift (2025) https://album.link/6czzqws7wv6p3 Example: The internet needs more old white guy opinions of music that has nothing to do with them. So why not one more? I think it is overall a nice album. Very few musicians involved, this is a pure Max Martin and Shellback joint. As Rick Beato would point out, there are 100s of tracks per song. Having this dense of a production I hope goes away pretty soon. There are some funny moments and some poignant moments. Not going into rotation, but not mad at it.

Twisted Metal (Peacock) - An amnesiac is enlisted to drive across a post-apocalyptic USA wasteland to pickup & deliver a package on the promise of a better life. Apparently based on a series of Sony Playstation games of which I am not familiar. Think The Transporter meets Mad Max. Mackie brings the self-deprecating swagger, while Beatriz brings...herself, which is always great. Qwerky & (violently) fun. I am about halfway thru season 1, & think it's lots of fun.

I caught parts of Earle - but I got caught up in Courtney Barnett and just rode that out. Tomorrow is about clearing my calendar to make sure that - I'm With Her - is my priority.

Sorry, I was remote. I would have definitely reached out Al if in person. Hope you and Claire had a good time. Anyone catch Steve Earle? I don’t pretend to be objective there, but was messy fun, especially in the shadow of the Dukes breakup at HSB years ago. Will throw on The Mountain in a few minutes. Will miss tomorrow, unfortunately. Hope everyone enjoys.

From a post somewhere else. I also tested HA-3FXX pins, but I like above pins better. Disadvantage is I had to destroy good Neutrik connectors to get the pins out. Made in Sketchup.

Photographer Sally Mann warns of 'new era of culture wars' after art seizure. I have always had mixed feelings about Sally Mann, and by "mixed" I mean "I recognize she's making art, but I'd prefer not to see it." With that said, she's long been the target of puritanical forces (the same ones keeping the Epstein list hidden, for some odd reason.)

Hostage A kinetic UK based political thriller. Accept the premise, and don't think/look too hard for plot implausibilities and you'll be treated to an enjoyable ride, with episode ending twists / reveals / cliffhangers to keep you involved. Good Fun. But don't take my word for it. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/aug/21/hostage-review-suranne-jones-prime-minister-netflix-drama

Finding Peter Putnam: The forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind https://nautil.us/finding-peter-putnam-1218035/ It’s easy to say why someone is wrong. The hard part is figuring out why they’re right.

It was perhaps the perfect day/evening to ride today. Low 60s, sunny, light winds. This is the N+1 bike. I tried to just buy a spare set of wheels and this guy, who was 15 minutes from the house, offered me an entire bike for a few hundred more than the wheelset that it had on it (Zipp 303s). So the Canyon has been adopted for trainer use but today it was the bike that had road wheels on it and it was too nice out not to go for a rip. Traffic was problematic. This lot cost me a PR on a segment, but I didn't mind.

Omar El Akkad's One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. 'On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this."' I don't know how the recent-ish three short, but very different, including author's backgrounds, Ta-Nehisi Coates', Peter Beinart's and now (in my reading order) Omar El Akkad's books are/will be taken, but this one hit hardest for me. Part of that may be being a parent/view towards the future. All certainly worth a read. May hit Finkelstein's next.

I have questions. I don't want them answered.

So yesterday night, I had blood in my urine, like my pee was strawberry flavoured. Fucking freaked out, was thinking like "worst experience of my life". Went to ER immediately. After waiting half an hour and drinking lots of fluid, even before seeing the doctor, I passed the effing bladderstone on my next urination. That was THE WORST experience of my life. Nothing in solid form should ever pass from there. It was out of blue. I haven't had any pain or anything and within an hour I peed blood and passed a small red lentils sized bladderstone. I don't have any pain or burning but going to take antibiotics for a week. It was a wake up call like "you're not a young guy any more, should start take care of yourself better" TL;DR: I peed blood, shot a small stone from my penis and felt old.