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Too much? Oh well, hope your birthday is awesome anyway! Cheers!

RIP to the legend. I loved The Sting as a 10 year old moviegoer, although it was eclipsed by Paper Moon which came out that year too because I kinda crushed on Tatum O'Neal who who was also 10 at the time.

Tonight I watched northern lights dancing over the lake

RIP wallet. Ended up buying a Cannondale Synapse. I had about 7-8 people who helped advise on this (thanks, Brent, Al, Nate) and at the end of the day I decided to give an endurance road bike a try. There is so much good content on YouTube as well. I really liked the GCN videos to get me up to speed on everything. The single most important factor in my choice ended up being doing the demo weekend on the Specialized Diverge. I learned: I want something that feels faster than Diverge did on road I wanted a nicer group set than whatever came on the Diverge Carbon Comp I don’t particularly enjoy riding on dirt roads (at least so far) 54 was probably the right size to get for me That I wanted carbon That I didn’t like a 1x That I didn’t want suspension Putting all that feedback together, I focused in on endurance road bikes. A bike that is not the fastest but easy to control and comfortable for long distances on road sounded like just the ticket. The Synapse seems to be a well loved bike throughout the years and now comes with a slick tech integration where the shifting, light and radar all run off a single battery. I had no light and radar to bring to the table so getting them as part of the package seemed like a good idea. People hated the v1 of the tech stuff but they just refreshed with a v2 setup that seems quite a bit better thought out. The massive down tube storage also means I can fit all the tools in there and don’t need a saddle bag. I struggled with the e-bike vs. regular bike debate. I really wanted to demo a fancier e-bike for the weekend but after calling around for hours the only e-bikes available to demo were either eMTB or motorized beach cruisers. Neither would be a good test. A co-worker also said this, which has stuck with me: “If you are buying a bike for fitness, why the heck would you buy an e-bike.” Yes, that besmirches what modern e-road bikes are, but they also are not entirely wrong. I will be giving up a lot of rides until my fitness level improves, but that was a trade off I was comfortable making. I think if I still lived in Marin it would have been e-bike all the way, but climbing is optional in the Sacramento River Valley. I’m super excited to go out and log some miles! Already failed to clip out at a stop and “pulled a Brent,” so we at least have that out of the way. The shop helped me relax the pedal tensioner so now it is a little more forgiving. Finally, celebrated the first ride with an appropriate cake. 😉

After the air disaster article linked in the reading thread where Rear Admiral Moffett doesn’t exactly come off well, decided to return today with Esmé to the Moffett Field Museum that’s five minutes from our house. Of course the museum is about the place, not the man the place is named after, and the emphasis is on the USS Macon, once docked here, not its sister ship the USS Akron, where Moffett and nearly the entire crew perished (twice those of Hindenburg), all in the pursuit of military rigid airship supremacy (20/20 of course on what was accomplished there), but sometimes strange how heroes are selected. Bonus: Tom Cruises. Still a great, volunteer-led tiny museum

Bonus: Study strengthens link between shingles vaccine and lower dementia risk https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/03/shingles-vaccination-dementia.html

After around 7 years away from DIY, I got back into it a few weeks ago and finished this KGST. It’s been nice reconnecting with the bench. I still have a Carbon and a BH waiting to be finished (PCBs are populated, just need to design proper enclosures). Hopefully it won’t take me another 7 years this time...

RIP Robert Redford https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/movies/robert-redford-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mU8.U8U2.n5tnEXrpAu5P&smid=url-share (gift article)

Short version: Got the shit kicked out of me. Long version: There were two birthdays this weekend. My friend Kate turned 37 on Sept 11 (her 14th was the worst.) My (sainted, octogenarian) mother advanced one year the day after. I ate a number of things that I don't normally, to be sociable. I paid a steep price. I felt kind of ill on the 12th, but still drove my mother to the alpaca farm here on MV. We had done so previously all the way back in 2009. I took photos, more on that (much) later. I slept terribly that evening and woke up on the 13th praying for death. I felt weak, nauseous, and worst of all I had an icepick-through-the-temple headache. When I have these issues, I clench my teeth while I'm sleeping so hard it gives me a headache that lasts most of the day. The is enough of a problem that it's damaging my jaw. If I ever disappear completely, it will probably be due to some related catastrophic event. Yesterday I was only moderately ill. I managed to get a few things done ...including like a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day (which is very unlike me.) Today, I am not in pain (this is a miracle) but I'm fantastically weak. I had to move a picnic table bench that belonged to my grandparents from the front of the property to the back and I needed to sit down afterward. I cannot eat highly processed food anymore, especially store made desserts. They kill me. It's so bad I have to straight up say "no" when I'm offered.