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Had dinner and great conversation with Doug, Todd and Nate tonight! So thankful that they made the drive down. Humbled by that gesture! Such a fun evening, and it doesn't get much better than this. Great friends and great food have become so important in my life! In honor of Stretch, I had pork belly for the first time tonight. Thanks again guys!

It's not what I did, but what others are doing for me. I just found out that Al is at my new apartment, setting it all up for my arrival. That is so touching and so very cool! I seem to be alternating between grinning like an idiot and tearing up like a little kid. It's been like that since it all became real a few weeks back. I hope that I'm able to express how in awe I am at what everyone has done for me! You people have my heart always! This is the best group of people I've ever known! Head-Case Strong, Head-Case Proud!

The most beautiful tile I've ever set! Its hard to see but the tile is slightly concave. Doug is becoming a natural tile setter.

Started my last day of vacation in a hot air balloon

Completed another week. 8 more working days in Texas, then secret spy stuff for 11 days out of state, then come back, pack, load truck, head West for good!

Met Kerry today. He was nearby, meeting with his Sister I believe. He came to Doug's to visit with us. As nice as I expected, but much funnier than I had realized! This has already been a great trip!

After many, many years with BAT/Avid/SME YG Acoustics systems this is what my wife and I have spent the last year building for listening to records through. VPI HR-X w/12.7 arm, and VPI ADS power supply. Air Tight PC-1 Supreme cartridge. AudioNet PAM G2 phonostage w/ AudioNet EPS G2 power supply. AudioNet PRE G2 preamp, AudioNet AMP Monoblocks and YG Acoustics Anat III signature speakers with a couple upgrades. Back up cartridge is Benz LPS. Mono is Ortofon Cadenza mono on seperate 12.7 armwand. Digital (Dac, Rdbook, SACD) all done with Marantz SA11s3. Cables are a blend or Kubala-Sosna and Audioquest. Power cords are Signal cable reference and DH Labs Red Wave. Room treatment from GIK. Audio Desk Systeme record cleaner. Adona rack

Steve, You of all people should know the technical term is "flaming".

I admit to being the most obsessed about this stuff, but I also have help from Stretch and Grahame and everyone who chipped in to make this possible for Steve. For now, I'll only say one word about the decorating theme: No Family Like Ours.

Very glad I could meet you as well Steve. As always, nice to see Doug too. I got a walkthrough of the work in the house. Doug is taking the same level of care he gives to each of his amps and applying it to his house makeover. Very impressive! A very fun little visit for me

Hold your horses, Steve. This is full on Straight Eye For The Queer Guy. No feature walls. No coordinated throw pillows. Just places to sit and spots for gear and a few other amenities like a kegerator with beer, wine and Diet Coke taps for your HC guests. 😜

Fired up the smoker today while working on the deck. The ribs came out great (there were 4 sets like this is total) and the deck isn't looking too shabby. Still have the other half of the railing to do but now that we've got it figure out it should go pretty quickly.

Had lunch with a crotchety old white guy. Always fun to see Dan in the wild. Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

Broke out my old Dynalo because I needed a single-end output amplifier to use with the Focal Elear when I first got it. Ended up casing it up while I had some free time. Running on TPA's Placid HD power supply tuned for 18VDC and 50mA shunt current. Will likely play with that when I feel up for it.

It's Tomahawk Thursday. Rareish.

Update on the wine situation. Not great but better than initially feared: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/business/wineries-california-wildfire.html Another positive -- kids and I tried to sign up to help out at the nearest evacuation center and were turned down because they'd already had such a flood of volunteers that all spots were filled for the next few weeks. Their school PTA is putting together backpacks of toiletries, stationery, stuffed animals, pajamas etc. for kids in the affected areas, so we assembled a couple of those and dropped them off. Classroom was already half full of bags on the first day of the effort -- nice to see.

No but there was bacon and now for dinner some carnitas

We turned training the new Roomba 980 into a drinking game. Have to take a drink every time it tries to hump some low slung piece of furniture. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bacon bourbon brownie

Tri-tip with, uh, some more tri-tip.

Have no fear, garlic is well represented tonight — in the pesto and the beans.

Seafood paella

Reserved a 12' box truck. Shit just got real!

This is my wife's cogitation station. Supposedly it's a real one, but not sure how you would tell either way.

Parents' Weekend at Andrew's college. Karen and I get up nice and early, get down and see a couple presentations (we really like this school and the President is just fantastic!). At around 10am Andrew answers Karen's text; he'll meet us at 12:30 in the dining hall. He comes in after we sit, answers a few questions with one-or-two-word answers. Then we bring some supplies to his room, and head home for a family dinner for the Jewish New Year. Still the same boy, he's doing very well though. Likes the school, working hard, and has met a solid group of kids to call his friends. They are even talking about trying to get into a suite next year, but chances may be slim. Good to have him home a few hours, even though he still stays behind closed door for the most part. Missed him....

The benefits of staying at the S&M B&B -- fresh baked goodness.

Delivered today. Now I have a pellet popper at home. First cook? Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Survived my first Tiger Scout meeting as a Tiger Scout leader. A bit nerve wracking but a lot of fun overall.

They have arrived! The builder got the color exactly what I wanted and was able to match the trapezoidal shape of the speakers perfectly.

Amazing how many parts are out of stock for this? So in order to use this on a tight shelf I bought some 4x10" heat sinks and modified the case to use them Only 60 holes to drill and tap. now moar better.

Finally got the dyno wheels and lights for the Jones. The new Stan's Hugo fat wheels with Dyno and a Busch & Muller IQ light which is a nice upgrade over the little B&M on the commuter bike. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I greatly prefer Mexican Chorizo. Me: Took the kids out for burgers and fries (shakes for them, beer for me) while Maura had to do parent/teacher conferences. Chili Fries for me / Truffle fries for the kids in the background Urban Cowboy Burger (burger, bacon, cheddar, onion rings, bbq sauce, chimichurri)

Vietnamese food with Doug and Erica!

Huevos Jeffero with last nights over the top hot (4 Habaneros, 6 cayenne, 6 Jalapeños from the garden) chili. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For the last 35+ years, I've loved Tom Petty's music. When I first heard "You Got Lucky" on the radio and immediately set out figuring out who it was. In the early 80s, the only members of my family who had cable TV were my grandparents. They had MTV, which was a new and gee whiz thing. They also disapproved of me watching it: "it'll rot your brain." I had to sneak in my viewings, and I was lucky enough to see the video for You Got Lucky. I was too young to understand the Mad Max references. I just knew I liked the song and Tom knocked over an arcade game. Several years later I got my first cassette player, and I bought Long After Dark and Damn the Torpedoes ("Refugee" was another favorite of mine.) As my musical tastes evolved and changed from metal to techno to ambient, I have always revisited Tom's music and loved it.

Finally having a cars and coffee in Hinsdale. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did 3 of my normal path rides around the lake this week (6.2 mi). Only pulled a biscuit boy once when an old(er) guy's dog ran out in front of me. Managed to unclip and stop, but still fell over. No damage... unlike the biscuit [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Debbie made Vivian Howard’s tomato pie tonight. Al made one a couple of weeks ago. Tomatoes, caramelized onions, basil, fontina and parmigiana reggiano. We had it at her restaurant a couple of years ago and loved it. Ours turned out very good with awesome flavor. Couldn’t stop eating it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No Brent allowed

Pan seared scallops and Alaskan King Crab legs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Had Ethiopian with Doug last night. Sorry, no pics. Was d-lish!

6 hrs at 120. Prime rib eye cap steak.

TBT

Oh, I am. It was an emergency adoption caused by an asshole being an asshole out of spite, and cats not having a place to go. I'm getting used to them, though one of the cats (the mostly-black one) had some kind of conniption fit, and kept me up last night for hours. The mostly-white one seems to have been embarrassed by the whole thing: This was after mostly-black one calmed down, but before I went back to bed. I've gotten used to having them around.

Thanks so very much Mr.George ! i got the chassis today, and they are so beautiful, I just want to eat it....it is like adult version of Cookies ! Time to gets some drinks Excellent packaging !

I have to say, the Silca Ultimate Hiro Edition is about the most serious piece of cycling kit I have come across. This thing is overbuilt to the extreme and the packaging that it came in puts several $10k+ pieces of Audio gear packaging to shame. To top it off they do not just send a cheesy little Allen wrench to put it together but instead send one of their overpriced but awesome wrenches. I am reluctant to put this thing in the garage. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did the gen 5 upgrade to my Gumby this morning. It took about 30 minutes, start-to-finish. I'll leave it to others to describe any change in sonics, but I figure it can't hurt the eventual re-sale value. EDIT: If anyone wants the prior gen USB board to play around with, PM me and its yours for the price of shipping.

Quite robust fellows up close!

John Ashbery, noted American poet. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/arts/john-ashbery-dead-prize-winning-poet.html? One of his finest works, I think, reproduced here in light of current trends.

A bit of a gravel ride in the 94 degree heat. What month is this? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk