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Stop me if you've heard this before ... Boat Bridge City But this time I came home with a hybrid American wife! What a country!

Well, Nutella cost us $1,300 and counting today. Against our better judgement, we left some party decorations up for Piper’s birthday week. Found some chewed pieces of plastic streamers on the ground yesterday morning, and she didn’t finish her breakfast so I feared the worst. After multiple rounds of vomiting, including parts of streamers, she spent much of the day at the emergency vet. Long-story-short, looks like she’s going to be OK without surgery. I’ve admittedly been a bit of a mess… It was not a fun night, or enhaoyable day waiting to hear. And everyone was determined to welcome her home.

There were 3 post acquiring citizenship action items (in no particular order) https://risccmke.org/en/after-naturalization/ * Inform the SSA of your new citizenship status. Done. Surprised that USCIS and SSA don't do this automatically, joined up government and all that, but was done in under 5 minutes once my check in number was called. Maybe it's another check and balance? * Register to Vote. Done. Can be done online here in CA. Straightforward. No overt signs of voter suppression. Found the idea of having to chose a political party strange. https://my.lwv.org/california/article/how-choose-political-party-when-registering-vote Given that voting is supposed to be a secret ballot, And that the "Father of the country", George Washington foresaw problems with them. https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/political-parties/ Time to read his farewell address. Maybe I could take the approach of an ex-work-colleague, who, while being a gay San Francisco liberal democrat, registered as a Republican, so he could see what they ("the enemy") were up to. Thus he could vote for the most unelectable candidate in the primaries, and would share the contents of their talking points , or campaign contribution begging letters that they mailed to him, with us. That was enlightening. * Apply for a passport. One of the unintended consequences of becoming a citizen is that we are "trapped" in the country, until we have a Passport in our hands. With a green card we could re-enter the country, but we had to hand that back in. So no Passport, no legal re-entry. We have to apply in person at a Post Office for a new passport, and then wait 8-11 weeks (or 5-7 weeks if expedited) based on the current State Department processing times. No immediate passport appointments locally because: reasons (COVID?) But we did manage to find an appointment next week in Sonoma (Boyes Hot Springs!) as the earliest accessible appointment - so a day in wine country, shame! In the meantime I guess we are "stuck" with Hawaii as our deferred travel vacation choice for now.

Chicken Mole Enchiladas And Fish (Tacos) 'N' "Chips" At https://www.elmolinocentral.com/ Very Tasty!

New Porcupine Tree -- sounds like they picked up where they left off after an almost 13 year hiatus. Mehappy.

Thanks everyone. I went out for a nice dinner

The Old Man. Episode 1 Intriguing.

Needed a little mental purging to finish off the night. This fit.

Applied for (expedited) Passports At the first "local" appointment we could find. Where an old school post office employee handled our application and thanked us for doing our homework and having all the necessary paperwork / documents to hand. Had them take the photos so there would be no doubt on the acceptability. Interesting that they have to explicitly state https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html That selfies and social media filters are not acceptable for passport photos. Now comes the wait.

A world exclusive interview (well a land line phone conversation, actually) with Kate Bush. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0018gqv via: https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23180083/stranger-things-kate-bush-running-up-that-hill Because: also mentioned in interview ...

DOES IT SOUND BRICKWALLED? https://magicvinyldigital.net/2022/06/18/dire-straits-money-for-nothing-review-lp-cd-qobuz-1988-remastered-2022/

Had the day off so went on a little adventure in the fire-scarred forests of Brookdale & Boulder Creek, CA - a spontaneous house hunt. Mad photoshop skillz there realtor. Like those photos plus general aging and a tornado or two. Did have a nice omelet in Boulder, hung out with two donkeys, and tried on some glasses.

Rosa Chihiro Yamanaka 2020 https://album.link/i/1517727137 Example: Unknown artist to me. I thought it was maybe classical, until I heard the first note. Oh jazz, oh look it is Blue Note. Next time take a little look before you leap Mikey. Or maybe not, I might not get to listen to some things otherwise. Anyway, a good recording of some standards and originals.

sushi supper

The new Timberlines look like money. Induction side burners and modular everything. The XL is the biggest and most expensive grill they make -- and therefore the one you should buy. https://www.traeger.com/pellet-grills/timberline-xl

Yeah. It does. Especially compared to the SACDs. That being said, the hits are the hits. I enjoyed them.

Vangelis in his Nemo studio.

Yep! Nothing says bespoke high end product like a bunch of DIY modules thrown in a box with moar toobs. Was discussing this sort of silliness on another forum recently; also see implementations of Soekris DIY modules from €6900 up to $34000. I mean, I love my own Soekris and TPA builds, but I sure as shit wouldn't pay several thousand dollars for them......

Only thing I have to add is that I got to play around with a Contura once. Most beautiful camera I ever saw. https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/just-bought-my-“grail”-camera-contura-stereo-camera.170807/

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5 Vladimir Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn 1997 (Wrong! It is a 1976 reissue of the 1975 recordings of all 5 Concertos, stoopid TIDAL, don't you read Discogs?) https://album.link/i/1452339744 Example (from the 1975 albums): Other than wishing there was an easy feedback loop for reporting bad info to TIDAL it is a good recording.

I haven't heard any Rockport speakers, but in the 80's I was very impressed with their linear tracking table. Assuming it's the same company.

Congrats again you two. #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

Madman Across The Water (Deluxe Edition) Elton John 1971 https://album.link/i/1618478418 Example (demo): I have enjoyed the demos and some other live tracks. I probably won't listen to them much, but fun that they are there. The standard album tracks are just so good.

Born in pain - no semiconductors on the market- but case is here ! Introduction my portable estat with necessary modifications

This post made while doing my radio show, because lol.

jh13s

Those photos are vachement cool.

New Wave Salsa looks brickwalled.

I've solved the "outlet for cooking with wood" problem with a ryobi battery pack inverter. For low draw things it will run a really long time, using batteries I already had because I use a ton of ryobi one+ tools.

Everyone's favorite high pitched, hyperactive Canadian tech dropper got his filthy mitts on a CalDigit TS4 dock: He appears to be quite taken with it. The speed and power is indeed impressive, but I'm not taken with two headphone jacks (both TRS and TRRS) instead of TS3+'s optical output. Due to supply chain woes, the TS4 is a might difficult to find for sale at a reasonable price.

We believe talked about Kodak Coloramas awhile back, though it’s not coming up on search. Anyway, linking for these related articles. https://petapixel.com/neil-montanus/ https://www.montanusphotography.com/neil_montanus_bio/coloramas.htm

Related:

I'd watch John Lithgow watching paint dry. Definitely going to check this out!

Can't help it, every time I hear this (great) song, I now think of this meme:

One of the finest speakers I heard were the Rockport Arrakis, in non-ideal conditions at an audio show. Using a pair of Upsilon power amps. Heaven knows how they got the speakers into the hotel room used for the demo at 900lbs each. At least it was on the ground floor! Like these

Second episode builds nicely.

Parklet Brunch in North Beach

First-ever International Stereoscopy Day is coming up. On 21 June 2022 the organisers of Stereoscopy Day are inviting the world to flood social media with creative stereoscopic images. https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/latest/photo-news/brian-may-reveals-plans-for-first-international-stereoscopy-day-168289

Well done, Grahame!!!! Your welcome present, a jury duty notice, will be mailed to you shortly!

Congrats to you both. Did the oath or the movie make you more proud?

Congrats, fellow American

I was on a Boat Past the Golden Gate Bridge To San Francisco Where I had a virtual interview, Aced a test (6/6) and answered some questions, which meant I was approved to take an oath later on. Before: Took an oath, which included obeying laws, something which other particular oath takers and keepers seem not to have been doing . ( Sorry ' Liz) Got a personal Message from Joey B But that's just between him and me. 😉 After: And then with my new cultural sensibilities, I felt the need, The need for speed . And then came home. Q: Fellow citizens, how long do I have to wait for the desire for an F150 with a rack of AR-15's to manifest itself, as it doesn't seem to be happening yet? Should I be concerned? Joanne is scheduled for similar ( minus Tom Cruise) on Friday.

Had a really good service for my Brother, with an amazing slideshow. Several people told some great stories about him. Just really nice.