Grumps can suck it, it's Friday!

[johnmdesigner]

My friend and neighbor Lotte Strauss passed away this week at the ripe old age of 107.
Though in her youth it was far from clear if she would live so long.
Here is her story if you are interested,

https://www.gedenkstaette-stille-hel...strauss-lotte/

[JoB]

My friend and neighbor Lotte Strauss passed away this week at the ripe old age of 107.
Though in her youth it was far from clear if she would live so long.
Here is her story if you are interested,

https://www.gedenkstaette-stille-hel...strauss-lotte/

Thank you for posting this.

[72gmc]

Long week. Bad air. Stuck inside with the family and a few projects. Good enough.

[mwynne]

Bad air here as well, getting antsy stuck indoors (and that won't change this weekend). BUT, I am pleased to report that my new addition to the household is fitting in nicely.

IMG_20200908_105019.jpg

IMG_20200911_131040.jpg

[johnmdesigner]

TDF and Grand Sumo on the tele.
A box of red wine and 2 new Pirelli tires arrived at the front door.
So I can’t really complain.
(BTW what’s floating in the coffee cup? Looks like dumplings.)

[72gmc]

Better air! Longer dog walks! Fence pieces all ready to put up! A plumbing emergency addressed (by end of day at least, let's not talk about the cost)!

[mwynne]

TDF and Grand Sumo on the tele.
A box of red wine and 2 new Pirelli tires arrived at the front door.
So I can’t really complain.
(BTW what’s floating in the coffee cup? Looks like dumplings.)

Gelato! An affogato

[Clean39T]

The AQI in Portland is now merely "unhealthy for sensitive individuals" instead of at the "dear god don't go outside or open your windows!" level we've been enduring for the past 7-8 days.

Still not good enough to start airing out the place and removing the seam-sealers but it's a start in the right direction - at least for now, for Portland - 40mi south and in various other places in the state it's still off-the-charts ugly out there.

[johnmdesigner]

Gelato! An affogato

Nice!
Man I miss standing in an Italian bar having a shot.
The first trip they make what you asked for.
The second trip they know your name.
The third trip they are making your cup the minute you walk in.
Perfection!

[defspace]

Just shipped off the last three weeks of all-day, no-weekends work. I hardly remember what my bike looks like.

[ides1056]

I saw a friend of mine yesterday out on his bike, four weeks after having a second valve replaced after having his chest cracked a second time. He looked a little pale, and he said he was going pretty slow, but I was seriously impressed.

[rwsaunders]

It's early, but why not celebrate. Our youngest just landed his engineering internship for next Summer and he is super stoked, as he well should be. He's a 3rd year mechanical engineering student and like many other kids last year, he had his internship rescinded because of the pandemic. The firm specializes in motion control and he's been assigned to their mechatronics lab...way smarter than me that's for sure.

[SlowPokePete]

Robert, that's great news!

SPP

[johnmdesigner]

Some things change and some stay the same.

https://vp.nyt.com/video/2020/11/03/...3_wg_1080p.mp4

[bironi]

staging shots yes.
then and now.
youtube, twitter, etc.
same as it was as recently as that staged piece.
still a fun watch.

[rwsaunders]

A little late to post, but our 27yo daughter was home for the Christmas holidays and she was happily reminiscing early one morning, while going through some of her "girl stuff" in her room. My question to her was, what was Barbie doing with a bottle of red in her bike picnic basket?

[bigbill]

My group is next for Covid vaccines. Maybe as early as next week.

[defspace]

Allow me to brag on a good friend of mine. Jon and I have been buddies since age 15, playing in bands off and on and just being guitar-nerd buddies. Bicycles and a "real job" got in the way for me, but Jon never lost sight of the goal and never stopped putting in the hard work. Years and years of hard work. All that work is starting to pay off. A while back he got a call out of the blue from Wolfgang Van Halen's management - "hey man, what are you doing next year?". Jon impressed some folks he worked with on a previous tour and they passed his name on to Wolf.

This just aired last night:


People talk a lot about talent and luck - and sure, that's part of it - but the other 99.5% is about working hard when nobody is looking, being easy to get along with, and just plain being a good coworker.

I am super stoked to see good things happening to one of the nicest and hardest working dudes I know. So suck it, grumps.

[Tom]

There's a big male pileated woodpecker excavating a nesting cavity high up in one of the poplars at the back of my lot just across the property line where I can watch it from my office. I'm going to have to invest in a really good pair of binoculars because my 8x23 is OK but when there are little baby ones up there I want to snoop.

[bigbill]

I completed my MA this week. Now I wait until June for the virtual residency week in Vermont and then a virtual graduation. I will be taking up residence in Vermont from my home office in Kingman, AZ. My fiancé, will be wife by then, is making a life size cutout of Theodore Roosevelt wearing a top hat, handing me my diploma.