Grumps can suck it, it's Friday!

[defspace]

This week was great.

I got married.
Doctor's office says my shoulder fractures are all healed up.
PT says I can do a bunch of barbell lifting that had previously been prohibited.
I'm getting pulled into cool stuff at work.

[bigbill]

I met with my financial planner this week. I can retire when I'm ready. I'm thinking about 12 months more 401K.

[mjbabcock]

This isn't a grump, a few days ago I was contacted by a 6-12 school about getting my teaching certificate and joining their faculty. The school is located on an Indian Reservation and has been closed for about 6 years while kids were bused an hour each way to another town for school. The Nation wants to reopen the school and bring the kids back. Some of the issues include a 5% math and language literacy rate and decades of generational poverty. I think I could make a difference but I'm not sure about taking it on at age 56 with no high school classroom teaching experience. The reservation is twenty minutes from my house. I've got to think all of this through. I don't need a certificate to be a full time substitute.

Bill, if you are considering go this work…do some research into indigenous pedagogies, peace making circles, listening partnerships, etc. those children (and their predecessors) have been traumatized by countless well intentioned white folks who do more harm than good. You can most definitely help those children…and you need to recognize their ability to help you as well. When there is a true interdependence, then native children are willing to connect in ways that allow the sort of academic risk taking necessary to learn.

I’m happy to share what I’ve learned from native students I’ve worked alongside if you are interested.

Also…check out Reservation Dogs on HULU. It’s damn good.

[Matthew Strongin]

This week was great.

I got married.
Doctor's office says my shoulder fractures are all healed up.
PT says I can do a bunch of barbell lifting that had previously been prohibited.
I'm getting pulled into cool stuff at work.

Congrats! On all the great news, but particularly on getting married!

[bironi]

I'm about 45 minutes early.
Grumps are fine by me.
I prefer not to ride with them in that mode, but sometimes that is my mode.
Weather was good today, but not tomorrow.
Beer post-ride with 5 riding buds.
Even if I missed the day by 15 minutes on the west coast, still a good Friday.
Hope your Friday is even better.

[Sascha Roszak]

I find if I stay away from reading the news and those idiots on the CyclingTips Forum I'm so much happier and not a grump.

Ignorance is bliss!

[j44ke]

I find if I stay away from reading the news and those idiots on the CyclingTips Forum I'm so much happier and not a grump.

Ignorance is bliss!

Don't ever read the CyclingTips forums. Nothing but Aussies there.

[bigbill]

My bone density check came back good, no Multiple Myeloma so far. I'm back to six month checkups and blood work.

[bigbill]

My son is coming home for Thanksgiving. Last year, the Naval Academy was locked down and the guys had a sad box lunch on Thanksgiving. This year, we're traveling down to Mesa to have dinner with some friends from high school. Dinner will be a huge, multicultural spread of food that we'll enjoy until we hate ourselves. Antipasto, turkey, enchiladas, tamales, Italian creme cake, homemade pasta, etc.

[Dave Thompson]

My son is coming home for Thanksgiving. Last year, the Naval Academy was locked down and the guys had a sad box lunch on Thanksgiving. This year, we're traveling down to Mesa to have dinner with some friends from high school. Dinner will be a huge, multicultural spread of food that we'll enjoy until we hate ourselves. Antipasto, turkey, enchiladas, tamales, Italian creme cake, homemade pasta, etc.

Foods of the many gods!

[72gmc]

Enchiladas and tamales for thanksgiving sounds fantastic.

[rwsaunders]

Our youngest is a senior at (guess from the photo) and this was our first opportunity to attend a game with him. Several nieces and friends live in the Columbus area as well, so it was a nice gathering of a small section of the clan for a weekend of coffee, football, beer, pizza and chat. Damn, is section 26C cold on a wintry November evening, but the theme of the evening was Veteran’s Day and OSU did a great job of honoring Ohio sons a and daughters throughout the game which helped to remind you, that sitting on aluminum bleachers in the cold is not that big of a deal.

[johnmdesigner]

New York Central Goes Bankrupt Again!
Been a collector of many things all my life. Selling our place next year and hoping to roam the world so the collections must go.
This week it's the HO trains. Never had a big enough place for a layout so just collected the engines.
It's just as easy to go bankrupt with a scale railroad as it is with the real thing. Good luck to Amtrak!

[Tom]

Going to go see David Bromberg's Big Birthday Bash at the Egg Saturday night. Then coming home and working until about 0400. Hee hee. Warmed up by seeing the Midnight Ramble Band (Amy Helm, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams et al) open for Hot Tuna this Wednesday and then functioning at work on 4 hours sleep Thursday so I'm ready to go. A show where the opener pretty much overwhelmed the headliner.

Registered for D2R2 115km just now.

I have 10 more months before I ain't working no more.

[bigbill]

New York Central Goes Bankrupt Again!
Been a collector of many things all my life. Selling our place next year and hoping to roam the world so the collections must go.
This week it's the HO trains. Never had a big enough place for a layout so just collected the engines.
It's just as easy to go bankrupt with a scale railroad as it is with the real thing. Good luck to Amtrak!

There were times in my life where I thought I'd like to build a small layout, if for no other reason than the therapeutic value of a distraction from daily stress. Life got in the way, but we're setting up the Xmas tree this weekend and the Lionel Santa Fe will be circling it.

When I left my last job, I spoke with a BNSF recruiter about an engineer job. He asked why I wanted to work for BNSF, "because I love trains." Didn't take the offered job due to location but I see trains all day from my house and work.

[johnmdesigner]

There were times in my life where I thought I'd like to build a small layout, if for no other reason than the therapeutic value of a distraction from daily stress. Life got in the way, but we're setting up the Xmas tree this weekend and the Lionel Santa Fe will be circling it.

When I left my last job, I spoke with a BNSF recruiter about an engineer job. He asked why I wanted to work for BNSF, "because I love trains." Didn't take the offered job due to location but I see trains all day from my house and work.

My apartment faces the subway tracks where the #1 train leaves the tunnel and runs on the elevated section.
We were worried about the noise when we first moved in but found watching the trains to be a blast. The Amtrak tunnel is down the hill on the Hudson and on winter nights you can hear the echo of the train whistle just before it enters.
Will soon make the holiday pilgrimage to the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station for oyster stew and a gin martini.

[bigbill]

My apartment faces the subway tracks where the #1 train leaves the tunnel and runs on the elevated section.
We were worried about the noise when we first moved in but found watching the trains to be a blast. The Amtrak tunnel is down the hill on the Hudson and on winter nights you can hear the echo of the train whistle just before it enters.
Will soon make the holiday pilgrimage to the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station for oyster stew and a gin martini.

My house is in a neighborhood next to old Rt66 which has the major east-west rail lines running parallel. There is a constant stream of freight trains that I can see from my patio but I'm a mile from the tracks so all I hear is a faint rumble. I ride my MTB on the BNSF service roads along the tracks and never get tired of seeing the trains. Every once in a while a passenger train will go by, but they're few and far between.

We're in the NYC area next weekend for the Army-Navy game, looking forward to the food.

[johnmdesigner]

My house is in a neighborhood next to old Rt66 which has the major east-west rail lines running parallel. There is a constant stream of freight trains that I can see from my patio but I'm a mile from the tracks so all I hear is a faint rumble. I ride my MTB on the BNSF service roads along the tracks and never get tired of seeing the trains. Every once in a while a passenger train will go by, but they're few and far between.

We're in the NYC area next weekend for the Army-Navy game, looking forward to the food.

If you need some restaurant recommendations let me know.

[zachateseverything]

When I was a kid my grandfather had a side business selling S gauge model railroad stuff. As a result I had a pretty decent layout in my basement and when my brother and I went to his house we got to play with "the big one." He had a multi level layout with I think 5 lines. He also had all kinds of extra features. There was a sawmill that would unload logs from one car and load lumber onto another. There was also a little shed that the conductor would pop out of if you pressed the button to open the door. He had replaced the stock figure with Yoda.

Lots of good memories.

On a semi-related note, the worst night of camping I ever had was on the C&O trail. I had stopped at a really pretty site outside of DC. I was right on the Potomac river...but also about 50 yards from the Amtrak line. I might have slept for an hour.

[rwsaunders]

You miniature railroad buffs would enjoy the setup at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.

https://carnegiesciencecenter.org/ex...ture-railroad/