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Such a great day. The best group of people. I think Rini and Dorothy made some new friends of my coworkers.

Lemon shortbread. Joanne on sampling it, said it goes well with Sauvignon Blanc.

Naturally a few days after doing the major software upgrade the server had a drive failure, it's been restored from the latest backup but it may be missing several hours worth of data. My apologies!

Went all the way to Tiburon in an abortive attempt to see the 4th July Fireworks on The Golden Gate Bridge. Abandoned the attempt, due to the Bridge being enveloped in fog. So we came home. To watch YouTube Happy Birthday America

Got up around 6:30 and made a batch of chili. Al's Sister Rini and Neice Dorothy and myself are making chili dogs, smash burgers, corn on the cob, potatoe salad, fruit salad, some type of blueberry angel food cake with mascarpone whipped cream, blueberry custard pie, watermelon and who knows what else? A few of my coworkers are coming by to join in the feast.

Hey! Sorry I didn't mean to go missing for so long, it just kinda happened. I have a little corner of the house with a bunch of fun music things. I recently commissioned a calligrapher to make some artwork to go with the box and can't wait to show you what they look like together.

A little while back I posted somewhere on here about a very exciting project. Some of my work at a San Fransisco book store just happened to have been noticed by Linda Ronstadt and her longtime friend and carpenter. That carpenter happens to live in Fairfax, and is a regular customer of mine at the lumber store. Once my name was mentioned by the store owner ( this owner has become a great friend, and I've now done two of her homes, and her book store), this carpenter said " wait, I know him. He works at Fairfax Lumber. " Long story, still long, he talked with me about collaborating on a large set of bookshelves for Linda. Linda's health isn't great, and that has affected the scheduling of this project. However, we are now into this project. I have not yet met Linda personally, but we have started working on the shelves at Andy's shop. He took great measurements of the space. Usually the sign of a good carpenter, and I'm sure he is. But for me the most difficult part of the project thus far has been slowing him down. He wants to hurry through and get it done. I want to build the best shelves that I can build. Time, though maybe an issue in the long run, isn't really an issue now. She's not pushing this to be quick. Money clearly isn't an issue, so I think I'm winning this little battle. I've made it clear that I'm not interested in blowing out some average shelves. I want to make something that I'm proud of, especially considering the client. We've spent two whole days working together in Andy's shop, and I think he's starting to get it. He's around 80 years old and I'm very respectful of my elders, except when it comes to sacrificing my quality. We will continue working tomorrow and I'm guessing about two more weekends. Then most likely at least 1 day of install. That's when I'm going to meet Linda. That'll certainly be a fun day for me. As most things concerning music or movies, my trivia knowledge is vast. Ask me something about anything important and I'll come up blank, but ask me about a music or movie artist and I can talk forever. This is even tenfold for me on Linda, because the Laurel Canyon crowd, and the beginning of the Southern rock genre really peak my interest. All of the crossovers of the people of this era are just fascinating to me. Linda met Graham Parsons early on, who I consider the Father of this genre. Graham discovered and then worked with Emmylou Harris, another favorite singer of mine. Linda met Emmylou and Dolly Parton at different times, and then introduced them to each other at lunch one day. They of course started harmonizing on favorite songs, and were so impressed with the melding of their voices that they decided to create music together soon. Soon turned into more than a decade, but the results were phenomenal. Linda was also a guest on the Cher show back in the 70's, and started a lifetime friendship. I being a gay man of course adore me some Cher! And anyone who is an Eagles fan owes something to Linda, because she had a lot to do with putting that band together. I could go on and on, but I'm hoping that I can reign it in a bit on the day I meet her in person. Although I doubt that I'll be successful there. Anyway, this project is coming to fruition, and what a way to crown a career that I have deeply loved for over four decades now. This will be a story that I will, well I guess I'll have to tell your Grandkids about it, because I won't have any, but I'm sure that I'll have to be told to "shut up about it already ". I will certainly try to take pictures upon install. More to come later.

Similarly we skipped Mountain View & the San Francisco Symphony and Santa Clara & the World Cup stragglers to head to the occasional DMZ of Milpitas. Not sure the band’s horns to pants ratio was correct.

Reflectin’ back

Nibbles for / with the neighbors

25 Photobooks That Define America https://aperture.org/editorial/25-photobooks-that-define-america/

That's a new feature 🤣 I haven't seen that, but I do agree that the missing forum icons are taking a lot of space, I'll see what options are available to hide those, etc. I am not sure what caused some avatars to disappear, I haven't seen anything that points to a specific bug for the time being re-upload them if you have them.

I was not prepped for the Tour this year - it has been many years since I have followed it. But after watching the Highlights of the first two stages, I may get hooked again. I will probably stick with highlights for now, but I may catch a live stream here and there. Good to hear Phil and Bob and again.

Smetana: String Quartets No. 1 & No. 2 by Pavel Haas Quartet (2015) https://open.qobuz.com/album/qqnxnrnwvtgqa Example: Recommended by my friend Jerry who just got it on Vinyl. Very nice. Also Qobuz updated the Windows app, and now it shows the Library counts... 843 in the queue?? well minus ^^ this one. I thought I was still in the 600s.

So great -- reminds of my favourite band's alter ego: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8-ZgxB55A

With the Big 4th of July approaching these were a fun listen. The New Yorker Radio Hour interviews The Rest Is History hosts Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook on the American Revolution from the British perspective. Apple PodcastsAmerica at 250: A View from Britain, with “The Rest Is Hi...Podcast Episode · The New Yorker Radio Hour · June 26 · 49m or The four part podcast that lead to that interview was also great. It starts with George Washington... And a bonus one on The Star Spangled Banner...

Just finished up the latest season of For All Mankind. iI's such a damn good show!!

We've updated the forum software to the latest major release. This release includes speed, security and visual improvements. One big change is that you can no longer login using your username - you must login using your e-mail address. Since this is a major upgrade please post any issues that you run into. -Your Friendly Neighborhood Forum Admin

Now I know what they were singing.

Even if not the top of its game, still the best thing on television.

Attending Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in North Adams MA. Billy Bragg opened proceedings and it started raining about three songs in but nobody cared much. Gang of Four soon and then Wilco with Billy Bragg who will perform music from their 1998 Mermaid Avenue album of Woody Guthrie songs live for the first time ever.

Nice article on Pogi and what he means for cycling to coincide with the start of TDF. Guy is hard not to cheer for. https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/49207337/tour-de-france-tadej-pogacar-greatest-all-lance-armstrong

Experiments with monochrome (mostly), smoke and flares yesterday. Leica SL2-S and Light Labs Lab 35 f/1.4 AA "11873".

The first 3 were that good?

4th tomahawk

PetaPixel re-reviews the first consumer (under $1,000) digital SLR camera, the 6MP Canon EOS 300D from 2003:

Scattershot, but fun doc on street photography.

I just like this one. Kids doing good stuff with the old material?

Casta Diva to folk-rock and back, another mix I never knew I needed

Yes, at least on Hulu/Disney+, though a little warning on the first few slower episodes as they prep for opening. Then the doors open. This season takes place over a single shift. Also keep in mind there is the stand alone flashback Gary episode released before the season. I've yet to see. More than any other show I judge The Bear on its successes, rather than its failures. I really can't think of a show like it. It's like Breaking Bad in reverse.

Thanks Ric. I'm going to watch 4 and 5 then.

Star City next? We lost my response this morning with the site going down. That’s a good thing as I said five is easily the worst season. I was halfway through. Now that I’ve seen the second half, the doors open episodes and wrap up to the whole show, it may be my favorite season. Man, it was a really beautiful show.

Also, for me, everyone appears as Brent...

Be more like Robert -- 🤘

Always great in used lens ads when they include a photo of the "flawless optics".

Beautiful landscape! Also I'm sure a nice Distagon. I can't choose between, but did you debate about shooting at f/800? So Light Lens Lab is probably most known for recreating old Leica lenses, but they've produced three non-Leicas also - The Cooke Speed-Panchro II (below), the Angenieux S21 (previous page), and the Dallmeyer Super-Six (I should resist, right? Being a completest is expensive.). Sometimes this is in a new mount, occasionally a new focal length. Anyway, they're often compared and I had Monday off, so swung by The Cantor Art and Anderson Collection Standford spaces with a dusted off SPII with the SL (typ 601). Isn't much of a comparison with the Jaq show, as their subjects are so different, but fun to shoot close together. Mostly at f/2.8. You may recognize the Richard Serra sculpture Sequence, shown here many times, along with a Nick Cave Soundsuite and Deborah Oropallo Patrol.

I’m still testing the R6 Mark II against the 90D by taking photos of the moon. Last night I used 90D + 2x extender + 100-400 f4.5/5.6L. ISO 800, 1/800, F11 What do you think?

I snapped this photo without tripod. It has a fairly high ISO, but nothing the R6II can´t handle.

Although I'm short on time (I've started renovating my second home), I'm doing some tests with the 70-200mm lens and I photographed this blackbird in my garden. PD. I'm quite bad, I keep trying to improve my technique.

Nate’s on Marsh, my first Michelin star restaurant.

Today I became an official 'Old Fart'. In reality that happened on my Birthday in February, but since my local SS office was too backed up to do my Medicare application at that time, it became official today with a Medicare phone application. I'm now the proud recipient of Medicare part A. Since I'm still employed with medical insurance, I don't need to apply for Medicare part B until I retire or stop receiving outside medical insurance. I believe at that time I can have the part B cost pulled directly from my Social Security payments. I do believe full heartedly that I've absolutely earned said 'Old Fart' title. My Doctorate in wood remains 'til the time of my demise, so it's Dr Wood Old Fart from hense forward. Can I get that official title posted under my avatar please?