blessingx

Saturday was either clean the house or watch TV, so the entire season of Hijack.

^ Arnold, nearby Mercer Caves and Moaning Caverns, and Murphy's wine tasting were our semi hide from the pandemic trips. Hope you all have a blast.

Been rainy here, but trying to record the rapidly disintegrating, once great Alviso next door (I've mentioned before). Almost no remaining connection to the surrounding Silicon Valley (Polycom and TiVo once had their HQs there), except the tech bros/brogrammers who visit the TopGolf near the town border. This time with a Hassy 500cm, II 50c back and Zeiss F4 Distagon CF T*.

Good start to the season, even with Posey’s accent.

Went to The Museum of American Heritage (MOAH) in downtown Palo Alto. Easy to miss, and well, you probably want to miss, but there is a small Just for the Record: Classic Players & Phonographs! exhibit for a few more weeks (Open October 18, 2024 to March 2, 2025). Again small, but if you happen to find yourself in Palo Alto.

gr O O v y

Slightly less explicit here.

Let's Do It Again soundtrack by The Staple Singers and Curtis Mayfield Ex.

Watching some cool old ladies rocking

Pretty great life. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/30/marianne-faithfull-singular-icon-of-british-pop-dies-aged-78 https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2025/jan/30/marianne-faithfull-a-life-in-pictures

Anyone else spend hours listening to young people reaction videos? #anyone #bueller #tobeyoungagain #fucktrump

According to the PictureThis app "This plant looks healthy!" and is 46 years old. Take that DeepSeek.

Blu-ray is dying. Long live tape. https://www.techradar.com/pro/blu-ray-is-dying-so-i-believe-its-now-time-for-obsolete-tape-to-shine-again-in-the-strangest-of-ironies

Old Timothée Dylan

Interesting. Thanks! I don't believe I've ever heard of D-VHS, but seems like an oasis of Bikini Destinations titles.

Damn. Okay, just need to buy every desired disc that may leave streaming in the next 20+ years. Wait, Sony is ceasing MiniDiscs too? Betamax is still safe though, right?

Hopefully. But seriously folks, yes, the first night with the drain, the four different painkillers in rapid succession night, was easily the toughest. That zero to ten pain scale may need a few more digits. Interestingly, as I understand it, depending on how difficult the obstruction phase is, the rupture can even be a temporary relief for some, before the leaking fluids and infections retake the lead. Obviously, not your case Rob and it sounds like it was pretty awful. Also thanks for the monetary heads up. Retirement is overrated, right?

I’ll wait on A.I. judgement until I get the bill. As for good luck, if I’m an optimistic type, there were several steps, including a doctor’s actions on his day off, I could point to. Also we were only caught once out of six pediatric ward escapes exploring. So the peas power remains.

^ Ugh, no more! Here: drove home from the hospital with my happy family. After a couple trips to urgent care, it was decided Esmé had some undiagnosed virus. A "stomach bug". A week into and third visit, diagnosis found - the appendix that ruptured sometime in the last week. 😵‍💫 High pain threshold is sometimes a disadvantage. Rushed to Stanford Packard hospital and then (similar to Knucks above) with viral infections filling all pediatric beds transferred in the night to San Francisco Van Ness. After another week, lots of antibiotics, a drain installed, some morphine, and several visits to the hospital's Teen Lounge, we were given the okay to come home. Lesson learned: Trust the fever. No matter the other symptoms and/or how patient is feeling, keep an eye on that temp. There may be something behind the thing. Thus ends my medical advice. E's proud portrait of parents on the day before leaving "the penthouse". The dad looks like a dick.

Honestly, I bought the LP because of the cover.

And then there were none. Garth Hudson, last surviving member of The Band, has died. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/garth-hudson-the-band-dead-1234804659/ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jan/21/garth-hudson-founder-member-of-the-band-and-bob-dylan-collaborator-dies-aged-87