skullguise

Last night Andrew made me dinner to celebrate my retirement. Also got to see his condo just about fully done with renovations. This kid did amazing design work for it! Even the Designer he worked with - who also did our bathroom remodels in 2024 - said he had an great sense of taste and style, doing some things even she didn't think about..... Dinner was awesome, roast seasoned chicken (amazingly tender), dan dan noodles with a decent kick/spice, and sauteed and seasoned spinach. Watched Buckaroo Banzai (*) and listened to a bunch of music and just chatted. A really wonderful night! (*) I updated my LinkedIn profile to list my "new" job as Laser Engineer, Oscillation Overthruster Division at Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems. That is the fictitious company in the movie. Only one person got it so I had to update my "About" section to tell people to Google it, and that I was retired.

Oh, man....I just had a triggered flashback (no drugs involved!). My grandparents used to take us 3 boys out to an IHOP near their condo many (many) years ago. Tuesday nights were 2-for-1 pancake nights; always super-busy with lots of "opinionated" older people. I would often order a huge apple pancake, quite good and could never finish it so would have leftovers. One time, the waitress delivers my dish, and my grandmother practically jumps down her throat, saying "...it looks sick, bring a new one...." (it DID look like one of those above). I saw the harried and worried look on the waitress' face and told her to leave it, I'm sure it will be fine. Relieved, she did, and indeed it was fine. Later I got a nice smile and a mouthed "thank you" from her. Since then, I will always give the "first" pancake the benefit of the doubt 🙂 Funny the stuff one remembers.....I must have all of like 10 or 11 years old.

Saw it on FB Peter. Sending shitloads of healing and health vibes!!!

I am officially fucking re-tired....and retired. A wonderful last week of work, topped off by a small celebration with some team members, and our CIO (blond-haired woman). The first couple of my cube, with the obligatory note that - as of today - everything is now MY fault. But a shirtload of notes on multiple cards and extra pieces of paper. I ended up topping the night off with a call with a hometown friend. She is a troubled soul and needed a supporting voice. We talked until 3:30am this morning! I wish I could do more to help people, but being a good listener and supporter is good for now.

Holy shit! Hope it was just a bonnie birthday!!

Belated Happy Birthday Doug! (and NOT Happy Belated Birthday. One of my pet peeves; the BIRTHDAY isn't belated, just my wish 🤣)

Few more from the interwebz via my drive. The one about chocolate I especially love because it is SO much Karen - sent it to her sisters and one said she cried she laughed so hard.

Saw a posting for this band on FB, checked more out and I like it! They do a couple of good covers on their album.... One original, one cover:

Very Happy Birthday!!!

My nephew is doing a space walk (his first, the woman he's doing it with is on her fourth)! Live link, think it will be saved as well: Trying to watch while at work, very cool stuff!

^^ Good band, got to see them live back in the day. Damon and Naomi's subsequent album was pretty good, too.

Gimme an F...... RIP to Country Joe McDonald 84 isn't a bad age, but still from complications of Parkinson's...so, yeah, Fuck that disease too.....

Such fun!

Happy 50th Nate!!

Very Happy Birthday - even though it's past midnight there now. Many congrats on a wonderful milestone, and hoping you are feeling and doing great!

^^ This is the similar feeling to a woman I know and with whom I used to work. She would always say she is from Persia, not Iran. And that's because the government there defined what Iran is today...and she's not a part of that. I reached out to her today, she is happy and relieved that the leader is gone. Like many, she hopes it's a beginning of more freedoms for the people (and she has family there still). But like above, she still worries about the future depending on how things progress, and what "fills the void." I hope that things will progress for a better future for the people. But with people like Trump and Netanyahu influencing things, not so sure....

^^^ I've had a live version of that song for a couple decades, on CD-MP3 and now my iPhone. Not as good quality sound, but WHAT A FUCKING GOOD SONG! Even my (non-Stretch) son Andrew chased this down and has it on his playlist. That and Romeo were my favorites by them in the day.....

I LOVED Bill Hicks....he was another one (to me) on the level of George Carlin when it came to cynical social commentary. I also love to send one of his earliest bits - when he was on the Rodney Dangerfield special to introduce new comics - about Oklahoma, to several folks I knew that moved there (like Jim!). Recommend the documentary movie about him too.

Happy Birthday!!

Good amount of snow here, I actually lost power for about 1-2 minutes earlier this a.m. But all good now. I've been worried about some friends and family in harder hit areas, but thankfully no one on my list lost power. My back deck has some nice blown drifts.....

Happy Birthday Dan!!

Happy Birthday Colin!

Hope it was/is an absolutely fantastic day Steve!

^^ I remember a party even before high school, we were a little drunk and watched this and The Man With The Child In His Eyes videos....there were like 7 of us just transfixed at her beauty and movement....so lovely!

RIP to Actors Bud Cort & James Van Der Beek..... Bud Cort was of course Harold in Harold & Maude, he did several other prominent roles but will likely be remembered mostly for H&M. One other movie I liked was Electric Dreams; he played the voice of the computer (and that's also where I fell in love with Virginia Madsen).