n_maher

This. Been a long time. For those that don't remember the amp or have never seen it. This is half of it.

Vicki, Just take it easy and enjoy the ride. If there are idiots let them get out in front and ride your own ride. Try to have a good time, basically.

CJ, if you want the tubes tested you can shoot them up my way and I'll run them through the gamut and let you know what I find.

Great shot of Half Dome, Peter. And congrats, Crappy.

And of course, Jacob, I'm very glad to hear that things are looking up on the home front. In a very minor way having kids is like living with someone with a personality issue. My son was an effing mental case last night, screaming, hitting, just going berzerk after his bath. Tonight he was all hugs and kisses and "wuv u dad." It is taxing and I simply can't imagine the adult version. So hang in there bud and vent when necessary.

Oh a decidedly lighter note, the mid-life crisis mobile is pretty much set for now. Just have to tweak the spare tire mount to fit the 32 and pick up the new top this weekend.

Ari, If was being critical I'd pick the middle image as the weakest of the three. Maybe I'm missing something, the subject is great, but none of it seems particularly in focus or sharp. Maybe it's the compressed image that's mucking it up, or my tired eyes, but all of the edges look a little muddy. The other two, I'm not qualified to judge. I don't see any real technical faults with them so maybe it just came down to the judges personal preference for subject matter or any other of 900 reasons for a photograph to either strike a chord with someone or not. Overall your work is fantastic and you clearly have talent so don't get too down. Take the rejection, process it (and maybe like Gene suggested get some feedback) and then most importantly move on.

Ouch! One wonders at what point they'll institute some sort of head protection for pitchers. Years ago I watched something like this happen during a casual softball game and it freaked me out pretty good. It took the guy over a year to fully recover from the headaches, vertigo and he suffered permanent hearing damage to the ear that was struck by the ball.

A very Happy Birthday to you, Shelly!

Happy Birthday!

Jacob, I've got nothing to really offer other than whatever support typing provides. Hang in there, life is a roller coaster, and not always an enjoyable ride. It sounds like Emily needs help and that's kind of what you signed up for when you married her. If she's willing to accept help at this point then all you can do is try. If she gets to the point where she's no longer willing to accept help then it's time to reassess situation. Chris, maybe the LR4 is different but most "7 seat" SUVs are pretty damn uncomfortable for the rear passengers not to mentional that it kills 90% of the cargo space to get 7 in and then there's that whole getting in process to deal with. If a people hauler is what you need buy a Honda Odyssey and use the remaining 30K to buy something fun. I do not subscribe to the rule of 2 cars especially if one choice is made purely on function. You really do need something better equipped to tow the boat, right?

As my boss eloquently said today when I told him it was an '04, "Oh, so, like, not so nice that you won't feel bad if you ding it." My response, "Exactly." I don't know that I could stomach to use something like an LR4 the way that I hope to use the Jeep. I also definitely wanted something that could go at least partially topless (as pictured) in the summer time. That said, I've got a wicked soft spot for Rovers and the latest generation Disco/LR is supposed to be amazingly capable while very refined and reliable. Ultimately if this experiment goes well for a few years I'd like to step up to something like what Ian has, but would probably buy used (again) and not mod it as far as he did. There's no point in getting rid of the 2007 Camry that I use as my daily since it only gets about 15k a year on it when it sees primary driving duty and that'll obviously go down a bit now. I figure it's got another 100k in it or at least I hope it does without requiring major work but it does nothing for me as a vehicle which at the projected pace gives me a good 7-10yrs. Not sure I'll ride it for that long, but it's long paid for and very cheap to run.

Yup, eff that Jeff, get what you paid for.

Excellent, Haj. I love it when Lily cooks with me.

Yeah, they're good people though. I have a bag from back in '96 when John was pretty much on his own working out of an old button factory in Portsmouth.

Nice bag Jeff. The yellow inside is to make it easier to find stuff I the bag and it works.

OOhhhh, truck nutz, I knew I forgot to order something. Steve, I'll give the wipe new a shot but odds are she's getting a slightly wider set of flares to address the offest that the alloy wheels will present (less backspacing). Also might be picking up a NOS top too, the rear zipper on mine appears to be sticky. And you, Steve, can appreciate the annoyance of having a sticky rear zipper. And yes, Khaki is sweet color and I'm happy to have found one.

I'm currently clocking in right around 200# and hope to see that go down another 5lbs or so in the next two months. I am being pretty active so I do add muscle as I displace fat which makes tracking loss not all that productive. I can mostly keep track based on how clothes fit.

The tires get swapped over to noce wheels on Wednesday and the final bits will be in next week. Then it'll be time to wheel it, but no mud. Mud is the devil.

On this we'll have to disagree. Keep Tyll informed on real information, lest he go off chasing something that isn't clearly a joke until you follow a link, read a thread, follow another link and then find out you've just wasted five minutes on something that's just dumb.

Yeah, I'm commenting on the fact that the link appears to point to a post/thread which recommends putting hot suace on headphones as a legit mod. If I'm missing something, Tari, let me know. Otherwise I couldn't give a shit what forum you link to.

I hope you're not serious about that link. Otherwise your remaining time here may be short.

Took the family for a ride yesterday in the mostly-finished, sort-of-but-hopefully-not mid-life crisis, Jeep.

Yeah, very nicely done.

I did something to my big toe/ball of my foot. Not sure what, but it's been moderately painful for the last three days. It felt better today but I decided to take it easy on top of coming down with at least half the cold that Lily and Andrew had last week. I'm going to skip the commute tomorrow as well and hopefully feel better Tuesday.