2025-05-31 12:00:00
2025 continues to suck in the most suckiest ways possible. I was let go from my job yesterday after only 5 months. It was the most productive opening 5 months I've ever had at a new job. In 2025, that gets you fired, I guess.
Anyway, enough of that. This week I wrote a couple of things.
I talked about our Memorial Day weekend camping trip.
I added a couple more entries into the Revisiting my MP3 Collection series.
Stuff I read, or at least saved with the intention of reading.
Why Gen Z loves 1990s Casio watches. I'm GenX and I have two old school digital Casio watches.
Video of Purdue student's robot solving a Rubik's Cube in a tenth of a second. That's faster than the time it takes you to blink once.
People used to sweep their yards to control pests, and eliminate tinder that could lead to a fire.
Profile of a guy that takes personal privacy to an extreme.
Apparently life in the US is now similar to life in cold war era Russia, in that normal day to day stuff that government does simply doesn't work, yet the citizens soldier on trying to live normal lives.
A collection of summer reading lists.
An argument that SpaceX's Starship rocket was doomed from the start, and that it will never work. Of course, I'm sure NASA will keep funding it.
And that is it for this week. Remember, in a world where you can choose to be anything, you can choose to be kind.
2025-05-28 12:00:00
This is an ongoing series in which I dig into the dark corners of my MP3 folder and revisit some long neglected music.
Tinted Windows put out one self-titled album in 2009. It was power-pop perfection. That's not surprising when you consider that the band was James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins, singer Taylor Hanson of Hanson, bassist Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and drummer Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick. No one has ever explained why they didn't continue.
Schlesinger was one of the first celebrity victims of COVID, so the band will never be reforming, at least not with the original lineup.
Every song on the record is a power pop banger.
2025-05-28 12:00:00
This is an ongoing series in which I dig into the dark corners of my MP3 folder and revisit some long neglected music.
Tyketto - Dig in Deep
Tyketto - Don't Come Easy
Tyketto - Reach
Tyketto - Strength in Numbers Live
I discovered Tyketto on the side stage at the M3 Metal Festival in 2015. I had never heard of them and I was blown away by their short set. They released their first album in 1991, just in time for the entire genre to get steamrolled by grunge. Musically they are in the Bon Jovi or Night Ranger neighborhood of hard rock bands. They ended up with a bit of a following in Europe and the lead singer Danny Vaughn is still active in Europe both as a solo artist and with Tyketto. I think that 2015 festival show was the last time they played in the US.
Forever Young is the closest they got to a hit. It has over 9 million streams on YT Music, which appears to be more than the rest of their catalog combined.
Here's Hoping it Hurts is off their 2012 album, and is my favorite Tyketto tune. It hasn't made it to 10K streams on YT Music.
2025-05-26 12:00:00
Trip: 50
Nights: 172-174
Huh. 50 camping trips in the Aliner Ascape Grand+. Cool.
It was a chill Memorial Day weekend. My wife came down with a case of daycare crud on Thursday, so my son pinch hit and joined me for a weekend of hiking and drinking beer around the campfire. I'm 57. He is 31. He is an active athlete, I am not. Yesterday I needed a break after a long climb on a hike, and I'm huffing and puffing at the top and I look at him. He looked like he just got out bed. No sign at all that his heart rate was above 60.
Youth is wasted on the young.
Anyway, we birded and hiked and grilled and drank beer by the campfire. A perfect camping weekend. Well, almost perfect. It could have been ten degrees warmer at night.
For those of you in the US, I hope you marked the day in whatever manner you see fit. Visiting military cemeteries, grilling, boating, camping, or screaming "Fuck You Donald Trump!" over and over are all acceptable ways to mark the day. Let's hope the Orange Turd doesn't cause us to have a bunch of new fallen soldiers to memorialize next year. For the rest of you, happy Monday!
2025-05-18 12:00:00
I never did get around to writing an update last week. Those of you on the paid subscription plan can apply for a refund.
Editor: Chris, you don't have paid subscribers.
Well, whatever. It's the thought that counts.
It was a busy weekend for us. I started Saturday morning by birding with the Audubon Club. It was threatening rain, so I left my camera in the car, so no pictures. It's a shame too, as several birds decided to linger in easily photographed areas, as they always do when I don't have my camera.
But before I could even get out of the house to go birding, I had to deal with a pesky door-to-door salesperson. See the link below for details.
Last night we went downtown to Riverrock 25. Riverrock is a 3 day free festival celebrating outdoor sports, music, and dogs. We got there kind of late after dinner at Penny Lane Pub, which is the local Liverpool supporters hangout. I'm a Southampton supporter, so it's enemy territory, or would be, if Southampton mattered enough to be considered by Liverpool. The two bands last night we solid though. We were wandering around and not really paying attention during Mikaela Davis' set, but she sounded good. The headliner, Andy Frasco & the U.N, blew the roof off the joint. Normally at a free show like this, the crowd peaks early and then people drift away as they lose interest in a band they've never heard of. It was the opposite last night. They were so good they were pulling people in through the night. They had a bunch of really great originals, plus they played a nice selection of cover tunes. Any band that can pull of Bad Reputation by the Runaways and Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks in the same set gets respect from me.
On to the links:
Stuff I wrote.
Birding while camping last week
Annoying door-to-door salespeople
Stuff I did not write.
A fabulous introduction to the Stevie Wonder songbook
I am definitely old enough to relate to this article about how stereo equipment was essential to your decorating choices in the 1970s.
How to switch out Google Fonts for a privacy friendly alternative.
In case you missed it last week, Andreas posted a fabulous WWII inspired tour of his hometown of Nuremberg. Yes, that Nuremberg.
Not sure I agree with this, but maybe it's worth considering if bowls should replace plates in all dining scenarios.
Always being entertained by the pocket computer we all carry around means never daydreaming, and never daydreaming isn't healthy.
There is no "if" involved here. GenX are the cools one.
Next week is Memorial Day weekend in the US. We'll be camping. You should probably just assume that weekly updates will be bi-weekly through the end of September.
And that is it for this week. Remember, in a world where you can choose to be anything, you can choose to be kind.
2025-05-17 12:00:00
Excuse me sir, can I interest you in a rodent control contract?
He was stretched out across the patio this morning when I put the dog out. Teddy didn't even notice him. I encouraged Mr. Snek to move on out, and I thought that was it. 5 minutes later I turn around and he is looking in the sliding glass door like a sad puppy.
Shortly after noon he turned up out front of a neighbor's house, who locked her doors are refused to come out. My son relocated Mr. Snek to the drainage pond area of the neighborhood.
