Lostin76

Ha, I thought the same thing about him. Loved that dude. And honestly, the class was tough. You had to pay attention. But I learned a lot about jazz and developed my taste a bit more. I was mostly into Metallica and grunge back then. I actually have an album of his on vinyl. Found it in the West Village at a record shop.

Love this song so much. Are you a jazz fan at all? I took a jazz class at IU (David Baker - and AJ Guyton was in my class)and fell totally in love with jazz - much of the reason is that piano in jazz is such a central part. Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Bud Evans, Sonny Clark, etc. those dudes can make a piano sing.

I appreciate that! And I think I have said before that i know I’m an outlier here. I always assume that you all read my posts and say:

Perfect - the horses and the pollinators must love that. The bushes and flowers are so much nicer. Good for you! I know there are reasons why HOAs exist, but I wouldn’t live with one.

He is definitely loved here. So excited for this season!

Wish more people would. Or at least let some wildflowers bloom. There are few things more boring to look at for me than a big green lawn. It also takes a ridiculous amount of unnecessary upkeep. My wife’s parent’s place in MD is a beautiful house on the water with nice landscaping surrounding the house in a 6 foot border. After that it’s endless lawn and when we visit during the summer, the most common sound you hear is landscapers all day from 8-4. It’s a symphony of unnecessary gas-powered tools attacking every lawn on the street. I know it’s the norm, but why? It’s not like kids are playing on these lawns. And they always have to put up the signs saying to keep dogs and children off the law for 48 hours b/c of chemicals. WTF? That’s just insane.

My problem with HOAs is that they seem to like lawns. A LOT. Lawns are the biggest waste of space after parking lots.

GREAT post, but I’m sorry for why you made it. That has to sting a lot. I’ve found that deleting Facebook has been one of the best decisions I have made in my adult life. It’s such a lowest common denominator race to the bottom. Constantly seeking or pushing outrage. I was pretty addicted to Twitter, but noticed it was really upping my anxiety and anger. I walked away from Twitter and deleted my account eith a very healthy number of followers. I’m down to Instagram, here, and several sub-Reddits on Reddit. The latter are all very interest-focused - no politics, no fake outrage. I do think social media is making us more ignorant, impatient, and mean. Even here, I REALLY disagree with a lot of posters on a lot of issues, but I also realize we have something in common. I cannot stand to even open my computer when @Reachertalks about politics, but on a gardening or family thread I can support him or talk with him like a rational human being. We are all coming at things from different directions and the world is a freaking mess right now. I cherish this place and all of you. Sorry to call you out Reacher. And as @5fouls says, I love my morning paper and my gardening and bicycle magazines. Slow paper based media FTW!

This is a great question and I struggle with it for athletes, musicians, authors, etc. It’s very difficult for me to separate the art from the artist. There are a lot of athletes I don’t/can’t respect, b/c I don’t like the person. And there are some athletes I learn to like more b/c of the person and their actions. I’m not sure Im right in this respect, but I know it’s how I feel. Not athletics, but one of my absolute favorite biographers Blake Bailey turned out to be a serial predator of his female students. I remember being really pissed when this news came out after buying his newest book. I envy people who can separate the athlete/artist from the work. It must be so mush easier (and healthier) that way. It’s funny, I respect Muhammad Ali more b/c of his stance on Vietnam. His quote about not going has always resonated with me. But Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers? Both of them are absolute trash in my eyes. Just worthless human beings. Wilt? Dude is a legend in more ways than one. I give that guy a pass as one of the greatest. Michael Vick (not in your list, I know) and his dog fighting? F*ck that dude.

I clearly should have credited Rico - he is our local Underdog. Too tired after too many laps in the park to give the man his due!

HA! I didn’t even think of that, but yes, I did. I’ve always loved this mural near our house and I’m amazed it’s still there. Maybe it’s b/c everyone else also loves it.

Thank you! That’s the plan. I wanted a geared bike to help me commute in to work over the bridges. Doable on the single-speed errand runner, but Martha will make it a lot more comfortable going over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Thank you! I went back and forth on bar tape/seat combo color. I would normally go with black, but since the bike is basketball-themed, I thought brown leather.

The one and only! Always the woman I looked forward to seeing the most when I was a kid. Her pre-game intro is burned into my psyche.

Thank you! And yes, ding ding ding - Underdog! It’s a mural on Underhill Street, which has been up and not tagged for a few years now. I always smile passing it.

Okay, IU peeps meet Martha! She’s all done and rides like a dream. Bonus points for naming the cartoon character street art on the wall.

This is one of the things that get so upset about this issue. What are people w/o that family support supposed to do? There’s no safety net for them. Mentally ill homeless people are very out in the open here. We ride the trains with them every day and I feel so bad that they have little to no support. I’ve got a bit of Bruce Banner in me as well. am pretty even keeled until I’m not. Got me into some rough situations as a youth and a few as adult.

Reading a new book from Geraldine Brooks called “Horse.” It switches back and forth between a racehorse in the mid-late 19th century and present day. Really good book so far.

It’s such a problem, but no politician will commit funds to help it seems. They all like to pay lip service, but when it comes to funding there seems to be no money. We really do not prioritize it beyond lip service after every mass shooting. I worked as a psych tech in the Navy and it was always so depressing seeing young people who were obviously struggling, but nothing beyond meds were ever offered. Our group and individual therapy was so regulated that people couldn’t get any sort of consistency. Which is the most important part. These folks were/are used to being abandoned. I’m so sorry to hear about your family’s struggles, but bless you for stepping up. That can’t be easy financially or mentally for you both.

So, we have a mentally ill guy in our local park - Prospect Park. The mentally ill guy is an older, homeless dude with dreadlocks who carries a big staff. A few months ago, he attacked a woman and her dog. The dog, Moose, a golden retriever, died a week later from the injuries he sustained trying to protect the woman. The guy is still in the park. My wife runs in the park most mornings and she saw him jump out at another jogger, but the woman was able to escape. This was a couple of weeks ago and it really freaked her out. She does run with pepper spray and woe to the person who tries to talk to her or approach her. She does not play. Anyway, the NYPD know that the guy is there and that he threatens and attacks people on the regular. There are so many complaints on local Reddit about the guy. So many complaints to the local precinct, but absolutely nothing has happened. The NYPD is still on their unofficial strike that they have been on since 2020. This just blows me away: “At a virtual town meeting, Capt. Frantz Souffrant of the NYPD noted that numerous people in the area wear dreadlocks and carry staves.” There have been some attempts to get a group together to push for something or anything to happen, but it doesn’t look like the NYPD will act. I keep thinking of how we would have handled something like this in Southern Indiana. I know the guy is troubled and ill, but he is going to kill someone one of these days. And if my dog was the one killed, the dude would already be six feet under. End of rant.

No one has suggested yet, but i’ve found the Apple watch a good fitness tracker/all purpose watch. It’s even convinced me to stop wearing my analogue watches. I like how it easily syncs with pretty any fitness type app. Good for heart rate, steps, standing time, exercise, sleep, etc. I also have my stocks, weather, a decibel meter, and compass too set for my watch face. Use it for tur by turn directions while biking sometimes too.

I’m a George song person too. His All Things Must Pass album is up there for me with pretty much any Beatles album.

Best outcome for the world for sure.

Putin is a weak little bitch who knows he’s beat. He’s desperate. I don’t see a good way out of this for Russia. Winter won’t save them. I just can’t see a scenario where Ukraine’s support evaporates among Western countries. This is the part where it’s beyond obvious that Little Poot miscalculated. His own army knows it and the West definitely knows it. The dangerous part is what does a weak man backed in a corner with nukes at his disposal do? We’ll find out soon.

Little Poot Poot is looking more like a fool every day.