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Do you remember those? I saw one on this morning’s commute. It was in very good shape for the age. No visible rust but at 6:00 am there wasn’t enough light for a better look. Pennsylvania tags. I wonder what his story was. Looked similar to this:

I was accepted and my work is placed front and center of the entrance.

By a recommendation from a friend, I bought the Dynaplug pro plug thingie for gravel. I haven't used it yet. Anywho, Since I'm only using it on my CAADX for gravel riding it would be nice to frame mount it. It did not come w/ a frame mount which made me bummed out Then I thought, I could design & print one. This made me excited So I modeled one up in Solidworks and printed it. It took a couple iterations, but it works great, this made me happy I have a frame pump mounted to one bottle cage, so I designed the plug holder based on that concept for mounting to the other cage. I've ridden a few gravel rides and its still on the bike👍 It comes loaded w/ four plugs, 1 big, 3 not big. Another reason I want it on the frame is for ease of use. When a puncture occurs I want to be able to access it quick, and not fumble around in a saddle bag or jersey pocket. This cost about 57 bucks. Worth it if it works great.

The company provided me with a phone. It was always a few years behind Samsung FE edition Galaxy on shitty AT&T shitty service in Tampa. But hey, it was free. So the phone was of course logged out of it's work profile but they did provide me with options to transfer my number to a new service/line. With the glaring caveat that I had until close of business to transfer the line! So rapid-fire research and I now have the middle "Unlimited" package with Verizon and a shiny new Pixel 8!

When I got my colonoscopy in 2023, I was selected by Hoffman La Roche pharmaceuticals to be in a study it is doing while working with my local colonoscopy center. They want to see how close they can come to actual colonoscopy diagnoses by blood tests alone and will compare my actual 2023 colonoscopy to a series of blood tests. They said they'd pay me $200 per annual blood test for four years and I said "Sure!" So I got my $200 last year and I'll get another $200 when they take a few small vials of blood today. And I don't even have to fast before the test!

A Tesla just pulled up! Damn. Not a rider. Two riders just showed! Off we go.

moral of the story - don't eat canned beans

If no one shows in the next few minutes, it will be a group of one. The weather is a little dodgy plus there is another club ride that is more fun this morning. I am leading the "turtle" ride and the other ride is for the "turbos".

I am no longer adding half and half to my coffee. Drinking it black and cutting back on my consumption. I drink one 16 oz cup at home before I shower and I bring 16oz with me to work and drink it once I get to my desk. Most days I only drink about half of the second cup before it grows cold. On weekends, if not camping, I will add creamer and have two or more cups at home. I may take RG's advice and go find a local coffee shop to hang out at.

I just aboot typed in LAPEL but didn’t want to do the double L, plus I wanted to get T in. Viola!

of separation after close to 30 years of marriage. Opened bank accounts in my name today. Told Martha we need to start untangling our joint lives and moving on. I think we will end up selling the house. I have been here too long. It is scary and lonely to think of starting over this late in life. Not sure what that will look like. The coming months will be hard, but they will be better than being trapped in a lifeless, loveless marriage. I know that at some point the emotional dam I have built will break and lots of ugly stuff will come spilling out. This makes me feel scared and alone My biggest concern is how do I tell this to my boys and my mother. I don't want the anger and the hurt to turn me into something I am not. I do not want to say hurtful things no matter how badly I hurt. The numbness is beginning to fade and the pain and hurt grow, but I realize this is part of the process I have to go through. And I have come to the realization that I cannot do this alone. I know I need to find someone to talk too, someone who knows about this, because I have no idea what to do next. This makes me feel lost. I was naïve enough to believe those words I said about til death do us part. That is what is hardest. I am a man of my word and this is one promise I will not be able to keep. This makes me feel broken The End

I guess I could ride back and dig up my poop to find out.

Heeeere’s Johnny!

In the past year? None. (Thanks, dog. ) I never really kept track of the rate of flattage-ness, but I can tell you it directly correlates to the mileage on the tire. The older and thinner they get, the higher the frequency of flats. I had one of my gravel bikes on the workstand one day and noticed the rear tire had little white pimples of sealant all over the tread area…(or the area where the tread would be if they weren’t slicks) I run tubeless in the fatbike, both gravel bikes and my SS MTB. I do NOT run tubeless in the road bike because of the higher PSI and I do NOT want to be dealing with sealant on the side of the road. Also, given what a cast-iron sonofabitch my one set of gravel tires are to get on and off the rims, I rely on the hope/pray/sealant method. I carry the plug as cheap insurance, same as the flat kit that is on every one of my tube-tired bikes. (I have multiples, rather than rely on remembering to switch the pack to whatever bike I’m riding. To have it and not need it is way better than the reverse and there’s zero cost in carrying it.

Morning One on One with my direct supervisor had a surprise guest. HR! Seems my position is slated to move overseas in their cost savings initiatives. As soon as the meeting ended my computer was remote wiped and all credentials revoked. I had about 5 minutes to email myself some contacts and that's it. I'm now no longer slowly looking for a new role, I am for REAL looking for a job. I did get paid out till the end of the month and then my severance will last for 7 more weeks. I knew I wasn't happy with the changes and was looking for a new role, but it sucks when the transition isn't your choosing.

Since starting in tech after leaving the jewelry industry, I've worked hard to maintain our lifestyle status quo and saved/invested all the extra. I'm still learning. If I know I'm right, or believe in the direction, regardless really of who put it forward, I become the champion of the cause. Need to settle back and not ride herd every time. I've been joking for the last decade that I keep "falling up". I figure it's another one of those opportunities. @All, thanks for the words of encouragement and support. Ya'll fucking rock. Best virtual friends a guy could ask for.

Meet Casper, a 4wd touring car in 1/10 scale. This is an extremely restricted class of racing at RC Madness. The car has to be box stock with only the addition of ball bearings. It even has to be assembled with the cross point screws as delivered in the kit. There is only one legal motor, one legal type of tire and only one legal gear ratio allowed. They run with an old fashioned brushed motor. It is a scale replica of a 2003 Ford Focus as delivered to customers for racing use. It's the end result of my having sold my Traxxas Slash truck.

Awesome Allen is the name you're looking for.

Just a few drops of water and you have a wipe. I can assure you my poop will be much healthier than RG and Dr Mickin's gross canned bean poop.

If you don't have water, you can just pee on it a little.

so you add water to a compressed tablet to get a wipe? That seems pretty cool. You are going to need to carry a scale and weight yourself pre and post poop though so we can add that to the poop table thing that RG and Dr Mickin will create. Maybe we can start a poop tracking thread in here?

Remember when the nun had the hots for him? Anywho, while riding along on Sunday's gravel ride, there was a nun walking down the street. Looked cute & young. That made me thing of Kramer

6/6 Phew I’ll spare you my less than brilliant wander in the wilderness to facet.

Major perving options, so perfect for you, @Randomguy, and now @jsharr . I get it! I get my perving time on my rides and all the hotties jogging or sometimes even riding!

Speaking of crappy VWs how about The Thing?

Another solution! Brilliant 💎

Yeah the Al-You-Mini-Um one is definitely cooler. I have not yet had occasion to use it - obviously because I am not a pro.

So you’re implying I’m not a pro? <reported>

You can now….

The one to steal is the Big Boy moose.

So we leave for the Redwoods a week from Saturday. First vacation since 2020. Lodging has been paid for. We already have our gear so the only thing we'll need to pay for -- other than unexpected surprises -- is some food and any entertainment we wish to do. We are staying here: Plan on hiking 7-9 of these: https://www.redwoodhikes.com/TopTenHikes.html

FIFK

It could be worse, I could be helping you.

Intrigued by a claim on Quora or Reddit that Aldi's 14.5 oz Green Beans were watered down, I decided to measure the three brands of Cut Green Beans I usually get: Del Monte from Costco, Great Value from Walmart, and Happy Harvest from Aldi. I cut open the can's lid, use it to drain the water from the can, then weigh the slightly wet green beans. As you can see, Del Monte is ripping us off! My sister said she's also had problems with too many hard stems in Del Monte green beans. Here are the results so far: Name, Price, Drained weight in oz, 14.5 oz. can of Cut Green Beans Walmart Great Value ($0.64) 9.42, 7.83, 8.40, 8.68 AVG: 8.58 oz. Aldi Happy Harvest ($0.63) 8.11, 8.54 AVG: 8.33 oz. Del Monte ($1.18 to $1.50) 7.05, 7.87, 7.62, 7.80, 7.69 AVG: 7.61 oz This 63 cent can of Aldi's Happy Harvest Cut Green Beans has more beans than any of the 5 Del Monte cans I've used:

Please take Dr. Mickn with you to weigh the specimen for accurate scientific reporting.

Not a Shag-you-are??? RAWR!!!

Fried eggs and fried bologna. The Newfoundland specialty.

Please join Randomguy over there isnthe PEOPLE WHO ARE TOTALLY WRONG forum. Canned green beans are soggy, lifeless logs of green salt. Mushrooms suck no matter how you get them, canned, bagged, in a box, whatever. I don't eat fungus on purpose.

You sir are as far removed from correctness as the East is from the West! Good Day! If you need me, you will find me on the frozen foods aisle getting superior frozen produce.

Milk in my coffee or black tea (never green tea). No sugar. I drink several cups daily. I stopped putting sugar in either when I was 21 yrs. I suddenly decided that and it has stuck since.

I am still in the Florida sunshine.