TrentonMakes

Two white cars in our history - my '91 Taurus SHO, and a '06 Chrysler minivan that was my wife's daily driver.

happy birthday!

My [boomer] parents moved into a 55+ community 20 years ago (as soon as they qualified), and they've moved twice since then, to other 55+ communities. Our family was uprooted by Big Business in 1993 so my parents had already left what they thought would be their "forever home". Sentimentality was no longer a factor for them. We, on the other hand, have a modest sized 3BR ranch with laundry on the first floor (bought in 2005). Our daughter was 2 when we moved in and our son was born a year later. Sentimentality is definitely a factor for us. We will plan to stay as long as we can (though retirement with NJ property taxes is a scary proposition).

I hope all is well this morning.

NJM's headquarters is in our town, about 3 miles down the road. On weekends when the site's mostly empty I like to ride a loop around their site. Easy way to tack on a traffic-free mile to a ride.

you did that on purpose!

yikes! hope you're OK.

I guess that's my problem - I have a beast of a commercial walk-behind, and clutching/turning is a real upper body workout. It cut nearly an hour off the time to do the entire yard, compared to the standard 22" cut mower I used to use.

Friday's weather was lousy, most of Saturday was taken up by the kids' events, and I was grumbling Sunday morning because much of a nice day for bike riding was going to be taken up with yard work that I hadn't been able to do the previous days. Maybe 10 years ago one of my friends from college said he'd started to pay someone to cut the grass - said "it was a no-brainer". I disagreed, citing the feeling that I could make the property look nice through my efforts. Also, kind of like the shower, I've always found lawn mowing to be a good time to get some thinking done. So yesterday morning after listening to me grumble, my wife offered that she'd be happy to hire someone to mow, to give me more time. I hadn't been thinking about that... but I am now. Last year I was having an issue with one of the safeties on the mower - there's a lever that is only supposed to kill the engine if the blades are engaged, but it kills the engine all the time now. That makes it pretty hard to start. I wish I had left myself a note, because I completely forgot about this when I tried to fire it up for the first time. I wasted half an hour until I remembered. Now I have a nice clean spark plug, and a heavy spring clip to hold that lever down (that's my fix for now).

22 windy miles.

Not familiar with the book, but yes, Norwegian Wood is a top-10 Beatles song for me. (except I can probably list 30 "top 10" songs)

I'm not sure if that's good or bad... on the Magical Mystery Tour album, that song is preceded by the largely instrumental "Flying" which I love, and which I think would qualify as a "deep track". It occurs to me that, as much of a fan as I am of the Beatles' music, the animated Yellow Submarine is the only Beatles movie I've ever seen.

I am not an e-bike owner, but I am all for them, if only because it's the only way cyclists have any shot at building a critical mass to get bike safety improvements implemented.

Not the best start as the bathroom lights went out while I was washing my face. I hoped I accidentally hit the switch with my elbow, but the power went out, three hours after a thunderstorm came through. (?!) But the generator started on the first pull, I'm on my second cup of coffee, and I just got the text that power was restored. Things are looking up! hope you bastards all have a great day. (and I hope no one was affected by flash flooding around Pittsburgh and WV. If they were I guess I'll feel ashamed for complaining about a 90-minute power outage)

IMO the Beatles had very few real missteps but this I find this as unlistenable as "Revolution #9".

I wasn't rushing to put it on my list, but I tend not to see remakes. Please don't get me wrong - I wouldn't go so far as to call the Swayze Road House a "great" movie... yet I can't deny that I really enjoy watching it. I just feel like my brain shrinks a little when I do.

wait - which version are you describing here?

Good stuff! I was only there once - but their stuff is in stores and their Fuego makes it into my fridge pretty regularly. There are so many breweries around; sadly, too many of them are forgettable. On days I drive to the office, I pass the Readington Brewery on 202 on the way home; I hope to stop and check that out someday. Got something of theirs from the store and it was pretty good.

I thought I was near your territory... we have a project there with the Borough and NJDOT. On our walking tour of the town I spotted the Core3 Brewery, which was sadly still closed when I headed out. Is it worth checking out?

I feel like it's been a long time since I was disappointed by a meal at an NJ diner (one I can recall was at the old Olga's on the Marlton Circle - when that Circle still existed, so a long time ago). We had a good lunch last month at the Liberty Diner in Clayton. At 11:45AM the place was nearly deserted, usually not a good sign, but everything was great. There's a great one here in Ewing, in the shadow of NJDOT headquarters... we don't get there as often as we should.

I feel like that franchise became a joke somehow, but the few times I ever actually had an Orange Julius, I really liked it. I was glad to find a photo with a decidedly 80s look. Maybe the 80s was the last time I had one. edit: this web site would suggest they are still out there? https://orangejulius.com/en-us/locations/

App.

I don't expect his maker has good news for him. Despite his football career, and a memorable role as "Nordberg", he will be remembered for his arrogance in the face of some pretty damning evidence.

IMO there was not a better "supergroup", ever. That first album is just incredible. The second one was good, but without Roy there was no way it was going to be the same. Roy's voice on this one - god damn, the man still had it but he sadly died within a year or so.