@AndyD / It certainly is.

Welcome to the club! I go through phases with my regular coffee making process and switch every few months from Aeropress to Pour Over. I always start the day with a double espresso.

I haven't cared much about keys for an unusual amount of time. I had the key to my old place and would... well I'm not going to want to remember it in detail... Suffice it to say I locked the place when I left. I've told the story about the electricity being shut off. So, yeah. This was in winter. Just a fact. It stayed off in the spring. It stayed off in the fall. It stayed off a 2nd winter. It stayed off in the spring. It stayed off a 2nd summer. Then I moved the 2nd week of last August this year. There were countless nights the back door and porch door stayed open all night because of the heat. There were countless days both these doors were left open all day. So day and night. Dying of heat stroke didn't seem like an option. It was dangerous. Being born here, I know how dangerous it was.... Then x, y, and z happened, and I don't have doors or windows left open. Everything is kept on lock down 24 hrs a day and if I am working outside (and this is often), I'm always aware of what doors are open or shut, and if they are or are not locked. I like my new locks and deadbolt. I like my new keys. They have an oval shaped top. You inset the key, and then turn it with your thumb and/or index finger. Your fingers have a place on the key where you can turn the key and apply pressure at the same time. One set of keys is on my old lanyard and it's somewhere inside where I know where it is at all times. I like my old landward keychain. It's Stitch merchandise from Disney. This set is waterproof. I'll point out one impractical thing about it. The attached charm (Stitch's face) gets in the way of using the door key. This is a distraction and wastes time you want to be using to unlock the door. But NBD. I bought a second keychain with a clip. I might later but haven't used the clip. The keys are in this keychain. Also linked through this keychain is a second one that's big enough to fit in the hand and heavy enough to balance the house and car key. I like my new keychain. It's a disc and the disc hangs between two "arms". It can be spun around 360°. The disk is an LED flashlight. You turn it on- high, low, flashing red, and finally off with a button in the center. I'll post a link to an image. https://photos.app.goo.gl/67fk6VWpzBasFsYy5 I don't know why the picture has what looks like a plastic pull tab with an arrow. It doesn't exist IRL. I had the locksmith take the aftermarket key fob receiver that was creating havoc with my electrical system out of my car and threw the fobs away. So my keys are just old fashioned keys. BTW, I strongly advise not adding aftermarket key fobs to older cars. This is asking for trouble.

We're all so full of "forever chemicals" (another fun word combination) that if these chemicals trip the balance between health and disease or between life or death nobody will be the wiser

Interesting. I remember that girl and I'm sure I could Google her. Whoever put her up to it and profited from it is a con artist. I say con artist but it was no doubt many people operating together. I can't tell you how many 3rd rate artists made fortunes in Hawaii selling on Front St. In Lahaina until the art market cooled and the town burned to the ground a few years later.

A polity is a paradox. It's real. It's artificial. It's meaningful. It's meaningless. Etc. They say time flies. They could as well say maps change. And the Prime Minister is against it? Knock me over with a feather.

I was on another Delta flight to LGA this morning , no such announcement this time.

Thanks, @steve-miller ! I didn't watch the whole freezer video yet, just the beginning....but....we have an upright freezer that's in the basement. A very undemanding environment. Had a chest freezer years ago and gave it away to a friend. I know chest freezers are much more efficient and run like tanks, but not having to unload twenty things to get to the bottom where the one you want is located is the huge advantage for us and why we switched to uprights. We had a manual defrost upright and got tired of the whole defrosting thing so replaced our old upright with a frost free. Have been really happy with it in terms of function. Reliability, not so much. The one that died is 4 1/2 years old. Abt does extended warranties. A five year costs $175. If the thing craps out again, it's cost me $175 to use it for five years. Oh, and the warranty lets you claim $200 of lost food. I hate the concept of throwaway appliances but try to make up for it in other ways. We drive our cars for 20 years! Thanks for the info on the dryers. Between you and Claude, you've convinced me it's worth having it looked at before buying new. We do indeed have a local guy, George's Appliance CPR. Turns out he started out at Abt. My neighbor has used him and said he's great and reasonably priced. I got his number and texted him. We'll see what he says! Thanks much. Will keep you posted!

That’s really pretty veneer! Is it the same on the top? If it is you may be able to use a piece from the top to patch the sides. If not, and you elect to replace a panel, you might be able to use a piece from one side to patch the other. Have you ever messed with grain matching using special paintbrushes and markers and such? That grain pattern will be tough to blend but it’s kind of fun to do and veneer is pretty cheap.

@jon-nyc Welcome to Pinellas County! I'm glad the weather was good for you! Need I say awesome work and poster of you!

@jon-nyc said: Facebook served me this ad which made me think of you. [image: IMG_4777.jpeg] Ha! This is great!! We have a little plinth with figures in our typical player colours that we change out to show who won the last game.

Clowns are supposed to be funny. The country is in a sad state.

Thank you jon! We would have liked to have one this year and I am not completely 100% sure we won't, but it will more likely be some time next year.

Dave is always good. I remember a column he wrote on dating. Sent a copy to a friend - and the next thing I knew it was being faxed all around the country.

That may be what is called a "shirt-sleeve" relative. Marjoe Gortner reminded me of the creepy guy who insisted upon showing me a gospel music technique that used chords. I was too busy looking for an exit to learn anything.

Waves are measured from the water level up, not from down in the trough. 15 feet is big. Was in 8 foot waves in a 36 sailboat in the Gulf of ah, you know, that Gulf down there. Thought I might die. Didn't.

Very little information about the band is to be found. It seems to be the only recording available by the original City of London Brass. The band was made up of students from the London Music Colleges and other London educational institutions, so had youthful, talented, semi-pro players. Formed in 1971 and lasted maybe only 4 years. Guessing it depended on their conductor, Geoffrey Brand who died recently at the age of 97, and was an influential and inspirational band/trumpet man over decades.

@shirokuro Thanks!

Pirro must have gotten hold of the report and that's why she dropped the charges against the Olympic guy. She dropped the charges on August 4th; report is dated the 6th. The blue coating applied to the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool this summer failed in at least 85 places because of errors in the renovation, including the premature refilling of the basin before the liner had fully dried, according to an inspection report obtained by The Washington Post. The Aug. 6 report, commissioned by the contractor that did the work, documents far more damage than has been previously reported. President Donald Trump has generally attributed the damage to vandals, but the report makes no mention of vandalism to the liner and blames the problems on the use of improper materials and a rush to complete the job. The administration wanted the project finished in time for the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The 75-page “failure analysis” by Atlantic Coating Inspection includes scores of photos documenting the liner’s deficiencies — ranging in severity and including blisters, peeling and cracks — and identifies their likely causes. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/reflecting-pool-liner-failed-in-85-places-after-flawed-renovation-inspection-found/ar-AA2edde0 tl;dr - The report notes a ton of reasons the paint peeled; none of them involved vandalism. There was also a lot more damage than previously reported. The Delusional One gets the last word: Last Tuesday, as the repairs were nearing completion, Trump told reporters that the latest fixes would make the pool “as vandal-proof as you can get.”