WTF-Beta

I really enjoyed that piece. Your playing is wonderful. I listened to the piece by rach3master and I love it too! "Transcribed from solo piano video game album" A pretty obscure video game at that titled "NieR Replicant ver 1.22474487139"

Coding is dead profession. I am hanging in there due to our product that has no equal, or replacement available. We keep it up-to date with the latest tech but it is a legacy system. I am also maintaining two other legacy systems and this will keep me busy until retirement or death.

@Bootsy said in Piano Party 7/27 Klaus is coming to visit:

P.P.S. Not to complain of course, but Jon has me labeled as Mark, and Mark labeled as Kathy, no doubt because he unconsciously left off my label, since by now Jon and I are family.

I noticed that too.

@Mik said in Puppy !:

Adorable.

+1

My Mother in law.

I might have mentioned this but she went down the dark path of dementia and she was living with us in 2016 until the beginning of 2020.

She was at an assisted living facility until March of this year when they gave her a 30 day notice of eviction to their memory care facility which was $12k per month.

We prepared a room for her here at the house. New carpet, paint, new bedroom set including bed, recliner, dresser and nightstand. It was our "Master Bedroom for the past 28 years. We also renovated my daughters bedroom and moved into the acual "master beddrom". All of our daughters called it their room at one time or another over the 26 years that they lived here at home.

Taking care of a loved one with severe dementia is exhausting, physically and mentally. It was one of the hardest tasks I have ever participated in over the course of my 63 years on this rock.

Sarah, (Mrs Mark) did an incredible job once again taking over the role of primary caregiver. We had mom here for about 3 months and it seemed that we were living in a "Groundhog Day" movie scenario. That's what we called it anyway. Mom was stuck in a world that made no sense to her. She could never grasp the concept of her location, even in the house. She called Sarah, "mommy" heck, she called me "mommy" too.

We called the local ADRC office and made an appointment to have them visit and meet Maxine and us and to assess her current condition. Hospice was recommended as she was starting to decline pretty quickly.

She moved out on June 6 and into a wonderful memory care facility which was far more "affordable" at $7,500 per month.

She was there less than a month and died yesterday early evening.

Maxine was 80 years old.

Rest in peace, Mom.

Oh, and the pay is shit. Seriously. I was making more per hour in the 1990s

I find it hard to recommend this profession that I chose back in 1981-82. Back then it was the wild west and while I have done well, I could have done a lot better financially. I did not want to move my family around and I did not want to do corporate consulting very long, as it kept me away from my family. I had to balance it. I settled in on local small to medium sized business that could afford custom software and IT infrastructure. I still work in IT of course and I am now finding that the last chapter will most likely consist of maintaining and improving where needed, legacy systems in the small to medium business market. Exactly where I started. lol

Years ago...

"Love is our resistance" is a line from a song by the rock band, Muse.

Daughter 1 is going to the protest in Milwaukee with friends.

She made this sign...

Her friends made these signs...

My dear friend Sondra built two harpsichords from kits. They were very cool and very tempermental. <-Pun intended.

Cute!

@Steve-Miller said in My new stereo system:

@Mark

I listened to that album so much when it first came out that I wore it out. I even had my artist friend airbrush a copy of that album cover on the refrigerator door in my first camper. Haven’t thought about it in years. Time to listen again!

Lately I’ve been thinking about buying a vintage system. Nothing fancy- probably a Pioneer SX-535 like the one I bought in 1975 for $36/month. Been watching vintage stereo YouTube videos and appears that they made a ton of them, they’re reliable, parts are available and they’re easy to service.

The soft blue backlight would set the perfect mood for listening to the Surf’s up album!

Check out Sounds Classic in Rockford, IL. They really have some nice, fully restored, vintage audio equipment.

https://www.soundsclassic.com/index.html

Cool! I recently bought a new pair of speakers. A little bigger than the Bose BT you linked.

I listen to music on my stereo every day. More traditional two speaker, Turntable, Tape Decks both Reel to Reel and Cassette. Streamer, DAC, Integrated Tube Amp.

Last night I listened to an original 50+ year old copy of The Beach Boys "Surf's Up" album on reel to reel. I had never heard this album before and put it on more as a curiosity as I am not a big fan of The Beach Boys. Mrs Mark loves their popular stuff which I tolerate for her. But this album is something else. It sounds nothing like The Beach Boys. The album cover is also so non-beach-boys-like. It is the band's 17th album.

Sorry to hear this Kathy.

Our country is being ruined by some of the worst humans on the planet.

Of course I remember! It's was the first and only time we have been to IKEA.

Thank you all. I had a wonderful day with my daughter and Mrs. Mark. Daughter bought me this wonderful 1960s vintage Parker "Flightet" ball point pen to go with the same vintage Flighter fountain pen i have. And the Mrs. Got me a new watch. I normally don't wear a watch but we were at the jewelry store to pickup her Valentine's day gifts and she asked me if I wanted anything.

The pen

the case is handmade in Japan. Daughter gave it to me for Xmas

My first "cool" watch. It's solar powered!

The new job is going well. I actually like it as I am working a hybrid schedule with 2 or 3 days at the office and the rest is WFH. Everyone is really cool at the office and we even have an office dog that is there most days. The owner is engaged and is down in the support trenches with his team, as he loves helping people with computer issues and he is also very good at it.

While I do well enough in that realm, support was never my main focus, nor do I "love it". Software development has always been my primary focus. We are working on a proposal for a customer to replace his very much outdated and unsupported custom software package with one based on the framework that I have built over the past 40 years. If we get this job it will be a job that I will be doing for the next several years.

I am working on finding a younger person to train, who wants to take the torch from me sometime in the next 5-10 years. We have a couple of candidates internally but we might hire someone outside of the company for this role.

I am also still engaged in my own company. We just release an update to the 9-1-1 centers last week. Yet another update is getting ready to be pushed out next week.

The irony that I included links in a thread that is screaming "DO NOT CLICK LINKS", was not lost on me.