WTF-Beta

Very cool

Awesome!

Wow! I want one. I have a Lodge and I need to re-season it.

The Leg of Lamb is in the Sous Vide, all seasoned and waiting for many hours later tonight when Daughter #3 and her partner will grace us with their presence.

Daughter #1 has been here since yesterday around noon. We commenced with our annual tradition of Xmas Eve shopping and had a wonderful time. Daughter #2 is in Philly this year having just moved there a couple of months ago now. Her fiancée (Yes! He popped the question about a month ago before he had to go to Oklahoma for advanced radar training for his new position as an Air Traffic Controller at the Philly airport. He has been gone for a month and only returned two days ago. He deserves to relax at home and not make a long trip this year as is their usual. So we will miss her this year but know that they are where they need to be be right now.

The big hit this year was a vintage Selmer Signet Alto Saxophone I bought for Daughter #1.

While flute was her primary instrument, she played alto sax in the jazz and pep bands. The sax we had at the time was a vintage Conn student model that my oldest sister had played in school in the 1970s. It is known as the family sax which has been passed down first to my daughters then to their young cousin who has it now.

Daughter #1 recently mentioned that she wanted to play the sax again so, of course I went shopping.

Our local instrument repair shop is right across the street from us and I paid a visit to them on Monday and they had this gorgeous Selmer Signet alto sax that has been completely restored with new pads, etc. it’s from the 1960s and was kept in stunning condition. Small signs of use wear in all the normal areas but the majority of the finish is just stellar with a nice aged patina but no finish checking that I can see.

She was so surprised! It brought tears to my eyes to see her reaction. A reaction that was so common on Christmas morning when they were young children. It was awesome to have that feeling once again.

I also got her a Lego F1 car modeled after the recent McLaren car. Again opened with the excitement of when she was little.

It is so nice to have at last one of my children here for Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas to all!

The alcohol and micro fiber cloth worked great! I let it sit overnight and it is still good to go!

Smooth as the day I bought it. Even if i have to do this every year or two, it's worth the effort.

Thank you wtg!

So sorry to hear about your toe SK. Hope your the pain subsides soon!

@ShiroKuro said in This month's piano recording:

@wtg nice, I'll have to try that! @Mark maybe even if it's temporary, this fix will let you use your Zoom?

I'm off to find the Alcohol!

Excellent SK!

I want to record again! My Zoom H6 is too "sticky" to handle. The compound they used for the exterior "rubber case" has the aged rubber sticky issue. It's pretty nasty too.

They offered to replace it or send me a slipcover. I never claimed it. I am going to make a point to do that.

Sounds like moving day can't come fast enough.

Enjoy your music. Ignore toxic people. Well, as much as you can for the next 3 months.

Mrs. Mark and I got both the Flu and Covid shots last week. Walgreens walk-in.

I enjoyed that Andy. Great job!

Nice! Congrats on the new ride.

Have you ever used a Mac?

It's a computer. If you make the switch, you need to make the commitment to learning how to use it. And practice, daily. The OS is different enough that it can be both annoying and wonderful to a long-term windows user.

I use both. I have 3 Macs here in my office. Part of my job is supporting Macs. I used to be a huge Apple evangelist yet, I prefer Windows 11.

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