S
It's all about the people.
I want to agree with this, but at the same time, it's also about the acoustics! I can't stand trying to talk to someone where there are bad acoustics, and industrial design is always noisy. (I don't have anything to say about McDonalds because I haven't been inside a McDonalds in many, many years).
But having said that, if there was some place I could go to find people to connect with, chat, make some new IRL friends... well that would be wonderful.
Love it! Animals are so smart....
Well except when they're not... Where's that story about the golden retriever who tried to give his toy to the guy breaking and entering....
If you had told me back then that I would have a bunch of online friends whom I've never met and that I've been part of the group for nearly 20 years, I would have thought you were crazy.
Oh absolutely!!
the bigger point that's being missed is recognizing that we human beings continue to find new ways to connect with each other. Costco is just one example.
I'm beginning to think that no one read the article....
I actually did read the article, when you first posted it. And when I posted that it seems sad that malls are being replaced by Costco (which looks like a warehouse), I wrote that based on reading the article, and also based on the fact that "cozy spaces" seem to be being replaced with cold, metal and concrete spaces. That might be a "get off my lawn" take, but it is most definitely an aesthetic take. (Which is why I mentioned the gray trend).
But back to your larger point... In fact, I think a lot of us humans (self included) are having a harder and harder time finding ways to connect with each other. For those who do manage to connect, whether it's at Costco or somewhere else, great! For the rest of us.... Well at least we still have WTF! 
Guess you guys aren't doing what the people who were profiled in the article are doing!
Nope, not even a little bit! 
The popularity of Costco for socializing reminds me of the trends in restaurant interiors as well.
Industrial design is everywhere. It's cold, hard, and noisy.
No thank you!
Maybe disliking this kind of thing is also similar to disliking the trend of gray-everything in houses too....
@mary-anna i get the “never want to see another human” part, when we go to Sam’s Club, it’s always just chaos and people seem to be walking around with their eyes closed or something. Maybe if we could go at off-times, but that won’t be an option until I retire.
Another thing I don’t like is the warehouse feel…. That’s what I meant about it being sad that the mall is being replaced by Costco as a gathering place. At least malls had plants and nice places to sit, soft lighting, acoustics that weren’t horribly echo-y… instead we get the warehouse feel, harsh lighting, horrible acoustics, and people trying to run over you with their carts which are piled to the ceiling with soda.
Yay.
Great photos @steve-miller !
@Bernard thank you!!!
I made another recording, Last Song by Alexis Ffrench. It's not quite ready, I feel like I'm still at the stage of learning the notes actually. But I recorded this for the Piano Tell Play It Your Way recital, and I'm already a week late, so I figured I'd just share where it's at now. (Also, I want to devote more of my attention to Clair de Lune, so I don't want to spend too much more time recording!)
Link to videoHere's the recital thread, if you want to hear how other people have played it:
https://forum.pianotell.com/d/2500-piyw-10-play-last-song-your-way-is-now-live
My mother has an Apple Watch, earlier model. The main reason we got is for fall detection. And it seems to work pretty for that. (She fell once recently but thankfully was fine)
I don’t think she uses it for much else health-wise, beyond sort of making a note of how much movement she gets.
I personally do not want a “wearable” of any kind. I already work very hard to keep my phone notifications to a bare minimum, the last thing I want is a notification I can feel on my physical body!
If I’m worried about heart rate etc., I'd rather have a designated device.
Sadly, the closest Costco is too far away from us so we don’t have a membership. We actually joined Sam’s Club this summer, one of those deals where the first year is like $10. After a year it goes up to maybe $50/year IIRC. We’ve already decided we won’t renew. There are hardly any products we want…
Anyway, the article mentioned malls, and it seems really sad, and somehow uniquely American, that “the mall” has been replaced by Costco as a gathering place.
I love swiss cheese (I mean, I pretty much love any cheese...) so I would love the chance to have different swiss cheeses in Switzerland!
(Feeling a little hungry here.... 
I keep an antique katana in ours, a place both humidity controlled and discreet.
that's interesting! How did you come by this katana?
Re piano buzzing... When I was the "care taker" for a Baldwin Hamilton upright that had clearly seen better days, it was pretty noisy. Then when I switch to the Petrof upright, that piano also had not been well cared for, and it was quite "rickety." It had a lovely, distinctive voice though, so I mostly ignored it.
But when I bought my current piano, a 2000 Yamaha C2, the different was amazing. This piano is so well-made, solid, consistent, reliable.... Yamaha doesn't have its "work horse" reputation for nothing.
This piano is just such a good instrument. Its tone/voice might not be "distinctive" or "unique," but it has zero issues or quirks. No buzzing, clacking, rattling.... And it is so responsive to maintenance.
When I first got it (from someone who didn't take care of it, noticing a pattern here...) it had a weird knock in middle C, inconsistent but very noticeable when it happened. My tech at the time found that the weight in the key was loose, he fixed it right up. Never heard the noise since.
Then, last year I started noticing a clicking noise. My current tech took out the action, tightened up all the screws (literally) and now again, no noises. The piano lived in the south, with a sloppy caretaker, for the first 20 years of its life, and then once I got it, it started to experience pretty consistent climate control, especially in terms of humidity. In winter 2024, I had a dampp chaser installed, and then in spring we moved to our current house, which is the driest house I've ever lived in. So I think once the piano got settled in to its new climate, and got all the residual "over-humid" impacts out, it got a little bit rattle-y. But it's fixed now, and between the lack of buzzes and clacks, and the significant tuning stability, it is just a job to play.
Sorry to go on!!! I just consider myself so lucky to have this instrument!
Here are some pics from "screw-tightening day" 
A modern piano has a lot of screws!!
I really want to get my piano tuned, I’m working on recording something and the upper registers sound a little jangly to me. But the weather is changing so I feel like I should wait a bit…
