:D:D:D

What's making me happy today tonight.

A Perseid Meteor Shower, the best in a decade!


Go! Go outside now!!!

He said yes.


Can't say who just yet. But this place being what it is, at least a few of you will very much recognize the name. I am beside myself. Still keep questioning whether the phone call even really happened. In a few days I get to pitch the already-sanctioned ghostwritten memoir of a really cool dude. And there is absolutely no way they will say no.

In a thunderstorm? We won't be seeing it.

:)

Don't know what this means, but, if you're happy, I'm happy for ya.:)

Drinking beer and organizing. Yeah. I'm weird....I love to organize my shit. And tonight, I'm gonna go the fuck ahead and rent a goddamn movie from On Demand. fuck it...:p:

We got everything out of the old house yesterday. I have junk haulers going over there tomorrow to clean the rest of our unwanted crap out.

Remind us never to move again...

Damn. If you were closer I'd hire you to organize the hell out of my house. And then, if I had money left over I'd let you organize the hell out of my life.

Damn ADD makes it hard to organize

SQUIRREL!

:drool:

Sometimes, all you need is a small fan to make all the difference.

Our house's second floor (where my office is) is warmer than the first floor, and I don't want to lower the thermostat. So I pulled out a small fan we had at the old house that we didn't use, and...ahhhh...

Job status: acquired.

:cheerldr:

Congratulations!

Bruce is back!

Thank you for your good wishes and support as I begin a new adventure!

Starting next week, I will be in Detroit for 10 weeks, helping set up offices that will serve as headquarters for folks working voter registration drives. It utilizes some of my core strengths while providing service to others and opportunity for growth. I could wind up traveling to other states depending on how polling goes and/or where needs arise.

This is the kind of work I've wanted to do for some time, but hadn't found the right opportunity. Now I have, and look forward to the challenges and benefits of the role. I had originally applied for a position closer to home, but this is where the help is most needed right now. It will suck to be separated from my family for 10 weeks, but they are very supportive and I love them so much for that.

Let's do this!

Also, Seahawks versus cowboys, starting now.

Fucking ouch, Romo got sat down hard, very hard. Hope he's OK.

As much fun as it is to make fun of the Cowboys (and Jim), Tony Romo can't seem to catch a break. He's out until midseason because of a broken bone in his back. That sucks.

ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.. very unfortunate. It was a clean tackle, and a very awkward landing. Sorry man.

Just dropped a small fortune on new clothes for the job. Down 3-4 sizes on shirts and 2 on pants. Worth every penny.

Ultimately, I'm gonna have to have plastic surgery to remove excess skin (and hence lose more sizes), but this works for now.

We were down at the Nelson (our Art Museum) out and about catching Pokemon last night...and I think I got winded maybe once, because I was doing a lot of steps. That felt REALLY good.

Mother. Fucker.

Catch 22 now for him. If Dak does great, will they keep him in? If he sucks, will the season be too far gone to save?

Hoping for something in the middle I guess. I want Tony to get his ring.

Phone call with DanaC last night.
I think her mind is honestly even filthier than mine.
(Yes, I did say I'd do Chorlton, but you were the one who brought the tail into it)

And yes babba, it's a competition :p:

It's at the point where I wish Romo was on a different team because I would like to root for the guy. Hall of famer and a good dude.

I love Detroit. I have met so many awesome people here over the past 2 years and seen so much awesomeness. I'm not pulling up the stakes and moving the family here, but this is a very underrated town.

Dwellars.

Introduced to the P method of breathing by Limey. She's not actually a doctor (unlike DanaC) but her practical advice on dealing with breathlessness really helped.

Had a major phone emergency, helped out as always by the Mighty Carruthers. I have a new phone, even if I can't work it yet. In fact it's driving me crazy (crazier) but I know I'll work it out.

And kind thoughts and messages for the poor sad sack that I am. They are always treasured.

Oh and I got two new items of clothing for £3.49!
I got a pair of white trousers from the clothing exchange when I was at St Anne's. Lovely, but limited. Doubt I'll be wearing them again now September's come. And I loved, loved, loved my white dress, but hey - you can get bored with anything. So I bought some fabric dye and salt, and now have lilac trews and dress. I was concerned it looked very grey when I first took it out, but that was probably because it was midnight. May not wear either again until next year - see above re September - but feel all crafty and clever about it.

Glad to know it helped.
Dyeing success is awesome, isn't it!? :D

Jeez, share the love...

Chorlton cum hardy? are they taking the piss?

Got a letter from Sundae yesterday. Sat with Daniel and read every word. Had to explain a lot to him too. We spent over an hour just reading and talking without any electronic interruptions. :)

I tried not to be patronising and pitch it too low. Figured you'd be able to explain anything too English at least.
Glad you enjoyed it.

<3 Loved every word. I'm AMAZED how you filled every square inch of space with writing. I think you missed your calling. You should be an author.

4 weeks ago, I came to Detroit with rough sketches and ideas about the future and the project. Today, we have 3 offices staffed with 200 awesome employees. This city and its people have welcomed us warmly into their communities, and we are incredibly grateful for that. 41 days until Election Day. I really don't care who you vote for, so long as you vote.

Well done, matey!

I'm just glad he's managed to not get killed to death while there.

It's OK, I don't let my son drive outside the neighborhood yet, the D is still safe. But now it's fall, remember....

Gave a presentation today to an autism treatment group, with the agreement that all attending members would get a free copy of my book. 14 people RSVPed, 40-50 showed up. I had to text my mom 5 minutes before starting and ask her to go to my house and get more books. But it went well, and I managed to clear out almost all of my remaining promotional copies, which is awesome. (I was supposed to give them away at the Chicago AutismOne conference in May, but the shipment was screwed up and they didn't get into my hands until the last few hours I was there.) Hard to say if positive word-of-mouth will lead to any real sales, but it was a successful event, at any rate.

Word of mouth can't hurt. It's a good book.

w00t!

that is Fabulous, Fodclobble :D Very happy for you, the book is most excellent, I recommend it frequently

....and I think word of mouth is generally the way to go to get your momentum in such a specialist interest area. Because that travels to the people who need to know and the people who don't but like to learn who then recommend it further, and bypasses the fluffy-only audience

My son chipped in a shot on the 18th hole for an eagle and won $400 in a tournament doing so! Round 2 today.

Wow! Which son is this?

Dang

Sounds like somebody should be taking dad out for dinner.

Go Boy!

Son1 - The older boy.

Thats EXACTLY whats happening for my B-Day since he couldn't make the festivities with my parents and the rest of us. Kind of excited - He told me we are going to Firebirds. Neither of us have ever been as its way outta our typical budget.

So yeh, yesteday was my B-Day and I turned 52. Feeling ok about it, I guess. I reflect A LOT more than I used to though. Realizing that 75 is closer than 25 is kinda freaky. ANYWAY, whats the thing that makes me Happy you ask? Well my daughter wrote a really nice Happy Birthday post for me and this is the pic she chose. I totally love it.

That's really nice. Good smiles on everyone.

That's a good looking fam right there, Classic.

That kid in the red shirt is kinda goofy-looking, though.:p:

Hey, just cause you're getting old doesn't mean ya hafta grow up!

Happy Belated Birthday Classic!

Awesome man.

Thanks guys. Funny (I think so anyway) thing as I was taking a selfie with Son1, he turns his head grabs something from around his ear and then comes back for the pic. I look at his hand it was a :joint:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!! (x52)

What an excellent picture! Happy Birthday!!

I fixed my son's tenor saxophone today and I'm maybe a little more pleased with myself than I should be, but yeah!

Two of his valves weren't working because it got bashed by a snare drum last night in a crowded band room. He tried bending a lever back to get it to work, but had limited success. I couldn't even see what was broken. We planned to just rent a sax for a month or two while the repair guy kept it in his shop. It would be a couple hundred bucks but at least I could be sure a pro would do it right. My son would have none of it though. He ran down into the shop to get my screwdriver set, so that motivated my to get involved in the repair before he broke the thing even worse.
Attachment 58128
So this is the deal. There is a little steel shaft, maybe stainless steel, even, that goes between two posts welded to the sax. It's basically a screw. The threads screw into the post on the right, and the shaft has a head like a screw over to the left. Two brass sleeves fit over this particular shaft, and various levers and pads are welded to the sleeves. The snare drum hit the lever on the end there and bent it back a little bit. This made it no longer work the valve on the mouthpiece. Then the force was also transmitted to the sleeve and bent sleeve A so imperceptibly that you can't even see it in the picture. You could feel, though, that the sleeve was jammed and wouldn't allow a couple other valves to open.

So I carefully unscrewed the shaft holding these two sleeves, and removed the sleeves. Once I had them off, I could easily feel where sleeve A was bent by sliding the shaft in and out until there was resistance. I wanted to bend it straight again, but brass is very soft and brittle, and I was terrified of breaking or kinking the sleeve. So I found a drill bit with the same diameter as the sleeve and drilled a hole in a little block of maple. I went to my BAND SAW and cut through that drilled hole. This gave me nice firm supporting pads for the jaws of my vise. I clamped the sleeve carefully just below the bend, and bent it straight with my fingers. I would bend it incrementally, and then test it by trying to slide the shaft back into it and feel if it would bind up.

Anyway, that's all a little long winded, but the end result was that I totally fixed it. It all fits together nicely and the levers and valves just work smoothly. It took about as much time as driving to the music store to rent a new sax.

Lucky you had a band saw, where'd you get that again?

Grinning

Noyce.

That boy's a keeper.

Add saxophone repairman to the (very long) list.

That man really is a Glatt of All Trades.

Nice picture of the kids, it's a shame that ugly fucker with the beard photobombed them. http://cellar.org/2012/bwekk.gif

Thanks all. Damn kid seems like he is getting more like I was every day.