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Time to retire

(My other blog that is…)

When I began my journey on the internet back in the 1990’s, I signed up with a small-ish ISP at the time, Best Communications. One of the “benefits” of their ISDN service was the inclusion of a domain for my email.

At the time, I had an English Mastiff, a giant of a dog, named Astro – from The Jetsons, and of course that domain was gone. However, there was a twist, the name of Astro before he was adopted by The Jetsons was “Tralfaz”. Surely, this was a meaningless name dreamt up by the scriptwriters to make the episode work, it was a good choice in the early days of the internet.

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Car Shopping

As I age, I am increasingly finding it less and less comfortable to fold myself into my current car, a Honda S2000. I wouldn’t have noticed this if I hadn’t spent a few months with the use of my Step Father’s Jeep Cherokee after he passed. A compact SUV, it was comfortable to drive, and I found that I enjoyed that.

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54 and Counting…

54 down, ? to go…

Today marks the completion of my 54th trip ’round Sol, a time for reflection, celebration, and looking to the future. Not to wax philosophically, but with what is certainly the greater fraction of my life gone by, it is a bit of an eye opener.

There are good things to be thankful for. My health remains good (even though I could stand to lose some weight,) I am doing meaningful – if highly stressful – work, I have a wonderful family, my wife and our two fur kids, and finally, it could be a lot worse.

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A very sad thought …

As I am finally getting my stepfather’s estate in order (it is largely in the hands of the realtor now) I have begun bicycling again. I dusted off my mountain bike, a 2014 vintage Specialized Crave that I enjoy riding, but I find that I don’t do as much offroad riding as I thought I would.

Prolly because my fond memories were from nearly 20 years ago, when I was much more mobile, and in far better shape. Ah, the joys of late middle age.

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Music Collection Grooming

Music has long been a big part of my life, beyond just my (admittedly waning) guitar playing, I have been an avid collector of music. From my early days of buying LP’s (and kicking myself when several moves in the 1990’s caused me to donate my vinyl collection) to being an early adopter of the CD format while I was still in high school, my collection, while not huge by some standards, remains quite large.

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The New Year

2018 is done, dead as the Dodo. Good riddance. Sayonara, arriverderci.

The Dodo

2019 is finally here. Cue the trumpets, the accolades, the … whatever. Regardless, 2019 will be better than 2018. It has to be.

Things I will do to improve myself:

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Saying Goodbye to 2018

Upfront Matter: To quote the illustrious Sterling Archer, “2018 can eat a big bag of dicks.” Seriously, this year has been trying by many measures. As I look back, there are some nuggets of positives, sprinkled among the shit-sandwich that was the year 2018, but by and large, I am going to be glad to see it in the rear view mirror. Continue reading →

Basic Pizza Dough

This is a basic dough for the crust of a pizza. It is simple, and if you have a food processor, trivial to make, and gives good results.

I do recommend buying a kitchen scale if you are serious. Especially with flour and baked goods, measures by volume are pretty spotty.

This is from the NY Times Cooking area, and it is my go to recipe for a basic pie. I often make it without the Type 00 flour, and it comes out fine. If you have access to the type 00 flour, your crust will be smooth and chewy. Continue reading →