What’s on your mind?

[LizKat]

Not likely. Most CD’s, records and cassettes are used and there is a condition rating system so you have an idea about playability and whatnot. Depending on what’s out there you can find mint, never opened media for sale.

Plus there are lots of rare albums and neat stuff as well. Early this year I found a very rare and mostly unknown Tool live album on this website. It was in Russia of all places too. I took a chance and bought it thinking I might receive it, or I might not. But the seller shipped it right away and after a while it arrived. It was in great condition as advertised too.

I rummage around in more than just amazon's third party sellers for used DVDs too, although I've had decent luck there rounding up stuff I had been hunting for. Hand-printed on the packing slip for my purchase of a DVD of a particular performance of Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites was a little note to effect of "Loved this DVD, may it bring you as much joy!" A nice touch, and the DVD was in pristine shape.

 

[AngerDanger]

How much the leaked AirPower parts look like a waffle iron.

And how much I want waffles.

 

[MacBH928]

I upgraded from Sierra to high sierra, must be my worst OS upgrade.

Not that Big Sierra is bad, but if no one told me, i wouldnt know this was a different OS

 

[LizKat]

How much the leaked AirPower parts look like a waffle iron.

View attachment 946531

And how much I want waffles.

Ran into that in the wee hours when already should have been upstairs sleeping... and my already checked-out brain apparently tried to keep the matter secret: I woke up this morning wanting waffles and for the life of me not knowing why.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

How much the leaked AirPower parts look like a waffle iron.

View attachment 946531

And how much I want waffles.

Ran into that in the wee hours when already should have been upstairs sleeping... and my already checked-out brain apparently tried to keep the matter secret: I woke up this morning wanting waffles and for the life of me not knowing why.

I think that the craving for waffles (yes, must also plead guilty, m'lud) is a consequence of Covid constraints, restrictions and narrowed lives, physically, geographically, socially, and from a culinary perspective.

Not only have I not had them for months, there is little possibility that this will change, not least because while I am a very good chef, baking is not my thing.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I think that the craving for waffles (yes, must also plead guilty, m'lud) is a consequence of Covid constraints, restrictions and narrowed lives, physically, geographically, socially, and from a culinary perspective.

Not only have I not had them for months, there is little possibility that this will change, not least because while I am a very good chef, baking is not my thing.

waffle maker, from amazon. Problem solved.

 

[kazmac]

waffle maker, from amazon. Problem solved.

😛But what if you want Apple AirPowered waffles?!? 🥺

 

[LizKat]

waffle maker, from amazon. Problem solved.

Yeah. I really am a morning person once I've had a cuppa... but you're now conversing with someone capable of staring at a pour-over filter, a ceramic filter holder and a coffee mug in the morning and puzzling over what exactly might be keeping me from getting over the goal line.

So I can see myself in the early morning preparing what to put in any appliance short of maybe a Keurig machine, which so far I've managed not to replace after my old one finally gave it up.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yeah. I really am a morning person once I've had a cuppa... but you're now conversing with someone capable of staring at a pour-over filter, a ceramic filter holder and a coffee mug in the morning and puzzling over what exactly might be keeping me from getting over the goal line.

So I can see myself in the early morning preparing what to put in any appliance short of maybe a Keurig machine, which so far I've managed not to replace after my old one finally gave it up.

I'm moribund in the morning, but that combination - pour over filter, ceramic (or copper) filter holder, coffee mug, coffee (not freshly ground, probably ground the day, or two days before) and kettle, best matches my moribund mood, and I can handle it.

Anything more complicated, no.

But speech, no. Radio, no. Noise, no.

Music, occasionally.

Silence - what had been - or had become - a pronounced private preference since my mother's death, has now become a sort of state mandated way of existence, a strange, but sometimes very welcome "new normal" since the advent of covid.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

In the time we must now adjust to referring to (or thinking of) as "the past" - by which I mean, the relatively recent past, the pre-covid world, but, in truth, in my case, even for many years, the best part of a decade prior to that, on account of my mother's dementia, I used to have people to stay.

Preparing dinner - remember when we used to be able to hold dinner parties? - was never a problem; I am an excellent chef, and a greedy gourmand; even in my student days, my dinner parties (proper, sit down dinner parties) were anticipated and enjoyed.

However, even then,- because I really am not a morning person - the preparation of breakfast for my guests (remember when we used to have guests to stay?) was an extraordinary challenge, one that taxed my conception of hospitality, and one, I confess, I struggled to meet.

Yes, I could prepare a coffee pot; yes, there was fruit, a cheeseboard, bread (probably yesterday's, but, hey, that can be toasted, and as for today's bread, well, somebody else can rouse themselves, greet the dawn with chirpy cheerfulness, and trot briskly into the French bakery at 7 a.m., much though I love fresh, French bread or baguette for breakfast).

Even in the hotels I would stay in, when monitoring or observing or supervising elections, with splendid buffet breakfasts (a well stocked buffet breakfast? Remember those?) it was a struggle to chat, and/or carry a conversation in the morning while eating (buffet breakfasts exist to be addressed with serious - silent - and due reverence) at the very least, before my second cup of coffee.

Then, mental awareness, - and possibly mental agility - and conversation capacity and some vague sense of humanity returned.

 

[Apple fanboy]

In the time we must now adjust to referring to (or thinking of) as "the past" - by which I mean, the relatively recent past, the pre-covid world, but, in truth, in my case, even for many years, the best part of a decade prior to that, on account of my mother's dementia, I used to have people to stay.

Preparing dinner - remember when we used to be able to hold dinner parties? - was never a problem; I am an excellent chef, and a greedy gourmand; even in my student days, my dinner parties (proper, sit down dinner parties) were anticipated and enjoyed.

However, even then,- because I really am not a morning person - the preparation of breakfast for my guests (remember when we used to have guests to stay?) was an extraordinary challenge, one that taxed my conception of hospitality, and one, I confess, I struggled to meet.

Yes, I could prepare a coffee pot; yes, there was fruit, a cheeseboard, bread (probably yesterday's, but, hey, that can be toasted, and as for today's bread, well, somebody else can rouse themselves, greet the dawn with chirpy cheerfulness, and trot briskly into the French bakery at 7 a.m., much though I love fresh, French bread or baguette for breakfast).

Even in the hotels I would stay in, when monitoring elections, with splendid buffet breakfasts (a well stocked buffet breakfast? Remember those?) it was a struggle to chat, and/or carry a conversation in the morning while eating (buffet breakfasts exist to be addressed with serious reverence) at the very least, before my second cup of coffee.

Then, mental awareness, - and possibly mental agility - and conversation capacity and some vague sense of humanity returned.

Whenever I’m staying at a hotel with a buffet breakfast, I tend to get there when they open. That way I can have my tea and breakfast before I have to make small talk with colleagues or friends.
Of course I’m talking pre Covid days as well.
As for dinner parties I’d say it’s at least 10-15 years since we’ve hosted one. Probably a good few years since we had a visitor in the house as well.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Whenever I’m staying at a hotel with a buffet breakfast, I tend to get there when they open. That way I can have my tea and breakfast before I have to make small talk with colleagues or friends.
Of course I’m talking pre Covid days as well.
As for dinner parties I’d say it’s at least 10-15 years since we’ve hosted one. Probably a good few years since we had a visitor in the house as well.

For a good buffet breakfast, I tend (tended?) to get there early as well, and enjoy (enjoyed?) myself as I made - wended - my greedy but most enjoyable way through it, and the various stations.

 

[LizKat]

But speech, no. Radio, no. Noise, no.

Yep, my whole immediate family was about silence in the mornings by time the older kids had arrived in their teens and would land at a common breakfast table before school. At best we might turn a cereal box narrow side towards us and peruse the list of ingredients if sections of the newspaper were already shared out and one came up short on those for awhile. There might be terse exchanges amounting to "is there more milk?" and someone else either shoving a carton of it over or else muttering "why not get up and look." What passed for actual conversation was limited to brief assertions of the value of some sports column or an editorial cartoon, and a grunted "yeah, good one".

Imagine then the internal rebellion and eye rolling that ensued at my grandmother's house on holidays, when an especially perky aunt of ours sashayed into our bedrooms before breakfast with "Rise and shine folks, the sun's up and time to hit the deck!" She never quit going on like that all through assembly for breakfast and its chores after. I thought some of my brothers would implode there a few times and I came pretty close to snapping at her once myself. Thought better of it and a good thing too, but the eye rolls behind her back never ceased at those breakfast hours, no matter that I dearly loved her at other times on most days.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Brothers and father would have the radio on, in the mornings, before we headed to school and then headed to work (and that was fine, it meant that I knew the news of the day).

Mother never materialised in the morning, - she wasn't a morning person, and she was busy; she would appear when we had all departed.

When we were kids, she prepared lunches, dinners, and had her own job - her office was in the house, where my study is now - (plus, she went back to college, doing a degree at night, when I was a kid), but breakfast was my father's responsibility.

For me, in those days, breakfast was something such as Alpen, (cereal), eggs, toast with bitter marmalade and coffee, which I aways got myself. The others had tea, plus something similar - personal preferences re cereal were indulged.

But, as with so much else, one internalises some of what one grew up with; to this day, even the idea of preparing breakfast for someone is an imposition, unless I receive help, not least because my mind, or body clock don't see why I should.

Above all, I never grew up with the idea that women existed to prepare breakfast for men; the men in my house and world always prepared their own breakfasts without any complaint, and washed up after themselves.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My Dad used to leave early. About 3 am. So I'd never see him before school. My Mum only briefly as she left for work. I'd usually end up finishing her coffee with my cereal (with the thick cream from the top of the delivered bottle!).

Then I'd go to school. My sister wouldn't come down before I left, and not seeing her suited me. We never got on well. So much so I haven't spoken to her in years.

Once at school I'd probably hurriedly do last nights homework. Borrowing someone else's if possible!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

My Dad used to leave early. About 3 am. So I'd never see him before school. My Mum only briefly as she left for work. I'd usually end up finishing her coffee with my cereal (with the thick cream from the top of the delivered bottle!).

Then I'd go to school. My sister wouldn't come down before I left, and not seeing her suited me. We never got on well. So much so I haven't spoken to her in years.

Once at school I'd probably hurriedly do last nights homework. Borrowing someone else's if possible!

Ah, the thick cream from the top of the milk bottled by local dairies....Other Brother and myself.....we used to almost fight at times to get to that first.

 

[S.B.G]

Overlanding

 

[Scepticalscribe]

My Dad used to leave early. About 3 am. So I'd never see him before school. My Mum only briefly as she left for work. I'd usually end up finishing her coffee with my cereal (with the thick cream from the top of the delivered bottle!).

Then I'd go to school. My sister wouldn't come down before I left, and not seeing her suited me. We never got on well. So much so I haven't spoken to her in years.

Once at school I'd probably hurriedly do last nights homework. Borrowing someone else's if possible!

Actually, it was a race to get to the (freshly delivered) milk bottles outside the door first, but also only after ensuring (because both parents hated waste, but my father - superintending breakfast, kept a close eye on such things) that the old milk was also finished first.

The trick was getting that creamy top of the bottle milk for cereal, whereas, I could handle taking ordinary milk in my coffee.

 

[LizKat]

Ah, the thick cream from the top of the milk bottled by local dairies....Other Brother and myself.....we used to almost fight at times to get to that first.

Birds learn they can pierce the cardboard or foil tops used on some milk or cream bottles and help themselves if a human doesn't get up with the sound of the milk wagon leaving one's driveway around dawn and bring the crate into the house. These rascals are blue tits (parus careleus) helping themselves to a breakfast "on the house". Image by National Geographic.

EDIT: ugh, misspelled half the Latin there, it's Parus caeruleus. Well a bird before breakfast wouldn't care I guess.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Birds learn they can pierce the cardboard or foil tops used on some milk or cream bottles and help themselves if a human doesn't get up with the sound of the milk wagon leaving one's driveway around dawn and bring the crate into the house. These rascals are blue tits (parus careleus) helping themselves to a breakfast "on the house". Image by National Geographic.

View attachment 946735

This, I do remember.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Birds learn they can pierce the cardboard or foil tops used on some milk or cream bottles and help themselves if a human doesn't get up with the sound of the milk wagon leaving one's driveway around dawn and bring the crate into the house. These rascals are blue tits (parus careleus) helping themselves to a breakfast "on the house". Image by National Geographic.

EDIT: ugh, misspelled half the Latin there, it's Parus caeruleus. Well a bird before breakfast wouldn't care I guess.

View attachment 946735

We get blue tits in the garden every day. One of my favourites.

 

[MacBH928]

i feel like Wolfram Alpha is not appreciated enough, i am not sure what it does different than google search engine but it seems it has untapped potential

 

[Matz]

Overlanding

Likely a natural outgrowth of your vehicle choice.

The alternate hypothesis is that your vehicle choice was a natural outgrowth of overlanding being on your mind.

Either way, it sounds like a fine idea.

 

[kazmac]

Birds learn they can pierce the cardboard or foil tops used on some milk or cream bottles and help themselves if a human doesn't get up with the sound of the milk wagon leaving one's driveway around dawn and bring the crate into the house. These rascals are blue tits (parus careleus) helping themselves to a breakfast "on the house". Image by National Geographic.

EDIT: ugh, misspelled half the Latin there, it's Parus caeruleus. Well a bird before breakfast wouldn't care I guess.

View attachment 946735

Well, with junk food eating squirrels and rats here, cream and milk guzzling birds are not that strange.

Um, not sure I can draw a Blue Tit from this perspective. Knowing me, I’ll probably try though.

What’s on my mind? It’s Sunday night and I have to go bed.

I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Also, hoping the folks in the paths of storms (Hurricane) Marco and (currently Tropical Storm) Laura remain safe.

 

[GalileoSeven]

House stuff.

I had an insane run of luck last week - accepted a job offer Thursday (after being laid off since April) and found out Saturday morning I got the house I saw the previous night.

The inspection and all that preliminary stuff is done and now, while I wait for my bank/title company to take care of things on their end, interior design stuff has been bouncing around my head (after I take care of a few necessary things outside, am going to change up the kitchen a bit and do some painting - including in the extra bedroom I'm going to turn into an office)