James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Amazing what can get done when the somerset dpw is on that road.
 

rottin'

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
the last time I actually rode it was behind you on our team trip in 2017? 16? One of the two...might need to check my notebook...
Consulted said notebook and can confirm...July 5th 2017.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I worked until 11 then had my hours for the week. Then I threw in the towel on that part of my day. Having a 3-day week is great.

I then joined Kirt & the crew at CR for some work on the ballfield trails, which weren't awful before now, but they are quite solid at this point in time. I talked about it more than enough in the other thread so I won't repeat that here. I'm actually looking at this as one door closing & the other opening kinda thing. That's not exactly right but we're going to take the opportunity to work on all the trails and fix any open issues that had been adding up.

Also of note, that whole, "When 1 door closes another opens," adage doesn't fly if you're in Guantanamo Bay.

Went for a road ride with D after her work ended. Did just short of 20 miles. The weather is great now.

Then we took the dog for a walk at East County. If you guys think the erosion is bad at CR you should see what happened here. This thing is about 20 feet down.

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serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Also of note, that whole, "When 1 door closes another opens," adage doesn't fly if you're in Guantanamo.
is that some weird Monty Python reference
again or just an open window (ah ah, see what ciao did there) on Norm’s thoughts (sorry, it’s a literal translation of an otherwise colorful expression in my native language, I realize now it doesn’t work phonetically well)? While obviously true, seems pretty randomly thrown in there?!?!?

Then we took the dog for a walk at East County. If you guys think the erosion is bad at CR you should see what happened here. This thing is about 20 feet down.

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While impressive, I couldn’t help notice that it is probably the result of someone’s bad decision on how to fill the excavation necessary to lay those gigantic pipes. Are we ever going to stop f&$k up everything? Have a great weekend!
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
While obviously true, seems pretty randomly thrown in there?!?!?

What exactly are you referring to?

On the erosion pics I posted - I have read that old material is often used like this. The drainage pipes are 5 feet tall, and the stream that feeds this is about as strong as 4-5 dogs pissing at once. So it's hard to imagine it ever getting flooded. But then, it did. I don't see any justification to put in 10 foot drainage pipes for a minor stream as a standard. While the current state of the park obviously shows they may have miscalculated, was anyone really ready for this thing?
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
What exactly are you referring to?

On the erosion pics I posted - I have read that old material is often used like this. The drainage pipes are 5 feet tall, and the stream that feeds this is about as strong as 4-5 dogs pissing at once. So it's hard to imagine it ever getting flooded. But then, it did. I don't see any justification to put in 10 foot drainage pipes for a minor stream as a standard. While the current state of the park obviously shows they may have miscalculated, was anyone really ready for this thing?
The Guantanamo quote seemed out of the blue, hence my comment.

The amount of water was obviously overwhelming and not predicted. It is also true that often the line of thought is more along the lines of ‘what are the chances of this happening’ than ‘what could possibly happen’. That’s why I used to carry bear spray when riding with my wife, last week we forgot and we finally had a bear encounter (even though was a juvenile and as anxious to get away from us as we were to get away from him). Nature always finds a way (not mine, from Jurassic Park).
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
While impressive, I couldn’t help notice that it is probably the result of someone’s bad decision on how to fill the excavation necessary to lay those gigantic pipes. Are we ever going to stop f&$k up everything? Have a great weekend!
This is unfair, when you are talking about 100 to 500 year storms, pretty much all bets are off. Also, when you consider natural areas with hills that dump out to improved areas, the shit coming down the hill had to stop somewhere.
 
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serviceguy

Well-Known Member
This is unfair, when you are talking about 100 to 500 year storms, pretty much all beats are off. Also, when you consider natural areas with hills that dump out to improved areas, the shit coming down the hill had to stop somewhere.
I don’t know, maybe. Nevertheless the only area that collapsed (from the pictures) was the man-made one. To me this goes to confirm that while obviously technologically advanced we still know much less than we think we know about nature. And sometimes we decide to ignore thinks we knew. I come from a country where there are buildings that are still standing after literally a couple of thousand years and have survived several earthquakes that leveled every single modern building in their surroundings, so allow me to be a little jaded.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I don’t know, maybe. Nevertheless the only area that collapsed (from the pictures) was the man-made one. To me this goes to confirm that while obviously technologically advanced we still know much less than we think we know about nature. And sometimes we decide to ignore thinks we knew. I come from a country where there are buildings that are still standing after literally a couple of thousand years and have survived several earthquakes that leveled every single modern building in their surroundings, so allow me to be a little jaded.

Using this logic we shouldn’t build houses because nature will eventually reclaim them.
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Using this logic we shouldn’t build houses because nature will eventually reclaim them.
Not at all. It always strikes me how the choice is supposed to be between building houses basically out of toothpicks or not building them at all. Remember the story of the three little piggies? The house where my father was born was built at the end of the 1800s and survived several earthquakes, it’s still there even though in disrepair, nothing some stucco and a plumber wouldn’t fix though. Many houses around it had to be taken down and rebuilt. I assure you it wasn’t the coliseum and it was built by hand using then common knowledge and locally sourced materials (stones) and mortar.
But again I guess that catastrophic precipitation have never happen before in the US so who could have thought of it…
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Not at all. It always strikes me how the choice is supposed to be between building houses basically out of toothpicks or not building them at all. Remember the story of the three little piggies? The house where my father was born was built at the end of the 1800s and survived several earthquakes, it’s still there even though in disrepair, nothing some stucco and a plumber wouldn’t fix though. Many houses around it had to be taken down and rebuilt. I assure you it wasn’t the coliseum and it was built by hand using then common knowledge and locally sourced materials (stones) and mortar.
But again I guess that catastrophic precipitation have never happen before in the US so who could have thought of it…
Maybe use all this displaced earth to build houses? Seems like a win win.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...was a somewhat practical day.

I woke up at 7:00 after not sleeping that well. The hornet sting itched the hell out of me last night so I kept waking up with that irritation. The dog arrived and let me know he was ready for the day, so I got up and let him out, fed him, made some coffee while I emptied the dishwasher. Then I read chapter 14 of the 2nd Foundation book while I drank my coffee. Then I cleaned up the kitchen and made some breakfast for D and myself. Standard fare: oatmeal with apples & bananas topped with a spoonful of peanut butter.

I then embarked on my 2nd cup of coffee. This is an event for me now, because I no longer drink more than 2 a day. Did some stuff outside while the pup followed me around, sorted out some mail, then D got ready and we went to the Route 28 Farmer's Market then Costco. Like I said earlier, it was a pretty practical day.

We ate lunch on the front porch, on the outside furniture that D bought a month or 2 ago. It was an awesome day out, perfect for sitting outside, or walking outside, or hiking outside, or riding outside. or I guess even running outside even though running is a terrible idea unless you're being chased by something. We stuck with the outdoors idea and took Bear down to CR for a walk. We parked in the ballfield lot and went around to the Guardrail climb then checked out the orange trails, including the low one down by the river. The bottom of the Guardrail climb is by far the worst of it. The trails in general are beat up, washed out, but overall nothing major. There are 2 trees down near the river, plus 1 rock slide but that's almost rideable as-is. Lots of accelerated wear/erosion but not awful.

We then went home and had tea on the porch. Then we went for a road ride. Came home and we moved the kitchen table back into the kitchen...yeah, I know. I wanted to experiment and it lasted a day, but back to normal. Then I sanded the porch while D made dinner. I finally picked up the porch project that I never finished last year. Then we ate dinner and picked up the show we are currently watching. Clickbait. So far so good.

Oh we also got new team socks today, and someone sent me a CD! I need to crack this thing open and figure out a way to play it.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...will be given in bullet point form. It was another kinda practical day

  • I read chapter 16 while I drank my morning coffee. This book is slowing down.
  • Finished up the Cranks article for the Q3 newsletter.
  • Washed the dog.
  • Finished up the CR/Ida article for the Q3 newsletter.
  • Went to Simon's soccer game and saw them win 3-1.
  • Called Opa to see how he is doing. They are heading back to Montreal today.
  • Finished sanding the porch for the current section, which is now ready to paint.
  • Had a special Sunday Coffee #3.
  • Went for a 25 mile road ride where we wore our new socks.
  • Took the dog for a walk at the dog park.
  • Called my mom.
  • Did the team post about shirts & socks. We are going to offer these to everyone once the team is all set.
  • Now we are going to watch more Clickbait while we clean up the basement. I should also have a 3rd article done before the end of the day.
The weekend is not long enough. I did not get everything done.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I finished up my Q3 newsletter articles, all 4 of them. Hopefully that comes out this week.

Started painting the porch rails in the current segment I'm working on. Just did a first pass in some time between meetings. Lots more to do but 1 step towards making the rails white again (MRWA).

We had a meet & greet with a long-term dog sitter which we plan on using in October. They need to make sure we are not dropping off Cujo and disappearing for 10 days. Everything went well.

On the way home we stopped at the dog park to get Goober some more outside time. It was hot, and we were both kinda tired when we got home. We decided not to ride today because there was other stuff to do.

Spent another few hours cleaning up the basement. Getting there. This is a task where the end goal is far better than the journey.

Watched the last 2 episodes of Cickbait. Worth the watch I would say.

No picture so I give you Julia's self-portrait from 10 years ago according to Facebook:

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...Vic called me and told me about the Iron Potato-Pancake race and we talked it through a bit. This is not my story to tell but the guys at Marty's didn't do anything wrong. In the end, shit just didn't work out and that's a shame. Maybe something happens next year, we'll see. I know they really want to have a race there.

We did a lunch road ride today. The temps are creeping up again, which is the final summer hurrah before it gives up the ghost. That said, while it wasn't bad to start, my body is already getting used to the cooler temps and at the end I was sluggish. I do not love winter here but I am good with some cooler temps for a bit.

FIL update this morning - the therapist says there is a good chance he makes a full recovery.

Went to see Zac's soccer game and they won 3-0. I have pics of him & Simon both but I am too lazy to download them right now.

Earlier in the day I loaded up the truck with a metric shit ton of things to give away for the 4H rummage sale they are having. The 2-day basement cleanup project resulted in me spending a chunk of time loading the car up this morning. After the soccer game I drove over and unloaded it. There is definitely a cathartic feeling in doing this. We all have stuff we never use, but there is this feeling that someone, somewhere, could make use of it. By doing it this way, I feel like someone else may now have use of several hundred small dinosaurs in their house, among other things.

D was at her book club tonight so I made a quick salad for dinner then took the goofball for a walk to the soccer fields. There is a soccer donation box there and I carried a pair of cleats over and dropped them in. It gave me a goal to the walk. It was steamy out.

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Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...Vic called me and told me about the Iron Furnace race and we talked it through a bit. This is not my story to tell but the guys at Marty's didn't do anything wrong. In the end, shit just didn't work out and that's a shame. Maybe something happens next year, we'll see. I know they really want to have a race there.

We did a lunch road ride today. The temps are creeping up again, which is the final summer hurrah before it gives up the ghost. That said, while it wasn't bad to start, my body is already getting used to the cooler temps and at the end I was sluggish. I do not love winter here but I am good with some cooler temps for a bit.

FIL update this morning - the therapist says there is a good chance he makes a full recovery.

Went to see Zac's soccer game and they won 3-0. I have pics of him & Simon both but I am too lazy to download them right now.

Earlier in the day I loaded up the truck with a metric shit ton of things to give away for the 4H rummage sale they are having. The 2-day basement cleanup project resulted in me spending a chunk of time loading the car up this morning. After the soccer game I drove over and unloaded it. There is definitely a cathartic feeling in doing this. We all have stuff we never use, but there is this feeling that someone, somewhere, could make use of it. By doing it this way, I feel like someone else may now have use of several hundred small dinosaurs in their house, among other things.

D was at her book club tonight so I made a quick salad for dinner then took the goofball for a walk to the soccer fields. There is a soccer donation box there and I carried a pair of cleats over and dropped them in. It gave me a goal to the walk. It was steamy out.
So last night I read your post, and was like "Whew, for a second there I thought the Iron Gate race got cancelled since he mentioned Vic. But who cares about Iron Furnace, that's not even on my radar."

While I like the Iron Gate name for the race, obviously it can get mixed up with Iron Furnace.
 
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