James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Happy Anniversary!

All home repairs are expensive as hell. We just finished a complete remodel of our first floor this past Friday. It took five weeks and a piece of my soul-like thingy every time I had to write another check. I still have to get the final bill that include the "offsets", none of which I expect to be negative. Yay. We had our roof done a few years back - the nice thing about that these days is that while they are very expensive, most of the new ones last twice a long as they used to. Our current one is supposed to be good for 40 years. So I have to figure I'll be dead before I need a new roof again. And that feels good.
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Today

Roof guy confirmed our date today, 11/3 to have the roof replaced. You know Covid has actually been kind to our bank account but FFS this stuff is not cheap.

Congrats on the anniversary and the roof!

We finally managed to finalize replacement of our roof a couple of weeks ago, we don't have a date yet though.

I'm curious, if you don't mind me asking, what brand and color shingles are you having installed and what was the estimated delivery time? 'Our' roofer advised against buying shingles off the shelf (due to concern with shelf life, color inconsistency etc.) and ordered directly from GAF...8 weeks delivery.

And yes, prices have gone through the roof!
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...is Thursday which means we are in the midst of the child chaos. It all comes to a head on Thursday, somehow. Anyway, I started my day with the Covid Shuffle and Julia is negative and I dropped her off at school after her lunch. All good there.

I said last week that I wasn't going to blather on about work but holy hell it's like Mr. Coffee on steroids this week. Just insane and the reality is that there's no way I can check out entirely when we go on vacation. We have hired 2 people in the last week & change, and we are interviewing a 3rd. So our technical team is essentially going to double (not the whole team of course). I pretty much have interviewed people almost every day for the last 2 weeks. Found a good fit but she was apparently a bit of a flake on another interview and has gone radio silent.

Went on a road ride and pushed a little bit here & there and it was fine until it wasn't, when the knee complained a little again. Feels like I may be too far back on the saddle. A lot of experimenting right now.

Took the dog for a walk at the dog park. There are so many bugs it's crazy.

Lifted weights but I cut out the deadlifts because I feel that may be part of the knee problem.

Got the invite for the company Xmas party which is at Foxwoods. Free full night & room there where they apparently rent the bowling alley.

We are getting charcoal shingles which are effectively black. And as much as it would be nice for the roof to last 40 years, once the kids are in school we will probably downsize from this place to maybe a floating yurt or something with a straw roof.

This was from 2 years ago, D gave it to me. I have not been drinking espresso much lately but I will use this tomorrow because I like it.

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JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
We have hired 2 people in the last week & change, and we are interviewing a 3rd. So our technical team is essentially going to double (not the whole team of course).

It might be crazy in the short term, but it should make your life easier in the slightly longer term.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
It might be crazy in the short term, but it should make your life easier in the slightly longer term.

I've been grooming stories for offshore resources for 4 months now, which is like trying to teach my dog to tap dance, so it can't get any harder than it is right now.
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Today

...is Thursday which means we are in the midst of the child chaos. It all comes to a head on Thursday, somehow. Anyway, I started my day with the Covid Shuffle and Julia is negative and I dropped her off at school after her lunch. All good there.

I said last week that I wasn't going to blather on about work but holy hell it's like Mr. Coffee on steroids this week. Just insane and the reality is that there's no way I can check out entirely when we go on vacation. We have hired 2 people in the last week & change, and we are interviewing a 3rd. So our technical team is essentially going to double (not the whole team of course). I pretty much have interviewed people almost every day for the last 2 weeks. Found a good fit but she was apparently a bit of a flake on another interview and has gone radio silent.

Went on a road ride and pushed a little bit here & there and it was fine until it wasn't, when the knee complained a little again. Feels like I may be too far back on the saddle. A lot of experimenting right now.

Took the dog for a walk at the dog park. There are so many bugs it's crazy.

Lifted weights but I cut out the deadlifts because I feel that may be part of the knee problem.

Got the invite for the company Xmas party which is at Foxwoods. Free full night & room there where they apparently rent the bowling alley.

We are getting charcoal shingles which are effectively black. And as much as it would be nice for the roof to last 40 years, once the kids are in school we will probably downsize from this place to maybe a floating yurt or something with a straw roof.

This was from 2 years ago, D gave it to me. I have not been drinking espresso much lately but I will use this tomorrow because I like it.

71569205_10219469930114894_6396724660582481920_n.jpg
Yep, charcoal seems like the only color in production for the foreseeable future...not entirely sure of how Covid did this but I'm sure the manufacturer has a perfectly plausible explanation for it. We're going to be roof shingles buddies, yay!
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
can apply technique to deadlifts that are dumbbell and kettlebell based as well.

Noted. I'm going to try to let this heal up a bit before adding it in again. I don't think this caused the issue, just exacerbated something that was already close. As many things, probably one of those situations where various factors contributed so I need to address as many as I can. I have also been very lax in my stretching, which is likely another factor.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...We had nothing really on the agenda this morning so I finished up the last day of the Pittsburgh blog, which means I am only 8 blogs behind. I really need to pump these out because I am going to be in a real big hole soon if I am not on top of my game.

We dropped off Bear at new sitter late morning, in a dry run for what is to come when we go to Arkansas. The last place was ok but I felt like they were impersonal. This woman immediately pet him and played with him was more than the last one. Bear has always been a physical dog, and I think he needs attention in that regard. Now I don't mean being pet. As soon as you pet him he wants to get a toy and wrestle with you. They also have a back yard he can play in.

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We then drove to Port Jervis for our second ride there ever, the first being in 2018. In 2018 we were on Scalpels and in 2021 we are on Pivots. This makes a big difference but I mean, I don't know, this place isn't worth a 1:45 drive for us. It's good enough but aside from that Painted Eggplant trail, I mean it's fine. It was a good ride. I liked it enough but I don't know if we'll be back in 2022 or we'll wait until 2023. It's like really far away.

My stupid rim & tire had another argument today and it blew the seal on Painted Eyebrows, which was timely since that was the end of our day. I limped back to the car from there with 2 stops to top it off. The rim is bent and I need to address this ASAFP because things are brewing and I can't have this persist over the next 2 weeks.

Stopped by Jim's on the way home to give him his GU order and 2 pairs of socks. Talked in his driveway for a bit then hit the road.

We got Turkish food from a new place that opened in town. Our dog sitter was actually born in Turkey but she grew up in Brooklyn since she was 5 years old so she sounds like she is from Brooklyn. It was not good enough to tell her about, though the baba ganoush was decent.

Then I bought 6 audio books and cancelled my Audible membership.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...there's lots of stuff, so we're going in a sort of list form. It was a generally free-form day in which we intended to just "do stuff" that needed to get done.

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  • Slept in, which means like 7:00
  • Tried to install a bathroom fan switch but found it is a 4-wire and not a 3-wire, so no dice
  • Did some laundry, always fun
  • Went to pick up Bear from the sitter. Great success! He was happy and the sitter loved him
  • Ran the clean pump on the septic in manual mode for 2 hours. I need to note this because after tens of thousands of dollars this thing still does not work right
  • Started working on the Pivot and found the tire had a solid gash in it. Stan's dart to the rescue, hopefully
  • Went to see Glenn to pick up some stuff he gave me
  • Officially cancelled Fun Monday for the year
  • Took this parental app called Bark off Julia's phone because it does not work and is a piece of garbage. The struggle to keep these kids out of trouble is endless and frustrating
  • Worked on the Pivot more, I think we are ok for now. I think I finally got the water bottle issue figured out. See picture above
  • Mowed the lawn with the bag on, just the area under the tree that has started dropping leaves
  • Paid for the new t-shirt order which should be here in less than 2 weeks
  • Paid for the new socks order finally
  • Took a cooked wheel apart spoke-by-spoke just to have some emergency spokes & nipples on hand
  • Lifted weights, added the deadlift back in. I think we are good
  • Took the pup for a short walk down the street
  • Ate 2 pecan butter tarts that D made. See picture below
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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I was off work but I drove to Massachusetts to get myself here in preparation for a client workshop. On the way I stopped at a place called West Hill Dam. It was ok, but since it's 22 minutes from the hotel it's passable. I would not suggest anyone ever go here unless this is your hood. The overall day blog post can be found here on the travel blog.

The water bottle cage fix seems to work and the bottle did not rattle against the frame all ride. The rear tire gets a pass but this is on a pass/fail basis. The dart held but it was getting low on air by the end. I just ordered another one on Amazon and it will get here this week. I am a rapid-fire Prime shopper as much as anyone. But it's nearly impossible not to be sometimes.

I don't have much else to add. That was all pretty much my day. I am now sitting in a hotel room. I think I am done with everything I needed to do today. I forgot to pack any extra t-shirts so I am just wearing this absolutely hideous blue collared shirt I got from the office last time I was up here. I was going to experiment with it this week but it looks absurd.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I spent a chunk of the day in Boston for work, then I rode the Vietnam trails from the hotel late afternoon. I was on dirt in .49 miles from the hotel which is about as close as you can get. I spent more time trying to learn the trails and I may have done that a little bit. But I also forget pretty much everything else I have done at this park so far. There are so many features here is is amazing. Many of these are above my pay grade, however.

Bike seems to be doing ok especially after tightening the crank arms today. Tire held better today so I am hoping that problem is solved. This thing only has 111 miles on it. The last one got 650. I guess it is balancing out. I will mount the new one on another rim just to have as a backup.

Full blog post here.

Pretty tired right now.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up in Massachusetts and I am now in NJ.

We just went into the office today so I was able to get out a bit after lunch. I stopped at Rockland to ride Northern Exposure which is awesome but I crashed and scraped up my knee. The BB no longer creaks (win) but the tire was worse today (lose). I have no confidence in my bike right now with the rear tire being like this. It's making me suck more than usual.

Recap here.

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