Art deco coffee

Happiness

This was an adorable jalopy parked by the gym.

Always find the bookstores

New Tele day

Another day, another HDCP issue.

Home alone, no car, little food, random desire for baked pasta. I must admit, I love radiatori.

I don’t love either of these pictures, but they tell an interesting story. The first one came up as “On This Day” five years ago– back before I knew about my keratoconus and was still using glasses. So grabbed another shot of me today. You can see the aging, and, I hope, the weight loss.

I can’t believe I haven’t updated this since March.

When I look back at that post though, I know at least partially why. I opened with, “Gracie is still with us.” April 30th was her last day with us. It’s still painful.

But there have been quite a few important updates since I last wrote.

Music

I am now playing in a band seriously for the first time basically since high school. I’m having a ton of fun writing music again, and I think we’re going to be ready to perform live soon. Once we have some more demos recorded, I might post some of the music. This has meant I’ve spent a lot more time thinking about guitar gear and music again and it’s bringing me a lot of joy.

Newish stuff I’m listening to

Health

After my weight crept up again, not nearly to its high, but enough, I started Wegovy. After years of concerns, I had my cholesterol close to under control. But this winter, even before I had started to gain back some weight, my cholesterol shot up way high. With my family history of severe heart disease, it was time to get on a statin. But my weight kept creeping up and we also have a history of weight-related diabetes. I was struggling, and I knew I didn’t want to get things out of control. After discussing it with my doctor in what was a quick and relatively easy conversation, he agreed that with my activity level and diet plus family history, it would be worth trying Wegovy as I could see some real benefits.

I haven’t lost monstrous amounts of weight– instead, I’ve lost weight just like I have in the past when I was the most successful counting calories. But the “no food noise” thing is real– I cannot believe how much less I think about food, how much faster I feel full, and how much easier it is to just eat less. While I was counting calories in the beginning, I am not at this time. I don’t really need to because my appetite doesn’t lead me to going over. I’m losing at a rate of about 1.5 lbs a week, depending on the week, and I’m now much closer to my “typical” healthy (but still quite over) weight, even though I’m not yet on a full dosage.

My most serious side effect seems to be increased heart rate– it makes it a little harder to do the most intense forms of exercise and it makes my sleep feel a bit less restful. It’s worth it for me.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to do my favorite exercise– volleyball– very much lately. Someone crashed into me while I was swinging for a hit back in May. At the time, it felt ok, but ever since I’ve had shoulder issues. It’s just on the very edge of my motion. I can do almost everything at the gym and never feel it in every day life. But if I try to play volleyball, I really feel it. And the other day I did a some pull-ups for the first time in a while and there it was. I probably should get some imaging, but I’ve been taking it easy and it has improved, just slowly. Welcome to being in your late 30s.

Travel

We went to Providence for our reunion, Nashville for a wedding, and Seattle just because and had a gra time late May through mid June. We also went to London this summer as our big trip for the year. It was my first time to the UK and we had a very good time. My review is short and simple: I’ve never been somewhere that reminded me of New York so much. I do love to travel, and it’s a bit tough on me that post PowerSchool acquisition I don’t get to travel much for work. Oh, and I just got back from visiting my sister and her husband in Pittsburgh over Labor Day weekend.

Miscellaneous

I started to go to a book club at my favorite local bookstore and I’ve had a really good time doing it. I missed the two summer ones (because I was in London for the first and in a rut with reading for the second), but September’s book is Slow Horses, which I expect will be an easy read given how much I love the AppleTV series so I’m excited to head back there.

I’ll try and do this once more before the end of the year.

I was excited about what I had heard about JPEGXL. But this sounds terrifying.

This is like some weird SEO album name thing… and it totally works.

Cool.

Liberty was fascinating to walk through. Sure, it’s a fancy department store. But it is gorgeous and well preserved. A balance of modern and functional and old that does not exist on my usual side of the world.

This Boy and A Heron

Relay 10 was a great time. Of course TimeKoalaSing (something no one remembers) had to make the schlep. But it was a solid excuse to visit London for the first time.

Only true heat can empty out good neighbor’s outdoor seating.

As if I’m not pissed enough at the NYTimes, they go and attack me like this?

Not yet secured down and fully wired, but this is what I’m thinking for the current State of the Board.

Last new pedal day for a bit. Maybe.

I’m thinking about getting rid of this pedal after… 16 years. But the insides are just so pretty, maybe I’ll hold onto it.

First new pedal day of the week. I was looking for a modulation effect. I was not looking for dirt. But damn, BSRI has amazing dirt pedals.

This is about to be fun.

Sometimes the touristy stuff is pretty cool.

Checking out Ovenbird Bakery after eating their cookies at good neighbor for years.

I definitely did not intend to buy this amp today.