Life

[dobrojim]

We're getting a new walkway, a long overdue replacement for our existing walkway.

So 811 aka MissUtility was out here on Friday to mark the gas line the new walkway will
go over. Yet my contractor still managed to nick the gas line. I expect it will be safely
dealt with. I called the Wash Gas and a fire truck showed up. I think it's safe but as you
might imagine, I'm not happy about this.

[AFM]

We're getting a new walkway, a long overdue replacement for our existing walkway.

So 811 aka MissUtility was out here on Friday to mark the gas line the new walkway will
go over. Yet my contractor still managed to nick the gas line. I expect it will be safely
dealt with. I called the Wash Gas and a fire truck showed up. I think it's safe but as you
might imagine, I'm not happy about this.

Jim, I'm a developer/builder--let me know if you have any questions... btw you have gas why? your stove or heating? We abandon gas on all our projects now. And I always make WashGas close it at the street, not at the meter.

[AFM]

This guy is my favorite comedian rn but he's also an amazing person-- I really recommend his podcast. He's like half comedian half preacher/therapist. This clip especially stuck with me, I mean I felt like he wrote this just for me. I understand him completely...

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[dobrojim]

We're getting a new walkway, a long overdue replacement for our existing walkway.

So 811 aka MissUtility was out here on Friday to mark the gas line the new walkway will
go over. Yet my contractor still managed to nick the gas line. I expect it will be safely
dealt with. I called the Wash Gas and a fire truck showed up. I think it's safe but as you
might imagine, I'm not happy about this.

Jim, I'm a developer/builder--let me know if you have any questions... btw you have gas why? your stove or heating? We abandon gas on all our projects now. And I always make WashGas close it at the street, not at the meter.

WASH Gas sent a crew out and they fixed it. It was all pretty routine in the end.

We have a gas furnace and a gas hot water heater. Used to have a gas cooktop but we recently
switched over to an induction stove.

We have solar panels (7.2 kW system) so our electricity is paid for.
When our furnace is ready for the scrap heap, we'll go heat pump
and do similarly on the HW heater.

Gas was preferable 25 years when it became available on my street.
We heated with heating oil before that which became too expensive.
And our HW heater was electric which wasn't as good (as cheap) as gas
but I understand the new electric HW heaters are very efficient so we
will definitely change back to electric when the old heater gives out.

[AFM]

This guy is like a hillbilly gandhi

Watch on YouTube

I kind of want to ask the older fellas on this board the same question-- what would you tell 21 year old self you?

[dobrojim]

I’ve become a huge fan of Parker Palmer after reading On the Brink of Everything. It seems and is marketed (perhaps?) as a book for old people, like me. When I read it, I think to myself I wish I had understood these concepts a couple decades sooner.

[payitforward]

This guy is like a hillbilly gandhi

Watch on YouTube

I kind of want to ask the older fellas on this board the same question-- what would you tell 21 year old self you?

Since I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest participant here (having turned 81 less than a month ago!), I don't mind responding.

1. Pay attention: life goes by in a hurry.
2. Become really good at something & give that "something" a lot of your attention. If you can make it more than one "something," so much the better.
3. If you must get deeply involved in politics, then try to make the world -- not "America" -- better -- not "greater."

Here are a few maxims I've tried to live by. I didn't make them up:

Do not separate yourself from your community.
Do not judge another until you have reached that person's place.
Do not say something you don't really understand, hoping that you'll come to understand it some day.
Don't tell yourself "I'll think about this tomorrow when I have more time." You won't have any more time tomorrow than you do today, so work it out today.
When no one around you will be a man, try to be a man.

Oh, & always remember this: you are not required to complete the work, but you are not permitted to stop working on it.

[doclinkin]

This guy is like a hillbilly gandhi

Watch on YouTube

I kind of want to ask the older fellas on this board the same question-- what would you tell 21 year old self you?

It's old but this clip of his made me snort.

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=TheoVonClips

Hide a little raspberry from each other smh.

[dobrojim]

This guy is like a hillbilly gandhi

Watch on YouTube

I kind of want to ask the older fellas on this board the same question-- what would you tell 21 year old self you?

This is Parker Palmer speaking at a graduation ceremony.
You can skip the first 4 minutes as far as 'life lessons' go.

Watch on YouTube

[Zonkerbl]

I mean, everything turned out fine in the end, I have two great kids, but if graduate school aged me could have waited just one more semester he could've gotten with ballet dancer Xxxx Yyyyyyyy who he thought he had no chance with in high school but turns out, when he got back to the states from Siberia and met her on the IU Bloomington campus, she was absolutely into him, if ONLY HE HADN'T GOTTEN MARRIED TWO MONTHS EARLIER

Weirdly I am now married to a DIFFERENT HS knockout I thought I had no chance with in HS so whatever. Still would be interesting to see how that might have turned out

[AFM]

This guy is like a hillbilly gandhi

Watch on YouTube

I kind of want to ask the older fellas on this board the same question-- what would you tell 21 year old self you?

Since I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest participant here (having turned 81 less than a month ago!), I don't mind responding.

1. Pay attention: life goes by in a hurry.
2. Become really good at something & give that "something" a lot of your attention. If you can make it more than one "something," so much the better.
3. If you must get deeply involved in politics, then try to make the world -- not "America" -- better -- not "greater."

Here are a few maxims I've tried to live by. I didn't make them up:

Do not separate yourself from your community.
Do not judge another until you have reached that person's place.
Do not say something you don't really understand, hoping that you'll come to understand it some day.
Don't tell yourself "I'll think about this tomorrow when I have more time." You won't have any more time tomorrow than you do today, so work it out today.
When no one around you will be a man, try to be a man.

Oh, & always remember this: you are not required to complete the work, but you are not permitted to stop working on it.

Damn you're really old. This is some timeless advice though, so thank you.

[gambitx777]

Had eye surgery I'll be back on more often in a few days. Love you guys

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using RealGM mobile app

[payitforward]

...pretty sure I'm the oldest participant here (having turned 81....

Damn you're really old....

In a sense, an obvious sense, no question about it.

OTOH, not really -- though I guess you'd have to know me beyond this board to understand what I mean. I have new experiences all the time.

For example, this* is an interesting place, don't you think?

I walked the complete circuit of its ramparts last Monday.

* The Moorish Castelo (i.e. castle) in the Algarve town of Silves. The first fortifications were probably erected by Romans or Visigoths on the ruins of a Lusitanian site, but the edifice you see in the picture was built in the 8th century when Southern Portugal (like Southern Spain) was in the control of the Moors. You should check it out some time.

Even more extraordinary is Marvao, an eagle's nest of a town on the other side of Portugal:


Of course that's just one country, & a little one at that....

[AFM]

...pretty sure I'm the oldest participant here (having turned 81....

Damn you're really old....

In a sense, an obvious sense, no question about it.

OTOH, not really -- though I guess you'd have to know me beyond this board to understand what I mean. I have new experiences all the time.

For example, this* is an interesting place, don't you think?

I walked the complete circuit of its ramparts last Monday.

* The Moorish Castelo (i.e. castle) in the Algarve town of Silves. The first fortifications were probably erected by Romans or Visigoths on the ruins of a Lusitanian site, but the edifice you see in the picture was built in the 8th century when Southern Portugal (like Southern Spain) was in the control of the Moors. You should check it out some time.

Even more extraordinary is Marvao, an eagle's nest of a town on the other side of Portugal:


Of course that's just one country, & a little one at that....

Awesome. I was kidding about you being THAT old. You're not that much older than my father.

I just got back from Tuscany. Never been to Portugal but its on my list.

I build condos for a living here in the DMV pif. But my specialty, unlike other developers, is restoring historic homes rather than tear downs. Currently looking for a place in Italy to buy and fix up for myself.

I was in Florence last week just mad dude. I was mad at how safe I felt there and how awful DC has got in the last few years. I mean we have more murders in DC this year than Baltimore does. Anyway, thats for the politics thread I suppose...

[payitforward]

Tuscany would be expensive. It's beautiful, but so is a whole lot of Italy.

We have an old friend, a Russian artist named Vera Khlebnikova, who lives part of the year in a village somewhere near Naples. She keeps asking us to buy a house in the town -- they are dirt cheap (but of course pretty much non-modernized).

My wife & I have been visiting Portugal for almost 30 years. We've seen a lot of the country & love it. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Portugal is similar to California in having a long Western ocean front & then rising eastward to Sierras. The countryside is beautiful, the Southern & Western coasts are both wonderful. Lisbon & Porto are beautiful & interesting cities. Right now, I'd buy a place in Portugal rather than in Italy -- but that's a longer conversation....

[dobrojim]

bump

This seemed like the appropriate thread to post this

My gay daughter got married yesterday. This was already something that was being
planned but their timetable got bumped forward with the results of the election.

Yesterday just north of the Arlington Mem Bridge (VA side) they arranged a small
ceremony between the bridge and Roosevelt Island.
Other than the couple making the vows were: 3 surviving parents
and one sibling, a photographer and the officiant. Another ceremony is planned
for May which will be at least a little larger. And in warmer conditions.

My wife and I are appropriately pleased even as we are horrified by the election result
that speeded up the timing. We really like her partner and her partner's father too.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

bump

This seemed like the appropriate thread to post this

My gay daughter got married yesterday. This was already something that was being
planned but their timetable got bumped forward with the results of the election.

Yesterday just north of the Arlington Mem Bridge (VA side) they arranged a small
ceremony between the bridge and Roosevelt Island.
Other than the couple making the vows were: 3 surviving parents
and one sibling, a photographer and the officiant. Another ceremony is planned
for May which will be at least a little larger. And in warmer conditions.

My wife and I are appropriately pleased even as we are horrified by the election result
that speeded up the timing. We really like her partner and her partner's father too.

Mazel Tov Jim!

[AFM]

bump

This seemed like the appropriate thread to post this

My gay daughter got married yesterday. This was already something that was being
planned but their timetable got bumped forward with the results of the election.

Yesterday just north of the Arlington Mem Bridge (VA side) they arranged a small
ceremony between the bridge and Roosevelt Island.
Other than the couple making the vows were: 3 surviving parents
and one sibling, a photographer and the officiant. Another ceremony is planned
for May which will be at least a little larger. And in warmer conditions.

My wife and I are appropriately pleased even as we are horrified by the election result
that speeded up the timing. We really like her partner and her partner's father too.

Congrats!!!!!

[payitforward]

Nice!! May they have a long, happy & meaningful life together!

[The Consiglieri]

bump

This seemed like the appropriate thread to post this

My gay daughter got married yesterday. This was already something that was being
planned but their timetable got bumped forward with the results of the election.

Yesterday just north of the Arlington Mem Bridge (VA side) they arranged a small
ceremony between the bridge and Roosevelt Island.
Other than the couple making the vows were: 3 surviving parents
and one sibling, a photographer and the officiant. Another ceremony is planned
for May which will be at least a little larger. And in warmer conditions.

My wife and I are appropriately pleased even as we are horrified by the election result
that speeded up the timing. We really like her partner and her partner's father too.

Congratulations!