The changes to Southwest Airlines driven by Elliot Investment Management are enshitifying Southwest. A-List Preferred is basically worth nothing now.
Find a different airline, if you can, consolidation and route dominance don’t leave a lot of options in many markets.
Visit Starboard Tack on Atlantic between Sahara and Karen. It’s good.
Well, The west side of Stillwater, OK burned down. We first heard word of evacuation orders around 6 pm, and made the decision ourselves to leave around 7:00 and were on the road out of town by 8:00.
Our hearts go out to those who lost their property or their livelihoods.
I’m more of an Alden guy, but still a big fan of these.
A SpaceX rocket exploded again. It’s like the 4th of July came early.
Life, man. Like the title says, I really need to write more.
For the last four years, I’ve been attending the disintegration of my extended family. My immediate family (wife and kids) are great, you could even say we thrived during Covid.
But since then, I’ve lost my mother-in-law from my previous marriage. (I’m a widower) She had been a mother-figure and dear friend since my first wife’s death. I carried out her wishes and delivered her advanced directive to the nurses, joked with her in the hospital, and then held her hand while she died. She had grace, she was a character. My life is so much richer for having known her. I miss her every day.
I lost my dad. I don’t think he was very happy with me, but he didn’t appreciate the shit sandwich I was dealt; his dementia had pushed my brother out of the family and drove my mother to refuse to let him return from the skilled nursing facility. I was forced to take over. He was resentful of it. He died in assisted living.
My brother has cancer. I haven’t lost him yet and, although the cancer he has is horrible, it seems to be responding well to chemo and radiation at the moment.
My mom. My mom, the center of all this drama, is determined to be miserable and make all of our lives miserable.
I really need to write more.
Customs and border issues between Northern Ireland and Great Britain as a result of Brexit result in a united Ireland.
The United States Supreme Court ruling on Affirmative Action results in the end of legacy admissions.
#fuckaroundfindout
Yesterday, I was asked about my Soma Grand Randonneur Build and whether or not I liked how it rode. Since I referenced this build, I guess I should post about it.
Here are the build details:
So, let’s talk about Jan’s Rene Herse crankset and the fucking fits it gave me. First, the drive side pedal threads were all wrong. As in it was impossible to get a pedal onto the crankset at all. Looks like a step may have been missed as the ridges on the thread were very deep, effectively reducing the diameter of the pedal bore. This had to be chased with the proper tap, and frankly for as much as I spent on this crank, that’s totally unacceptable. Secondly, and far worse, in my opinion, is the tendency of this crankset and|or bottom bracket combo to back off the crank bolt. On five consecutive rides, within 5 miles the crank bolts would loosen so much that I would be forced to return. Each time I would re-install to specification (because I can fucking read) and each time they would back off again. The solution was to replace the beautiful but worthless Rene Herse bolts with bog-standard SRAM crank bolts, put some blue loctite on them, and let them sit over the winter.
That aside, this is a wonderfully riding, albeit not overly spirited bicycle. Total weight as pictured above (sans water bottles) is around 29 lbs, definitely not a lightweight, although you don’t really notice the weight so much, even on hills.
I spent about half of November, 2018 in Las Vegas. I have family there, and I was presenting at re:Invent, so I made it a family trip, and then stayed over for the conference.
Anyway, this is just setting the scene. While staying at the Park MGM, I really had the first champagne cocktail I have ever enjoyed: a Garibaldi, at the Primrose. It was lovely. Later, I would have my first Aperol spritz at The Barrymore, a truly kickass place you should eat at.
Now, I’m just fucking ruined.
As a side note, I heard someone say: “The difference between Prosecco and Champagne is Prosecco tastes good.”
New Mavic Open Pro UST Disc hoops laced by Colorado Cyclist onto Hope RS4 hubs. Still awaiting rotors, lock rings, and a skewer for the rear. #sexyaf
Fortune Cookie Zen 