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Saw Mulaney and Birbigs with my sister tonight.

Now playing: 2Pac - All Eyez on Me

This tastes like college when we used to mix Dr. Pepper and Malibu Rum.

New features on Sports on TV Now include exporting of favorites and live calendar feeds.

I’ve had an idea for a game for the Playdate for a while. I started it tonight. I’m hoping I can make some real progress on it while I’m on vacation next week.

New features for Sports on TV Now.

Another one built. My YouTube subscriptions the way I want to see them.

Looking forward to testing this out tonight for the St. Louis City SC match.

Added a combined My Teams schedule for your favorites.

I’ve been busy.

Something I’m working on.

Every once in a while something good happens. Found at the grocery store.

Wow, new Siri actually works.

My stalker is back.

More hawk pictures.

Not great weather for flying a blimp in Saint Charles.

I HAVE to buy this, right?

Now playing: The Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits

I have a love of all things retro and baseball. Combine them and you get Ribbie. Ribbie allows you to watch MLB games rendered as 8bit pixel art pitch-by-pitch in real time.

The babies have taken flight. Here is one of them on a building away from the nest.

Now playing: Olivia Rodrigo - you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love

Saw one of the hawks today for the first time in a while. They aren’t completely gone.

Rocky now has a spot next to Kurt Vonnegut.

I can retire now.

Closest I have ever gotten to this hawk.

Today’s soundtrack is Nate Dogg’s G Funk Classics Vol. 1 & 2.

Flight.

Comedy Bang Bang live tour episodes are back and I’m so excited.

I’m pretty sure this hawk is stalking me.

Perched and waddling.

Now playing: Kno - Death is Silent

Watching me like a hawk.

Now playing: Kacey Musgraves - Middle of Nowhere.

The ducks had babies.

Please no more of this. I just want to watch the game.

I still remember when I bought Jurassic 5’s album Quality Control. I had never heard of Jurassic 5 before, but it was the year 2000 and one of the things you did in the 90s and 2000s is look at the weekly ads to see what new music releases were coming out that week. This was prime CD era when Target and Best Buy dedicated aisles upon aisles of their store to physical media. I remember looking through Best Buy’s ad one Sunday to see what new music was coming out that Tuesday (yes, friends, new music used to come out on Tuesdays). In the ad that Sunday, for only $6.99, was Quality Control.

What would make me pick up an album for a group that I never heard of? Well, first, I loved the artwork. How could you not be intrigued by it? Six guys sitting around a tree stump with headphones plugged in and one of the coolest logos in Hip Hop. Second, it was only $6.99. While I can admit that prices have risen a lot since 2000, $6.99 was still cheap in an era where a lot of CDs were selling for between $15 and $18. The $6.99 price tag was worth the gamble. I wasn’t expecting that it would become one of my favorite albums of all time. It was a new sound from what I was used to in rap music and eventually led me on a journey where I discovered a bunch of underground hip hop artists. It truly was a magical time in music. Unfortunately, their subsequent albums never had the same impact on me as Quality Control did and the group no longer puts out music, but even almost 26 years later, I can still recite pretty much the entire album from start to finish.

I recently purchased Quality Control on vinyl as I’m building up my collection of favorite albums. It’s not the original release, which is fine. I don’t collect for value, I collect to listen. The version I picked up was from a rerelease but was still never opened. I’ve been listening to it all day and it’s bringing back so many memories of high school and college.

One other note about Jurassic 5, I was in St. Louis record store Vintage Vinyl a couple years after Quality Control came out and they had a copy of the Jurassic 5 EP for sale on vinyl. The EP was their first release that came out the year before Quality Control and is also fantastic. I didn’t have a record player at the time and vinyl had died and come back and died again. No one was predicting another resurgence. I really wish I would have bought it that day.

Now playing: Jurassic 5 - Quality Control

My dad and I were talking about bad umpires and I could not remember Bucknor’s name for some reason. This is hilarious. First result when searching “bad umpire”.

Old blog imported into Pure Blog. Pretty quick and easy.

Ducks and baby birds.

Using a bunch of the Artemis II photos as my wallpaper on rotation.

Now playing: Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

Went through some old pictures my grandma had. Found this throwback. I look like I should be headlining at Go Bananas in Cincinnati.

Now Playing: Masta Ace - A Long Hot Summer

Red shouldered hawk.

This is in the “Shopping” section of stltoday.com. Gross.

It’s disappointing to see that Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has a release date for all platforms except the Nintendo Switch 2.

Every time I tried to sign up for STLToday I’m presented with an error. You’d think a failing business would want to do everything possible to make it easy for people to sign up and give them money.

Now playing: 2pac - Greatest Hits.

Now playing: The Ting Tings - Home

What happened to that $19.99 a month subscription they announced for Cardinals.tv? You can still get the $99 a year price.

Haven’t been to Thai Gourmet in a long time. So good. I went with spice level 3 (out of 5) which may have been too much today.

Now playing: Ren - Demos (Do Not Share).

Now Playing: Ren Vincent’s Tale.

I do not need more hats. I do not need more hats. I do not need more hats.

The Christmas gift for my dad, made by my cousin’s husband, using an actual Jack Daniel’s barrel.

My top podcasts of 2025. No surprises here.

I decided to give Fedora KDE Plasma a chance. Wiped my Zorin OS install and am test driving the latest Fedora for a bit. You can customize so much more in KDE than Gnome.

30 years. Feel old yet?

I finally found a good use for AI.

This is the second time since I’ve installed Zorin that the OS thinks I only have 9% battery left (it’s really 99% and fully charged). The system even says fully charged, but also reads 9%. If I unplug, it warns me that battery is low. Rebooting takes it back to 99%.

Now playing: The Big Push - An Englishman in New York from the album Busking Sessions.

Zorin OS 18 installed.

I have all sharing of info disabled in Docker Desktop but a recent update isn’t respecting it. The top 2 blocked domains on my network by requests are from Docker.

Now playing: Atmosphere - Jestures.

Now playing: Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II.

I never noticed this before but apparently iOS can recognize your dog breed.

My current desktop on my Mintbook.

Today’s soundtrack is Dropkick Murphys - For the People.

Today’s soundtrack: Tech N9ne - 5816 Forest

Now playing:

Happy Switch 2 day to all those that celebrate.

Now playing: Atmosphere - Triple X Years in the Game.

Baseball buddies.

Nice day for a ball game.

My dog’s medicine arrived in St. Louis, where I live, but is now somehow in Chicago. Fun.

New toy.

Now playing: Elton John - Diamonds

Now Playing: Huey Lewis and The News - Collected.

Now playing Vampire Weekend.

I’m enjoying the new theme I set up on my Mintbook.

I used to give Spectrum a lot of crap, but I really can’t complain about these speeds anymore.

After ignoring a drive app for Linux, praising fascists, and now expanding to the grifter side of the internet with Bitcoin, I think it’s definitely time to ditch Proton.

In September, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer that spread to her liver. It was her birthday.

At 8:58 tonight I said goodbye to my mom. She was the best mom. I can’t imagine the rest of my life without her in it. There will be a big hole.

You know when you purchase something and instantly know you’re old?

Spectrum increased my upload speeds. By a lot.

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Well, a lot of hours anyway.

Now playing: CunninLynguists - Will Rap for Food

This guy was on the ground when I was out with my dog. He was the size of a fat house cat.

Warriors, come out to play.

Now playing: The Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits

This afternoon’s record is Deltron 3030.

Now playing: CunninLynguists - The Heartstring Theory (Part 1).

My sisters and me at my cousin’s wedding.

The Sports live activities (top) is so much better than MLB’s (bottom). That’s kind of embarrassing for MLB.

1931-2024

Now playing: Queen - Greatest Hits.

Now Playing: Snarky Puppy - We Like it Here

This week was a busy week for me, so there wasn’t much new that I liked, but I did find some new things, as well as found comfort in some old favorites.

• Pearl Jam - MTV Unplugged
• JD Vance Couch Memes
• Pain Salesmen by Prof and Ren
• USWNT Soccer and the Olympics
• Linux Mint 22
• Bando Stone and the New World by Childish Gambino
• MASH and Batman Virtual Channels on my Channels server

Now playing Huey Lewis and the News - Collected

Now playing Pearl Jam - MTV Unplugged

Are ropes on hats really back in style and why? I wasn’t a fan in the ’80s. Still not a fan.

My only gripe with the new Overcast (so far) is no seek options (forward and backward) in the MiniPlayer at the bottom. It means an extra touch to open the podcast first.

Now playing Sports by Huey Lewis and the News.

Now playing.

I love finding weird, old records.

I can’t wait to watch this game.

I missed this when it originally aired. Time to rectify that. Now watching A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop.

Now playing: Maya Hawke - Chaos Angel.

Now listening to Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle.

New hat. Hey Nong Man.

My plate is pretty empty right now.

New album arrived today. Now playing Ren - Sick Boi.

Now playing: Deltron 3030.

Whoever is packing this order is probably very confused at my music taste.

Today’s album is Third Eye Blind’s A Collection.

Tonight’s soundtrack is Me Against the World.

Now playing: Beastie Boys - Music

I still remember watching this game.

Vinyl has arrived.

Playing with a new toy.

Another classic game for the DVR.

It’s a good week for Angel Hernandez and the integrity of umpires.

Now Playing: Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us. 🎵

Definitely recording this.

Quadbox going on for MLS tonight.

Today’s record is A Tribe Called Quest’s Anthology.

New record.

I may have to purchase this.

Now playing Monk’s Dream by Thelonious Monk.

Got some records today.

Blast from St. Louis beer past.

I love this hat.

This tracks.

These dudes are just nerds that never stopped cosplaying. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

I’m having fun playing with the virtual channels feature in Channels. I’m basically recreating the cable of my youth.

I have not been this excited for an album in a long time. Already predicting it will land in my top 10 of all time list. Now listening to the album Sick Boi by Ren. 🎵

Now Playing: Plumb 🎵

Soccer time with dad. Let’s go CITY!

Oh boy!

Now listening to GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo. 🎵

Coming soon…

T-Mobile’s 5G is faster than my 1 Gbps plan with Spectrum.

Now listening to the album Those Who Throw Objects at the Crocodiles Will Be Asked to Retrieve Them by Bruno Pernadas. 🎵

I love when there is weird stuff on my walks with Spike.

This is what I’m listening to today, Atmosphere - Sad Clown Bad Dub II.

Somehow I missed that Tech N9ne came out with a new album a couple of weeks ago. I’m slipping in my old age. Now listening to the album Bliss by Tech N9ne.

Instagram ads are creepily on point.

I really didn’t expect this many of my seeds to sprout from my bonsai kit.

Flowers on my lunch time walk.

Received a standing desk for my birthday and I purchased an adjustable stand for my iPad. Enjoying the new setup.

Live activities in the MLB app are pretty cool.

Wasn’t expecting this.

Happy De La Soul day.

I hate when Apple does this shit. A badge in the settings app that can’t be dismissed.

AMC is ensuring I never return to theaters.

If this impacts people who get Netflix through their phone carrier on a family plan, I’m out. You don’t have to all live in the same house to have a family plan. What difference does it make as long as you’re not going over your simultaneous screen limit?

Happy birthday dad!

This is such a great tasting hot sauce. It’s very hot, but has a great flavor.

I really wonder why my phone was uploading data to Instagram while I was sleeping. It may be time to finally delete the app.

I got a Snoop on a Stoop.

Family photo at a wedding.

New hat thanks to The Rebound.

Today’s album: Townland - Honey on the Hi-Fi 🎵

I’m happy with my top 10 played albums. 🎵

This is not a surprise to me. 🎵

My vet sent this out in preparation for Thanksgiving. Thoughtful and helpful.

This was a feast for him. He had never seen a bone that big, especially a real one. No, he did not eat the whole thing.

Rainy afternoon.

I love autumn.

From Seinfeld Current Day.

Sports teams really know how to get every last dollar out of fans. Now you can pay money so you can be the first to pay them more money.

The images of the Pillars of Creation from the James Webb Space Telescope are amazing. The slider tool to compare Hubble and Webb is pretty remarkable.

A Day in the Life

1:20pm in St. Charles. This guy gets me through the day.

The latest update to Bitwarden has added DuckDuckGo browser integration. Can’t figure out how to use it though. Maybe DuckDuckGo needs to be updated as well?

Now listening to the album Still Motion by Natti. 🎵

Well, this is interesting. Apple is offering companion films to The Greatest Beer Run Ever free to watch for subscribers.

I love that Five Below carries candy brands you haven’t seen in years. I haven’t had this since 7th grade, and even then it was hard to come by.

Random thing to find on the side of the road.

Good morning. A good way to start the day. Now listening to: Dropkick Murphys - This Machine Still Kills Fascists. 🎵

I figured out a way to give Spike a break from his cone. A Kleenex over his feet and a piece of popcorn every once in a while as if that’s his plate.

Sad dog has to wear a cone for a bit due to an infected foot.

New hats.

This little guy was hopping through the grass and was about the size of my fingernail.

Handsome boy.

I love the new customization options.

What a fox.

There’s lava in the sky.

I think I’m going to go on a movies about Hollywood/show business run. Here’s my list.

Poor Spike got his yearly shots today and feels awful as a result.

Tonight’s 1980’s movie is Lucas. 🍿

At the rate I’m watching paramotor videos, this is going to be me flying over St. Chuck County in a year.

I didn’t watch Teen Wolf yesterday on the anniversary of the theatrical release, so I thought I’d make up for that today.

I don’t remember the first time I went to The Restaurant. That’s what we called the Bissell Mansion Restaurant and Dinner Theatre when I was growing up. If you’re unfamiliar with the establishment, it was a restaurant located inside what is considered the oldest, still-standing brick home in St. Louis. It was also owned by several members of my family as far back as I can remember.

The house was built in what is now North City in 1823 by Captain Lewis Bissell. My grandparents, along with my parents, aunts, uncles, and family friends turned it into a murder mystery participatory dinner theatre in the 1980’s. I spent so much time there, especially as a child. I remember running around the gigantic rooms with my cousins every Christmas. I remember those same cousins telling me the small door at the top of the steps (the door that led to the attic) is where the ghosts lived (the mansion was supposedly haunted). I remember playing hide and seek and sneaking down a secret second set of stairs that entered into the kitchen. It was the ultimate playground for a kid.

Sadly, as time went on and the city of St. Louis lost population, business suffered. My grandparents died. Family members sold their remaining shares to my aunt and uncle who kept the place running. Eventually they closed for the business lunch crowd and only operated as a dinner theatre. Then came COVID. Once COVID came, the place shut down complete. Now, it’s for sale.

Even though I haven’t been there in years, even before the pandemic, it’s a place I will forever miss. I will cherish the memories I have of it forever (except for that summer I worked there doing maintenance on an almost 200 year old building between 8th and 9th grade).

This package was supposed to be here 2 days ago. It’s been in the StL area for 4 now. I don’t think I’ll be getting this package and will have to keep waiting until they let me request a refund.

Some frogs in my mom’s flowers.

My ice cube trays came with a user manual in case you’ve never frozen water before.

🐶

Found The Iowa Baseball Confederacy on the bottom shelf while I was on the ground stretching my back. Maybe I should read it again.

Dinner

“Brave”

Holy cow. I’m loving the new Proton plans. My VPN plan now gives me so much more access for email, including custom domains.

A duck decided to take a swim before the pool opens.

Some new pins for my back pack. Dem Threedom Boys.

Another iris.

Some baby birds in a nest on my neighbor’s wreath.

Currently listening to Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers 🎵

Good morning.

Morning flowers

This random football card was wedged in the wood near a dumpster.

This little guy tried sneaking into my parents’ garage while I was mowing their lawn.

It’s raining so much some ducks decided to make this puddle their pond.

This afternoon’s walk music.

I think orange might be my favorite flower color.

Spring at my mom and dad’s house.

Apparently there is a monkey inside Steak n’ Shake near Lindenwood. Pic from my sister.

Current Home Screen

Spring

Currently reading Hip Hop Family Tree. 📚

Wish I was in bed still.

I got my brother-in-law a pillow with my face on it for Christmas. He’s ecstatic.

My dad made a Christmas tree shelf out of an old ladder for their Christmas village. I think it turned out really well.

I’m loving this album.

This album has been on repeat today. His best in a while.

Not the best seats but a hell of a game so far.

I appreciate a good burn, even if it’s against my university.

Obligatory.

Happy 5th birthday to this little guy.

My parents are weird.

Day 2.

Vacation begins.

My adopted buddy.

It’s happening.

RIP Harry the Hat. One of my favorite guest actors on Cheers. Also a huge fan of Night Court.

My shirt today.

Happy National Dog Day from Mr. Spike.

Baseball at Coors.

In a suite with Zendesk.

New lamp, rug, and wooden world map pictures.

Mr. Spike was pretty comfy yesterday.

It almost looks like he’s smiling.

Please pet me.

Poor Spike doesn’t feel well.

My complex now has a little dog park. Spike doesn’t know what to do.

Hope (Matilda) dressed the part.

Trivia night fun.

Two birthdays today.

Happy birthday to me.

Sleepy Spike.

New specs from Warby Parker.

Sleepy Spike.

Go Bayside.

Handsome fella.

Finally calm after his first bath. That was… an adventure.

Meet Spike.

Angry minion at work.

Halloween at work.

I’ll miss you, my friend.

#TBT

Spazzy dog.

Football, recliner, dog. Good Sunday.

Pez.

Oh, man. I saw a couple of grey hairs in my beard.

Beard progress

Beard is coming in nicely.

Penny!

Nephew getting ready for next week’s st pat’s parade.

Sleepy puppy.

That’s a lot of snow.

A sleepy Penny

Sleepy puppy