To the new users of Hubski, welcome! To the old users who've started commenting again, welcome back! To the lurkers, we know you're there and we appreciate you! To everyone who's switched to user-inactivated, you'll be missed, please consider coming back.
To every person reading this, I think you're awesome.
I think you're awesome, too! Are you still working on hermit drawings?
Thank you!
Sadly, I haven't done any drawing for the past month. Not out of disinterest, but I'm focusing on a few other things. Namely, trying to figure out going back to school, trying to find a new job, and strengthening personal relationships. I have a few days off next week though, and I aim to sit down and draw at least one thing. I promise to share it when I do (if it's any good that is).
Made my girlfriend a birthday dress. Apart from the mockup I made, it's the first dress I've made before. I made the mistake of buying a cheap pattern with weird sizing issues, so I had to do a lot of alterations, both to the pattern and to the final product.
I drafted a bodice block so that doesn't happen again...
In action.
Inaction.
The back.
Still left to do: add a small clasp at the top of the back, make a hem, do some slipstitching. Happy with the overall dress, just need to take more time getting the size right beforehand.
Also, the ring is done. Proposal imminent.
Married folks of Hubski, how did you propose?
My wife, stoned and giggly one night, talked about how we could have an engagement party at this big campout event we go to.
I said, "Um. Engagement party?"
Her eyes went wide...
And I said, "Did you just propose to me?!?"
Her eyes went wider...
And I said, "Before you say anything else, YES! And YES, I think it would be GREAT to have our engagement party there!"
And we smooched.
(And then went out and bought $10 steel rings. Because if we lose/damage them, it's cheap and easy to replace.)
- Married folks of Hubski, how did you propose?
Drunkenly!
I won't share the story, as it's a personal one I hold close to my chest, but rest assured, I was deeply and shamefully inebriated. Believe it or not, Dala was none too impressed, but being the smart cookie that she is, she said "yes" anyways.
We drove out to the middle of nowhere to stargaze & watch a meteor shower, and I proposed after a nice bright one. I think I said something dumb about wishing on a on a shooting start while proposing, and she blinked and didn't see that one at all, but she said yes anyway.
Eyyyy, it’s bfx!
I heard that they closed the Russian enclave in Seattle due to excessive kleinbl00.
My snoz looks gargantuan in this picture.
It's only slightly smaller in person.
It’s kind of a forced perspective piece, with you much nearer the lens.
#suebl00
I am with my family in DC for the week. The idea was to come and not work while here but I’m finding I’m not good at not working or at the least, I’m not good at not checking in.
It’s been nice to be here. My favorite part was teaching my daughter how to play hang man. I recently saw a post from steve talking about how much fun it is to play games with your older children. I agree. It’s getting fun.
Forever Labs is cranking along. Things look good. We have some IP that a large company wants to license, our client signups are growing quickly and we are hiring sales people etc. we brought on a PR company and I anticipate that May and June will see some significant growth.
I hope all is well with you, Hubski.
Onward!
Spring is garden time in my urban Seattle homestead. Last couple weeks I moved 10 yards of mulch and compost, roto tilled a chunk of my back yard, setup two more raised beds, and planted some trees and shrubs. Things are looking pretty good actually, but still lots to do.
Ive planted the first batch of veggies this weekend, carrots, beets, radish, peas are in the ground, so are the first set of store bought starts broccoli, lettuce and Brussels sprout, onion and garlic as well. The radishes, beets and peas have sprouted so things are humming along nicely.
Like any garden year its not without some failures. I think I over-compacted the starting mix by prewetting it and root rot happened, about half the arugula died and all the broccoli. Second set is looking a lot better.
Ordered a bunch more seed today, parsnips, lettuce, watermelon (challenge crop), radish and dill. Ill probably get them in the ground at the end of the week. Next big problem is irrigation, Ill need to set something up before mid May when the dry weather starts. Looking into some mini wobblers or some sort of other sprinkler system. Last years drip experiment was kind of a fail and a lot of stuff dried out.
Other than that, it looks like my Bees made it through the winter with about 5 frames of honey and 5-6 frames of bees which is a little low but the fact that they made it at all is pretty good for a first year beekeeper. Chickens are laying well, and I think its going to be a bumper year for plums since it was warm and the bees were out during bloom time.
Other than that thinking of buying my first starter mechanical watch. I was looking at the Hamilton Khaki Field watch, seems like a good value and can be bought for around 200-250 used. I'd really like to get a good vintage starter watch in that price range but I don’t really know what or where to look for so suggestions would be appreciated.
Burning Man ticket sale is today, wish me luck!
Also, I really like this video I made about a week ago so I'll re-post it in the pub:
Getting psyched for Berlin in 2 weeks.
Happy to announce I successfully learned how to snowboard this year. From not being able to stand up to going down some double black diamonds last week. It was really good snow, no mogul, no ice but still it's insane progress. Can't wait to go from advanced beginner level to medium level next year!
I've more or less decided to try hiking up East Pecos Baldy. 12.5 miles and 2600' ascent would be a piece of cake at 4000'. At 12,500', we'll see. It's official trail all the way to the summit, but if I get pooped there's a fantastic alpine lake at the base of the mountain. It'd still be worth the trip.
If that goes well I may follow up with Truchas Peak, the second highest point in New Mexico. One way to the summit follows a lot of the same trail as East Pecos, so there would be fewer surprises on the longer expedition with that trip behind me.
I stared at those mountains every day of my life until I was 18 and it never occurred to me to climb them. Drive lifted Landcruisers over them? Mos def. But now I am decidedly chuffed that you're going for it.
Northern NM cuisine, as far as I'm concerned, is defined by green chili cheeseburgers at Blake's Lottaburger, the stuffed sopaipilla at Rancho de Chimayo and the Allsup's chimichanga.
Should you feel the need to experience someone else's childhood, check out Overlook Park in White Rock, NM and Jemez Falls. They are among the only places I consider beautiful in that, my hated homeland.
I'm glad you pointed me to the area. I love green, too, and think I'd have a hard time living in the desert, but the mountains here look fantastic. My rough plan is to fly out Saturday, spend Sunday getting used to the elevation at least a little, and then do a one day hike Monday or Tuesday (weather dependent). The days off will give me a chance to try the local cuisine and the two beautiful things in northern New Mexico.
If you'd asked me even five years ago what climbing a mountain looked like, I'd have described ropes and harnesses and hanging on by fingertips in the Alps or Himalayas. I'd have thought if one wasn't a single error away from a 1000' free fall, they were essentially hiking to the high point of Florida with no gray area in between. It turns out I was very wrong. These are mountains average people can summit.
Growing up, it was called "going for a walk." And it usually involved tramping out somewhere in the back of an unreliable Saab, one bota bag of water to two adults, two children and two dogs, to scramble through prickly pear and jumping cholla in sandals only to look at some godforsaken decrepit Anasazi shithole or other. Deer Trap Mesa, for example. Be eight. Be pulled away from a Saturday afternoon working on cars, drinking sweet tea and eating white trash cookies to blister in the sun for three hours so you can feel embarrassed about your dogs barking at other hikers and be thirsty only to stare at a fuckin' hole in the ground.
My attitude on hiking improved somewhat when I discovered that plenty of people went out for the afternoon with a muthafuckin' gallon each, and often left their ill-behaved pets at home. Also, you could put gatorade powder in the water. And ice.
I didn't really take to it, however, until my old memories were a thousand miles away.
My early hiking memories were one of two things: either Boy Scouts or parents. If it was Boy Scouts, it was a bunch of 13 year old assholes wearing cotton socks, blue jeans, those tan shirts, and a plastic rain poncho (because somehow it was always raining). I didn't know proper rain gear was an actual thing until years later. And we always car camped, so they were the same bland trails every other car camper walked down. If it was parents, they definitely weren't getting along, not arguing but neither happy with anything in life or in that day. Kids see that attitude as clear as day.
It was fifteen years before I did it on my own terms and found I liked it. I also learned that nothing we did in Boy Scouts was relevant to backpacking.
As an aside, I see in my niece what I think I experienced as a child: parents disappointed with life and a child who tries to make them happier (but can't). I don't know what to do about that.
Something that might help is just being there to remind her that her emotions/self/life and all that deserve her attention as well. She’ll realistically keep trying to take their problems on herself but at least there will be another voice in her head telling her she matters too/ is her own person. Literally just talk to her about her day, if she shows interest in something encourage that and maybe gift her something small to help her progress.
I can pick out other peoples emotions with relative ease, but when it comes to my own I need to remind myself to pay attention by keeping a journal. I’ll bet I still would have issues if I had somebody like that, but they wouldn’t be as bad.
We'd go hiking up Caballo the hard way - up through Rendija. It was fifteen miles one way because of road closures. We'd often see our friends the Boy Scouts coming down the other looking chipper - because they'd break trail (this trail, in fact) and do it the pussy way.
I used to feel left out because my father was adamant that his son would have nothing to do with "those paramilitary Nazis." Then I found out that the Scouts were pussies and it didn't suck so hard.
"You were always such a happy baby," my father said, upon me showing him a picture I found in my dead grandparents' stash. He looked wistful. It wasn't until I dug through the rest of the photos - in the process of going through my parents' slides of my first five or six years, I watched the progression. By the time I was two I was a haunted-eyed little kid whose back was always to the camera, unless I was cornered like a wounded animal. There are legitimately no photos of me between the ages of eight and about sixth grade. To date, my proudest accomplishment is how bubbly and joyful my own kid is. She's irrepressible. She wakes up happy, she goes to bed happy, and in the middle she's almost entirely happy. I watch her and wonder at exactly what kind of terrible fucking parent you have to be to kill that so thoroughly.
I don't know what to do about it either. But I know it affects me so much more to see it happen to someone else than it did to know it happened to me.
You should absolutely be proud of yourself for having a happy child.
I'm happy she's happy, and I'm happy you know she's happy. The world is a better place.
VACATION STARTS NOW! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
...
I live in Lawrence, Kansas. The University of Kansas basketball team made it into the Final Four. Again. I could give less of a shit, but the city has announced that downtown will be closed to traffic all day Saturday. I'm sure as shit going to go relish in that. Just have to go early and get out before the game gets underway.
Bah humbug. Oooo... a pedestrian zone. Neat.
I don't think I've ever had a published unit that left me feeling completely fulfilled and satisfied. Naturally, by the time the draft is coming together, you start to question little bits here and there, think about the things you could do to make it stronger, wonder if a follow-up experiment could pull the rug out from everything, and so on. Then there's always the push from you boss or advisor or the real-world realities of academia to just wrap it up and put it out there. It's just the pace of research.
“Saved by the bell, eh.”
The guy could’ve been my grandpa. He said it to me, at the end of the front crawl swimming lesson where we both wanted some extra tips on leg movement. The next group came in early so we stopped earlier than intended.
My conclusion is that I officially suck at swimming frontcrawl. I tried to do what the guy said, but I literally didn’t move forward at all. My feet were the problem - they provide the push surface, but my natural position is to have them at a 90 degree angle. Besides that, swimming anything other than the breaststroke is something that requires a bunch of dumb practice, so I’m stubbornly flailing on.
I also held a housewarming with a bunch of friends. It was great, one of those evenings where everyone has a good time (or at least that’s how it felt).
A bourbon Old Fashioned, barkeep. I need something long, and languid, and sippable. I'll be sitting bundled up in a coat next to a bonfire, so it'll be perfect.
Started my job search, because I have lost faith in my company. Product stagnation. Management foibles. And while I did get an excellent review and a raise, I did not get any support for my advancement plan, and don't see anywhere for me to go in this company. Stagnation.
So I am fishing around. Brushing up the resume. Polishing the LinkedIn.
Medical
Got a checkup from the doctor (first time I've seen her in, like, 7 years), and it turns out I have tragically low testosterone, and very high calcium. Turns out the two things (and my weird Keratoconus in my right eye) may all be related to the same wussy parathyroid problem, so I have thyroid supplements I am taking now to try and address all these minor issues all at once.
The best one is the low testosterone. People look at me - big manly dude, with a shaggy beard, 50-inch chest, and all that business - and say, "Ehh... WHAT?"
I'm actually so low, I am off the bottom of the scale they use to measure it. Makes me laugh, honestly.
Doc says that if the thyroid doesn't help, they'll put me on testosterone supplements, and I'll lose weight and either gain/lose all my hair. I'm good with all those outcomes, so looking forward to getting my body chemistry back in balance.
As far as the Keto diet goes, I have hit the 3 month plateau, after losing 30 pounds. Got another 30 or so to lose before my birthday in October, so I'm doing well there. Hopeful, and committed to the Fit-And-50 goal!
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Finally, my Chevy Volt continues to blow my mind. I love this car.
I was told to eat more red meat and saturated fats, and minimize carbs. (yay bacon and eggs and venison sausage dinners.) My T went from lowish normal to above normal. The other issues are starting to move in the right direction as well. I've gone cold turkey on all sodas, artificial sweeteners, everything but coffee and a touch of half and half. I went three weeks at 1800 Kcal, for a body that should intake 2700-3000 and it FUCKING SUCKED. AND! I did not lose weight but got thinner, but lost mostly muscle. Also, I think I lost grey matter and dropped a few dozen IQ points. Back to eating what I should. I'm still not losing weight and the next step is to get my old fat decrepit walking corpse to the gym and lift weights again.
The doc I have is now reading a ton of crap on insulin responses and how they interact with men's endocrine feed-backs. Why is my blood pressure low? Why am I not losing weight? Why can I eat animal fats by the damned pound and have a total cholesterol under 200? Shit like that. It's kinda fun to be the enigma for a change.
This growing old crap is nonsense, ain't it. Beats the alternative tho'.
- As far as the Keto diet goes, I have hit the 3 month plateau, after losing 30 pounds.
Then you hit the whoosh and notice that you feel better, sleep better, are less moody and start writing sappy shit on small social media websites. Grats on moving in the right direction.
Home Improvement:
Went out and splurged on a watercooler for the apartment. It's very extra, and we're still not sure how to go about getting the 5 gallon jugs, but I'm unreasonably excited about it.
Also got my first artwork, meaning now I have to figure out how to frame things. And figure out where to put it. And figure out how to hang it without violating the lease. Which is worth it, because I get happy just looking at that picture for some reason.
A kegerator setup has a CO2 canister, so a flat liquid is put in, all the hoses are set up, pressure is added, and as it sits the CO2 dissolves in the liquid, carbonating it.
Yeah its super easy I buy the 5lb Co2 canisters from the home brew store add normal tap water to the kegs and put it under 30 PSI for about 5-7 days. The CO2 dissolves in and I get carbonated water. I keep 2 hooked up so I can rotate them when I blow one and thats usually enough time to carbonate the next. The setup is a bit pricey I think it probably cost about $400 to get going and I was originally using it for homebrew but as Ive gotten older I cant really drink without messing up my sleep so ive switched over to just carbonated water.
The Old Gods whisper that if you pull the skidplate, remove the rear wheels, drop the transaxle, pull the motor and drop the tank as is required to change the often-failing fuel gage sender, you will there find a plaque that reads "Congratulations you have reached the most inaccessible part of the car."
Colin Chapman commissioned that car in '71 out of Italdesign. They made a 1/4 scale buck which pulled a drag coefficient of 0.34; Chapman was so disgusted that he cancelled the project. Italdesign said "fuck that shit", built a 1:1 mockup and showed it at Turin in '72. Lotus proceeded to manufacture them from 1975 to 2004.
I don't fit in this car. That was one of my most disappointing automotive discoveries. I cannot simultaneously depress the clutch and steer. Despite that, I seriously considered buying this even though British electrics plus this engine are perhaps the most biblically-bad engineering combo in the history of engine swaps:
- The M70 has two Motronic 1.7 ECUs (one for each cylinder bank). To provide redundancy, the M70 also has two fuel pumps, fuel rails, distributors, mass air flow sensors, crankshaft position sensors, coolant temperature sensors and throttle bodies. Some M70 engines (such as fitted to the E32 750iL Highline) are fitted with two alternators. The second alternator is smaller and is used to charge an auxiliary battery and power equipment in the rear passenger compartment, such as a telephone, fax machine, wine cooler, independent climate control and power sun shields.
Such is my love for this ridiculous, benighted catastrophe of a car.
(it's worth noting that Aubrey de Grey is quite possibly the closest thing mk has to an idol)
I've lurked for a while here, but never felt the urge to comment much. Always time to make a change I guess!
Anyways, not much is new in my life at the moment. I think I'm finally sure about my major which is nice. Unfortunately, I'm realizing that my area of interest is likely going to consume the better part of my twenties (CS/Math and social life don't belong in the same sentence).
The upside is I'm realizing how much I love going to school. It seems everyday I talk to my friends and they hate their classes, hate doing their assignments, hate having to study, etc. But for me, it never feels like that.
I hate how fake it sounds, but I honestly feel humbled that I get to go a great school and learn from some really amazing people. I love opening my textbooks and losing myself in some really complex concept, only to come out feeling like I'm finally one step closer to truly understanding. Even when I come out more confused than before I started (which is often with math), it only makes me want to know more! I'm incredibly lucky I suppose, because it seems many people feel the exact opposite.
Just got a new-to-me Fuji X100s. Been toying with it over the past few days.
Definitely missing my piano a whole lot recently. Trying to learn a new piece is not impossible, but made rather more difficult without being able to play. Just gotta stretch my brain around it some more.
In short: trying to keep the creative mind busy away from my day gig, which requires a whole different kind of creativity. Work is good. Nearly done with a preliminary design!