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Finally got back to some sort of a running routine this week. It was hard getting back to it this winter, the cold weather being a major hurdle. It’s just a bit easier to motivate now that the weather is getting more springlike.

When heading back from the park on Saturday, a woman stopped me for directions. In my post-run, pre-coffee state, I didn’t notice the Trump visor she was wearing right away. In my defense, it wasn’t the usual, garish red ones, it was a somewhat more tasteful white with blue lettering. I pointed her in the direction of the subway she was looking for rather than the opposite direction without any snarky remarks. I hope her visit to the nightmare of the inner city was all she had hoped for.

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That last, significant vestige of my boat ownership is gone. Someone at my old club bought my mooring tackle this week. This buyer came along at the right time as I was contemplating what sort of floating art project I could moor in the bay.

I made a minor update the Asterisk Home PBX this week. There is now a whitelist of callers that will ring straight through, bypassing the auto-attendant. There’s nothing fancy to automatically add phone numbers to the whitelist, it’s just maintained manually since it will always be a very short list. The auto-attendant, by the way, is very effective, we don’t even get voicemails from robocallers anymore.

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US Political Links

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Photo of several people, including David Johansen on the left, at the 2005 Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. One person is holding a toy, devil's pitchfork aloft, another is holding a large cardboard cutout of a key with the words "Coney Island" written on it.
David Johansen (left) as Mermaid King 2005

David Johansen died on Friday. There are much better pictures of Mr. Johansen out there, but I only have this one that I took. He was the Mermaid King at the 2005 Mermaid Parade. I first knew Johansen as Buster Poindexter, likely from his stint on SNL. It would be a couple more years before I was introduced to the New York Dolls. Rest in peace, David.

Something else died on Friday. Our President and Vice President berated an ally in full display of the media for not saying thank you. What a couple of assholes. Zelenskyy remained composed, which just made them all the more upset. One of the members of the White House’s hand-picked press pool joined in by mockingly questioning the Ukrainian President’s attire. It was a sorry display. At least everyone knows where this administration stands now, if they didn’t already. Timothy Snyder’s post, The War Trump Chooses, is a good analysis of this.

We didn’t really have quorum for our Jamulus jam this Friday without a singer, but we forged ahead anyway. Perhaps it goes without saying, but not having vocals makes it much harder to remember where the changes are. It was a good time nonetheless. I think I’m learning to project more when I sing, because my wife shut the door to “the studio” during this session. This also says a lot about the quality of my singing.

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The Rheingold beer sign retrofit I started last week (or three years ago, depending on when you start the clock) is finished. I ended up going with the simplest solution. I’ve been enjoying the warm glow of the sign–it really pulls the room together now.

Congestion pricing lasted about a month longer than I thought it would. This week Trump declared it dead and crowned himself in the process. What an asshole. Despite his declaration, they are still collecting the fees and the MTA is suing. I hope they can hold onto it as it seems to have the intended effect and, as expected, people are warming up to it.

We had a good Jamulus jam this week, but the after party was plagued with technical difficulties. We got through it though. I’m happy we have these regular jam sessions since it’s the only time I’ve been picking up the bass. That changes this week, I’m going to start my practice regimen again and also work on improving one of our songs.

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Posting better mix for our cover of Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp! This was from a 2024 Jamulus session and remixed by my friend Todd Evans. Contrast this with my original mix here. Yes, I have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to mixing.

Look Sharp! (Joe Jackson cover) recorded from a Jamulus session on 22 Nov, 2024. Remixed by Todd Evans.