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Photo of fireworks against the downtown Manhattan skyline.
Low res fireworks

Happy belated July 4th to those who celebrate. There was a lot going on in New York to celebrate 250 years. First, we were treated to a spectacular Parade of Tall ships and International Aerial Review, then the fireworks. Hats off to the people that went out in the heat to see these things, we opted to enjoy it all from the air conditioned comfort of our apartment.

Speaking of air conditioning, ours has been cranking for days, which is unusual for us. We’re not the only ones. ConEd reduced voltage in large swaths of Brooklyn on Friday. I was curious as to how much, so I broke out the multi-meter: It was around 115 volts in our apartment. Without measuring, we wouldn’t have noticed, but some of our neighbors’ air conditioners weren’t performing well in those conditions.

Earlier in the week, I was invited to the annual Blessing of the Fleet in Sheepshead Bay. Mechanical trouble forced us to go back to the mooring just seconds after we cast off—better there than in the channel. This prevented full participation in the blessing, but we were able to enjoy some time on the boat and a taste of rum punch.

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Photo some blue egg crate foam attached to a white wall. A sign above has the text: "BANG HEAD HERE".
All workplaces should be equipped with this emergency feature.

The week numbers in the titles here remind us that we’ve reached the halfway point of the year. Well, close enough, anyway. I think this halfway point is a good time to take stock of the things I wanted to accomplish this year and make sure they are moving in the right direction—or at least some direction. In that spirit, I managed to knock a couple big things off the list this week. “Big” in the sense that they were blocking further progress, even if just mentally in some cases.

I attended an employer sponsored volunteer event in the park one day this week. We assembled some outdoor displays then did some weeding and mulching. I think this was my first time volunteering in the park that didn’t involve pulling up English ivy though. That, coupled with the great team made this one of the best events I’ve done.

It looks like we’re in for a heat wave next week. Stay cool out there if you’re on the East Coast.

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Photo of a white sign with black text on a wooden fence. The text is: "ENTRY INTO THIS YARD FOR ANY REASON IS PROHIBITED. THIS INCLUDES TIME-WARNER, NYNEX, CON ED AN ALL UTILITY COMPANY EMPLOYEES. SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL AT THESE COMPANIES ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO GRANT PERMISSION TO ENTER. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED. NEW YORK STATE PENAL LAW Sec. 140.06."
There must be an interesting history behind this sign, both literally and figuratively.

The “band” was back together for a Jamulus jam this week. It’s been about a month since we played together, and therefore about a month since any of us has picked up our instruments. Surprisingly, we sounded alright despite our lack of practice.

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The New York Knicks logo.

The Knicks ended their long, championship dry spell this week by defeating the Spurs. So rampant was Knicks fever that even a non-sports guy like me caught a touch of it. Not to the extent that I ran out an got a jersey or anything, but I did watch a couple games. Even without the game on, one knew something big was happening by the collective cheers from the neighbors as the Knicks clawed their way back in the final minutes. Then, victory. Congratulations, Knicks fans, it’s been a long time coming.

One other anecdote this week: If you patronize restaurants, at some point, a server has probably asked the table “Have you dined with us before?” If you say no, you’re in for a scripted explanation of the restaurant’s mission statement (heavily laced with current dining trends’ buzzwords) and some other information. A few years ago, you were likely to hear things like “We serve small plates, we recommend two to three per person.”, “Everything is meant to be shared.”, “The food will come from the kitchen as it is ready.” These are all good things to know when ordering, even if it is tiresome to hear it everywhere.

However, I heard something totally new to me this week. As part of their spiel, a server proudly stated “We’re Miami inspired, that’s why it might seem loud in here.” Really? Restaurant managers, please don’t require your staff say such things. But, if you must, be Miami inspired for the food and not the noise level.

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Photo of a bicycle modified to carry a drum grill on the rear.
Grill on wheels

This was a short work week for me since we went to Florida for a long weekend. It’s been a while since I’ve experienced the joy of air travel. It was an excellent reminder of why I prefer the train.

In other news, I made some minor updates to this blogroll history page. I had noticed some weirdness in the graph recently, which has now been fixed. The data is sort of interesting, to me anyway, even if the visualization is less than stunning. The data gets a little more interesting after May 2024 when I started curating my blog roll more actively and one can clearly see the sites I’ve followed forever, and those that I only followed for a short time.

The original version of this was one of my first vibecoding attempts a couple years ago, and it shows. I think I did all of this in Chat GPT (copy & paste, no Copilot). The script is absolutely impossible to follow, and very brittle. Perhaps I’ll clean it up one day. While I was at it, I migrated the whole mess over to Codeberg.

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