We're so cooked.

And not in a good way.

First things first- I feel compelled to post up a photo of my beloved Hunter cyclocross bicycle just before dropping it off at Poo Shoe Joe's house where it will eventually get brought to a powdercoater for a new jacket;

This poor old bike. It's been beaten and broken so many times Rick finally told me he wasn't going to fix it anymore and would rather just build me a new frame. Thankfully he has the technology to rebuild it, better, faster, stronger.

I have a grocery bag full of odds and ends, my favorite (and naturally discontinued handlebar/stem combo), and they are all patiently waiting to get put back where they belong.

Now then- Having addressed that very important bit of news- recently Thad reached out to me to let me know there's a new AI generated musical group called Girly Girl Productions, and it's pretty spectacular;

All of the Gen Z data has been analyzed, fed into a music generator, and this is the result.

Personally, I was hopeful that in the current age of discontent a band would come along to fill the shoes of Fugazi or something but I guess we get what we get.

In response to my, "oh, what the hell did you send me?"

Thad simply wrote, "love, laugh, toaster bath".

 I have forwarded it on to Sally, safe with the knowledge that he will likely add at least one of Girly Girl Production's songs to the Hodala mix along side of 'Tub Thumper' and 'What's Up?' and stay on top of the absolutely most aggravating array of music I've ever had the displeasure to be around.

 

Moving along, I feel compelled to re-post this photo of Cheever and KB;

I don't have any context for this photograph, as Cheever will often text me random images, but I have to say that it might be one of my favorite photos of two of my favorite people I've ever seen, and you're welcome.

 In the world of rollerboarding, Caddy reached out and let me know Nate Guest's clip just dropped on Thrasher and encouraged me to give it a look, so I did and you should too;

The more I watch skateboarding anymore, the less I understand it. I have a vague notion of physics, and momentum, and basic principals of the world, but when I watch people like Nate- People with an almost super natural talent, I just can't wrap my mind around how they do what they do.

Having addressed that, do I have any people in Minneapolis who made it to the Surly Brewing Darkness Day this past weekend?;

I hollered at some of my people but hey all had other stuff going on which makes me highly suspect that they're still my people. 

 I had plans on going but after getting this fancy new website paid off, it turns out I sure didn't have an abundance of spare money laying around with which to finance travel shenanigans. Damn, not being independently wealthy.

Speaking of which, besides having this swank new website, did you know I also have a real banging new webstore as well?

Perhaps you need some stickers? Or a bandana? Or a hat? I mean, it's been a minute since I had anything brand new and shiny for folks to procure, but product costs money. You know, when I launched this website, I very naively thought "I'll spend 250 dollars on cüzies, then I'll take the money I make with those, and invest in new product, and then take the money from that product, and invest it in new product, and so on until Bob becomes our uncle.

I don't really take into account things like rent, groceries, bills, my wife dumping me, having to relocate to a new state, the Hadron collider exploding, waking up in an alternate dimension, everything going upside down, a global pandemic, an orange fart cloud becoming president, etc. and so on, but really, who could have?

Anyway, I have a couple of items in the hopper (I just got a new batch of key leashes, but I have to wait on the engraved medallions, because the universe is mad at us.);

 They're scheduled to land in a couple weeks though (or sooner if the engraving place rushes my order).

One item of note that I'd like to address is I've found the couplers on these to be occasionally unreliable. I've remedied this by slathering the joint in either hot glue (form the glue with your fingers to be not too boogery as it's cooling) or Shoe Goo. Then slip a short section of 3.8"-3/16" heat shrink over the joint and give it some fire.

The results should look something like this;

Pilder initially gave me the heat shrink idea, which works real good, but as I've found, not so much on its own. The Goo, or hot glue just gives it a bit more fortification which one needs when spending their days picking up (dudes/ladies/what people are laying down/packages, etc.) and dropping off (duces/from society/packages, etc.). 

 Finally, from my loves at Shimano, comes this lovely edit called 'Unsung';

I miss my group of Shimano Gravel dingdongs, and this harkens up lovely memories of events throughout 2017/2018. Lovely memories that in hindsight, I desperately needed in the throes of so much life change through those years.

 

Now, as I begin to pull up my proverbial stakes, I'll leave you with a brand new episode of Revolting;

 

Which ironically, as life imitates art and vice versa, also has to do with cooking. 

But mostly not in a bad way.