The Cryan' Shames

I'm still here.

Me too, despite my long absence.  I enjoy lurking and seldom feel compelled to comment on anything, too much yapping as it is.  I've been catching up my reading, looking at all the early Institute postings since day one, and also the many other blogs that Uncle Ken is a part of.  Quite revealing, and maybe a little too much information at times.  From what I gather, Uncle Ken was originally from the St. Louis area and didn't move to Chicago until the age of four.  This explains a lot, and why he may have never been issued his "Chicago Card."  If so, he would have recognized the reference to Richard J. in the context of the word "insinuendo."

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This whole coffee business has become quite the learning process and even as I enjoy it more I'm drinking less.  Go figure.  I have more than a dozen different kinds of coffee, both whole bean and pre-ground, and I'm beginning to appreciate the subtle differences.  There is a certain ritual aspect, reminds me a bit of a Japanese tea ceremony, and enjoying the final cup is a real pleasure, twenty minutes of peaceful contemplation.  No TV, no computer, no radio or music, no reading, just sitting quietly and letting my thoughts wander.  Very therapeutic, in my opinion, and it leaves me rested and relaxed.  Once I started purging outside bullshit from my daily routine (and reality) life has been greatly improved and I can focus on my own thoughts and what I should be doing as The Grim Reaper starts going through his Rolodex.

And it's been great, getting new toys and making the time to enjoy them.  I don't know exactly why I bought a sextant recently, but I did, figuring, why not?  Might come in handy after the Zombie Apocalypse and the GPS systems are down.  And now that I've gotten a little more room due to my efforts at going through old crap I found a nice space for a new 3D printer, so I got one of those, too.  Not easy humping a 30+ pound box on a couple of buses but you do what you gotta do, y'know?  The end result is that I'm having a lot more fun than I deserve.  Got some laser diode modules from Amazon too, for another series of goofball projects I have in mind and are showing promise.  When you have an itch to study fluid dynamics you gotta scratch it, I think.

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I don't know where Uncle Ken is going with his latest Covid opus, but going west on Ashland is a good trick.