New relationships in middle age is like trying to renovate an old house. It might have looked good on the outside and there was definite curb appeal but once you are in you have to find and repair all the damage done by the previous residents. And sometimes it's a lot of damage. Leaky pipes behind the drywall. Asbestos in the attic. Cracked foundation. 

Not that it isn't worth fixing. But sometimes you wonder if you even can.

4 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

New relationships in middle age is like trying to renovate an old house. It might have looked good on the outside and there was definite curb appeal but once you are in you have to find and repair all the damage done by the previous residents. And sometimes it's a lot of damage. Leaky pipes behind the drywall. Asbestos in the attic. Cracked foundation. 

Not that it isn't worth fixing. But sometimes you wonder if you even can.

As long as you making progress with that old house and addressing the problems as they appear I would say its worth it ?

45 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

As long as you making progress with that old house and addressing the problems as they appear I would say its worth it ?

Trust comes hard to people who have lost it. People who have been hard used in the past expect it in the future. I read a book once that said people only accept the love they feel they deserve. But I think anything can be worked through. 

Is great when a client hears "Production" when I say "UAT" on a Teams call.  Sucks for him

It's f---g SNOWING again. April 1st, spring time, baseball is starting in a week and it's f---g SNOWING!

Winter isn't coming. It never leaves!

I keep forgetting that you moved to WI. Welcome to my life.  Though really we only got a dusting last night. It stuck to the grass but not the pavement/roads.

We arrived in Oceanside yesterday for our half Ironman. It is pretty cool seeing all of the military helicopters buzzing around. We ride through Camp Pendleton tomorrow, so that should be entertaining.

We attempted a swim in the ocean. It was really rough. Windy with about 6-foot swells. My first attempt to swim didn't go well, but I caught my breathe and gave it a 2nd go and got out past the surf. My wife was not up for it at all. 

Race day is supposed to be calmer, so hopefully that will help. It is fumny how I stress out more for her than I do for myself. Anyways, it is fun seeing all the triathletes around town. This is a big pro race, so it should be entertaining to race behind them.

Open ocean swimming is a terrifying thought for me.

1 hour ago, Hurlsnot said:

 This is a big pro race, so it should be entertaining to race behind them.

Don't sell yourself short. Maybe you'll be racing in front of them! 

6 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Don't sell yourself short. Maybe you'll be racing in front of them! 

Hah! Pros do these races in about 4-5 hours. My goal is to keep it under 6. The pros actually go first, and then all of us age-groupers get moving. I will see them coming back on the bike while I am heading out though, and then I will see them on the run, which is a double loop. 

Sometimes a pro will struggle with nutrition and bonk and end up with us regular folk, but that usually only happens on the full distance Ironman events. Honestly I don't worry too much about placement in these big events. There are age group racers who drop all the money on the best gear, pay for trainers, and follow a plan religiously. I'm just looking to enjoy the race and feel good at the end, and my gear is usually about one step up from the cheapest you can buy. 

9 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

Open ocean swimming is a terrifying thought for me.

Welcome back to my childhood 😝

 

The North Sea is rarely above 17-18 degrees Celsius 🥶 

6 hours ago, Gorth said:

Welcome back to my childhood 😝

 

The North Sea is rarely above 17-18 degrees Celsius 🥶 

Geez Gorthfuscious I am not sure your Viking ancestors who waged war and defeated much of  the civilized world and discovered North America would have said " I cant invade the UK today fellow Vikings ...the water is too cold "  

You definitely not getting a seat at the eternal Valhalla feasting table with that attitude 

Edited April 2, 20223 yr by BruceVC

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

Geez Gorthfuscious I am not sure your Viking ancestors who waged war and defeated much of  the civilized world and discovered North America would have said " I cant invade the UK today fellow Vikings ...the water is too cold "  

You definitely not getting a seat at the eternal Valhalla feasting table with that attitude 

Why do you think I live in Queensland? Who cares about sharks, blue-ringed octopus, box jelly fish, stonefish, lion fish etc... at least the water is warm 😎

 

I'm sure I can rebook my place in Valhalla and get a seat at the Mauritius equivalent

 

  

14 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Why do you think I live in Queensland? Who cares about sharks, blue-ringed octopus, box jelly fish, stonefish, lion fish etc... at least the water is warm 😎

 

I'm sure I can rebook my place in Valhalla and get a seat at the Mauritius equivalent

Well, unless you get in on the "party" in Ukraine and get yourself killed like a proper Viking, you're likely headed for Niflhel together with 99.99% of Scandinavians, a place which the name suggests is likely neither sunny or warm.

Edited April 2, 20223 yr by Azdeus

40 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

  

Well, unless you get in on the "party" in Ukraine and get yourself killed like a proper Viking, you're likely headed for Niflhel together with 99.99% of Scandinavians, a place which the name suggests is likely neither sunny or warm.

Where do all the hot Viking women hang around, thats where you want to end up....forget the cold  💞

On 3/30/2022 at 11:27 AM, Guard Dog said:

New relationships in middle age is like trying to renovate an old house. It might have looked good on the outside and there was definite curb appeal but once you are in you have to find and repair all the damage done by the previous residents. And sometimes it's a lot of damage. Leaky pipes behind the drywall. Asbestos in the attic. Cracked foundation. 

Not that it isn't worth fixing. But sometimes you wonder if you even can.

As long as everyone keeps talking honestly and clearly to the construction guy, it should all work out in the end...

It might look a little different to how you imagined it when you started, but it's a glorious journey to get there...

6 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Where do all the hot Viking women hang around, thats where you want to end up....forget the cold  💞

Unless they die in battle they go to Niflhel, there are some people debating that if they die in childbirth they go somewhere else, but there are no real sources for it.

Now that I've got those key soft-parts sewed up, I'm trying to get back into Blender and the actual armour design.

Can't seem to get the right creative juices flowing on it. Trying different things and nothing is really sparking for me.

Also in tracking down the latest glitchy behaviour of my 3d printer, I discovered the nozzle had become partially unscrewed at some point, causing PLA to ooze out of the screw-threads, and glob inside the rubber heat protection all around the upper half of the nozzle, the heat block itself, and around the thermistor and wires.

Joy.

 

Edit:  And yep, also looks like the threads in the hotend are buggered. Tried putting in a replacement nozzle and it gets 3/4 in and then spins freely rather than tightening.

Now I need to get a new hotend for the printer.  Although since it's 3 years old there's a certain element that is tempted to upgrade to a new printer as is...

Edited April 2, 20223 yr by Raithe

Turning the area by the back fence into the bird and squirrel feeding station.  Got lots of sparrows, doves, bluebirds, and there is this flock of magpjes around.  Nice to sit under the porch cover and watch them squabble.  

Evenings are less peaceful then we would like tho, due to a neighbor who sits in her yard and talks loudly on the phone for literal hours, almost every night.  😕

19 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Where do all the hot Viking women hang around, thats where you want to end up....forget the cold  💞

I know it was a jest question, but a little known fact (outside the Nordic countries) is, the viking women were both powerful and influential before the Christianity imposed patriarchal system...

https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/vikings-women-home-matriarchs-traders-artisans/

 

– the Old Norse word víkingar referred solely to men. For this point in history, however, Viking women enjoyed a high degree of social freedom. They could own property, ask for a divorce if not treated properly, and they shared responsibility for running farms and homesteads with their menfolk. They were also protected by law from a range of unwanted male attention.

...

A married couple of húsbóndi (an Old Norse word which gives us English 'husband') and hýfreyja (wife) presided over the home as partners. The status accorded to the role of wife is clear from an inscription on the Hassmyra rune stone (Sweden), in which a bereaved húsbóndi claims that "no better hýfreyja will come to Hassmyra to run the estate" than his late wife, Odindisa. Common signs of wives' social status are the pairs of ornamental oval brooches, used as dress fasteners, found in large numbers of Viking-era female graves.

...

War in the Viking age was fought at close quarters with swords, spears and axes. Women could not escape such violence, especially if they were part of a group or community under attack, or travelling with a group of merchants who had to defend their wares. However, conclusive evidence for female participation in war as trained and regular warriors is currently slight, despite the recent interpretation of a 10th-century ‘warrior’ burial at Birka in Sweden as being that of a woman. The significance of this burial is still under debate, while in other instances women found buried with ‘weapons’ had actually been laid to rest with everyday tools, such as axes for chopping firewood.

 

It also includes a few bits about viking women as explorers and religious leaders...

58 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I know it was a jest question, but a little known fact (outside the Nordic countries) is, the viking women were both powerful and influential before the Christianity imposed patriarchal system...

https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/vikings-women-home-matriarchs-traders-artisans/

 

– the Old Norse word víkingar referred solely to men. For this point in history, however, Viking women enjoyed a high degree of social freedom. They could own property, ask for a divorce if not treated properly, and they shared responsibility for running farms and homesteads with their menfolk. They were also protected by law from a range of unwanted male attention.

...

A married couple of húsbóndi (an Old Norse word which gives us English 'husband') and hýfreyja (wife) presided over the home as partners. The status accorded to the role of wife is clear from an inscription on the Hassmyra rune stone (Sweden), in which a bereaved húsbóndi claims that "no better hýfreyja will come to Hassmyra to run the estate" than his late wife, Odindisa. Common signs of wives' social status are the pairs of ornamental oval brooches, used as dress fasteners, found in large numbers of Viking-era female graves.

...

War in the Viking age was fought at close quarters with swords, spears and axes. Women could not escape such violence, especially if they were part of a group or community under attack, or travelling with a group of merchants who had to defend their wares. However, conclusive evidence for female participation in war as trained and regular warriors is currently slight, despite the recent interpretation of a 10th-century ‘warrior’ burial at Birka in Sweden as being that of a woman. The significance of this burial is still under debate, while in other instances women found buried with ‘weapons’ had actually been laid to rest with everyday tools, such as axes for chopping firewood.

 

It also includes a few bits about viking women as explorers and religious leaders...

Yes it was a joke, Im glad you getting to know my sense of humor but its a relevant topic anyway around what you posted 

Women have always played  a critical role in all societies not just Viking history. What I didnt realize from your link is that the idea of " shield maidens " is not confirmed in the sense the Viking warriors were all men. If you watch the excellent series Vikings you see  quite often women Vikings fighting in various campaigns

But that's just artistic license and shouldn't negate the other real contributions women have made in  building and sustaining our societies

Thats also another thing I agree with Jordan Peterson on, the idea that the history of Western countries is all about the oppression of women due to things like the historical Patriarchy is exaggerated and inaccurate in certain portrays of the role women played 

 

On 4/2/2022 at 4:21 AM, BruceVC said:

Where do all the hot Viking women hang around, thats where you want to end up....forget the cold  💞

Don't know about the rest of the guys but I found a blonde haired blue eyed Nordic beauty hanging around a horsebarn.

4 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Don't know about the rest of the guys but I found a blonde haired blue eyed Nordic beauty hanging around a horsebarn.

Like so?

People are weirder now, almost got into an altercation because I was "taking all the good avocadoes" in a grocery.  

Went out to vote. Seems we are having a record turnout this time, will be interesting to see what happens this time.