Updatey thingie

Decent, busy weekend, albeit with ongoing connectivity issues. I headed off Saturday morning to Westminster to pick up chainsaw, tractor and shredder parts from Taylor's Outdoor Power Equipment, a little mom 'n' pop outfit that's been around for ages and one that I have dealt with for over twenty years. I take the time and drive over 40 miles to this place because the service and people are second to none, the equipment they carry is first-rate professional gear. I can safely say that I have spent over ten grand in equipment and parts purchases over the years with this shop. Imagine my surprise and sadness when I pull into the parking lot only to find that the store was empty, the signage removed and a "Coming Soon" sign in the front boasting of an unrelated masonry and landscape shop. The relentless march of time claimed yet another reliable small family business. Strangely, I heard nothing regarding the closing of the shop or any reasons why. For all the years I have been doing business with Taylor's, they were never slack for work. In recent years though, "Old Man" Taylor had suffered some health setbacks, including a nearly fatal stroke. He was not at the shop for quite a while, but one day he was back and he and I did a lot of catching up. The stroke definitely did nothing to take away his memory, as he remembered not only my name, the equipment I have and where I work, but even smaller details too numerous to mention. The only indication I had of any impeding troubles was my last visit, where I had problems getting parts that were normally stocked. Apparently the recent storms down south and the ongoing cleanup efforts have caused shortages of new equipment available for sale. This is a widespread issue affecting a lot of businesses. I assume that the family decided to quietly retire the business at the end of the year while the getting was good. Or at least I am hoping this is the case, rather than some family tragedy. I now have to try and find another dealer that I can do business with that can at least partially live up to the standards set by Taylor's. I'm going to miss that entire crew.

Saturday evening Jeff and I headed off to see Brokeback Mountain. The movie, at least for me, did not have quite the 'tissue factor' as I had been expecting, but was powerful nonetheless. In fact, this was one of those rare movies that had me doing a lot of quiet mental post-processing. I guess I was not alone, since I dont recall hearing much spoken by anyone else leaving the theater that night.

Sunday was mostly a day of working around the house and garage, as well as installing a new cable modem in hopes of fixing my severe packet loss, to no avail. More tinkering around the house, plus a weekend of playing with the pico-pooch "Bear" (who is getting cuter by the week) and lots of running around made me sleep like a log on Sunday night. Also, sadly, I gave in and shaved down my beard, which was getting too scraggly in addition to starting to get caught in some of my work. The bathroom wastebasket looks like a ferret is sleeping in it.

Tonight my connection is not too bad. I hope it holds out long enough for me to get this post in.

Severe geek post

Some have expressed an interest in the computer I have been spawning in the Manic Mechanic Tactical Underground Bunker of Mayhem.

( Extreme, pimped-out geekery ahead )