The good morning, good night thread

[fnord33]

Handsome Bastards 

[Rev. Austin]

Cheers for the 'like' - hope you derived some dubious enjoyment from our sexy rock  hahaha

Well, the first workshop went well, considering we hadn't planned anything and we were dealing with thirteen 8 year olds 

[fnord33]

I got to see David Liebe Heart today. 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bGIClBgsX7E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I got a copy of his punk album. Yes, that guy has a punk album. He drew a portrait of me. Not sure what to think about it. Most people's I saw looked like a normal cartoon of them. Mine looks lie Michael Jackson in a sweatsuit.  Now, I'm not a pretty person, but I don't look like Michael, and I was wearing a plaid suit coat over a Misfits shirt. Don't get me wrong. I like this better than a normal-looking picture, but I can't help wondering what it's like in his head.

The show started with a bad early 90's style garage band, which was cool because I always wanted to go to Seattle during that time period and see the little unsigned bands. Now I feel I have. Really Loud Hamburgers was next. They were like a cross between Black Flag and Dead Milkmen, but faster than either. Lots of fun. I wish there had been more people there and that I was drinking. It figures that the best punk show I've seen in years would barely have enough people there to hold the walls up.   

[Geoff_N]

I've returned from cycling up mountains in the Spanish Costa Blanca. I saw the rubbish weather forecast so I took my laptop. In between the dry cycling periods I was able to add about 2k words a day to my SF trilogy so that's a bonus. I hired a carbon fibre road bike. I've never cycled on a machine that weighed less than my arm before. The acceleration was amazing. I still was only the second from the bottom of the leaderboard of cycling up Coll de Rates. 40 hairpin bends in 7 km! Dead chuffed to have had enough breath to continue on through mountain valleys and vineyards and to a well-earned ice cream in Benidorm by sunset. I'd do it again but those Spanish trunk roads scare me.

[Ed]

I bet your old bike will feel like a lump of lead between your legs on your next outing, Geoff. Incredible how light some bikes are these days.

[Geoff_N]

I bet your old bike will feel like a lump of lead between your legs on your next outing, Geoff. Incredible how light some bikes are these days.

My Dawes Super Galaxy was liking riding an iron bedstead yesterday, so you are right there. There were a couple of drawbacks to the ultra light bike in Spain: it's scarey when a gust of wind sends me sideways - hardly ever happens on my heavy bike. When standing on the pedals for the very steep bits I thought I could feel the bike bending and it feels twitchy. It wouldn't have snapped but felt as if it might.

[delboy]

Sounds like a great adventure, Geoff! Good prep' for Death Valley?

Must admit I've neglected my cycling these last few months in favour of fishing...as autumn and winter come on my thoughts turn to fish with teeth and a taste for flesh rather than lycra shorts and energy drinks...

Derek

[Geoff_N]

rained everyday since I got back from Spain. Did today too so I wrote for a while then said bugger it I'm off out. No such thing as bad weather, they say, just wrong clothes. So togged up in my wet weather gear just for the damn rain to stop when I slung my leg over Daisy. Nothing goes right.

[Ed]

I know what you mean, Geoff. The rain was really getting me down yesterday, well that and the dull grey skies. Couldn't see what I was doing without having the lights on. At least today I'll be warm -- 32C in a shed with 50,000 chicks. Only trouble being I have to keep going outside, so it'll be too hot, too cold all day, I'm guessing

Last night was a trial as well. Had my accountant around for one and a half hours, going through the figures for last year, and they're not very good -- turnover is up, but profit is down. Waaay down. Can't make it out, though. I've been flat out busy the whole time, earning good money, so I need to sit down and figure out what happened

[desertwomble]

At least today I'll be warm -- in a shed with 50,000 chicks.

Nudge, nudge; wink, wink!

DW

[elay2433]

Last night was a trial as well. Had my accountant around for one and a half hours, going through the figures for last year, and they're not very good -- turnover is up, but profit is down. Waaay down. Can't make it out, though. I've been flat out busy the whole time, earning good money, so I need to sit down and figure out what happened

I'm hearing the same thing from my boss. Comparing October 2011 to October 201 he tells me we're down by about half - that's strictly dollar amount though. Out in the shop I'm just as busy as I've ever been, if not more so. Our cost for materials is up yet the pricing we offer our customers has been forced way down. Lots of hungry folks out there, many of them doing the work for a bare minimum just to keep their doors open.

[Ed]

Last night was a trial as well. Had my accountant around for one and a half hours, going through the figures for last year, and they're not very good -- turnover is up, but profit is down. Waaay down. Can't make it out, though. I've been flat out busy the whole time, earning good money, so I need to sit down and figure out what happened

I'm hearing the same thing from my boss. Comparing October 2011 to October 201 he tells me we're down by about half - that's strictly dollar amount though. Out in the shop I'm just as busy as I've ever been, if not more so. Our cost for materials is up yet the pricing we offer our customers has been forced way down. Lots of hungry folks out there, many of them doing the work for a bare minimum just to keep their doors open.

Yep -- my accountant said I'm earning good money, but the overheads have gone up so much that it's wiped out the profit margin, so the net figures look pretty sick. So far I haven't had to cut my prices. I dread to think how much worse it would have been if I had. I suppose we just have to be thankful we're still scraping along

[fnord33]

Happy Spinal Tap Day everyone!

[delboy]

Lovely morning so I popped out on the bike. Had a bash at Del's 'two b@astard hills loop'. It's not long - maybe 15 miles, but it's all up hill (it's the circuit that I'm sure inspired Escher's artwork: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/3d/ascendes.jpg) and the hills are very steep. I'm a little out of practice so it was tough but I did enjoy seeing the "Slow Down 30 mph limit" sign flashing at me as I entered one village...okay, that bit was downhill, but I swear the rest is all uphill...

Derek

[Ed]

These are the aforementioned chicks -- 50,000 of them. It turned out to be impossible to work amongst them, because they run towards any noise, and any living thing that's taller than them. Looking for a mother, I suppose. Pretty sad when you think about it.



http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/blunt_ed_d/?action=view&current=IMG_1205.mp4