The New Coffee Room

Yup - For good or ill - he does "connect" with people as did Reagan - and Bill Clinton. One can debate who did more - did the best for the country - but Biden, like Hillary Clinton, not so good at making that connection.

Mark - I'm so sorry to hear this. My condolences to you and all whose lives she touched.

That's my end date per Death Clock AI - an app that asks you 29 questions - and then computes your destiny. They also told me if I cleaned up some habits, I could make it to August of 2045. It hardly seems worth the effort. They say it will likely be a cardiac event - though there's also a chance "mental health" issues might be the cause. They know me so well.

The app helpfully tells me that I have 19 years, 254 days, 17 hours, 56 minutes and 3 seconds as I type this. I hope to use that time productively.

I'm not sure I need to spend $39 a year for helpful hints on how to extend my life till August of 2025.

It was about 8 outside with a -5 wind chill when I ran this evening. It wasn't bad. I've run in worse.

That's Ok. Doesn't Trump have 80% of the value?

Wow! That will wake one up - for sure. Hope that's the worst of it.

Except Mike Johnson was being a bit disingenuous…

I wonder how things look like 4 years hence.

Fetterman arrives wearing shorts

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/uemmKltI

@LuFins-Dad said in Piano upgrade time:

A fully rebuilt SD10 for $5K? You couldn’t replace the strings for $5K

It was an estate and needed it gone in 4 days.

Yes, there are at least 3 in Oak Park. They look nice - but I get no "gotta have it" feelings toward it.

As they step out the door, more money goes out the door…

More than a few attorneys suggested that it was not smart for Tik Tok to stay up - so long as their was ambiguity in interpretting the law - and with over a billion dollars a day in potential fines - best to take it conservatively. Even as early as this morning, Trump wasn't saying unambiguosly that he'd do the extension.

But you're right, it also meant maximum pressure on Trump, congress critters, etc. Tom Cotton and Ed Marky have made themselves targets.

I envy you the journey. Please do keep us along for the journey. Your Steinway B - would most likely be a Hamburg instrument - so a bit different than the US version. I'm not as big a fan of new Bechsteins or Bluthners. While I appreciate Faziolis, I've not fallen in love with any.

I have a B that was a custom rebuild that I got to check in on while it was being rebuilt. I also keepa digital with Pianoteq - and have access to a number of digital instruments. I've mostly been using the Bosendorfer 280VC as of late - works well with the music I'm working on.

I don't know that I'll ever be in the market for another acoustic instrument though I came close to looking at a Baldwin SD10 that I could have had for an incredible price last year. It was a rebuilt instrument - and supposedly in great shape - and less than $5k. I didn't want to try it - lest I think wrong thoughts. One of my favorite piano moments was playing an SD10 a few decades ago. It was delightful.

As for your journey - that $100k limit may be the challenge - but I hope you find your dream piano.

Sorry to hear. Beat that bug!