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Hey everybody. It’s been a minute since I’ve visited this site.
What’s new? I briefly met Mike Mills in person a couple of weeks ago.
Some friends and I had seventh row seats to The Psychedelic Furs/Squeeze show here in Atlanta at Chastain Park. Toward the end of the Squeeze set, I noticed Mills standing at the end of the adjacent aisle. It took a short while for me to be sure, since I could only see him from the side and not face-to-face, but I finally realized that it was, indeed, him.
After Squeeze wrapped up their show, I approached, telling Mills that I wanted to say a quick hello and that I was friends with Ethan Kaplan. Mills said, “He’s a great guy!”
Mills shook my hand, telling me, “Nice to meet you!”
I then said goodbye and let him be.
Mills was really pleasant, but I also sensed a "Nice to meet you, now go away." vibe coming from him and didn’t want to take up more than a few seconds of his time. lol
I do not usually like to bother famous people when they are not “on the clock”, so to speak. There was no way that I could not at least say hello to Mills when I saw him, though. It was a cool encounter.
I considered telling Mills that I was “inspectorjason”, but decided not to, because I figured that he would have no clue what that name was.
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Awesome. Mike and Peter were hanging out after the Baseball Project show with the rest of the band and signing things, but I didn’t have anything for them to sign and so I didn’t end up waiting in the line for it. I did hang around to the side of the line for a few moments just so I was in proximity. 
I probably wouldn’t have thought to name drop Ethan if I had waited to talk to them; smart move. 
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Getting new windows and doors installed in the house today. We’ve had several renovations go wrong somehow so I’m always nervous when this happens, but hopefully will work out ok. Most of our windows and doors were in pretty bad shape so this should help make things nicer around here.
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I ran the Atlanta Half Marathon in two hours and 10 minutes on Thanksgiving morning. I ran the 13.1 nonstop, with no walk breaks.
I used to run such distances nonstop with no issues up until late 2020, when I had to take six weeks off of running altogether due to a stomach parasite infection. Since then, I have kept up my workouts, but have usually just run two or three miles before walking the rest of the distance. It was probably just a mental block, but the longest nonstop running distance that I had completed in the last three years was five miles. Somehow, though, I pulled the nonstop 13.1 out of my hat.
Since then, I have been a bottomless pit. I finally decided this weekend that, after two and a half weeks, I need to stop playing the “I just ran a half marathon.” card and go back to my healthy diet.
In more site-relatable news, I finally…finally…found R.E.M. - Reckoning on vinyl this week. I saw it on the rack of a local used store for $35. It’s the 1984 original pressing with the translucent vinyl (as revealed when one holds it up to a light). It sounds brand new on my turntable.
I have a recent picture disc reissue of Chronic Town, I have a 1983 pressing of Murmur, and I have a 1985 pressing of Fables of the Reconstruction, but I had never seen a vinyl copy of Reckoning in the wild until this week.
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If you remember me from old Murmurs, back then I lived in Massachusetts where I was going to college. After I graduated I moved to Virginia and have lived there ever since.
Every once in awhile I entertain thoughts of moving back to New England somewhere. I was up there for Thanksgiving though and kept thinking “ugggh why is it so cold”. So maybe not. 
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We have a condo that we rent out (we lived there ourselves for about 6 years, but after we bought a house, we kept the condo to rent). Tenant just moved out, so we went over to check it out. Needs a bunch of fixing up, so have to deal with that now. Hopefully can get it ready over the next few weeks, seems like it should be easy to find a new tenant once we can put it on the market again.
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We’ve had two snow days in a row. We broke the record for snowfall in one day. The entire bus system shut down Wednesday. We had more snow Thursday followed by ice and now cold slushy rain. Today isn’t a snow day, though. We had a late start while every other educational institution (school districts, community college, tech school) are closed. Normally, I’d just work from home but I have to be on campus today. And I’m a little bitter about it.
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“Brass Monkeys” here too. That’s my shorthand for “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” 
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It’s summer here, we may have some hot days over 40c, bush fires, cyclones & floods in the sub/tropics.
I like the hot days when broken by thunderstoms and rain, the smell in the air.
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The cold has suddenly gone here- a jump of 6 degrees today but we now have high winds possible 90 mile an hour gusts and tornadoes.Trees are down, trains cancelled and aircraft unable to land .The Wx is all over the place. 
Well, I’ve got engaged and made it through the winter - still not a fan in spite of turning 40 in two weeks. More sober than I’ve been in a decade and it’s quite a revelation. Is there anyone else frequenting the site I wonder?
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Hey Anti, congratulations! Some of us are still here.
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Been sick since Thursday. Kids have been sick off and on for a couple weeks too, so it’s something I got from them. Think it’s getting better today. Don’t think it’s Covid again, but I suppose it’s possible. Or seems flu-like. Some stupid virus anyway.
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We’ve had a lot of people (staff and students) getting sick. It’s cold-ish stuff.
Feel better.
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I had this lurgy for a week- sore throat, laryngitis, coughing every time I went to speak. It put me out of action from my usual routine but I tested twice and it wasn’t Covid. They say that shutting us all up during the pandemic has lowered our resistance to “lesser” bugs. I hit the fresh lemon and honey, Strepsils, paracetamol if required and Night Nurse (which knocks you out at night) and I was fine after a week. Back mixing with the old folk at indoor curling today- where I’m the referee!
I forgot to say- hoping you get well soon 
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I also think we’ve forgotten how shitty colds and viruses were and how long it took to get over them.
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It’s gone midnight here in Blighty, so today is The Ides Of March. Has negative connotations because it’s the day Caesar was killed long, long ago. I have a few superstitions but this isn’t one of them. Anyone prepared to beware the Ides?
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I caught covid for the first time a week ago. Had a bit of a nose sniffle, and really drained of energy for two days. The cough came after but it wasn’t an extreme cough. I tested completely negative after 10 days. We’ve had hot weather all week, it’s a lot cooler today with a little rain which was nice to settle some of the dust.
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Checking in. I have dodged the COVID bullet so far this year, after having caught it back in February 2023. I have been lethargic and unmotivated through most of the winter, but am finally getting some mojo back now.
I checked another 80s fav off my list the other night by going to see My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult in concert with some friends here in Atlanta.
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