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Tiny Guy

May 23, 2023
fun, photos

I’ve been meaning to use one of the million maple seeds that sprout in my yard every Spring as a bonsai starter, and this year I finally did it.

In classic Mike Mode, I planted it and then did some reading on the process. Turns out that the silver maple is a very challenging tree to bonsai, and it 100% shouldn’t be out in direct diligent all day, even in the mild Spring we’ve been having.

So tonight I’ll move the little fella into a shadier spot and then maybe find a thick-trunked azalea to hack down for bonsai-ing this weekend.

h/t to Mike Short for the bonsai scoop

Front Yard Bunny

April 15, 2023
photos

I present this as a counterpoint the the Backyard Fox earlier this week.

We’ve got a lot of rabbits around and they’ve gotten a bit more chill about us walking by.

Backyard Fox

April 13, 2023
photos

We’ve been in this house 20+ years and I’ve never seen one in the yard.

The crows were losing it.

I assume as a warning to us, their benevolent neighbors in this ecosystem (because I sometimes throw them crackers).

Widowspeak and Duster at The Broadberry 4/8/2023

April 9, 2023
fun, Music, photos

It’s been a long, long time since I had to stand in line to get into a venue a half-hour after the doors opened, but I guess that is what happens when a show sells out weeks early and the crowd is an odd mix of Youngs and Olds.

Widowspeak opened and they were fantastic. I missed them when they came through town last year (thanks, covid). They’re a great live band and I’m looking forward to seeing them again. It was neat, because they’re definitely a guitar band, and the lead player was ripping sick riffs, but they weren’t blowing out the room. It was dialed in so you could appreciate the shredding and the chill vibe of their music. 5 stars.

Duster has been riding their Numero-fueled resurgence hard the last couple of years. The success of the reissue campaign has led to a couple of really good new albums and some touring. It’s still wild to me that a band like this, definitively cool, is playing a club date in Richmond, Va. They were also great. I’m not as familiar with their whole catalog, but it was easy to enjoy. The overall set was louder than Widowspeak, but the chill groove of the songs was still easy to get into. Also surprising was the number of under-21 kids that came out. I don’t think Duster is featured in any weird social media phenomena, it might really just be the kids discovering a band that came and went before they were born. You love to see it.

I’ll also include a picture of Widowspeak featuring the goddamn Broadberry pole that is right in front of the stage(!) and a wider shot of Duster featuring the most phones I’ve ever seen at a club show. It was wild.

Jinhao 80

March 20, 2023
photos, toys

I was reading about the Chinese Jinhao 80 fountain pen, and how it looks like a Lamy 2000 knockoff but only costs $6 ordered from AliExpress. So I ordered one (and a borderline janky bootleg Kaws companion, that I love despite the jank).

It might look like the 2000 while capped, but it doesn’t have the cool hooded nib nor is it a piston-filler. It’s still surprisingly smooth. I inked it up with the Pilot Kon-Peki. It’s a nice blue and decent contrast to the white pen. I don’t know that I’ll have a place for this pen in the regular rotation, but it’s neat to see one.

The internet seems split on it. The Jinhao design is obviously an homage (or a rip-off) of the 2000. The spring clip is neat, especially for a pen that’s so inexpensive

But because of the different fill mechanism and nib, it’s really just the look that is a copy. I’m okay with it.

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Brunch recording

March 19, 2023
photos, podcast

Scheduling adventures made it so Adam and I got to record, in-person, on Saturday morning. We enjoyed a brunch-adjacent cocktail with some cold brew, bourbon, maple syrup, and, um, some other stuff.

I could get used to this recording slot.