Random thing you love right now that doesn't deserve its own thread

Ranger Rick wrote:
Coldstream wrote:

My musical taste recently has tracked in the direction of traditional Japanese instruments mixed with rock/metal arrangements, which is perhaps a logical progression of the delightful classical instrument/rock mix that we've enjoyed over the last couple of decades in the West.

We're considering going to Tokyo for the Olympics in 2020 and we've been watching a show on NHK called "Tokyo Eye 2020" that's half "here's cool stuff to do as tourists" and half "here's how we're preparing for the Olympics."

They had a recent episode on music and they talked about a bar near Koenji station where folks who like to do things with traditional instruments hang out and jam.

Go to about 6:00 for the segment:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/v...

(Edit: oops, pasted the wrong link to the bar the first time around...)

And now I have plans for the weekend. Hehe!

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Can't say too much now, but expect a long post in the "Self indulgent parent thread" in the upcoming months. With pictures...lots and lots of pictures.

And thank you to all of you who have been well-wishing, thinking and praying for my family--something apparently worked.

That's awesome! Congratulations!

Wrong thread

Jayhawker wrote:

Wrong thread

Now that is a random thing to love!

I love learning the ukulele!

Nice but it always reminds me of

Yes!
Love that. But it's a great song to learn finger picking on the uke.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Can't say too much now, but expect a long post in the "Self indulgent parent thread" in the upcoming months. With pictures...lots and lots of pictures.

And thank you to all of you who have been well-wishing, thinking and praying for my family--something apparently worked.

I'm really really happy for you.

We finally finished moving. It's been 6 months of saving and packing, followed by 2 months of house hunting and packing, then two months of sleepless nights and packing. Now all of our stuff is in one place, the apartment is closed with our deposit returned, and our place is starting to feel like home again. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to not be sore and worried.

I got my Level I CFA exam results back. Posting in the love thread, so you can guess how it went...

...

...I passed! Didn't see that coming, did you? Scored >70% on all of the subject areas, which is about as good as they'll tell me I did.

Pass rate this time around was 43%. I'm glad the months of studying paid off. Got reimbursed from work for all my expenses, and I'm in line for a bonus in 12 months. Now I can relax for a little bit. Next I have to decide if I'm going to take the Level II exam, or study for a different exam like the FRM. Just nice to have a victory under my belt.

Yay! The Studio Ghibli festival is coming here next month!

I've got one more day of schlep and we're done moving, too! Our new place is better than the old in pretty much every way.

My parents got a cash offer on their house the same weekend they listed it, along with 5 backup offers; enough to pay off nearly all of their debt. They also found a nice apartment in the same area which they'll be moving into when they come back from August Vacation 2017: Escape From the Surface of the Sun.

Tanglebones wrote:

I've got one more day of schlep and we're done moving, too! Our new place is better than the old in pretty much every way.

Grats! My fiancee loves the 45 feet of closet rods, and I love the bedroom big enough for VR.

This reddit thread about hypothetical names for 007 "Bond boys."

This happened a bit ago and I can't stop giggling.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFrq_n4XYAE9dnd.jpg:large)

screech.mp3

Thirteenth wrote:

This reddit thread about hypothetical names for 007 "Bond boys."

That made my day. Especially the thread that sprung off of Benedict Cumberbatch.

So I bought a Microsoft Surface Book when they came out, around November of 2015. It's been a solid laptop for the year and change, but recently the screen started to bulge out, the sides coming unglued. It still functioned but it was worrying to see the tablet bit come apart at the seams, literally.

So I went over to the Microsoft store to have it looked at, figure out how much a replacement/fixed screen would be and so on. I don't recall opting for the uber-coverage when I bought it, but they couldn't pull up my warranty information so neither I nor the MS store tech had any idea.

The tech's response was to give me a whole new Surface Book.

Just... wow. I mean, it sure as hell fixes my problem and since everything was backed up on one-drive or some other cloud service I can re-download from, like Steam or Google, I hardly had to do anything other than sign into the new computer and hook it up to the wifi.

Yeah Microsoft Stores are really good for customer service, they have quickly built a great reputation.

Served a guy at work wearing a Mortal Sin shirt (an awesome mid-80's Australian thrash-metal band).

"Oh sweet shirt man! Love that band!"

"Hey thanks, I was their singer"

Granted he was their second(?) singer which I haven't heard a whole lot from, but I felt a little sheepish. He was a cool guy though, and happy to just chat about the band. It was a really odd exchange!

I was on a plane with Brent Hinds from Mastodon, flying out of Birmingham to Tampa at the beginning of June. That was kind of cool. Except only a few people recognized him, and he was even wearing a band shirt.

Aw now that's cool! Did you say hello?

I didn't; just kind of nodded at him. I was afraid to be wrong. (After I googled him when I got on the plane, I knew I was right, but after that it was just watching him go by in the aisle.)

sh*t, man. If the dude is wearing a shirt with his band's name on it, he's got to expect at least some attention/recognition in public.

After landing and unboarding the plane, you should've at least shook his hand and told him you were a fan, and leave it at that.

I've seen a few celebrities (to varying degrees) on planes, Patton Oswald comes to mind. Whenever that happens I don't bother saying anything. It'd probably be different if I was sitting next to them but otherwise planes are uncomfortable enough without having someone jam up an aisle trying to talk to you.

Road trip, road trip.

Well, plane first, from Zurich to the big apple (do people still say that?). But then: road trip, road trip! 4 weeks of no work, different place everyday, and as much of the miracle that is nature as I can possibly see.

NothingWitty wrote:

Well, plane first, from Zurich to the big apple (do people still say that?).

The Hot Tamale. The Winged City. The Gold Trombone. Castleopolis.

Gravey wrote:
NothingWitty wrote:

Well, plane first, from Zurich to the big apple (do people still say that?).

The Hot Tamale. The Winged City. The Gold Trombone. Castleopolis.

The windy apple.

IMAGE(http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7d/city_nicknames.png)

Spoiler:

This place has so many demonyms. Northlanders. Fair Folk. Honey Barons. Lake Dwellers. Treasurers. Swamp Watchers. Dream Farmers. Wellfolk. Rockeaters. Forgotten Royals. Remote Clients. Barrow-Clerks. The People of Land and Sky.

IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/20479529_1412186495536873_5429188317372804439_n.jpg?oh=0a4408f88c9e038ddf6032a20a83a1e7&oe=59F34D65)