StewStuph

And zero microphones. OK, that was a bad joke, but I always think of that song when I say "turntable." For fathers day this year, I was given a new turntable. A Sony PS-LX300USB to be precise. This is the first turntable I have had since, I guess, the mid-1980's. I have been casually thinking about getting one for a couple of years. My son got a turntable for Christmas last year. Ever since then, I have thought more about it as I have bought three records since then. He will listen to the records in his room. I even went to the trouble of waiting in line at the latest Record Store Day to buy a record from Touche Amore . I bought a limited edition record from The Eradicator . Fortunately, each of those records was accompanied by a download code so that I could at least listen to the music that I had bought but had no other way to hear. The one record that I bought, that I knew my son would like, already had a legal download of, was American Football's first LP....

Well, the kids are getting older and today our eldest received his license from the state of NC. So that means our insurance will increase, dramatically. Not only that, but we are once again a 3 car family. The wife has the Kia Sedona so that we can accommodate the family of six. We still have the Dodge Charger, and last week I bought a 2016 Hyundai Veloster. Gina and I had been in discussions for a couple of weeks about the "car situation" and I had been tentatively shopping online for a small hatchback. After searching Autotrader , Carmax , Carvana I found the Hyundai through Autotrader at a local dealer . So I messaged them online to make sure the car I had seen was still available and to make arrangements to see the car and take it for a test drive. I left work last Wednesday at lunch and made my way to the dealer. After driving the car I decided it was the right price and just what I had been looking for. Gina was away on an overnight field trip so I sent some tex...

This past weekend I went camping with a Boy Scout Troop of which two of my boys are members. The adventure started Friday afternoon with the Troop meeting at 3:00 pm to make the drive, estimated to be four hours, to the mountains of Virginia. With this plan, we would all be able to set up camp before dark. However, as is often the case, drivers on the road failed to keep their vehicles from colliding. We ended up in traffic jams on more than one occasion. After the traffic, and an additional 30 minute rest stop, we arrived at our campsite, Grayson Highlands State Park , at 8:30 pm. A grand total of 5:15 travel time.By that time it was dark but we had plenty of flashlights and lanterns that made setting up camp go smoothly. Saturday was to be the busiest day of the trip. We had plans to ride bikes on The Virginia Creeper Trail . The Troop had done the same thing the year before, though I did not make the trip. We left our campsite and drove to Damascus, VA to rent bikes from ...