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Retirement...

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There you go! As is my habit when I’m writing my blog posts, I’m listening to some music on YouTube, and today I’m really enjoying Animal Logic’s first album.   Such a great band, and it’s too bad they didn’t get the recognition they deserved.   Anyway, so, back in early 2025, my former boss and I started to talk about a transition plan, and how my remote role would be eliminated, since the plan for the company was to have the key roles on-site in the Utah office.   No problem, I was turning 70 in August, so it seemed like a pretty good time to retire, and we made plans for my retirement at the end of 2025.   No hard feelings; everything was on the up-and-up, and it was a mutual understanding.   To make my retirement official, my boss arranged a combined retirement / Christmas party on the 8 th of December, 2025, and we had a great time.   The company flew me up from Orange County, CA to celebrate up in Utah, and as far as I’m concerned, the party was a gr...
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Smack Dab at the Open Mike Night at Neighbors in Laguna Hills, CA 01-13-2026.

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From Left to Right:  Smack Dab is Kent Richards, bass and vocals; Marc Repaire, lead guitar and vocals; myself on drums (playing a right-handed kit that night); Allison Friedman, lead vocals and guitar and Lloyd Brown, lead vocals and guitar.   We can be reached at SmackDabGroup@gmail.com .    So, on January 13, 2026, we had decided to do an open mike night, to get some exposure.  As luck would have it, one of the local establishments does an open mike night every Tuesday: 24401 Ridge Route Drive Suite B-105, Laguna Hills, California 92653 https://neighborsbarandgrille.com/ From Neighbors’ website:  “Tuesday Tacos & Tunes, Open Jam Session.  Bring your axe of choice and sign up to Jam with the Steven Johnson Jam Band every Tuesday Night.”  So off we went, Kent and I carpooling from San Clemente, like we usually do.  By the way, since we started playing together back in the fall of 2023, Kent and I have become good friends, and since ...
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Going to the Mission in Lights, Tuesday December 23, 2025 at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, CA.

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Mission San Juan Capistrano:  Mission in Lights, December 23, 2025.   For those of you who are not familiar with Mission San Juan Capistrano, the Mission was founded on November 1, 1776, as the seventh of the 21 missions that were established by the Spanish in California.  By the way, the California Missions are a chain of 21 religious outposts established by the Spanish Franciscans between 1769 and 1823, stretching along El Camino Real from San Diego to Sonoma, to evangelize Native Americans and colonize Alta California.  The California Missions became significant cultural landmarks, and have had a lasting cultural impact on California.  The California Missions were built about 30 miles apart, so that if one was traveling on horseback, one could reach the next mission within a day’s ride.  The Mission system covers about 650 miles, from the south of California to the north.    Just for fun, I’ve included a list of all the missions below:...
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Smack Dab Christmas Show at the BlasMo in Laguna Hills, CA on December 13, 2025

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You are all invited to the BlasMo December 2025 Christmas Party!  Smack Dab is Lloyd Brown, lead vocals and guitar; Allison Friedman, lead vocals and guitar; Marc Repaire, lead guitar and vocals; Kent Richards, bass and vocals and myself on drums.  You can reach us at SmackDabGroup@gmail.com.     So, we had the unmitigated pleasure of taking part of the BlasMo Christmas Party, which took place on Santa Lucia day (a Swedish pre-Christmas celebration, for all you non-Swedes), Saturday December 13, 2025.   We have been playing together now for more than two years, and it continues to be a bunch of fun.   Now, playing at the BlasMo has its benefits; they have a full backline and PA, and also a house drum kit, so we don’t need to schlep any instruments.   All I do is switch around the house kit from its normal right-handed setup to a lefty, something that usually takes me less than five minutes.   However, since the BlasMo is a club for musician...
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With an Older Home, There is Always Something!

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Older is relative; our house in San Clemente was built in 1988, young by New England and European standards, where homes were and are built to last centuries.  Not so much in the Wild West; a 50-year-old house in Orange County is OOOOOLD!   Our homes in California were and are built fast (translation; cheap); most of them are resting on a flat concrete slab that can float, and built with a wooden frame, that can bend and buckle in an earthquake, hopefully with minimal damage.   So, if you move into a house in SoCal, don’t be surprised if you need to do a bunch of repairs, just to make it livable!            So, a few months ago, we had a leak in the garage, which turned out to be an old and cracked gasket between the bathtub overflow and the overflow pipe.  That time, it was pretty obvious that it was coming from our front bathroom, which we also call “Matt’s bathroom”, since it is attached to his room.  That time, we had drops...
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