Darwin Award nomination for 2021

 But first a quote from a noted Stoic!

It is unrealistic to expect people to see you as you see yourself." - Epictetus

Balance, Skill, and Cojones

 "He who is brave is free." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Another interesting point about the Texas freeze

 Presented without comment.

The Novara is now ready

 "When another blames you or hates you, or people voice criticism, go to their souls - penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are.  You will realize that there is no need to be concerned of any opinion they hold about you." - Marcus Aurelius

 After completing the restoration of the Novara, it still needed a little bit of technological improvement.

Surgery

 "Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes.  Therefore, give yourself fully to your endeavors.  Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal.  The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths.  Remain steadfast and one day you will build something that endures: Something worthy of your potential." - Epictetus

Biking Accessories

 

 "The best revenge is not to do as they do." - Marcus Aurelius

 Below: Self-deception.

Behold Texas

We need Stoics, now more than ever.  People have gone insane.

"If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed.  It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed." - Marcus Aurelius

 

New CD - Smooth Jazz Guitar

  "If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, 'I awake to do the work of a man'." - Marcus Aurelius

Zwift

 "The difficulty comes from our lack of confidence." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Keto Flu

 "It's not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is another (non-stoic) quote along similar lines:

"Youth is wasted on the young" - George Bernard Shaw, American Playwright

In other words, youth have no frame of reference other than being young, and when you are young, you have a lot of unencumbered free time.  Therefore young people don't appreciate their health, stamina, freedom from demands, and lack of pain.  They have not yet experienced the loss of abilities, overwhelming obligations, and the fragility that come with age.  They (we!!!) don't appreciate the perks of being young.

Sigh... another new phone

 "If we were to measure what is good by how much pleasure it brings, nothing would be better than self-control.  If we were to measure what is to be avoided by its pain, nothing would be more painful than lack of self-control." - Gaius Musonius Rufus

Starlink in action!

 "Do not be ashamed of help." - Marcus Aurelius

A mountain bike, too

"Everything is banal in experience, fleeting in duration, sordid in content; in all respects the same today as generations now dead and buried have found it to be." - Marcus Aurelius

 

Beater road bike - Novara Trionfo

 "You will never have to experience defeat if you avoid contests whose outcome is outside your control." - Epictetus

As I write this, the weather is brutally cold and dry.  This morning is was 5 degrees F (-15 degrees C), with a wind chill down at -15F (-26 degrees C).  Hopefully this cold snap is decimating the ticks that harm the wildlife, hornet eggs, and the bark beetles that keep killing red fir trees.

It's not exactly bike riding weather, but I've been on a semi-autistic obsession with getting back into riding again.