Mind the Gapp

Blog

  • 2025 – Can I read 52 books in 52 weeks?

    My goal is to read 52 books this year. I have a nice head start because of my vacation (see list here). Some of these are fast reads others…not so much. Regardless I have a goal!

    Also; the links below are to Amazon but they are not affiliate links so you can’t make me rich this way.

    1. The Last Citadel: Petersburg, June 1864 – April 1865, Author: Noah Andre Trudeau
    2. Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War, Author: Charles Bracelen Flood
    3. The Cold Dish (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    4. Death Without Company (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    5. Kindness Goes Unpunished (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    6. Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, Author: Robert L. O’Connell
    7. Cibola Burn (The Expanse Book 4), Author: James S. A. Corey
    8. Nemesis Games (The Expanse Book 5), Author: James S. A. Corey
    9. Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse Book 6), Author: James S. A. Corey
    10. Persepolis Rising (The Expanse Book 7), Author: James S. A. Corey
    11. Another Man’s Moccasins (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    12. Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse Book 8), Author: James S. A. Corey – 1/26/2025
    13. Leviathan Falls (The Expanse Book 9), Author: James S. A. Corey – 2/16/2025
    14. Night of the Grizzlies, Author: Jack Olsen
    15. The Storyteller, Author: Dave Grohl – 2/22/2025
    16. The Memoirs of W. T. Sherman, Author: William T. Sherman – 3/15/2025
    17. General Lee, A biography of Robert E. Lee, Author: Fitzhugh Lee – 5/25/2025
    18. The Generalship Of Ulysses S. Grant, Author: J.F.C. Fuller (paperback) – Reading
    19. Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila, Author: James M. Scott – 3/22/2025
    20. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette and the Age of Revolution, Author: Mike Duncan – 4/6/2025
    21. The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, Author: Harlow Giles Unger – 4/15/2025…
    22. The Darkest Summer: Pusan and Inchon 1950: The Battles That Saved South Korea–and the Marines–from Extinction , Author: Bill Sloan – 5/5/2025
    23. Starship in the Stone, Author: M.R. Forbes, 5/24/2025
    24. The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, Author: Rick Atkinson – 6/5/2025
    25. Mark Twain, Author: Ron Chernow – 09/12/2025
    26. Artemis, Author: Andy Weir – 09/13/2025
    27. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, Author Robert A. Caro – 10/9/2025
    28. The Dark Horse, Author: Craig Johnson – 09/28/2025
    29. Junkyard Dogs, Author: Craig Johnson – 10/5/2025
    30. Naples 1944: The Devil’s Paradise at War, Author: Keith Lowe -11/13/2025
    31. The Last Days of Budapest: The Destruction of Europe’s Most Cosmopolitan Capital in World War II, Author: Adam LeBor – 12/15/2026
    32. Cassino ’44: The Brutal Battle for Rome – Author: James Holland – 12/30/2025

  • Books to read: 2025

    A nice list from Ryan Holiday (the list is from the newsletter but posted here). Sign up of the newsletter here.

    A few of these I have read, a few of these are not my ‘style’ but.. that’s the point. Get out of your comfort zone. 

    Here is the list + my additions: 

    1. Slow Productivity: The lost art of accomplishment with Burnout, Author: Cal Newport
    2. Don’t Just March, Run for Something: A real-talk guide to fixing the system yourself
    3. The Choice: Embrace the Possible, Author: Dr. Edith Eva Eger
    4. Montaigne, Author: Stefan Zweig 
    5. A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World’s Sacred Texts
    6. Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything 
    7. The Children, Author: David Halberstam, Author Julia Baird
    8. Parting the Waters: America in the King years 1954-63, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-1965, At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King years 1965-68, Author: Taylor Branch
    9. Same as Ever: A guide to what never changes, Author: Morgan Housel
    10. The 48 Laws of Power, Author: Robert Greene
    11. It Can’t Happen Here, Author: SInclair Lewis
    12. Address Unknown, Author: Kathrine Kressman Taylor
    13. The Expanding Circle, Author: Peter Singer
    14. Atomic Habits, Author: James Clear
    15. Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan, Author: Inazo Nitobe
    16. How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World
    17. Meditations, Author: Marcus Aurelius
    18. Junkyard Dogs (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    19. The Dark Horse (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    20. Public Enemies, Author: Bryan Burroughs.

    Naturally, I’ll read other books but this is a good starting point.

  • Koi!

    We lost our cat Alice earlier in 2024. I decided, for a variety of reasons, we needed another cat in the house. 

    Here is Koi. We adopted her on September 4th, 2024. She’s a lot of fun. As my wife likes to say about here ‘Day time is play time!’.

  • Vacation Reading – Late 2024, Early 2025

    I went on vacation from 12/30 to 1/14/2025. I read a few books. They are listed below. I set a goal of reading 52 books for 2025 and I think I got a good head start on that goal. I don’t have a affiliate relationship with Amazon but did link to the books. 

    1. The Last Citadel: Petersburg, June 1864 – April 1865, Author: Noah Andre Trudeau
    2. Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War, Author: Charles Bracelen Flood
    3. The Cold Dish (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    4. Death Without Company (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    5. Kindness Goes Unpunished (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson
    6. Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, Author: Robert L. O’Connell
    7. Cibola Burn (The Expanse Book 4), Author: James S. A. Corey
    8. Nemesis Games (The Expanse Book 5), Author: James S. A. Corey
    9. Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse Book 6), Author: James S. A. Corey
    10. Persepolis Rising (The Expanse Book 7), Author: James S. A. Corey
    11. Another Man’s Moccasins (Walt Longmire Mysteries), Author: Craig Johnson

    I’ve been on a Civil War kick of late (which started again with ‘Fighting for the Confederacy, The personal recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander and ‘Longstreet: The Confederate General Who defied the South), started the ‘Walt Longmire’ stories because of the TV Show and wanted to finish the ‘The Expanse’ series after finishing the TV show. 

  • Universal control for the win

    Yikes. I had forgotten about the Apple feature ‘Universal Control’ until today when I ‘lost’ my mouse cursor and then saw it moving on the iPad. Cool feature if not a little confusing at first 🙂

  • How not to package carburetor gaskets

    I’ve been working on some Bing carburetors for early 1970’s Penton’s. I purchased two gaskets for the carbs off of eBay.

    Please don’t package your gaskets using…painters tape to secure them to a piece of paper. I removed the tape… very carefully and yet still took some bits of the gasket with it.

    Bing carburetor gaskets

  • Brought the Penton home

    This is a Penton Mudlark. Cool looking 2-stroke motorcycle. Not the hottest performer of its day but I like it. We have owned it since 1974 and it has been in storage since the mid 1980’s. Going to go through it, fix a few things and get it running.

  • Alice the Cat

    Alice came into our life right after my wife’s cat, Lucy, passed on back in 2008. Yesterday, in our home with the help of a in-home service, she passed on. She was 18 years old.

    Here is Alice on the first day we saw here at the shelter.

    The image above is our first image of her. She’s in the shelter and is about a year old. I spotted her playing and was instantly smitten. We don’t know why nobody picked her at the shelter but we consider ourselves very, very lucky to have been able to bring her into our lives.

    When we brought Alice home she marched right into the house and sat with us on the couch. No hiding under the bed or in the closet for this lady. Later that evening she slept between us in bed. Clearly she said to herself when she arrived: “Right, I’m home”.

    Later on in life… before the magic bed yet clearly enjoying the day.

    Below is her favorite bed with a warming pad underneath it. We had a jade plant by a window so we slide the bed right there. She loved it. Warm, comfortable and able to watch the action. Below is an image of her luxuriating under the jade plant.

    Alice under the jade

    In 2011 after reading an article about it, I got the idea that Alice should get her ‘face in space’, so I submitted her name. Below is the certificate confirming that, in fact, her face was in space.

    Alice’s certificate certifying her ‘Face in Space’

    Around 2012 Alice started having painful GI cramps and they were diagnosed as ‘Irritable Bowel Syndrome’. To get a true diagnosis the vets insisted on an operation on her. A pretty serious procedure. We wanted to avoid that and my wife skillfully managed the symptoms successfully with food options for a time.

    Alice was disappointed in this development as we had a machine, “the food god”, which delivered three square meals a day of kibble. She knew exactly when the clock went off and had perfected a move any gymnast would be envious of to get off the top of the machine and start eating from the bowl. Once she started on the new food kibble was off the menu but…she never forgot about kibble and it was always her favorite.

    Eventually, we did the surgery, confirmed the diagnosis and then we were able to get meds to manage the condition. I spent a couple of weeks with her on the floor in my office to make sure she recovered. She took those pill form meds, every day, with very few complaints for the rest of her life. Every night we would flip her into our lap, pop one or two pills into her mouth and off she went to grab her dinner.

    Alice after her surgery wearing the ‘blue flower’.

    In Alice’s view I was A-OK but my wife? Oh, she was the BEST. As my wife likes to say she was Alice’s mama. Whether watching a show on TV, sitting in front of a fireplace or simply in bed there Alice was hanging out next to her or in her lap.

    Alice snoozing on her last day. Her liver was failing but she was still quite the little snuggler.

    As you can see Alice was quite the cat, clearly, well-loved and she gave it all back to us a bazillion times over.

    Alice was wicked smart, very social, lots of fun, a lover of sunbeams and a connoisseur of snuggles. Her personality filled a giant space in our home.

    An Empty Space – Alice’s favorite bed with a heating pad underneath for those old joints, a jade plant overhead, a view outside and her woodpecker

    It is very rare to have such a wonderful soul enter your life. She’s gone now and that space is empty. She will be deeply, deeply missed.

  • Cleaning out the closet

    Been awhile since I did so!

  • 1985 Mustang Convertible – Alignment time!

    Replaced A-arms awhile back and now I have the Mustang up so I can work on the alignment. Good old Camber, Caster and Toe. That’s when I noticed the rear main seal is leaking. Awesome.