National Pancake Day - March 3, 2026

(from the It's Nice To Have Something For Free In This Country At The Moment, Isn't It* department)

In these trying times, it's nice to have something you can count on.  Like the yearly National Pancake Day at IHOP.

This year, Rose and I braved the crowds and headed down to our local IHOP just before 5:00 PM.  Although there were many people in the lobby - they seated us immediately.

We got a two person booth in the furthest corner of the restaurant.  Rose commented that she hadn't been back in this booth since she was six!  

The waitress brought us pancakes and water right after we sat down.  Rose was ready!!

I got ready to dig into my stack!  They were delicious!

Once again - we managed to successfully celebrate National Pancake Day.  A splendid time was had by all!

For more information - check out the IHOP website here: National Pancake Day 2026

Cheers,

Paul

*For you Beatle fans, that's a quote from the movie Let It Be.  From a man on the street during the rooftop concert. 

Merry Christmas from Santa and Rose (part 19)

(from the OMG - she's 18!!! department)

Well - I can't believe we're here.  Rose turned 18 in November.  This is the first Santa photo with three adults, not two adults and a kid.  

And so - here we go:

We do clean up well!!!  Rose did get a chance to talk to Santa after the photo, while I was taking care of the technical details of the photo session. I did overhear a discussion about possible presents, but didn't pick up any of the details - I hope Santa comes through!

Afterwards, we went out for a quick celebratory dinner at the Wedgwood Broiler.  I'm still glad parts of "Old Seattle" like the Wedgwood Broiler still exist.  (Link to: Wedgwood Broiler)

As for my Christmas wish from Santa?  I wish for continued good health for me and all of my friends and family - both immediate and extended.  I've come to value those connections even more lately.  I'm also hoping - much like Ringo Starr - for Peace and Love (and Happiness) in 2026!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone - from the Pietromonaco family!

Cheers,
Paul

P.S.  Bonus photos - all of us waiting outside to have our photo taken:

Haiku Writing - Moon Viewing 2025

(from the Splish Me Again! department)

Hi everyone,

Dana, Rose and I attended the Seattle Japanese Garden Moon Viewing on Saturday, September 6th, 2025.  

(Original announcement here: https://www.seattlejapanesegarden.org/events-calendar/2025/9/6/moon-viewing)

I took some great photos!

We also took part in the Haiku writing contest.  I wrote two haiku:

smoke filled sky - 

a blood orange moon

watches with a baleful eye

summer sun fades -

moonrise across the pond

our lanterns guide the way

You may notice that these haiku do not follow the 5 - 7 - 5 rule.  Modern haiku are less formal in English.

This year - I came in Second Place on Saturday!!!  It was the "smoke filled sky" haiku.

Full contest results are here: https://www.seattlejapanesegarden.org/blog/2025/9/18/moon-viewing-haiku

Dana, Rose and I had a great time.  Looking forward to next year!

Cheers,

Paul

Sleepless In Seattle (part 2)

(from the I Still Believe In Death Before Decaf department)

Hi everyone,

I was going through some of my old blog entries and found this one:

Sleepless in Seattle

This blog entry had a great photo of Rose taken in January 2009 when she was just under 2 years old:

This was taken at the Athenian Inn in Pike Place Market in Seattle - where Sleepless In Seattle was filmed.

The fun part is - Rose and I recreated this photo in May 2019 - at the same table - when she was about 12:

I think she was drinking cocoa here. Even now - she's still not a big coffee drinker.

So - once again - we were all Sleepless In Seattle!

*groan*

Cheers,

Paul

Quick Roku vs Ubuntu Rygel DLNA Note

(from the Okaaaay department)

Trying to get media streaming working between Ubuntu using the default Rygel DLNA server in Gnome and the Roku Media Player.

For some reason, Roku wants Rygel to transcode all MP4/H.264 videos to MPEG.  Rygel goes "OK - I can do that" then errors out.

Other DLNA clients work fine.

So - as a Hail Mary - in ~/.config/rygel.conf - I disabled transcoding.

# Set it to 'false' if you want to disable transcoding support.

enable-transcoding=false

Now - Roku accepts the videos as MP4 and plays them back great.

Hmm - not quite sure where's the breakdown here.  Why didn't Roku ask for MP4 in the first place, since that's the file encoding?  Why did transcoding break anyway?  

Weird.

Cheers,

Paul

National Pancake Day - March 4, 2025

(from the Has It Really Been Five Years? department)

Hey - long time no pancake.  How've you been?  I think it's time for a stack of pancakes!

This time - we learned from the past.  Dana, Rose & I headed down to our local IHOP at about 5:00 PM.  We were able to be seated immediately.  After looking at the menu, we ordered our free pancakes, and I got a burger - with hash browns:

Burger - Not Pancake

Pancake - Not Burger

Rose ordered a strawberry crepe with her pancakes.  Dana asked if she could add blueberries to her free stack:

Ready To Dig In!!

A Thumbs - And A Butter Knife - Up!

We really enjoyed our meal.  Good thing we went early too. When we left at 6:00 PM - the line for pancakes was out the door:

Patiently Waiting For Pancakes

For more information - check out IHOP's website here:  National Pancake Day 2025 - Enjoy Free Pancakes at IHOP®

Cheers,
Paul

Kooza!!!

(from the I Can't Believe They Can Do That! department)

Hi everyone,

We went to the latest Cirque Du Soleil travelling production last night - Kooza.  It was in a big tent at Marymoor Park in Redmond.  Really well done.  

I'll leave the description of the show to other bloggers, but it's kind of a modernization of traditional circuses.  There's a ringleader, clowns, acrobats, etc.  They're not exactly the same as a Ringling Bros. show - but the roles are there, just done in a Cirque Du Soleil way.  

A note about the aerial work.  Some of it is incredible.  There's a section they do with a spinning structure that defies belief.  The tightrope walking is pretty amazing too.  But - seriously - all of the performers were outstanding.  Hard to pick the best, really.

The music was really good too - really tight band playing live.  The current touring group features a drummer named Eden Bahar, who holds the Guinness World Record for "Most drumstick spins in one minute (one hand)".  He set the record of 149 on 13-Sept-2018.  They gave him a solo spot in the show - he really shined, without being overbearing.  

Finally - we did manage to get a picture at the event:

You'll notice I'm wearing my down jacket.  I had on a blue-green t-shirt that matched the backdrop.  I kept disappearing in the photos.  Luckily - I had a zip-up down jacket - or you would have seen a much different photo!

They also gave us the raw image:

All in all - it was a magical night.  We had a lot of fun!

Cheers,
Paul