iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Arlette

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

please do not post photos of barbour jackets in early october if you're not also voting for policies to address global warming

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I’m taking a frame-straightening class and it’s very cool but it’s really reminding me that oh yeah, I only like working on bikes, cars are big and dirty and crawling around under them sucks.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Definitely swamped the nurse practitioner with mosasaur facts during today’s Pap smear appointment.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Mosasaur fact: the Platecarpus fossil specimen LACM 128319 is so well preserved that it includes imprints of soft tissue like bronchial tubes, scales and possible traces of the animal’s retina. You only need to go to Los Angeles to stare at an ANCIENT SEA MONSTER EYEBALL THAT CAN STARE BACK AT YOU.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My latest hyperfixation is mosasaurs so you know what that means: MOSASAUR FACTS FOR EVERYONE IN MY PRESENCE

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Today I learned that mosasaurs got the bends.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Procrastinated on doctor visits for so long that when I finally dragged my ass in today, my doc jumped at the chance to order a raft of overdue and upcoming labs and bloodwork for me to take care of today. She must feel like she caught a shiny Pokémon.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

After replacing the entire wiring harness twice and removing fully half of the bike to get to the worn-out clutch, I am now very comfortable with rummaging around in this bike’s guts.

About half a motorcycle on a mechanic’s lift. Pretty much everything behind the motor has been removed.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Today I was on a motorcycle creeping up the shoulder of my least favorite freeway merge (three lanes turn into one poorly paved entry lane that immediately goes exit-only) when a pickup moved over for me and the driver poked his fingers out the window to give me a little biker wave. ❤️

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Discovered the “doesn’t need much work” BMW GSA needs a clutch replacement and I am going to do it because after one brief road trip on it I already love the big cow.

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Reposted by Arlette

Nathan Edwards @grackle.space · 10/07/2026

none pizza with left all

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

“What if in addition to the six ABS brake fluid circuits that have to be bled in order, we also added two internal brake fluid reservoirs inside the ABS housing that need to be bled and filled separately? That’s a sane thing people will like, right?” - BMW, probably

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I love Clymer automotive manuals for their friendly practicality (So many photos! Putting key warnings *before* step-by-step instructions! The early-‘80s Honda XL/XR manual’s illustrations are superb!) but I love that Haynes can’t resist sliding a bit of dry English humor in where they can.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Can’t believe I have the kind of friend who’ll just give me a doesn’t-need-much-work project bike, and a whole other kind of friend who’ll load this cow into a truck for me.

A large and very not shiny motorcycle loaded into the bed of a pickup truck.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Still thinking about lane splitting Bay Bridge rush hour traffic on my friend’s 250cc dual sport. Scalpel-thin flickable bike that squirms between cars, no knocking car mirrors since they’re a foot below the bars, squealing the bratty thumper engine at cars when they do something dumb. Magical.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

I love when the cat figures out how to get out from under a blanket and comes out looking like Mother Theresa.

Buddy crawling out from under a sheet with his ears pinned back by the fabric

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Took a first crack at making the desi omelets I miss from visiting Pakistan, and I guess they came out pretty much right because I kinda started sniffling.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Stuck away from home watching network TV but once again delighted to remember that “Wanted: Dead or Alive” combines two of my favorites: westerns and Steve McQueen.

A grainy photo of a TV showing “Wanted: Dead or Alive” showing Steve McQueen as Josh Randall, with captions reading “Yeah, sure enough. ( whistles to horse )”

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Spent ten minutes dipping my motorcycle into tight turns and getting low enough to make my friend on the back of the bike scream with delight today, that was pretty great

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Please enjoy this photo of Buddy looking very photogenic

Buddy the cat half asleep with his hind legs everywhere, glaring sleepily at me with his face fur all flat on one side from sleeping on it

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

It’s a good thing I like airport nachos and pretty much any midsize regional brewery’s draft IPA because flying lately is pretty fucked

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Reposted by Arlette

old uncle BATface @catfacejoe.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

WHATS UP YOU WET MOTHERFUCKERS

black and white drawing of an underwater scene. a large bird sticking it's head into the water, surrounded by shocked fish

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Everyone: Hahaha you’re going to bed so early, young you would be so disappointed Young me: Wait so you’re going to bed and it’s what time? Current me: Ten p.m., bitches! Young me, tearful: You mean … you figured it out. You finally learned how to sleep

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Lady, we don’t need to talk, you and I both know the only reason I’m here is that your lax attitude about leash training means your rescue pit bull can demand and collect a chin rub tax from everyone trying to get through this narrow gap to this taproom’s only bathroom

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Hung out with the situationship last night after spending a couple weeks out of town and he asked after my NYT crossword streak. “By now you must be at, what, at least 400 days?”

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Look at this perfect little prawn

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Delivered two pep talks to classmates and showed someone a technique I got from a library book for getting more accurate cuts with our 36” manual sheet metal shear. Didn’t actually finish my own task before lab time was up. I gotta start saving the motivational speeches for after class, jeez.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

I wanna be annoyed at the drunk girl at the table behind me who won’t shut the fuck up but I can’t because all she’ll talk about is dogs she knows and every dog walking by

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

TFW you discover the silver letter opener you’ve been using for a zillion years and don’t know how you got it is a hundred years old, and the neat coin you always liked is a 19th century silver coin from the Ottoman Empire

A knife-shaped letter opener with a coin on top and a nice patina to the silver

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Metal fabrication classmate on the first day tried to tease me saying I must own the textbook already, but hahaha turns out I own another in the series by the same author. Haha. Ha. hahahhaaaaa wonder why people keep mistaking me for a TA hahahaaaaa

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Five seconds later Buddy started yelling at me to do something about all the gross-ass rain.

Buddy the cat staring past an open door at a very wet outside with one little foot tentatively extended.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Buddy’s taken to spending, like, an hour a day in this box, staring at nothing. The little freeloader finally has a day a job!

Buddy sitting in an empty cardboard box, looking bored.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

look at this ridiculous animal

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

After weeks and weeks of prep in my automotive painting class (fighting with and cleaning an under-maintained sandblast cabinet, mostly) I have finally powder coated something!

Three shaped pieces of metal hanging from a metal rack in front of a bathroom-sized walk-in oven. The pieces are a smooth, new-looking, satiny black because I did GOOD

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Got to talk my aunt down from a probably overdue “coming to terms with age and advancing cognitive decline” meltdown today, now I’m apologizing in advance to my carsickness-prone elderly cat for tomorrow’s drive so they can hang out for what’s probably the last time.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

I’m so so so so tired and not done yet but also today I showed someone how to drain the float bowl on his motorcycle and I hope made him a little less nervous about carburetors in general.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Was completely unprepared for the art store paint department guy surrounded by oils and canvas to home in on the can of 1 Shot I’d picked up, have me try out a sign painter’s brush and then sell me the brush as a demo for five bucks. It’s Oakland, of course the art store has a secret pinstriper.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

The welding teacher teased me about whether I’d have any MiG welds done today, so I banged out a third of the sheet and got all nines out of ten. (Brady’s never been observed giving a perfect score.) Whew.

A close-up of graded class schoolwork. All nines out of ten!

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Buddy fell asleep spooning my leg last night.

Buddy the orange cat, passed out hard while snoozing on my leg. What a precious baby.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Last week at the Habitat ReStore I snagged three sandwich bags of solid aluminum rivets (“Maybe I can use these with that rivet gun I got!”) and decided to sort them. One week and one bag later I now know wayyyyyyyy too much about rivets for someone who’s never actually bucked one.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Chatty hardware store cashier: “Lacquer thinner? Acetone? Wow, you’re serious!” Me: “Yeah, I’m gonna take some STUFF off some STUFF!”

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Well the cat is starting to nod off in my lap so he’s way more over that earthquake just now than I am

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

My plug welds sure got better once we put on a new spool and the wire started feeding right. Lookit that center one!

A close-up of a piece of metal with several awkward, incomplete or irregular MiG plug welds and at the center, one very very neat one with a really uniform heat penetration ring around it.

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Arlette @arletterocks.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Taught another motorcycle lesson today. Felt hopeful but mostly sorta lost for two hours until the last 15 minutes where it all came together for the student and I had to concede that yeah, maybe I don’t totally suck at this.

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Reposted by Arlette

Wendy Miller @burrowingowl.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Going through my photos from this morning, and when I saw this owlet with this expression, I immediately thought of Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That movie really messed with my head, I guess. 🪶

Burrowing owlet standing on a rock with his mouth and eyes wide open. He's probably trying to cough up a pellet, but it's such a comical expression!

Donald Sutherland in a trench coat pointing at a human and screaming.

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