Welcome Richard. My philosophy is more the merrier. Oh Richard W_ _ K around here is spelled w**k, that word gets a few of the crowd all worked up.
Well guys it has been blue skies cool weather finally here in NOVA. The VP here is giving me an ulcer. Had a testy argument yesterday, received a call this morning at 7am, multiple calls during the day. I think it is all settled. Now maybe I can get back to regular stuff. Phew!!
Howmuss- you know the saying how do you eat an elephant ? One bite at a time. Some projects I take on take are like that little by little, Which does NOT suit my personality but it is the only way I can make any headway. You are making progress ! Hurray for that !
Galaxy - I am sorry for you all and yesterday I had a running battle going on at w**k and did not get a chance to pass along my sympathies. I have already offered up a for you and yours.
Jeff - did you paint that bus ? That is pretty incredible ! Love the John Wayne picture. Made me laugh. My dad and I used to love to watch the Duke.
Gary - Thanks . I felt bad for the gal on the other side of the counter. You could see it in her face that she felt bad for having to enforce a horrible bad requirement. But she did it with Grace which made it go easier.
Well guys got to get back to w**k TTYL.
yougottawantaJeff - did you paint that bus ? That is pretty incredible ! Love the John Wayne picture. Made me laugh. My dad and I used to love to watch the Duke.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
All in all it's been a productive day. On the game front I finished with the walk through the woods, exploration of the killers cabin, some exploring at the airport (where there's an Area 51sh type of shimmer), looking through an abandoned car, walking over the dunes where ATV enthusiasts have their fun, found an old motel, fell in a river and emerged from the shimmer at the airport. Are we confused yet?There's still more to go. I have yet to make the park and the abandoned motel. Oh you'll like it. It's a killer place. And that will do it for part one. I'll need to close the file on it. It's almost up to fifty sectors. There's still parts two and three to go and we haven't even gotten to my neighborhood yet. Oh yes, even though this is purely a work of fiction nearly everything in it is based on areas around here.
RideOnRoad I have to admit, I was a bit worried about speaking up around all of the old timers. Thank you for all of the "welcomes." My plans for the day are rather mundane. W**k and maybe get a haircut. I am also trying to decide if I am going to go out for a bike ride over lunch. I am still a little sore from the ride on Saturday. Edit: Sorry. I edited out the objectionable word. I won't let it happen again.
I have to admit, I was a bit worried about speaking up around all of the old timers. Thank you for all of the "welcomes."
My plans for the day are rather mundane. W**k and maybe get a haircut. I am also trying to decide if I am going to go out for a bike ride over lunch. I am still a little sore from the ride on Saturday.
Edit: Sorry. I edited out the objectionable word. I won't let it happen again.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Well, erm
We went for a long 2 hour ride to the cemetary in BAth to find out where it was and where MIL will be buried. Nice neat Hillside cemetary, section "V". Took the FIL naturally. SHe is on the board for 11 AM Friday. SO we will have just a private viewing and casket closing early on Friday, then proceed to the cemetary following the hearse.
Boy, MOH and FIL can sure pick at each other. FIL thinks MOH "knows everything" and MOH thinks my FIL "THINKS he knows everything". OCASSIONALLY, admittedly, they may EACH be right, while the other is are wrong. TRY to get them EACH To see that is like trying to pin *** a porcupine with your fingernail without pricking your finger doing so. *sigh*
I tell MOH you have to learn to pick your battles, and let the rest slide. MOH says, and I quote, that FIL "pushes my buttons". i say MOH LETS FIL push buttons. I say, Everything is 50% what happens and 50% how you react to it. *double Sigh*
well, I am exhausted. We stopped at Bob Evans diner to eat ont eh way home. I said we'd pay it, and FIL said no, he'd pay it. WHen the check came I reached for it, but FIL grabbed it first and took it to pay it. I LET IT SLIDE. I picked NOT to fight that battle with FIL. Besides we are about $35 richer now. Maybe FRiday, coming home from the interment, I can grab for it first.
Now, off to bed for a well deserved nap.
Later.
Galaxy- Deb and I extend our condolences and prayers.
Phil aka flip
No further progress on the game today. Tomorrow I'll get started on making the subchart for the motel and park. That'll include a few blocks for lake scenes and maybe one or two for the spillway. The motel will be a bit of fun. I'm looking at two floors with four rooms per floor at least. They won't all be normal rooms. Some will have "surprises".One thing I did today was double the RAM on this computer. I put in two 1GB DDR2 800 memory sticks a friend sent me and I dumped the single 1GB DDR2 533 stick that was in it. It'll only take two so I used the two DDR2 800's. The increase sped the system up by a little over a third. It uses 1.87 gigs for the RAM, the rest goes to VRAM.Time for me to call it a day. See y'all tomorrow.
Evening gang
After making calls and filling out apps, not much got done today on the RR. I did find out dome early release news on an upcoming model. Supposedly, a manufacturer will soon be announcing HO GP38's in the Maryland Midland blue & orange scheme with or without tsunami sound. Great, I build 7 of em (4 Atlas, 3 Athearn) , and now they release them!! More details at Trainfest.
Finally, need a headscratcher? A woman hits a train with her car, then gets hit by another train, and lives!! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c90_1381721438#F4ry9eYW5s06zodo.01
Nite all!
Karl
NCE über alles!
Something I didn't mention earlier as it had completely slipped my mind. In between programming sessions today I left the IIe running. I back up all the files just in case then lock the write protect. Well at one point I was out here in the office and I didn't see the cat around anywhere. Well she's upstairs in the balcony curled up on the couch up there I thought. When I headed back toward my room I cast a glance up there and didn't see her. As I entered my room I saw her. She was curled up on top of the IIe. Nice and warm there. All it took was a dirty look from me to send her off in search of another warm place. I'm still trying to figure a way to work a train into Native Fury.
Evenin' Chloe, just a hot chocolate in a go cup. Wanted to stop by, since I have this problem with getting waaaay behind on posting...
jeffrey-wimberly One thing I did today was double the RAM on this computer. I put in two 1GB DDR2 800 memory sticks a friend sent me and I dumped the single 1GB DDR2 533 stick that was in it. It'll only take two so I used the two DDR2 800's. The increase sped the system up by a little over a third. It uses 1.87 gigs for the RAM, the rest goes to VRAM.
One thing I did today was double the RAM on this computer. I put in two 1GB DDR2 800 memory sticks a friend sent me and I dumped the single 1GB DDR2 533 stick that was in it. It'll only take two so I used the two DDR2 800's. The increase sped the system up by a little over a third. It uses 1.87 gigs for the RAM, the rest goes to VRAM.
Jeff - for those who might be confused, I will point out that an Apple II (so far) doesn't quite handle 2GB of RAM (last I heard, the biggest memory card for an Apple II - gs, not a II+ or IIe - is about 8MB, a wee bit smaller than a GB). Some of our new people might have ever seen any Apple II products (or perhaps know what they're like), and that you have a bit more modern of a computer that you use for your posts... Sounds like you've been making good progress on the game. I like what you've described so far. And for those unfamiliar with Apple II's, there actually are some companies still releasing Apple II games (though most of the newer releases are for the Apple IIgs, the last Apple II in the series that were made).
Richard, yep, you should fit in well here with the rest of the Diners. Now, once you can get your daughter hitched (and moved out), you can resume w**k on your layout. Priorities, priorities...
Good to see some of our other (than me) irregular Diners back in again. I will try to respond more individually tomorrow. Except tomorrow morning I have CPR and first aid training at the office until 1 p.m., and then I head out to the doctor about 3:30 p.m. or so.
Oh, I did get the tire replaced on my car today (at no charge, which was nice. ) Talked with the repair guy about what they think happened to get the tire flat, and it did puzzle them some. Wondering if I ticked off somebody related to w**k (past client...)?
Tonight, I got into my boxes of (semi-)assembled/finished structures to remind myself of what I have (both the ones I want to use for kitbashing, as well as one I need to repaint or otherwise modify, etc.). That felt good, since I know I do have some parts that I want to use for a kitbashed church (from a couple of the Revell Schoolhouse kits). Found a couple of kits that I'd forgotten that I had (Pola brewery, which would be easy to turn into some kind of small manufacturing facility, and a Campbell's Feed Mill kit).
Well (kinda coolish-damp in there today, toads are talking about heading south for the rest of the fall...), I'll see about getting back by some point tomorrow and get better caught-up with y'all.
Prayers for all those in need of them, for rest, comfort, healing from pain, coping with job, a better night's sleep, or other reasons.
Blessings,
Jim in Cape G.
Hey you guys
I got to go to the train club today. I got the 2 U30Cs I finished up speed matched to my other locos (2 F45s, 2 SD45s, 2 C30-7s, and an ATSF SD40-2). Ran the U30Cs with F45 6633 (I installed an older soundtraxx and LEDs in it) and pulled 1 track cleaner car with 29 coal gondolas and a caboose. I forgot that these U30Cs aren't really as good of pullers as the other locos. I have the weights from some of the older U33Cs which are larger, so I may swap them out to get some more pulling power out of them. It's kinda of weird watching them go up the helix. The F45 was on the point and it wasn't spinning, but the U30Cs were spinning like crazy.
However as of late, I've been thinking of changing the speed curve in those above engines. They don't start out till almost 1/4 throttle. I noticed my SD7 starts out really early and runs really smoothly and isn't too fast, maybe I'll speed match the others to it.
Galaxy, Sorry to hear of your MIL's passing...
Jeff, do you think that memory stick you took out would work out in my old Dell. I'm trying to upgrade it to be similar to this HP so I have something when I strike out on my own
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
PackerJeff, do you think that memory stick you took out would work out in my old Dell. I'm trying to upgrade it to be similar to this HP so I have something when I strike out on my own
JimRCGMOJeff - for those who might be confused, I will point out that an Apple II (so far) doesn't quite handle 2GB of RAM (last I heard, the biggest memory card for an Apple II - gs, not a II+ or IIe - is about 8MB, a wee bit smaller than a GB). Some of our new people might have ever seen any Apple II products (or perhaps know what they're like), and that you have a bit more modern of a computer that you use for your posts... Sounds like you've been making good progress on the game. I like what you've described so far. And for those unfamiliar with Apple II's, there actually are some companies still releasing Apple II games (though most of the newer releases are for the Apple IIgs, the last Apple II in the series that were made).
Gidday All, Just a hot chocolate please Chloe.
kbkchooch Supposedly, a manufacturer will soon be announcing HO GP38's in the Maryland Midland blue & orange scheme with or without tsunami sound. Great, I build 7 of em (4 Atlas, 3 Athearn) , and now they release them!!
Yeah Karl, but yours are unique. Sorry to hear about your Mike, I didn't get around to it at the time, but I enjoyed your unpainted photo in WPF, showed just what work you had done.
kbkchoochFinally, need a headscratcher? A woman hits a train with her car, then gets hit by another train, and lives!!
Yes, it was on our evening news tonight, Hope that I'm not going to incur Vinnies or Galaxys wrath, but that's why I believe in God, there's gotta be someone to take care of the idiots!!!!!!
Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them.
Cheers, the Bear..
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
morning coffee in the diner..
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING!!
Today is Wednesday, October 16th, 2013!!
MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!
Today's fun limmericks:
My neighbor came over to say(Although not in a neighborly way)
That he'd knock me aroundIf I didn't curb the sound
Of the classical music I play.
I told him, "Get out of my placeYou're an utter uncultured disgrace;
You're a simpleton loon.
Don't you know a good tune?"
Then he walloped me square in the face.
There was a young man from Cape CodWho's seafaring occupation was very oddHe caught fish all dayBut Without any pay
And the IRS gives him a wink and a nod!
Today's WEIRD words:
farrago: (noun, plural farragos or farragoes) A collection or hodgepodge, mishmash or odds and ends containing a confused variety of miscellaneous things.
Etymology: From Latin farrāgo (“mixed fodder; mixture, hodgepodge”), from far (“spelt) (a kind of wheat), coarse meal, grits”) See also Farraginous
integument: (noun): a general term in biology that refers most commonly to the natural covering of an organism or an organ, such as its skin, husk, shell, or rind. Etymology: It derives from integumentum, which means "a covering" in Latin.
Apocrisiary-{noun, anglicized} A a highly diplomatic representative, A delegate or deputy, or person appointed to give answers. From the Greek word meaning "answer."
Etymology: apocrisiary, anglicanized, from apocrisiarius, the Latinized form of apokrisiarios (Greek: ἀποκρισιάριος), The corresponding (purist) Latin term was responsalis ("he who answers")
Have YOursself a Merry Little Christmas...OOPS! Have Yourself a Very Happy day!
I guess it could mean, that with my tidbits I post every morning, I might be considered your apocrisiary!
I post them for fun, educational fun, Hilariously funny fun, and to show us all some of the words or things we COULD be "used to" if we had lived in another century/place.
I DO hope that it helps "starts your day off right", {and that Like Ray {Howmus} that you all TRY to use them in a sentence at least 3 times that day! Tee Hee}
Have Brilliantly Smartz day!
Off to work now guys, catch up tonight. I bought iphone last night also,lol
Good Morning!!!
Coffee and oh I don’t care. Surprise me. Thanks.
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 59.
Light was a pain but it’s done. Today I will take one minute at a time. One small minute.
Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
well, erm
MIL's Obituary was in the paper this morning, Small, and to the point. Top of the page. Since there will be no calling hours, there will only be the private viewing for te three of us, so nothing to report to the paper.
MOH was in tears over that, as is the "first finality" in about 3 of them. The final two will be at the grave "ceremony" and tghe actual interment.
MOH is strong willed and will go to work today. And Tomorrow. but wants Fri.. Sat and Sun off. to mourn. Has Sat off already. May already have SUn off to, won't know until Fri, which won't likely happen {getting the schedule for next week that is}.
So, now we wait, MOH went off to order the flowers this AM, and get hair done. and our friend is coming for a visit.
That about it. for today. I guess.
HAve a good one
Morning guys
I'm off today. I don't have any real plans, I might work on the intermountain DRGW hopper kit some more.
jeffrey-wimberly PackerJeff, do you think that memory stick you took out would work out in my old Dell. I'm trying to upgrade it to be similar to this HP so I have something when I strike out on my ownThat'll depend on several things. What type computer is it? A desktop pc uses a different memory board than a laptop or notebook. What kind of memory board does it have now? If it's not DDR2 it won't work. If the board is compatible (DDR2) what's the clock speed? Some computers don't react well with memory sticks of different speeds. That was the thing with the one I have here. I could have used the 533 stick with one of the 800 sticks but there would be conflicts and errors down the line.
It's a Dell XPS 400 desktop. I really don't know a whole lot about computers, so I have no idea what clock speed and board it has.
Good morning .......
Karl .... I think your described one of the corollaries of Murphy's Law applicable to model railroading. You can spend long periods of time building a unique model. You are very proud of your work. Next, a manufacturer produces it so other modelrs don't need to work as hard as you did to get basically the same thing.
Here are examples of this corollary to Murphy's law. Prior to Walthers announcing its first run of the Empire Builder, I was making my own. The dome-coaches were made out of Con Cor Budd domes and Brass Car Sides. The full dome lounge car (Great Dome) was made from a Bachmann Santa Fe dome car. These were used with Rivarossie Great Northern cars to make a version of the Empire Builder.
Here is an older photo of the cars.
Later, I painted the interior in the full dome to a more correct red color. The tan plastic interior did not look right. Here it is in a more recent photo. One of my Rapido coaches is also in the picture. I have since added some of the Walthers Empire Builder cars to my fleet.
Later, I painted the interior in the full dome to a more correct red color. The tan plastic interior did not look right. Here it is in a more recent photo. One of my Rapido coaches is also in the picture.
I have since added some of the Walthers Empire Builder cars to my fleet.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Galaxy ....
The Chapel Car is still coupled to the DIner, and prayer candles are lighted. It is sad to read about Mrs. Galaxy's grieving. Prayers continue.
Good Morning to all. I think I will just have a bowl of oatmeal this morning.
Yesterday I received a modified reefer car with a track cleaner underneath. We shall see how well it works.
I got a call late yesterday about w**k and I am headed to Saint Louis today, home tomorrow. The good news is that I use the per diem from these trips to fund my MRR addiction.
Finally, I recent finished reading Nothing Like It in the World, by Stephen Ambrose. It is the story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. It was a good read. It is amazing such a good thing can come out of so much corruption. It is also amazing it was completed with such archaic surveying techniques. The book is worth the read, if you have the time.
Edit: It looks like I am the first post on the page. Breakfast is on me--Enjoy!
Richard
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, I'll have a couple eggs over easy, bacon, and a couple slices of sour dough bread toast this morning. What? Yes, the blood sugar was 115 this morning. Much better! Thank you. I've been buying too much snack food lately to get the discount on Dinosaur Gunk for the PiP... Lucky they stopped doing that this week, so the temptation won't be there.
Karl, just think, you will still have something much better in your collection because YOU made it! For me that is where the fun is!
Speaking of making stuff, I never did get down to the train rooms last night. Hope to today at some point. Won't be able to do much outside as it is precipitating out there and will all day.
Galaxy, prayers continue for you and yours!
Catch you all later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good morning. It's 70° with 95% humidity. The high will be 75° and will feel like 78°. with a Looks like today may be a wet one. I've worked out a subchart for the motel and park in Native Fury. So far the motel is a single floor. I'll add a second floor later. For now the motel and park is a twenty-two block assignment and that's going to be a long programming session. It starts at line 3500 and goes to line 6000 before it finishes. Maybe I can work a model railroad layout into the lobby. Something with the motel's name in it. I'm calling the motel 'The Empire Inn'. There shouldn't be anybody in it as it's been abandoned for years. The real motel (different name) I'm basing it on burned down shortly after I came here from El Paso. Anyway, the games character (as yet unnamed) enters the motel lobby from the north then can proceed south out the back to explore the park behind the motel or he can go east down the hall which runs east and west. There are eight rooms, four to the north and four to the south that open onto the hall. The character can access the park from the lobby and the east end of the hall. The park runs north-south along the east end of the motel and east-west along the entire south side. The charts below will give a rough idea of the layout. The first photo is of the original flowchart from my initial plan. The area indicated in red is the area I'm working on now. The second is the subchart I drew up last night. The numbers are the starting line numbers of each block. The red lines indicate the path the character will take when exploring the motel.
Morning All,
Currently it is 32 with an expected high of 68 under sunny skies.
Day off today, so I already have one load of laundry going and will start another as soon as I am done with this. Need to do a little grocery shopping, then model railroad w**k
Had yesterday off too, but spent it in the ER, with what was diagnosed as Angioedeme, it means I had an allergic reaction to my blood pressure meds that I have been taking for the past 10 years. My face got all swollen in different areas. Doc said I was lucky, some people have their tongue and throat swell up so bad they can not breathe. He said throw out the Enalapril and he gave me another med. I need to call my cardiologist today and get a new prescription. I am now allergic to any ACE / ARB inhibitors. So once I get my new prescription, I need to get a new medic alert bracelet.
Prayers to all in need.
Paul
Living in Fernley Nevada, about 30 miles east of Reno, also lived in Oregon and California, but born In Brooklyn NY and raised on Long Island NY
Whoa Paul
That is pretty scary stuff. The meds that are supposed to help just about take you out ! Geez !! Careful there.
Another crazy day at w**k. We have another "mansion" settling this week and on the last inspection the county LOST the paperwork ! If you think that bad you should have seen all of the drama yesterday surrounding a retaining wall inspection, engineers , wall builder, building inspector, zoning , login, etc...my head is still spinning. Feels like I was run over by the "Big boy" followed by a couple of F units. Phew glad that excitement is over !
Jeff - Well you may have not painted that bus but you do some really neat stuff and I would have believed you could have painted that. Your Halloween car made me LOL !! Loved it. What a hoot.
Galaxy - Amen on picking battles. Some are just not worth fighting.
Jeremy - shhhhh its w**k. Was that Vinnie starting to rumble over in the corner ?
Richard - now that is funny "per diem funding your MRR addiction" it is an EXPENSIVE addiction is it not ?
Gotta get back to w**k
TTYL.
YGW
Good afternoon, all. I've got a cold, so I took the day off. We have "Paid Time Off" at work, which covers sick time and vacation. I took Monday off, and felt well enough to go in Tuesday. The cold is a double-whammy one, though, and by later in the day it was back with a vengeance. So, another day off. If I'd had standard "sick time," I would have just taken 3 days off. Hope I didn't give it to anyone work.
I bought a new car about a month ago, and traded in the old one. I couldn't find the title. Maybe I never had it, or maybe it came to me in an unrecognized envelope and got discarded, but anyway I had to apply for a duplicate. Since I originally financed the car, I needed a certificate from the lien holder, which I got, and mailed in the form with the fee. The check came back, but no title, so I called the Registry. They had sent the title to the finance company instead of to me. I specifically asked them if I'd checked the wrong box on the form or something, but no, I did everything right. So, now they're going to send another one.
Still working on my tannery. I'm starting to detail the buildings now. I got the boiler house done, but now I've got to wing it a bit more, having no real knowledge of tannery operations.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Been busy on the other computer with Native Fury. I have more than half of the motel done. Still have to program in the rooms on the south side of the hall. I also worked a train into the mix. There's an old HO 4x8 layout in one corner of the motel lobby. It doesn't work though. Part of the track is torn up and the locos wouldn't run anyway. Their rubber bands are all rotted away. Mention is made of the layout again when a room is being searched. The character finds a picture of the layout when it was working and the motel owner is at the controls. Mention is also made of the possible object of interest of the game. Indian artifacts can be seen hanging on one of the walls, most notably a ceremonial headdress. Once I finish the motel only the park is left and that's going to be a headache in and of itself. The game now takes up fifty-seven sectors of diskette space. I'm also keeping a duplicate file on a diskette in drive two.No model railroad action here as I have no active projects to work on. I have to wait until I can get parts for them.
Well I finally finished programming in the motel. What a workout! I am wiped. What happened to the days when programming was a lot easier? Oh yeah. I could see better then. Well after today's programming marathon I pulled up another program I wrote many years ago called 'Hell House'. It's about a character who's searching for a particularly valuable bond and he has to go through many perils to do it. It's so complex with so many things that have to be collected and so many perils to dodge that it's nearly unwinnable. I've only won it twice and I wrote the thing. Despite it's complexity it was written in very simple code, similar to what I'm using for Native Fury.Here's a couple of sample shots of parts of the program listing. It was written to run in 80-columns but I'm showing it listed in 40-columns so it's easier to see. The program is so large it's stored on the diskette in seven segments, the largest being seventy diskette sectors. It was written on an AMI-ONE, a 48k Apple II+ clone.This first one is from the segment concerning a Civil War era silver mine.This second one is part of the listing from the ancient manor house.
Had a busy day today. Programmed thirteen or fourteen blocks into Native Fury. That was the motel by itself, not including the tie-ins with the forest and dunes modules. Tomorrow I'll be programming the park behind the motel. That's another nine to eleven blocks. Almost a full day counting breaks and I'm taking my time on this. When I wrote 'Hell House' back in 97-98 I was programming almost thirty blocks a day. After ten hours of that kind of fast typing your eyes feel like biscuits that were left in the oven too long and there's so much code running through your head your dreams even come up looking like Fortran, C and C++. In my younger days I could almost speak assembly language. Taking apart a program and rearranging it with a sector editor or a nibbler was child's play. Now it's difficult because I haven't done it much since 1990. It's true what they say about use it or lose it. What I'm doing with Native Fury is nothing. I'm playing with it. An eight year old could do it if you gave him/her the proper instruction in the use of Basic code, C++ and VBasic. Kids used to learn this stuff in the third grade. I gave both my nieces and my nephew their first two semesters of computer instruction. Didn't take with my nephew. He's a gear head. Give him a computer and he's lost. But give him a car or truck engine and he can tear it down and rebuild it in his sleep, under water and blindfolded. My two nieces, they're a different story. The one that lives here, she's always having to show her husband how to program the phones and troubleshoot problems on any of their computers. The niece in Virginia already has her six year old son checked out on Visual Basic and he can already do more things with Windows than I thought was possible. I'd love to see that kids IQ score. I wouldn't be surprised if it's higher than mine.Well enough with the program talk and techno babble. It's time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.