2004

[robengland]

I empathise with Aggro. An ugly year for me personally, detailed in other posts, no point going into it again here.

Here's how I deal with it: I live close to Asia and consider myself a European Asian. If you really want to plumb the depths of human misery go there. Right now some guy in Indonesia has lost all five kids to a tsunami but has the misfortune to be alive to ponder it. My point is that no matter how bad it gets, you can always look around and say "oh well at least I'm not...." Everyone on this forum eats, expects to not be killed by their own government in 2005, and has enough dosh for a PC and internet access.

So on the up side: I got back into model railroading after 30 years off, with enough disposable income to go nuts at it. In less than a year I have:
- a library: a MR mag collection complete back to the 50s, plus RMC plus British mags plus a bunch of New Zealand rail books
- research: three feet of shelf space full of folders of photocopying
- a plan, a theme, a name
- a 12' x 3' steel-and-styrofoam layout in the basement: just a learning layout, planned obsolescence in a year or two. Half the track is down, mainline loop is complete so I can run trains
- ceiling, lighting, valence, fascia, backdrop, curtains, storage, workshop (Proxon, drill press, oscilloscope...)
- DCC: Zephyr (love it), DT300 (hate it), IR, DS54s, Locobuffer, JMRI, BDL168, two Soundtraxx-equipped locos, assorted others with decoders, more to go
- 6 Tortoises installed with DS54 and pushbutton control, as many to go
- about 100 rolling stock (inventory not done yet)
- a brass 4-8-4 (always wanted one of those)
- on-track video system
- roundhouse done, turntable under construction
- 3 modelling social circles joined

Never mind the real world, all's well in the basement.

[douginut]

Having managed to live through 2004 so far I look forward to 2005.

Things HAVE to get better.

After my move have FOUND the many boxes of my train things!

Doug, in Utah

[philnrunt]

Aggro- you are the absolute king of the one word tag lines in this forum,I see just one word, try to pass it by but HAVE to come back to see what you are saying. Always pays off, you make good posts.
'04- not so good, not so bad, lost one girlfriend that should have worked out perfectly, but immediately picked up another one that should'nt have worked at all! And she is soooo much better to me than the last one.
Can't seem to get my diabetes under control, but it's a learning process and I'll not get too depressed yet.
Found 3 new LHS within 30 miles of my house, thats on the plus side.
Still like my hobbies and can still go camping, so thats a good thing, and the job still pays the bills, but just barely.
All in all, can't complain too much, and if I did you'd just skip to the next post!
I hope your '05 is better than last year, and I hope to see you here for a long time, Aggro. You hang in there, and all my best wishes.

[Anonymous]

MTH sued everyone and attempted to enter HO.<<<<<


Who?

I know of Lionel and QSI....

[PennsyHoosier]

2004 was a mixed bag--like most years. Careerwise, things have been tossed up into the air. Who knows when they will come down and where they will land.

Railroadwise, however, it was a great year. I was able to get more done this year than in the last three combined.

So what will 2005 hold????

[dave9999]

What's up Aggro,
It sounds as if you had a year like mine...

It started off good. We took our annual trip to western North Carolina and saw a lot of trains and
train related sites. Got to see a Shay and a Climax locomotive. And took a steam excursion.

Then it got bad...

About two weeks after we returned from our trip, I fell at work and broke three ribs and collapsed a
lung. I was laid up and unable to do much of anything. But I got through that just fine.

And then...

Hurricane Ivan!! We are all still feeling the after effects of that.

Well, on the flip side, I have not lost anyone close to me this year and other than the rib thing my
health and the health of loved ones is intact. So I guess it could have been a lot worse of a year.

Dave

[AggroJones]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bnsf6733

QUOTE: Originally posted by dragenrider

Well, Aggro, it makes my year seem a lot better in comparison.

That's not what you wanted to hear, was it? [^]

same for me. i'll pray for your sister.

Thanks. If she knew she would be sent into a freaking pointless war, I don't think she would have joined the Navy.

[AggroJones]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

Man, 2004 was a great year. My wife found a dietary supplement that reversed my mother-in-law's Alzheimer's and my son's autism.

Good.

QUOTE: My son has become potty-trained and he no longer needs an aide at school.

We're trying to get my nephew potty trained right now. He just turned 4.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dragenrider

Well, Aggro, it makes my year seem a lot better in comparison.

That's not what you wanted to hear, was it? [^]

same for me. i'll pray for your sister.

[SpaceMouse]

Man, 2004 was a great year. My wife found a dietary supplement that reversed my mother-in-law's Alzheimer's and my son's autism. I not only have kept my mother-in-law out of a home, she actually traveled accross the country to spend Christmas with her other daughter. My son has become potty-trained and he no longer needs an aide at school. We now are doing things together--like these trains.

Like I said. A great year.

[Anonymous]

I hope you have had some one come in and inspect the mold situation,I have a couple of freinds who have lost their homes to mold.Both with small school aged children it can cause some serious health problems.Both lost their homes and the insurance won't help and the bank doesn't care.Hopefully this is different in your part of the country.Lionels ho may of been a failure for them ,but my gas turbine is an exceptional engine.I to just started tearing down my layout ,after three years of hard work,it is amazing how fast it comes apart.I hope your sister has a safe tour and returns home quickly.

[twhite]

Okay, I retired from teaching. Didn't really want to, but we got a new Administration and they started changing the outlook of the Music department so that my choir, instead of being a performing group just became an adjunct to the Liturgies (it's a Catholic school). That's the bad news. The good news is that I got one HELL of a lot of work done on the old rr--finally got my trackage to where it all works (at least for the time being), began scenery, am about to start on some of Aggro's furnace filter pines (I'm going to need lots and lots of them), and with my retirement bonus, made a major raid on BLI. I now have the noisiest garage in the neighborhood. Healthwise, I had an attack of Pylori, lost 35 pounds (which I needed to do anyway) and it infected my liver and pancreas. All cleared up now, still have the weight off, feel much younger than 65. Planning on finding a custom painter for my locos--I'm not that good at it. Increased my L-105's to two, still looking for another L-131 that doesn't cost the National Debt. Hoping against hope that BLI or P2K or Genesis will come out with a Missabe Yellowstone, either that or go back to raiding that neat brass shop back in Maryland for another Akane. It was a good year, looking forward to a better one for '05.
Tom

[dragenrider]

Well, Aggro, it makes my year seem a lot better in comparison.

That's not what you wanted to hear, was it? [^]

[AggroJones]

Alot of stuff went down this year. Good and bad.

Union Pacific sued Athearn and Lionel. Athearn, MDC, and Intermountain joined Horizon and left Walthers behind. [|(] Broadway Limited established itself as one of the leaders in the world of HO motive power. MTH sued everyone and attempted to enter HO.
Scenic Express now is carried by Walthers. Lionel left HO for the 3rd time after making 2 failures. [:0] Someone bought the vacant field across the steet from my house and began building crap. The mold situation in my house got out of control. Certain parts of my body have reduced functionallity even more so. [:(] My sister in the Navy is about to get sent to damn Iraq. Hopefully she comes back.
We did manage to get the holes in our roof fixed. No more rain leaking on my layout. [^] And I did muster the balls to destroy my old layout and begin this new slighly larger railroad. I'd say my Sierra foothill scenery is coming along great. [8D] Plus I did aquire mein beloved AC-5. This year was the first time I ordered from Tony's Train Exchange, a fire sale item. I got a sorry digital cambra to show some of my work in the internet. It ain't spectacular, but it does serve it's purpose.

Oh yeah, and the computer cra***hat erased all my pictures and documents. That was a bummer. How could I forget that one.

I guess it all balances out, right?