Good Evening,
Johnboy, glad to hear you are ok!
Good day today, I made it to the gym.
Not much else to report.
CN Charlie
Good evening gang!! I'll have a pork roll n cheese and a hot cup of joe!! Looks like it's that time of year again. The cold is rolling in, the muscle car is tucked away in the garage for the winter, I sold my home of 22 years and purchased another one with a basement that's in dire need of a model railroad. The kids are growing like weeds and cheering on the christmas season, the wife is busy unpacking boxes and looking for lost kitchen ware. I am slowing packing up and dismantling the HVBL and planning a redesign in a much smaller floorplan and also wondering where my favorite boxcar is. Oh well, maybe a second cup of coffee will help me find it...........
Rich
I considered violence but decided it would not benefit me in any way.
I don't have any issues with my employer, I actually discussed the possibility of me leaving the Y with my boss, she expressed that she would do everything possible to retain me, and that she definitely has plans to have me move up in the organization.
I'm still keeping my options open and have been actively looking for secondary employment but there have been some obstacles. One manager claimed he lost my application and would call me back, never got a call.
I actually had an interview at a game store but I really am underqualified for that so I cancelled.
Far as the gay thing, these guys are really well "uncultered" they think a tee shirt full of holes, stained up cargo pants, and untied work boots is "dressed up" vs me who takes pride in my appearance, even though I'm still growing my hair out.
But at my YMCA we have a gay couple that I've seen maybe 3 times, and then there are two lesbian couples, again they do not always come in.
Over the summer we had three gay employees, two guys and a girl, I only had an issue with one of the guys because I think he was flirting with me, but the other guy and girl were really nice and never had any problems with them.
In other news,
I decided to apologize to the shoplifters and Sydney. I know I could have handled and said things differently. Tylar was really chill and didn't even think an apology was necessary. Shelby was kinda annoyed i think she's holding a grudge I don't know. And Sydney seemed a little annoyed until I explained I wasn't trying to become friends again just wanting to clear the air. She was wandering what was my motivation, I cracked a joke that I had a "near death experience" she froze and asked what I did, I told her I was joking and she laughed.
She came in Monday and Tuesday this week to work out and actually started a conversation with me both days so it's good to know the animosity there is somewhat gone.
One of my friends he works in wellness at the Y has a theory that she actually either likes me or at least enjoyed our little rivalry we had and is trying to keep it going.
I had the aquatics director come ask me last week if I was dating Taylor from KidZone, she has a boyfriend, I was briefly talking to her friend Shelby (not the one that works at the Y), I told him no, I decided to go to my boss with it cause its every week now he is like all Spanish Inquisition asking if I'm dating a coworker, my boss said she doesn't care, I'm free to date whomever I wish, as long as it doesn't interfere with work. I told her I asked Sydney out, she said same thing it's none of her business, and that I need to tell the aquatics director the same thing!
Heres an updated picture of me, it was taken at my sister's wedding.
Well that's all in the life and times of this young person.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Good afternoon from the West Coast where it was another warm sunny 17c day.
Well I cut the lawn (in my T-shirt and shorts) for the last time this year (I think) Pressure washed the John Deere and it looks like brand new, even under the mower deck there is not a speck of grass. I then pressure washed the entire driveway and sidewalk. It adds up to about 130' of doublewide driveway. I also cleaned the barbecue and moved it inside for the winter.
I spent all day Monday and Tuesday in the trainroom, it is good to see real progress being made. Tomorrow I am going to tidy up a lot of wiring under the bench.
Young Steven I don't know what to say about your club and workplace situation. Anywhere I have worked there has been nothing but total respect between all levels of staff, anything else would not be tolerated. Have you been looking around for a better job at all?
York1, John you look exactly like my cousin, he was an English teacher and a real adventure seeker who loved to travel the world.
Garry, Airplanes are a great place to catch a bug and put a dent in a vacation. After a while, you will have caught them all and stop getting sick from plane rides, at least that's what happened with me.
I think I am over this bug finally as my blood pressure is back to normal. The systolic skyrocketed to the mid 120s and was back below 110 today, hopefully tomorrows workout will be a little easier than it was the last couple of times, being sick makes the "work" part of workout a real killer.
The wife has been getting some real deals with the online auction this week. She got a $1000.00 worth of Veterinary disinfectant for $10.00 and four high-quality leather laptop carriers also for $10.00.
Think I will get a Rum a Pepsi and sit down with the guitar for a couple of hours.
The Mother-in-law just sent a photo because it looks just like my wife. The wife just got her hair cut and stopped to visit her parents on the way home and you would be hard pressed to tell her apart from Meryl Streep in this photo. The wife gets stopped all the time by people that think she is Meryl, she does not know quite how to take that as Meryl is 15 years older.
The wife is making one of my favourites, bacon spaghetti. Now where's my Rum, I'll give one to the wife as well as it does magical things.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Stephen, people are jerks. I might have made a more dramatic exit and popped one of them in the nose.
The YWCA runs a couple gyms in my county. I belong to one, it is a family oriented place. I have seen a couple people who have to be taking steroids, but nothing that would trigger my g--dar. Maybe I can't say that in the forum? I learned it from someone who was gay so if Vinnie asks, tell him I'm "woke"
If you search youtube for Belen NM, there is a Virtural Railfan webcam showing workers trying to rerail a loco 7pm EST. I count 14 workers standing around looking at it.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Sad thing is this club is dying for members, literally if they don't gain any members they'll dissolve.
Steven - I am sorry hearing about your issues with those people in the club. I think you did right in turning around and leaving this place for good!
When I was your age, I was a member of a model railroading club myself. It was a fairly large club, with over 400 paying members. The number of active members was much smaller, though. On work sessions, not more than 6 - 8 showed up, out of which 5 were the "young bunch", i.e. us narrow gaugers. We always had a lot of fun and made excellent progress, which was quite disliked by the rest. One fine day we found out, that all our work had been taken down and we were confronted with a statement, that the club president had decided to give up the narrow gauge part of the layout. Needless to say, that we left the club - and, surprisingly, more than half of all members with us! We did not know we had so many friends in the club! The club finally closed only a year later, when they did not raise enough money to continue.
Never in my life have I joined a club since!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Good evening folks,
As of yesterday I terminated my membership and severed all ties with the Midsouth Model Railroad Club.
Why you ask?
Well while I throughly enjoyed socializing with the older members of the club the younger members posed a bit of an issue.
1st the president basically let's his 21 yo son have free reign, the sons fiance is the club treasurer and is quite scramble brained, she never knew when we paid our dues or how much was paid.
Now for the primary grievance, two younger members that are about 5 and 7 months my younger, but both 18, one failed out of basic because he "blew out his knee" I call bull but whatever, the other is an overemotional brat that talks trash all the time but if you talk back his dad just starts trash talking as well to shut you up.
Example of this, I work at a YMCA, thanks to the Village People and their song, the presidents son, the two younger members, and one of their dads are all convinced that I must be gay because I work there and used that to continually make fun of me and make gay jokes, claiming I have committed gay acts, ect...
I've voiced my annoyance with these "jokes" and yet they continue, this week when they started up in the messenger group we have all the young members in I began to strike back with insults, the one kid gets all upset and leaves the group (for the third time) the dad then continues to threaten me saying I better not come around the club anytime soon and then everyone else starts saying I should be more "mature" and the bigger man, and that I'm "older" than this guy even though he's 18 and only 7 months younger than me, I've been putting up with this for long enough and I've notified the president of my termination of membership.
I'm now going to get in touch with some of the older members and voice my concerns about this.
This is ridiculous that in essence I was bullied out of a model railroad club because of where I work.
Continuing with Georgia, we are still in Adel.
.
Adel has several railroad tracks that pass through. They also have this caboose on display in the historic section of town.
This SD40-2 was just sitting there, so I snapped a picture. I know it is an SD40-2 because that is stenciled right beneath the cab windows. I am not a locomotive expert or anything.
There are a lot of cotton field in the areas surrounding Adel. Pretty much the only crop you will encounter for miles around is cotton.
Cotton harvesting season is here. The cotton gets wrapped in the huge round bales to be transported by truck to the gins where the seeds are removed.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
The kitten is free at last!
She came from rescue, and had some parasites, so we had to get rid of those before she could be exposed to the other cat. We have had her on a harness and leash in the house for several weeks, but now she can explore the whole house. Clean bill of health from the vet. A big shout out for rescue cats and rescue services. This kitten is affectionate, well-behaved and even well-trained, and fixed before we got her.
She came from Maryland or Pennsylvania, in Amish country. Apparently, they are religiously opposed to birth control, even for cats, so those areas are overrun with feral cats.
She is Siamese, so almost all white, so we call her Snowflake.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Back in 1987, when I was working for a Japanese corporation, which name starts with a capital T and ends with "shiba", I was proudly presented a paperless office in the corporate headquarter in Tokyo. It was on the top floor, where the big boys had their offices. the huge conference table had a screen at each place (the big boxes, not flat screens) and there was no sign of paper and pencils. What they didn´t show me was the huge office with maybe a hundred poor souls keying in tons of papers arriving each day. I guess it was just too early for that idea, without Internet based communication.
We went paperless back in 1999.
By 2001 we were using more paper than ever.
Now we are a tree devouring monster. Paperless sure did not last very long around here.
Good morning. Black coffee, eggs, bacon, and sausage, please.
It's sunny right now, 30°, but will change by noon to colder, cloudy, and a few snow flurries. I will try to mow some leaves before it changes.
Glad to hear everyone is doing well. I'm doing some ballast work on the layout today. I will be glad when I'm finished.
Hope everyone has a good day today.
York1 John
Good morning .......
JohnBoy ..... Good to see you. I lost your email address along with several others a couple of years ago.
Steve O ........ Thanks for the yummy peach cobler. ... If your office is going paperless, that must mean you won't be using pencils and erasers also.
Everybody ......... Have a nice day !
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Steven - you are tempting me! I´d like to have a slice of that cobbler, but leave the candle for Johnboy. I find candles hard to chew on ... (takes his coat and hat & leaves in a hurry)...
Johnboy - I am much relieved to hear from you!
I've been pretty busy lately -- we're transitioning to a paperless workflow here at MR -- and so I haven't checked in on the new Diner yet. Georgia, huh? Well, unlike New Zealand, I won't have to do too much research to come up with some traditional Georgia fare to add to the Diner menu. Today Flo is offering up some warm peach cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
(Hey, Flo, stick a candle on top of Johnboy's cobbler for his birthday, will ya?)
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
last mountain & eastern hoggerI have finally retired and it is about time as I turned 79 a few days ago.
Johnboy! Belated Happy Birthday!!
You finally retired at the age of 79 !?!?!? What were you doing that was rewarding enough to keep you on the job that long?
I retired from full time work as early as I could (58), and I was so happy to get out of that horrible job that I felt like I could fly! I was selling installed home improvements for Sears Canada and it was a huge fraud. One third of my customers were having truly awful experiences (sorry, I'm not allowed to use the words that would properly express how bad things were). I couldn't lie to anyone any more. The "Satisfaction Guaranteed" claim was criminally inaccurate. Enough said.
I still kick my butt for not being more studious and applying myself more in my early 20s. I spent too much time partying.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
You know.....as I haven't heard anything good enough and has'nt done enough for me lately..... Go Old.
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon has stayed on the top 500 for Upteen years. Works for me.
Play Steely Dan Aja
I like that one. Then again I've always liked good jazz.
This could help.
TF
[quote user="CNCharlie"]
If anyone knows Johnboy's name, send me a PM and I will see if I can find out if he is ok. He lives about a 6 hour drive straight west from me. I don't plan on driving to Regina but I can certainly phone.
/quote]
Hi Gang, Here I is....
We were gone for most of the month of October in Spokane, Wa. and have been very busy since and then still too occupied to get to the forums. Sorry 'bout that.
I will send CN. Charlie and Ulrich (Tinplate Toddler) my address and phone number so if something happens to this old Phart they will be able to get me on to the RIP Track. Not for repair at that time, just for rest.
Charlie and Ulrich, watch for a PM.
Thanks to you two for remembering and asking about me, I appreciate that.
I will be posting a little more often. I have finally retired and it is about time as I turned 79 a few days ago. I think "Cody" my dog thinks it's great that I am around more and me to him too.
Night all, will take the time to try and catch up over this next week.
Hope you all had or will have a great Thanksgiving and a Happy Hallows Eve.
Johnboy out...........not for good, just for awhile.
Prayers and Blessings to all in need.
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Howdy ...
Apparently, I caught a bad cold from other travelers in crowded airplanes on our trip. So, I'll be resting a while to get over it.
Cheers.
I'm having that cold beer right now, Kevin. I'm going to have another one, too.
Just got home from the funeral for the school secretary. It was a nice funeral, with lots of people, a good message from the pastor, and her large family all had a good day.
It was also nice to see the teachers and former teachers again. Although I don't miss school at all since retirement, it was nice to see everyone. There were lots of hugs and stories.
Hope everyone has a nice evening.
Absolutely perfect day in Atlanta today. 70 degrees and a gentle breeze.
Had an excellent pizza from a local restaurant. Life is good today.
TOP OF THE PAGE, let's all have a cold beer.
Johnboy´s last post was on Sept. 15th this year. I hope he is OK!
Heading for the hay - CU tomorrow!
Good Afternoon,
Another cold day here. It is only -6C now which is below normal for us and is supposed to stay that way for the next week.
I sure do like 5 axle C Liners. I wish mine had sound but I can't find a sound decoder with the correct sound file. Perhaps I'll find another with sound as they did come with a QSI sound decoder option. I guess I'll just use the under table sound decoder. I have no idea what a FM engine sounded like so I'll fool myself with some other option.
Time to head out and do some errands. We are out of dog food and bird food.
Good Morning All,
A regular and an English muffin please Zoe. Got back to the layout last night before the Giants game - should have just kept going, eck.
The big bridge has some 140 holes in the deck for the railings and most were not anything more than slight divots in the edge. Couldn't use an electric drill because the back wall is too close on the far side so I hand drilled all 72 holes on that side with a bit in a pin vise. Not too bad. Checked all the walkways beneath the deck and refastened two of the railings there as well as one walkway. Drilled all the rest of the holes on the deck out and got the far side railings in. I now need to make and attach the guard rails for the deck (code 70 for those) which is always a fiddle. They are 40" long each so I will solder two lengths of rail together and then form the angle for the ends. Probably need to make a fixture to hold everything straight and square as well.
I like tanks probably for the same reason I like trains. Big improbable mechanical things fascinate me. I had one customer who needing work after WWII bought a surplus (deweaponed) army tank to use for demolition work. He had wanted a bulldozer like he had used in the SeaBees but they were too expensive so he settled for the tank. He would drive it straight into the building they were taking down and if he ended up in the basement - no problem - he could just drive back out.
My cousin was in armoured in the Army (three tours in Nam - two as an advisor) and ended up teaching new recruits at Fort Knox. I was busy riding big gray boats at the time but he hosted my brothers on the training grounds there and they got to ride around in the tanks used for practice (pretty sure it was before the M-1 Abrams).
All for now, we are still thrashing to finish up for Daytona with the trucks leaving Sunday (work expands to fill the time available). Ciao, J.R.
There are people who collect tanks and other military vehicles. Tom Clancey had a Sherman tank. There are youtube videos of various tank restorations.
Fort Meade, near me, used to have one of those tanks from WW1 that looked like the one in the Indiana Jones movie. I would not want to have been a tanker.
Aberdeen Proving Grounds, which is near Sheldon's (Atlantic Central) home used to house the Army's collection of tanks. They all sat outside, slowly rusting away. Some were quite small. They moved them to Ft Lee in Virginia along with Anzio Annie
Hi Bear,
Thanks for the video of the Tiger tank. If I had deep pockets I would gladly contribute to the preservation of the Tiger despite its origins as a tool of the Nazi regime. We have to preserve these artifacts if only to remind us of the atrocities that were committed during WWII.
I hope I haven't offended the moderators with my comments. We are walking a fine line here.
Good Morning!
I am starting to feel slightly better. I caught a little more sleep than in the previou nights, so that might have helped.
I am really worried about Johnboy! He hasn´t posted for quite some time. Wherever you are, Johnboy, and please let us know you are doing OK.
I am not much of a "tank fan". I find tanks fascinating pieces of machinery on one hand, but fearsome and frightful on the other hand. In my teenage days, we lived about 10 miles away from a "military playground" for tanks and you could hear the rumble of those tanks up at our place. When they started shooting, my mom was always terrified, as she recalled memories of the Red Army coming close. For a teenage girl an experience she should have done without - like all others of that generation in Europe and Asia.
Ken, yes, there are a few tigers tucked away in some museums. They are just liked stuffed animals of an extinct species. None of them would have survived an encounter with, say, a Leopard II.
Guess how much distance a tank requires to come to a complete halt from traveling 50mph?
cudakenI might be wrong but I am 85% sure one Tiger has been restored.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
A Happy Birthday to Johnboy!! I know it was yesterday but I was away and so missed the official day. Hope you had a good day.
Well I finally got the decoder in the C Liner and it is running great. It is really heavy and I expect it can pull a lot, not that I have many cars to pull. Anyway it is a passenger loco so that does limit the length of train. It will have to make do with 5 heavyweights as that is all I have.
We were visiting our friends near Thief River Falls over the weekend and had a really nice visit. Both are having some health issues which is a concern. They only have one westie now and he is getting on. Very quiet in the house considering they once had 7 and were active in both showing and breeding westies.
Well it is nearly tomorrow so I better hit the hay.