Good Afternoon Gentlemen:
I am now out of the dog house However, it did take hearing it from the wife all day yesterday. As Jack pointed out, it was for nothing. Just me being a lout and not understanding my wife's feelings. But anyway, I hope to get some work on the trains. I leave tomorrow morning on a business trip to Las Vegas and I will not be back until Thursday afternoon, so I hope to get some stuff done tonight.
Regards,
John
Finally starting to get over the crud that grandson gave the other half and I, ten days of .
Better hang on Don, really strong winds down our way today. I-8 closed both directions to any and all hi-profile vehicles. Guess I won't have to rake any leaves today.
Time to go refill the mug.
Jason, B&O = Best & Only !
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Afternoon. Its been a wile since Ive been on the pot. Wish I had my camera lastnight. On the way to work I saw a RioGrande engine pulling a W&LE empty coke train back from the mills in Cleveland. Seems like the W&LE never does any repaints. I have been working a lot of 12 hour days,with that and watching the kids Iam beat. At least I got some extra train money. I even bought a Lionel S-2 TMCC, Odyssey and smoke (B&O of coarse). Now I can do some switching.( I had to have a reason) Ordered a TMCC upgrade from ERR through Ma & Pa Junction for a conventional SD-40. I hope that's here by the weekend. Also started some Mountain building. Lots of changes. I will post pics. this coming SFF. Its a nice day here 63 deg.Time to take the kids outside and let them burn off some energy. Later today we have a flood watch. That starts at 4:00 and a winter storm watch starts tonight. Typical Cleaveland weather. Hope everyone has a great day.
Jason
B&O = Best & Only
lionroar88 wrote:Jack,HD DVD is dying. Toshiba has dropped all future HD DVD player production and WB just dropped HD DVD from their offerings, so that leaves Blu-Ray as the defacto High Def DVD standard. You can expect to see player prices drop in the next 6 to 12 months as a result..
I'm stunned. I can't believe I missed that. This announcement came February 19. I knew about the studios under Sony announcing they would be releasing Blu-Ray-only DVDs and then I heard of the Toshiba surrender but didn't connect the dots, that the war was over. Just goes to show you that if you get disgusted listening to the domestic news media and don't listen to the stories to the end you miss the most important stuff.
Did someone hear that Lionel went bankrupt?
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
I picked up some Super Street track today from the LHS. I ordered a few cars as well, but they are stuck in a container in California for a little while. I'm looking forward to playing with they stuff.
Wes
lionroar88 wrote: ChiefEagles wrote:Afternoon all. Great trip to Charlotte. Sold more chargers than anyone at the BPS nationwide. Will be going to Roanoke VA May 1 thru 4 for a Gander Mountain Grand Opening. Maybe we need a gathering and visit the train museums and etc. Today has been Town Day as meeting this AM. Now off to County Commissioners Meeting and then Town Board tonight. Got a new NS engine in a box waiting to be opened, programed into Legacy and run around the layout. LaterChief,Would love to attend, but that is quite a haul from Mt Airy for a day trip, and over night stays aren't allotted in the train budget this year, and that is only 3 weeks from Master's Degree graduation so would be tough since that will be my last class! So I better pass on this gathering.
ChiefEagles wrote:Afternoon all. Great trip to Charlotte. Sold more chargers than anyone at the BPS nationwide. Will be going to Roanoke VA May 1 thru 4 for a Gander Mountain Grand Opening. Maybe we need a gathering and visit the train museums and etc. Today has been Town Day as meeting this AM. Now off to County Commissioners Meeting and then Town Board tonight. Got a new NS engine in a box waiting to be opened, programed into Legacy and run around the layout. Later
Chief,
Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to make it either. Besides "Gander Mountain" sounds like someplace from a movie I once saw. Not sure I want to be there with a bunch of guys. Especially, if they led the nation in charger sales.
Don
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Brent,
I'd buy a dedicated Blu-Ray player instead of the PS3 if I was only interested in watching DVDs. I have heard that the PS3 runs hot, like Monopolysoft's 360, so I don't know how long it'll last. Plus the Sony Playstation line of systems is known to use cheap laser units that have a relatively short lifespan.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
Don, I have seen those around, but I haven't tried one yet.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Motorola%20SD4505%20Cell%20Phone%20Wireless%20Docking%20Station:1992963936;_ylc=X3oDMTB0bjZzaWNuBF9TAzk2NjMyOTA3BHNlYwNmZWVkBHNsawNlbGVj
As much as we travel, I would get two cell phones and leave one on the dock.
With all the Hi-Tech talk, the most sophisticated stuff we have is the trains. Question regarding phones. Has anyone seen a cell phone base unit that you could have at home, and simply plug your cell into when you get home and all your wired phones then become an extension to the cell?? That way you park the cell and dont have to be carrying it around or having it hang from your ear, and all the phones are now operational that we all have in every room. I'll buy one and dump the land line.
I'm a telephone guy by profession, but I don't have a land-line. I haven't for over 3 years. Beth and I both have cell phones, and it works for us.
I really don't watch too much TV. All we really need at this point is Noggin, Disney, and FoxHD, but we do use the on-demand programming for other preschool programming.
Blu-Ray is staying. If you have kids, I would just get a Playstation 3, like Brent says. Its a gaming console, an internet station for checking email and web surfing, and it plays blu-ray and normal DVDs. I do have a 400 disk DVD changer that upconverts to 1080i. It has a great picture, but it's not like my HD channels on cable.
Good morning all,
IIABSDISEI with temps in the 60s and rain on the way this evening. I did run the 10E last night, and I started building a Lego set that my wife got for me. It sure does have a lot of tiny pieces, and it may take longer than I thought. I had the normal fare for breakfast on the dining car this morning. I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Chuck, your computer isn't the problem. It's the web site.
John from the UK, where were you when we were whining about $3.20 per gallon gasoline prices? I envisioned you rolling your eyes before laughing out loud.
Brutus, hope your Mom is coming along nicely.
Jack.
Good Morning from Blueberryhill....
It is a wram 47 degrees. Sunny. Going up to 67 today with sunshine.
Finally, after four tries, I was able to get on this Forum.
Busy today. Lots of errands to run. No train time.
Dining car is here, early, and it's time for breakfast.
Y'all have a great Monday.
Chuck
Morning Folks,
A fresh pot is on. All this talk of HD, HDMI, Compression and DVD has me thinking that the Mrs. and I are digital dinosaurs. She tapes things with the old VHS. My guess is that pretty soon we will no longer be able to buy VHS tapes, kind of like reel to reel or 8 track tapes. The cable companies have got us strapped over a barrel. A few months back the Mrs called to complain about a channel that went missing on our line. Lo and behold we could upgrade to digital cable with our internet service and get it cheaper than what we had been paying for basic cable. Cable Company would never tell you that, we just found out because we were complaining about CNN going away. Of course now we've got 200+ channels and we rarely watch more than a dozen.
Another busy week ahead. Lots of meetings, but only one evening meeting. Two weeks ahead I have a week with three late nights in a row.
Have a great day.
Mitch
Bob Mitchell Gettysburg, PA TCA # 98-47956 LCCA# RM22839
Jack/Rockisland,
Don't be fooled, the BBC has ad's (for its own products) almost as irksome as the comm's, as for the BBC radio, Radio2 has more ad's than the local equivalent comm'l (every ten minutes). We have to pay a (license) fee to the BBC of about $250.00pa. On the brighter side we have a digital terrestrial network (Freeview) that has a system that works like a search engine, with about 180 (all BBC and most comm's) TV and radio channels plus pay per view sport and film. I record ITV programmes and zap the ad's, patience will get the good stuff (is it really necessary to have instant view) eventually and the wait increases the attraction (for me at least). Satellite and cable have more channels but I find it is just the same old stuff, again at vast expense (to the viewer). As for HDTV, who wants to see Britney's zits? As I write this, blue ray has won, so when I get round to buying the kit? They should have got most of the bugs out of it.
A month ago bought all 4 of Iris Dements CDs, I've yet to open the packs. I have vinyl, RtoR tapes, cassettes, VCRs, CDs, DVDs galore, hardly any of which have I played in the last 6 months. A few weeks ago I had to give many away as my little home was overflowing with stuff I had forgotten I had. No regrets.
Aah! The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, both been on TCM in the last couple of days. You can keep that far fetched modern crap!!
Try this site- <http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/>
John Baker
You have mentioned a lot of stuff that irks us all. The only advantage of cable and satellite seems to be the zillions of channels required to find something palatable to watch. But the internet puts the world at your feet without commercial interruption. I've started watching or listening to the BBC because I can't stomach the news and want to hear a different perspective. Another Brittany Spears arrest doesn't get any air time there. I've been watching TV less and less, been on the net more and more.
Now if the cable operators would provide a more interactive guide to their programming, I'd be inclined to watch more. Like a search engine to find stuff that interests me that I would otherwise have had to search for incessantly or find by accident.
I've cut back on (the increases in) cable expense over time by wacking the pay movie channels, the sports packages, and more recently the digital service level packages. Problem is, I like to watch the Chicago Cubs (WGN Chicago), the Speed Channel, Turner Classic Movies, etc., and have lost some of the things I do like. And the Cable operators know that. They know that bumping the good stuff (to me) into the more expensive expanded service level packages keep the customer writing higher and higher checks each month.
I recently had to completely empty my family room to install new carpeting and spent some time with my wife organizing our VHS and DVDs. I had been telling her not to buy them, even when they were on sale, but...........there was so much stuff we never even opened, and even more stuff that were duplicated over the two mediums!
Me: "Here's another one we already have in VHS and DVD. And here is a third we cut off TV."
Wife: "Yes, but isn't it great we have it on DVD now?
Me: "When did we last watch the TV version we cut to VHS??"
Wife: Silence.
Me: "When did we last watch the VHS version you purchased?"
Wife: "Well, the plastic is off that one, so we must have watched it."
Me: "The DVD hasn't even been opened."
Me: "Why don't you go out and buy another one in HD? Then in a couple of months you can go out and buy even another one in BlueRay HD, and we can buy another DVD player to get the benefit of all of them sitting in a drawer. We'll need to buy some more storage capacity too"
So to the guy who posted he woke up one morning, got the silent treatment, and didn't know why, you might have had this conversation with your wife or one similar. Or she did a reorg of your video collection and found something she really didn't like.....
One bright spot with the reorg. We confirmed that we have an excellent Disney collection for my granddaughters' visits. The bad news is that my daughter and SIL borrowed half the stuff over time.
Daughter: "Hey, this DVD and VHS inventory you did is great. You've got them identified by VHS, DVD, or both. You even have the format: 4:3; 16:9: or both. We need to do this at our house. Let's watch Cinderella. It's highlighted in red. What does it mean if it's in red?"
Me: "Well it means we have it, but we don't have it.
Daughter: "What do you mean you have it but you don't have it?"
Me: "You 'borrowed' it some time ago."
Daughter: "Oh, I guess we watch something else."
My friends or family come over and ask why we don't get this or that TV channel, and comment on that. Then the rest of the time they spend complaining about how high their cable bill is and that there's nothing on junk on them anyway. My stated opinion is that I would rather pay for the HD than for something that has no value. At least that NASCAR race or ball game is a quality watch.
Which brings us back to HD and DVDs. Are we going to run out and replace all of our standard and extended definition collection with HD replacements? And what HD technology do we choose when we buy a new DVD? Or a new DVD player, or player/recorder? Read up on that and the recent Sony BlueRay announcements by some film studios. You may be buying a Beta Max only to find down the road the herd went VHS.
John -
Think of it this way,
Two men are out ice fishing at their favorite fishing hole, just fishing quietly and drinking beer. Almost silently, so as not to scare the fish, Bob says, ' I think I am going to divorce my wife - she hasn't spoken to me in over two months. '
Frank continues slowly sipping his beer, then thoughfully says, ' You better think it over - women like that are hard to find. '
Man! I'm thinking of dropping cable and satellite TV altogether. What with the nearly complete takeover of all of television by reality shows, celebrity gossip shows and Infomercials ... why, you can't even watch a ball game or sporting event without all kinds of interruptions from time outs and tons of ads. Then you come to find out that those athletes you try to tell your children to emulate and look up to are nothing more than drug addicts and cheaters. News shows ( with their endless coverage of the presidential campaigns and candidates promising everything that we all know they'll never be able to deliver on ) have become entertainment oriented and are not really reporting news but are delivering opinion as if it were news. Then there are those like Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren elevating local crimes to national headlines that are harped on month after month after month. And will someone answer this very simple queation for me ... what do so many women find attractive about that cowboy-hatted, bandana -wearing idiot Brett Michaels? I tell ya', this is ... this is not my kind of guy ( I think he even wears eye make up ). If my daughter brought somebody like him home I'd probably have a hemorrhage.
I can't even get excited anymore about high definition because all that it will do, other than drive me to the brink of bankruptcy, is more clearly point out to me all the crap that is going on and how we've become nothing more than a nation of voyeurs. The only reality show I enjoy watching is "the Amazing Race" ( good editing and beautiful locations ). I also like "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. Those two shows and a few shows on public television ( Frontline and Austin City Limits for example ) but even public television is starting to show commercials. So to me television offers very little of what I find interesting. Certainly not enough to motivate me to spend what is required to keep cable or satellite or invest what will be required to get involved with high definition. No, I'm thinking of checking out of the world of televised media altogether and am going over to the net for my news and entertainment. With the savings I'll buy more toy trains ... Now that's an investment in entertainment and ( as Lionel likes to point out ) happiness.
Buckeye, Chuck, et al,
We may get 1" of snow tomorrow. Just wanted you to know as search parties and snow plows may be required to dig us out!
Is Chief working on his layout tomorrow?????????
John - I feel your pain man!
Regards, Roy
Evening guys & gals,
Had a lot of reading to do to catch up with the pot. Now I can't remember a lot of it.
Have the same problems here with Comcast, prices keep going up, service keeps going down. Thought about dish, but don't really like where it would have to mount. To get service to 5 sets would not save much money. Comcast is far from consistent in different areas. Here in Elizabethtown they took over a small cable company. 20 miles away they took over another cable company and now both are comcast but we don't even have the same lineup of stations or cable channels. When I first got Comcast internet and called their help line in Phila. they told me they didn't offer internet service in my area (I had it) really made you feel like they knew what was going on. I switched to Embarq DSL some time back due to Comcast dropping the internet connection for short times several times a week, they always denied it, even bought a new modem with no improvement. Have never lost DSL since I switched. It may be a little slower, but I'm old and slow anyway.
John, After 41 years I still get that treatment from time to time. I've just learned to enjoy the peace and quiet until it wears off.
Ran trains a little this evening, no pile ups.
Have a good week.
Buckeye Riveter wrote: Roy...Glad to see you back and how much did the Chief loan you to make you solvent?
Roy...Glad to see you back and how much did the Chief loan you to make you solvent?
All he had - about $1.57 (in loose change no less) - his share of the profits from all those chargers he sold
BTW - if you lived in the SOUTH - you can point your dish higher
Long day here. Some rain this evening and temps in 60's, but supposed to fall tomorrow to high 30's and maybe some SNOHIZO
Scrubbed 3 bathrooms , mowed front yard (more leaves ), and watched NASCAR
Hope everyone has a great evening!
ChiefEagles wrote:Buckeye, put on your tree spikes and take the dish up the tree. [no joke, I've seen one in a tree] Big day at the store. Sold lots of chargers. Only 10 of the top seller left. VP called me to thank me. Had a big bait of wings for dinner. Probably not coming back to Charlotte next week. May have the week off????? May go to Savannah. Will know more tomorrow. Just watched movie [do not know the name] on HBO but it is the remake of Rear Window [James Stewart and Grace Kelly] but has teens doing the "detective" work. Was really good. Later
Ooooooo, thats where me live!
"Lionel trains are the standard of the world" - Jousha Lionel Cowen
GOOD EVENING ALL
Old James is home from the train show which was very well attended. I got to talk with KURT for awhile(glad you could make it)we had a nice chat.Best deal at the show.New in box Nascar set $95.00, the three car add ons $30.00.We sold all the sets that were there and were sending people to the store if they wanted one. The things I took sold pretty well but one never knows what to take,its throw the dice and see what happens. I did not buy anything,did some looking but passed. I may buy one of those sets though.haven't decided.,,Later,,S.J.
Brent, Bravo that Susie-Q wants to help even if it means a bit of a slow down towards completion of the river. My better half is more than happy to lend moral & emotional support, but actually working on a layout .
Watching NASCAR from Vegas, not impressed by that track. You'd think that with the resources available it would have been a much better design & build.
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