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Elliot´s Trackside Diner - June 2014 Edition

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Friday, June 6, 2014 8:41 AM

Good morning, everybody. 

Everyone is welcome in the Diner, so if you are looking in, feel free to join us. 

 

Ulrich..... Tinkering? Often that is why we have layouts. We like tinkering. 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Friday, June 6, 2014 8:14 AM

You have to keep the cable company's modem.  It has 2 output jacks in the back.  One is for the phone, and the other goes to your computer now.  The wireless router goes between the cable modem and the computer, and the telephone line stays where it is.

The wireless router doesn't do land-line phones.  If you have "smart phones," though, you will be able to use that WiFi for those.  That way, you're not burning your monthly data allotment while you're at home.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by galaxy on Friday, June 6, 2014 7:39 AM

MisterBeasley

 

Galaxy, the Best Buy lady doesn't know what she's talking about.  Yes, you have a "cable modem" that you rent from the cable company.  I have one of those, too.  You plug your computer into that modem.  But, what you need to do is add a "wireless router."  You unplug the computer from the modem and run a cable from the cable modem to the wireless router.  Then you run another cable from the router to your computer.  Wait a couple of minutes after you power up the router for it to sync up and run its diagnostics.  At that point, you should be able to see the Internet from your computer.  Follow the instructions to set the network name and password.  I have a Netgear Rangemax router.  I see them on Amazon for $25.  Even with both of my iWomen on their phones and Macs it seems to be just cruising along.

 

Mr.B.: no, there is a PHONE jack in the back of the cable modem we have as we have a internet/cable {maybe VOIP?} phone directly from TWC, they even included the 2 handset Uniden phone system {like the one we have to the hard wired land line we won't give up}. I looked at the $25 one on amazon Nd it does NOT have the regular phone jack in it [which in our case connects to the TWC internet phone included in our package}. That is,  If you are referring to this one:

NETGEAR RangeMax WNR1000 Wireless Router

 

 

I don't see it has a phone jack in the back. We DO use that cable phone for free long distance calls across the USA {and some 20 other countries} as we have to pay on the landline. And i guess on the cell phone as they sent MOH a message about selecting a long distance company for the cell phones?! I thought it to had "unlimited talk/text across the USA, so did moh?! we will have to find out.

Dunno. it may seem easy as pie to you all, but to me/us it is NOT. 

maybe we need this cap:

Dunce

-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.

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Friday, June 6, 2014 7:10 AM

Good morning, everyone, and happy Friday!  It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, sunny and in the 60s.  We're supposed to have a fine weekend as well.

Galaxy, the Best Buy lady doesn't know what she's talking about.  Yes, you have a "cable modem" that you rent from the cable company.  I have one of those, too.  You plug your computer into that modem.  But, what you need to do is add a "wireless router."  You unplug the computer from the modem and run a cable from the cable modem to the wireless router.  Then you run another cable from the router to your computer.  Wait a couple of minutes after you power up the router for it to sync up and run its diagnostics.  At that point, you should be able to see the Internet from your computer.  Follow the instructions to set the network name and password.  I have a Netgear Rangemax router.  I see them on Amazon for $25.  Even with both of my iWomen on their phones and Macs it seems to be just cruising along.

Jeffrey, do you watch "The Americans?"  It's about two "deep cover" Soviet-era Russian spies set in the Reagan administration.  I thought of that show when I saw your 5 1/4 inch floppy drives.  They occasionally show vintage computer equipment.  The 80s cars, desk phones and other "memorabilia" are fun to see, too.

Ulrich, often I just "tinker" with my layout, too.  Wednesday I masked a pair of passenger car trucks with tape and sprayed them silver.  Last night I sprayed them with Krylon flat clear spray.  It's slow progress, but just enough to make progress during the week.  I covered up the sharp edges of the "Yellow Brick Road" in my Wizard of Oz scene with some ground cover, and that's been it for the work week.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 6, 2014 4:53 AM

Morning Everyone!

Did not sleep much last night and feel awkward. I hope it´ll improve as the day goes on.

Do you hear the tinker bell ringing - it´s tinkering day on my layout. I have to get that contact issue solved. I have pinpointed the problem. It´s glue on the underside of the real, preventing the current to flow. Even if the contacts are aligned properly, there is only a creeping current. It´s a pretty awkward area to clean, so this will take a while.

Completed the drawing of the engine house.

Maybe I start tomorrow on this one!

Have a joyful day!

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Posted by galaxy on Friday, June 6, 2014 2:52 AM

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING!

Today is Friday,

June 6th, 2014!

Yeah! It's payday!

Healing thoughts, energies

and prayers for

Those in need!

 

The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths. -Aleksandr Pushkin, poet, novelist, and playwright (1799-1837) 

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!

Geeked

-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.

  • Member since
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Posted by galaxy on Friday, June 6, 2014 2:46 AM

KEN:

Build your self an angle-bottomed {the bottom cut to the angle of the roof} top platform to hold the paint can level and even while you paint up the roof! It should be at the angle of the roof on the bottom of the  "leg of it", and perpendicular to the "leg" is the flat topped platform with the edge near the roof angled to the angle of the roof too.

like this:

|                |  <- paint can sits on top of platform:

|                |

|_______|

___________   <-angle/bevel edge here to roof line           Roof->   /

|                                                                                                              /

|                                                                                                            /

|<-angle/bevel edge here to roof line                                              /

 

 

RE: coffee pots: Mr. Coffee or B&D is always cheap, and good....

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-DLX1050W-Programmable-Coffeemaker/dp/B002C3T8Q0/ref=sr_1_18?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1402040725&sr=1-18&keywords=mr.+coffee

Or programmmable timer:

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Coffee-12-Cup-Programmable-Coffeemaker/dp/B0041847PQ/ref=sr_1_32?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1402040782&sr=1-32&keywords=mr.+coffee

Take it easy buddy!

Geeked

Good luck, Buddy!

 

-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.

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Posted by cudaken on Thursday, June 5, 2014 10:05 PM

I hate Rust

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Thursday, June 5, 2014 9:12 PM

Not too busy a day today. At least I was able to chase old Mr Murphy out of one of my Apple Platinum disk drives. That was an accomplishment. The wound vac dressing that was applied this morning is still going strong. We'll see if it lasts til Saturday. I got started on working on a loco today but put it back up on the shelf. I just didn't feel like it today. Some other time.

Here you see a lot of my Apple software archive. One those ten SD cards is the equivalent of 160 floppy disks. Each card has sixteen directories and each directory holds the contents of one floppy disk. It rather convenient. I can stick the whole collection in my pocket if I wanted to.



Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.





Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by galaxy on Thursday, June 5, 2014 9:03 PM

Flip: Good to see you pop your head in sir! I have been lazy about posting individual names, but you are still in the healing energies category!

 

Well, I am still confused about WHICH modem router to buy. SInce we have the cable phone modem  the chat lady at BB {Best BUY} said we can't get a phone modem so we are still stuck renting the cable co's moden for $5.99/m! ARGH!

so what else is new, the messages i get  on the phone are so fleeting i can't remember what they said later, i don't get to delete them, they get deleted for me before i am home to write down info or to read/comprehend the more complex ones message!

MOH, in 2 months has put OVER 3500 miles on the new car for w*rk already! we know that the first oil change is free on the dealer! The car has gone only a handfull of FIL trips to add to wokr, rest is all w*rk.That is about 1800/m, or 21500 per year! and don't get paid a lot really to do so. Mileage reimbursement never is a grand thing as you are lucky it covers gas costs these days!

Did I tell you all MOH has Paget's Bone disease?

The costs for that Dr.s Appt. ONLY was $685 for the "US pay" part, the insurance covered only half the $1300 bill. ALL to find out MOH has Pagets disease. That and MOH got a cortizone shot that is listed as "surgery"!  I don't know where these Drs. think we get the money...we will have to make payments on that! ANd that doesn't even cover the cost of the MRI visit yet! And after that, we have the SPECIALISTs bill coming up too, that automatically has a $65 copay just to visit the man!! So much for having INS! And to think we only put $50/m in the Health Savings acct, on which we never get any interest and goes back to the company MOH works for if not used..only $50 in it though,no wait! $75 as of tomorow, its payday!

That $685 is almost a $1k out of pocket,towars the 10% MOH has to have out of pocket to even strat writing it of four taxes! And the Insurance company is only giving MOH credit for a portion of a part of a portion for thatr Drs. visit of it as credit towards the deductible! We have to call to find out WHY only $50 was creidited to mOH's Deductible.

So much for having insurance, one cannot afford to get sick!

ok SoapBox over!

Now why am I up this late? because i managaed to "catch up on sleep" today form the previous nights i wasn't sleeping . I had a nap, then got up to take teh one med tha causes me to go to sleep, but doens't allow me to STAY asleep!

later, or rather I will see yous:

EARLY in the morning!

Geeked

 

 

-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.

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Posted by fec153 on Thursday, June 5, 2014 7:10 PM

HI Gang ! I'm four pages behind. No stamina. Will try to catch up later.

Blessings,

Flip

 

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Thursday, June 5, 2014 1:20 PM

It's been a mixed day thus far. The nurse showed up close to 11am and got the replacement dressing for the wound vac applied quickly. So far it's doing well. Came home and had a bowl of chili for lunch.

I know a lot of you aren't into computers like I am and probably can't tell the difference between a 65C02 processor and a firmware ROM chip even if you saw them but I've been told there are those who like to read about what I'm doing regardless. To you I relate the following. This morning I put the two M0107 Platinum floppy drives into operation. Don't remember those? They're the two that I re-cabled recently. Here's a photo to jog your memory:



One of them is working perfectly. The other one however was having problems. It sounded weak and wasn't indexing (the read/write head wasn't moving) and the drive wouldn't reset. This of course resulted in an Input/Output Error. It worked fine in tests. Thinking it was something internal I opened the drive up and poked around inside to see if I could find where old Mr Murphy was hiding. I then tested the drive while it was open and it worked just fine. Put it back together then tested it again. Back to it's weak performance. Well that left only thing it could be. The ribbon cable that connects the drive to the computer. Replaced that and all is once again good with the world. Hindsight is 20/20. That cable was the FIRST thing I should have checked. That was me not thinking. Well I've bored you enough with this so I'll go watch a movie and work on another loco that needs my attention.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by Cederstrand on Thursday, June 5, 2014 11:11 AM

Strong coffee TO GO, please.

Hope everyone is doing well. Healing thoughts to those in need.

Cheers! Cowboy Rob

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 5, 2014 11:02 AM

galaxy
Mr. Murphy may be with you as you appear to be going FULL STEAM AHEAD {pardon the intentional RR related pun}, and THAT seems to be causing you some serious mistakes/misfortunes! SLOW down a bit!

Galaxy - that´s exactly what I will be doing. A little bit here and there, but not 8- 10 hrs. a day anymore. I just ballasted a few inches and it was fun. Ballasting a few feet is a chore.

Slowing down and taking the time to think before rushing in has its merits - I found a slotion to the wrong windows. They are to big. I just cut out the middle part, which makes them considerably smaller, but just the rigt size. That move helps me with mounting them, also. The windows are intended to be glued in from the back, but I want them between the beams.

Right now, I am putting that into my drawing of the engine house!

 

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Posted by howmus on Thursday, June 5, 2014 10:16 AM

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a cup (pot) of Dark Roast Coffee in my R&GV RR mug and a couple sour cream glazed dougnuts to dunk in it...  

Sun was shining for a while this morning, but now has disapeared behind some big old clouds....  Currently 63°F near the high of 64°F predicted for the day.  I am still up to my armpits in Boy Scout stuff at the moment.  Since the Joining Event last Tuesday was a complete washout, the new pack is trying some different ways to get the word out and will try again next Tuesday at the Church.  I need to write a short infomercial for the newspaper and set up a couple of short talks at some local churches for Sunday...  I also need to finish planting the gradens before i head out to aTroop meeting tonight.  The Scoutmaster of the Handicapped Troop will be getting his 25 year service award at the meeting and I have been tagged to do the honors!

 Ken, cutting back on the diet dew and particularly the beer is a good thing to do for yourself anyway!  You need to watch your health and getting both of those items out of your diet would be very healthy for you.  But.....  No!  No!  Please, no "Instant Coffee"!!!  Coffee has been found to be a healthy drink.  Why ruin the taste by having "Instant"....  Yuck!

 Galaxy, yes WiFi is basically plug and play.  Not hard to set up at all.  I was able to connect my iMac to it with no trouble and set up the system with my laptop able to find and access the router wirelessly (the password is automatically sent when the laptop fires up and it just connects with no input from me), and set up a password protected second channel for guest use.  Not hard at all...  there are several peopl on hear who shopuld be able to walk you through the process if you get lost.....  (Just keep the ability to be hard wired with your main computer...)

Best get back to w*rk!  later...

73

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by galaxy on Thursday, June 5, 2014 9:15 AM

Ulrich:

May I make a suggestion?

Mr. Murphy may be with you as you appear to be going FULL STEAM AHEAD {pardon the intentional RR related pun}, and THAT seems to be causing you some serious mistakes/misfortunes!

SLOW down a bit!

It doesn't all have to be done in 4 weeks time!

ENJOY it, becuse it may be a long while before you get another layout, and once this one is "finished' and you run it a few times, it will be "old hat" and you will  once again long for a new start!

Jsut My 2 Cents

Geeked

-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.

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 5, 2014 9:07 AM

cudaken
Is there anyway you can make a Video of it running?

Sorry , no video possible. I have a fairly old digital camera, which is not good for videos.

I am not touching anything as long as Mr. Murphy stays with us. I am just making terrible mistakes. Bought the wrong windows for the engine house. I only found out after I opened the package, now I can´t return them Crying

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Thursday, June 5, 2014 8:44 AM

Another cool, somewhat gray day.  Not bad at all, really.  We heard yesterday that the company is offering voluntary layoffs to senior people, just above my level.  I hope they'll extend that down one more notch.  It will be a few weeks before they know how much response they got, so I don't expect any news until then.  My manager (well, one of my managers, since I have a lot of them) suggested that they might be willing to give me a no-raise promotion to put me into the eligible group.  Man, that would be nice.  I told him I'd be willing to take a raise if that make it any easier for them.

Galaxy, you can get a low-end Linksys or Netgear wireless router for under $30 on Amazon.  They are not difficult to set up.  You can actually run them right out of the box, but I would strongly suggest changing the network name and password so other people can't piggyback on your service or hack into your system.  Mine is a Netgear.

Ulrich, I still think you should look at photo backgrounds for your layout.  The coast of Maine is very scenic.  Or, here's another suggestion:

The sky background here is a piece of foamboard.  It was originally white.  I took it outside and used a rattle-can of blue spray paint, intentionally not covering parts of the white board.  I probably should have sprayed left-to-right and right-to-left to get a more stratified cloud look, but this is still a believeable sky for New England.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by cudaken on Thursday, June 5, 2014 8:43 AM

 Morning Folks!

 Flo, instant Coffee Pleases.

 Yep, cutting back on the Diet Dew due to the new budget. Last month I spent around $34.00 on diet dew. New budget will be around $18.45 a month. Beer, Sigh, going to have to cut way back there! Going to cut it by 50% if not more.

 Weather here is odd, it is only 64 degrees right now, had to fire up the spaces heater? Well I hope we have a cool summer like last year.

 Ulrich, layout sure looks like it is coming a long! Is there anyway you can make a Video of it running?

 Later, Ken

I hate Rust

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 5, 2014 8:05 AM

Afternoon Folks!

Mr. Murphy has decided to stay with us!

This morning, I gave the balalsted track a good clean-up, vacuumed it and got ready for a test run. No derailments - fine, but two switches quit working. The little spring inside the Peco switches must have been dislocated in the process of ballasting. Fortunately, you can open the box holding it from the top, so after a few hours of precision surgery, for which you need a watch maker´s patience, I got those tiny springs back where they belong. After that, I painted the rest of the backdrop, so it is just blue for the moment. It´ll stay that way until I have found out how to make better clouds.

The following test run revealed another problem area. Those little pick-up shoes on the blades didn´t make sufficient contact anymore. A lot of tweaking was necessary to get that fixed.

No more w*rk on the layout today. My back is still yelling at me from yesterday´s and today´s exercise. A day to relax...

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Thursday, June 5, 2014 7:01 AM

Good morning. It's 71° with 100% humidity. The high will be 92°.


This morning I'm just waiting on the Home Health nurse to call. A new wound vac dressing has to be applied to replace the one that failed yesterday.

Other than that I have no plans for today.





Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by galaxy on Thursday, June 5, 2014 3:34 AM

morning coffee...in the diner..

GOOD Thursday Morning!

Today is Thursday, 

June 5th, 2014!

Healing thoughts, energies

and prayers for

those in need...

Quotable QUotes;

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. -Susan B Anthony, reformer and suffragist (1820-1906)

As I have not worried to be born, I do not worry to die. -Federico García Lorca, poet, playwright, and painter (1898-1936)
{amen brother!}

 

 

MAKE IT A

GREAT DAY!

Geeked

 

-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.

  • Member since
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  • From: upstate NY
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Posted by galaxy on Thursday, June 5, 2014 3:29 AM

jeffrey-wimberly

 

 
galaxy
I truely am of late feeling like a dinosaur. Maybe even cro-magnum man! {form the paleolithic period (c. 35,000–10,000 BC) living in caves} I'll bet HE never had mroe worried than where his next non-poisoned meal is coming form!

 

How do you think I feel? I was a programmer and tech in the 80's and early 90's then got out of computers for a while and the technology ran off and left me far behind in the space of only three years. My idea of a good computer was an IBM XT with a 30mb hard drive. My first new 'modern' computer was a generic type with an Intel DX4-100mhz SX876 processor, Microsoft Windows 3.1, a 3.5" HD floppy drive, a sound system and the FIRST CD drive I'd ever clapped eyes on. You think you're in the dark?

 

 

Jeffrey, you rattled off those "statistics" about your first "modern" computer,,,,...I don't even know those those on my current one! I know there is a way to make it "tell you"..but not how to get there either!

I cna actually find that better on the tablet! 

So I am SITLL in the dark! also never learned anything but basic programming..like you say you are using now...and I didn't do that well either!

Geeked

 

 

-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.

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Posted by TMarsh on Thursday, June 5, 2014 3:27 AM

cudaken
 Well I pooped, see you all Tuesday

Indifferent Well.... I just don't know what to say.Laugh

 

Good Morning!!!
 
Just a glass of water please. Thanks.
 
 Hey! Happy Birthday to the birthday boys!!
 
Ulrich- Now see? That’s what happens to me. Things go great (sometimes) and look pretty darn good (fewer times) just like your backdrop. Then I get an idea and try and make it a bit better…., and end up ruining it (most times). Good luck on the second try.
 
WElp, been up since quarter til 2Huh?. Arm itched like crazy so about 2:30 I just got up and came in here. Stopped itching now so I’m a gonna try and get some sleep before tomorrow. Brenda has an eye appointment with her NEW eye dotor. I guess as a diabetic she has to have one of those now. Anyway thy are going to give her a “deep eye exam”. I thought she  just had one of those, but I guess not. This baby may take from 3 to 5 hours and of cours I have to be there to take her home. Then Friday she wants me to go with her to her dietition(sp). She hopes that’s just a one time thing.
 
Oh well, gonna hit the sheets again.Sleep

 

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. Laugh

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 9:58 PM

Good evening. It's a nice night here. 78° and mostly clear.

As I said earlier the wound vac dressing was acting up. I finally had to remove it and replace it with a wet to dry dressing. A nurse will come out tomorrow and put on another wound vac dressing. I hope that one does better.

Also reported earlier about the //e's CP/m going toes up. I put in a good one and everything's working fine now. In the event Mr Murphy screws with it I have four more as spares, all tested and confirmed working within the last thirty minutes.

While I had the //e opened for maintenance I removed one of the drive controller cards and two disk drives. The SDfloppy II drive emulator is the lead on slot six with a Lobo drive as #2. The card in slot five has two Disk drives, a Lobo drive as #1 and a Mitac drive as #2.

Cleaned and repaired two locos today. A GP9 and a GP35.

Well that's it. Time to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.





Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


  • Member since
    June 2006
  • From: Maryville IL
  • 9,577 posts
Posted by cudaken on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 9:47 PM

 Evening Dinners

 Flo, Beer pleases.

 I feel pretty good tonight, today was the first day I have not feared what might be in the Mail when I got home in 3 years! Big Smile I am sure that will be replaced next month with wonding how I will make the house payment. Whistling

 Garry Far as I know I am in good standings with the owner. He has asked me a for a few thoughts on what went wrong in the Fairview Heights store. Cannot tell him is wife Nancy and Dave are idots! (he may know that with being married to her all theses years) Paul the GM knows that and is far from happy about them 98% of the time. Nancy will flat out lie / makes things up and tells it to the customer.

 I guess I could ask if I could work more hours, like I want to? But you do what you have to do! I am 50% sure Paul GM would like me to work at the St Charles store full time. He know I ask for the sale, couple time with grin he as asked me "do you think you asked for the sale enough times". Plus I know I have a good profit margain, many of months I have had the hightes.

 Galaxy and others. Yes, I know there are not many houses / aprtments out there the sizes of my house. Believe me I have been looking! Most places in the range I hoped to spend are around 950 SQ foot. My house's is 1515 SQ foot and I am not sure if that includes the 2 car garage?

 I will still request some information of the reverse mortgages, but like I said, I won't sign a darn thing till my lawyer looks at it! Is she good? Well it took her 6 months to get BoS to come around, so she is better than ME! Yes

 

 Ken

 

I hate Rust

  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Kentucky
  • 10,660 posts
Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 8:17 PM

Good evening, Diners. 

CN Charlie .... Good to see you here. That's good advice to Ken about revers mortgages. 

Ken ..... I agree with CN Charlie about reverse mortgages. They are a bad deal, and I would suggest you do not waste time considering them. Also, the new regulations are making mortgage applications challenging to say the least. ........ You stated you have a problem with uneven income. That is the problem to work on.  ..... There is too much month left at the end of the money! ...... Perhaps you and Sue can pool your thoughts on how to solve it. Unfortunately, the economy is just not recovering fast enough to create enough good paying jobs, but don't let that discourage you. There may be ways to supplement your income. If you have a good relationship with your boss, you may wish to ask him for his thoughts. I would be careful, however, because you say your store has low traffic. The company may be questioning if it can afford to keep the store open if there are not enough shoppers. .... Don't forget to take problems to the Lord and keep your faith. 

I found a little time to work on the layout. I will be adding tracks on my layout extension I started several months ago. 

Happy Model Railroaidng 

 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: Orig: Tyler Texas. Lived in seven countries, now live in Sundown, Louisiana
  • 25,640 posts
Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 7:04 PM

Not much going on today. The nurse came around noon and changed the wound vac dressing. It did well at first but is now starting to give me some problems.

Cleaned and repaired another loco that was damaged when the tree hit hit my trailer. It's slow work but I'm getting them back in running order.

I was working with some CP/m programs on the //e this afternoon. Everything was going good then my CP/m coprocessor card died. Pulled the chips and cleaned the pins and sockets but it was still returning errors. There was nothing to do but toss it and pull a spare from one of the other IIe's that had one. Installed it and I was back in business. That's the bad thing about 30+ year old vintage electronics. It can go down any time and there's usually no warning.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


  • Member since
    August 2007
  • 2,123 posts
Posted by CNCharlie on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 6:50 PM

Good Evening,

Just waiting for a shower or thunderstorm here but it was a very nice sunny day of about 80F. 

We are getting close to having all the plantings done and next is getting the arbour we bought set up and modified to make it 'hawk proof' for the bird feeders that will go inside it. After that it will be repairing the lawn and so very little, no, nothing is getting done on the model RR, not even running a train. 

Ken, as an ex-finance guy, I would say that you should be very wary of reverse mortgages. They do have a use but as far as I can see it is only for elderly people who don't plan on being in their homes a long time and have the home paid off. Up here they just add the interest on to the amount they initially advance and over time that amount increases while your equity decreases so if you plan on being in the house a long time you might wind up with very little when the time to sell comes. Also in Canada there is no income tax on home equity realization so again for elderly people a reverse mortgage can be of some use but not to help fund your day to day expenses. 

With all the talk of money, today I got rid of some by paying the house taxes. Quite a lot actually as in 3 grand. No plans on buying any RR stuff for a while. 

For my RR fix I have been re-reading my CN Lines magazines. That is a quarterly publication by the CN historical society. 

Mr. B, good luck with the retirement plan. Hopefully your company will make you an offer. Funny how a bad thing for the company can be a good one for you. Certainly was true for me. If my ex-employer had been doing well, they never would have made me the offer they did. 

Last night we watched a movie that my wife and I both love. It is a French film made in 1954 by Jacques Tatie called Monsieur Hulot's Vacation. It has sub-titles but there is very little dialogue as it is largely a sight gag movie. It is very funny. It even has a few trains at the beginning. 

Well time to relax after another busy day of retirement. 

CN Charlie

F

 

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: Orig: Tyler Texas. Lived in seven countries, now live in Sundown, Louisiana
  • 25,640 posts
Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 6:45 PM

galaxy
I truely am of late feeling like a dinosaur. Maybe even cro-magnum man! {form the paleolithic period (c. 35,000–10,000 BC) living in caves} I'll bet HE never had mroe worried than where his next non-poisoned meal is coming form!

How do you think I feel? I was a programmer and tech in the 80's and early 90's then got out of computers for a while and the technology ran off and left me far behind in the space of only three years. My idea of a good computer was an IBM XT with a 30mb hard drive. My first new 'modern' computer was a generic type with an Intel DX4-100mhz SX876 processor, Microsoft Windows 3.1, a 3.5" HD floppy drive, a sound system and the FIRST CD drive I'd ever clapped eyes on. You think you're in the dark?

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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