"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good Evening.
Had a most interesting evening doing essentially nothing here. We spent most of it out back in our yard watching some finches and a couple of owls here...just got back in.
Our goes out to Ray's friends/relations and families involved.
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Evenin' folks!
Janie just anogther refil for the decaf please....
Been a difficult day in a couple of ways... I spent most of the afternoon with a fellow model railroader who was the superintendent of our division and the region president before I even became involved with the NMRA he is about 10 years younger than I am. He has heart failure after having two major heart attacks over the past few years. Could go soon or last a few more years.... We were at the house of the Asst. Superintendent to laminate and assemble the Name Tags for the convention. The three of us (all good friends) did have some serious end of life discussions during the work session as well as many lighter moments along the way.
I also recieved an email from my sister (the Reverand/ Deacon) who is now in Florida where her daughters and their families live. She has been battling stage 4 cancer for the last couple years and it was in control with the many tumors (Liver, Bone, and Lymph Nodes) having shrunk and not spread... She just had her twice a year PET scan of the situation and they found that the tumors are again growing and spreading. Tomorrow she will get an echo-cardigram to see if her heart is still strong enough to be able to tolerate the Chemo Infusion they had her on before. She is hoping she will be able to continue the work with a few groups (bible study, etc) that she has been doing down there.... Those of you that pray, please keep her in your prayers for us!
Keep finding more undone items that we need to be attended to for the convention! Getting harder and harder to find volunteers. Just for instance for the Fast Tracks Hospitality Room we will need 3 coffee pots. We have right now the use of one! Somebody has to buy the supplies for the room and we need volunteers to watch over the room, keep the cookies, chips, and other snacks out for people, and fill the coffee pots as needed. I will get coffee cups, napkins, plastic spoons, creamer, sugar, and such as we have some in the Division Supply that should get used up anyway...
I will be very glad when May the 17th. is over........
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Mr.B: I really DON'T mind the few commercials on Pandora at least not on the version I have on my smart phone {which I am finally figuring out how to use well}. I mean once every what 20 minutes I have to endure a 30 secondcommerical? I can handle that I Think. Its not owrth it to me to pay the $4+ to avoid 2 commercials in an hour of music I get!
KEN: ROku comes in 4 kinds: The "stick" is the cheapest and plugs into a HDMI plug on the HDMI TVs, the ROKU 2 Is what you would need for the old TV it comes with the yellow, red and white RCA style connectors you are to need..it costs about $69 at wally wolrd. YOu need Wireless router, High speed net connection, {an HDMI cable if you use on that TV} and CC for registration though it costs nothing more other than to pay for certain inputs, like Netflicks, for example. The stick one is $49 at wally world. Each comes with a remote and many smart phones can download the romote too.
I can't tell you much mrore about it working as mine is not working yet! I can let you know what i think after it is working. I am dumping the hogh cost vable TV stations except for local stations as I can't see paying as much as our HEat, A/C, electrical costs and Hot water costs all combined for cable TV! Besides out of the first 200 channels on cable there are 3 of each station!!! so instead of 200 channels you really only get aobut 60. WE will still have the net connection from cable, won't give that up. And i finally bought the wireless router, for the laptop mainly, but it will work for the ROku too as a bonus! {IF i ever get the roku to work}.
IF it actually works, I think we will enjoy it!
YGW: looks like you are in trouble again! Try to keep the political stuff OUT of here, or you WILL get suspended or you will get BANNED form the site. WE don't want to see that happen to you.
Maybe I should post the diner rules again as a refresher...they are basically the same rules as for the whole forums/site, BUT the exception is we are allowed in the diner thread to talk about anything that is NOT train related, EXCEPT the risque, political, religious, guns, or as they put it: "Hot-button topics like guns, abortion, religion, immigration, and crime aren't welcome, for the same reasons as political discussions and signatures". In short, ANY divicive {sp?} issue or one on which there are two "strongly opinionated thoughts" upon SHOULD NOT BE BROUGHT INTO HERE.
WE don't want to see anyone get suspended or get banned permenantly from the site, and THEY DO WATCH what all we say and do here!
SO, Lets keep it clean and non-political!
OK, I am off the for now!
Have a restful night!
-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.
I'll have the Diner Dinner Deluxe Special, please & thanks.
Finally tried out the little BR 98 0-4-0 steam loco. It's cute and a slow runner. The recluse Laird of Cederstrand who will have his own castle/house on the layout will enjoy running it off his estate now and then.
Healing thoughts to those in need.
Cheers! Rob
MisterBeasleyRichard, do you have the pay version of Pandora? The free version that I use on my Roku box doesn't have the "I'm tired of this song" option. Perhaps "Skip" does that. I've found that using "dislike" works very well. Those songs don't show up again on that channel.
Unfortunately, the Roku Pandora player is quite limited--all you have is thumbs up or down. The mobile, web, and computer players all have the "Tired" option. They also let you see the history of what has played and go back and rate the song. The mobile and web versions also have the cool feature of being able to remove a thumbs up or thumbs down from the current song or a previously-played song. This is great when you click on the thumbs down by mistake. You can scroll back and either clear the thumbs down, or give it a thumbs up. I don't use the web version, but it does have a unique function--you can "move" a song, as in, "I like this song; it doesn't fit on this station but it would be great on the [fill-in-the-blank] station."
Oh yeah, and I did ante up for Pandora One, the commercial free version. I listen to Pandora as much as 10 hours a day. It was worth the $4.25 a month for no commercials.
Richard
Evening Dinners
Flo, Please
Warm Day here. Have all the A/C units running, computer say's iit is 85 degrees.
Angelo6660 My self I have a good sizes layout and I wanted to run the layout from different points. I all so run 4 trains at a time, Zepher was no better than my old Bachmann E-Z comand. So I went with the Super Empire Bulider and latter added a PR-3. Makes program a snap, and I can now run the layout from my computer.
Roku That is new to me. What is need to use it? I have a older Zenith TV, my wife does have a HD Flat Panel TV.
yougottawantaKen - time to get out teh old shot gun and go have a discussion with the new son in law !
YGW I don't really have a problem with the new Son In Law but what my Daughter is going to do now that she is married.
Shawn takes care of a 23 year old man named Adam with mental challenges. Shaw lives in his home and works for a home care company. So Shawn work is where he lives, he loses his job, he loses is home.
Sharyn is letting her home go into Forecloser, quiting her job and moving in to Shawn's for now home. She is all so going to work for the same home care company. Shawn makes $30,000 and Sharyn is now making $28,000 so she thought she be a head $ wise. Turns out she will be working only part time (Shawn is the full time care giver) and will only make $8,000 a year? Plus she had just bought a new car for Shawn!
I can see so many possible things that can blow up in there / her faces! What is Shawn gets canned, Adam's parnets loses there income, there Company goes belly up, there comany wants to move Shawn, or just Sharyn to another home?
Just see bad things a rising.
Ken
I hate Rust
Let's keep discussions of national pride out of the Diner, please.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Richard, do you have the pay version of Pandora? The free version that I use on my Roku box doesn't have the "I'm tired of this song" option. Perhaps "Skip" does that. I've found that using "dislike" works very well. Those songs don't show up again on that channel. I find the Pandora algorithm quite interesting to watch in action. As I do when I play computer games, I like to figure out what's going on inside of their program, "getting into their head" as they say.
I confess to a fondness for "rock divas" of the past, like Dusty Springfield or Linda Ronstadt. I have them as Pandora channels, which both led to pieces by Allison Krause, who became a channel of her own.
I put on Dion and the Belmonts when running Late Transition diesels, though, and Glen Miller for 1930s steam.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Ulrich - That is one ill sounding Seagull but it did kinda of sound like a chewtoy/seagull !
Jeremy - Migraines are terrible. I had them for three years almost everyday after a car accident- one operations, some metal plates, spacers and a few screws and have only had one migrtaine since !
Galaxy - Junto - I like that word ! We are part of a junto here !
Howmus - we have been w**king at my house moving etc.. and I could use some of that coffee to !
ken - time to get out teh old shot gun and go have a discussion with the new son in law ! My friend when he asked his future father in law for his daughters hand - pop was sitting there cleaning his rifle- my friend got the message !
Garry - someone stomping on the flag should be made to go over seas and live in Romania , Kenya or even the slums of India. Then if they want to still stomp the flag revoke their citzenship and ship straight to some God forsaken third world country ! I have heard the reports first hand from our church missionaries overseas. WE HAVE NO IDEAL how good we have it. Take the following for example - there are some in these United staes always harping about the 1% consider this.
Of all the world income among all people consider this: are 6 people dieing every second from lack of income and resources to supply themselves, 50% of the world population lives on $300 a year the top 1% of the world live on what we get here on social security ! The 1% of the 1% of the worlds richest people make around $30000 a year. You see we in America are the 1% because we have been blessed and by freedom that has been hard won, There are some that want to take us to the rest of the worlds standards - I say NO THANK YOU ! And ship the socialist back to Romania and see how they like it there ! Oh and if they still want to redistribute the wealth let them start with their wallets and start sharing with those that are dieing 6 every second !
Good Afternoon
Got back from doing a bunch of basic buys and gotta do's...dang MRI and CT scans and bloodwork stuff. Have a wonderul doctor appointment on Friday...hopefully nothing shows up.
Had little Spring cuddled up to me on the laptop awhile ago...now I am picking fur out'n the keyboard, lol.
Wellm....back to the lair of doom for me....
Mr. B and others:I have problems as apparently Roku is "down" at the moment. Or was, After nearly 2 hours, I was tired of it, and will try again tomorrow. Even their own staff could not get my unit started and linked, may be the unit I got too{new}. As many of you know, I don't exactly have the best of luck wiht things electronical!!!
I DID think about getting the ROku "STICK" to take on vacation,nad may get one for that purpose too. Of course i have to evaluate how much TV watching we do while away! Onl the local news for local weather!
AS far as Pandora: I have it playing thorugh a blue-toothed speaker attatched to my smart phone right now. It was one thing i requested at the first set up class, was to have music while waiting at the drs. offices for example. SO Pandora is it! I don't mind the {rare} ads they have. I have the "50s music station" going now. I miss the old songs! I am not quite that old,but they were still playing AT40 1950s songs in the 60s when I was a kid so I sorta did grow up with the music of the 50s too. I was always a music-o-phile{?} so I had a transistor radio glued to my ear as soon as I knew how to tune in an AM station on one! Darn single ear earphones wore out though!
I WISH i could have pandora in my minivan, I CAN if I want to go through the hands free speaker,but its not worht the trouble...so I don't!
well,
later
up831. . .So far I've only found two liabilities, it's been playing Rachmaninov's piano concerto #2 fro 3 different artists. I love the piece, but after a bit it wears thin. The other thing is I would like to isolate surf music and Bay Area 60s, but I've not been able to, or haven't played with it enough. However, I was able to get Flamenco interspersed with the classical. . .
Good Afternoon Diners,
Just a quick note while I'm on lunch.
Mr. B: a coworker turned me on to Pandora. I think it's pretty cool. I get to listen to music of my choice all day at work. You can select your genres and the ads of themselves are not obnoxious. And, when you "like" a song/piece, the system will try to play similar, for example, I'm a big fan of Debussy and Ravel, when I liked a piece it selected more of a similar type. I'm careful about liking though, because I don't want the system to narrow the playlist too much. So far I've only found two liabilities, it's been playing Rachmaninov's piano concerto #2 fro 3 different artists. I love the piece, but after a bit it wears thin. The other thing is I would like to isolate surf music and Bay Area 60s, but I've not been able to, or haven't played with it enough. However, I was able to get Flamenco interspersed with the classical.
Found out that some of the detail parts mfrs do make parts for U-boats. But then, most of you guys probably already knew that.
Well, have to run.
I hope everyone is OK and safe.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
MisterBeasley. . .If you do this, don't leave the remote at home. . .
Roku has a smartphone app that lets you use your phone as a remote. You can use the phone keyboard to enter text instead using the letters on the TV screen. Couple more things about the app. First, you can display pictures from your phone on the TV screen using the app. Second, since it uses WiFi, you can control the Roku from anywhere in the house. You can mess with people while they are watching TV in another room.
Good morning! When I got dressed this morning, I put on shorts! It's currently 70 degrees and sunny. We lost our hockey game last night, but afterwards we hung around outside, not inside, for our traditional beer, pepperoni slices, cheese and crackers. Spring has indeed sprung.
Galaxy, I've got a Roku box, too. A guy at work had upgraded his, and sold it to me for $20. We have signed up for Netflix, just the basic streaming-only package, and find plenty of material for viewing. Our favorites so far have been Tudors, about Henry VIII and reign, and The Borgias about the turbulent times surrounding Pope Alexander, his wife, children and mistresses.
Roku also has a free Railroad channel. You have to search for it and activate it, and it's only got a half-dozen or so shows, but they are fun if you like those innocent black-and-white documentaries from the 1950s.
When we go up skiing, we take the Roku box with us. The cable service at our condo up there is mostly boring, but we can plug the Roku into the TV and continue watching our favorite historical fiction. 1. If you do this, don't leave the remote at home. 2. If you bring the remote, don't leave it in the hotel. Voice of experience. D'oh!
Finally, Roku lets you connect to Pandora. That's a music service, and if you're willing to put up with one short, polite ad every half-hour or so, it's also free.
galaxyUlrich is that a chew toy squeaking in the background?
Nope, it´s supposed to be seagulls...
Ulrich is that a chew toy squeaking in the background?
well, finally got through to Roku, htey are "having technical difficulties" rihgt now,,,,bosh,,SO i cannot set up my account- this after wasting 1.75 hours of my time on hte unit and the computer nad on the phone...no go.
NOT happy with it right now...gave me aheadache
gong to go take a np to ease the headache i have now due to the miracles of modern tech!
I have bought four different Roku devices, and on my recommendation, my parents and both of my brothers are now Roku converts. We have all dumped cable and have a digital antennas for local broadcasts, and Netflix and Amazon Prime for on-demand programming. The one thing I missed the most was losing ESPN, but with the introduction of SlingTV from Dish, I now have ESPN (and History, and A&E, and...) We have had virtually no problems with Roku as an Internet delivery device.
Hey Ulrich that was a good video of your layout.
Keep us posted on your process.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
well, ROku is NOT going smoothly. I am witing in queue for assistance. It won't take my CC info of all things!
Had aol help set up wifi public protection wonder if that is why? The aol lady who took control to instal it properly LIKED my computer she said!
its just a laptop, I said...
well i am 14th in queue with wait time of 6 minutes it says for roku HELP.
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, just need a refill for my mug. Yes the Marrakesh Express please and thank you.
Sun is trying to shine here in the Finger Lakes at the moment. Kinda mixed lot today with patches of cloudyness from time to time. Currently 64°F with a high of 74°F later this afternoon.
I'll be leaving for Webster, NY in about 45 minutes. Meeting at the home of my Asst. Superintendent to put together the nametags for the Convention. Still have a lot to get done before the Convention opens on May 15th. Biggest thing is I have to come up the program for the Breakfast on that Sunday. Most everything else is under control at this point. Need to get a bunch of big signs printed out before Saturday. Will turn them over to a guy from the RIT Model Railroad Club then so he can get them to the people who put up the signs for events at RIT... Have a Scout Roundtable to attend tonight...
Other than that, not much going on here today. Need to find time to mow lawn again before the weekend.... The contractor was here and got the living room ready to put the rug in this afternoon. Oooo, just thought of something I have to do before I leave! later!
Afternoon, Folks!
It´s been a rather uneventful day here. The only highlight was the mailman bringing a big package with close to nothing in it - just 15" of Noch townwall, which I won at Ebay for close to nothing as well. It´s long out of production, so I fell lucky I got it!
I placed it temporarily on my layout and I like the way it looks. Made a little video of a photo run-by of the tracklaying gang´s work train:
My back is slowly improving, but standing on my feet will go only for a few minutes, so still no serious work on the layout for a couple of days
angelob6660 I was thinking of buying it now, but it would be doing nothing within the month.
The Zephyr seems to be a fine entry level DCC system, which you can "grow" should the need arise. Use the time to shop around for best buy on it!
Supper time is coming up, so I´ll settle just for coffee in my SWOK mug, Janie - please!
Have a good one, y´ all!
Morning diners,
A few days ago I checked the BLI website for the up in coming Amtrak E8 diesels. To my surprise I found the shipping schedule. It turns out that their coming out in June.
My problem is although I'm getting the Amtrak E8 Phase I A-B set, I don't have a DCC system yet.
So I would have to get one earlier than expected. I was planning on buying a Digitrax Zephyr a few days before the Atlas B23-7 and GP38-2 came out. I was thinking of buying it now, but it would be doing nothing within the month.
Suggestions?
well, since we are dropping a LOT of cable tv channels due to cost, I went and got a Roku2. I'd rather pay netflicks or another one or two and get more channels than the cable was giving us anyway.y
I don't know how simple it is to get up and running, but I have to sign up for the pay channel thingies anyway.
Have aol on hte phone right now awaiting a tech to help I erred on somehting. need to get it straigtened out.
we will see.
ltr
Good Morning
Some dull, some sun, a bit of rain....a mixed bag in other words is here...going up to 70F as well.
Galaxy: I ended up getting a couple of 24" monitors with touch here...wanna have fun with two headbunters?
Got a nice-sized honey-do list to get to...might as well start on it...
well,the laptop arrived and FEd Ex had no problems apparently finding me.
This is actually easier to type on than the desk top I think.
took me all of 5 hours to get set upand running. I didn't realize I had the touch 8.1 win version,,,that touch business MAY be easier, but not to me YET! I like the "desktop display" not the "touch tiles"s o far, a combo of the desktop AND the touch ability of the smart phone, I guess.
I DO miss the "complete keyboard" but will get used to the smaller keyboard.
The wifi is set up too! That was not so bad, now to find the correct USB wire cable to the printrer to get it through the wifi so that I THNK i can print wirelessly? I didn't do it today ags I was already on my hands and knees under the desk to do the wifi router....that was enough on my back, hip and knee.
well, i could stay up all night, but I htink I should at least try to get some sleep...
have a restful night...maybe I will too...
see you in hte morning I think
Flo, Beer Please
Just Beat Tonight. I hope to stop by Wednesday (New day off) and type a little about why I am not happy about my Daughter marring Shawn.
Just going to sit here, sip my and stare at the wall, much like my new empoyee and X manager Dave The Dumb does.