BEER BARN

[SqueakyWheels]

Jeff,

Yes, I have been reading along, and have seen your other posts. You sure got blessed with more than your share of problems.

I have one alter ego. Nobody likes him, not even me. I have to take pills to keep Mr. Hyde at bay. I found out the hard way last year when I quit taking my pills. I got carted off to the looney farm, and got to stay there a month. THAT was not any fun at all. I have been in jail before, and I would have rather spent a month in jail than any of those pre WW1 hospitals.

That is why I got into model railroading. I had no job- there aren't many jobs in my field anyway, and I just had to have something to keep the mind and hands busy.

I haven't posted much here lately because I cannot really comment on what others are doing as most are much more experienced at railroading than I am.

So, I will drink my weekly allowance of beer- can't do the pills and beer at the same time, the liver won't handle it, and go and play with trains. My wife is into this too- she is going to take over doing all the scenery, and all I have to do is keep the trains running. All 8 of them, and one more on the way.

Those loksound decoders aren't loud enough. They only produce a half watt output, where the others put out a watt. So now, I am engineering a 1watt micro amplifier so I can use 8 ohm speakers in the locomotives. I have two so far that need to be done, and I will buy all the parts at Digi-Key. This is just some of the fun stuff I am involved with.

It keeps me sane? LOL

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Tim: My "friends" that I keep locked away are 'Tony', 'Robert' and 'Byron'. 'Tony' and 'Robert' are OK but 'Byron' is a violent SOB. Not evil but very rude, obnoxious and in your face. The last time he "came out" was during a bar fight. The guys I was fighting didn't have a chance. I haven't had any problem with 'Byron' after that but I can still feel his presence. 'Tony' and 'Robert' kinda give advice from time to time, other than that, I don't really know that they're around.

[GUB]

Evening All;

I'll have a Scotch, neat with a glass of water on the side. Quiet here tonight. At least we arent on page 2 anymore. Not much to say. Long couple of days at work this week. Closing another tender tomorrow. Curling tomorrow night. Now that I've bought the Shoe's, Broom, Gripper and Gloves maybe i'll be able to stay on my feet rather than my butt.

I'll check back in later. Got to go for supper.

GUB

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Gub: Good luck on the curling. I was in pretty good shape in my younger days. Well muscled, deep V formation to the back, lift the back end of a Caddilac to impress the girls. Oh for the energy of youth. Those days are long past for me. Keep in shape and don't make the mistakes I made and you'll be all right.

[GUB]

Gub: Good luck on the curling. I was in pretty good shape in my younger days. Well muscled, deep V formation to the back, lift the back end of a Caddilac to impress the girls. Oh for the energy of youth. Those days are long past for me. Keep in shape and don't make the mistakes I made and you'll be all right.

Jeff;

You seem to forget that I still have to loose 61 lbs. So I figure I can't be in that great of shape to begin with. But thanks for the encouragement. If the doctor had said loose 30 to 35 lbs. that wouldn't be so bad. I figure if I cut out McDonald and snacking and cut down on the alcohol consumption I should be able to do that by Feb. considering Christmas is just around the bend. Again, thanks for the encouragement.

BTW have you been working this week?

GUB

[jeffrey-wimberly]

BTW have you been working this week?

Yeah, 2 days this week so far. I go back tomorrow. We're gonna be cutting up some more 4x8 sheets of plywood.

[GUB]

BTW have you been working this week?

Yeah, 2 days this week so far. I go back tomorrow. We're gonna be cutting up some more 4x8 sheets of plywood.

What are you building?

GUB

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

We're making Tommy targets for the military base here.

[GUB]

We're making Tommy targets for the military base here.

Pardon my ignorance but what are Tommy targets?

GUB

[jeffrey-wimberly]

They're made from pieces of plywood and are roughly human shaped with holes to mount paper targets in. They have a head, body, arms and legs and can be stood up as a static target or mounted on a gimbel so it moves.

[One Track Mind]

WHOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIRST TIME VISITOR to the BEER BARN and as you can see, I am tickled PINK!

I am so happy          with the news that the UP licensing deal is being re-done. Or done with!

IN FACT, I AM SO HAPPY - Bartender...A ROUND OF DRINKS!!!

I'm buying...a round of drinks for the house. Or the barn. Whatever.

Ok well I am also fooling around with the colors and fonts and emoticons and what-not.

Is there a such a thing as a neo-ticon?

well as you can see, I've already had a couple with the news of the day. But I'm OK to drive.

You all have a happy and safe evening!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Take it easy on the drinks there guy. We'll still be here.

[colvinbackshop]

Yup...We gotta' watch out for each other...

Joe, makes a good cup of "joe" too! Just in case we need it either early in the morning or late at night.

On the other hand, Set up the place Joe, it's time for a cold one! Just did a long shift at the pool and have everything ready for tomorrow's preliminary meet. Not only am I the operator, I'll be an official too...Just more plates to spin! After the pre-lims on Thru. it's on to Sat. when we host the championship round (top sixteen form Thru.) where the top two qualifiers (or by time standard) from each event move on to compete at the State Meet...I'll be an official there too...Again, just more plates to spin!

Jeff, I like the sounds of your car...But the lights do give it away! And...Speaking of "sleepers". Back in 1970 I had a Plymouth Satelite. No big tires, raised or lowered front or rear, spoliers...nothing! But it did have a 383 ci that I had worked slighty. Domed pistons for a bit more compression, polished heads, headers, centrifugal advance ignition and a re-worked (re-jetted, polished metering rods...sort of stuff) Holly 850 double pumper...This linked with a tight ratio 4 speed and a young foolish person behind the wheel, translated to nothing but trouble. Out ran and then lost the county sheriff on four seperate occasions. Lucky I'm still alive to tell that story!

WEll....One more round for the house Joe! Then I've gotta' get. Long day tomorrow. Take care boys.

[MisterBeasley]

My daughter does swim team at our summer-only club.  So, I get to be an official, too.  For the uninitiated, a swim meet needs lots of officials.  Each of the 6 lanes gets 3 timers, and then there are a couple of stroke-and-turn judges, plus a starter.  (We are not fancy - no electronic timers in the Colonial League.)  Since the meets run hours in the sun, we typically bring in a new crew halfway through, but there are lots of willing parents so it's never a problem getting enough volunteers.  Great fun to be at, and the conditioning and work ethic that the swimmers get is terrific.  My personal favorite is the Free Relay, particularly when the meet is close and the outcome might decide the winner.

As for cars, well, when I die and go to heaven I expect my 75 MGB will be there waiting for me.  That car always had the feel of a World War II fighter plane.  (Not that I ever flew a fighter plane in World War II, but it's what I'd imagine it would be like.)  In heaven, of course, Lucas will finally have figured out how to make a reliable automotive electrical system.  (Old joke among British car buffs - why do the Brits drink warm beer?  Because Lucas makes refrigerators.)

Got my Annie's Antiques building almost done last night - it still needs some of the trim parts put on, though.  I paid a visit to my LHS (on the way home from Wal-Mart, where I found a VW beetle (60's vintage) and a Kharman-Ghia, 1:87 for $1.97 each.) and I picked up another Walthers fire escape for that building.   Annie's Antiques (a Model Power kit, by the way) is only 3 stories, so I'll have an extra fire escape platform for somewhere else.

[91rioja]

Mornin all! I'll just have a quick coffee and then it is off to work.

GUB, Curling eh? And I thought us Americans would do just about anything and call it a sport. I'm not so sure I would want to try it; something about ice and my butt just don't seem to want to mix.

Welcome to OTM. Come join us; the food is great and the company is even better.

It has been a rough few weeks both personally and workwise. Too many project going on at work and trying to help my parents move out of their house. Most of the free time has been spent playing golf at Pinehurst before the folks move out; Ihave until the 15th.

Not much going on in my train world; the little people building the railroad are on strike because the highly paid railroad planer is an idiot. The planner is now working on another set of plans to appease the masses.

Anyone see Mythbusters last night? They were trying to prove out that standing too close on a train platform can cause you to get sucked out behind a fast moving train. Very interesting; I would have loved to be standing on a platform and felt the raw power of a train moving that fast.

Anyone else see that the new IE7 does not have any of the text functions available on this forum? I have no buttons for Bold, Italic, or colors and such.

I'll check back in later.

Chris

[91rioja]

Now this is funny.  Firefox has the toolbar for text formatting, and IE7 doesn't.  Thanks once again MicroSquash!

Chris

[MisterBeasley]

Now this is funny.  Firefox has the toolbar for text formatting, and IE7 doesn't.  Thanks once again MicroSquash!

Chris

MicroSquash?  Another Bloom County fan, eh?

Our Corporate IT department has told us not to upgrade to IE7.  They're afraid it's way too buggy, and will cause all kinds of compatability issues.  Well, duh!  Best move that group has made in a long time.

By the way, you can still activate/shut off bold with CTRL-b, and italic with CTRL-i.

[91rioja]

Why yes I am a Bloom County fan. One of my favorites back in the day; he should never have put out Outland; it would have been best for him to go out at the top of his game.

Chris

[tommyr]

We're making Tommy targets for the military base here.

  Tommy Targets!!! That's Scary  I better have a double of something strong to get over this.

                                                   Tommy

[SilverSpike]

Quitin' time for me comin' soon and since I am off for Vets day on Friday I think I'll have a beer....

Purple Haze that is.....

 

[One Track Mind]

Hey guys! Sorry for my rather goofy and boisterous post last night!

Just very very happy over the news of the UP trademark license deal.

And it has just now been confirmed to me that indeed, as far as Athearn products are concerned, anything that was marked up for the UP thing will now go back to the same MSRP as any non-UP related item.

I cannot express how happy I am from a storeowners viewpoint.

(and I don't even drink....usually...so I had not had a couple like I said I did on that post last night....I was just being giddy for once....everyone knows a model train shop owner can't afford to buy a drink!!!)

[91rioja]

Ryan, how could you possibly drink a beer that has a fruit flavor to it??????  I like my beer to taste like, well, beer.  Give me a Samuel Smith Imperial Stout or a Sam Adams Black Lager anytime.

Chris

[GUB]

Evening All;

I'll have a soft drink thank you very much. Gotta go Curling at 8:00 and it is hard enough staying on my feet. I'll have a couple of beers later. I used to get Sam Adams whenever we camped in Lake Placid. I've always liked it. Can't say that I've seen it at the LCBO lately, but then again I haven't really been looking for it. We drank a lot of Corona this summer. But now it's time for some stout or for that matter anything dark.

Gotta Go. Will try to check in later.

GUB

[SilverSpike]

Ryan, how could you possibly drink a beer that has a fruit flavor to it??????  I like my beer to taste like, well, beer.  Give me a Samuel Smith Imperial Stout or a Sam Adams Black Lager anytime.

Chris

Hey, hickup...... don't......

...... nock.....

hick......  

I mean....... knock it.........  

.....til ya try it!  K!   

Not much I don't like to drink.......

 

[91rioja]

Now that's funny.  I don't care who you are. 

Still, I tried the Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic and didn't like it.

I tried the Liberty Blackberry Wheat and didn't like.

I did not like it with a moose.
I did not like it while wearing a noose.
I will not drink it on a plane.
I will not drink it on a train.
Please do not make have to choose,
I do not want fruit in my booze.

Chris

[91rioja]

GUB, what is it with you Canadians and Curling?  I think beer and ice would make a great combination.  LOL

Chris

[mikesmowers]

   91,,,,I love your poem. remindes me of a friend  I once had,,,Cat in the Hat... if I remember correctly.

   Sorry. I haven't been around lately, not been good here.  Let me buy the next round, I think things may been looking a little twards the upwards.      I'm always here in mind or matter....... Mike

[MisterBeasley]

I'm voting for beer-flavored beer.  Harpoon IPA, Joe, in a frosted mug if there's any left.

Now, you're probably wondering why I just lifted up the mug and sprinkled salt on the cocktail napkin before putting the mug back down, aren't you?  Well, order yourself up one, and try it without the salt.  What happens?  The cocktail napkin sticks to the bottom of the glass, like toilet paper to your shoe if you're not careful.  The salt grains keep the napkin away from the glass.  I suppose it would keep the toilet paper away from your shoe, too, but I'll leave that one as an exercise for the student.

A few of us engineering and science types used to theorize about whether the salt itself was involved in changing the condensed water vapor into a mild brine, and whether that had anything to do with it.  Our conclusion was that sand would work at least as well, and probably even better.  The trouble is that salt is readily available on most bar and restaurant tables, while few I've eaten at have convenient shakers of sand nearby.  Since we couldn't do the experiment with sand, we usually just repeated it a few more times with beer, and left happy.

Fire escapes tonight, the Walthers variety, for the Annie's Antiques building.  With experience, I'm happy to report that these were a lot easier to de-sprue and assemble the second time around.

[91rioja]

MisterBeasley, I am not one of the ones wondering why you did that; it was one of the few things I learned in college 12 years ago.  IIRC, pepper woks as well, and you can use anything to break up the surface tension.
A four year education, and that is all I remember?  Must have been why it took me 8 years.

Looks like we have two votes for beer flavored beer.

Chris

[GMTRacing]

Beer flavored beer and fruit flavored wine. And with all due respect, I try to stay out of stuff that needs toilet paper to wipe off my shoes.J.R.