railfan
junk collector
Yeah, I jumped the gun on that purchase, there was some inner conflict from the beginning, then ended up with a concrete reason to bail out of it.
Coffee Shop XLI-2/23/2014
- Thread starter Bill Tidler Jr.
- Start date
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
I avoid Dell's like the plague and their notebooks like they're carrying smallpox. Dell's have been nothing but trouble for me, especially their so-called 'value packages' that sell for only a couple or a few hundred dollars. You're buying a stripped down computer filled with the absolutely cheapest parts they could find that are barely capable of doing the job and some won't even work together. My father has a Dell notebook that belonged to my mother. She paid between $700 and $800 for it new. Put your choice of virus protection on it, use your choice of browser. I guarantee it's going to take between ten minutes to thirty minutes to get online and that's with a 160Gb drive, DVD burner, 4Mb's RAM, WinXP and an Intel Duo-core Celeron-D processor. It's spent almost all it's time down there as a PAPER WEIGHT! On of the biggest things I don't like about their computers is they contain proprietary parts. Something breaks you gotta get the replacement from Dell at their price. I buy or build systems that use GENERIC parts only. You can get them anywhere. That's even true of my HP Pavilion I have now. One of the first things I did was to crack it open and look. If there had been proprietary parts in it it would have gone back in the box and back to the store, sale price be damned!
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I do to computers what Running Bear does with locomotives. I picked up a nice IBM x60 tablet laptop off Craigslist for $50, not working. It looked great. It had a bad 80gb hard drive, so I installed a used 160gb hard drive. It has no optical drive, so I put the hard drive in another computer to install the operating system. Originally, it had xp, but since support for xp is ending in a few weeks, I went ahead and loaded Windows 7 on it. After the OS had loaded, I removed the hard drive from the other computer and installed it in the x60. After that, I installed all the IBM peripheral programs, then installed 2gb of ram I got off Ebay for $16, then bought a new replacement battery for it, also off Ebay for another $20. I also got a new USB optical drive for another $20. So, for less than a hundred bucks, I now have a dual core, modern laptop with touch screen that looks and works like new.
If you are at all handy, and have any electronic experience, you can probably pick up a slightly used model on the cheap, perform a few repairs, and have a nice laptop.
If you are at all handy, and have any electronic experience, you can probably pick up a slightly used model on the cheap, perform a few repairs, and have a nice laptop.
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
Finally broke my nephew down today. Went over there earlier to have it out with him and that I was gonna start playing dirty pool. He waved me off so I came back home and waited until the party started up over there and then invited myself. He told me to leave a couple times but I told him if I did I was coming back with one more person every time. Basically I was being a pest! It finally got under his skin. So he's getting his gas and saw ready to work tonight. If he doesn't I WILL BE back at his door with shoulder clappers. He hasn't respected me so I don't see why I should respect him.
Here's the source of my irritation:
Remember the little Redneck buggy?
It dropped a CV axle today. He should have it going again in a couple days.
You guys ever seen a scooter like this one? This thing is downright weird. Ride it like a combination skateboard/scooter and it turns like a skateboard. I told the kids nobody would see their faces and I'm keeping my word.
I hear a chainsaw revving up outside so he's either gonna work on the tree or come through the door.
Well they cut up the part that was the biggest problem. Took them less than ten minutes! As is usual for him he got somebody else to do the work for him.
Here's the source of my irritation:
Remember the little Redneck buggy?
It dropped a CV axle today. He should have it going again in a couple days.
You guys ever seen a scooter like this one? This thing is downright weird. Ride it like a combination skateboard/scooter and it turns like a skateboard. I told the kids nobody would see their faces and I'm keeping my word.
I hear a chainsaw revving up outside so he's either gonna work on the tree or come through the door.
Well they cut up the part that was the biggest problem. Took them less than ten minutes! As is usual for him he got somebody else to do the work for him.
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
Well, more bad news to spread around. I discovered yesterday that the previous days work has slowed me down a lot more than I thought it might. My left big toe is ripped wide open. It doesn't even look like a toe anymore. Looks like that ladder work has been pushed far into the future. I just hope my over-roof holds out. I've taken some photos that I'm gonna print out for my father so he can see it for himself. The envelope will have a warning. Open only when you think your stomach is strong enough. I've had a lot of experience with this before so I knew what danger signs to look for when I examined it. There's a lot of swelling, maybe a fracture. I can't see any sign of an infection. I cut away any flesh that looked bad or dead. I've cleaned and it and changed the dressing five times in the last twenty hours. The last about ten minutes ago. Don't worry about it causing me pain. I've never felt a thing, even when I had to cut deep with a scalpel to get some suspect flesh out and pry the toenail out because there was a bunch of nasty looking stuff under it. I'm not going to post the photos here. They're TOO graphic! If however you think your curiosity is going to kill you, you know how to PM me. I warn you. Have a bucket to catch your cookies. I warn you now. I WILL NOT be responsible for any injuries whether physical or mental that you cause yourself.
Now you wanna hear something completely asinine? My nephew thinks I invent this stuff to get others to do my work for me! Him whose never had anything worse than a broken finger. How's that for an idiots opinion?
Now you wanna hear something completely asinine? My nephew thinks I invent this stuff to get others to do my work for me! Him whose never had anything worse than a broken finger. How's that for an idiots opinion?
Bill Tidler Jr.
Retired NS Signal Construction Gang Signalman
Good Morning!
It's Sun 3/23/14
Temperature in TIPTON IN
It's Sun 3/23/14
Temperature in TIPTON IN
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
Good morning. it's 66° with 100% humidity. The high will drop to 62°. Cloudy with a fair chance of rain.
with
Looks like it might be wet today with small chances of sunshine. I have nothing planned. One piece of good news. I got a joystick for the //e. It's an IBM/Apple type made by Suncom and it had a very good price that I would have been a fool to pass up. I put it through all it's tests this morning and it passed 100%. The base is 4 x 4.75 x 2. The stick is 4" high.
Looks like it might be wet today with small chances of sunshine. I have nothing planned. One piece of good news. I got a joystick for the //e. It's an IBM/Apple type made by Suncom and it had a very good price that I would have been a fool to pass up. I put it through all it's tests this morning and it passed 100%. The base is 4 x 4.75 x 2. The stick is 4" high.
Burlington Bob
Well-Known Member
Amen to that, Terry!
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
Amen to that!
IronBeltKen
Lazy Daydreamer
Mike, as a kid I lived within a 30-minute drive of the Ford River Rouge complex in Dearborn MI, which included a steel mill. They had guided tours there all the time, I went there at least 4 times before my family came to Maryland. Heavy industry [esp. steel] is one of the main things that has kept my interest in mrr going strong thru the years.
With perfect 20/20 hindsight I can see I also should have followed that advice. I mentioned in my earlier post that I had a strange apprehension about this particular tax year; well, it turns out that fear was justified: My tax deficit was ~$2500 larger than I expected! Why? Because I refinanced my mortgage in December 2012 to an interest rate just slightly above half of the original, my deductible interest expense was $7000 less than the previous year. In the eyes of the IRS, that is the same as an extra $7000 of gross income. It's not just the fact that we had to take a few grand from our savings to pay this bill, but also that from now on, I'll have to have an additional $200 withheld from my pay each month to avoid a repeat of this scenario in future years. That's more than my typical monthly mrr budget!
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kbkchooch
"retired" conductor
Hiya gang!
Sunday morning and amazingly feel fine after a 66 hour work week. I've been leaving the house at 8 a.m., and getting home at 8:40 or so all week. Hopefully soon we will get more personnel, but that will be a double edged sword. A 40 hour week will be great! However that will lead to less opportunity to make a fat commission check.
Jeffrey, every family has a "black sheep" or two. Sorry to hear yours are right next door. Wouldn't it be nice if you could take the remaining trees and saw them into a stockade fence?
Ken, all I can say is OUCH! Seriously!
I'll be cleaning up the back yard limbs today, and feeding them to my wood chipper, then back to the choo choos!
Sunday morning and amazingly feel fine after a 66 hour work week. I've been leaving the house at 8 a.m., and getting home at 8:40 or so all week. Hopefully soon we will get more personnel, but that will be a double edged sword. A 40 hour week will be great! However that will lead to less opportunity to make a fat commission check.
Jeffrey, every family has a "black sheep" or two. Sorry to hear yours are right next door. Wouldn't it be nice if you could take the remaining trees and saw them into a stockade fence?
Ken, all I can say is OUCH!
Seriously!I'll be cleaning up the back yard limbs today, and feeding them to my wood chipper, then back to the choo choos!
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
Jeffery
with those pics , all I can say is there is a southern reality series just waiting
to be taped
In his case it would be 'Deep Fried Green Cauliflower'.
Boris
Beach Bum
At least you are maintaining your sense of humor. Family is not always warm and fuzzy. Sometimes family is more trouble than it's worth.
Karl, that double edged sword is a problem.
Ken, all I can say is to repeat what Karl said: OUCH!
Boris
Beach Bum
The temperature did rise up into the 60s yesterday, but with the wind, it still felt cool. Certainly not beachwear weather .
Last night, the NJ Devils just about eliminated themselves from playoff consideration, so it's almost "Wait 'till next year time".
Villanova was eliminated from the NCAA basketball tournament, I'm on a roll, eh?
Today is overcast, right now it's 39°, going up to 46° - where did "Spring" go? Next several days are going to be on the cold side, with s**w possible on Tuesday.
I keep telling myself, things will get better. I plan on doing more scenery today.
Joe
.Last night, the NJ Devils just about eliminated themselves from playoff consideration, so it's almost "Wait 'till next year time"
. Villanova was eliminated from the NCAA basketball tournament
, I'm on a roll, eh?Today is overcast, right now it's 39°, going up to 46° - where did "Spring" go? Next several days are going to be on the cold side, with s**w possible on Tuesday
.I keep telling myself, things will get better
. I plan on doing more scenery today. Joe
kbkchooch
"retired" conductor
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
Or Schmuck Dynasty
Not with him. If it wasn't for his terrible dyslexia he might have been a great politician. He keeps his job because he has a very glib silver tongue. He can take any argument against him and turn it back at the antagonizer. He could probably convince you that snowflakes taste like donuts and you'll be outside in the next snowfall to experience it. I've had many years of experience with him and I know how to spot his lies and misdirections. It's not often that he can fool me. He uses the dyslexia argument to get out of some work. Come on! I'm just as dyslexic as he is plus I've been special needs my whole life and I can read OK as long as I don't overdo it. His certainly doesn't seem to bother him when he's reading texts from the girlfriend.
*
The toe was looking pretty good when I inspected it about an hour ago. The swelling is down and the color is looking good. I cleaned it and wrapped it up. However I have a persistent low-grade fever running between 99.8 and 101.2. If that's still the case tomorrow afternoon I'll call the doc and set up an appointment to be seen quickly. No way am I going to the ER just to sit for fifteen hours while they 'get around' to me.
No pain whatsoever, no red streaks.
Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.
Bill Tidler Jr.
Retired NS Signal Construction Gang Signalman
Good Morning!
It's Mon 3/24/14
Temperature in TIPTON IN
It's Mon 3/24/14
Temperature in TIPTON IN
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
Good morning. It's 44° with 78% humidity and a small chance of rain. The high will be 62°.
with
My toe is looking better this morning. I still found some suspicious looking flesh in it and removed it while keeping the area washed with alcohol. With the sick looking stuff removed I wrapped it up and moved on with my day. No fever this morning. Temp is 98.4.
No plans for today.
My toe is looking better this morning. I still found some suspicious looking flesh in it and removed it while keeping the area washed with alcohol. With the sick looking stuff removed I wrapped it up and moved on with my day. No fever this morning. Temp is 98.4.
No plans for today.
