Coffee Shop Number 16

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Pretty slow night here. I've been thinking about the conversation I had with the foot doc this morning. He's talking about possibly going into my foot and removing some of the bone. Removing some of the bone would take the pressure off the area and give it a good chance to heal. I'm going back in a week to get another set of X-rays done so he can see what he might have to go after.
 
Whew, what a long week for me:eek: I really should go in tomorrow for awhile but I just don't feel like it.

Phillip; Mine is a "S" model, really like it a lot.

Jim; Yes, this two events are very stressful indeed.

Karl; By "Wild Mary" do you mean Western Maryland? You kind of have to spell things out for me, I am not too up on the train lingo, if that is what it is:D

Jeffery; The foot thing sounds a little drastic to me, but if it will help I suppose it will be worth it. Hope it goes well...

Well guys, I am pretty tired, think I might mess with a few things on the layout and then hit the sack. Talk to you later...:cool:
 
blownoutcylinder said:
Would someone hold the copyright to the AMC moniker even now?
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Either Renault or Daimler. Chrysler bought AMC from Renault back in 1987. About the only good thing that came of that was the end of the Alliance/Encore.
 


Evening, everyone.

Jeffrey, that looks like a good emergency light considering all the power outages you get. Tough decision about your foot but I'd sure get a second opinion before I had any bones removed. As I'm sure you know, any suregery on a diabetic is inherently risky.

Karl and BOC, tempers are running high on how much of our money is being poured into zombie companies like GM and Chrysler. Chrysler is already majority owned by the government and GM is about to become Government Motors as well. It's not at all clear to me that either company will ever again emerge as a profitable operation, at least in any way that's recognizable to us now. GM actually closed at 75 cents today and the value will be effectively zero sometime Monday. Sort of amazing anyone is still trading the stock at all. Krispy Kreme Donuts, which has had some disastrous results in the last several quarters, is now worth 50% of the market cap of GM. :eek: If both companies had been allowed to go into liquidation, the good parts woud have been picked up by companies like Ford and the bad parts would have died a well deserved death. As it is now, neither company is going to have the freedom of action to emerge from bankruptcy as viable businesses and we will have to continue to pour money into them as they try to sell egg cars to an American public which won't buy them. I only hope that Ford can survive so we still have some choices but I suspect the government will use new pollution control and fuel economy standards to drive Ford into bankruptcy as well. As soon as all car production is controlled by the government, we'll all buy egg cars or nothing. I never thought I'd live to see our own government do what the Soviet Union couldn't accomplish in 70 years of trying. :mad:

Bob, that is a heck of nice looking old Indian and sidecar. Maybe that will be a good alternative to the upcoming era of egg cars. :)

Very pleasant evening here in the Southland with a temperature of 65 and a humidity of only 68%. Should have a sunny and warm weekend, which will be the first one in about six weeks here.
 
Screwjack said:
Karl; By "Wild Mary" do you mean Western Maryland? You kind of have to spell things out for me, I am not too up on the train lingo, if that is what it is:D
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Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner!!!!!!!!:D:D:D
Now would you like to keep the box that the lovely Carol Merrill is pointing to, or would you like to trade that for what's behind door #3 ????

Yes Screwjack, the Western Maryland or "Wild Mary" reached the B&O,Reading, Pennsy,& N&W directly and had relationships with the P&WV, Nickel Plate, and others as well. Lotta action for a relativly small railroad!
 
Good Morning---

Got the mix of sun/cloud with the potential for more rain and t'underboomers again. YAY---yeah right:( We're expecting more rain this afternoon with t'storms as a possibility. Tomorrow it will be sunny then get cloudier overnight and we'll be right back to the swing of things Monday with lotsa rain---Tomorrows high will be 14C. They at least did not say frost for tonight--but it will go down to 3C. :eek:

Bob Audrey and I both want one!!

Jim At the rate this is going I'll see all kinds of contraptions going around here. Maybe we'll see rickshaws next!:mad::mad: The U.S. as developing nation?-----yeeessh!!:mad::eek: The problem with all this is that the money factor is tied to a society which lost its mooring. If one looked back say 60 years ago most companies believed in their communities that they were in. The idea of GROWING the business was first and foremost in the minds of many. That profit was for things like improving product and other things. Not for itself but others. Now profit is ONLY for itself and there we are---now the bottom line comes first, product second and maybe the company after---And the question now will have to be --you want people to buy your product but most people don't have the money---what you gonna do? Lo--men have become tools of their tools:eek::mad: Of course, I hold shares in things but there was an idea that the shareholder was also sensing a responsibility to their community as well------now, not so much
 
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Good morning.

It's 62 and sunny. The high will be around 90 and it will be sunny.

My father is back at work today. We'll see how that goes for him. My visit to the foot doc went well yesterday. The wound hasn't healed all that much in the past few months and he took some X-rays to find out why. The bones in the middle of my foot are lower than the toes and heel so all the weight is on that point in the middle. He's considering going in through the wound to shave off some of the bone so the weight can be more evenly distributed over the entire foot. This is something I have to think about. After all, it is MY foot! It would cause me quite a bit of inconvenience in the short term but I've not been able to have a normal life for the past 4 or 5 years the way it is now. The doc has performed this kind of operation countless times and is very good at it. I have to go back next week and get a new set of X-rays done so he can see if he has to go in or not. I'll be out a little later today cutting my parent's grass. Wouldn't want it growing tall have a rain storm send it totally out of control.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 5/30/2009

Wind Chill: 62°F
Humidity: 88%
Dew Point: 58°F

So Far Today
High: 64°F
Low: 61°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 3mph NNE

Today High: 90 Sunny. Highs around 90. Northeast winds up to 5 mph.

Tonight Low: 65 Clear. Lows in the mid 60s. Southeast winds up to 5 mph becoming southwest around 5 mph after midnight.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm18/forum-2/P5300393.jpg
 
blownoutcylinder said:
........The problem with all this is that the money factor is tied to a society which lost its mooring. If one looked back say 60 years ago most companies believed in their communities that they were in. The idea of GROWING the business was first and foremost in the minds of many. That profit was for things like improving product and other things. Not for itself but others. Now profit is ONLY for itself and there we are---now the bottom line comes first, product second and maybe the company after........
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Man, that is hitting the nail on the head.;)
I am far from an Economist, but it seems to me that all of this started in the 80's with the Yuppies and their wild adventures with Wall Street...the yuppies didn't go away only their names changed: CEO, CFO, President, Chairman, etc.

Dang! I love the Global Economy concept and the New World Order. Aren't we having fun!:p:mad:
 


Afternoon, everyone.

Quiet in here today. I think summer has come. :)

Karl, I was going let Bob park that Indian in my garage at no charge. I'd take good care of it...really. :)

BOC, looks like all the precipitation and cool weather has shifted up you way now. It's clear and 91 degrees here right now.

Jeffrey, I hope whatever decision you make about your foot gives you some relief. The short term inconvenience would be worth it if you have some reasonable expectation of an improved quality of life in the long term.

Rex, I agree that BOC hit the nail on the head. Think of the model railroad business 60 years ago. Except for a few items from Europe and Japanese brass, everything was designed, manufactured, and sold by Americans to other Americans. At least in today's terms, there was no global economy. There was a concept that corporations wanted to have a long term outlook and increase their market share here. I'm convinced the rise of the MBA's was the beginning of the mess we're in today. Irv Athearn didn't succeed because he went to Harvard, he succeeded because he loved model train, understood what other model railroaders wanted, and produced good quality products at affordable prices. In contrast, Athearn has now become a mere subsidiary of another shell corporation. Other than design and marketing, no work is done in America. Everything comes from China. We can now buy things off the shelf that were undreamed of in quality and detail 60 years ago, but at what cost? The snot nosed kids that are running American businesses now have no long term outlook and have no connection to this country except for maximizing profit. The fact that Tiny Tim Geithner, a 47 year old who has never held a job in the private sector in his life, is now deciding the fate of industrial giants like GM and Chrysler, is terrifying to me. I'm really amazed that the American people are simply standing by, watching our economic system be transformed into a failed model, and doing and saying nothing. :mad: I write to my Conressman and Senators all the time about what's happening with the same results as ranting at my cat. :(

Off my soapbox now. At least it's a beautiful day, I'm healthy, and have a good family. I guess all the rest of this will work itself out one way or another.
 
UP2CSX said:
Off my soapbox now. At least it's a beautiful day, I'm healthy, and have a good family. I guess all the rest of this will work itself out one way or another.
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I agree! Today will be a great day for the FIRST MRF DMSF! Who going to throw the first turd!:D
 
vato loco said:
I agree! Today will be a great day for the FIRST MRF DMSF! Who going to throw the first turd!:D
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Chris....put that thing down,,,you're gonna put somebodys eye out with that!!!:mad::eek:

OMG! :eek: I sound like my parents!!!!!:eek:

Jim. I concur, its a beautiful day! Let's not booger it up!

Train related.....I picked up a paired window Walthers coach yesterday. I was glad to see it came with the side grabs installed, but the end grabs and coupler cut bars came in a little baggie! 2 hours later I had them installed, but it was about as hard as Chinese Algebra! Itty bitty parts in full sized hands just doesn't work. Even with good tweezers and a magnifier lamp!
For the 35 bucks I paid for the car, I would think some little Chinese kid could have installed them for about an additional 20 cents!
But it does look goooooood! :D
 
Coffee, Flo, and maybe a piece of strawberry pie. The sugar free one, please.

Well, today we took the modules to the nursing home. All of the railwork is done, except for a bit of ballasting. The guys that took the modules home did a first rate job. I'm very proud and thankful for their help and dedication. Now to just finish the wiring. Placing and fastening the structures and adding the backdrop is next. I was a bit worried that we were falling behind , but things have come together quite quickly. I spent my day under the tables wiring plugs. My poor back is killing me.

One of the guys brought a 28' enclosed trailer to move all of the modules and the tables. We still had to make two trips.

And we had quite an audience. A couple of the guys wanted to run trains today, but we didn't bring any power source or trains. Another couple of weekends and we should be finished, ready to run some trains.

I need to make the fascia yet too. I'll work on that this week. It should go pretty fast. I'll get the router set up yet tonight and start that part of the project. I'm more of a framing carpenter than a finish carpenter though. I guess I will just need to get a lighter hammer. I don't think that a 32oz framing hammer would work very well setting trim. I'll probably just take my small compressor and finish nailer to the home.

Tomorrow I go boating and fishing though. I need to relax. And I don't care if I don't catch any fish. As long as the beer is cold and the weather habitable.

I've emailed the guy with the Indian. Getting some more pics. I just have to convince the better half we NEED another bike. $17,000 is a chunk of change.

Well, gotta get the pork chops on the grill now. Be back in a bit.

Bob
 
Good afternoon folks.

I've been busy this week dealing with my teeth problems. What a pricey pain in the you know what. Depending on what the insurance covers, I'm looking at between fifteen and eighteen hundred dollars. That's WITH the insurance! Holy crap, thirty five hundred dollars for a combined three hours of work! I'm in the wrong business.

My wife's last day of work was yesterday. I've been planning for a car purchase since she had a company van. I was concerned about spending a good portion of our savings on another vehicle. Well, since the company is downsizing, they don't need her van anymore. We purchased the vehicle for fifty bucks! It's a 2001 Chevy Venture with 195000 miles on it. We are replacing the tires and recharging the air conditioning. All told, I should have less than five hundred bucks into this van. I'm not much of a minivan guy, but that's less than the tires cost for my car. I'll put my savings back into the savings account for another day. As soon as she gets a new job I'll sell this van to my brother and buy a new one.

I will not get any modeling done until I return from Las Vegas in a few weeks. I could get some done this weekend, but the wife has other plans for me!:(

Have a great weekend everyone!
 
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Good Evenin'---

It has been interestin' up here. 1/2 Hour T'storms followed by SUN!! followed by T'storm then SUN!! again then yet another T'storm and so on---LOTS of rain---can't see a dang thing:mad:---then beaconing SUN!! :D--then can't see a dang thing--oh--and did I mention rain and hail? We had marble sized hail twice so far----:eek::eek::eek:

Everyone----I agree with the idea. No sense in getting crabby. It only makes for a sour:mad: --I have a loving wife and a cat who gets both of us laughing here with all us antics:D:D:D

Corey Talk about "Luck";);)---now if only--:):)

Chris Watch it:eek:---I have repeater catapaults:eek::eek::rolleyes:---and I'll use them---heeheehee:D:D:D:D:p:p;);)
 
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