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Good morning everyone.

It's -20 again!:eek: I believe will get over 0 for the high today. On a good note, I assembled half of my depot yesterday. I made great strides while listening to the Vikings win their final game of the season!;) A few more days and I will have it almost finished.

Gotta keep it short today, have a good day everyone.
 
So, I haven't been around a lot lately. Been pretty sickly!

Yesterday I finally felt good enough to get out. Good thing too! The Great Train Show was in town, so I went to check that out. Not as big as years past.......about half the size of a couple of years ago and just a little smaller than last year, but still good. I scored some scenery items, a BAR reefer, 6 undecorated coal cars (needed those big time!), and 2 Deep Rock tank cars. Not a bad haul!

I was thinking about my layout and the direction I want to go with it while I was working on it last night. Yeah, you read that right......I was working on it last night. More on that in a minute.

See, I've been focused on the late 1920's and early 1930's for a long time. I've aquired a lot of things that are specific to that era, and to change era's, as I've recently been considering, would mean that all of my old billboard reefers would have to go, and some of my older styled loco's probably would too. Moving to the 1950's 9which is what I've been thinking of) would mean that I have more scenery details to pick from, not to mention loco's and rolling stock, but I'm having a hard time with the idea of having "D" word loco's on the layout.

Oh well..........

Anyways, I pieced together the new staging yard last night. I'll probably start transplanting it tonight.
 
Good Morning, All!

So far the New Year has been...okay. Nothing to write home about :o

Ken...Man oh man...not a good year for ankles! I hope Vicki is not hurting too much! How did she fall? Getting in the car? However it happened...I am sorry and hope she heals quickly! My brother has surgery on Thursday. They finally got him some effective pain meds so he's doing better.

Barry...enough with all the snow already!! I have been whining because our snow is lingering and that is unusual for the Front Range. We've been staying flippin' cold...it was 8 when I left home this AM and I am ready for some warmth!!

Corey...I shouldn't be complaining when you all are really stuck in a deep freeze! Does that help or hinder business?

Philip...I hope you are feeling better. How are your wife and son doing?

Chris...I think we are all about to send you some really cold weather :p Actually, I like cold better than hot, but this is getting old. I am ready to get into the 50's and melt some of this ice.

Hope everyone has a great day! I am going to try to reach Mr Gore and have him come shovel some of this global warming out of my driveway! :(

Sandy
 


Hi Sandy, David, Chris, Jeffrey, Tom, Philip, Corey, Bob, Larry and Barry, and all others!

Brrrr! It is cold in T-town with temps again in the 20's and some flurries (16 tonight). They are talking about a significant snow fall Thursday and Friday with lows for the weekend 8-0 F degrees :eek: (I have a hard time believing that forecast). Jeez, I haven't seen temps like that since I lived in the D.C. burbs back in early 70's. Mr. Gore, I need another load of firewood to help stop global warming.:rolleyes:

Bob, thanks for the info. I didn't even think about the driver being able to make the change from a standard 17" to a widescreen. (Since I retired, I purposely got away from keeping up with computer things:o.) I'm not overly concerned about HD as I just need more screen space for running Railroad and Company Software. My operation track schematic is so large, it is on several separate windows and sometimes difficult to track all the divisions and the trains.
When you fully open an application (browser, Word, Photoshop, etc,), does it fill the entire screen or only a rectangle somewhere on the screen?

David, I still haven't made up my mind, but I am leaning to buying a laptop in a few months to replace this Dell. The other option would be to format C: cleaning all the crap out of it and begin anew with Windows 7. In that case, I would go ahead and buy some additional memory. It is so expensive and the computer on the "old" side, I'm not sure if that would be the wise thing to do since I would have several hundred bucks invested in something that may crash and burn. Thanks for the input.
 
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Rex, I have adjusted the settings so that it is full screen. I believe the driver is a download from RealTek. It's free, the best thing. It seems to work really well on the Gateway PC and the HP laptops. I had to reload it once as I screwed up once while cleaning up unwanted programs. Talk about a tough thing to do while"blind". I also have a video card, and InVidia 8600 GT that really enhances the the optics as well as gets the dedicated video stuff off of the shared memory on the hard drive of my PC's.

You'll be amazed at the difference of using an LCD HD flat screen. Colors are more vibrant, text less distorted, and recover much faster. And the normal distortion found at the edges of the traditional screens is all but moot. I wish we had HD flat screens back in my days of design work.

If the window opens in "micro mode", just click on the maximize button and it goes to full screen. The control of how the window opens will be in your control section and you an adjust the settings. My screens are 1080i and I wouldn't have anything else.

As far as windows 7, I am still using Vista. My nephew, a techno-geek, has a new computer with Windows 7. I have used it and haven't made an opinion. Many do not like Vista, but the problems they have is that they don't go in and "customize" the program. If they would just take the time and adjust the settings, they would be amazed at how much easier it operates vs the default settings. And the security is really good, again, once you "fine tune" the program to your use.

As far as buying a "lappie", I suggest Toshiba or HP. I have both, as I use them for work and for my boats. The computers on the boats are used for navigation(h'ain't no street signs in the middle of the Great Lakes) and for recreation on the water. I have SatCom on the Carver and can access the internet via satellite. And the grandkids download games to play to pass the time while on board. Also they allow us to download any pics we take while on the wet. That is if'n I don't drop the camera in the drink.

Also, if you decide to replace your 'puter, go to a "geek" shop, Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, Computer World.......... And pay the extra for extended warranty. You'll thank yourself. Better to have the extended warranty and not use it than to need it and not have it. Kind of like insurance. You pay the premiums hoping you'll never need it. I always get the extended warranty on any major purchase, especially electronics.

Ken, bad deal with the wifey. I hope Vicki heals in record time. You now have to bow and kneel to her wants and needs. I've got an old pair of roller skates in a size 10 if'n you need help in keeping up. lol

Philip, Sick? Yeh, I bet. Odd how you got all better just in time for the train show....... Sounds like my daughter when she was younger. She ALWAYS got better when something she wanted to do came around.

19*F right now, light snow flurries. We were in single digits most of the weekend, this seems like Paradise today.

Bob
 
Evening / afternoon all,

Brrrrrrrrr and Brrrrrrrr again. Why do we keep getting fire calls at 3am when it's FFFFREEEZING. Running into the fire station in a t shirt straight from bed when it's -10 and windy is quite,,,, bracing. Now it's just snowed on top of sheet ice ha ha ha, oh the joys of winter are amazing.

Ken Sorry to hear about vickys accident, thats a nasty injury indead
Jeffrey You take it easy to, you cant afford to do any more damage to your legs, or anything for that matter. Thats 100% correct about global warming, we are going to get some really scary cold weather, what we have had for the last month is just a taste of things to come, so we better just get used to it.

Take care one and all
 
You guys and gal and can keep that white @#%t! We here in the deep south don't need it!;):) Now what we could use is some of that Tree Hugging Climate Change! I want to exchange this cold air for warm! "Damn ThinBlood!"......... well got to go, My Airsoft MP 5 neededs fixing;)!
 
Good Afternoon Guys,
I guess we don't many gals except Flow, I see she must be having the same problem I am with a somewhat plugged up coffee maker and having to serve instant too! Well I guess it's better than hot water.

The temp here is on the cool side at 42 in the shade and probably about 10* warmer in the Sun but still cool inside the house but no rain, snow or clouds so it's pretty nice.

I've been noticing that things have really changed in the availability or MRR Loco kits avbailable especially for th smaller engines and it seems most of the bigger ones are only sold ready to run, God, that takes half the fun out of the hobby in learning to get them to run right and building the car kits. The younger guys & gals are missing out on a lot of learning and some of the old history that went with it, that's really a shame too!

I just got some more bad news too this morning that the guy who was the head of the distributor I delt with died and I guess they're closed so now I up another tree till I get reestablished, Drats. It's always something, isn't it?! PITA for sure!

Glad to see all the new members that are comming abord, wish there were more in my area. Guess I need to post some invites around.

Talk with everyone later,

David
 


well got to go, My Airsoft MP 5 neededs fixing;)!

Thats just what you need :D:p

I got home from practice a few hours ago, . Have a nice evening, and to those or those with loved ones with injuries, wishing them a speedy recovery and best of luck while their laid up
 
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Temp down here is 34 heading for 26.


My computer is down again. It was working fine earlier then I shut it down and went to town to mail some packages. When I came back I tried starting it up but nothing. Couldn't even get an LED to light. Tried another plug socket, no joy. Switched the power and reset leads to see if it was a bad switch. Nothing doing. Switched out the memory chips and the drives to see if there was something jamming bios. Nothing. Nearest I can figure is the power supply conked out. I'll find out when I replace it, whenever that is. The new hard disk and the drive enclosure ate up my Xmas money. Looks like it may be next month before I get the replacement.
 
Thats just what you need :D:p

Well it going to cost me more to fix it than just replace it:( :(

i need a new gear box which is $75 to $100 and a new body which I can't locate....? Either way, I'm just going to have to save up for a Full metal M16 model next time! Plastic bodied Guns don't hold up very well!:rolleyes: For now I'll be spring it....until then;):p
 
Good Afternoon Guys,
I guess we don't many gals except Flow, I see she must be having the same problem I am with a somewhat plugged up coffee maker and having to serve instant too! Well I guess it's better than hot water.

AHEM!!!! Sandy=chopped liver????? :o
 
Yup, David, you got some pretty foul smelling CA-CA on your shoes and a bit of egg on your face. Better start 'splainnin' things pretty much post haste.

I think Sandy is on the phone with Chris now ordering some Monkey stuff. Time for me to put on the full body Monkey **** Fight Suit.

Bob
 
Yup, David, you got some pretty foul smelling CA-CA on your shoes and a bit of egg on your face. Better start 'splainnin' things pretty much post haste.

I think Sandy is on the phone with Chris now ordering some Monkey stuff. Time for me to put on the full body Monkey **** Fight Suit.

Bob

Oh--Oh---where'd I put my radiation suit----dang---there it is---sheeesh!!:eek::eek:

Good Evening from far away!! We're at the DMSF2 series---:eek::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
I've got got on my rain suit, rubber gloves, face shield, and my boots. Now where is that shovel? or yeah...the clothes pin for my nose?

Bob, thanks jillions for that info. That is what I was looking for. I think that I will venture out and take a look see tomorrow...might even go a 23 or 24" if I can find one that isn't too expensive. ;)
 
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Good early morning, everyone.

Ken, that looks terrible in the picture but, believe it or not, I've seen worse. :eek: The dislocation had to hurt more than the fractures. I'm sure they loaded her up with plenty of dilaudid before they did the reduction. I hope you didn't watch. It's pretty brutal but over in a few seconds with a good orthopod. At least it was a simple fracture and not compound. The operations to screw things back together won't be fun but patients usually recover well from it. I hope it all goes well for her.

Phillip, sorry to hear you've been sick and hope you're feeling better. You must be feeling a little better to go to a train show. :) If you want to move up into the 50's and not lose steam, the NKP is the perfect prototype. Lots of first generation diesels and plenty of mainline steam until the early 60's.

Rex, I have a Westinghouse 22" LCD monitor. My Vista laptop works fine with it. The monitor apparently reads the input, does a couple of auto adjusts, and everything fills the screen fine. They are pretty inexpensive if you can find one and it's been reliable for me. It's way better than my old CRT. You'll be surprised at how much more detail you can see on the pics that get posted here.

Corey, I guess we'll see how the Vikings do in the playoff game. So far, so good. Man, it's cold here, but -20 is way too cold for me to stand. I don't know how you do it.

Jeffrey, I still think you'd save money by just getting a new $300 tower with more memory and a bigger hard drive.

Steve, now you know one of the reason I never became a firefighter. I always had a nice warm patrol car to sit in ;)

David, not only did you spell Flo's name wrong, you forgot that Sandy, an actual female, is a frequent visitor. You're in big trouble. :rolleyes:

Man, that Boise-TCU game was great. I was rooting for Boise, since I think they've been an underrated team for the past three years. The fake punt was fantastic. Boise now joins the Ohio State team of 2002 as the only team to win 14 games in a season. Of course, that will change again Thursday, one way or the other. Still, I hope Boise gets treated as serious BCS contenders next season instead of like a bunch of country bumpkins.

Had to take down the tree and all the decorations today. What a pain. I think next year I'm going to get a 3 foot tree and put it up somewhere that the cats can't get at it. They had torn up most of the bottom of the tree, including carting off some ornaments we still haven't found.

You can forget global warming for now. It's 20 degrees right now after a fabulous high of 38. This isn't even bad compared to what's coming Friday and into the weekend. Rex, I think my snow forecast is going to pan out this time. My big concern is that Alabama usually gets the heaviest snow when the air temperature is between 31 and 35. It looks like we'll get enough modification of this air mass from Gulf air on Wednesday night to bring our air temperatures into the upper 30's. That means the storm will start as rain. With supercooled surfaces, it will turn to ice immediately. It should cool down enough by mid-afternoon Thursday to turn it to all snow and then it looks like at least eight of hours of snow on tap. Probably about two inches down here and around six inches up by Birmingham. All this snow will fall on top of the ice and we won't see a temperature above freezing until Monday, so the snow and ice won't do their usual one-day melt-off. This could be a real historic storm for Alabama if everything comes together right. Friday and Saturday night will be the worst. I don't think we'll see actual lows below 10 degrees but we will have windchill factors of zero or below. I'm just hoping we don't lose power, since the heat pump's electric heat strip will have a hard enough time keeping the house above 60. The RV's propane tanks is full so that will be our alternative if it gets really bad, since the furnace will keep it tolerably warm and we'll have power to run the microwave and TV to find out what's happening. Jeez, this not what I expected when I moved to Alabama. :mad:
 
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