Running Bear's April 2022 Coffee Shop

[Jaz avalley]

I'm in need of confession.
Bless me, I have sinned.
I had a bad week especially considering it is lent.
I got feed up with tailgaters. Waved at several of them one finger at a time. I asked a few to pull over and talk to me about it, no one did.
The final straw, just before dawn a moron layed on the horn, five plus seconds to encourage me to go faster. It was a narrow residential street, no room to pass. I stopped, got out and went off. "Do you need help?" Driver slowly shakes his head no. "Do you know where you are?" Driver looks confused, probably frightened. "You are in Baltimore, one of the most dangerous cities in the country and I am one of the meanest mother f&%$@$ in it! So you better calm the f@#% down!" Then I got back into the car and drove off. I turned after about 100 yards. The other driver was no longer in such a hurry as they had not yet moved.

LOL
i had a car cut me up twice on the motorway, unusually I was driving not the other half,first I noticed him he cut me up in the middle lane, didn’t understand his problem, husband said ignore and overtake as he has slowed down, overtook and he cut me again, husband said overtake again bloke pointed to the off motorway sign and husband said pull over and follow him off motorway, the exit led to a small roundabout, other driver out of car tall 6’6” I’m guessing husband just under 6 foot and slim other bloke big stomach otherwise appears slim, he walks over and belly bounces the other half who holds his feet and then belly bounces back, the bloke looked well shocked, apparently this normally intimidates, today he chose the wrong person, I can hear him shouting about headlights. The other half calls out and ask me to flip the headlights on, a short discussion then they shake hands, other half walks back and says, where they replaced that headlight yesterday it is set too high, take it back tomorrow and tell them to sort it out, which they did and apologised as the light was indeed too high.That bloke was lucky though mine did a little boxing in the forces, when there was a shortage o f bouts he was asked to fight the next weight up - who as it turned out fought professionally, he knocked my other half down three times, but he praised him afterwards and said he had poor foot work hence an experienced fighter knocking him down, but he said if he fancied taking up training he could pull some strings as when the other half had actually hit him he felt like a freight train had just rammed him. despite no bruising of note the other half complained his jaw felt like it had been hit by a hammer, and he wasn’t inclined to take up the sport professionally, and luckily his face is still in one piece all these years later. he gave up rugby after they knocked two teeth out, forces gave him a gold tooth and a platinum bridge, years later at least two dentists had admired the work, and were gobsmacked when they were to.d is was forces work, when it finally fell apart the cheeky dentist tried to just leave the metal work in the dish,luckily the other half was too clever for that and picked it up,the replacement work is definitely not as good.
FYI other half has been carved up by drivers on his motorbike, some lived to regret their actions. one went to court and he not my other half ended up9 with points on his licence, he claimed my other half had 1. Exceeded a 60, mile speed limit to chase and intimidate, and two swore at him, and three kicked his car door. My other half said as he was driving a motorbike that he had only just passed his driving licence with it could not do 6o miles an hour on a down ward slope with a tailwind, he cited the bike model and it’s capabilities and cheekily asked if the other would put it in writing as he could sell the bike at a premium, and as the other bloke had pointed out his helmet visor was shut, and his car window was shut it was highly unlikely that he could have heard a profanity even if he had sworn which he did not, he also pointed out that booting the other cars panel while riding on his bike would likely had left him sat on his bum on the tarmac. Not surprisingly the judge found in favour of my other half, and for wasting court time he fined and gave points to the car driver. Husband said it was worth losing a days pay/holiday to see the xxxxxx get what he deserved. he had claimed my husband was sinister as on a black bike and wearing black leathers, DOH.

 

[McLeod]

Same here before I laid any track except the staging yard. Whole lot easier than using the wooden yardstick with the holes in it; although I used it to lay out the curves while the cardboard rested on a whole 4'x8' sheet of plywood. I mostly used the 30" and 32". When I did one at 34", I laid it out against the outside of the 32" template.

Willie - Did you build easements into your curves? I'm wondering if I even need worry about it on a 30"curve.

 

[troyphoto]

Well howdy there internet curve drawers whether you use a yardstick or cardboard,

It's Troy again.

Got MIL out of the hospital and back home. Since move day is just over a week away, wife went to stay all week with her and finish the packing. That means we moved her with computer et to get work done. She just had a week off, and she'll be swamped this week.

Wife asked me if MIL's computer is worth keeping at our place. MIL has a Dell? I forgot to get a pic of the unit, but it does have this:

MIL is going to an iPad Pro since she's not even typing emails any longer. Just texting with the grandkids and surfing for bargains on QVC....

And, on the way back I got stopped by this, so I did some rail fanning

 

[bnsf971]

Troy, here are my thoughts--or at least something like thoughts:
That desktop is, while not the cheapest machine on the block, very far from top shelf. There are a couple of things that can be done relatively inexpensively to enhance its performance, but at the end of the day, it'll still be the bottom-tier I-series. Also, being a 7th gen processor, it is not updateable to windoze 11. If you were keeping the computer for work, Windoze 10 will still receive updates and patches until sometime in 2025, so dumping it won't be a priority. If your MIL is getting an iPad pro, is she getting the 12.9" version? If she's getting the 11" version, get the newest iPad Air. It's in the same housing as the 2018 version of the iPad Pro, with the current M1 hardware inside, for several hundred $$$ less. I would get the one with 256GB storage, I think the 64GB version has too little room for "stuff", like apps, movies, and pictures that your MIL will likely put on it. And if it has more storage, that means she won't be calling her son in law every couple of months to clean it out to make room.
Also, if you go the iPad Air route, I picked up a (used) genuine Apple keyboard cover for mine for $25, in fully-functional condition off Fleabay. The keyboard cover for the iPad Pro 2018 version fits perfectly.

 

[santafewillie]

Willie - Did you build easements into your curves? I'm wondering if I even need worry about it on a 30"curve.

In some cases but not all. I agree that they are not necessary for 30" radius curves. I only put them in to see of there was a difference in performance - NOT. But I also don't intend to run any long steamers which might make a difference. I just don't know.

 

[santafewillie]

Yes I have a few, that's #16.

You're 3 up on me with 13. I like them. 6-Dash 9-44CW's, 3-SD45's and 4-SD40-2's. I am waiting for another run of SD40-2's, and that will be it for 6 axle units.

 

[Boris]

Retirement funds - At the time that I had an advisor, not only did he charge a quarterly fee for consultation, The funds that he invested in also charged fees. After I took over self-investment, I discovered just how outrageous some of those fees were. Most years prior to me taking over, he mainly preserved what I had. He had a lot of useless charts and graphs that essentially meant nothing to me in the end.

Willie: So you were invested with an advisor that only sold 12-B-1 Funds. He gets to keep your profits, you keep your principle and get to pay the taxes on the gains. The person who thought of that scheme, should have been horsewhipped. Financial Advisors who make their living by selling those funds to unsuspecting investors belong in hell. Unfortunately, the practice is legal....and very common. The clown my MIL was invested with was one to take advantage of unsophisticated investors like the MIL.
OTOH, I encountered some "churners", who moved my positions to something better" every time they needed a commission...Damn them too.

had my portfolio with Fidelity for quite some time and did my own steering of investments. I looked at their recommendation for a fiduciary back in 2015 and took their advice. That group failed miserably. Took almost 6 months of determining were to invest my funds and then, performance was less than what I was getting on another account that I was still managing. I finally fired them and kept my funds with Fidelity. About 6 months ago I inquired about a fiduciary again and they referred me to another fund manager. They produced all kinds of grafts and charts of performance. Looked good, but then I checked their background. Hmmm, one of their managers was recently convicted of money laundering and a few other finance crimes. That did it for me with Fidelity. I moved everything over to Morgan Stanley.

Ken: I have been with Fidelity since they were retained to manage Conrail's Management 401K fund. Did very well with them. When I went back on the seat box, the BLE had their own (No match), plan through a brokerage group from Merrill in Buffalo...Couldn't make money with them even if it all went to a MMF. Amtrak's agreement 401(K) also a no match, was initially with Vanguard, then moved to Fidelity. Vanguard results were good, but not spectacular. Fidelity offered some good funds...and some real junk funds that invested in Fidelity Mutual Funds...I avoided the junk, and stuck to the stuff I was familiar with from Conrail. Unfortunately, this was right around the time of the 2007 -2008 Financial debacle. So I moved everything to cash. When I retired, I rolled it to a IRA at Fidelity and started drawing on it. I also opened a personal account which remains to this day. I have pretty much ignored Fidelity's advice and stayed with individual stocks. I have also self managed my portfolio...Don't trust money managers to work for anyone but themselves. As long as trades remain commission free, and I'm able, that's where I'll stay.

A view of "Stoney Creek" yard with cars. six of the nine tracks are usable, and construction is progressing on the lead to the engine pit and cab track. After this photo was taken, I moved everything out of the yard to resume construction of the remaining portion of track.
The sigificance of these two modules, is that this will mark the completion of the construction phase. The Point to Point Industrial layout will be completed. Next phase, will including structures and scenery. I had just enough track and switches...no waste!

 

[troyphoto]

Troy, here are my thoughts--or at least something like thoughts:
That desktop is, while not the cheapest machine on the block, very far from top shelf. There are a couple of things that can be done relatively inexpensively to enhance its performance, but at the end of the day, it'll still be the bottom-tier I-series. Also, being a 7th gen processor, it is not updateable to windoze 11. If you were keeping the computer for work, Windoze 10 will still receive updates and patches until sometime in 2025, so dumping it won't be a priority...

Thanks Terry.

I'm wondering about sticking it next to my layout. What's the hot stuff everyone is doing via computer on their layouts? Stuff that I could use a low-end Windows PC instead of a MacBook for? Is that even worth it?

 

[IronBeltKen]

Good evening Shop Dwellers!

Joe - layout is looking great, can't wait to see that area with the backdrop buildings!

Tom [C51] - That Scaletrains BNSF 25th anniversary unit sure is "purty!" I've always noticed that BNSF tends to keep their engines cleaner than other roads.

Not much else to report; I'm staying out of the retirement investing discussion, I've had too many "expert" friends tell me I'm doing it wrong.

At least I achieved another milestone today in prepping for the open house: Got all my loco consists made-up and speed matched. That clears the way for me to start pulling the rolling stock back out of their boxes, and building the trains.

Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!

 

[IronBeltKen]

Thanks Terry.

I'm wondering about sticking it next to my layout. What's the hot stuff everyone is doing via computer on their layouts? Stuff that I could use a low-end Windows PC instead of a MacBook for? Is that even worth it?

JMRI-DecoderPro - that's what I and several other people here are using to fine-tune our decoders, especially to speed-match locos for consisting. I'm using an old Windows 7 Dell Inspiron laptop, totally disconnected from the internet so security isn't an issue.

 

[bnsf971]

Thanks Terry.

I'm wondering about sticking it next to my layout. What's the hot stuff everyone is doing via computer on their layouts? Stuff that I could use a low-end Windows PC instead of a MacBook for? Is that even worth it?

There are several things, like Decoder Pro, and if you want to have loksound-equipped locomotives, you can use a Lokprogrammer, as well.
There are also inventory programs, though you can do the same thing on a Mac. There is also the Steam game "Train Simulator 2022", which is free to play.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Good morning... A chilly 30 to start. Thanks for the likes on the engine. I like the Black and orange over the dark green and orange. I see them a lot on CSX trains more so then UP.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Thanks Terry.

I'm wondering about sticking it next to my layout. What's the hot stuff everyone is doing via computer on their layouts? Stuff that I could use a low-end Windows PC instead of a MacBook for? Is that even worth it?

I'm using an $84 brick to run my JMRI, ESU and Train Controller Silver.
I have it on a little shelf under the benchwork with the screen mounted on the facia with key board and mouse just sitting on the staging yard surface. Programming track is there to the left of the screen and a rotary switch is used to select JMRI, ESU or regular track power to the programming track.
The ESU LokProgrammer is mounted to the benchwork to the right below the screen.
A brick is just a simple, inexpensive computer that doesn't run to fast.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's clear and 37, with a Red Flag warning for later today.
My wife is supposed to be heading to a nursing home today, for rehab. I need to go there, and talk to the case manager, and let them know about her propensity of convincing people her serious issues are a non-issue, or just something minor. She did that in 2014, when she had a stroke. She convinced the doctor it was sciatica, delaying her treatment, and making things worse. This time, she's telling them I'll be there to take care of her, even though I'm not here for at least ten hours a day.

Troy:
There is one thing you can do to that computer that will vastly improve its operability, and it's really cheap and easy to do:

Dell Alienware Aurora R7 Genuine 16gb SSD Solid State Drive MEMPEK1J016GAD for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell Alienware Aurora R7 Genuine 16gb SSD Solid State Drive MEMPEK1J016GAD at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

For $8, you put the module I linked to in a slot on the motherboard, turn it on, and enable the module. It will effectively cut lag in half, or even more. After it's been in the machine for a couple of days, you'll notice the computer boots much faster, and programs and apps you regularly use load faster, with much less lag. Most computers even have the tiny screw needed to hold the module in place. If it doesn't, let me know, I have a box full of them, and will happily send you one.

 

[OBTC 1909]

Good morning all! 63 and cloudy heading for 65 with showers and thunderstorms.
My eyes are still watering pretty badly but hopefully the prescription eye drops I got will soon start having a positive effect.
Have to leave for work early all this week because they've got my usual route blocked for construction about a mile from my job. Probably going to involve going 3 miles or more out of my way to get around it. Oh well...
Hope you all have a great day!

 

[D&J RailRoad]

work?

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

50° and partly cloudy this morning. Going for an afternoon high of 70°.

I had a couple of PM's about the egg secret, so I thought I'd pass them publicly instead of replying to several messages.

Put your water in the pan on the stove and start it to boil. Once it starts to boil using a slotted spoon to set the eggs into the water gently (no being fry cook in my earlier years has hardened me a bit to hot water, so I set them in without the spoon). You don't want the eggs to break. I set a timer for 12 minutes after the last egg is in. Once the timer goes off, I run the eggs in cold water until they are cool enough to work with. 12 minutes makes a cooked yolk without the green that covers an overcooked egg. If you like a softer yolk, just cook them a little less. I have not tried to see what happens where you refrigerate them first and peel them later. I will this weekend as the wife is having the grandkids over on Saturday to color the eggs for Sunday's dinner. Really something when eggs are $2.49 a dozen and the 18 pack is $1.99 and then an extra download coupon makes the $1.49 for 18.

Got in this morning to the city attorney mad because email didn't work from home after the updates. Appear one of the updates changed a configuration in the server, so I have to wait for the backups to complete before I can get into the configuration on one of the images to see what changed. There are days I hate my job...

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from the wilds of So. Central Wisconsin where yesterday was a windy but nice day. Today, should be nicer getting into the 60’s.

Day of appointments starting at 9:30. I just finished my wonderful every other day breakfast of yogurt and granola. It definitely has been helping me lower the blood glucose levels. The main yogurt of purchase has become the Oikos triple zero blended Greek yogurt. 100 calories for the 5.3oz container, 10 carbs, 5 grams of total sugar and 10 carbs. I have tried now about 8 different brands and I find this to over all have the best taste with lower sugars but higher carbs then some others.

Investments. Wow, scary subject! Terry now handles all investments except for the balance of my 401k which is handled by the trustee for the place I worked and earned that thing! She has reduced the current number of holdings in the stock casino except for dividend stocks where she actually has doubled down since the 1st of the year. She still has holdings in stocks but in very reduced amounts.

It seems our broker even against our wishes was a churner making us good money but with those commissions more for himself. That ended when Terry retired and spent a month pouring over our investments. She retired 6 years before I did at age 56 in 2007. I waited until I was 62. In 1990 I had a poor year in the commodity markets and basically Terry stepped in and saved out financial asses! She finally at the end of 2021 she stepped back into the commodity market separate from everything else and budgeted separately from everything else. She likes it and does listen to my suggestions but mostly acts as she feels fit. That has served us very well.

I am working on creating pulp wood loads for the pulp cars. I picked some sticks from the yard yesterday but I need about 20 times the amount to complete the loads I want. Out into the woods over the next few days for better pickings.

Have a great day
TomO

 

[JazzDad]

What is the psychology behind tagging rail cars? Does the "artist" look forward to seeing his/her own car again? And if that's the case, how often does 'their' car return to the scene of the crime?

 

[chadbag]

JMRI-DecoderPro - that's what I and several other people here are using to fine-tune our decoders, especially to speed-match locos for consisting. I'm using an old Windows 7 Dell Inspiron laptop, totally disconnected from the internet so security isn't an issue.

JMRI will run on Windows, Mac and on Linux, so you have your choice on how to run it if you want that.

A lot of the HW specific editors/utilities (like ESU programmer) are windows only so useful to have a Windows machine (or a WIndows VM) for when you need to run those utilities. I have an old 2008 Mac Pro with Windows installed natively on it for that, as well as some sort of HP netbook thing I got in a raffle, that works to program decoders when it isn't falling over itself (biggest piece of junk there is).