Running Bear's May 2025 Coffee Shop

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Morning all,

I had to make a quick run first thing this morning to the DR site to reboot a physical server that hung up over the weekend, and had been playing catch up ever since.

Currently light drizzle and 58° with a high of 65° later.

Weekend was wet both locally and in Branson as DeaconKC said. I had 3.1" of rain in my gauge on Saturday when we returned and another 1.1" Sunday morning. Only had 0.3" yesterday. I'm not sure what we got overnight as I hadn't checked that gauge before heading to the office this morning.

Wife spent part of Sunday and yesterday apologizing for the "Bad" trip she planned as a surprise. The rain and finding Branson had changed (and us as well) wasn't her fault. We both have mobility issues that make the hills hard to deal with along with the endless walking required. I used to love the area and find that a ton of the development in the area has ruined the area. One used to be able to see trees for miles on the hilltops and sides. Now many are cleared for housing developments and commercial businesses. There are a ton of shuttered hotels and former theaters that have become an eye sore. In my opinion, it's demise (although some would say it's still growing) is a result of it's success.
 
santafewillie said:
Mike - I'm a bit jealous that you have gotten your pool ready already. Mine is usually up and running by now and we normally are using it by Memorial Day, but not this year. Untimely rain and not enough sunny days in the forecast to warm the water up are the culprits. And I don't see any of that changing soon, although I am going to make a concerted effort this week. Current water temperature is still below 70°. By comparison, last year it was 78° and ready to go on the Friday before Memorial Day, but then that damn tornado on Saturday added a lot of debris that needed to come out. I will use it at 78°, but my wife won't get in until at least 81°.
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Our water temp cant be much over 65F at this point. Way too cold for me to go in right now. our late spring has been well below average this far. Next week we are supposed to rebound temp wise into the mid 80s, it wont take long with total afternoons sun exposure. I did order a new solar cover last night, so that will help.

My wife is the same way, she wont get in till probably late June early July. My daughter wont care and will take the polar plunge anytime.
 


Good morning from Pasadena! Still have May Gray here as the surrounding mountains can't be seen behind what looks to me like fog. In June it's called June Gloom! 61f degrees heading 80.

It should be a good day for walking around. The plan is breakfast at an old diner about 9am called Andy's. It's about 4 blocks from our hotel on Colorado Blvd which is also Old Route 66. Then walk back, relax and go about 1.4 miles the other way down Colorado Blvd to Old Pasadena where we have been before but we are not up for any real adventures today. We'll hit my sister's around 3pm after her 2pm daily pills and nap! Dinner tonight out and hoping for Italian but many of the restaurants here are closed Tuesdays. We will walk everywhere today. There are so many restaurants near my sister and she handles her walker like a stock car!

I did get to the Original Whistle Stop last week. It reminds me so much of the Chicago area train shops we had as a kid. I'm still fascinated by glass cabinets filled with brass locomotives. The Original Whistle Stop IMOO has one of the best book sections in the USA. Yes, I spent!

We head off around noon to Vegas on Wednesday. My brother is having hip replacement surgery Thursday and I will be with him. His girlfriend and Terry will fly to Scottsdale as the g/f has medical checkups for her cancer. Been in remission but needs 12 week check ups. The brother has been told by his doctor he'll be golfing in a 2 weeks with the replacement procedures he will use. We will see about that!

We have had a great time but California like, Arizona and Texas for various reasons is just not for us. Terry loves Maui but as most of you know the scenery and weather is out of this world, but boring to me. I don't want to play golf every day. We will get there later in June and July for a couple weeks. My brother's last minute surgery has changed a few things and neither of us wanted to be on Maui without him. It's nice to be retired as plans are always flexible

The son and g/f never got back to Austin. The plane was 2 hours delayed waiting out the Austin storms. Then boarded and spent 2 hours on the taxi ways waiting for clearance before they cancelled the flight. Spent last night at a hotel at LAX and now have tickets on Southwest to get home. The son is done with American Airlines and said he’ll fly his own planes into LA if they ever come back. He’s young, he’ll bounce back. I predict he’ll hate Southwest but everything else was booked or 2-3 stops and 13 hours for a 3 hour flight!

Be well
 
migalyto said:
Our water temp cant be much over 65F at this point. Way too cold for me to go in right now. our late spring has been well below average this far. Next week we are supposed to rebound temp wise into the mid 80s, it wont take long with total afternoons sun exposure. I did order a new solar cover last night, so that will help.

My wife is the same way, she wont get in till probably late June early July. My daughter wont care and will take the polar plunge anytime.
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I'm convinced my next door neighbor is part polar bear. I have seen her in her pool when the air temp is in the 50s and water temp is below that! How she does it is beyond me!
 
Good morning all, A few sprinkles and mild Temps for the day--

A group of us put in the swimming dock at a local church camp this morning. Went smooth and were done in less than 2 hours.

Many of the previous dock jobs I have helped on were far more challenging!

Plan to be in the train shed this afternoon, doing some switching and making a pine forest.

Stay safe

Dave LASM
 
Good (late) afternoon. I ventured up to the train room only to return as our daughter has called in. Got to make her a cup of tea; Dawn wants one as well. May as well make it three cups.

Managed to place a figure at the back gate watching trains

IMG_0425.JPEG
 
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Good late morning all. 66 here and cloudy right now, supposed to rain later today. Drove back from Branson yesterday, traded 6 g'kids for 2 waiting for us at home! Anyway, great trip and visit with 2 of our nephews and their families and returned home to find another nephew and his family here. He had come in to preach at our church this Sunday, he may become our next Pastor. That would be great because we are very close and would love to have them here. As far as Warhammer goes, I used to play 40K [had a huge Space Wolf army] but GW ran me off with their business practices. Anyway, working on coffee and clearing out 80 [egads] emails. Have a great day all.
 


Re "buying Mac"...

There are "standard" (m4) and "pro" (m4pro) CPUs for the Minis.

The pro version is more powerful for multi-tasking operations, BUT, for apps that use just a "single core", they are the same speed -- no difference.

It was time to replace my 2018 (Intel) Mini. I was originally thinking "m4pro" (price isn't that much an object for me regarding Macs), UNTIL I discovered the fact about single-core stuff. And since most (all?) of what I do doesn't demand multiple cores, I decided the plain-vanilla m4 would do.

BUT... Apple's "base model" specs for these are... well... inadequate to say the least.
16gb of RAM is "the new baseline" for the Mac OS, but it's STILL not enough.
I'd recommend at least 24gb -- 32gb is better.

And the SSD size (256gb) is far too small. Even OS updates can require LOTS of "free space".

I won't argue that Apple's RAM/SSD upgrade prices are high. It is what it is.
But... "buy cheap"... and you're probably going to regret it down the line.

There are ways to save considerably when "buying Apple".

First... go to Apple's online refurbished store. Items bought there come "like new", with the full one-year warranty you get with "new stuff". About 10-15% savings. And custom-configurations are usually available, off-the-shelf.

Second... Apple has both educational AND veteran's discount programs. I'm signed up with the veteran's discount, about another 10% off.

So... when the m4 Mini came into stock that I wanted (32gb, 1tb SSD), I signed in through the veteran's page (uses an id.me account to verify you), and then was able to also get connected to the online refurbished store.

So I ended up getting the Mini for just shy of 25% off the list price for a new one.

Works for me!
 
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Just looked over my deck and into the rental property next door. The big buck is back. The 20 something kids living there don't care if the front and rear fence gates are open. Heck, I've never seen them even in the back yard. Better that their yard has deer ticks and fleas than mine.

I was able to use a 10x zoom on my phone for these. Forgot to mention this is a Columbian (as in "Columbia River) Black Tail. Similar to a Mule deer.

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Kusojiji said:
Yeah, I hate Windows, but haven't found a good replacement yet. I thought about Mac, but don't want to pay twice as much for the same thing. And software, and applications, and whatever. Tried linux, but too steep of a learning curve, and software, and applications and whatever...

Glad you made it through!
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I loaded Zorin Pro (Linux) on an old laptop and I really like it. Works like Windows 10 and you can make adjustments that suit your taste. I'm going to load it onto my desktop that (as per Microsoft says is non Win 11 ready) I use most everyday. Only downside is that some MS software won't run on Linux.......But I don't run hardly any MS programs anyway. It works for me but may not work for all. I'm just glad there is another choice for an OS similar to Windows.

John
 
I have seen some remarks about the Royal Mail Service posted here from time to time.
I received my MegaPoints order today from the UK that was ordered on May16. Order would have made it here to Texas in 10 days if not for a post office holiday. Shipping cost me $12.50. I can't gripe.
On another note, the folks at BLOCKSignaling stopped shipping to the US (from the UK) when the tariffs went into effect. Somehow I get the feeling the choice made by BS was more about politics than item costs. The BS servo controllers offer more features than others and that is why I started using them to begin with. However I think I'm going to use the Tam Valley, Octopus 3 units to finish out my layout servo controllers. They are made in the USA so no tariff issues and low shipping costs. And yes. I will find a place for the MegaPoints unit somewhere.
Seems like every time I find something I like and something that works well, that for some reason or another, that item shortly becomes non-obtainable.

Gotta make a trip into town today to hit post office, bank, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and the United grocery store. Then back home for further programming on the ESU decoder project if I have any patience and energy left.

Have a great day......John
 
bnsf971 said:
I remember when I was a kid, the date the beach opened at our state park was dependent on when the ice melted off the lake. It was usually between Easter and Memorial Day.
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Yeah. We had a few state parks in the woods with very large ponds and “beaches” and the water was ice cold when they opened in the spring. We did some boy scout swimming activities. Once you went numb it was fine to swim around and keep the core warm.
 
J.Albert said:
Re "buying Mac"...

There are "standard" (m4) and "pro" (m4pro) CPUs for the Minis.

The pro version is more powerful for multi-tasking operations, BUT, for apps that use just a "single core", they are the same speed -- no difference.
Click to expand...

Good advice. My first ever mini was a refurbished direct from Apple. Good value.

For me running a compiler the multi threading provides value. Also there are some other differences I think in graphics. I actually wanted more than 24gb but my budget didn’t have it and I also saved money buying on Amazon as this particular model was almost $100 off. They ship direct from Apple. I’m not in any of the special discount groups. Often you can get certain models at special deals from B&H photo and Adorama as well. the Apple Insider site has a buying guide and sometimes has special discounts as well with those sites.

At my last job I had a Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra CPU. 128gb RAM. 1TB storage. It was nice. I was sad to have to return it.
 
chadbag said:
Good advice. My first ever mini was a refurbished direct from Apple. Good value.

For me running a compiler the multi threading provides value. Also there are some other differences I think in graphics. I actually wanted more than 24gb but my budget didn’t have it and I also saved money buying on Amazon as this particular model was almost $100 off. They ship direct from Apple. I’m not in any of the special discount groups. Often you can get certain models at special deals from B&H photo and Adorama as well. the Apple Insider site has a buying guide and sometimes has special discounts as well with those sites.

At my last job I had a Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra CPU. 128gb RAM. 1TB storage. It was nice. I was sad to have to return it.
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The Air was from Best Buy. Apple would have matched the price with all my discounts, but they refused to give me the zero % plan for it if I used the discounts. And if I had purchased from Apple, it would have been 12 months zero interest, with Best Buy, it was 18 months zero interest. So, zero interest was only for full retail through Apple. I guess we know where their money was made.
 


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