Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium
- Thread starter Bob Heine
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Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
ROGER WILCO!
Sorry if I'm repeating myself, but before the movie based on the play, was the play based on the book, which is good, too!
No Time For Sergeants|eBook
A humorous account of a backward hillbilly and of his experiences in the U.S. Army.
www.barnesandnoble.com
Gil, I thought IBM made a mistake selling the typewriter business, the printer business and the hard drive business but what do I know, I was never a salesman. I was retired when IBM made the deal with Lenovo. I think it was in the same category as the deal with Microsoft. It was "Thank you, IBM, we upped our income so up yours!"
Roger, one of my first assignments in Australia was to convince the marketing organization to give the development lab some of the decorative PS/2s they had sitting on their desks. IBM Australia was focused on selling PS/2s, not using them. Eventually I got a couple of hundred PS/2 Model 70s for the lab. One of my little side projects was creating newsletters for the lab director. Instead of a printed document, I created a standalone help file where all one had to do was put the diskette in the PS/2 and the full color newsletter appeared on the monitor. Many of the developers were Series/1, System/38, AS400 and mainframe application developers creating unique solutions for the Australian market. My diskette newsletters were less appreciated than a lead boomerang.@Bob Heine - I remember using BookManager.
Whenever I see an OS/2 reference, I laugh. I was at a meeting of some computing organization - don't recall which - when OS/2 was announced. They did a drawing for a free copy. I won! I was probably the only person in the room whose employer had exactly ZERO machines capable of running it. They thought they were being generous allowing me to order PS-2 Mod 30's (with an 8086). Which was funny, considering we were a big IBM shop running multiple System/38's & AS/400's at the time and always the latest/biggest available - later adding a dozen AIX boxes to the mix.
We had a graphics department that produced our monthly sales magazine reaching over 3 million members. When we finally got them computerized (for CorelDraw?), I was told to use the computers we sold in our stores - Packard Bell 386's. What junk. Disk drives (Seagates) suffered from horrible "stiction". This group of users, being artists, posted a drawing above their "server" that was driving a Bernoulli Box to detail the startup procedure.
Accompanied by a drawing depicting the act. Like this but non-destructive.
- Turn on power to Bernoulli Box
- Turn on power to PC
- Bop the disk drive lightly to get it started
They actually had a little wooden mallet kept next to the PC which had the case open.
@Squankum, that formerly orange dead blow hammer is an accessory for the Fimco indexing valve in the sprinkler system. When the spool in the valve hangs up and refuses to move to the next section, a light, non-destructive tap on the side of the valve eventually gets it to index. Another accessory on the indexing valve is an indicator stalk that replaces the top cap on the valve. I delicately painted the arrow on it white so I can see which section is receiving water. Pressing the indicator down makes the spool index to the next section, making the dead blow hammer less needed. One of the features of the new box and cover is the indicator stalk (on the right) is always available, regardless of what's living in the box below.
Before I could button up the pet box, I had to fix a leak in the new solenoid valve. In the process of cutting slots and holes in the box, the blade of the multi-tool hit the 1.5" cap on the side of the valve. Having held onto the old valve, some more pipe sealer on the old cap and it's a leak-free valve (at least on the supply side).
@Squankum, the year we replaced our '68 GTO it had an intermittent starting problem that was probably in the ignition key circuit. Because it had no A/C I didn't want to dig into the problem when we were shopping for something with A/C. When the Goat was due for its annual inspection, everything went great until I got to the last station, where they put the car up on a ramp lift. Had to shut the car off and when it came down, I got in to start the car and leave. It started, I put it in gear and it stalled. In a rush to leave, I got out of the car with my trusty spot welded screwdriver and shoved it up into the starter area, shorting the solenoid and bringing the car back to life. In my haste, I had forgotten to put the car back in Park so it did its best to run over my head. The rear tire extracted a few hairs from my head and the GTO left the building, crossed a busy street and stopped when it hit a small tree in the golf course across from the testing station. The shock of hitting the tree (and slightly denting the front pan under the Endura bumper) fixed the starting problem and I got rid of the gas guzzler GTO for $300 (it was 1977) and replaced it with a gas guzzler '71 Lincoln Town Car.
Gerry, we only used that device a couple of times to recover key information on JC Penney's storewide inventory runs.
Those IBM tape drives were very entertaining. When one of the operators wanted a break, they would tell us tape drive # something was giving failure messages. We would roll that drive into the CE (Customer Engineer) repair room, open the covers, do nothing and roll the drive back out onto the floor. We knew some operators used that trick to get an extra smoke break and played along.
Roger, I forgot about that movie. I recall having a hard time watching "The Andy Griffith Show" when it came out because his character in "No Time for Sergeants" was so over-the-top it was hard to see him as a serious one.
@Squankum, have you spoken to any school age children about books? I know they can't read or write cursive but do they know how a book works?ROGER WILCO!
Sorry if I'm repeating myself, but before the movie based on the play, was the play based on the book, which is good, too!
No Time For Sergeants|eBook
A humorous account of a backward hillbilly and of his experiences in the U.S. Army.
gilr
Well-known member
I think their problem was they never learned what IBM stood for; i.e. International Business MACHINES!!! Seems they are more interested in selling software/services than machines.... But what do I know!
That's why those of us in the System38/AS400 (now, IBM i) community always felt somewhat unloved/neglected. It was such a radical change (improvement) from the mainframe world and you didn't need a cadre of systems programmers to keep it running. It was tough for IBM to sell services to those customers.
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There was another role he did a fantastic job with in the late 50's -- and I don't think we ever saw Andy Griffith malevolent like this in anything else he ever did!
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I'll hold up an analog clock and tell them to come talk to me about books at half past three!
I'm pretty sure there's a genetic defect in me that has been passed down. It's the stupid gene that we all know can't be fixed. Mine came to the surface tens of thousands of times growing up and culminating in my attempt to board a moving train. It's amazing that the blows that fractured my skull in seven places didn't fix it.
Our second grandson, his wife and three children stopped by on Thanksgiving. Liane and I were preparing our Thanksgiving feast for two; a spatchcocked chicken, small pouch of instant potato, green beans and a homemade banana cream pie from our granddaughter in law. They are renting a duplex near us that has a swimming pool so on the chilly 70-something degree day I was surprised Joseph, our 7-year old great grandson wanted to go swimming in our pool. The family was heading for Miami to celebrate the holiday with friends so there was no in-the-pool time but a super game of 'keep the pool cleaner from escaping' entertained him (the cleaner climbs the pool sides until it gets to the tile at the top, ***** air and falls back into the pool).
Behind my back, our 2-year old great granddaughter, Liane Roberta, was gathered pea gravel from the dog run next to the pool enclosure.
She proceeded to throw the gravel in the pool and was given a sharp reprimand of "don't do that" and she gave us the "I didn't do it" look while hiding her dirty and probably urine dampened hands behind her back. Joseph, not wanting to miss out on a reprimand, gathered a much larger handful of gravel and was about to throw it in the pool like his little sister. His father gave him a serious lecture on being three-point-five times older than his sister and should know better so he dropped the gravel on the Travertine patio floor. A suggestion was made to pick up the gravel and put it back where he found it.
Pea gravel is pretty small, about a quarter inch in size so I expected the pool cleaner to **** up the gravel. I was therefore a tiny bit surprised the next day when the pool cleaner lay dead next to several pieces of gravel it had not ingested.
Shut off the pool filter and pulled the pool cleaner out. Shook it, hoping to hear a rattle. No rattle so I brought it to thetrauma unit garage workbench and began disassembling it. Lots of hidden Phillips button head screws but eventually I had enough of the thing taken apart for a piece of gravel to fall out of it's lodging. Apparently it is the exact size needed to jam the pool cleaner mechanism.
This is my first time taking this thing apart so I was pleased it worked as before when I finished putting it back together and I had zero leftover parts or hardware.
The shock of going into that cold water might do me in so I swept the remaining gravel onto the lowest step of the pool stairs. Neither brush nor net would coax the little stones to the next higher step.
One of my tiny brain cells remembered I own two long push button claws so I went to the garage and retrieved the longer one from my Wall Control peg board. It was the perfect length to reach the first step while lying on the patio and only getting my arm and t-shirt sleeve wet.
With the pool cleared, I headed to the pool pump intake basket and tossed the pea gravel the pool cleaner successfully sucked up without jamming.
It appears the pool cleaner sucked up a few leaves and a [generic] Band-Aid as well as a bunch of gravel. Close everything up, connect the pool cleaner head to its hose, drop it in the pool and turn on the power to the pump. It's Alive!
As much as I love our offspring, their offspring and the generations they are raising, I am truly joyful they have never ask us to watch any of them. I feel great joy spending time with them but know we are incapable of handling them without CPS (Child Protective Services) or a coroner involved because of our ancient child rearing practices.
Our second grandson, his wife and three children stopped by on Thanksgiving. Liane and I were preparing our Thanksgiving feast for two; a spatchcocked chicken, small pouch of instant potato, green beans and a homemade banana cream pie from our granddaughter in law. They are renting a duplex near us that has a swimming pool so on the chilly 70-something degree day I was surprised Joseph, our 7-year old great grandson wanted to go swimming in our pool. The family was heading for Miami to celebrate the holiday with friends so there was no in-the-pool time but a super game of 'keep the pool cleaner from escaping' entertained him (the cleaner climbs the pool sides until it gets to the tile at the top, ***** air and falls back into the pool).
Behind my back, our 2-year old great granddaughter, Liane Roberta, was gathered pea gravel from the dog run next to the pool enclosure.
She proceeded to throw the gravel in the pool and was given a sharp reprimand of "don't do that" and she gave us the "I didn't do it" look while hiding her dirty and probably urine dampened hands behind her back. Joseph, not wanting to miss out on a reprimand, gathered a much larger handful of gravel and was about to throw it in the pool like his little sister. His father gave him a serious lecture on being three-point-five times older than his sister and should know better so he dropped the gravel on the Travertine patio floor. A suggestion was made to pick up the gravel and put it back where he found it.
Pea gravel is pretty small, about a quarter inch in size so I expected the pool cleaner to **** up the gravel. I was therefore a tiny bit surprised the next day when the pool cleaner lay dead next to several pieces of gravel it had not ingested.
Shut off the pool filter and pulled the pool cleaner out. Shook it, hoping to hear a rattle. No rattle so I brought it to the
This is my first time taking this thing apart so I was pleased it worked as before when I finished putting it back together and I had zero leftover parts or hardware.
The shock of going into that cold water might do me in so I swept the remaining gravel onto the lowest step of the pool stairs. Neither brush nor net would coax the little stones to the next higher step.
One of my tiny brain cells remembered I own two long push button claws so I went to the garage and retrieved the longer one from my Wall Control peg board. It was the perfect length to reach the first step while lying on the patio and only getting my arm and t-shirt sleeve wet.
With the pool cleared, I headed to the pool pump intake basket and tossed the pea gravel the pool cleaner successfully sucked up without jamming.
It appears the pool cleaner sucked up a few leaves and a [generic] Band-Aid as well as a bunch of gravel. Close everything up, connect the pool cleaner head to its hose, drop it in the pool and turn on the power to the pump. It's Alive!
As much as I love our offspring, their offspring and the generations they are raising, I am truly joyful they have never ask us to watch any of them. I feel great joy spending time with them but know we are incapable of handling them without CPS (Child Protective Services) or a coroner involved because of our ancient child rearing practices.
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Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Never a dull moment at the BH Auto Emporium!
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
My thoughts exactly.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
My kid did something like that, and I walked over and threw the kid in the pool to go fetch what he threw in. Considering the water was about 40 degrees at the time, it was educational.
@Squankum, that's the sound. I never get it on the first tap but that's probably because I don't want to have to replace the indexing valve. It requires lining up six 1.5" pipes with PVC glue on each of them and getting all six seated at the same time. I went out of my way to buy a slow setting glue last time. Slow is a relative term: "Initial Set (Handling): About 10-30 seconds to hold firmly, but you get 2-10+ minutes for adjustments, depending on the specific slow-set product."
Gil, IBM was, until recently, run by sales people, not engineers or computer scientists. They could sell a bald woman a permanent wave but had no clue what they were selling.
Roger, if you felt unloved/neglected, you should have been in the Series/1 world. When I was promoted to middle management, two of my four departments were red headed step children. One was responsible for the Series/1 EDX (Event Driven Executive) operating system and when the manager of that group asked if they could completely rewrite the manuals to be Task Oriented instead of Explanatory, I said yes as long as they could do a parallel update of the original set of manuals. They basically doubled their workload with a couple of new hires I snuck in. Near the end of the project I was handed the Installation manual and a stack of floppy disks. Beta tester IBM (Idiot Bob Manager) had the system up and running in about 10 minutes, a task that normally took an hour with the old manuals. I managed to get the department the first 'group award' in Division history. The Task Oriented manuals helped customer satisfaction with EDX go from 60% favorable to 91% favorable.
Another of my departments was assigned the Series/1 "IBM Audio Distribution System." It was a company answering and audio message system that was stupid complicated. The poor department's job was to make it seem easy so they wrote the usual big fat System Administrator's manual, which was to be Task Oriented, like EDX. To make it easier to use, the department designed a flip folder with everything a user needed to use the system. The department also provided telephone templates to go over the standard AT&T desk phone. Unlike individual answering machines, users could broadcast messages to departments or larger groups. They also made a plastic business card cheat sheet that could be carried in a pocket, wallet or purse. As the lead idiot, I helped make arrangements for a videotape (this was 1981) showing how it was easy and fun(?) to use. We hired a script writer/director and a few actors. Spent a lot of time making the video with a professional crew and when we were done, sent the tape to the sales team. They hated it and saw no way to fix it because it made executives in the video look clueless and the secretary smart and patient. Video was an abject failure but so was the product because executives they tried to sell it to were exactly like the characters in our video. Couldn't be bothered to learn the system or even try to use its simplest features. I never stopped trying innovative things and when IBM stopped catering multi-department meetings with food, I bought my own bagels, donuts, cream cheese and fixin's and gave my teams a reason to show up. Besides the HR complaints that I was violating some rule that didn't exist, I pissed off all the managers who couldn't bring themselves to cough up a few bucks for their monthly meetings. I was exiled to the PC software manual develpment organization with five departments suffering food poisoning and abuse.
@Squankum, 90% of the weird stories in the news begin with "In Florida today..." or "Florida Man...."
...and time clocks (wall and timecard stampers), commercial scales and punch card tabulaors.It was all downhill once they stopped making cheese cutters!
Sheesh, not your yokel Andy for sure.
Priceless.
Dan, you ain't kidding.Never a dull moment at the BH Auto Emporium!
Fred, we were the same when we lived in upstate New York. We didn't care about water temperature, going in the Hudson for our first water skiing on Easter weekend. One year there was still some ice along the shore. The above ground pool was opened by Memorial Day weekend and we were swimming in who knows what temperature water.
When we moved to Florida in November 1975, we swam in the in-ground pool every day until 11 months later. Suddenly we were acclimated to 80°+ water and stopped using the pool until Memorial Day. Because our pool is inside a screened enclosure it never gets as hot as the pools that are out in the open. An 85°F pool feels refreshing when it's 93°F in the shade.
Kay, it's not like I've never taken a cold shower but I have reached a point where I avoid them.
Kay, unfortunately it's my circus (but only two of the 21 are my clowns).
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@Bob Heine - It was great to read how you took care of your team. At one employer, I used to get a profit sharing bonus. They'd pay about 60% of the estimated amount in October and the rest in February after closing the books. I would take a part of that and my wife and I would put together a Christmas package for each of my employees. Tickets to a movie, dinner gift certificate, dessert gift certificate, and a few other things. Probably about $125-$150 or so worth of stuff - this was around 2002-2011. We put together a little poem to go with it as well. They always got a kick out of it and were very appreciative.
It was just a little something to give them and a significant other a nice date night. I don't know of any other manager in the company that did things like that for their teams. Sad, sad, sad. Without them, how could I be successful in my job?
It was just a little something to give them and a significant other a nice date night. I don't know of any other manager in the company that did things like that for their teams. Sad, sad, sad. Without them, how could I be successful in my job?
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
I hope I never get to the point where I don't like cold showers.
That kind of thing never stops me. You show up on my doorstep, I own you, til you get smart enough to leave. I run by the, My house, My rules, system. If you don't like em, hit the road.
I ran my herd at the office the same way, to the consternation of my peers and managers. Yet being one of my minions was considered a badge of honor, statewide. Even among contractors.
Roger, you don't realize those acts of kindness or going that extra mile for an employee or group matters. Five years after I retired from IBM I got an e-mail from someone I hired in Australia. His expertise was in video production, not technical writing. I hid a high-end video camera and editing station in a budget request and he produced a couple of very neat training videos in a matter of days. One of them, a wordless short, showed how to clear a jam and change the toner in an IBM [Lexmark] 4019 laser printer, a machine every department in the Australian Programming Center had as a network printer. He went on to produce a "Communications" video for Australian secondary school systems. Although I was only a consultant down under, he wrote that I was the best manager he ever worked for. It wasn't the only encounter, with another retired IBMer who was working at Home Depot to make ends meet, telling me he appreciated my efforts.
Kay, the water to our house comes out of the water towers in Boca Raton and it gets real close to 80° in the summer so I'm more of a wuss than you think. A life spent in the Gates of Hell waiting room [FL] means dealing with heat, not cold. To avoid bringing clothes and a body carrying a quart or so of sweat into the house in the three warm seasons, I strip to my underwear and jump in the pool. It was 69° yesterday so I barely broke a sweat.
I probably shouldn't consider it a blessing but until recently our great grandchildren have never crossed our doorstep. Our second grandson and his family of five recently moved close to us so they show up every few months. In addition to the 2- and 7-year olds, there's a 16-year old step great granddaughter who would normally be keeping an eye on the rug rats. She, Liane and her mother were inside the house (I assume they were gossiping about me or my grandson).
The department in my organization that was developing the Help engine for OS/2 included five sub-contractor programmers from India (all five had PhD's in Computer Science from Mumbai [Bombay] Indian Institute of Technology). When I invited them to join the monthly meetings (and apologized for the abundance of donuts and bagels and lack of Idli), my peers and managers said nothing -- until the annual opinion survey. WOW, I had no idea so many members of the KKK worked at IBM.
That could have made a difference in Samir's life.
Today, looking for a link for that, I found this:
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Judy turned the heat up to 67, and I almost threw up. 69 is hide in the pool weather.
Reproduction is overrated. I told my kids, Don't reproduce in my lifetime. They seem to have taken it to heart. I've got one DIL, and a deceased granddog. If the whole pack of them were to fall off the world, I'd miss the GD the most. He was a good boy.
You'd be surprised how many people are closet bigots. I remember when headed out for group lunches, one of my little Indian contractors came to me and asked if we could change it up based on percentages. I said sure. And since they were maybe 30 percent of my staff, we hit an Indian buffet every 3rd outing. Wow, the stuff you hear sitting in a restroom stall when they think they're secure. I was even approached by HR, that some of my staff approached them to report that I was biased towards those damned ethnic people, because of lunches, where I paid. I think she chewed them a new orifice, knowing her.
I can also remember some of my pink coworkers trying to get me away from those of my staff celebrating Diwali. I like a holiday as much as anyone, and if I'm invited, and I like the folks, well, tell me what to bring.
After being involved with all this, I got a calendar with ALL the holidays on it. I had it blown up to 6x12 feet by the print shop, for outside on my office wall. Best taxpayer funds I ever spent. Ya know, there's pretty much a major holiday for every day of the year. And I celebrated them all. Cthulhu, Satan, Jesus, Dwasib as lwujpatuc, you-name-it. It helped me figure out who had the bigoty gene, and thin them from the herd. We were a much happier tribe after that. And, those celebrations helped us drive out some ****** teams from our workspace. And I was able to consolidate my whole group on a single floor.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
The Rite of Spring. One of my favorites. We streaked blush and different color eyeshadow on everybody. We had half the building painted up.
To all my dear Aussie friends, I am saddened to learn that at least 11 people have been killed in a mass shooting at Bondi Beach. One of the gunmen is dead and the other was taken to the ground and disarmed by an unarmed Aussie. I lived 14 miles from Bondi Beach in 1989-91 and now live 16 miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida so these catastrophes hit home hard.
I am thinking of you all and know the shock and sadness are deep. I've spoken to my invisible friend but all I'm hearing are crickets.
I am thinking of you all and know the shock and sadness are deep. I've spoken to my invisible friend but all I'm hearing are crickets.
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patlun
Well-known member
I heard about it in the news (Swedish Radio) earlier today. It makes me so sad to hear about things like that from all over the world. In Sweden the authorities have increased the security around some objects to stop copy-cats. The craziness that makes human beings killing and injuring other human beings is something that seems to be lurking everywhere.To all my dear Aussie friends, I am saddened to learn that at least 11 people have been killed in a mass shooting at Bondi Beach. One of the gunmen is dead and the other was taken to the ground and disarmed by an unarmed Aussie. I lived 14 miles from Bondi Beach in 1989-91 and now live 16 miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida so these catastrophes hit home hard.
I am thinking of you all and know the shock and sadness are deep. I've spoken to my invisible friend but all I'm hearing are crickets.
Patrik, the biggest (by far) part of my genetic makeup is Swedish so you would think I would know about the mass shooting in Örebro in February. The ten people killed made it Sweden's worst mass shooting but apparently it was only covered in the American media by The New York Times. My grandmother grew up in Gothenburg and died in New York in 1975 at age 93. I can only imagine what her thoughts would be. My belated condolences and apologies that my invisible friend never said a word. Probably has nothing to say when it comes to mass shootings wherever they occurr.
Nolift911
Well-known member
Bob - you have been busy!! Love the updates!!
patlun
Well-known member
Well Sweden is a small place a long way from Florida. I believe your invisible friend must be thinking about more important things than mere mortals, or maybe she have retired and left us for ourselves? I am curious to see if that shooting will screw the statistics for lethal violence this year. Last year we had a total of 92 victims, which was the lowest since 2014. Normally we have about 110-120.
I can imagine what my grandmother would have said as she would say the same as my mother who is 92. She would say it is terrible and be scared as Örebro is only about 65 kilometer (about 40 miles) from her home.
Kay, we kept the house in New York at 64°F in the winter and because of my epic fail at a DIY whole house A/C system from Montgomery Ward, summers meant we kept the house the same as the outside temperature unless we were warned of a heat wave and closed the house up first thing in the morning. It sorta worked.
Bigotry doesn't surprise me. Cris-crossing the US in my youth I met kids at campgrounds who never left their state and recognizing my Nooo Yawk accent thought I was a city boy. It was amazing how fast a kid can change from a bigot to a buddy when they start talking about the things they have in common. I did meet a kid in Texas who had a cruel streak. He was carrying a really long coiled bullwhip and demonstrated its amazingly loud crack. Without a hint how to use it, he handed it to me and I proceeded to make a really long and painful welt on my arm. He laughed so hard I thought he was going to hurt himself. I gave him his bullwhip, said "Thanks" and went back to our trailer. Didn't let him see me cry.
My travels to foreign countries has revealed that the people who live there are not foreigners, they are friends you haven't yet made.
I learned something new. The third day of Diwali is for "Worshiping Goddess Lakshmi (wealth)." Before the power antenna broke in our PT Cruiser I listened to Lakshmi Singh on NPR. Had no idea she was a Goddess.
IBM was a pretty stiff necked place to work and alcohol in the workplace was cause for dismissal. When I joined the company in 1964 my manager warned me not to cash my paycheck in a bar. Talk about weird! Late in my career, a lot of my employees (myself included) were reaching their quarter century milestones. IBM had a number of engraved Quarter Century gifts we could choose and I chose a Rolex watch (IBM was their biggest customer). For the big day I asked one of my employees what he would like for a celebratory lunch with the department. He immediately said "pizza and beer" and I reminded him about the company policy. Rather than completely ignoring his request, I ordered pizza and bought a six pack of alcohol-free beer. An anonymous do-gooder turned me in to HR and expected me to be fired or at least taken out of management. Neither happened but I was told not to do it again. With a smile I asked if Root Beer was also forbidden. Smile was not returned but I resigned from management a few months later to take the Australia assignment. I received my watch and a cupcake the day before our house hunting trip. The whining about my replacement could be heard half way around the world.
One of the hardest jobs at IBM was firing someone, at least in the early years of my management career (1977-1989). The immediate manager had to bend over backwards to help the employee improve their performance and even then, had to bend over several more times. When nothing worked, the employee exercised their right to speak to upper management, a process known as the "Open Door Policy." Kind of a trial without a jury and often leading to a transfer to another department where their incompetence would infect another group of people.
Roger, that's wonderful. I hope the celebration didn't involve tossing handfuls of colored powder in the air. Janitors hate that.
Damn Kay, I would have loved it there....
Patrik, my rare visits to social media sites creep me out and it feels like it might be part of the problem. I spend most of my time hiding here in the sane asylum known as the Garage Journal.
Jeff, look who's talking. Your piece of paradise isn't even close to your current home. And boy is it turning out great.
Thanks for taking the time to post and your kind comments.
Patrik, the closer to home these things happen, the bigger the impact. When the Parkland school shooting happened, all of the students in Boca Raton high school walked out and marched to city hall for a peaceful protest. The line of students passed our house going and returning for almost two hours.
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I tried my best but it didn't go quite as expected. Semi-fail one was me forgetting we gave away the last of our beach chairs. They were nice, with a fold out tray and drink holder but I probably couldn't have gotten out of it without tipping over. Settled for a shower chair that has seen better days but I know I can get out of it without doing any acrobatics.
Made it out there shortly after noon but by 1:00 I was suffering hypothermia from the wind and cold (my weather station showed 70°F).
Went inside to get a jacket and I heard the mail truck. Retrieved my mail, a USPS box with a label that indicated something valuable, like a T-bone steak, was inside. Put my chair away and went inside. Carefully unwrapped my parcel after throwing out an AARP card begging for money, another letter from the Neptune Society and a notice there are people willing to pay cash for my house. Wish I had an incinerator but that mail is instead headed a Florida Trash Mountain to slowly rot.
Like the Grand Canyon, photos don't do justice to Kay's masterpiece. She included a neat stand for the ornament and I made a hanger out of a 1/16" 308L TIG rod so I have multiple display options.
It looks OK on the tree but I'm worried it will get knocked off.
The LIRR livery color is more orange than the first photo shows. The tree pose is a better representation. I decided to rest before making the final location decision so I laid down with the train on top of me and was inspired. This ornament is nowhere near as heavy as the real thing and I apologize for my piss-poor selfie skills (phone was an epic fail so the Canon came to the rescue).
Yes, I'm sweaty -- the garage is its usual 82°F from the electric water heater, freezer and refrigerator. I decided the Christmas-ish cabinet was a good location and Kay's stand is perfect.
I am truly delighted and grateful to our Queen of the Garage Journal. I hope Kay knows how much I appreciate this gesture.
Made it out there shortly after noon but by 1:00 I was suffering hypothermia from the wind and cold (my weather station showed 70°F).
Went inside to get a jacket and I heard the mail truck. Retrieved my mail, a USPS box with a label that indicated something valuable, like a T-bone steak, was inside. Put my chair away and went inside. Carefully unwrapped my parcel after throwing out an AARP card begging for money, another letter from the Neptune Society and a notice there are people willing to pay cash for my house. Wish I had an incinerator but that mail is instead headed a Florida Trash Mountain to slowly rot.
Like the Grand Canyon, photos don't do justice to Kay's masterpiece. She included a neat stand for the ornament and I made a hanger out of a 1/16" 308L TIG rod so I have multiple display options.
It looks OK on the tree but I'm worried it will get knocked off.
The LIRR livery color is more orange than the first photo shows. The tree pose is a better representation. I decided to rest before making the final location decision so I laid down with the train on top of me and was inspired. This ornament is nowhere near as heavy as the real thing and I apologize for my piss-poor selfie skills (phone was an epic fail so the Canon came to the rescue).
Yes, I'm sweaty -- the garage is its usual 82°F from the electric water heater, freezer and refrigerator. I decided the Christmas-ish cabinet was a good location and Kay's stand is perfect.
I am truly delighted and grateful to our Queen of the Garage Journal. I hope Kay knows how much I appreciate this gesture.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
I'm happy that you're happy. Enjoy your holidays.
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Bob, the LIRR re-enactment was an especially poignant moment. Glad you survived twice.
Inspired by your waggishness, I'm going to make some hot cocoa get into my footed pajamas, grab my favorite blanket, a box of tissues and binge-watch Hallmark Christmas movies.
Or not....
Inspired by your waggishness, I'm going to make some hot cocoa get into my footed pajamas, grab my favorite blanket, a box of tissues and binge-watch Hallmark Christmas movies.
Or not....
scooterbum46
Well-known member
Thinking over events in my life that might merit some type of memoria, the croquet mallet to the head when I was seven comes in first place, AFAIC.
It wasn't a tap, my cousin was using a modified golf club swing when I dove for my beloved tennis ball. My mother heard it in the house, 20 yards away, said it sounded like a baby seal type club thawack hitting a watermelon. (or something close to that description). I soaked a terrycloth towel in blood on the way to the ER; also my deep love of the 53-56 F100 ford came from that trip - my dad driving, my mom holding me while I continued to protest my cousin's innocence, which she wasn't having any of.
There might be other events, none of which left physical scars.
It wasn't a tap, my cousin was using a modified golf club swing when I dove for my beloved tennis ball. My mother heard it in the house, 20 yards away, said it sounded like a baby seal type club thawack hitting a watermelon. (or something close to that description). I soaked a terrycloth towel in blood on the way to the ER; also my deep love of the 53-56 F100 ford came from that trip - my dad driving, my mom holding me while I continued to protest my cousin's innocence, which she wasn't having any of.
There might be other events, none of which left physical scars.
Gerry, I had a slightly less dramatic episode that almost ended my relationship with Liane when I was 15. I gave her my phone number when we were at a Young Peoples Fellowship meeting together at our church. She called me on Monday evening and invited me to a party the following Saturday. Saturday afternoon I was driving Wiffle golf balls in our back yard. Christopher, my 12-year-old next door neighbor asked to try driving a couple of balls. I stood behind him and showed him how to interlock his fingers on the club and as I began saying "Let me get out of your..." he took a full swing and the club hit me in my upper jaw. Went straight to the dentist, who had to pull what was left of one of my molars. Missed the party Liane had arranged to meet a bunch of her friends. She was really pissed when we crossed paths at church the next morning, thinking I just stood her up for no reason. Had to show her the hole in my jaw and she was impressed by my willingness to have a tooth pulled to get out of going to the party.
I live in a city of about 250,000 here in the U.S. A few years ago, the death toll (all weapons) was 47. Back when the city was half this size, it was more like 20-22/yr.
Bob, here's a song from a band that is a descendant of one of my favorite "seals barking over jackhammers" bands, but it's pleasant. Guy can't sing, but it's pleasant!
(Video is just junk some guy made up, only version of this song I could find on YouTube right now, so this link is purely for audio purposes, and please, no wagering.)
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Bob, you never cease to amaze me... (Ohoh, what did Bob do now?). You said something that really struck me as a nice thing to say. Since I'm so computer illiterate on Android side of things, I couldn't "copy and paste" just part of your writings... To comment on. So, I took it in my best interest to write your thoughts down, in long hand, in cursive, so I could just type it again... If you don't believe me, here it is...
