Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

[Bob Heine]

I guess it's all what you're used to. I can't imagine not having the seasons. This is the first year in a long time where our winter resembles anything normal. When you get in a groove, it's actually easier to stay in it.

Kirk, living in Australia taught me you can get used to anything if you choose to. Longest day of the year down under is four days before Christmas. Sunset on New Year's eve is at 8:09PM. On the flip side, the coldest it got in 1990 was 41°F (5°C) on June 30. Our place had no central heat (or A/C) even though it was brand new. Used space heaters in the bedrooms on those few really cold nights.

I fully understand the job choosing the location. That's exactly how I ended up here in St Pete. But for many reasons I decided to stay, mainly friends and activities, but my current (retirement) work is also a help. We have it all from my perspective. Culture, health care, boats, and most of the year, climate. And all within a couple of miles from my home. Of course Florida also has trouble makers like Craig and Shorty, but I can more or less control their influence.

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Andrew, sometimes I wish Craig and Shorty lived closer. They'd scare off a lot of snowbirds and potential nesters.

all our parents are alive still (mine 88 and hers are 84) and we live right in the middle sort of (20 minutes from mine and 45 from hers) so moving now is a bit tough even though i'd really like to get a big shop and move out of the city.

there needs to be a few things once we do move like you mentioned. health facilities are a must since we are now both 65 even though we don't go to the doctors much we do know the value of a good one when we need one.

Trader joes (our main store for groceries)

AND GOOD NEIGHBORS would be a Big plus cause I hear of a lot of drama involved if you have some bad ones.

it's pouring rain at the moment so the foot of snow is going quick, but i do feel sorry for those living near the rivers now.

take care and keep up the good work at Bob's garage (and shed, ...)

Drives, we're on the other side of your issue. Both our children, our nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren are within 50 miles of us and moving closer would probably alienate them more than they are already. They have Trader Joe's where they live but ours is 1.4 miles away from our house (a 4-minute drive when traffic is heavy or a half-hour walk).

I went a different route I chose where I wanted to work. Had originally taken NYC cop test and was headed there. Then one day in a business management class in 1978 a guy said to me ever work on a race car? Two weeks later I was at my first pro race in Quebec City it was all downhill from there. decided that policing with different levels of dispensing justice was not as much fun as racing where the laws of physics reign equally for everybody.
Then my aunt was traveling internationally for business and education at times gone for months I was watching house and running race shops in area.
In 84 was assistant track manager at Bridgehampton I lived at the track, got to drive the track any time of day. Did a drunk driving test one night with a friend. Had many rides in races cars with famous people.
I stayed at more motels than I can remember slept at many tracks from camping to RV.
I had a habit of getting a racing client in March when season ended take a mechanical job that you would learn from bring current set of skills and look to learn. Then when it got warm again find a race program.
I always had flexibility to do something interesting than sell my soul to a large corporation.
In high school went to referee's camp became certified worked ten games minimum of 25 a game that was 20 hours I made 250+ every week. My dad worked in a union told me it was the way to go with life. He worked 40 plus ten hours overtime and took home a little more than 200 a week. It was a sore point between us.

I have always had fun and been on the edge. We are racing in Detroit also in 84 running a Super-Vee in the support race for Formula One race. Staying in the Detroit Athletic Club getting back at Ten pm I was told the only place to eat was Greek Town. Got directions and walked there on the way back I was stopped by the police and asked if I knew where I was. So I told him what I was doing. He tells me this is a very dangerous area, I said I am from NY.
Next night I do the same thing, different cop pulls up and asks me if I am the crazy New Yorker?

Michael, eleven months after I sold my soul to IBM they paid a big chunk of money for my eleven day hospital stay and surgeries. Then they re-trained me for a job that didn't require two hands and moved us to a new location including picking up closing costs for our first house (I was 21). After sending me all over on business trips, including an all-expenses paid two year stint in Sydney, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They never gave my soul back but when I was 49 they gave me a year's salary to quit working for them (and hired me back as a consultant for a year) and at 50 they gave me the full pension I would have received at 65 and lifetime medical benefits. I've been collecting my pension from IBM for almost 27 years so my soul wasn't that cheap.

Bob, isn't it grand to have this weather, and to read about the majority of the country freezing their butts-off? Of course, if the power is out, and there are hardships suffered, I sympathize with those people, having grown-up in the Snow Belt, but as a young adult, having made the decision to migrate to the S.E. coastal FL area. I like the access to the major airports, we've never used PBI, but choose between MIA and FLL (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale) depending upon fares, and we Uber to the airport. The last time I tried using a Yellow Cab, I waited over 40 minutes, I was in-danger of missing my flight, and I called another cab co, and never have used YC since.

One advantage of being in a higher-population area is access to good healthcare, and with my background in fire-rescue (EMS) I have lots of healthcare pros to-whom I can turn for advice. My wife, being Spanish-speaking, has surprised me with her acuity at accessing the healthcare system in a moment of need, though she was an electrical engineer by training/work. She always tells me, "I deal in facts," and her process-oriented way of thinking has helped us to be financially secure, and to be able to deal with health issues as we age (we are both retired).

I laughed at your remark about your in-laws "arguing loud-enough to be heard onshore as they swim the Gulfstream" to paraphrase, reading between the lines, I suspect it wasn't pleasant to be around them.

bj383ss's comment on a Samsung Galaxy S7 barely being of-use, well, I still have my venerable S7 edge as a daily-use phone, bought new. About a year and a half ago, I ordered a new screen, battery, headphone female plug, back, and camera and lens case cover. I replaced it all myself, and while I wouldn't want to try going swimming with it, I haven't had any issues functionally after the repairs. I dropped it and cracked the screen, despite it being in an OtterBox, and I'd noticed that the battery was not as-lasting as it had been, so I decided to spent the $ on the OEM parts, and tackle the work of replacing it. I assumed that if it "didn't take," I wasn't out a lot of $, and if it did restore its utility/functionality, I'd use it until it died or the network forced a change (5G?). I use it all the time to make shopping lists of things to-buy for projects, and taking a pic or two of something I need to buy, before I visit the Ace Hardware is common.

We have three houses for which I need to buy air handler and returns filters for, and opening the phone to see what sizes I need, while standing in the middle of the Home Depot wall of air filters is helpful in preventing purchasing mistakes. On occasion I'll buy a slightly-different size because they don't have the exact size I need. I cut it up to shorten/narrow it an inch, say, to make it fit. It's a good excuse to break-out the hot glue gun. I'm too-tacano (cheap) to buy those expensive $20 filters, and I try to replace 'em after the first of the month. The bills get-paid, the filter changes are made.

I recently spent a lot of time & effort clearing-out a house and I found a lot of things I'd lost-track of. One of those was my passport, which I'd renewed about a year ago. I also located a couple of interior trim parts for our S2000 which helped restore the good looks as I cruised up the I-95 express lanes to Hollywood yesterday. On the way back to Miami, in the afternoon before the evening rush hour, there was a totally-blocked express lanes accident, and it appears the accident was a bad one, as it made the evening news.

I am always amazed at the grand prix on the I-95 corridor in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. If you drive the speed limit, people pass you on both sides. Regardless of how-fast you think you're going, someone will always want to pass you. Often as-not, it is a lifted 4x4 or a $$$ SUV on thick gnarled rubber, being driven by a tailgating speeder who never seem to bother with turnsignals, apparently use of them is a sign of low testosterone. If I can, I pull to the right, but if you're in the I-95 express lanes in the 1-lane area, there is nowhere to pull-right. Those are the times I pray, as those drivers are more aggressive than a #45 supporter looking for Pence in the Capitol.

I've been to Detroit for the Grand Prix multiple times, back in the '80's/'90's, and my friend who's retired from GM at the Warren MI Tech Center and I would attend, and swap stories about the drivers we had heard.

Walking around parts of Detroit there are areas you don't want to-be. https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1967-detroit-riots I was attending college in MI in the '60's, and I took a trip to Detroit with a friend from campus, and as we got close to his parents' apartment, he told me this was the area where the riots were, several years before, and that if I wasn't with him, it would be very-foolish for me to be there, alone. Apparently different demographics.

Did you have a tough time getting enough straight boards for the workbench top? Are you using white pine? In my experience, Southern yellow pine is straighter, and stays more-stable in-use. Are you using biscuits with the 2X side, or the 4X side flat? I'd assume the 4X side flat. Are you gonna cover the wood with a piece of metal? That makes for an easy clean-up.

Philip, I never gloat about our weather because of Karma. The cold and snow might seem like a good deal when we are in our third week of no power with Africa-hot weather and piles of debris to clean up.

Makes sense you wouldn't use Palm Beach International to travel, considering how close you are to Ft. Lauderdale International. When I commuted to DC years ago it was a financial windfall for me. AOL paid me a premium to take care of my own expenses so I took advantage of $69 one-way tickets from FLL to IAD (Dulles International) and a return one-way to PBI for $69. Round trip to either Florida airport was around $300. The limo service I used charged the same $25 to get me to or from either airport.

If I used my Samsung it might get broken but it spends most of its time in the rack with the charge cable connected. Sometimes I take it with me to doctor's offices so I can read the paper.

I spend 90% of my drive time in Florida in the right lane because it ends up being the fastest lane. Seems like a lot of blue-haired people like the edge of the road closest to the driver's window visible because they can't see over the steering wheel. They feel safe there and assume no one ahead of them is doing 45. The few times I leave the right lane is to pass or avoid a crowded exit ramp.


I visited the Detroit area in the early '80s to recruit at the University of Michigan - Dearborn. Lived in Harlem for a summer and spent some late nights walking some sketchy streets in Chicago and DC. Probably safe because my hook was easily mistaken for something deadlier.

You have a choice of straight and damaged or warped and unmarked lumber these days. I would have chosen yellow pine but there was none at Lowe's. The white pine I chose was straight and I'll use it ugly side down. The bench itself is a place to mount things so it won't have a metal cover but I did use biscuits and gravy (err, glue) on the 2x10 edges. I'll post some project photos soon.

Feel bad for the people who aren't used to the cold, and are getting slapped by it. For us older farts who grew up in and love the north, this is just a return to normal, a normal we've really missed. Good to see the fluffy white stuff. Now the southern folks like Texas, we all need to pray for them. Now you'll have to excuse me. I'm off to plow my +6" of dandruff.

Kirk, you are absolutely right. I should mention that I am genetically a cold-loving Scandinavian but my wife is genetically an English/French/North Africa person so in weather below 80°F she is wearing two sweaters. I'm kinda stuck indoors today because it was 82°F with 75% humidity today. I wear long pants and pocket t-shirts regardless of the temperature (I don't wear shoes until it gets below freezing or I have to go to a stupid place that requires shoes).

Bob, the comment about your gulf stream inlaws made me snort so loud Laura thought I had fallen asleep and was snoring. When I read the whole thing to her she made a similar sound.

I always intended to leave NJ but never intended to move to Florida. Having lived here in north Florida for 3 years I couldn't be happier.

Mouse town is an hour and a half away and we can fly just about anywhere from there.

Mac, as much as they smoked and drank, I think the fighting kept them alive. I can't imagine they quit any of it just because they stopped breathing.

I know Florida isn't for everyone but it has enough going for it for me. Owning 10-, 17-, 34- and 49-year old cars without a spec of rust on any of them is almost enough by itself. The frame on the '72 Corvette has been exposed bare steel for more than a decade and it doesn't have surface rust. Of course, leaving bare steel outside with no A/C doesn't count. That's just negligence.

 

[shortykorte]

Bob, if my house isn’t completed by next week, hope you have my room ready. I’ll be bringing a lot of cold weather just to irritate the snowbirds also.


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[shortykorte]

.....and some snow

 

[pi_guy]

Michael, eleven months after I sold my soul to IBM they paid a big chunk of money for my eleven day hospital stay and surgeries. Then they re-trained me for a job that didn't require two hands and moved us to a new location including picking up closing costs for our first house (I was 21). After sending me all over on business trips, including an all-expenses paid two year stint in Sydney, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They never gave my soul back but when I was 49 they gave me a year's salary to quit working for them (and hired me back as a consultant for a year) and at 50 they gave me the full pension I would have received at 65 and lifetime medical benefits. I've been collecting my pension from IBM for almost 27 years so my soul wasn't that cheap.
requires shoes).

Would say you got a good deal. When I started the trend was starting to move away from keeping people long term. More of a use them abuse them and then toss them.

My dad got the shaft several times from union games. My aunt's closest friend 50 years of head of the Honors dept at CW Toast was retiring and the normal process was to give them a office until they no longer used it. Nope they banned her from campus they suspended a maintenance guy for bringing her stuff to her.

So the days of employer - employee relationships are ****. The rink I work at has been following the rules only when it does not effect income. So I have to be on the ball and don't work when they rent the ice for a party, I only do hockey charters or team practices.

They blew me a lot of sh*t for not making people wear masks, I complained that during younger house league games the place is packed can't keep a two foot distance. I complained about the number of people, I was told just enforce the masks.
I said pointless I tell someone to put on mask and I get a dozen reasons or they pull their shirt over the mouth. Management has no response, so I have found a quiet place to hide by the Zamboni.

I have found being a consultant or self employed saved me from a lot of BS, plus I get bored doing the same thing. Been with so many different companies it was a great education.

When doing field service in the city (NY) I had to service the ******* offices on fifth avenue. So here goes a red blooded American male heading into ******* this is going to be good. Well the best way to describe the office was an early location of GLBT community center. That was an education.

Snow is falling-- joys of shoveling.

My new boat just got to Westhampton going to see it on Tuesday

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, if my house isn’t completed by next week, hope you have my room ready. I’ll be bringing a lot of cold weather just to irritate the snowbirds also.

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

.....and some snow

Shorty, I'm sure the house will be ready by next week. They put the flat roof sheathing on the trusses and some concrete troughs so it should be fairly dry. I really like the open plan without those interior walls and exterior windows.

Would say you got a good deal. When I started the trend was starting to move away from keeping people long term. More of a use them abuse them and then toss them.

My dad got the shaft several times from union games. My aunt's closest friend 50 years of head of the Honors dept at CW Toast was retiring and the normal process was to give them a office until they no longer used it. Nope they banned her from campus they suspended a maintenance guy for bringing her stuff to her.

So the days of employer - employee relationships are ****. The rink I work at has been following the rules only when it does not effect income. So I have to be on the ball and don't work when they rent the ice for a party, I only do hockey charters or team practices.

They blew me a lot of sh*t for not making people wear masks, I complained that during younger house league games the place is packed can't keep a two foot distance. I complained about the number of people, I was told just enforce the masks.
I said pointless I tell someone to put on mask and I get a dozen reasons or they pull their shirt over the mouth. Management has no response, so I have found a quiet place to hide by the Zamboni.

I have found being a consultant or self employed saved me from a lot of BS, plus I get bored doing the same thing. Been with so many different companies it was a great education.

When doing field service in the city (NY) I had to service the ******* offices on fifth avenue. So here goes a red blooded American male heading into ******* this is going to be good. Well the best way to describe the office was an early location of GLBT community center. That was an education.

Snow is falling-- joys of shoveling.

My new boat just got to Westhampton going to see it on Tuesday

Michael, at the end of my career with IBM everything had changed. If I had joined the company in the 1980s or '90s there's no way I would have stayed. The four years I worked as a contractor showed me the other side.

At nineteen I had a wife and two children to support so job security was important. I also liked the pay for performance rather than time in grade rewards. One of my early jobs in a discount department store turned me off on unions. The store required full-time workers to join the Ladies Garment Workers Union. It came with higher pay -- $1.325 per hour vs. $1.25. Union took $0.0725 per hour for dues. I could also get cheap dental treatment if I was willing to drive the 120 miles to their clinic in White Plains. When I got into management at IBM, they had a one-breath policy whenever an employee said the word "union" and I realized every raise and benefit bump resulted from a contract a union somewhere else fought for. IBM never matched or beat the union contracts but told us to emphasize the pension, life insurance and job security at IBM. Those are gone now. When your mission moves to Brazil you can take a one-way ticket there and work for Brazilian rates or leave IBM.

I heard a terrible sexist joke about IBM after I left: Question: "What do you call a beautiful woman at IBM?" Answer: "A Visitor."

 

[Bob Heine]

Made some progress on the workbench. I don't have a jointer so I stuck two fairly straight 2x10s together with biscuits and glue.

Not a perfect joint but some glue and sawdust will fill the gaps.

The 4x4 legs take up a lot of room so I notched for 2x4 cross pieces. I decided to use the track saw to cut the bulk of the notches at the top of the legs.

A big chisel and some careful pushing got rid of the rest of the notch. The 2x4 I used was ripped from some hard pine so it didn't have the rounded corners. It was a dirty leftover that I sanded a bit to be more presentable.

For the 2x4 shelf cross-bars I used the PT 2x4s left over from the old fence. I cut the 18" pieces from the 8-footers, avoiding nasty knots and damaged areas. Cut the shelf notches with the Milwaukee M12 circular saw after squaring the legs and aligning them with the workbench edges.

The bench will have a shelf under half the bench and open on the other half. Two pair of legs have shelf cross-bars and the third pair is open. To keep everything square I'll install some 1/4" plywood on the back and ends.

 

[harley jim]

Thought I better stop by and say hi Bob, the bench is going to be pretty stout, the only way to build one sir.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[driftpin]

'CW Toast' I assume to-be, CW Post campus of Long Island U? When the dept. head retired, they escorted them off campus, and they weren't allowed to take their possessions with them? There must be more to that, but someone in that type of job has met and knows a lot of the movers and shakers on campus, and the big benefactors. Seems like the way to go to take-home your possessions. Fifty years is a lifetime. What was it Groucho Marx said, "I'd never-want to-be a member of a club that would accept me?" I'm sure that employee changed any plans for an endowment to LIU upon their demise.

About IBM, my friend in Wellington (Palm Beach County FL) lives off Big Blue Trace. Isn't Boca Raton (also Palm Beach County FL) where they had the mini-computer development team? At the NYC 1939-'40 World's Fair, my mom worked at the IBM Pavilion speaking to the fair attendees as the women typists demonstrated the new IBM invention, the electric typewriter. She was barely into her 20's.

I'm old-enough to recall the introduction of the IBM Selectric 'magic golf-ball' typewriter. It was two months after the first American was launched into space, via the Mercury program.

A good job on the joinery for the workbench. Looks overbuilt to-me, someone's gonna be cussin' you out when they have to move that after you join the in-laws, floating on the Gulfstream Current. But it sounds like you used-up some material sitting-around (4x4's) so that's always a good move.

I usually use my Powermatic table saw to make the dadoes and rabbets, I'd like to set-up a RAS (radial arm saw) to make 'em but I'm space-constrained, though I'm working on that, unfortunately, no enlargement of the footprint is possible, so consolidation, and removal. I like the SPAX construction screws, they hold well and are easy to use. Depending upon the intended level of use/abuse, I may use carriage bolts or hex head machine screws, through-bolted with fender washers.

 

[xtremek]

That bench looks like it'll hold up a small house.

 

[pi_guy]

'CW Toast' I assume to-be, CW Post campus of Long Island U? When the dept. head retired, they escorted them off campus, and they weren't allowed to take their possessions with them? There must be more to that, but someone in that type of job has met and knows a lot of the movers and shakers on campus, and the big benefactors. Seems like the way to go to take-home your possessions. Fifty years is a lifetime. What was it Groucho Marx said, "I'd never-want to-be a member of a club that would accept me?" I'm sure that employee changed any plans for an endowment to LIU upon their demise.

My aunt was chair of chem dept until she retired but she had an office until she dropped dead and I cleaned it out. There was no problem with that about ten years ago. But shortly after that I heard changes in management style and other ****. long timers were bailing. She was into helping the students not empire building and was not one of the union ones.
It was mentioned that there was a legal solution but she could not be bothered.
She was more pissed she could not feed the cats at the barn.

 

[don long]

Bob
I see a lot of tools out while you are building that bench to hold elephants up
Nice work there friend

 

[Bob Heine]

Thought I better stop by and say hi Bob, the bench is going to be pretty stout, the only way to build one sir.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

Jim, thanks for stopping by. I don't want to build another so it had to be stout enough so it doesn't fall apart when the termites eat half way though it.

'CW Toast' I assume to-be, CW Post campus of Long Island U? When the dept. head retired, they escorted them off campus, and they weren't allowed to take their possessions with them? There must be more to that, but someone in that type of job has met and knows a lot of the movers and shakers on campus, and the big benefactors. Seems like the way to go to take-home your possessions. Fifty years is a lifetime. What was it Groucho Marx said, "I'd never-want to-be a member of a club that would accept me?" I'm sure that employee changed any plans for an endowment to LIU upon their demise.

About IBM, my friend in Wellington (Palm Beach County FL) lives off Big Blue Trace. Isn't Boca Raton (also Palm Beach County FL) where they had the mini-computer development team? At the NYC 1939-'40 World's Fair, my mom worked at the IBM Pavilion speaking to the fair attendees as the women typists demonstrated the new IBM invention, the electric typewriter. She was barely into her 20's.

I'm old-enough to recall the introduction of the IBM Selectric 'magic golf-ball' typewriter. It was two months after the first American was launched into space, via the Mercury program.

A good job on the joinery for the workbench. Looks overbuilt to-me, someone's gonna be cussin' you out when they have to move that after you join the in-laws, floating on the Gulfstream Current. But it sounds like you used-up some material sitting-around (4x4's) so that's always a good move.

I usually use my Powermatic table saw to make the dadoes and rabbets, I'd like to set-up a RAS (radial arm saw) to make 'em but I'm space-constrained, though I'm working on that, unfortunately, no enlargement of the footprint is possible, so consolidation, and removal. I like the SPAX construction screws, they hold well and are easy to use. Depending upon the intended level of use/abuse, I may use carriage bolts or hex head machine screws, through-bolted with fender washers.

Philip, I guess I lucked out with IBM. They gave me a year's salary and asked me to stay on another year so my last year at double my old salary was good but I was also able to take all my personal stuff with me. My personal stuff included a Boston electric pencil sharpener they bought me in 1973 as a response to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. That act preceded the Americans with Disabilities Act by 17 years. The plant safety manager had the maintenance department exchange the two-conductor power ford with a three-conductor power cord with a grounded plug so mine is customized.

My parents bought a used IBM electric typewriter in 1950 so my mother could type up drafts of my father's textbook as quickly as possible. By the time I started using it in high school ten years later, the 'e' and 't' were worn down to nubs with a hint of their actual shape.

I was scheduled to go to a training school for the golf ball Selectric typewriter the month after my accident. Those typewrites were used in the operator consoles of the 1400- and 7000-series mainframes and really took a beating (the system communicated with the operator through messages typed out on the Selectric).

I believe "Overbuilt Workbench" is a motto of the Garage Journal. I have a Radial Arm Saw set up in the workshop but it's more work to cut slots with it because I have to keep moving the work a fraction of an inch at a time. The battery powered saw works great and is lightweight. I used the track saw just for the practice with my newer toy. I still have bins full of blue(?) drywall screws but I am also using SPAX screws more and more.

I finished bolting a 2x2 bumper hitch to the workbench using 1/2" x 2.25" carriage bolts that I countersunk a little so they are flush with the tiop. I have three more hitches on order.

That bench looks like it'll hold up a small house.

Kirk, I'm hoping you're right about it holding up a small house. When I'm done with it I expect Liane will ask me to remind her about it next time a hurricane heads our way.

My aunt was chair of chem dept until she retired but she had an office until she dropped dead and I cleaned it out. There was no problem with that about ten years ago. But shortly after that I heard changes in management style and other ****. long timers were bailing. She was into helping the students not empire building and was not one of the union ones.
It was mentioned that there was a legal solution but she could not be bothered.
She was more pissed she could not feed the cats at the barn.

Michael, the working world has certainly changed a lot. Liane believes it all goes back to Casual Friday. When I was a small boy I remember an electrician in New York City showing up in a suit and hat.

Bob
I see a lot of tools out while you are building that bench to hold elephants up
Nice work there friend

Don, so good of you to stop by. I have always had a problem keeping my work area neat and the more tools I acquire, the bigger the problem gets.

 

[gilr]

Hi Bob,

Your Selectric story reminded me when I worked for Robertshaw Controls, we installed a building control system for the American Airlines new terminal at the DFW airport in Dallas. My cohort wanted to "test" the Selectric which we used as a terminal to the large Westinghouse Process Computer we used to operate the building equipment (HVAC, Lighting, security, etc.) and he punched in a simple program to "output" to the Selectric, but forgot to insert pauses and it hit the unit at machine speed. Well about a second into the program, the ball spun off the Selectric and rose up in the air and he had to chase it all over the room. We had a good laugh for a few minutes anyway. That Selectric lasted many years as a report printer and input device. They were well made units.

Gil

 

[Bob Heine]

I'm still working on the shop but had to take care of a watch repair today. A battery for one of my watches arrived and I wanted to see if the watch failure was due to a dead battery.

Quite a few years ago I bought a Seiko Solar watch at Costco for around $100. It has worked flawlessly and I never take it off. That has resulted in a really worn and scratched up watch that still tells time. On a whim I looked on eBay and found one for $60 that looked a whole lot better. More recently I came across another for less than $50 and snapped it up. Unfortunately the $50 Seiko was DOA. On the bright side, it is a perfect match to the scratched up one and I figured I could swap movements and have one nicer looking watch from two.

Got out my watch battery toolkit and went to work.

First surprise is the battery in this watch is held in with a tiny screw. The tiniest screwdriver in the toolkit is too big but I found a real old set in the screwdriver drawer and the 0.9mm one worked.

The screw looks pretty big in the watch but once it's out, it is easy to miss. It's sitting on Lincoln's neck. To hopefully keep the screw from falling off the freezer I put it in a plastic lid with the penny and battery.

Working at the low bench was making my back ache so I put everything on the garage freezer. I need to order a pair of those magnifying glasses with a light that I see jewelers use.

In a battle between 'best laid plans' and Mr. Murphy, Murphy won and the screw fell on the floor. This section of the garage has a very cheap carpet and I was about to walk away but decided to at least look. I put a Harbor Freight LED puck on the floor and unbelievably, there's the screw. I mean, it's right there!!!! In real life, the screw sparkled more than the photo shows.

I managed to get the screw back in the watch and the back screwed on. Now I have three working Seiko Solars and two of them look good enough to wear out in public.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Great job on saving the watches Bob!

I have a Citizen Eco-Drive (solar charged) Field Watch. I miss the Indiglo from the Timex's I generally have used in the past, but its going on 3.5-4yrs without a battery change. The oversized watch craze has never excited me, I prefer a correctly sized face that has an off colored (red/yellow) seconds hand, the date, and an easy to read face.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hi Bob,

Your Selectric story reminded me when I worked for Robertshaw Controls, we installed a building control system for the American Airlines new terminal at the DFW airport in Dallas. My cohort wanted to "test" the Selectric which we used as a terminal to the large Westinghouse Process Computer we used to operate the building equipment (HVAC, Lighting, security, etc.) and he punched in a simple program to "output" to the Selectric, but forgot to insert pauses and it hit the unit at machine speed. Well about a second into the program, the ball spun off the Selectric and rose up in the air and he had to chase it all over the room. We had a good laugh for a few minutes anyway. That Selectric lasted many years as a report printer and input device. They were well made units.

Gil

Gil, we had a console test program that exercised the Selectric as hard as possible. It was designed to type a character, rotate and tilt to the opposite side of the ball, move one character left or right and repeat. If the tilt and rotate steel tapes survived a half hour of that abuse, we didn't have to swap in the spare Selectric. Replacing the steel tilt and rotate tapes was a long and tedious process and the only reminder I get is replacing a Chrysler product evaporator core. First step is to memorize the way the interior looks before your remove everything down to the firewall.

 

[gilr]

I also had to replace the Super Cap in my wife's Citizen ECO Drive (solar) a month ago and it looks like a battery and is even smaller than the one in your watch. The original capacitor lasted 7 years, so I guess I can't complain. The watch which is a ladies watch, is about half the size of yours, and I spent about 45 minutes maneuvering the new battery and screw in place and placed it under a lamp for an hour or two and it ran fine. Snapped the case back and it has been working fine since. Old eyes need a lot of light and at least reading glasses to help see these small parts!

 

[xtremek]

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe you found that screw.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I was cleaning a pistol in the kitchen and the tiny spring for the cylinder release decided it was a good day to go flying. I listened to it ping around a bit, then silence. I figured I would never see it again. Steph came in the room, picked up a loaf of bread, and there is was.

 

[y'sguy]

As soon as I saw your Seiko watches I jumped up from my keyboard to check my top drawer stash. There it is my old reliable Seiko, put to bed from either a dead battery or a smartphone. Can you share where you got your watch repair kit. Of course I have to have one now!

My model isn't a SOLAR, but quite similar. I'l have to check out the differences. Besides the obvious gold! Seems appropriate that you would have those models.

 

[pi_guy]

Michael, the working world has certainly changed a lot. Liane believes it all goes back to Casual Friday. When I was a small boy I remember an electrician in New York City showing up in a suit and hat.

When I started in computer service & repair they wanted me to wear a suit. After ruining many suits from printer repair to wiring closets I revolted. Black jeans and polo shirts from 1998 on. When I went independent my target group was SOHO clients. Some of the home offices were in PJ's kind of shied away from cooperate clients. But I tried not to work on Fridays only for service contact clients otherwise it was a garden day, when I was in my bamboo and koi days I volunteered at NYC community gardens and a few on LI.

When I went back to racing my work week was leave on Thursday for event testing on Friday, Qualifying on Sat race on Sunday. Most of the time if I was not running a car my work ended on Saturday as there is not much to fix after race as it will head to a shop and prep and tinker with issues for next event.
Wear at the track was a race shirt over a tee shirt and black jeans.

Gee kill me now it is snowing again.

 

[Robey5]

The “Richard Kimball” reference had me laughing for 2 pages worth of posts.

Love that workbench. ...How do you like that track-saw set up? I have been seriously considering a real tracksaw, rather than the giant piece of rigid straight angle iron that I use to clamp on to wood and make cuts when needed.

 

[Bob Heine]

Great job on saving the watches Bob!

I have a Citizen Eco-Drive (solar charged) Field Watch. I miss the Indiglo from the Timex's I generally have used in the past, but its going on 3.5-4yrs without a battery change. The oversized watch craze has never excited me, I prefer a correctly sized face that has an off colored (red/yellow) seconds hand, the date, and an easy to read face.

Marc, I've had Citizen and Timex watches over the years and every once in a while I buy a watch with a button or two I have to press while wearing it. I look like a special needs person trying to press them with my nose, teeth or stump -- or on the edge of a shelf or counter. Liane loves her Timex Indiglio with the big numbers on a small face. My son-in-law has thin wrists and I was told he liked big watches. Gifted him one that looked like Big Ben with a strap. I think it had five non-functioning little dials on the face.

I also had to replace the Super Cap in my wife's Citizen ECO Drive (solar) a month ago and it looks like a battery and is even smaller than the one in your watch. The original capacitor lasted 7 years, so I guess I can't complain. The watch which is a ladies watch, is about half the size of yours, and I spent about 45 minutes maneuvering the new battery and screw in place and placed it under a lamp for an hour or two and it ran fine. Snapped the case back and it has been working fine since. Old eyes need a lot of light and at least reading glasses to help see these small parts!

Gil, my right eye is turned in so I have double vision. When a cataract developed, my eye doctor said to leave it and when it's completely clouded over I won't see double. I told him I was used to the double vision and close the eye when it confuses me. I suggested a strong reading lens implant in the eye so I can see really tiny stuff with no problem. The left eye is permanently dilated so sunlight blinds me. That light I showed a few posts back is just about perfect. Even with good light I would be hard pressed to deal with a smaller screw. Luckily all of Liane's small watches have batteries that don't have screws.

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe you found that screw.

Kirk, I was tempted to buy a lottery ticket but there was a little lightning around.

I was cleaning a pistol in the kitchen and the tiny spring for the cylinder release decided it was a good day to go flying. I listened to it ping around a bit, then silence. I figured I would never see it again. Steph came in the room, picked up a loaf of bread, and there is was.

Uncle Willie, I dropped a small brass fitting on the walk from the garage to the shop and crawled around on my hands and knees in the garden for a half hour. Gave up and ordered a new one. Three days later, on the same walk (with the new fitting) I saw the old fitting plain as day. I believe in gremlins because this happens to me way too often.

As soon as I saw your Seiko watches I jumped up from my keyboard to check my top drawer stash. There it is my old reliable Seiko, put to bed from either a dead battery or a smartphone. Can you share where you got your watch repair kit. Of course I have to have one now!

My model isn't a SOLAR, but quite similar. I'l have to check out the differences. Besides the obvious gold! Seems appropriate that you would have those models.

Y'sguy, I know how you feel but I swear I haven't left the house in a year. I didn't really mind paying a jeweler $15 to put a $3 battery in my watch but waiting drove me crazy. I am sure the watch repair kit has paid me back ten fold. I bought this one on eBay and it was less than $10 but almost $20 shipping. I see Amazon has a more complete kit for less when shipping is free.

I don't like all gold and all silver watches and leather watchbands are out so it's dual tone with metal bands for me.

When I started in computer service & repair they wanted me to wear a suit. After ruining many suits from printer repair to wiring closets I revolted. Black jeans and polo shirts from 1998 on. When I went independent my target group was SOHO clients. Some of the home offices were in PJ's kind of shied away from cooperate clients. But I tried not to work on Fridays only for service contact clients otherwise it was a garden day, when I was in my bamboo and koi days I volunteered at NYC community gardens and a few on LI.

When I went back to racing my work week was leave on Thursday for event testing on Friday, Qualifying on Sat race on Sunday. Most of the time if I was not running a car my work ended on Saturday as there is not much to fix after race as it will head to a shop and prep and tinker with issues for next event.
Wear at the track was a race shirt over a tee shirt and black jeans.

Gee kill me now it is snowing again.

Michael, I wore 3-piece suits so I wouldn't have to send my shirts to the laundry or make my wife press them. When we were developing the PC and working closely with Microsoft, the suit thing looked stupid. When I visited Microsoft the men had a clip-on tie hanging on their door just for meetings with IBMers. Casual Friday morphed into jeans and dress shirts (no ties) starting around 1984. At the development lab in Australia it was suits and ties again and my last year there (1991) the General Manager announced that all employees were to wear their suit jackets when they were walking the halls and common areas. Impressing visiting customers was really important.

My suits get worn for funerals, graduations, weddings and dinner parties(!?) My main wardrobe is jeans, Good ones for leaving the house, Grungy ones at home. Dress shirts leaving the house, pocket Ts at home.

The “Richard Kimball” reference had me laughing for 2 pages worth of posts.

Love that workbench. ...How do you like that track-saw set up? I have been seriously considering a real tracksaw, rather than the giant piece of rigid straight angle iron that I use to clamp on to wood and make cuts when needed.

Robey5, glad I gave you a laugh. I never take little things for granted and this year has reinforced that feeling. Even when we're confined it's important to enjoy the little things.

I am liking my cheap tracksaw more and more. I didn't understand the fuss until I got one. The track and matching saw are way better than my straightedge and Skii saw.

Speaking of the little things, our dog likes to keep an eye on the yard for the errant squirrel or other varmint but doesn't want to lean on the railing. She can stand like this for quite a while.

 

[pi_guy]

I have gone the jeans and tee shirt routine, at this point when we have to get properly dressed wife has ordered something current. Since I have had foot and knee issues been wearing Merrills for last 20 years. Other wise it racing boots or skates and muck boots for snow slush.

Bob has to be the least bitter about his handicap than anyone I have met. I was even beaten by a blind guy at Bodie Fest Charity Race. He was told when to turn and did not see the course, at times you get intimidated by the setting. I have met a bunch of disabled skiers some on sleds I have offered assistant with building or modifying them and my buddy wanted to get a shock on the dyno from one of them. Some of them do some amazing things but there always seems to be a tinge of bitterness.

My bet would be on Bob vs Richard Kimble and I would also bet on Bob with many non handicapped people.

 

[drivesitfar]

I just cut some 3/4 and 1.125 inch thick plywood yesterday with my little Ryobi 18v skill saw even though i've got more than a few saws and wish I'd owned a track saw if it's as nice as you mention.

even though my cuts were pretty decent by the sounds of it from you and Denwood and a few other members it's like having a very mobile table saw.

sounds like things are still moving along nicely in Bob's world so carry on.

cheers

 

[Bob Heine]

I have gone the jeans and tee shirt routine, at this point when we have to get properly dressed wife has ordered something current. Since I have had foot and knee issues been wearing Merrills for last 20 years. Other wise it racing boots or skates and muck boots for snow slush.

Bob has to be the least bitter about his handicap than anyone I have met. I was even beaten by a blind guy at Bodie Fest Charity Race. He was told when to turn and did not see the course, at times you get intimidated by the setting. I have met a bunch of disabled skiers some on sleds I have offered assistant with building or modifying them and my buddy wanted to get a shock on the dyno from one of them. Some of them do some amazing things but there always seems to be a tinge of bitterness.

My bet would be on Bob vs Richard Kimble and I would also bet on Bob with many non handicapped people.

Michael, because we live in Palm Beach County and because they are comfortable, I wear Sperry Top-Siders without socks whenever we go out. With 74% Swedish genes I can sunburn inside the house. Thus the long pants and long sleeve shirts for going out among the mad dogs. Liane is a redhead of English/Irish/Welsh/French descent and has had four melanomas removed so far. She heals pretty well but it's Texas Chainsaw Massacre time right after they remove the affected area.

I understand the bitterness some people carry, especially when it's someone else's fault. I was bitter when the lawyers told me I didn't have a case they could pursue. Then I met some people who were oblivious to their disabilities and I realized misery and happiness are choices. The blind young man living next door taught me their limits are a beyond our imagination so it's no surprise one of those rascals beat you on a ski run. The summer after I lost my arm I tried waterskiing again. The two-armed me failed over and over but the one-armed me succeeded on the first try. Had so much fun we bought a boat and I skied for 20 years. Eventually got up on a slalom ski but that tired my grip twice as fast.

I'm glad I never met Richard Kimball because he had a pretty big chip on his shoulder. Sure, blame it on the one-armed guy cause they're all nasty. My friends in the Corvette club used to tell me about the Mustang and Camaro drivers bitching about me winning with my Fiat X1/9 in the autocross ("NO WAY HE CAN SHIFT AND STEER THAT CAR WITH ONE HAND!").

I just cut some 3/4 and 1.125 inch thick plywood yesterday with my little Ryobi 18v skill saw even though i've got more than a few saws and wish I'd owned a track saw if it's as nice as you mention.




even though my cuts were pretty decent by the sounds of it from you and Denwood and a few other members it's like having a very mobile table saw.

sounds like things are still moving along nicely in Bob's world so carry on.

cheers

Drives, of all the tools I've purchased recently, the track saw is the surprising one for me. No matter how hard I try, I could never get a really straight cut with a straightedge and circular saw. Even the table saw allowed me to jiggle the plywood enough to cut less than perfect straight edges.

 

[Bob Heine]

A few small steps forward with the workbench. I put the tool chests under the bench but it a little better configuration. The set is pretty tall with the roller, mid-chest and top chest, especially with the big lid on top.

I took the lid off the top chest and set it on the shelf under the bench. Pulled the drawers out of the mid-chest (without removing the tools) and mounted the frame under the benchtop. I mounted a 2x2 scrap to the front edge of the bench. Eventually the left end and front of the bench will have the sacrificial 2x2 but for now I'm just getting stuff positioned.

I went to pick up the 5-1/2" Chinese vise and it was going to be a gamble. I might be able to hoist it to the 39" high workbench but if not, something or someone might get hurt. Disassembled the vise and lifted the first piece with no trouble.

Cleaned the mating surfaces and applied some Lithium grease and put it back together. I need some longer bolts to mount it to the bench more securely. Someday I may take it back apart, do a little grinding and give it a paint job. For now it will be the handy vise that can hold really long stuff with the door right there.

I also hung a couple of extension cord reels on the end of the bench. I can pull the cord out without twisting it.

The poor UPS guy arrived with my latest acquisition. I ordered three hitch receivers for bike racks that are supposed to U-bolt onto a 4" square tube and the box weighed a bit over 25 lbs. The U-bolts are a bonus but I really want to be able to bolt the hitch receivers to my wooden benches and I don't really need safety chain loops and other hardware on bumper mounted receivers.

 

[Bob Heine]

I thought I was done with the watches but as soon as I set them on the windowsill, I noticed one of the watch bands was broken. This time it wasn't the spring pin that attaches the band to the watch, it was one of the cotter pins that connects the links.

Found the collection of cotter pins at Amazon and paid the $9.99 so I have a lifetime-squared supply of pins (based on the number used in my first 76 years). I knew when I ordered them that there are all different length pins and cutting long ones to size seemed like way too much work. Found the perfect length cotter pin on the fifth try.

I immediately closed the box, put three rubber bands around it and slipped the box and cloth into a Ziploc bag. If that box opens and spills its contents, I'm going to vacuum it up and order another box.

 

[bolensboneyard]

Marc, I've had Citizen and Timex watches over the years and every once in a while I buy a watch with a button or two I have to press while wearing it. I look like a special needs person trying to press them with my nose, teeth or stump -- or on the edge of a shelf or counter. Liane loves her Timex Indiglio with the big numbers on a small face. My son-in-law has thin wrists and I was told he liked big watches. Gifted him one that looked like Big Ben with a strap. I think it had five non-functioning little dials on the face.

Gil, my right eye is turned in so I have double vision. When a cataract developed, my eye doctor said to leave it and when it's completely clouded over I won't see double. I told him I was used to the double vision and close the eye when it confuses me. I suggested a strong reading lens implant in the eye so I can see really tiny stuff with no problem. The left eye is permanently dilated so sunlight blinds me. That light I showed a few posts back is just about perfect. Even with good light I would be hard pressed to deal with a smaller screw. Luckily all of Liane's small watches have batteries that don't have screws.

Kirk, I was tempted to buy a lottery ticket but there was a little lightning around.

Uncle Willie, I dropped a small brass fitting on the walk from the garage to the shop and crawled around on my hands and knees in the garden for a half hour. Gave up and ordered a new one. Three days later, on the same walk (with the new fitting) I saw the old fitting plain as day. I believe in gremlins because this happens to me way too often.

Y'sguy, I know how you feel but I swear I haven't left the house in a year. I didn't really mind paying a jeweler $15 to put a $3 battery in my watch but waiting drove me crazy. I am sure the watch repair kit has paid me back ten fold. I bought this one on eBay and it was less than $10 but almost $20 shipping. I see Amazon has a more complete kit for less when shipping is free.

I don't like all gold and all silver watches and leather watchbands are out so it's dual tone with metal bands for me.


Michael, I wore 3-piece suits so I wouldn't have to send my shirts to the laundry or make my wife press them. When we were developing the PC and working closely with Microsoft, the suit thing looked stupid. When I visited Microsoft the men had a clip-on tie hanging on their door just for meetings with IBMers. Casual Friday morphed into jeans and dress shirts (no ties) starting around 1984. At the development lab in Australia it was suits and ties again and my last year there (1991) the General Manager announced that all employees were to wear their suit jackets when they were walking the halls and common areas. Impressing visiting customers was really important.

My suits get worn for funerals, graduations, weddings and dinner parties(!?) My main wardrobe is jeans, Good ones for leaving the house, Grungy ones at home. Dress shirts leaving the house, pocket Ts at home.


Robey5, glad I gave you a laugh. I never take little things for granted and this year has reinforced that feeling. Even when we're confined it's important to enjoy the little things.

I am liking my cheap tracksaw more and more. I didn't understand the fuss until I got one. The track and matching saw are way better than my straightedge and Skii saw.

Speaking of the little things, our dog likes to keep an eye on the yard for the errant squirrel or other varmint but doesn't want to lean on the railing. She can stand like this for quite a while.

Bob great picture of the pooch. Now you need to teach him to shade his eyes with one paw. More importantly, does he salute the Admiral?

 

[driftpin]

I really-wanted to like Seikos, but Seikos don't like my body chemistry. I can kill 'em in 2 years. I had one of the first Sport 150 digital watches, and that's how-long it lasted, "an anomaly," I said, and I bought a replacement. That died in a similar timeframe. They didn't get me for #3.

Through most of my Florida fire-rescue career, I wore Casio G-Shock watches, the black synthetic cover-over a stainless steel body. I had two, in-case the watchband broke. A watch was a required part of the uniform.

A couple of 'watch on fire-rescue' stories.

The chief was from Buffalo, and his driver-engineer up-there had a son who wanted to join the fire service, so he was hired through the 'old-boy' network. Bob was a smart young man, but he was the laziest employee we ever-hired. He had a side business doing bookkeeping, and he did the taxes for many of the guys, I wouldn't let him hold a roll of my pennies, though. I didn't trust him. He had no initiative, you had to tell him everything to-do.

The dep't. workload was probably 87% EMS and most of the call-outs/alarms for the engine companies were to back-up the firefighter-paramedics on EMS calls. One day, Bob was assigned to my rescue unit, and when we got on a patient call, I asked Bob to 'get me a set of vitals (vital signs).' Now, this is something you shouldn't have-to tell an EMS employee. You're dispatched because there is a sick or injured person or person(s), and you have to get a baseline on what's going-on. Bob's job as an EMT-firefighter is to establish a series of periodic vital signs readings, to note any obvious signs/symptoms of distress, and to report to the firefighter-paramedic the findings, and to initiate things like supplemental O2, using the appropriate adjuncts to delivery, perform postural positioning of the patient to ease air-hunger, note significant trauma, note objects in the patient's environment like an empty pill bottle, a discarded syringe, firearms, or other weapons, etc. Bob was apparently oblivious to these things, as you had to tell him every single call, what to-do. I counseled him, and it did no-good.

One day, I had to issue the usual order, "Bob, get me a set of vitals (vital signs)."

"I can't," he said.

"Why-not, Bob, that's your job." I was fed-up with his laziness.

"I don't have a watch," he replied. It's easiest to use a watch for pulse-checks and respiratory rates, but there are other methods.

"Why don't you have a watch, Bob, it's a required part of your uniform, you better check your Employee Handbook," I replied.

"I don't have a watch because I know it pisses-you off that I don't," an astonishing rejoinder he said that I guess he couldn't help himself telling-me. If he said, "my watchband broke this morning," he could have fished out of his pocket the watch and taken the vitals.

Not wanting to discuss this further over the patient, I got-on with the patient care. When we got back to the station, he got a written reprimand. He eventually racked-up enough similar behaviors that he was terminated from the job, despite the chief's friendship with Bob's father.

Years later there was a news report on the evening broadcast. Bob had a fire at his house, and he was arrested for obstructing the responding firefighters. It seems Bob refused to allow them into a room while they were performing a search for victims and overhaul (investigation of fire-spread). Once the door was forced, the pot growth hydroponics lab was uncovered.

Another watch story:
We were dispatched to a reported drowning at a luxury high-rise. When we got there, two small children who had gone with their nanny to the pool deck were standing there, and their nanny was floating in the pool deep-end, just-off the bottom. My fellow firefighter-paramedic went to jump into the pool, to retrieve the victim, I stopped him, because he was going-in fully-clothed, even his shoes. "Let's not turn this into a double-drowning," I told him as I stripped-off my shirt and shoes. The woman on the bottom, meant that her lungs probably were filled with water, and that she had been there awhile, her prospects were poor.

My co-worker removed his shoes, and inexplicably, he reached for his Seiko watch and he removed it from his wrist, and instead of tossing it into a shoe, he threw it down onto the concrete pool deck, where it exploded into a cloud of tiny pieces. It was one of the sport watches with the pretty green dial, no-more. Unfortunately the drowning victim was unable to be resuscitated.

I have a titanium Casio Eco-Drive chronometer with a bronze phosphor coating I bought new. It's light on the wrist, it keeps excellent time, and I don't wear it daily, but I'm always happy to whenever I decide-to.

 

[xtremek]

You're not using a roll/tension/split/spring pin?

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Yikes, Driftpin! The things you must have seen and been subjected to working as EMS!

The mental image of the nanny at the bottom of the pool and you already pretty much knowing what the outcome was going to be while children stood there seeing that. Chilling.

 

[driftpin]

I agree with our friend from MI-St. Johns, I think I'd look for a roll-pin, though in an emergency (don't call 911 for this) a skinny cotter pin would work. I have some small tools that could be used on a watch, but nothing like the set Bob has, like the watch vise, and all the associated tools in that roll. I do have the screw-back wrench from HFT, but it barely-fits one of my watches. I see how I can file it a bit to make it easily-fit the watch, but as I seem to have to use it every two years, it's low on the list of priorities. I do follow-through and use an ultra fine-tip Sharpie to mark the month and year on the inside of the back when I change out the battery like they do at the jeweler's.

Dan in Pasadena, I cannot think of a better vocation than the one I began early. There are a lot of movies about the times in south Florida, going back to the 1970's, when I began my career in the fire service. I was one of the first state-certified paramedics in Florida. Here, the dual-classification of firefighter/EMT and firefighter/paramedic has proven to save money for the local, county, or state governments where the fire service is based.

Billy Corben has produced some films that chronicle the various 'players' in the drug wars here: Cocaine Cowboys, Cocaine Cowboys 2, Cocaine Cowboys Reloaded, and Square Grouper. Then there are the fictional ones, like Scarface. I was working fire-rescue for all of that. The things that went-on, were almost hard to believe, until you realized what was at-stake. That would be, hundreds of millions of dollars-a year! It's said that the Miami skyline grew to what it is, because of the drug trade. People spending their money, people seeking to launder it, and more. The popular show Miami Vice often took story lines from the newspapers, and filmed them, thinly-disguised.

About the two kids watching their nanny on the bottom of the pool, it was unbelievable to me that no one from the building security made any attempt to retrieve the body before we arrived. Unfortunately, the two small children with their nanny were the only users of the pool at that time, so no one else as a witness was there to try to render aid. The nanny was a young adult So. American female, not-uncommon, as many of the building residents were Central and South Americans raising families, and they often sponsored a young female 'cousin' to come to Florida to be their children's nanny. I doubt the older of the kids was > 5 y.o.

Watch all those Billy Corben movies to see what it was like. The story about the shootout/execution at the Dadeland Mall liquor store is in there, when I first moved to Florida, I lived < a half-mile from that mall. Look for the "war wagon" that was abandoned on-scene after the shootout. The subject of "Cocaine Cowboys 2 was a cold-blooded Columbian woman who was responsible for so-many killings she had the nickname, "the Black Widow." It was Griselda Blanco.

 

[pi_guy]

Drift

Living two building down from where they shot Lennon, peddling my 15sp bike about Central Park going out to clubs during the Son of Sam time. having the law and Order people filming regularly. One of the L&O actors lived in the neighborhood and used to chat with me like we were friends and always said hello when we passed on street had no clue why. Some service calls in Brooklyn had me more worried than Detroit.
We have a similar pattern up here to you.

When I was renting cars I ran a convicted murderer before he was to start his sentence who had killed a kid who had scratched his Ferrari down in Little Italy. He drove like someone who had nothing to loose.

I have to say the years in racing you just don't run into a useless employee a fizzled and over worked one yes, but a non motivated one never. The non motivated ones never got that far as much as it drained you the challenge was always present. Working in manufacturing facilities ran in to many non working or do the minimum type.

As I coach hockey and the one thing I try to impart on the kids is: What effort you put into life will be directly proportional to the return.

 

[ODIS]

Pi........Hope those kids listen to you. So few will take it to heart and make that statement a core of their being.

These kids are lucky to have you in their life, even if it is for a short time period.

PS: Hi Bob!

 

[mybigwarwagon]

As I coach hockey and the one thing I try to impart on the kids is: What effort you put into life will be directly proportional to the return.

You can't teach kids that today. You have to tell them that their feeling are more important than any amount of effort and the government will give them what they need.




I have an el cheapo Seiko watch that I got on clearance at Walmart years ago. It is one of the solar models. I think it may be the cheapest watch Seiko has ever made. It became my work watch. It has been run over by a mower. Smashed in a car door. Stuck down in side many many engines. And abused in ever other way you can imagine, and it somehow still works.

 

[pi_guy]

You can't teach kids that today. You have to tell them that their feeling are more important than any amount of effort and the government will give them what they need.

I gave a nick name to one of the midget kids, I call him "coaster" he is always gliding not pushing.
I enjoy giving real life lessons, we had a practice and I was scrimmaging with the kids and our best player when he is paying attention. Learned what happens when you try to muscle out an old guy in the corner. I will ask him after practice did he learn anything most of the time he says no, this time it was stay out of corner if you are there.

There are a few kids I really enjoy coaching one played for me when he was two years younger than the other kids. This will be his last year as he is now 12. Of course it is very frustrating to have a 8 year old skate about 12 year old's. The kid took his raps, when your good and small you get bumped quite a bit by bigger older guys and he just played without anger. But even now at 12 he is small and has choice of which travel team he wants.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob great picture of the pooch. Now you need to teach him to shade his eyes with one paw. More importantly, does he salute the Admiral?

Bobby, it's a pretty smart dog and Liane can teach her almost anything but her first year before joining our pack she had bad experiences with men. We've had her for a year and she is accepting me more and more.

I really-wanted to like Seikos, but Seikos don't like my body chemistry. I can kill 'em in 2 years. I had one of the first Sport 150 digital watches, and that's how-long it lasted, "an anomaly," I said, and I bought a replacement. That died in a similar timeframe. They didn't get me for #3.

Through most of my Florida fire-rescue career, I wore Casio G-Shock watches, the black synthetic cover-over a stainless steel body. I had two, in-case the watchband broke. A watch was a required part of the uniform.

A couple of 'watch on fire-rescue' stories.

The chief was from Buffalo, and his driver-engineer up-there had a son who wanted to join the fire service, so he was hired through the 'old-boy' network. Bob was a smart young man, but he was the laziest employee we ever-hired. He had a side business doing bookkeeping, and he did the taxes for many of the guys, I wouldn't let him hold a roll of my pennies, though. I didn't trust him. He had no initiative, you had to tell him everything to-do.

The dep't. workload was probably 87% EMS and most of the call-outs/alarms for the engine companies were to back-up the firefighter-paramedics on EMS calls. One day, Bob was assigned to my rescue unit, and when we got on a patient call, I asked Bob to 'get me a set of vitals (vital signs).' Now, this is something you shouldn't have-to tell an EMS employee. You're dispatched because there is a sick or injured person or person(s), and you have to get a baseline on what's going-on. Bob's job as an EMT-firefighter is to establish a series of periodic vital signs readings, to note any obvious signs/symptoms of distress, and to report to the firefighter-paramedic the findings, and to initiate things like supplemental O2, using the appropriate adjuncts to delivery, perform postural positioning of the patient to ease air-hunger, note significant trauma, note objects in the patient's environment like an empty pill bottle, a discarded syringe, firearms, or other weapons, etc. Bob was apparently oblivious to these things, as you had to tell him every single call, what to-do. I counseled him, and it did no-good.

One day, I had to issue the usual order, "Bob, get me a set of vitals (vital signs)."

"I can't," he said.

"Why-not, Bob, that's your job." I was fed-up with his laziness.

"I don't have a watch," he replied. It's easiest to use a watch for pulse-checks and respiratory rates, but there are other methods.

"Why don't you have a watch, Bob, it's a required part of your uniform, you better check your Employee Handbook," I replied.

"I don't have a watch because I know it pisses-you off that I don't," an astonishing rejoinder he said that I guess he couldn't help himself telling-me. If he said, "my watchband broke this morning," he could have fished out of his pocket the watch and taken the vitals.

Not wanting to discuss this further over the patient, I got-on with the patient care. When we got back to the station, he got a written reprimand. He eventually racked-up enough similar behaviors that he was terminated from the job, despite the chief's friendship with Bob's father.

Years later there was a news report on the evening broadcast. Bob had a fire at his house, and he was arrested for obstructing the responding firefighters. It seems Bob refused to allow them into a room while they were performing a search for victims and overhaul (investigation of fire-spread). Once the door was forced, the pot growth hydroponics lab was uncovered.

Another watch story:
We were dispatched to a reported drowning at a luxury high-rise. When we got there, two small children who had gone with their nanny to the pool deck were standing there, and their nanny was floating in the pool deep-end, just-off the bottom. My fellow firefighter-paramedic went to jump into the pool, to retrieve the victim, I stopped him, because he was going-in fully-clothed, even his shoes. "Let's not turn this into a double-drowning," I told him as I stripped-off my shirt and shoes. The woman on the bottom, meant that her lungs probably were filled with water, and that she had been there awhile, her prospects were poor.

My co-worker removed his shoes, and inexplicably, he reached for his Seiko watch and he removed it from his wrist, and instead of tossing it into a shoe, he threw it down onto the concrete pool deck, where it exploded into a cloud of tiny pieces. It was one of the sport watches with the pretty green dial, no-more. Unfortunately the drowning victim was unable to be resuscitated.

I have a titanium Casio Eco-Drive chronometer with a bronze phosphor coating I bought new. It's light on the wrist, it keeps excellent time, and I don't wear it daily, but I'm always happy to whenever I decide-to.

Philip, I suspect it is a reaction to the pH of your perspiration that eats up Seiko cases. My wife has the same problem and has to go with Timex watches.

Sounds like my alter ego Bob landed in the wrong career. His problem probably went pretty deep and may have been aggravated by a father that didn't listen. Sometimes Dad hears "I want to be just like you" and doesn't recognize the sarcasm.

You're not using a roll/tension/split/spring pin?

Kirk, the roll pin would be difficult to install and wouldn't allow the links to move. Those cotter pins are designed to only engage the outer link on one side and the rest of the links rotate free. The bulged end keeps the pin in place.

Yikes, Driftpin! The things you must have seen and been subjected to working as EMS!

The mental image of the nanny at the bottom of the pool and you already pretty much knowing what the outcome was going to be while children stood there seeing that. Chilling.

Dan, I agree completely. One summer I was staying with my grandparents in Fairhaven VT. The home they rented was a hundred yards from Glen Lake. I think I was seven and just learning to swim on the surface (I was skin and bones and sank like a rock). One Saturday I was fishing from shore and saw a commotion at the boat rental place. I investigated and saw a Sheriff's skiff returning to shore. They had been dragging the lake for a 20-something man who drowned when the boat he was in capsized. He was wearing heavy lace-up combat boots but his buddy was wearing slip-ons and swam to shore for help. The body was in rigor with one booted foot sticking up out of the boat. First dead body I had ever seen and it should have kept me from swimming alone but all it did was make me go barefoot whenever I was near the water. Maybe that's why I go barefoot around the house -- that swimming pool in the patio is calling me in.

I agree with our friend from MI-St. Johns, I think I'd look for a roll-pin, though in an emergency (don't call 911 for this) a skinny cotter pin would work. I have some small tools that could be used on a watch, but nothing like the set Bob has, like the watch vise, and all the associated tools in that roll. I do have the screw-back wrench from HFT, but it barely-fits one of my watches. I see how I can file it a bit to make it easily-fit the watch, but as I seem to have to use it every two years, it's low on the list of priorities. I do follow-through and use an ultra fine-tip Sharpie to mark the month and year on the inside of the back when I change out the battery like they do at the jeweler's.

Dan in Pasadena, I cannot think of a better vocation than the one I began early. There are a lot of movies about the times in south Florida, going back to the 1970's, when I began my career in the fire service. I was one of the first state-certified paramedics in Florida. Here, the dual-classification of firefighter/EMT and firefighter/paramedic has proven to save money for the local, county, or state governments where the fire service is based.

Billy Corben has produced some films that chronicle the various 'players' in the drug wars here: Cocaine Cowboys, Cocaine Cowboys 2, Cocaine Cowboys Reloaded, and Square Grouper. Then there are the fictional ones, like Scarface. I was working fire-rescue for all of that. The things that went-on, were almost hard to believe, until you realized what was at-stake. That would be, hundreds of millions of dollars-a year! It's said that the Miami skyline grew to what it is, because of the drug trade. People spending their money, people seeking to launder it, and more. The popular show Miami Vice often took story lines from the newspapers, and filmed them, thinly-disguised.

About the two kids watching their nanny on the bottom of the pool, it was unbelievable to me that no one from the building security made any attempt to retrieve the body before we arrived. Unfortunately, the two small children with their nanny were the only users of the pool at that time, so no one else as a witness was there to try to render aid. The nanny was a young adult So. American female, not-uncommon, as many of the building residents were Central and South Americans raising families, and they often sponsored a young female 'cousin' to come to Florida to be their children's nanny. I doubt the older of the kids was > 5 y.o.

Watch all those Billy Corben movies to see what it was like. The story about the shootout/execution at the Dadeland Mall liquor store is in there, when I first moved to Florida, I lived < a half-mile from that mall. Look for the "war wagon" that was abandoned on-scene after the shootout. The subject of "Cocaine Cowboys 2 was a cold-blooded Columbian woman who was responsible for so-many killings she had the nickname, "the Black Widow." It was Griselda Blanco.

Philip, if you ever need to fix a watch, those toolkits are around $20 so three or four battery replacements would justify the purchase. As to the roll pins, don't do it. Watch bands need either spring pins to connect the band to the watch body or specialty cotter pins for linked metal bands. Expansion bands are a whole 'nother beast.

I remember Miami Vice being a very different show. There were no hills or mountains behind California Fan Palms and the streets were recognizable to a South Florida resident. I don't think they expected the show to be a big hit so the Ferrari Daytona Spyder was actually a fiberglass re-body of a C3 Corvette. I thought about building one but my Corvette is a coupe with T-tops and not easily re-bodied into a convertible. Fifteen Emmy Award nominations the first season and a lawsuit from Ferrari meant the Ferravette was retired and replaced with a real Testarossa early in season 3. I personally thought the Daytona replica was better looking.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Bob,
Years ago when my now 38 & 39 year old son & daughter were little, under 10 years old we went with friends of friends to the Colorado River camping. I'd rented a trailer and we were all camped right on the river front. This was the "Parker Strip" - known as a party place and where guys would take the hottest boats.

One couple left their son in the care of another couple while they went somewhere; probably for "afternoon delight" - and the couple didn't watch Jake, a 3+ year old closely enough. Suddenly no one could find him. He'd taken off his life vest and waded in, slipped under. When they found him a few minutes later he was gone. Rescue boat came and took him trying to revive him but he was gone. It was heartbreaking.

THE weirdest thing I think I've ever heard is that a year or two later they had another son and get this: they named him Jake too!! Macabre in my opinion. Can't imagine WHAT THE HELL they were thinking or what the grandparents must have felt.

Anyway, back to happier thought about garages. Life is terribly fragile and certainly you know that much better than nearly any of us.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Bob, that's a cute puppy picture.
I have had that same Chinese vise for a couple decades. It's great, and impossible to kill. I did add a hardened washer between the screw and moving jaw. Mine wore a deep groove in the cast iron.