Re: Friday Check In

by Seamus 2/20/2023, 8:56 pm

Space that's a kick ass boat. Lots of good fishing to be had and cruising.

by Seamus 3/3/2023, 3:39 pm

Lads,

busy, busy trying to swim ahead of the work. Weather is nice spring is here. Many, many books loads of vinyl, CD's the same old.

The Mandalorian is great, The Last of Us is very familiar. Someone takes immune person across apocalyptic landscape. Picard is good.

What are you guys up to?

Stay safe my friends...

by Space Cadet 3/3/2023, 6:35 pm

Boss, it was another humdrum week for the most part here. We had a couple of tornado warning false alarms. And false alarms are always better than the alternative. Other than that, we played around here and there. I went kayaking on the creek by the house with my son and grandson. Of course I had to play around with the drone while we were there and almost dropped it in the creek (my own stupidity). Here's a clip from that. That's my son to the left and my grandson to the right.

I heard that there's a Stranger Things announcement coming today and that could be interesting. My grandson was introduced to the sounds of Ted Nugent and he was excited by that guitar. I'm really enjoying introducing him to new music, movies and more. And it makes me happy to see the look on his face when he gets excited by these new things. We've also been watching quite a bit of anime. And there's so much more to explore while he's with us.

That's pretty much it form this end.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

by Seamus 3/17/2023, 11:56 am

Space those boating adventures look like fun. Haven't kayaked in a while and so many nice places here to do it. Lazy .....

Hum drum in right. I am slogging through busy months at work now so really feeling the pace and boredom.

I am now way behind on TV stopped watching as I have been working through books, vinyl and CD music. For TV nothing really popping I like Mandalorian so don't mind have a season to watch when I get back at it.

Hope everyone is making the best of spring...

Stay safe my friends

by Space Cadet 3/19/2023, 9:45 pm

Boss, those adventures are still few and far between. The weather's just not there yet. But they should become more frequent in the coming months. In the next few weeks, we have a rodeo and a comic convention on the books. There's a trip to a Corvette Museum that we're trying to work into the schedule. And I'd like to take the time to head to Chattanooga, Tennessee to revisit the Songbirds Guitar Museum. But there's no hurry for that one. During the covid panic, most of their loaner collection was returned to their respective owners private collections. So, the total axe count is down and most of the displays are just dio-rama type things. They should finally be restocked with classic and rare guitars from their supporters in a few months.

I found a local auction house that runs online estate auctions. You might have fun digging through some of their listings. This week they have two auctions running. One which is mostly breweriana, and another which is all about vintage audio and video equipment. There's a Teac Reel to Reel deck and a Toshiba Stereo Receiver up for bid this week that have me tempted. They're located just a few miles from home, So I think I'll drop by and check out a few things that are up for bid. Here's a link to their site. https://www.shanealbright.com/

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

by Seamus 3/26/2023, 12:06 pm

Space, more adventures will come. I have been hunkered down as its spring and a bit of the rainy season here. Work is busy so I am kept from any major shenanigans. For now ;-)

Lots of books have been read and so much music listened to that life is alright now.

Stay safe my friends and report your adventures when you can.

by Space Cadet 3/30/2023, 7:00 pm

And... I'm back. Had to go pick up our oldest grand-daughter's car from Texas. She's in the Army and is spending the next year in Kuwait. We managed to miss most of the bad weather. But some of it came awfully close to home while we were gone. But it missed, so we're thankful for that. We looked around while we were in Texas. But no real adventures. I wish I'd taken the drone with me. There are some amazing landscapes in West Texas. Oh well, next time.

That's pretty much it for this week. But look for a new announcement. We have an irritating issue which continues to rear it's head and I'm trying to find a resolution. I've pretty much made up my mind on the subject. But I'd like to consider member's opinions, before I drop the metaphorical hammer.

Relax folk's. That last line sounds far more ominous than it really is.

Please keep Jeff (ghemrats) in your thoughts and prayers. He's a good friend. And he could use a little support right now. Sorry Jeff. I ratted you out. But I've been worried about you and yours.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

by wich2 3/30/2023, 8:35 pm

Prayers from here.

It's a ragged time in this old world... the macro-, and for some, the micro- too.

- Craig

by Seamus 3/31/2023, 9:23 pm

As always tons of love for my fellow amigos Space and Ghem. Shenanigans by the bucket load have been had. Loads of love Jeff to you and Joyce. Mrs Ghem has always been a CC member by proxy. Take care my friends.

Seamus

by Space Cadet 4/1/2023, 12:41 pm

*Postscript*

We had yet another round of tornadoes last night. Ah... Springtime in Dixie Alley! We're fine. But we did have a few tense moments. A small one passed about a mile north of us and a medium sized one passed a few miles south of us. The locals claim that we're safe from tornadoes, due to being on a plateau. My knowledge of science in general and meteorology in particular, don't allow me to put much faith in their belief. So, I'll continue to err on the side of caution.

But gimme hurricanes any day. They're a lot less stressful for a transplanted former Floridian.

by ghemrats 4/1/2023, 2:09 pm

Glad you are safe, Space. I am trying hard to get this picture out of my head: you peering into the sky, yelling, "It's a twistah! It's a twistah!" while your lovely wife barrels down into the cellar after screaming herself hoarse with shouts of "Dorothy! Dorothy!"

Dude, there's no place like home. Stay away from flying windows. (Seriously, prayers of safety, my friend)
Jeff

by Space Cadet 4/1/2023, 4:25 pm

Actually, I got confused, ripped my shirt off and screamed STELLA!!! STELLA!!! Then I realized how bad I look shirtless and slunk into a closet.

My beloved " She Who Must Not Be Angered" is equally capable of calling out Dorothy Dorothy or riding a broomstick through said storm. She's multitalented.

by greybelt 4/14/2023, 12:43 pm

It's been a while since I've checked in here... Amazing things have been happening.

Unfortunately, one of them is the sciatic nerve in my leg that I somehow annoyed into overdrive. It won't let certain muscles relax as it has them on high alert. When you get older you think that stretching is really important, especially when you plan to be active and as a means of preventing injury. Well it seems I've overdone it with some of it. It just seems so strange as I have to retreat from activities that supposedly keep me healthy and flexible. Ugh! Two steps forward three steps backs sometimes.

OTRR is now in possession of 25,000 reels in Florida and now, as of yesterday, about 10,000 reels in California. Volunteers needed for transfers after we sort all this stuff out. This is the amazing thing, for sure, and not my sciatic stuff. It's time for some folks from the sidelines to step up... and one of the incentives is that part of these acquisitions is reel decks!

The Suspense blog effort is going well and the Theater Five effort has recently gotten a boost with a big contribution of AFRTS versions that are big upgrades in sound.

Baseball season is now upon us... and this year I really do hope to get to visit more NC minor league parks -- we hoped to do that last year and only got to a handful.

Second degree kobudo (karate weapons) test is May 6. With my 1995 shoulder surgery I never thought I'd be able to handle sai (dagger with prongs and a handle). I felt lucky to get to tonfa (handle for a grinding stone)! But they're all set to go for the test and also my eku (boat oar) has been looking good. The way I've gotten my shoulder to tolerate it all has been to practice without the weapons except when I'm in the dojo. You really do visualize the kata in a much different way and you see the parallels with karate kata that the weapons kata have much more easily. And when I have the weapons in the dojo, I'm slow and soft until it's my time for the real demonstration. Have to keep it all in reserve until then....

I may not report back for a few weeks as we're involved with wedding planning and packing for this Greybelt the Younger event and the soon-to-be Mrs. Greybelt the Younger. Now 30 days away...

by wich2 4/14/2023, 12:59 pm

Prayers across the board, Joe!

- Craig

by Space Cadet 4/23/2023, 5:47 pm

Checking In. Late as usual. We did some kayaking this week when the weather was warm. Did some class 1, class 2 and class 3 rapids. My amateur butt remained pretty much dry, so I'd call it a success. There are class 4 and 5 rapids on the same creek. But we're not ready for those yet.

Boss, I went with my son to Record Store Day yesterday. I didn't buy any of the record store day releases. But I did buy The Who: Live at Leeds, Bill Haley and His Comets: Rock and Roll Stage Show (Coverless but sleeved) and replaced my long missing copy of Queen's: A Night At the Opera. Then I got chewed out by "She Who Must Not Be Angered" But WAS!) because I wasn't supposed to be buying. The crazy thing about the situation, is that I'm not normally an impulse buyer. I'm usually a very careful planner. So, now I have to start planning a turntable system purchase. But not until the weather is warmer again. That dog house looks pretty cold at night and I'm afraid I'll be spending some time there soon.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

by Seamus 4/23/2023, 8:50 pm

Space I hear you. I got so much vinyl and two complete vintage stereos so I preemptively moved into the dog house. I was already in there when she came asking for an explanation. Had survival gear and food lol.

Life is an adventure we have to do silly things it's how we keep things interesting

Weather was almost summer like then turned super cold for here...

Stay safe friends, GB get that nidan weapons testing smashed. Cold showers helps for soreness. I been doing cold plunge and cold showers for 25 years now it's the big thing on the interwebs.

Good vibes out to Jeff and Joyce....

by ghemrats 4/24/2023, 1:02 pm

Well, Space, I have weaned myself off extravagant vinyl purchases. . . and now squander all my small retirement fortune on autographed first edition novels and comic books.

But here is a tip on how to manage purchases of the vinyl type: Buy the classics (who could resist *A Night At The Opera*, for heaven's sake?), and gift them to the wife as a present (birthday, Christmas, Sweetest's Day, Chester A. Arthur's inauguration anniversary). Accompany the gift with a heartfelt, "Honey, I knew how much you loved this album when we were in college, and I made a mental note to snatch it up as soon as I could locate a clean copy of it for you. Because you deserve the best, putting up with me for all these years. . . ."

It might at least buy you some time.

And, Seamus, cold showers are bracing. I find them especially useful for those times I've bought a book or album, given it to She Who Must Be Obeyed with an Oscar-worthy platitude along the lines of what I told Space a few lines ago, and she didn't buy it. So as George Costanza on *Seinfeld* so aptly observed, cold water DOES employ shrinkage.

Anyway, here at home, the steady parade of nurses, senior services, home health care and doctors rages on, though we're thankful for the help. And as always, the prayers and good wishes of our dear Cobaltians evermore make the difference. We are abiding.

Take good care of yourselves, my friends. You're in my reciprocal prayers.
Jeff

by Space Cadet 4/24/2023, 8:51 pm

Boss, I talk to a lot of young people. One thing I almost always ask the new ones is, when you get to the end of your life, do you want to have lived or just existed? Would you rather taste the joy of new adventures and experiences or just slide through a mundane existence? You may notice that I've always chosen the former over the latter. The white water kayaking doesn't really seem to appeal to me very much. But I'll keep learning, at least through class 5 rapids. Through all of the seemingly insane adventures, I've always approached them carefully and through learning stages (With the exception of my first jump. That involved a lot of alcohol and a series of exceptionally poor decisions.) I choose to LIVE life. But not to end it prematurely, due to being stupid. And that's what I try to spread to others. I'll never encourage others to go beyond their comfort limits. But to keep looking for new experiences and new adventures which fit within your comfort zone.

And ticking off "She Who Must Not Be Angered" goes WAY beyond my comfort limits!!!

by chad3006 5/22/2023, 9:37 pm

Hi all. There's not much new with me. I guess the only thing I can think of is recent participation in an open mic night at a local "pub." So me and my neighbor played "Don't Let Me Down" by the Beatles.

I guess we did okay, considering we had never played the song together before. He played several song solo including "1952 Vincent Black Lightening" by Richard Thompson. He's a talented guy.

Don't know much else. Take care all!

by Seamus 5/29/2023, 1:30 pm

Chad, big fan of Richard Thompson I have probably seen him live over 15 times. When he plays Black Lightening he attacks the guitar like a mad man.

Grand that you got out to play. I have been so busy at work and with weather nice I have been out roaming far and wide. Good to get back to the club and checkin.

Hope everyone is enjoying the good weather.

Stay safe my friends

by Seamus 6/23/2023, 8:52 am

Checking in folks. Sorry the summer is getting away from me we have been so busy its nuts.

Hope everyone is doing okay. Space thinking of you and what crazy shenanigans you are getting up to.

Jeff hope you and Joyce as doing well. Hoping you are enjoying summer.

GB hope your training is going well and you are not over doing it.

Chad keeping on playing those gigs.

Stay safe my friends...

by Space Cadet 6/23/2023, 6:24 pm

Howdy Folk's,

No, I haven't abandoned the group. In fact, I quietly pop my head in daily. But it's summer time and things are going on in my world. We've had a few small adventures and two major events.

One was me and a kidney stone. That was most of a week with not much positive to be said about it. Except that it finally passed.

The other was my oldest son's surprise retirement party, after retiring from the army. Keep in mind that he was military police, which means he's a cop. His powers of observation are well above average as a result, so keeping the secret was a challenge. My daughter in law was going nuts trying to keep the secret. So I gave her a plan B. Supposedly, family was coming in for a big surprise cookout and family reunion. So, he thought he had it all figured out and was pretty smug about it. The family showed up and the cookout began. Then his entire squad from his first deployment to Iraq showed up together. Then his commanding officer from Hawaii showed up. After that, another 22 old army friends and former squad-mates trickled in from all over the world over the next few hours. Yup, he was blown away. Plan B was a complete success and I was very smug about it.

I'm supposed to be finally getting my Les Paul, which was left with my niece's husband when we moved to Alabamy. I hope it reignites my desire to play again.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

by mjnunes84 6/24/2023, 10:30 am

Hi all,

I've been having a busy summer, but have been checking the board every couple of days. I taught 3 classes for the 6 week summer term that ends today, so that has been nuts. But, grading final projects now, and once grades are submitted, I can finally get back to my Dennis Day project. Just need to finish going through the scripts for the last half of Season 5 (the final season) and then do some polishing and write my introduction (we'll see how long that will be).

Meanwhile, in the last couple of months I got to attend some family reunions on both sides of the family, so that was nice.

And, we are expecting Baby #5 around Halloween. My other kids are very excited for a new baby brother.

MJ

by Space Cadet 6/25/2023, 12:37 am

mjnunes84 wrote:Hi all,

I've been having a busy summer, but have been checking the board every couple of days. I taught 3 classes for the 6 week summer term that ends today, so that has been nuts. But, grading final projects now, and once grades are submitted, I can finally get back to my Dennis Day project. Just need to finish going through the scripts for the last half of Season 5 (the final season) and then do some polishing and write my introduction (we'll see how long that will be).

Meanwhile, in the last couple of months I got to attend some family reunions on both sides of the family, so that was nice.

And, we are expecting Baby #5 around Halloween. My other kids are very excited for a new baby brother.

MJ

Ain't it great to not be locked away from family any more? And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! I'm number 3 of 5 kids. Which I guess makes me a double psychological misfit. And there are a few who would back that assertion up with alleged proof.

by Seamus 7/28/2023, 12:16 pm

Folks,

quick checkin summer has gotten away from. Huge amount of family member descended on us so we have been hosting family for two months with travel everywhere. Its been a real hoot.

Hope everyone is having a great summer....

by Sponsored content