Wmcmanus

Don't know what to say, Vicki, although I'm sure you will. Even just being there for her must be impossibly difficult. So sad.

There are old bikes at a couple of the dive sites in Cayman, which I've tried to ride, but never as successfully as that guy is doing, and never in a Santa suit. It's pretty tricky. All comes down to getting your breathing right to keep from floating up or sinking down, and then using your leg muscles to keep squared from left to right. I kept falling off.

Ya, I missed that somehow. Now I'm going to have to give up my dream of being a Chippendale dancer. I just don't have what it takes. Chris Farley - Chippendale Dance Video

Actually, I don't think it works that way. If the answer is zero, than it's probably fair to assume that you're straight, particularly if you have no desire whatsoever for that number to change to anything other than zero. If the answer is one or more, then it's probably fair to assume that you're gay. If you have to have sex with 300 men in order to determine whether or not you're gay, then I'm pretty sure you're gay.

^ You're a social smoker. That should be encouraged more. Looks like a really nice unit. One of my cousins in Colorado has really gotten into it as a hobby and enters all sorts of smoked BBQ contests each year.

I've got one of those too, but it doesn't do so well when there is daylight since it's impossible to block out all light sources in that room. The TV will be wall mounted behind where the projector screen rolls up and down.

Just ordered: Amazon.com: West Coast Seattle Boy:The Jimi Hendrix Anthology (8LP Box): Jimi Hendirx: Music For the current price of $66 (free shipping), figured I couldn't go wrong (just a little over $8 per platter). Looking forward to Springsteen's "The Promise" box set (Darkness on the Edge of Town story) and Dylan's "The Witmark Demos - 1962-1964 (Bootleg Vol 9) as well.

Have a great one, Johnny man with many numbers.

That's just wrong, man! Doing my best to support this year's International Vulture Awareness Day.

Went to Customs and cleared my new TV today. First cost was about $4,200 for the TV and an extra pair of 3D glasses, plus another $600 for the Chief wall mount. If I lived in the US, that would be the end of the story, plus I would get to take advantage of up to $300 worth of free calibration and other post-sale services from Best Buy. Final cost was a little over $7k after paying to have it crated up and delivered to the dock in Tampa ($475), shipping and insurance to Cayman ($509), import duty at 22% ($1,055), port fees ($75), and delivery to my house ($150). Headphones are so much easier to smuggle in!

Half again as good? So you're expecting them to be $800 to $900-ish good? More or less my gut feeling as well, although I have no basis for that and will reserve judgment until I've heard them, as always. Talked to Todd (TTVJ) about them the other day. He had just heard them briefly but was impressed. Said they were on par with the T1, but didn't say much else that I can remember. Can't imagine that the Edition 10's will be twice as good, but as we all know, the math doesn't really work that way. If someone "falls" for a certain sound, then they find one way or another to justify the expenditure.

I just got that email as well, and immediately placed me pre-order. I'm hoping that the November 22nd date provided at the special link (i.e., when they expect to begin "fulfillments") will be accurate. But so long as it arrives in Florida before December 6th, I'll be alright. BTW, since the first sentence in their letter read, "Thank you for signing up to receive information about... BDP-93," I just assumed that was the reason I got this email with the "special link". But I'm also an 83 owner so maybe that's part of what it takes to get in the club? I dunno. I guess they want to make sure they don't get oversubscribed such that they can't meet everyone's expectations in terms of when the units will ship.

Thought you had a scoop on me there, so just as I was about to scream out, "No! That's not available yet..." I checked my email. Sure enough there was a message from OPPO providing an extra-special-just-for-me link allowing me to place my pre-order. Done. Fulfillment to begin on November 22nd. I'm not sure why they're being so secretive about it, but apparently you need to be on their pre-pre-order list or you can't place a pre-order? Seems strange.

I really liked this one. Although it's a lot longer than it needs to be, the best part is at the end. Of course, I don't watch this thread regularly, so it's probably a repeat for many of you.

Two yak mustaches and two sets of yak eyebrows. $128 with shipping. Crazy, I know.

Just got back from a quick business trip to Monaco. Got "fogged in" and delayed a day in London and had to overnight there. Sneaky bastards at British Airways allowed us to fully board the plane in Nice for an expected departure time of 11:05am, then waited for about 15 minutes (about the time we all started to wonder if there was a problem) to announce that we would be delayed for about 3 hours. Turned out to be a 4 hour delay. Of course, they knew this all along, but wanted to keep us all contained. Eh, no matter. The girl sitting next to me was fun to chat with. Just as cute as can be for an "almost 19" year old. She was bilingual (French), born in Monaco (uh, wealthy parents maybe?). Her family has "lived" at various times in Paris, London, San Francisco, Miami, Dubai, and several other places where they have homes or apartments. I asked if her parents "lived and worked" in those places. She laughed and said, "Oh, no... just lived... they've never really worked..." I think she was wearing about $10k of clothing, not counting the jewelry.

Wish I could make it to the meet so I could give you a ride like this in my Atom (which is a 300, much faster than the 205 that Clarkson was driving in that video).

Happy birthday. No good monkey pics, but many good monkey thoughts.

On my way to Monaco for some business meetings today. I'm sitting in Miami at the airport now. Discovered this morning that I have no clue where I put my trusty JH13 thingies! Add that to the mysterious disappearance of my Canon 70-200mm F2.8 L glass. I'm hoping that they will both "turn up" eventually. In the case of the lens, I'm hoping it is still in Tampa safe and sound in the motorhome, and that I didn't actually put that lens in my check in baggage! If so, it's gone. As for the JH13, I'll have to keep checking through all of my shirt, pants, and shorts pockets and hope they turn up one day. I've got the Shure E500 case that I usually carry them in, but of course it's empty.

Custom web pages are for sissies, and since I seem to be the only one who isn't going to make this meet, there will be no sissies in attendance. Shucks, I feel like I'm missing out on all of the fun already...

Yeah! I get to be around thousands of them! Nothing like it. Not even The Beatles were as popular with little kids as I am during December.

I've just stumbled across this thread. Tyll, don't tell me that the barmaid who is flipping you the bird was just some stranger you met along the way on your epic journey this summer. That would be way too cool, and way too Tyll. I've got to admit, my Ducati still scares the crap out of me. I've got a 2008 S4RS monster tricolore. I've yet to put 100 miles on it and I've owned it for nearly a year. I've been up to 4th gear and maybe 80-85 mph. Oh, I'll get there one day, for sure. It just hasn't been a priority yet. The bike was mothballed in my trailer for 6 months last winter/spring while I was in Cayman. Then I had to do the motorcycle safety course in Florida to get the endorsement on my license. Yet, I did have about 3 months that I could have taken advantage of but never did. My mom was riding along with me for part of last summer, and we took a lot of fun rides in the Atom. I just didn't have the heart for the bike. At the same time, I have enjoyed the few miles I've put on it to date. It's pretty smooth and effortless, just so overpowered and completely unhappy at less than 4k rpm. At about 5.5k it starts to feel at home and (I'm told) will get up to 11k rpm before it redlines with the aftermarket exhaust and power commander that the previous owner had put on it. So it has got the goods (dyno'ed at over 123 hp). Not so sure that I do. At least not quite yet. The Atom is a completely different story. I couldn't feel more at home driving it, and in many ways find it easier to drive than ANYTHING I've ever driven. That is, once I got used to the fact that there is absolutely no driver's assistance (no ABS, no power steering, no traction control) and thus you need to drive it yourself! The Atom just does what a car is supposed to do, so long as you are vigilant about making sure that the steering wheel is as near to 100% straight as possible whenever you're about to brake hard or accelerate hard. Brake, turn in, then begin to unwind as you get back on it. Don't get all the way back on it while still unwinding, and don't brake hard after you've begun turning in. The first hint that the rear end is about to give out is when you see it wrapping around in front of you! I've been thinking quite seriously about getting a lower powered Ducati for Cayman. That would give me a chance to sort of grow into the art of riding a more serious bike than my 125cc Vespa scooter. In truth, the Vespa is all I really NEED for Cayman, other than those times when I pull out in front of oncoming traffic and forget that it takes a LONG TIME to get up to speed, even if traffic is only moving at 40 mph. For now, I just need to remember that the Vespa is a totally different beast than the Ducait. It takes almost as much time to get up to 60 mph as my Volvo semi truck does! The bikes I'm looking are the Ducati M796 (monster) and HM796 (hypermotrad). The hyper is supposedly more fun to ride, especially in town and at low to moderate speeds. The monster fits me better in the sense of offering a more comfortable riding position, and I much prefer it in terms of aesthetics. Ducati Hypermotard 796 - Ducati Ducati Monster 796 - Ducati My plan is to test ride both of them in Tampa at the end of this month and make a decision at that point. I'm leaning kind of strongly toward the monster, but if the ride tells me differently, and if the hyper looks better in person, I might still go that way.

I have a stock 83 and agree that it's outstanding. Waiting patiently for the 93 to be released. Need a 3D bluray player with my new TV on the way. That, and the Netflix capability makes the 93 a no brainer for me.

Imagine that! An "Erasable" pencil... what will they think of next?

It's starting to look really doubtful for me. I've received three calls this week (two were call backs from messages I left) for Santa events that ALL are scheduled to take place on December 11th. One is with a grade school that I do a "Breakfast with Santa" event for every year. I get there at 7:30am and don't get out of there until about noon (they do 4 "seatings" of 45 minutes each with 15 minute breaks in between to reset the tables). In the past, I've done it for free, but this year they quickly offered me $300 after I explained that I'm now charging for my services. For Saturdays in December, my fees for corporate events are $200 for the first hour, and $125 for each additional hour. The other two are corporate parties, Deloitte & Touche, and Caribbean Utility Company, each of which will take about 2 hours, so they should bring in $325 each. That would still leave Saturday evening open, not to mention Friday and Sunday. It could easily be a $1,500+ weekend, which would be $1,800+ in US dollars. Would go a long way toward paying for the Edition 10 that I've been drooling over. I haven't committed to anything yet, but probably will tomorrow. I think I'm going to be a greedy bastard this year to make up for all of those years of schleping around town doing Santa work for free and/or to raise funds for various charities.