Wmcmanus

The mahi mahi was incredible, as always. Isn't it strange how the simplest little hole in the wall places always have the best food? This place is nothing more than a hut with a zinc roof and it's only open on weekend nights, but the fish they fry comes straight from the sea, usually the same day, and even though it's carry out only, they have to keep raising their prices to keep the crowds away. The lady who owns the place told me the other day, "We're as big and busy as we'll ever want to be!"

Watched the baseball playoff games. Now heading to a little fish stand on the beach for some mahi mahi and conch fritters, then to the grocery store for a bag of ice which is needed for my rum and diet coke.

This was a piece that Top Gear did a couple of years ago, but it has just now made it's way to their website: Atom overtakes a million pounds... worth of cars. It shows slides of each of the cars that the Atom buried at the 'Ring'... just blew them all away. The car by car pics begin at slide 7.

The time has come, and there was nothing I could do to resist any longer... Christmas Costumes - Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Costume Ok, the back story is that it will pay for itself within a couple of years, maybe even this year alone. Seems I'll be able to rent it out for children's Christmas parties sponsored by the companies their parents work for. I'm actually thinking about picking up a couple more similar costumes if I can find them at more reasonable prices: http://store.costumecity.com/snowmanmascot1.html http://store.costumecity.com/toysoldier.html Several of the young ladies who have helped me as Miss Claus and Mrs. Claus in recent years would like to make some money in doing so (everything I do is still volunteer work). So I'm thinking about charging for my services beginning this year, giving them their share and keeping my share to defray some of the costuming costs. I think I'll start this year with just the Rudolph costume and see how that goes.

Happy birthday to both of you!

I think the "series" would therefore be: 7, 9, 8, 10, 12, 11, 13, 15, 14, 16, 18, 17, and so on... I agree with you, this whole series of headphones doesn't make sense!

Richard Simmons too?!??!?! This gay thing is becoming epidemic.

I've had this experience more than thrice. Collecting records and getting them through airports/airplanes isn't easy!

They all look kind of silly to me: dog halloween costume - Google Product Search

Just bought a second hand complete ChaseCam system for my Atom. Retail for everything I picked up would be around $1,900. Shipped cost was $1,100. Got it from a friend at the AtomClub and didn't bicker about the price because I was lucky enough to be online when the ad was posted. There would have been a line behind me for sure. Here's a video taken by the previous owner: http://www.atomguy.com/091021CaliSpeedwayRovalS4.mp4 This will complete my collection of electronic gadgets for the Atom and will allow me to use the 'video only' mode of the ChaseCam system while overlaying the GPS-based data recorded by my TraqMate system (which is far more robust than the data recorded by the ChaseCam system as seen in the above video). I've also recently installed an AutoCom helmet to helmet communication system that integrates all of my other gadgets having output audio signals (iPod via JH13, cell phone, radar detector, and my Garmin GPS unit) and allows for crystal clear communication up to about 120mph without raising your voice. Gadgets that make going faster funner.

Seems like the birthday that will never end! Thanks for the belated wishes, guys. Interestingly, this was the first year since I joined Head-Fi that there wasn't a Happy Birthday thread for me there. At first, I thought, "Wow! I really have lost touch with the place..." But I think in the transition to Huddler, the daily birthday list feature was dropped. So now there aren't a dozen new birthday threads every day, which is probably a good thing. We have Headcase and Facebook for that.

On my g/f's advice, I've handed over today's plumbing job to some Jamaican guys she knows. They're mumbling a lot in patois, so I don't think it's going as planned. The agreed price was KYD 50, which is equivalent to USD 60, to get rid on the old 80 gallon water heater and install a new tankless water heater that I couldn't figure out how to do myself. She's already whispered to me that I should give them KYD 75, and I think that price may go up again soon.

Just watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees. Guess the Yanks will have to want it more badly tomorrow.

Oh wait, there's no more possibility! If the Braves lose tomorrow and the Padres beat the Giants tomorrow, then the Braves finish with 90 wins are are eliminated, while the Giants and Padres both finish with 91 wins. In that case, there would still be a one game playoff between the Giants and Padres in Sand Diego on Monday. The winner would get the NL West title and the loser would get the NL wildcard title. Thus, it's possible for the Giants to still get into the playoffs even if they lose two more games to the Padres; so long as the Phillies beat the Braves tomorrow afternoon, the Giants are in!

Concerning Al's Giants... If the Braves lose tomorrow afternoon, their only hope would be for the Giants to beat the Padres tomorrow evening which would give the Giants 92 wins and the NL West title, and would force a one game playoff between the Braves and Padres in Atlanta on Monday for the NL wildcard because each team would have finished the regular season with 90 wins. If the Braves win tomorrow afternoon against the Phillies, then they could win the NL wildcard outright with 91 wins if the Giants beat the Padres tomorrow night, giving the Giants the NL West with 92 wins and eliminating the Padres with 90 wins. But if the Braves win tomorrow against the Phillies and the Padres beat the Giants tomorrow night, then the Braves, Giants and Padres each finish the regular season with 91 wins. In that case, the Giants would play the Padres in San Diego on Monday to determine the NL West title, and the loser of that game would play the Braves in Atlanta on Tuesday to determine the NL wildcard. So despite losing two games in a row to the Padres, the Giant's are still in the best position. They'll have as many as 3 chances in 3 days in 3 different cities to make the playoffs. If they beat the Padres either in SF tomorrow or in SD on Monday, they'll win the NL West. Even if they lose both of those games, they'll still get the NL wildcard with a win in Atlanta on Tuesday. Most amazing in all of this is the fact that the Phillies will finish the regular season with the best record in baseball despite how poorly they played in the first half of the season.

Giants vs. Padres game. This is one of my favorite times of the year, from the end of the regular season through the World Series as we eliminate each of the contenders one by one until only just one team goes home happy.

Ric, I just looked back at the emails. I ordered my pair on August 1st and got the tracking number today, so figure a little over 2 months. Seems that Alex has more or less caught up with the backlog.

Oh, cool. Still on my wish list of travel destinations. Cayman Airways used to do charter trips to Panama, usually right before Christmas. It was quite popular, but both the cargo hold and the overhead storage bins would get overstuffed with all sorts of packages that people came back with. It was a massive shopping fest. So I think they stopped going there for a while. Not sure if that ever resumed or not.

I changed out most of the parts on a toilet today, and actually got everything to work! The flush value, filler valve, flapper, shut off valve, and even the water line that runs from the shut off valve to the toilet. I honestly didn't know that I had it in me to do this kind of work. Of course it took about 3 hours, whereas anyone with even a basic inkling of what to do could have done it in a half hour. I think I'll do the same for the other two toilets in the house just to upgrade them and as a measure of preventative maintenance. They still have the old fashioned floater things and the shut off valve that you have to twist around several times instead of the more modern 1/4 turn shut off. These things I'm learning...

I agree that the AD2000 are worth a try, and given that he's provided a budget of $450 (used), the LCD-2 aren't in the picture.

HDen, where is here? ^

The gift wrap thing doesn't work here because your duty free allowance only applies to items you bring in for your own consumption/enjoyment. The minute you tell them that you bought it for someone else, it's taxable. Likewise, it's never good to try to "hide" something by wrapping it in a towel, or the like. The minute they see that, they'll go through everything with a fine tooth comb, and write you up. You don't want to have an entry in "the book" with your name beside it! I normally send CD/DVD/BluRay cases in bulk (several big boxes of them) via cargo once every year or two. In other words, I bring the discs in on return flights in my carrying case, but then just let the cases pile up for a while at my mom's house in Illinois, or in my motorhome. Then when I'm sending something else (like the big plasma TV that is on it's way now), I'll box up all of the empty cases and send them along as well. That way there is nothing of value to declare - just empty cases.

I may have slipped a digit on my R10's way back when, as well. I think they cost $260.00, if memory serves. Actually, headphones are pretty easy to bring back on return flights because you can always pass them off as something you were traveling with (same for your laptop, camera, camcorder, a new cell phone, watch, Kindle, iPod, etc.). I think, to a great degree, there is an unwritten 'rule of reason' that comes into play, and you have to show respect for that. Don't try it with a BluRay player, for instance. Clothes are generally Ok as well, but the other day I brought in 10 new bath towels and 10 new large hand towels. By declaring all of that (for $140), I was able to divert attention from my massive Slappa 600 CD/DVD/BluRay carrying (suit)case which was nearly full with all sorts of new stuff that they could have tried to assess import duty on.

Got my "It's Ok to pay for them now" email today from Alex, and I've since done so. The timing is quite fortunate, as I'll be heading to Illinois next weekend for a high school reunion, and the LCD-2 should get there before I do. Otherwise, it would probably be Christmas before I'd be able to pick them up. Even better yet, I'll be able to bring them back to Cayman with me on the return flight and they'll be within my duty free allowance. Well, not really, but with a little creative accounting...

Thanks for the belated wishes as well. You guys are just ever so swell.