Wmcmanus

This would actually be perfect if only there was enough headroom in the attic space above the garage. Problem is, even where the existing attic stairs are (the usual pulldown flimsy attic stairs), there is a/c ductwork in the way, and not nearly enough vertical clearance once you're up there. So if I'm going to cut a bigger opening in the ceiling joists to allow larger items to be stored up there, I'll have to do it in the living room, right off of the kitchen. Don't think I'd get approval from the other 1/4 for that. She's not my other half officially. I've still got a majority interest in my life at this point, but I think this would violate the peace treaty we made a while ago about house related matters. Basically, I'm free to do anything I want with audio equipment and such, but I can't be doing the kinds of things they do on the Man Show. Probably should get an engineer to look at it. I thought I'd be alright installing the attic lift in the corner I have in mind because all of my interior walls are made of concrete block construction with rebar and poured concrete in every other block hole, and very solid extra wide footings down to Mother Earth. Problem is with the pulley system, the weight of the load goes straight down in the 4 corners. Thus, I can't rely on the structural strength of the walls that the motor assembly would be mounted on, since the load gets transferred elsewhere -- to the attic floor as well as the roof joists which is where you tie in the 4"x 4" posts for each corner. So, ya... it's not something you can assume will work without a glitch. I don't want to be causing sags in my roofline, or worse! But with the right advice, I'm sure there would be a way to put in more vertical support to ensure that wouldn't be a problem since the interior walls are load bearing and can be used to anchor any necessary roof jacks to. Were it just me, like it's been for 47+ years, that's exactly what I'd do!

The spot I have in mind (which is the most out of the way in terms of traffic flow) would require a small spiral staircase or something like the attic lift, or possibly Kevin's idea of a smallish scissor jack. Actually, that would be quite the conversation piece! But as he said, I could keep it outside and use it to get on the roof, etc. There are two other spots where regular L-shaped staircases could be put in. You would have to put a landing about 3-4 steps up, then turn 90 degrees and climb the rest of the way up into the attic space. But that's in the front room of the house, so I think it would look a bit awkward there. There is an archway spanning a 6' wide opening between two large rooms along that wall, so putting in a staircase there would break up the uniformity of that look. Unless, of course, I were to put two L-shaped staircases in, one on each side of the archway, which is another thought I've played around with, but that then doubles the cost and more importantly, takes up twice as much floor space.

Good ideas, Doug, some of which I've considered. You're right about the barn not working here! I've thought about building a 16' x 24' detached building in the back yard, to serve as a storage shed. But I wouldn't want it to look like crap, so it would have to be concrete block construction and finished exactly like the house itself, including any windows, doors, roofing, etc. That way it wouldn't look out of place. It could be strategically located in a corner of the back yard such that when I finally get around to building my home theater room (which I've been dying to do but cannot quite afford yet), the detached building would become attached to the then expanded house (with some roof modifications to the previously detached building). That's a real possibility. In terms of getting things up into the attic, that's no problem, and would just take 2 or 3 Jamaican guys. They can lift anything! But as you say, once a spiral staircase is installed, you couldn't get anything back down unless you put in a dormer with large windows, but then that would present all sorts of other logistical problems (i.e., open the window, and then what?). It might be possible to bolt in the spiral staircase such that it could be removed on rare occasion, pushed aside, and then bolted back in once you've moved stuff up or down, but that's not too practical either. Thus the attic lift idea to provide as much flexibility as possible and still not break the bank. But then it's not practical or safe for human traffic, so the attic could only be used for storage. If I have the building constructed in the back yard right away (for storage), the attic idea could be put on hold (not needed right away for storage). Then if ever it was converted to livable space in the future, I'd just have to live with a spiral staircase. There is about 9' of headroom in the center, so it would make a nice room for a teenager one day.

Yup, for sure! I've been talking about adding a home theater room (and some other space) for years now. It's not something I can do right away, though. To make the kind of addition that I have in mind, it will be a pretty expensive investment, plus it will require planning approval and so on. The baby will be here in another 3 months, so I'd like to at least have a bedroom available by then so that I don't have to hear about how my "stuff" is more important to me than my child, yada yada. That, and I'm kind of getting excited about it. Here's another alternative. http://www.savariaconcord.com/pdf/brochures/telecab.pdf Quite utilitarian, but probably not nearly as expensive as most home elevators, which can reach $30k in a hurry. I'll have to call them tomorrow for pricing info. What I like about it is that you don't need to prepare a "pit" area under the ground floor landing for this one. Also, most home elevators require that you have structural support along a side wall on all floors, so most of the options out there don't work for attic applications. This one looks like it will work and might not be too expensive. My guess would be about $10k, but hopefully less. Were I to go this route, then I'd almost for sure convert the attic room into livable space (put in a couple of dormers with windows), but I wouldn't have to put in stairs -- a good thing since there isn't an easy place to do that anyway. It would have to be an elevator like this one or spiral stairs. Edit: Doh! Found the price for this on another site. $21,975 plus installation. Forget that!

Here's another option, although I don't think it will move any faster. Hercules Vertical Platform Lift - Commercial Plus, with the attic lift, everything tucks neatly into the ceiling when it's not in use, so you forget that it's there. Whereas this thing would have a constant presence, taking up floor space, and I'd then have to come up with some sort of trap door at ceiling height. This whole exercise is kind of frustrating. Bottom line is that I've outgrown my house and need to add on some extra space or else de-clutter, and I'm not too good at the latter.

I'm thinking about getting one of these to gain better access to my attic: Products The largest model is 4' x 6' and lifts up to 750 pounds. Cost is $2,595 plus shipping, so nearly $3k to Florida. Then the on-shipping to Cayman and 20% import duty when it gets here. Then paying someone to prepare the opening, do the install, and make it all look finished. Probably $5k or more before all is said and done. But that would allow me to: 1) Get most of the junk in my attic out of there, much of which is my former fiancee's accumulated possessions from living in Cayman for 17 years prior to moving to the US almost 10 years ago. She's shown zero interest in any of it, even the childhood pics of her kids. So I'd sift through everything looking for keepsakes (for her kids, not her), and then give away the rest. 2) Reinforce the attic floor by doubling up the joists, then install a plywood floor. Then put in an a/c system of some sort, some overhead lighting and electrical outlets, and then sheetrock the walls making it into a temperature controlled 18' x 30' storage room. Could always go back at a later date and make it into livable space. 3) Move everything from my extremely packed one car garage up into the attic, principally wooden crates for speakers and amps and other large audio related boxes, but some other stuff as well that needs to be kept but is in the way. 4) Move all exercise equipment that is presently spread across 4 rooms into the garage, which would then become an official gym, although of course it will rarely get used. I might, might, be able to fit everything in there. 5) The newly freed up front bedroom (which now houses about half of the gym equipment) will then become the baby's room, when he or she arrives this Spring. I can't think of a cheaper way to get it all done, plus I'd get to ride up and down the redneck elevator now and then (it takes about 90 seconds to move up or down 10 feet). Either that, or I could sell some of the gym equipment and audio gear that I don't use so much these days. Nah!!!

Ya, I suspect that wouldn't be a good thing.

That just sounds really wrong.

I made a funny post at Head-Fi today. It was a combination of funny 'ha ha' and funny 'ain't that strange', but it didn't have anything to do with funny 'gender confused'. It was in the HD800 for Ti thread in response to someone grumbling about the fact that they don't have 140 contributors yet and thus cannot afford the HD800 at this point: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/6331665-post204.html Ok, so it wasn't that funny. But at least I made myself snicker.

That's true, because it's a logarithmic scale, is it not? That is just beyond my imagination or comprehension.

Yup, it was 52 miles off of the East End of Grand Cayman (which is about 70 miles from where I live) and located 6.2 miles down. What I'm learning now is that a 5.8 earthquake is nothing to laugh about! The Haiti earthquake was a 7.0 and located 6.0 miles underground. But it was centered just 10 miles from Port au Prince. All of this leads me to believe that we were extremely lucky! Had this quake come a little closer it could have caused some serious damage. About the only damage in Cayman that I've heard of was a 28' diameter sinkhole that occurred at an apartment complex on the seashore (see pic). SinkHole Caused By Earthquake In Cayman Is. - CNN iReport

This is a really good way of looking at it. When the endless accumulation of wealth continues to be the primary motivator in their lives, the single thing that they're "worried" about or can get "excited" about (the game of money making just for the sake of it), they tend to become rather sad, isolated and lonely characters. Howard Hughes was a good example of this, although he had a lot of other things going on in his confused brain.

I agree that not everyone is driven by "greed" but money is something that affects different people in different ways, much like alcohol and drugs. There are those who become addicted to the accumulation of wealth, material things and the status it brings, such that money (and closely related things/concerns) becomes the central, driving force in their lives. In my experience, people of "ordinary" means (which might also include highly successful professionals and business owners who are comfortable financially but are not filthy rich) are more likely to be satisfied with their lot in life than the rare few who are exceptionally wealthy. The average to above successful person tends to lead a more balanced life, and doesn't worry (or focus almost exclusively) on money matters. The ultra wealthy tend to be less trusting (always concerned that someone will use them for their money, no doubt borne out by personal experiences) and thus often have a more limited number of friends in their inner circle. They seem surprised when you treat them like anyone else you might meet on the street by showing them that you're comfortable with them, person to person, and are not intimidated by their stature. I agree that the majority of people are not this way, but almost all of our clients were extremely guarded and suspicious. Some of them are more edgy than others, of course. But it's as though their wealth creates more burdens than joys and they cannot live "normal" lives unless they go somewhere on vacation where they can blend into a crowd where nobody knows them. Interesting characters though.

True enough, and that's the real issue here. That, and the fact that the legal system is far too soft on these people. Like anything, they can buy their way out of it with money, even when it's not their own.

Part of it for me, as well, was the fact that I was in an advisory capacity. Thus, by the very nature of my relationship with these clients, I was talking with them about their money and what they wanted to do with it. Not just new investment opportunities, but how to structure their affairs, reviewing the performance of their portfolios, etc. They never exerted any huge pressures on us nor did they show distrust in our advice, but there was always this sense that they expected nothing but upside. Even though they willingly took on risk, they were always surprised when the coin didn't turn up heads 100% of the time. I got the impression that it's all a huge game for them. All about winning.

I survived an earthquake today! All of 5.8 and some 70 miles from my house. It lasted all of 2 seconds, but was still kind of a weird feeling. M5.8 – Cayman Islands Region

Looks like Drew might not be able to offer the connector mod afterall: Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio - View Single Post - Beyerdynamic T1 Tesla Headphone I hope he's able to sort this out, because cable swapping is always fun.

I worked as a relationship manager in the private banking arena here in Cayman for 5 years. Our minimum assets under management requirement to take on a new client was $10 million. Most of the trusts were in the $20-$50 million range, and one held nearly $20 billion of investment assets. I never met or talked on the phone to a single client who was what I'd describe as "happy" or "contented" with his or her level of wealth. It didn't really matter what age they were, what country they were from (all over the world), what their source of wealth was (whether earned directly via personal business interests, indirectly via investments, or inherited). They all wanted more. That was essentially my job: to make extremely wealthy but never satisfied people even wealthier. While it was exciting at times, eventually it got old. It's amazing what big money can do to people. In this woman's case, she was already prone this sort of "the more the merrier" mentality, so the fact that she got away with it for so long just fed into her ego, greed, and sense of entitlement. In her mind, it was her company because she was the one in charge and Michael Koss was a big idiot in her eyes. It's interesting how she created all sorts of diversions from having to face the truth of what her life really was: a complete and utter fraud. My guess is that none of these charity causes actually meant a thing to her. It was all about being seen and appreciated/valued by the high society folks she like to roll with, as being so "generous" (with her employer's money, of course).

"Her sense of style was impeccable," one friend said. "Her wardrobe was beautiful. I was in awe." Uh, ya...

Raffle for Doug! I'll hold the money.

Now that's what I'd call an honest review!

Happy birthday, Grahame! As my ever-drunken barber from back home always says, "You're a true gentlemen and scholar, and there aren't too many of us left these days!"

Yes, and he's diggin' on the EAR V20 and K1000 set up! I think I'll blow the dust off of that combo myself tomorrow in his honor. It's been a while since I've imbibed on that liquidy smooth sound.

I want a pair of IEMs that also have bass traps that can be inserted in my nose. They've just not trying hard enough.

About as comfy as sitting perfectly still in a dentist's chair for an hour for fear that they'll slip a millimeter and send you back to the drawing board again in an effort to get anything close to a reasonable seal. Indeed. But I still think they're great. Just wish I was one of the lucky ones who can get them to seal. It really distracts from my listening enjoyment with them.