And now what did you do TODAY?

[Voltron]

Oh yeah, I was going to note your improved physical health status too, Wayne, but your mental health is seriously in question if you are truly bleaching your hair and beard for Santa duty. Can't you do something less extreme and semi-permanent? Have fun whatever it is.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I picked up my daughter's repaired iPhone 3GS where they moved the good screen, battery and vibrate button from my dead iPhone to her busted one (her vibrate button went flakey after it was dropped for the hundredth time).

As a bonus, they got the previously dead phone up and running as an iPod Touch with GPS (although using an old battery and cracked screen), for $65 total cost for both phones. I didn't want to spend an extra $99 for new glass just yet since it wont work as a phone. I put a screen protector on to prevent any cuts from the glass, and I'm weighing my options such as doing the glass myself for 1/3 the cost. It works just fine as a 32Gb music server via a Nuforce digital iPod dock with Coax S/PDIF out.

Edited September 24, 2011 by HeadphoneAddict

[HeadphoneAddict]

sounds like a pretty good deal, Larry.

Yeah, it beat spending $199 for apple to swap out the phone for a cracked screen.

[n_maher]

Excellent.

[jvlgato]

Drove to small town Wisconsin last night to bring the kids to their Nana and Papa's place. Anne and I will have today and tomorrow to ourselves to celebrate our 12th anniversary, which is tomorrow. We'll drive to Madison today, hang out there, maybe go to the New Glarus brewery for their Oktoberfest and tour, then go to a nice dinner tonight at http://www.harvest-restaurant.com, then Sunday brunch at http://www.sardinemadison.com.

Have to add that this is a pretty happy household because the Brewers clinched last night!

Edited September 24, 2011 by jvlgato

[swt61]

Glad to hear that you are sleeping well again. Yesterday I went to a doctor to consult about sleep apnea. My sleep test is 10/11.

I have to get this done myself. Not sure why I keep putting it off.

[Salt Peanuts]

Went to a local pet expo so Libby can see some dogs (she's been really wanting to interact with them whenever we see one during our walks). She was really cute at the expo and now we want an English mastiff.

[Voltron]

Congrat John and have a great anniversary celebration!

[guzziguy]

I have to get this done myself. Not sure why I keep putting it off.

If you know or think that you have sleep apnea, definitely have it done soon. Sleep apnea leads to really bad health issues. My cardiologist thinks that sleep apnea was the likely cause of my atrial fibrillation.

[Aimless1]

Been looking at Vizsla breeders and decided on one. Litter coming up and put down my deposit.

Just dropped off my 4 yr old grandson. Spent the morning at an open meet of

enthusiasts. Two years ago they had laid 8 miles of track, now it's up to about 15 miles. The guy who took us for a ride was awesome. Entertaining and we traveled almost all the laid track. Tunnels, tunnels with a bend, trestles, chanrge tracks, landings. Grown up world of model railroading. He even let my grandson operate the train at the end.

[skullguise]

Wow, I had heard sleep apnea can cause other issues, didn't realize it could be to that degree.....

Took my son to his soccer game today, they won 7-1 and he got a decent goal. Then off to my mother's for a visit, as she was in the next town over fromt eh soccer game. Nice time all around.

[Absorbine_Sr]

Drove to small town Wisconsin last night to bring the kids to their Nana and Papa's place. Anne and I will have today and tomorrow to ourselves to celebrate our 12th anniversary, which is tomorrow. We'll drive to Madison today, hang out there, maybe go to the New Glarus brewery for their Oktoberfest and tour, then go to a nice dinner tonight at http://www.harvest-restaurant.com, then Sunday brunch at http://www.sardinemadison.com.

Have to add that this is a pretty happy household because the Brewers clinched last night!

Happy Anniversary my friend. Sounds like you and Anne will be having an excellent time. Enjoy!

[Voltron]

Now for some great news/not so great news:

On the great side: our friend Claire in Paris -- to whose health a number of people drank when I heard she had cancer -- learned that surgery seems to have removed all trace of cancer and she does not need chemo at this time. She is doing pretty well and is very relieved not to have to go through that (obviously). Thanks for the well wishes and good vibes because they worked.

Discovered a not so great situation this morning upon waking up. My 2-tier wall mounted turntable rack (with CD player on the bottom shelf) had pulled off the wall and was collapsing into/onto the gear below it. A before picture will help this make sense:

Directly below the rack was an LCD TV being used as a computer monitor, which in turn was sitting on top of a Shunyata Hydra 8 power conditioner. The TT rack fell top first because the top shelf of the rack ended up on top of the TV while the lower shelf was pressed against the back of the TV, thereby holding the CDP in check. I think the bottom row of screws were still partly in the wall as the rack leaned forward. In addition, the Dual TT's power cord was plugged into the Hydra so it essentially tethered the TT to the top of the rack. The wooden board that sat directly under the TT had slid out forward and was on the floor in front of the TV, which shows that the TT really was hanging by a thread. Sadly, the small back panel holding the power cord, RCAs and ground wire was yanked out of the Dual and the connections inside may have been damaged, but I didn't have time to check. The RCAs from the TT were plugged into my Eddie Current Transcription Amplifier phono stage (second shelf down on the right) and that was half way pulled off its shelf but luckily not all the way off. It was also fortunate that the s/pdif from the CDP to the Moth DAC was long enough that there was no issue.

Of course, it all started to fall apart worse as I tried to pick everything up but I was able to keep it together long enough with my daughter's help. I was able to unplug everything, hold the rack up while she moved the TV and then get the rack onto the floor with TT and CDP still in place (even some of the CDs that had been on the second shelf). The sad part is how short the mounting screws look and how little -- or no -- wood is apparent on them even though JP and I were sure they were mounted on the studs.

This won't go back up until I am certain it is secure. If the TV wasn't there and the power cord didn't hold, the metal rack, CDP and TT likely would have smashed into the beautiful Cicadas and that would have been tragic. The truly amazing part is that this thing fell apart last night while we were asleep or it happened yesterday during the day and Claire didn't notice it when she went to bed. The lights were out by the time I got there. The idea that such a crazy pile-up could last from yesterday afternoon until this morning without collapsing is even more incredible to me than not waking up if it crashed down during the night.

Further to this saga, I just tried the Dual TT for the first time since the crash and remarkably both the power cord and RCAs are functional and seem solidly attached. Thanks for hugging her cousin, Mike, I know that helped.

[boomana]

Happy anniversary!

Aimless, Vizslas are great dogs. My kidhood neighbor always had a couple around. He took them hunting, but the they loved playing with the neighborhood kids, and he let them run around with us. We weren't allowed fences in our neighborhood, so the backyards all opened up into one giant kid-dog playground. We had fun.

[morphsci]

Sounds like a great anniversary for you two John. Madison is a great town, have a great time.

[grawk]

Missed my son's hockey game (they won 8-4) to cook crawfish étouffée for 6 people from church (sold the dinner at a fund raising auction). Was a lot of fun, made some new friends, and enjoyed the company of old.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Further to this saga, I just tried the Dual TT for the first time since the crash and remarkably both the power cord and RCAs are functional and seem solidly attached. Thanks for hugging her cousin, Mike, I know that helped.

What luck (or is that build quality)!!?

[Dreadhead]

Got up and finally did a real ride (I did a short shake out ride yesterday) on my new wheels even though I have not managed to meet the conditions I set myself for riding them. They are fucking awesome and drop the weight of my bike by more than a pound. Unfortunately I gained about 30lbs over the last few months so I'm no faster that's for sure... Dieting is going to suck but I'm tired of this shit.

Now listening to my GS-X and HD800s while my wife is at brunch with a friend. Again fucking awesome.

[Aimless1]

Saw this recumbent on the 7.5 inch railroad yesterday.

Edited September 25, 2011 by Aimless1

[mrarroyo]

Saw this recumbent on the 7.5 inch railroad yesterday.

That is pretty cool and the best part you do not have to deal with "but-head drivers"

[Dreadhead]

Got a extra small washer/dryer combo for free! My wife's friend wanted to get rid of it after upgrading. Cancelled the one we had on order at Lowes.

[Voltron]

Nice!! Perfect for the weekend house.

[Dreadhead]

Exactly!

[Salt Peanuts]

Congrats on the free washer/dryer!

[Grahame]

Back in The New World after two weeks in Blighty . Intermittent internet access compounded by actually spending time with the people and places visited. Slowly catching up - you folks sure post/buy/drink/do a lot Seem to have acquired some impending nastiness from re-breathing the same air as 400 other folks in a tin can for 10 1/2 hours. Lets see how that develops. Far too much to recount now, but plenty of stuff that may be of interest to the group. It appears that general and specific congrats are in order; assume that I have already offered you one in my absence.