jhoak

Congrats!!! My first one arrived a bit over 2 months ago. There ain't nothing like it. Welcome to the Grandpa club.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/emotiva-acquires-sherbourn-technologies http://www.cepro.com/article/sherbourn_acquired_by_oem_maker_jade_design/K5/

Here he comes guys. Be safe. PLEASE!

UMMM... No. I'm fairly sure she's not British. I am pretty sure that she could "spice up" my life a good bit. [] [] [] Yea... I'm a fan. [:$]

Do you have something to put the peanut butter on or are we talking out of the jar with a spoon? Smooth or chunky? Do you have a jar of marshmellow creme? A half tablespoon peanut butter with a half tablespoon of marshmellow cream is a yummy treat Yesterday I topped off the tank in the car, bought 4 bags of ice and 3 24-packs of beer. I generally keep enough canned and dried foods here to keep my belly full for a month or so. I won't starve. Other prep tips... If you have a gas grill make sure that you have a full tank of propane. A full spare tank is a good idea too. If you're a charcoal guy have a couple (or more) of big bags of charcoal on hand. A stockpile of paper plates, bowls, and cups is a good idea. Quite often the municipal water services go offline so washing dishes isn't an option. Speaking of lack of water... It takes 2 gallons to flush the toilet. Your average hot tub holds around 500 gallons or 250 flushes. UMMM... Yea... Ask me how I know that. In August of 2004 my house went 9 days without power and 14 days without water after Charlie. One quickly learns how to adapt in the face of adversity. I never did get the GF at the time to understand the concept of "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down". I was down to sponging the remaining water out of the hot tub to flush the toilet before the county water service finally came back online. I may crack jokes about hurricanes and the aftermath but the fact is it's serious business. You don't realize how dependant you are on things like electricity, water, and the local grocery until they're not available. Good luck and above all be safe to all who are in the path of this storm.

And just that quickly he's been hit by the "spam hammer". C-YA!!!

I'll choose "looking" dumb and surviving over "being" dumb every time. Here's current wind map. Marshall is on the north side of the lake shown. I would imagine he's seeing some pretty ugly weather right now. I'm about 60 miles northwest of Marshall. Right now the wind isn't too bad but it's been picking up steadily over the last hour or so.

And a quick note to all of the northern gulf coast (FL, AL, LA, & MS) members... If the authorties give the word to evacuate DO IT. Don't hesitate. Don't argue. Don't decide to "hunker down and ride it out". Just go. The sooner the better. Your house and your stuff is replacable. Your life is NOT.

The center of Isaac is currently a bit over 300 miles south of me. We're getting rain squawls coming through here. No bad winds at all but a lot breezer than normal. Locally they're not expecting anything really ugly. Just a couple of days of rain and storms. Here's the satellite shot from 1:30 PM It's a biggun. If it gains much strength once it gets in to the gulf some folks in north FL and AL are going to have a few very bad days.

I did manage to pull off the surprise lunch today. It was epic. I thought for a moment that my Dad was going to break in to tears. Twenty minutes or so after I had delivered my Mom to the rehab place for her visit one of their church friends showed up to visit. It was exactly the diversion I needed to slip out unnoticed. I made the short trip to their favorite diner and placed the order. A few minutes later I was on my way back. D@MN my car smelled good... When I got back to the rehab facility Dad was in the bathroom changing clothes. He came out and the first thing out of his mouth is "It smells like food in here". He looks at the wall clock and says "Did they bring lunch early?". I almost busted out laughing when he said "It smells like Randy's (the diner) fish". I had set out both lunches, Dad's on his bed side table and Mom's on the small dresser across the room. When Dad opened the cover on the fish is when I thought he was going to cry. He said "I can't believe you did this". I told him "after all these years of the same Friday meal I couldn't stand for you to miss it for something as trivial as a knee replacement". I think I truly made his day. After all of the years that they cared for me it feels good to give back a little bit. Quite simply the very best $13 I've spent in a very VERY long time.

I'm on track to do the lunch thing tomorrow. I just have to figure out the lie that lets me sneak out to go pick it up. I wish I could join them (the fish is really good) but I have somewhere I need to be not long after and can't hang around to eat with them. Based on today's facility provided lunch he's going to like it there. Lunch was a nice sized ham slice with red eye gravy, 1/2 a baked sweet potato, a bowl of greens (collard I think - I'm not a greens fan), a cornbread muffin, a BIG slice of Boston Cream Pie, and a glass of iced tea. It all looked very good (except for the greens) and smelled even better. Hell... That's a better meal than I eat 99.9% of the time. They're starting him out with twice a day 90 minute physical therapy sessions. Depending on progress he may go to three times a day in a few days. I've never been in this type of facility either as a patient or a visitor. I was surprised at the amount of high-tech exercise equipment that is within a few steps of every room. All of it is available to Dad any time he wants to use it and the staff actively encourages its use. That's a good thing. My Dad has never been one to just sit around. He has to be doing something all the time. My bet right now is that he'll be busier than ever and having a good time. Yes... There is and will be pain. That's the price of admission. But my guess is that 6 weeks (or less) from now he'll be saying "why did I wait so long to have this done?". Once again thanks for the prayers and good thoughts. I can't help but think the collective "good wishes" of a bunch of folks haven't had a positive effect on his recovery.

And just for fun... My parent's have been eating their lunch at the same local diner every Friday for several years now. It's a small (35 seats) family owned place. The food is freshly cooked (they don't own a microwave) and quite good. Every Friday my M&D order exctly the same thing. Fish & Chips but they both substitute a small house salad for the chips. By the way the fish is excellent. Yes... I've had it MANY times. It has become such a routine that the owners of the diner drop the fish in the frier and begin the salad prep the minute that M&D walk through the door. Here's the "fun" part... Tomorrow (Thursday) Dad is going to be transferred from the hospital post knee replacement to a rehab facility. Friday morning I'm going to call their regular diner and order up 3 fish and chip (with salads rather than chips) "to go" orders and deliver them to the rehab place. This coming Friday would have been the first Friday that they haven't had their "routine" lunch in a very long time. It's my goal to fix that. Cross your fingers that I can actually pull it off.

Do you have one of those morphine drip machines with the "happy button"? After 3 days of my Mom I think I'd like to be hooked up for a while. Oh... Yea... My Dad might have a use for it too. [] []

Thanks again for all the thoughts, prayers, and good "vibes". Dad is in day 3 of his stay at the hospital. He's on track to be transferred to the rehab facility at some point tomorrow (Thursday). He's doing quite well. Where the "typical" range of motion for a knee replacement patient at this point is around 70 degrees Dad is testing at 115 degrees. He takes walks (with the aid of a walker) around the halls of his floor. He wants to try without the walker but has been ordered (quite emphatically) by the surgeon and the therapist to NOT put full weight on the new knee for a few more days. There is (as expected) considerable pain but he says that every step is a little less effort and a bit less pain. They've taken him off of the morphine drip and cut back on the pain meds. They have removed the immobilizer from his knee and he's now only wearing a dressing on the incision. We (Dad, Mom & I) met with a representative from the rehab facility yesterday. She said that considering his progress he could expect a 5 to 10 day stay at the facility rather than the "normal" 14 to 21 day stay. He says he'll be out in 3 days. We'll see. Watching this unfold has been a testament to the value of a lifetime of hard work. While it's the hard work that caused the knee problems that very same hard work has left him (even at 76) with a physic that gives him an advantage over many others who have knee replacement done. And then there's his hard headed determination to not be beaten by anything... But that's another story.

Voted. Your favorite currently has a 60% to 40% lead.

On one hand you really have to wonder who thought this was a good idea. On the other hand somebody is laughing all the way to the bank. I wish I had thought of it first

It's kinda funny to me that you mention the "little one". I sent an email to my son about his grandpa's knee surgery and suggested that if he were to visit he should take the great-grand-daughter along.

Probably the wrong place to post this but my Dad can use good thoughts and prayers My Dad spent his entire life as a "hands on" General Contractor. He retired a few years ago but the many years of working on hands and knees finally took its toll. Dad had knee replacement surgery this morning. The surgery went well and there were no surprises or problems. Normally he'd be released the next day but he has a history of blood clot problems. One episode landed him in the hospital for a couple of weeks with several clots lodged in his lungs. Can you say pulmonary embolism? Came real close to losing him that time. Because of his clot history they're going to keep him in the hospital longer than usual and administer blood thinners for a couple of days. Since my Mom is in no condition to care for him (she has a world of her own issues) he'll be going from the hospital to a rehab facility. There's been no indication of how long he'll be there. As I understand it he'll be in the rehab facility until he's able to get around under his own power. After that a physical therapist will go to his house twice a day for 4 to 6 weeks. If you're inclined toward prayer please do so on his behalf. Otherwise good thoughts and vibes are appreciated. Oh... And while you're at it lets see if we can convince him to see the audiolgist. The man can't hear shit but refuses to admit it. Thanks guys!!!

The one on the far right is my go to tool for de-braiding shielding. It's still a tedious job though.

Avoid cooking bacon while naked... []

If you make the world's most expensive whatever someone with WAY more money than sense will buy it just so they can say that they own the world's most expensive whatever. Being the world's most expensive whatever does NOT automatically make that item the world's "best" whatever. Just the most expensive. P.T. Barnum said it best. His words are as true today as they were in his time.

I have a couple dozen of these that I'll be happy to sell you. The work great as cable elevators. [] [] What do you think a fair price is? []

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head. He then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep. An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out. The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks. Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.' The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with a non-stop chatting wife, 6 children, so he's just trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'

From the dimensions given in the drawing it has to be a 12" driver.

Thanks! I have high hopes for the outcome. I love sophisticated "big buck" cuisine as much as the next guy. Maybe more. I also have an appreciation for your basic foods. The cheap stuff. Some would call it "soul food". No matter what you call it it's good eats. There was a time when the first wife and I lived on beans and rice. Every now and again we got to add a little bit of meat to that but by and large our sole source of protein was legumes. We survived. And procreated. Go figure?