Quote from: quiller on February 26, 2011, 05:16:33 PM
We were without electricity and natural gas for three days, and there is still a slab of sidewalk ice that hours of determined chopping cannot get rid of, more than a few inches a day. My sainted frau put up with my whining only one night, and then we went motel-shopping. By the time we found one, 40 miles away, it had become a regional nightmare. Three counties were largely without power, about 190,000 customers of just our power company alone.

Inside it was about 42 at the coldest, but outside it was thousands of downed tree limbs and three outside tree-service contractors from three states, working 24/7 to get roads clear and room for the power companies to restore downed lines. Two trees on our property took massive losses from the ice, but our house was undamaged as far as I know.

I was NOT fit company for this board until today. Even the one night of actual heat didn't help that much, because outside our motel room it was never more than freezing (and usually much worse).

As overnight temps fell below 19 degrees, our car wouldn't start without an hour of a heat lamp directly over the engine. To get that lamp in a strange town and STILL have enough time to get the car started BEFORE check-out was an adventure in itself, and a 2-mile hike for Milady.

Tomorrow we go back up there. I left my wallet in my haste to leap into that newly-started car. Just in time to enjoy the $3.39/gallon gas prices that are now common to our area. I think I already know who's driving back home.

Damn!!!

Q and Naleta......I will never complain again.  :o At least with the solar we are never without power and the propane and woodstove keep the house comfortable.  (Although Solar and I do not always agree as to what "comfortable" should be.)

I am glad you got power back and things are now looking better.  Hopefully it will all melt soon and life can return to normal.  Q good luck on the new TV.  :) :)

Quote from: Solars Toy on February 27, 2011, 09:59:38 AM
Q and Naleta......I will never complain again.  :o At least with the solar we are never without power and the propane and woodstove keep the house comfortable.  (Although Solar and I do not always agree as to what "comfortable" should be.)

I am glad you got power back and things are now looking better.  Hopefully it will all melt soon and life can return to normal.  Q good luck on the new TV.  :) :)

I'm thinking about a 40" LED model with a fast refresh rate. And a new DVD/Blu-Ray playback unit (for the inevitable time new issues will only come in the Blu-Ray format). Maybe $600 to $700 range, if I get lucky.

The old TV had been acting up, anyway, with brief vertical flashes a few pixels wide, just for a few seconds every hour or so of use. So this wasn't totally unexpected---just one more irritation in a week that DEFINITELY could have gone a lot better. 

Quote from: quiller on February 27, 2011, 12:55:07 PM
I'm thinking about a 40" LED model with a fast refresh rate. And a new DVD/Blu-Ray playback unit (for the inevitable time new issues will only come in the Blu-Ray format). Maybe $600 to $700 range, if I get lucky.

The old TV had been acting up, anyway, with brief vertical flashes a few pixels wide, just for a few seconds every hour or so of use. So this wasn't totally unexpected---just one more irritation in a week that DEFINITELY could have gone a lot better. 

Look for a unit that plays both Blu-ray and regular DVDs, we have one of each, such a pain in the ass switching back and forth.

Quote from: Solar on February 27, 2011, 01:08:33 PM
Look for a unit that plays both Blu-ray and regular DVDs, we have one of each, such a pain in the ass switching back and forth.

I have ask around for them for the good wife.  They look at me like what you talking about old man.  LOL

Quote from: walkstall on February 27, 2011, 01:13:45 PM

I have ask around for them for the good wife.  They look at me like what you talking about old man.  LOL

We had one, but it failed, couldn't seem to find another, but then, we only looked at Bes Buy and Sam's.
Heres one at Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-UP5000-HD-DVD-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000VDG0UK

It was a Sony Blu-ray player.  It would also play regular DVD's  :)

Quote from: Solar on February 27, 2011, 01:27:22 PM

Heres one at Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-UP5000-HD-DVD-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000VDG0UK

:o :o :o Okey-dokey! At that price I'll pay $35/each at Wally World for a pair of regular DVD players --- and have something new to grouse about when (and if) I ever do buy an affordable Blu-Ray player, and have to switch back and forth.

Or I could just buy a switcher box of some sort. I'm sure there must be someone out there making one for the collectors not wanting to get caught out in the cold (as I was with reel to reel audio).

Quote from: quiller on February 27, 2011, 05:31:05 PM
:o :o :o Okey-dokey! At that price I'll pay $35/each at Wally World for a pair of regular DVD players --- and have something new to grouse about when (and if) I ever do buy an affordable Blu-Ray player, and have to switch back and forth.

Or I could just buy a switcher box of some sort. I'm sure there must be someone out there making one for the collectors not wanting to get caught out in the cold (as I was with reel to reel audio).

Personally, I think Blu-Ray is over stated, yes, there is a difference, but not so much that it takes away from the movie if you don't have it.

I too have an Akai 4 channel reel to reel, its all I have left out of a complete set, Pioneer tuner, 15" Kenwood 6 way speakers and two Sansui somethings, I still have the Sansuis' though.
But the reel to reel will be someones collector item when I'm dead and long, long gone.

I bet I couldn't even give it away now. :'(

To my knowledge, consumer-grade open-reel decks were last made in the late 1980s, and professional-model units not much longer than that. Hobbyists in Old Time Radio circles do buy non-working models for parts, and the Akai (aka Roberts) units sold at places like Radio Shack ARE valued for parts.

http://reviews.ebay.com/AKAI-Reel-to-Reel-Tape-Decks-Guide_W0QQugidZ10000000000835946

Also of note, this repair site, in New Mexico....

http://fieldengineer.homestead.com/

Quote from: tbone0106 on February 26, 2011, 08:22:17 PM

Here's a suggestion that might pick off more than one bird for you, MM. Try a website called Bookmooch -- www.bookmooch.com


I was a member until I had to move twice in about six months... I need to get signed up again. Anyhow, if you can bear to part with some books, this is a good way to do it while gaining access to a TREMENDOUS source of free reading material. Unless they've changed things, membership is free; the only thing you pay for is postage when YOU mail a book TO someone.


Keep in mind that most of the titles available are softcover (naturally), but if it's the actual content you're after -- along with that priceless feel of bound paper in your hands -- who cares?

Thank you for the suggestion, Tbone, I didn't read this until just now, and have already donated stuff to our library (in return, I get to use the geneology library for free!). We also have a really great secondhand bookstore here that I love, I just trade in books for other books, or an amount "on account", they don't pay for the trade-ins, but allow one to get more books. I kept one Stephen King, "Salem's Lot", my favorite of his (I'm very disappointed with his stuff over the last 20 years or so) and one Dean Koontz, "Strangers", my favorite of his.

It's getting harder to hold a book and turn the pages (I have RA), and so Mr. Mouse is going to buy me a Kindle if I want one. It's why I'm asking about pictures, etc. I love my biographies, especially of England's monarchs, and others, and of course pictures, portraits, maps, etc are included in those. I'm also looking at Barnes and Noble's Nook, it has a touch screen and looks really nice. From what ST has been kind enough to share, I think I can download most everything to read on one of those, and I can still buy a biography or history book, so I'd get the best of both worlds! Little Women for free....wow....

To Naleta: your sig pic is very pretty!  :)