Tank birthday, 47+ years

OP
OP
Paul B

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,900
Reaction score
60,538
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Jekyl, I agree so much with your post you have no Idea. :)

My Dad died when I was 10 but he also did everything. Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough to teach me so I had to learn on my own. But I did. ;Smuggrin

Too much coddling leads to never learning how to succeed.

Too much coddling leads to more that that. It also makes Snowflakes.
When I was in Basic Training I hated my drill sargent's as they beat me up, cursed at me, worked me almost to death etc. Then after the 8 weeks I respected those guys and found out what a hard job that is.

To take a stupid kid who thinks he is cool, but is really a snowflake and make him into a soldier who can do what he is supposed to do in a war and not run away. You don't get that from coddling. Coddling just makes the parent feel better but it is a "huge" detriment to the kid.

My Mother was very strict and I would get beatings all the time and not only with her hand. It was a belt or shoe. But she used to tell me that she didn't want to be my friend, she wanted to be my Mother and she taught me how to not be a Snowflake.

Between growing up without a Dad, having a very strict Sicilian Mother and the War there is very little that bothers me. I really don't need air conditioning, I will eat just about anything and it doesn't matter much if it is over cooked or under cooked. Bugs, rats, mice, snakes etc, don't mean much to me but I think I would eat them if I had to. ;Wideyed
In Nam I used to wake up with muddy rat footprints all over me many times. The rats don't bother me, but if they would wipe their feet, I certainly wouldn't mind :p

People just complain too much, get over it and just do it. :cool:

Looks delicious. ;Yuck

 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Paul B

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,900
Reaction score
60,538
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
(I know I already posted this someplace on here so if I did, go and watch Oprah)

. A few Jeeps ago we got a new Cherokee home and the first day the thing died right in the middle of a busy street. My wife was driving and she called me. There was no lights, no engine noise, no nothing. The car had 4 miles on it so I said call Jeep.

A truck came and they carried it back to the dealership. The next day they gave me the paper with all the things they fixed (on a car with 4 miles)

The next day the same thing happens to my wife and she called Jeep.

Again they gave me a list of all the things they fixed on a car with about 6 miles on it.
The guy said, if it happens again we will give you a new car. I said how new will it be? This one has 6 miles on it so how long do these cars last?

Two days went by and the same thing happened. I said "Don't call Jeep" :mad:

I got out the schematic and found the problem. There is about a fifty pin connector behind a kick plate on the rider's side of the car and one prong in the center was bent over so the thing wouldn't make a good connection.

I then cut out a 2' cardboard arrow and taped it to the dashboard pointing at the connector and on it I wrote "Fix this and don't touch anything else"

Then I called Jeep. :cool:
 
OP
OP
Paul B

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,900
Reaction score
60,538
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I love breaking chops like that.
Once a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away. No, that is a different story. :p

I was a General foreman electrician erecting a 45 story building on Fifth Ave in Manhattan. We took over the job from a company that went out of business.

I found out that the thing was built with no electric installed even though it looked like it was wired. The last contractor just put in the basics to look good but that was all installed temporarily.

There wasn't even electrical service there, just a 400 amp panel which is enough to power a nice size house but for a 45 story building, that won't even run one elevator.

We had a meeting with the owners and they wanted me to get the thing powered up before winter so the pipes wouldn't freeze.

The owners didn't understand that there wasn't power in the building and we had to dig up 5th Ave and spend literally millions of dollars just to get basic service.

I prepared something before the meeting as I knew they would ask me this.

They said, OK what do we need to do to get the building powered up real fast.

I had the apprentices drag in the end of a huge several thousand pound coil of electrical cable. This was 500,000 mcm cable which is the biggest cable we use in construction and the conductor is thicker than a good Italian Sausage.

On the end of the cable I taped a plug, like is on a lamp.
I told them to get power right away, you have to take this cable across the street to Trump Tower and plug it into the lobby as that is the only way to get power to this building because YOU HAVE NO ELECTRICAL SERVICE HERE.

My boss almost hit the floor laughing.

I ran that job for 2 years with almost 200 men. The payroll alone was about $7,000,000.00 a month not including materials.

The building owner gave my boss a check for $4,000,000.00 for a month and my Boss who had no sense of humor jumped on the table, ran across all the food to the owner, slid to his belly and strangled the guy.
Real story.

He got the rest of his money and I got a raise. :cool:
 

Jekyl

GSP is the devil and clowns are bad pets
View Badges
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Messages
11,129
Reaction score
15,324
Location
Michigan
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ahhhhhh the major downfall of being an independent contractor. Everyone wants A+ work for the price of an unlicensed, uninsured illegal. This is exactly why I moved to only dealing with vacant properties with a direct line to the banks that own them. I still get burned from time to time but I never have someone not paying or watching over my shoulder.
 

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I have been off this forum for a good few weeks as some guy decided I can't log in as I used to be able, simply hitting the notification that I have a post on my phone. I got some tech jargon about what I was using to log in which meant little to me. So being a bit of a DIY geezer I think I have skated around it and...well here I am back but not 100% sure how.... I think.
Anyhoooooow. I kinda got to thinking, something us geezers in our late, well very very late 60s .....(OK am 70 in December but let's not split hairs) about food and bacteria. This came about as I made up some food as I do and probably a bit too much. I usually make up enough for around 4 days feeds.Now I don't have the best of smell and my wife to be, very soon as in2 weeks time, has a worse sense of smell than I have. By son in law to be opened our fridge and announced something was very off, yep it was the food he could smell. Being an experimental kind of guy I thought hmmm we old geezers do a lot of humming don't we Paul? But I digress, I thought this food will be full of nasty bacteria but what if I add some to my tank, would the fish ignore it or take it in and spit it out, would the bacteria in fact be a good thing and help with their immunity, or would the fist croak? I decided to throw caution to the wind and added some. The first eat it like it was fresh, nothing got sick or croaked. I have added more since with no apparent issues, all fish are alive and well. Hmmmm, there I go again. Anybody tried my foolish way of adding bad fish food?
 
OP
OP
Paul B

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,900
Reaction score
60,538
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I doubt it. That is not the right type of bacteria but it won't hurt. For immunity you would need more disease bacteria, not just rotten fish bacteria.
Thats just my opinion as they didn't teach me that in electrical school. :cool:
 
OP
OP
Paul B

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,900
Reaction score
60,538
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I need another knee. The new one is still rather painful and I still can't kneel so I won't go to Church.
I also can't walk to good but I get there. I am still faster than my wife but not much.
By the time I am 80, I should be sprinting like Angela Jolie in Laura Croft Tomb Raider. :p

The Dr. told me I tore the meniscuses and tendons in the other knee so I sit around trying to see if I can pick which one hurts more. :p

It's a good thing I am not a snowflake because I have to take care of my wife so I go outside and all the way around the house if I have to scream. ;Bucktooth

I don't love the fact that I need another knee because I remember that the first one didn't go to well and it is more painful now than it was before it was replaced. If I get this one done I will be walking like Walter Brennon in "The Real McCoys" (before all you Noobs time, Google it)
 

Jekyl

GSP is the devil and clowns are bad pets
View Badges
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Messages
11,129
Reaction score
15,324
Location
Michigan
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hopefully it goes better. My mother has had both replaced with great results. Every person is different though. Best of luck when you go through with it.
 
OP
OP
Paul B

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,900
Reaction score
60,538
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Tripdad, you remember Walter Brennon? You must also be a Geezer. :rolleyes:
Do you also remember Little Luke? He was the General in Rambo that got Sylvester Stallone to come in and stop beating on the Snowflakes.
He plays a good Soldier, but of course he was never really one. (At least I don't think he was) But I was. I didn't have to eat rats though. ;Wideyed

Jekyl, maybe I could get your Mother's old knees. The titanium ones don't seem to work very well.
The surgery doesn't bother me as this will be (I think) my 22 surgery.

I just hate wasting all that time doing silly exercises in therapy that were designed for snowflakes.

The only good thing about therapy is that my therapists were Supermodels which is good because I get better faster as I don't want them to know that it hurts. :p
 
OP
OP
Paul B

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,900
Reaction score
60,538
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Now I don't have the best of smell and my wife to be, very soon as in2 weeks time, has a worse sense of smell than I have.

Wait a minute!! Your getting married? Your a Geezer. Why would you do that? :cool:
 

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Wait a minute!! Your getting married? Your a Geezer. Why would you do that? :cool:
Well it's a long story but I am making an honest woman of her and she is lucky to have me but I need somebody to leave all my tools to when I depart for the great coral reef in the sky. Carol's son is a self employed builder and knows what a coping saw is, sash clamps and which end to hold a hammer totally the opposite of my 2 own sons.
 

tripdad

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
1,906
Reaction score
4,259
Location
Chicago suburbs
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
"Tripdad, you remember Walter Brennon? You must also be a Geezer. "
I'm at the tail end of baby boomers. I remember sitting with my parents and watching TV together, black and white, on Sunday evening and seeing a guy named Jacques Cousteau for the first time. i was mesmerized by that footage. Because I was the smallest it was my job to wack the side of the console TV to make the squiggly lines stop . We used to do that, sit together as a family and watch TV. Nowadays the kids are in their rooms, noses stuck in their phones looking at God knows what. Maybe we did do some things right back then.
 

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
"Tripdad, you remember Walter Brennon? You must also be a Geezer. "
I'm at the tail end of baby boomers. I remember sitting with my parents and watching TV together, black and white, on Sunday evening and seeing a guy named Jacques Cousteau for the first time. i was mesmerized by that footage. Because I was the smallest it was my job to wack the side of the console TV to make the squiggly lines stop . We used to do that, sit together as a family and watch TV. Nowadays the kids are in their rooms, noses stuck in their phones looking at God knows what. Maybe we did do some things right back then.
Those were the days. My uncle came back from being a POW in Korea and bought the first TV in our street much of which had been flattened by the luftwaffe previously. The extremely small screen TV was situated in the parlour and chairs put in front of it like in the cinema. My uncle had the brightness turned right down as he believed quite wrongly the tube would blow prematurel. My uncle his brother loved horse racing but you could hardly see the horses just the bits of white on them like the nose band, the socks things and sheet under the saddle. He would turn the brightness up when my uncle who bought the TV went out the room.
 

Rybren

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
1,492
Reaction score
1,895
Location
Ottawa, ON
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I remember when the TVs all had tubes. If something started going wrong with the TV, my dad would pull what he thought were the bad tubes and send me off to the hardware store to get new ones. The hardware store had these tube testing machines that you could plug the tubes into and the machine would tell you if they were bad.

I was the remote control for the TV, not that there was much changing to be done, because we only got 2 or 3 channels :)

When cable TV was introduced there was still no remote control so you still had to get up and change the channel manually. Then some company came out with a box at the end of a long cable. You could lay the cable across the floor and push some buttons to change the channel from the comfort of your chair. I thought that they were the cat's meow and I got a job selling those boxes door to door. Unfortunately, our neighbourhood was so poor that almost no one could even afford cable, never mind the boxes.
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.0%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 32 17.2%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 31 16.7%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 94 50.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.6%
Back
Top