Tank birthday, 55+ years

[Minifoot77]

Wow, I didn't even realize this thread was that long. I guess it's not bad for 13 years and probably out of 478 pages, at least 4 or 5 have something to do with fish. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

I just looked at page 100, that was 2017 and was all about anemone crabs. I don't think anyone is still here from when this thread started. :thinking-face:

Your still here...

 

[Imrahilwjz]

If you CAD weld correctly, you have to tear the building down to take them apart.
I retired. :D
I CAD welded many of the ground cables on the biggest buildings in Manhattan. :cool:

I practically grew up in a welding/machine/farm repair shop. I have performed MIG welding, stick welding, and TIG welding (my TIG welds were nasty looking but water tight). Never heard of CAD welding before. Looked it up. Oh yeah, we didn't do that because we weren't electricians. Makes me curious. I would like to see it done.

 

[Paul B]

Well, Theres that picture of me on here someplace CAD welding. It's only to connect huge cables to steel for grounding. It melts them together.

 

[tbrown]

Cold walk this morning. 22 degrees and windy. :grimacing-face:

People here now feel this is cold, especially the young people. In the 70s it never got warmer than 25 degrees in January. I used to walk to school, up hill both ways in 3' snow drifts. (My school was on the side of a volcano so the ground used to shift every few hours so it was always uphill whichever way I walked. )

Anyway, like I said, I met my friend yesterday morning and he had the day off because it was raining and snowing. And he is an "ICE" Agent! Really! My taxes are paying Federal Agents to stay home because it is cold and raining.

He was waiting for the school bus with his 12 year old Son. After my walk I noticed that he was still waiting so I asked him what happened to the bus. He said he just found out the school opening is 2 hours late because it's "cold".

We are now really raising a generation of "Girly Snowflakes". People get off from work because it's raining and kids don't have to go to school because it's cold. Really!!. This drives me crazy. Do the people living in Alaska have all the days off because it's below freezing? No, they don't. Then jump on their dog sled, go 15 or 20 miles through the tundra while evading Polar Bears and maybe harpoon a walrus on the way for lunch.

I worked as a construction electrician in Manhattan for almost 50 years and much of that was outside because "Construction" means you are "Constructing" something because the building someone wants isn't there yet so you have to build it. Most of the skyscrapers in Manhattan were not built inside a heated building so you had to build them outside, yes in the cold.
We could legally work outside if it was above 4 degrees or (I think) up to 96 degrees.



The top picture I am hanging off the roof of the Plaza Hotel and it was 17 degrees that day. That is frozen Central Park below me.

The bottom picture I am the foreman CAD welding (in the white hat) on a New York City garbage incinerator.

In the decades I worked I never I ever took off for weather, even 2' of snow and I can count on one hand how many times I took a day off sick and those times I was in the hospital for a broken bone or to have a cro bar removed from sticking out of some place on my body.

Now in the Army, the drill Sargent's are not allowed to curse at you or hit you and if it is raining, to hot or cold, they train you indoors.
Are we training people for combat or "Dancing With the Stars"?

When I was in the Army in 1969 the Drill Sargent's could probably run you over with a tank if they wanted to and hitting or punching you was considered mandatory. I was scared to death of Drill Sargent's while I was in basic . But after that, while I lived in the jungle for a year covered in mud, especially in Monsoon season, I was very grateful for that training and "toughening up. A Man really should get punched in the face a few times so he knows what it feels like. It makes you tougher and if the scariest thing that ever happened to you was a big accountant texted you a mean looking Emoji, then you are probably not that tough and may need some street smarts.
Just my opinion of course and I am very opinionated.

This one?

 

[Paul B]

I took some pictures.

And my favorite

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I brought steamer clams back from Florence, Oregon (about an hour from where I live), brought them home alive and froze them. I chopped the first one up today and fed a small portion. My seabae clowns chased it about and grabbed bits, spat them out, and grabbed them again. I'm pretty sure my flame hawk grabbed some smaller bits. I'm trying to slowly introduce live foods. I don't have worms yet, but plan to start cultures soon. Your ideas make a lot of sense to me

 

[Paul B]

Great, now I have to convince my wife to listen to me. :anguished-face:

Busy day, we had 8 people over for a dinner party and we are hosting again today with another 7 different people. I'm tired. :cool:

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday was a bad day. It started good I went to a deli and got some bagels which I rarely do but everything was fine. I parked my car with the back of my car about 8' from my garage door.

About 4 hours later I walked behind my car and noticed the ground was covered in black gravel. I figured someone dumped out their fresh water fish tank in front of my garage after their fish died of ich because they didn't quarantine and was mad at me.

But that wasn't it. My back window of my Yellow Jeep was smashed. This was the middle of the day and virtually no one walks by my house.

I got in the car to remove my camera which also has a lens right on the back window and I figured it would show me what happened.

I got out of my car and smashed my thumb in the car door. Thank God the door didn't lock because I didn't have the keys on me and it kind of hurt.

I connected the camera to my computer and all I see is the trees with all their leaves on. :thinking-face:

The trees don't have any leaves on yet because it is still cold here and even though the camera said it was the correct date, the pictures on it were from last summer.

It then gave me a message that there is something wrong with the SIM card. You would think in the 6 months that it looked like it was recording it would have notified me that it wasn't working.

:confused:

 

[Paul B]

 

[Katrina71]

Katrina, tell me about it. I don't know what they are teaching our kids and Grand kids and probably don't want to know.

Teddy thinks he's Elvis



And his sister (on the left) is only into make up. They did a 70s exercise thing in school. She is 12



I love my kids. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

My Dad's name was Teddy. They are both just adorable!

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Yes, I still run that DIY skimmer as it is the only skimmer I have and would never think to buy one. The only other equipment I have is the reverse UG filter. This tank is a little larger so I bought a new one of those. My heaters are the same but I had to buy new lights. When I moved I transferred my DIY, water cooled lights which had open wiring. The new place was so damp where the tank is because of concrete floor and no drywall taping that the dampness shorted out the entire thing and I could not get it to light.
I have no other equipment.

Hi Paul,
I found your book (or, more accurately, my wife found it) and finished it. Great stuff! I have one small quibble, your DIY skimmer is not described in the DIY section of your book. Have you observed what an external skimmer costs? Eek! My Bubble Magus internal skimmer failed, so I found out. I didn't spend that money though. My brother pointed out that I could probably repair the skimmer and he turned out to be correct. Repair $60, compared to new internal skimmer $380, or external skimmer $1000 or more. I suspect your skimmer cost less than my repair. On top of all that, when my skimmer failed, I discovered the pump had a crack in it with significant accretion around it. I think that pump had caused an ongoing problem with copper and zinc poisoning my system . Snails and crabs don't do well in a copper infused system.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I am sure I mentioned this but one of my worst flights was also on a plane the military put me on. It was a civilian plane and I was going from Colorado to California.
(It could have been from Kentucky to Colorado, I forget)

It was like a 16 seater. The pilot comes out with this little step stool and puts it by the door so you can get in.
I get in the thing and sit at the window and see that the propeller is like 3" from my face. There was no co pilot, only this cigar smoking, 300lb heart attach waiting to happen by himself with a ten gallon hat on.

After I got in, a bunch of other people got in, mostly farmers. I knew that because all of them had either a bushel of apples, corn or livestock with them.

We take off and get to cruising altitude which on this plane was close to 50 feet.
After about 2 minutes we land. I thought maybe the pilot had to go to the bathroom which there was none on this thing.
But more people got on with more livestock including chickens.

We got back up to "cruising altitude" just clearing the silo's and land again. A few people and chickens got off and some people with piglets get on.

We landed on every fairly level patch of dirt this guy could find. I think he was navigating with one of those maps they give you in rest stops on the highway.

We land again and this went on for a couple of hours because this "plane" flew at the speed limit of about 35 mph.

Now we are over the Grand Canyon and everyone on the plane was singing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (except me) and the pilot says, "I am going to tilt the plane to give you a better view.

Chickens, apples, feathers, eggs were rolling all over the aisle. I was having the Horrors and just wanted to jump out of the thing figuring I was safer plummeting down to the rocky canyon below.

It was the worst flight I have ever experienced.

Sounds like a Paul B pilot. He knew that if you can't fly at treetop level and give yer folks a good view you'll probably all get rich and die anyhow.

 

[Paul B]

Imrahilwjz, I did hear that about the skimmer a few times. It isn't in the book because it would take up a few pages as it isn't the simplist thing to build. It isn't that difficult but it does take up some time. I didn't make the entire thing out of acrylic because it is 4" in diameter and 5' long so that tube of acrylic is pretty expensive.​

Now I would make all out of acrylic but I was still working at the time I built that thing and after I retired I made more money doing close to nothing profitable. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Lol, Lightning strike info is for when we are out working on the dive job instead of being smart enough to stay home.
Don't really like it when it gets too close and this way we have warning to pull the diver before it is on top of us. Using the spark portion of the weather bug weather app.

Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and The Guardian newspapers. [emoji6]

No interest in having Alexa snoop on me 27/7. Or anything internet connected in the house besides the computer and tv.
Hacking computer is bad enough.
Not interested in having the front door, heating system and refrigerator hacked. ;Yawn

Using Google maps to figure out where we are going on today's adventure. [emoji849]
If it is too foggy on the water you can still see where you are on the map on the phone.
Our 24 foot open boats don't have GPS.

The phone makes work a lot safer and sometimes more productive.


Enjoy being retired! [emoji13]

Your phone snoops on you with or without Alexa, most likely

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Last night, or actually this morning at 3:00am I hear: "YOU HAVE A REMINDER, THE COMPUTER GEEK IS COMING OVER TO FIX THE COMPUTER"
It was the Alexa on the other side of my house. When I set the reminder I neglected to tell it PM and not AM and usually the thing asks me but I was probably sipping a glass of Grand Marnier and didn't pay attention to it and said something like : "Whatever".

10 Seconds later the Alexa in our bedroom says the same thing. (This is a condo and not real big but my 2 Alexa's seem to be in different time zones because they tell me the same thing 10 seconds apart.)

I quickly get out of bed so as not to wake my wife and I put my mouth right near it's "ear" and whisper. "Alexa, Shut Up"
The thing lights up and says: "SORRY, I DIDN'T GET THAT. YOU CAN ASK ME THINGS LIKE, HOW DO YOU SHUT THE DOOR, OR WHATS UP OR ASK THE TIME IN COOS BAY OREGON OR, WHAT WAS GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER" WAS THAT HELPFUL?"

I looked around and my wife just stirred a little. I again whispered to Alexa, "Alexa, thank you, go to sleep, stop talking.
Alexa again lit up and said:

I DIDN'T GET THAT, I CAN PLAY AMBIENT SOUNDS TO PUT YOU TO SLEEP OR LOUD SOUNDS TO WAKE YOU UP. I CAN PLAY ROY ORBISON MUSIC OR TELL YOU FACTS ABOUT NANCY PELOSI. DID THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? "

Alexa, No and thank you.
"SORRY, I COULDN'T HELP YOU, BUT THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK:

So I finally got it to shut up.

Then I hear the other Alexa in the dining room but it is far away so I run there to see what it wants. It is still reminding me of the computer Geek.
I close the bedroom door and hope we can't hear it. But these doors were probably from Home Depot and made out of three or four layers of Scott toilet tissue. The good three ply ones but it didn't matter, I can still hear her.

Then I hear: BEEP. Aparently if Alexa thinks you didn't hear her, she just Beeps all night about every 2 minutes. BEEP,,,,,,,,,BEEP,,,,,,BEEP ETC.
Try to sleep with that. So I go to the thing and say :Alexa, Thank you, now be quiet. She says "THANK ME FOR WHAT? YOU HAVE NO MORE REMINDERS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR YOUR REMINDERS.

Nooooooooooo. Alexa, just go to sleep.

"WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO PLAY AMBIENT SOUNDS BLAH, BLAH,BLAH "

I unplugged her and go back to bed

"BEEP,,,,,BEEP,,,,,,BEEP"
Every 2 minutes "BEEP,,,BEEP,,,,BEEP.
I put the pillow over my head. I thought maybe I just dreamt that I unplugged her so I go to check. Yep, the plug is on the floor so I head back to my bed.

"BEEP"

Oh no. Now what do I do? It's 3:05 am and I don't want to get up. I figure maybe I am getting abducted by Aliens or worse "Liberals".
I go back into the kitchen and again check Alexa. She is dead. Then I look around and on the stove, the timer is saying, "Dinner is done" and beeping.

My wife shutoff the oven yesterday but apparently the timer was still on.
So now I am not sure if I am awake typing this, or in an Alien Space Ship in a galaxy far far away. :eek:

I read this out loud to my wife and 6 oldest children. General hilarity ensued.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I hope you didn't read all 4283 posts. Only about 4 of them are about fish. :p

Well...yeah.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I can give you all the blue sponge you want.

Made it to page 250!

 

[Paul B]

As I was mesmerized looking at my reef I decided to peruse the net. I googled my name to look for an article I wrote years ago, but I couldn't find it. Instead I found one of my homes while in Viet Nam. I was on 14 of these Firebases. This one was called Fire Support Base Illingworth and I don't have fond memories of it.
I think (but I am not positive) that the bunker on the left was mine. They all looked basically the same. It was kind of an English Tutor. This is right after a particularly nasty 5 hour firefight which is why everything is blown up.

These are some of the guys I was with, again, right after the battle. I may have taken these pictures, But I am not sure.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I am suitably impressed! Wow! Great job. How did you know what to do 47 years ago. I had a 29G FOWLER in 93 and got NO help from the LFS. Had to figure it put on my own!

 

[Paul B]

I started my tank 53 years ago and virtually no one had or sold salt water fish. I think I got some from the first batch of blue devils. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes: