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Gittin' old


wa4chq

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V.T. Eric Layton

Hey, nice radio shack you got set up there. Brings back memories. I used to be an authorized Yaesu and Motorola radio tech back in my glory daze.

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Cluttermagnet

Nice wingtips, dude. I got a couple pairs of them... Hardly anyone wears

leather shoes any more. Mostly it's athletic sneaker looking stuff.

 

Clutter

 

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14 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

Hey, nice radio shack you got set up there. Brings back memories. I used to be an authorized Yaesu and Motorola radio tech back in my glory daze.

Cool!  I just had the FT-101ee worked on by a guy down in Florida.  I had bought it new in the mid-70's, had used it a fair bit and then put it in storage.  Got it out last year and one or two caps fried.  He did a first class job repairing it.  Why did you get out of the repairs?

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On 2/4/2023 at 5:54 AM, abarbarian said:

 

Yeah I do not chase women or drink gallons of ale or ride like the devil anymore. I have transitioned from perfectly happy hedonistic youth to maudlin memory meanderings. 😎

I will NEVER transition to Maudlin James....NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!

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V.T. Eric Layton
12 hours ago, Cluttermagnet said:

Nice wingtips, dude. I got a couple pairs of them...

 

Spent many not-so-happy days wearing those damned shoes in Catholic school. :(

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V.T. Eric Layton
2 hours ago, wa4chq said:

Why did you get out of the repairs?

 

Well, believe it or not... there was no longer a demand for it in the U.S. Sure there are a few odd radio techs around here and there, mostly indies, though. The very, very few actual repair shops that still exist basically just have trained monkeys swapping out entire motherboards. The what-used-to-be a HUGE regional Motorola factory repair center here in Tampa currently is in a little converted house and has three employees. It used to be on a 10 acre site with a huge warehouse and about 150 employees. Nowadays, when your radio, TV, phone, etc. has an issue, they usually just either swap entire mobos or replace your unit and send the bad one back to the manufacturer (overseas, usually) to be re-furbished.

 

The day of the component-level bench technician twilight-ed sometime in the late '90s. This is the reason I am retired sans income and sucking wind. I never would have dreamed back in the early '70s when I got into electronics and go my engineering degree that I would ever have a difficult time finding a job.

 

Times change, brother.... not always for the best, either. :(

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V.T. Eric Layton

> Well cellphone repair is still a large market in cities.

 

There's exactly one indie cell phone shop in this area... and he only does minor repairs; nothing on the actual electronics portion of the phone.

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10 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

 

And old people solutions...

 

HTB1o_VzxxGYBuNjy0Fnq6x5lpXaP.jpg_350x35

 

I have one like that. $7.99 from Aldi. I got it to pick lemons from the huge lemon tree in the uninhabited house next door. Sadly the house and the tree were demolished a few weeks ago. Progress. 😢🙄

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I have several of those that we got free when Harbor Freight was giving away things with a purchase. (We might have also bought 1 or 2 when the price was cheap.)  We keep one in each of the cars; it is amazing how many things fall between the seats and the console where you can't reach them. I keep one in my walk-in closet because I can't reach the very back corner of a shelf. We keep one hanging in the garage so we don't have to drag out the step stool  to reach some lightweight items or to get things outside. And I keep one hanging in the kitchen pantry.

 

Another "joy" of getting older is loss of height. I can no longer reach some things I used to be able to reach. Rather than strain, I get the grabber.

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22 hours ago, securitybreach said:

Well cellphone repair is still a large market in cities.

 

Yeah, but there is very little diagnostics involved.  Mostly just replacing batteries or broken screens.

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V.T. Eric Layton
4 hours ago, zlim said:

Another "joy" of getting older is loss of height. I can no longer reach some things I used to be able to reach.

 

Meh... I was 6'2" since about 15 years old. I've only lost about 1/2" to that height in the last 45+ years or so. The "little" people in the grocery stores still ask me to get things off the top shelves for them from time to time. I don't mind. :)

 

Oh, and Harbor Freight! LOVE 'EM! I've been buying stuff from them since way back when they were "mail order" only (pre-Internet). There's also a local HF in my city here. I LOVE shopping at that place, but must always make sure I have a good sized wad of $ when entering that store. Sadly, I haven't had any wads of $ for sometime now. I miss HF shopping. There's quite a few things I could use now, too. I'll go on a shopping spree once I hit this week's Lottery jackpot. ;)

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On 2/5/2023 at 2:17 PM, Hedon James said:

I will NEVER transition to Maudlin James....NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!

 

So you say today. 🤣

 

On 2/6/2023 at 1:32 AM, sunrat said:

I got it to pick lemons from the huge lemon tree in the uninhabited house next door.

 

Nice to see that you have not forgotten your roots then. can not decide if stealing lemons is number 2 or 11 from the list. 😝

On 2/5/2023 at 3:20 AM, Cluttermagnet said:

Hardly anyone wears

leather shoes any more.

 

Quote

The crimes that make up 19 Crimes include:

  1. Grand Larceny, theft above the value of one shilling.
  2. Petty Larceny, theft under one shilling. 
  3. Buying or receiving stolen goods, jewels, and plate... 
  4. Stealing lead, iron, or copper, or buying or receiving. 
  5. Impersonating an Egyptian.
  6. Stealing from furnished lodgings. 
  7. Setting fire to underwood. 
  8. Stealing letters, advancing the postage, and secreting the money. 
  9. Assault with an intent to rob. 
  10. Stealing fish from a pond or river.
  11. Stealing roots, trees, or plants, or destroying them. 
  12. Bigamy.
  13. Assaulting, cutting, or burning clothes. 
  14. Counterfeiting the copper coin... 
  15. Clandestine marriage. 
  16. Stealing a shroud out of a grave. 
  17. Watermen carrying too many passengers on the Thames, if any drowned. 
  18. Incorrigible rogues who broke out of Prison and persons reprieved from capital punishment. 
  19. Embeuling Naval Stores, in certain cases. (19 Crimes, “Crimes”)

 

I still wear leather shoes and boots. Urmas put me on to an outdoor supplier where I bought these boots for me motorcycling adventures. Best thing since sliced bread and dead comfy too.

 

Norwegian M77 Combat Boots

 

Am thinking about ordering a pair of these for daily use.

 

178 Tan Leather Boot

 

😎

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V.T. Eric Layton
2 hours ago, abarbarian said:

I still wear leather shoes and boots.

 

As do I, whenever I'm not in flip-flops, anyway.

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In my view, the worst part of gettin' old is gettin' down. I spent some time on the floor yesterday replacing a vacuum cleaner belt, and today I have to get under the sink and fix a broken popup drain. After that I have to get up again.

The vacuum cleaner is a PITA. You need to snap some latches then poke around with a screwdriver to remove the plastic hood of the vacuum - all to get access to the motor spindle. Then after cleaning all the crud off the beater brush you have to hold it in place while you s-t-r-e-t-c-h the new belt onto the spindle. Then reassemble the vacuum hood and make sure everything works.

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the worst part of gettin' old is gettin' down.

For me, getting up is harder. I used to think those "I've fallin and I can't get up" commercials were silly until I got older and discovered how true it is.

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Up until the age of 58, I only saw a doctor if I needed stitches.

Between 59 and 75, I had one doctor who saw me twice a year and told me how healthy I was.

Now, at 79, I need a cheat sheet to keep track of the ten it takes to keep me alive.

I'm not counting the ones I never meet, who interpret CT-Scans, PET scans, &  MRIs, or assist surgeons.

According to my PCP, I need three more. :(

Edited by Pete!
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V.T. Eric Layton
3 hours ago, raymac46 said:

In my view, the worst part of gettin' old is gettin' down.

 

Yes, that low down work can be challenging. I also have started having issues with "reach up" work, like fixing a ceiling fan or stretching to trim the higher tree branches on my oaks out back.

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3 hours ago, zlim said:

 

For me, getting up is harder. I used to think those "I've fallin and I can't get up" commercials were silly until I got older and discovered how true it is.

I'm 83 and find this gadget a great help in getting up and down.

20230208_112523.jpg

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Sink now fixed and the popup drain plug is now working again. It should last about 6 years. If I'm still around for the next change I'll get my grandson to do the honors.

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On 2/8/2023 at 1:11 PM, Bookmem said:

I'm 83 and find this gadget a great help in getting up and down.

 

I've used one of those outdoors back when I was still gardening. Never thought of using it indoors, though. Good idea!

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On 2/8/2023 at 11:56 AM, V.T. Eric Layton said:

 

Yes, that low down work can be challenging. I also have started having issues with "reach up" work, like fixing a ceiling fan or stretching to trim the higher tree branches on my oaks out back.

Try doing reach up work when you're 4'11 /2"! Which unfortunately is what I'm down to with age. I used to be just over five feet.

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  • 1 month later...
Cluttermagnet
On 2/5/2023 at 10:26 AM, V.T. Eric Layton said:

 

Spent many not-so-happy days wearing those damned shoes in Catholic school. :(

OH! *That* would be different- if they made me- heh!

 

I liked them because I scored some for next to nothing in

a thrift shop. And they are, after all, known as the 'power

shoes'. You know, big, important corporate looking dudes

wear them and strut around rendering opinions and

barking orders, etc. (Woufff!)

 

As the Firesign Theatre said, in one of their sketches,

There, we have a successful ingition of the power shoes...

"Hold me down boys, they're very powerful..."

 

(Well, you know, "ignition")

 

From "Everything You Know is Wrong"

(Rebus Knebus and his successful leap to the center of the Earth, etc.)

 

Clutter

 

Edited by Cluttermagnet
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I spent 5 years in catholic school....first thru fifth.  I only had one nun and that was in first grade, the rest were lay teachers.  Out of the five teachers I had while in catholic school, only one said she had eyes in the back of her head...the nun.  I found that kinda creepy.  Linux helps me deal with that creepy memory.

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