New York August NYC Meet-Up 2021

Smut is that the area that I excavated for the patio has been back filled with concrete ruble from our old front stoop and sidewalk.

"Maggie" informed me that I have mucho rubble to move to the back-backyard from my front-backyard where the patio is suppose to be.

Don't tell the city, but now I have a lot of clean fill to eliminate the gully between my neighbor's and our property.

Calvin-August
 
Saturday I saw a bald eagle land on my neighbor's roof peak. The chest was white, but the head was not bald yet. I believe it was a fledgling.

Augie
 
Calzone said:
The previous owner neglected the house, and the original owners were hacks who did spackle jobs. They covered a heart pine floor with two layers of linolium, then on top of that 1/4 inch plywood not even screwed down (glue instead) to lay down a tile floor. No motar. WTF?

The only good thing is that I might be able to rescue the heart pine floor since everything was glued down.

I have a survey from 1967 that came with the house.

Cal
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In Spain one would have Tile floors, but up here in Sweden there are a lot of linoneoum or wood floors. I think the latter are quite beautiful although always grew up with the idea that they need a lot of care. What a mess of flooring from the former owners.


Counting down for moving into my own studio rental at the end of November. I haven't moved much, but share Phil's opinion.
Not photographic GAS, but lately I am founding deals thrifting and I can't resist picking up more stuff... Which I will have to move.


The avantage is that I don't have heavy furniture to move.



CNNY said:
I would have liked to join for this, but I'm jet-setting to Europe tomorrow. I saw a window of opportunity before things get crazy and everything shuts down again. We had all kinds of fancy plans, like going to Spain and Italy, but we are keeping it simple and will mostly be hanging out with my parents. A few weeks ago they had 5ft of water on the ground floor, so it will be interesting.

I'll bring some interesting creations next time we meet.
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Nice, so Christian is in this side of the Atlantic by now. Delta wise I am getting the 2nd shot tomorrow and flying down to my folks in Spain on the weekend. The country isn't doing well currently with the contagion but I have the chance to work remotely and I'll stay local, just going to the Beach.


Feel like in my current holiday year I will have some days off to spare. Wish I could take a workweek off and be back to NYC as I did in 2015.
 
Prest_400 said:
In Spain one would have Tile floors, but up here in Sweden there are a lot of linoneoum or wood floors. I think the latter are quite beautiful although always grew up with the idea that they need a lot of care. What a mess of flooring from the former owners.


Counting down for moving into my own studio rental at the end of November. I haven't moved much, but share Phil's opinion.
Not photographic GAS, but lately I am founding deals thrifting and I can't resist picking up more stuff... Which I will have to move.


The avantage is that I don't have heavy furniture to move.




Nice, so Christian is in this side of the Atlantic by now. Delta wise I am getting the 2nd shot tomorrow and flying down to my folks in Spain on the weekend. The country isn't doing well currently with the contagion but I have the chance to work remotely and I'll stay local, just going to the Beach.


Feel like in my current holiday year I will have some days off to spare. Wish I could take a workweek off and be back to NYC as I did in 2015.
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Jorde,

Has it been six years since we went shooting together in NYC?

Anyways I think it best, despite the risks, of doing you traveling now before the new lockdowns begin with the onset of cold weather.

Maggie came back from a trip to L.A. and pretty much she reports it is close to getting locked down.

The August Meet-Up likely will be the last one for a while.

I'm ready to retire. Before September I have to file my papers to have the 3 months lead time. I want my last day to be November 30th.

Metro North Peak train tickets round trip are $35.00, and a weekly is $125.00. Meanwhile my monthly ticket is $383.00.

Covid continues...

Augie
 
Calzone said:
Jorde,



Has it been six years since we went shooting together in NYC?



Anyways I think it best, despite the risks, of doing you traveling now before the new lockdowns begin with the onset of cold weather.



Maggie came back from a trip to L.A. and pretty much she reports it is close to getting locked down.



The August Meet-Up likely will be the last one for a while.



I'm ready to retire. Before September I have to file my papers to have the 3 months lead time. I want my last day to be November 30th.



Metro North Peak train tickets round trip are $35.00, and a weekly is $125.00. Meanwhile my monthly ticket is $383.00.



Covid continues...



Augie
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Time flies! The pandemic made 2019 seem like yesterday, and that was 2 years ago. Interestingly, I moved countries 3 years ago and soon that time will be split equally between "normal" and pandemic (about 18mo each).

Looking forward to November, moving apartment on the 26th so I will cheer also for your retirement! Do keep on writing here!
If some zoom meet up is set up in a future, it would be nice to join.

Got my 2nd dose of moderna yesterday so at least should be protected from the worst.

From September on my plan is to work in a local office and cut the commute. Mine is about 40mi, 1:20h and is bus+train+subway currently, but costs up to $240 all included. Single return about $25. No retirement but plans for smarter flexible work. "Why do you come to the head office?" said some coworker. Well, I should not do it that much and time it with bar events and walks in the city. And the savings go well directed towards photography.

I've long not quite known what to think about the pandemic, but September might be "amusing" compared to the normalcy ideal that I perceived projected around. Let's see.

Enviado desde mi Redmi Note 9 Pro mediante Tapatalk
 
Prest_400 said:
Time flies! The pandemic made 2019 seem like yesterday, and that was 2 years ago. Interestingly, I moved countries 3 years ago and soon that time will be split equally between "normal" and pandemic (about 18mo each).

Looking forward to November, moving apartment on the 26th so I will cheer also for your retirement! Do keep on writing here!
If some zoom meet up is set up in a future, it would be nice to join.

Got my 2nd dose of moderna yesterday so at least should be protected from the worst.

From September on my plan is to work in a local office and cut the commute. Mine is about 40mi, 1:20h and is bus+train+subway currently, but costs up to $240 all included. Single return about $25. No retirement but plans for smarter flexible work. "Why do you come to the head office?" said some coworker. Well, I should not do it that much and time it with bar events and walks in the city. And the savings go well directed towards photography.

I've long not quite known what to think about the pandemic, but September might be "amusing" compared to the normalcy ideal that I perceived projected around. Let's see.

Enviado desde mi Redmi Note 9 Pro mediante Tapatalk
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Jorde,

I had a surprise yesterday with a face-to-face meeting with a big boss.

I can't give up the smut, but things are looking good for me. I got a pleasant surprise. I know more next week and next month.

Something big is going to happen: good for me; and bad for others that have been hostile and exploititive.

"Time is the best weapon," in this case is profoundly true. "Ha-ha," I say. In Cantonese culture revenge is innate.

Happy-happy...

Our new brick and cement front stoop is looking grand. "Maggie" is mucho happy with the results. We have a really good mason.

Our mason is also laying down the 11x14 patio in our front-backyard.

I will definitely keep this thread going, but I think I will take Christian's suggestion and create "Lazy-Slacker-Calvin.com" as a lifestyle magazine.

My mission statement will be to annoy people. LOL.

Cal
 
Yesterday I got a Newsletter from Jon Cone of Piezography fame.

What was outlined was how the world wide chip shortage has impacted the manufacture of printers and how ink cart chips that are expendable items on newer printers that utilize Piezography.

I'm glad that my carts for my 7800 are not expenable, and also that I have spares stockpiled.

Jon Cone is a smart man and since he makes his own inks locally he has not suffered from shortages since he is like me a hoarder. Evidently he stockpiled supplies. For example he stockpile three years worth of chips. No supply disruptions in Vermont.

Also all his classes and workshops are kinda booked up except for a few open slots due to the pandemic.

So good things happen to good people they say. Here is a great example of how the Covid-19 did not stop a man from moving forward.

In my case three great things happened to me due to Covid and the pandemic: I lost over 20 pounds; I bought a house; and I will retire early.

Next year I will build on all of this and build out my studio and a darkroom.

The front stoop is awesome. We have a really great mason. The patio is being graded. Also some structural repair to a corner brickwork will be done. The front walkway will be pavers...

My plans are to retire on December 27th the Monday after Christmas weekend. There is some odd rule about coming in on your last day of work, but all the rest of December before the 27th I will use vacation time so effectively for the month of December the only day I have to come to work will be the 27th.

Happy-happy.

For me retiring is a very huge accomplishment. All a product of living modestly, being thoughtful, and having long term planning. If you don't have a plan you might never get to retirement.

In my case I will have the freedom to recreate myself, and I will have the time to pursue my interests. I can see me going to a Jon Cone workshop to learn digital negatives, or alternative process printing.

My garage will be a heated studio, the basement will have a wet darkroom.

Some local online publication did a feature on "Maggie" moving to Peekskill since she is a celeb. So somehow these photo's I took of us to promote a shoe brand that I shot using a self timer and a tripod she sent in, and not only am I mentioned by name, but I'm in two of the shots.

Anyways call me shy, but this being a public figure or being a tourist attraction I thought would end. Here we go again...

Calvin-August
 
Austintatious said:
Cal,
No, you are not too skinny. Just very fit :D

Nice spread on the two of you BTW.
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Austin,

Many thanks. Not bad for a 63 1/2 year old.

BTW don't tell "Maggie" but I like being a skinny bitch.

I hate when they screw up the photo credits. On the BBC I got photo credit for other photographer's work, and another photographer got credit for some of my shots.

Kinda funny how I regressed into my earlier 15-16 year old body. When I retire I intend on getting into aerobic shape by trail running in Blue Mountain Preserve and by biking.

I'll be leaving work today before 2:00 PM and my goal is to mow my lawns. I have a rotory push mower that is made by Friskars who are known for scissors.

About 45 miles of walking every week as part of my commute. I'm anxious for my surprise to firm up. For some my retirement will be mucho rude. LOL.

I figure I have to put in my paperwork a little before August 27th.

Augie
 
"Maggie" got a salad bowl, U-Tent-sails and a refrigerated pack of fresh salad greens and spouts for some vertical farm.

She mentioned that the subscription was expensive, but the produce was really great. It is produced hydrophonically in vertical gardens.

So I did a search on vegtable vertical gardens and discovered www.freightfarms.com where they sell a vertical farm module that is the size of a 40 foot tractor-trailer shipping container.

Pretty much one can grow food under optimized controlled conditions year round.

I wonder would Maggie approve.

Pretty much I would not need a lot of land because the yields are high. If they made a homeowner version that was half the size it would be great.

Cal
 
Big congrats on that last Day on the 27th. I would be tempted to go to "work" in the Paul Smith tuxedo just to sign off.

If you are young and stressed about doing everything before you are 30 you can relax as you’ll have endless opportunities to reinvent yourself throughout your lifetime.
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This is a great sentence that applies to myself. In general, longer life and a prolonged youthood means that 30 now isn't the 30 from times before. 26 myself and still a lot of "expected" things in life to do. No marriages or kids planned! My dad inferred me a similar philosophy of being smart and planning long term, so while I am ages from (standard) retirement, it is always good to see advice.


You are in great shape. Just think how desirable would it be to have a big beer belly which is more of a norm at the age.
 
Prest_400 said:
Big congrats on that last Day on the 27th. I would be tempted to go to "work" in the Paul Smith tuxedo just to sign off.


This is a great sentence that applies to myself. In general, longer life and a prolonged youthood means that 30 now isn't the 30 from times before. 26 myself and still a lot of "expected" things in life to do. No marriages or kids planned! My dad inferred me a similar philosophy of being smart and planning long term, so while I am ages from (standard) retirement, it is always good to see advice.


You are in great shape. Just think how desirable would it be to have a big beer belly which is more of a norm at the age.
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Jorde,

My friends have "Keg-bellies" instead of six-packs.

Because of my low BMI I have a long life expectancy of 111.

Moving out of a polluted urban area extended my life expectancy 5 years from 106.

Sadly I visited "Maggie's" 94 year old mother who is in a nursing home. In this particular visit it was like a surreal film in that there was all this acting out of residents due to a combination of short staffing and boredom. Lots of bad behavior.

One resident forgot she knew me from a week ago. Another asked for a cup of water that I got for her. Then an exercise instructor attempted to engage wheel chair bound residents in exercise by playing to's disco music.

I believe Maggie and I still have lots of life left in us and I don't expect needing long-term care. The odds on not needing long-term care is one in three.

I know from family history that I have a high probability of living past 100. Also I am told that past age 50 generally most Americans have some underlying medical condition that is bad for their health.

I am also an exception to that case if you discount Cold Agglutinin Disease which is can be framed as a slow growing Cancer (unregulated growth) that I have had for more than a decade (diagnosed), that I might have had all my life (un-diagnosed).

Cal
 
So at a Thursday Meeting last week my big-boss dropped a "Daisy-Cutter" (Fuel air bomb) at a two institution meeting.

I know this because someone who attended that meeting told an administrator who offered congrates and inquired today this morning.

At this stage I have not filled out my paperwork so all this is tentative and preliminary. Generally this is not the way it is done. LOL.

Oh-the potential to be a jerk, create havoc, and conflict. You know me: I'm a drama queen.

So this is one of those stories where my retirement is not the end of the story, and the potential for conflict and chaos is yet to occur, but I can say the next bomb will be on a nuclear level.

"I love it," I say. Pretty sure this will add to my legacy and will be strongly remembered.

Stay tuned; the ending will be mucho dramatic; and I love it. Funny for me, but tragic for others. LOL.

Calvin the former performance artist should get an M-E for this performance. Oh the drama, the pathos and mucho conflict and headache.

"Ha-ha," I say.

Cal
 
CNNY said:
I would have liked to join for this, but I'm jet-setting to Europe tomorrow. I saw a window of opportunity before things get crazy and everything shuts down again. We had all kinds of fancy plans, like going to Spain and Italy, but we are keeping it simple and will mostly be hanging out with my parents. A few weeks ago they had 5ft of water on the ground floor, so it will be interesting.

I'll bring some interesting creations next time we meet.
Click to expand...


Hope the trip went well...

Seems like I'm on an plane every other day, domestically, that is.

Jeff
 
I have been traveling locally. Sunday we were in Brooklyn in Clinton Hill supporting a Vintage Flea Market at the private school where they normally have a Regular Flea Markets.

This event was the first Flea Market since the Covid Lockdown, and of course a lot has happened since then. Afterwards we visited "Maggie's" mom.

Then yesterday we headed up to above New Paltz to visit Maggie's nef-FEW who is a kinda beer artist.

So from urban driving to high speed 70-80 MPH sustained in the A4.

Upstate lame drivers can't take turns at speed, they ride the brakes in every turn, and worse brake in the turns. Then there are slow drivers that are a hazard, then just plain idiots that exit from the middle lane, or some jerk who stops on Route 6 because he missed his opportunity to bear left into two lanes.

So I burned lots of gas over the weekend.

New Paltz congestion indicated how many people were about. Day trippers, week enders, and locals clogged Main Street. Took about 20 minutes to move through town that normally is pretty sleepy. Lots on new developments over the past 25 years since I was there last.

Every year we would go to Lake Minnawaska to bike ride on the carriage trails near the chauky cliffs and then go to the Main Street Bistro for a biker's meal in the fall when foliage was at peak. The Main Street Bifsto is still there, but a lot has changed.

Lots more people upstate.

Its hard to be alone in the world today.

Cal
 
In today's episode of "This Old Cyclotron" Calvin goes to the Main Campus to borrow a snap-ring pliers, and he learns that is big-boss is a blabber-mouth.

Eva tells Calvin that he should bring back all of our institution's supplies and property. I was astounded that somehow info had leaked out, but my baby-boss and Eva both tell me that our big boss is a blabber-mouth and once he got the smut shortly there after everyone would know.

So then it becomes also public knowledge that not only that I'm retiring, but also that my institution is walking away from the machine, effectively abandoning it. This was suppose to be kept a secret. LOL.

I'm still not sure the second institution knows yet of that intention. It is not September yet, but everyone just two blocks away knows. Oh-well LOL.

I am smiling. "Revenge," I say, "is awesome." But also know I am a dirty fighter and also Chinese. My motto is I don't believe in an eye for an eye: I take two eyes.

It is very amusing that I have not officially set a date yet, nor filed the paperwork. Only an artist could do so much with hardly doing nothing. The impact I am sure will add to my legacy.

Stay tuned for the next episode of "This Old Cyclotron."

BTW at best today I can operate the cyclotron, but it is a crippled machine that can break at any time. Pretty much on its last legs.

Snarky Joe was correct, The overhaul and rebuild should of been performed two years ago, but one institution, the lame one, put it off when it was proposed.

My institution put the money aside in the bank while waiting, and then Covid happened...

Now there is a backlog of three cyclotron installations before the OEM manufacturer can do a site visit to do the work say in the summer of 2022.

LOL. This in the military they would call a cluster-FXXX.

Cal
 
I called HR and the process begins. I'll be sent the paperwork to fill out.

I have a ten day envelope to meet the 4 month milestone since my last day will be December 27th, but know to avoid Covid I'll be on vacation for the month of December leading up to the 27th.

Eva asked if "Maggie" wants to come to my retirement party. Maggie says, "Sure."

So now I'm a real short timer.

I still think my second institution is in the dark about the "walk-away."

I sent an long e-mail to my big-boss, but I got an auto reply that he is away till September 1st. Oh-well. Meanwhile I'm moving forward.

Waiting a year till I'm 65 to collect my one pension is no problem. My other pension I won't collect till I'm 70, also age 70 for Social Security.

The front stoop came out great along with the sidewalk made of pavers. The patio in my front-backyard also came out great. Now I have to prep garden beds around the patio, and Maggie wants flower beds in the front.

Don't tell the city of Peekskill but a lot of land filling is going on in my back-backyard.

Calvin-August
 
Moving forward with the tiny bathroom off the kitchen. The shower stall will get demo'ed and pretty much the 3/4 bath will become a powder room. The space is a 5x7.

The kitchen and dinning rooms are 11x14 and the living room 11x15 due to the "walkout."

Interesting how the rooms have aspect ratios of wet printing papers, so to go with the flow our patio in the front-backyard is another 11x14.

I give these dimentions to show how modest and small the Baby-Victorian is.

Jack is our HVAC man. He says we have a really great house with strong bones. He loves our Crown furnace with instant on hot water. He'll be removing that radiator in the kitchen and will bleed the system. Also he is pricing out a multi-zone Mini-Split for the kitchen dinning room and living room.

I'll be doing more excavation getting rid of sandy clay where I want to create garden beds around the new patio. The garden beds will be for food. I have a fig tree and blueberry bushes. The raspberry bush will remain in a container because raspberry bushes can be invasive.

"Maggie" wants to paint the garage because it looks shabby next to the new patio.

The new front stoop catches the eye, and now many passerby mentions how great it looks or says, "What a nice house."

Today we expect a delivery of stair railings that I will install this weekend.

So depending on the weather one or the other will be the weekend task.

Forensics denote that the second institution remains unaware that the Primary institution is walking away from the cycloton. La-D-Da. Oh-well. I guess they will be told perhaps in September, or maybe not, but eventually they will figure it out.

Meanwhile there is talk about recovering tools, test equipment, and stockpiles of supplies that are my employer's property. If I had my way my lab would get stripped bare.

"I don't mean to be nasty," I say. LOL.

Metro North will be increasing service at the end of August. It seems the banks and finance companies want to have their offices staffed in the city.

Yesterday I got bit by a dog. One man was walking his dog, and another man was walking his. One of the dogs went aggressive on the other dog, and as I passed he decided to bight my right hand. This happened on First Avenue on the Upper East Side.

My skin was not broken, and I just yelled at the owner informing him that his dog bite me. I left it at that, but in younger days my reaction would of been pretty hyper aggressive and my reaction would not be so casual.

In the past surely if I was bleeding either the dog would of been damaged or the owner bleeding. I use to be a crazy hot-head.

I was looking into Freight Farms where pretty much a 40 foot module the size of a shipping container allows someone to grow about 3 acres of food by using hydroponics, LED lighting, and a totally controlled enviornment all year round exploiting vertical gardening.

Not only a bit expensive, but also too big. 190 KW hours a day so almost 8 Killo Watt an hour. Most of all too energy intensive to be practical for just a homeowner, but if I wanted to be a farmer...

BTW a 30% tax credit for solar as a business... Would need about 24 3x5 solar panels just to make 8 KW...

Pretty much out of the question between the size of the solar array, the energy costs, and the 10x40 foot footprint. Let's see is they make a half sized version or even a quarter sized version. All I can imagine as me as a hill-billy farmer.

Calvin-August

Cal
 
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