New York August NYC Meet-Up 2021

[Nokton48]

Afternoon Cal,

Check these new babies out 🙂 for my 5x7 and 4x5 TLR cameras

More Norma TLR Matched Lens Pairs by Nokton48, on Flickr

I've been slowly working towards building up my lens bank of matched Norma TLR pairs. I have 4x5 and 5x7 TLR Norma cameras at this point.

Top Box From Top Left: Norma 150mm F9 Rodenstock Apo-Ronar Aperture Controlled pair, 240mm F9 Apo Ronar Aperture controlled pair, 300mm F9 Apo Ronar barrel pair, 360mm F9 Sinar Apo Ronar Aperture controlled pair.

Bottom Box from Top Left: 520mm F9 Rodenstock Apo Ronar barrel pair, 90mm F6.8 Angulon shutter and barrel pair, 120mm F6.8 Shutter and Barrel Pair, 200mm H5.8 Rodenstock Imagon barrel and shutter pair.

I am repurposing what I have and adding to it

Having a lot of fun with this TLR project.

 

[Calzone]

Afternoon Cal,

Check these new babies out 🙂 for my 5x7 and 4x5 TLR cameras

More Norma TLR Matched Lens Pairs by Nokton48, on Flickr

I've been slowly working towards building up my lens bank of matched Norma TLR pairs. I have 4x5 and 5x7 TLR Norma cameras at this point.

Top Box From Top Left: Norma 150mm F9 Rodenstock Apo-Ronar Aperture Controlled pair, 240mm F9 Apo Ronar Aperture controlled pair, 300mm F9 Apo Ronar barrel pair, 360mm F9 Sinar Apo Ronar Aperture controlled pair.

Bottom Box from Top Left: 520mm F9 Rodenstock Apo Ronar barrel pair, 90mm F6.8 Angulon shutter and barrel pair, 120mm F6.8 Shutter and Barrel Pair, 200mm H5.8 Rodenstock Imagon barrel and shutter pair.

I am repurposing what I have and adding to it

Having a lot of fun with this TLR project.

Dan,

Mucho crazy.

Then I scrolled through the developments going back. Even more obsessive behavior. LOL.

So the patio I learned I need a permit. Don't tell the city that I already have been excavating and that tons of sand, ground stone and two pallets of pavers occupies half my driveway.

I rudely learned that the pergola also needs a permit, as well as the front stoop. Good thing I didn't order it yet...

The good news is that I can combine a patio, a pergola, and a new front stoop onto one Application for Exterior Permit so I don't have to pay the $200.00 fee three times.

Also there is some $12.00 fee for every $1K of construction cost.

"Moo," said the Pig.

Call me a rouge, but I generally don't like asking what I can do, and I just do what I want. This kinda stuff is kinda hard for me to get my head around. I generally make my own rules. LOL.

Oh-well, I guess I have to grow up sometime. LOL.

Cal

 

[Nokton48]

In our 'burg, we have one guy for the city that inspects. He looked around the backyard, and said "You can build anything you want within 50 feet of the property line". This surprised me. I thought they would want to gouge me. Said "Nope, back here nobody can see what you are doing. 🙂 And I can see from the quality work, no inspections will be necessary". Blew me away.

Two female adult and four spotted fawns are back for the third time today for apples

Have you gotten a satellite photo of your property? Whole different perspective

 

[Calzone]

In our 'burg, we have one guy for the city that inspects. He looked around the backyard, and said "You can build anything you want within 50 feet of the property line". This surprised me. I thought they would want to gouge me. Said "Nope, back here nobody can see what you are doing. 🙂 And I can see from the quality work, no inspections will be necessary". Blew me away.

Two female adult and four spotted fawns are back for the third time today for apples

Dan,

I have a European Pair Tree, and last night's rainstorm made lots of them fall to the ground. I expect these will likely feed a good amount of deer.

Don't tell the building department, but my land filling operations in my book is a restoration. Also when I took down a short chain link fence I reinstalled it down the slope to keep my brush piling in place. For the most part it is hidden.

Then there are all the contractor bags full of Knotweed roots and Rye-zomes that have to be incinerated. Peekskill is a municipality that has an incinerator, and one reason why my taxes are so low is that they burn other city and towns garbage.

If I put the Knotweed into the brown paper bag yard waste it would contaminate compost and spread Knotweed. My outlaw workaround is to throw out a bag a week with my regular garbage so that it gets incinerated.

My across the dead-end neighbor has been away all summer. I only see him when he comes by to cut his lawn, so now I put out a bag of Knotweed by his house so it gets incinerated.

When I was at Grumman, even though it was a Fortune 500 Company and the forth largest military contractor in the U.S., pretty much I broke many rules to advance projects, but my boss loved me because I got a lot of work done. In a ways I operated like a Navy SEAL within a Fortune 500 Company. I was definitely an "Operator" who had his own rules.

I had a lot of friends, but my enemies were afraid of me. Pretty much I was evil. LOL.

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

 

[Particular]

Steve,

The Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria, Sunday August 8th.

Hmmm...

Cal

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.

 

[Calzone]

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.

Devil Christian,

We have a mason who will be replacing our front stoop with a larger one that is about a foot wider (7 feet), the same amount of steps, made of brick and concrete.

I really like our mason, so to speed things up I'll try to finish all the excavation this weekend, and I'll pay him to lay down the pavers for our front-backyard patio.

I think we bought the pavers at pre-covid price because they were the last. We were also told that they are no longer available and are being discontinued, so no Covid induced inflation.

Also know that a shoe shoot where I modeled a pair of men's "Driving shoes" was the supply of funds for the front stoop and the patio. EZ-PZ.

Half my driveway is loaded with masonary supplies. Also I will gift you one of my "Man-bags" that can hold a cubic yard and is designed to hold a ton.

The French casement windows from Andersen Renewal will happen next year with art deco/craftsman "Praire" grills. Also a double French door with side lights will build out the eight foot span that is the entrance.

I took down that rear chain link fence, so pretty much there is this sureal optical illusion of a shear cliff with the roll-off of the slope. Been doing lots of illegal building out and filling in erosion. The gully between our property and our neighbor is getting filled in.

Friday a General Contractor is coming by about the kitchen remodel. Next Tuesday a rep from Mitsubishi is stopping by so we can get a quote on a multizone mini-split for HVAC for the entire first floor. I figure I only need three zones as the dining room and living room can be viewed as one big room.

Eventually I can see getting a 4-zone mini-split for the second floor, and don't forget the 2-3 zone mini-split for the garage.

The gabled garage roof I got inspired from a pre-fab truss builder that makes 24 foot trusses for two car garages. Using a 12/10 pitch the "attic" is 12 foot wide and 20 feet long for 240 square feet. Ceiling height is 7 feet at the peak.

I'll have the 20x21 garage if I decide to not park the Audi in the garage. If I use the entire garage, the space and square footage would actually be larger than my Luxury Madhattan apartment. LOL.

I found a nice 8 foot library ladder being thrown out on the UES. This solves the staircase problem. My garage doors are 8x8, so on the first floor of the garage I'll have 9 foot ceilings plus open rafters.

I have to do my usual "overkill" because the Victorian style, walkouts, and mucho windows mean more heat and cooling losses than a typical house.

So things are speeding up. "Maggie" wants to do the kitchen, so this looks like it is happening next, then next year I can concentrate on the garage roof and getting the 25% tax credit on a solar installation that has a deadline of December 31st, 2022.

I see in the fall how a new wave can begin. Covid has not stopped mutating. I'm working on a plan to retire in the middle of December instead of the first week in January to minimize my risk and exposure. My ploy is use my vacation time that I have already saved.

I think it is smart to travel now in the mild/warm weather rather than in the fall or even worse winter where one should expect spikes and lockdowns.

I think an August Meet-Up might be the annual Meet-Up for this year.

I think I can make the pledge that with film I think I will be evolving into a 4x5 shooter using HP5 for about a dollar a shot in film costs. I think that old 1950's 4x5 Tech 4-5 with the mucho cool beat up original real leather with a great patina will get a lot of use.

I also think I will contact print the 4x5's and just store the prints in Archival boxes.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Don't tell "Maggie" but I picked up my electric upright bass, a 1977 Stingray bass, and a novel tweed Fender case that converts into a guitar stand from my friend Cris' who has been storing some of my gear for over a decade.

I have so much gear that Maggie will be none the wiser. Just don't tell her. LOL.

Cal

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Watch out for ticks!

Phil Forrest

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Here's a bit of gear.
I happened upon an "as is" Leotax K missing about 75% of it's leatherette, with a decent amount of dirt on it. The camera had a Konishiroku Hexar 50mm f/3.5 on it which was described as "ugly" and "won't focus." Atop the camera sat a Canon 100mm brightline finder (with parallax correction) in mint condition.

So it arrived and I got to testing it a bit.
Shutter speeds are good. The camera isn't ugly, just dirty.
Upon opening it up, I shined my 800 lumen bicycle headlight into it and there are no shutter holes.
Rangefinder is dusty but still in calibration. Viewfinder is really good.

Lens is cosmetically excellent but won't bring an image into focus. It turns out that the rear group was loose in the barrel. Screwed that in tightly with a spanner and it is near diffraction limited. At f/3.5 the plane of focus is very sharp, by f/5.6 this lens matches my DR Summicron, at 1/5 the weight.
So I overhauled the helicoid assembly and now it is fantastic.

The body needed covering and I was considering using some vinyl flooring we have but then remembered that I have a few Mercedes Benz seat backs worth of MB Tex from Trudy's old "coffee" seats.

I made a pattern and re-covered the camera last night.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/525942-2/LeotaxK_MBTex01.jpg
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/525946-2/LeotaxK_MBTex02.jpg

So, I turned a junker camera into a really nice camera.

MB Tex is PERFECT for camera covering. Excellent feel, good amount of grip, and it will last at least another 50 years, longer than I will.

Phil Forrest

 

[Calzone]

Here's a bit of gear.
I happened upon an "as is" Leotax K missing about 75% of it's leatherette, with a decent amount of dirt on it. The camera had a Konishiroku Hexar 50mm f/3.5 on it which was described as "ugly" and "won't focus." Atop the camera sat a Canon 100mm brightline finder (with parallax correction) in mint condition.

So it arrived and I got to testing it a bit.
Shutter speeds are good. The camera isn't ugly, just dirty.
Upon opening it up, I shined my 800 lumen bicycle headlight into it and there are no shutter holes.
Rangefinder is dusty but still in calibration. Viewfinder is really good.

Lens is cosmetically excellent but won't bring an image into focus. It turns out that the rear group was loose in the barrel. Screwed that in tightly with a spanner and it is near diffraction limited. At f/3.5 the plane of focus is very sharp, by f/5.6 this lens matches my DR Summicron, at 1/5 the weight.
So I overhauled the helicoid assembly and now it is fantastic.

The body needed covering and I was considering using some vinyl flooring we have but then remembered that I have a few Mercedes Benz seat backs worth of MB Tex from Trudy's old "coffee" seats.

I made a pattern and re-covered the camera last night.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/525942-2/LeotaxK_MBTex01.jpg
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/525946-2/LeotaxK_MBTex02.jpg

So, I turned a junker camera into a really nice camera.

MB Tex is PERFECT for camera covering. Excellent feel, good amount of grip, and it will last at least another 50 years, longer than I will.

Phil Forrest

Phil,

I love stories with happy endings.

Thanks.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Watch out for ticks!

Phil Forrest

Phil,

I already had a tick on me earlier this year, but it was not a deer tick.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I was thinking I would retire in the first week in January, but now I'm thinking of using my vacation days to cover almost the full month of December to retire earlier.

I would miss the turn to cold weather, I have better things to do, and most of all I would minimize my risk to Covid and the new variants.

I talked with my Conductor on Metro North, and inquired about the pre-covid commute and was told my 5:58 AM train would be packed and standing room only, but perhaps 1/3rd to 1/4 full today.

My train/commute is pretty easy to socially distance .

I was also told that the next two trains are near capacity or standing room only currently.

So I figure sometime in September I am going to be rude and file the required three months in advance for retirement. How rude is that? LOL.

I can't wait...

I figure my last day of work will be somewhere in the first ten days of December.

My cell phone died. The battery started self discharging, and when I tried to recharge it this morning the phone was dead and flatlining. Oh-well.

It was just an old flip phone. Girls laugh when I pull it out, "No-one uses those anymore" they say, but I say, "Call me a caveman, but it is good enough for me."

So "Maggie" wants to get me a new phone. She says we are well overdue for an upgrade.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Looks like December 3rd 2021 to be my last day of work. In a few weeks I have to submit the paperwork that requires 3 months to process.

Looks like one of my institutions has $2M to spend on my cyclotron referb and upgrades.

The earliest schedule is sometime next summer in 2022: 6 day work weeks; 10-12 hour days; mucho stress; and hard work that would go on for 3 months.

Too bad I won't be around. Sometimes it pays to be a lazy slacker. LOL.

"Ha-ha," I say. LOL.

Today a General Contractor is coming by to eval a kitchen remodeling. It would really be great to get this done pronto so I can concentrate on the garage without "woman-factor."

Audi offed a $4.3K rebate on my 2015 A4. I figure the value of my car went up so much that they can afford to give me a credit towards a new Audi, but I happen to love my car so much that why would I do that?

Calvin-August

 

[MrFujicaman]

Shame Audi doesn't make a pickup truck...

 

[Calzone]

Shame Audi doesn't make a pickup truck...

MFM,

I have all-wheel drive that is full time.

Audi was a game changer decades ago when they introduced AWD into Rally racing.

Fidel who attends the NYC Meet-Up was involved with Rally racing. Pretty much trying to control a car under constant acelleration and constant steering with the rear.

From the stories I've heard Fidel is a mucho crazy driver. A few weeks ago I ran into him on my walk home to Grand Central.

Since I was driving into the city, I stopped at work to load up the library ladder I foung on 64th Street and First Avenue, a doctor's stool, a hospital hamper, a box of articulating shelves, graduated chemistry bottles, and a glove box for when I mix powdered developers.

The seats fold, but the A4 is a compact car not much bigger than say a Volkswagon Golf.

I displayed mucho hill-billy style. When driving the library ladder projected right over my shoulder and stood close to my right cheek. How hill-billy is that.

The hospital hamper is really great for holding contractor bags open, and has a genius like holder for the bag with a foot activated lid that makes it EZ-PZ.

Truth be told I like the balanced handling of the car, as well as the turbo. I get nearly 500 miles on 16 gallons of premium, and I would never get this mileage on a truck. The only thing that would be better if my A4 was an Avant (station wagon).

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Only three of us at the Meet-Up. Nice and safe. We were all vaccinated.

The big hit was my small book that used 13x19 sheets, had cover sheets, soft cover, and was designed to fit a stock archival presentation box.

The small book I say was a bit of a trophy of sorts.

Before we bought the house and we were looking, I decided that I had to empty my printers and use all my ink and paper in my stockpile. I still have lots of rolled paper, but the goal was to eliminate my stockpile as much as I could.

I didn't realize that I printed a lot of images that no one saw before.

Snarky Joe inquired about how to craft the hinges for my pages.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Today a mason will begin replacing our front stoop and the front sidewalk.

We will preserve these three steps that lead to a landing.

So "Maggie" takes ownership of driving our mason crazy with her OCD like tendencies. Pretty much I'm getting a break. LOL.

When we went shopping Maggie bought 3 six-packs of Ensure Protein Plus for me because she thinks I am too skinny. I'm cool with being a skinny bitch.

Today I caught a girl staring at me. Her head turned to keep an eye on me. I guess she liked what she saw, but the problem was/is that I'm old enough to be her grandfather.

So my build is say muscular like a featherweight boxer, even though my weight class would be a light-welterweight, but I am also skinny like a Marathon runner or an elite cyclist.

I have 5 cubic yards of sand and two pallets of pavers for the patio. The excavation is almost all done, so by hang I have been moving tons of broken cement, topsoil, and rocks.

Phil said that 6 cubic yards is a lot of material, and he is correct. Much of the gully in-between our property and my neighbors is filled in. Looks like we won't need a retaining wall there because our properties there don't differ in height.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Also "Maggie" forgets that other than the one day I "snookered" Devil Christian to help me move the heavy and bulky stuff that basically I moved all our stuff by myself a van load at a time nine months ago.

This is when the twenty pounds of weight loss began.

Maggie wanted to hire movers, but this was not really safe nor practical due to the pandemic. Also I had to fight back because I did not want strangers handling my treasures and be at the mercy of deadlines and scheduling that involved a crew of people.

A big thing for me is also I did not want to spend the money. Paying movers was fraught with problems and stress.

Calvin-August

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Last time we moved, I did 100% of it. Made about 100 trips in the Benz sedan with all of our goods. This was December 2019 -January 2020. Our previous landlord was selling the house so we had to move. One day I rented a pickup to move the biggest stuff.
Next time we move is on our own terms, this is coming up in September. We're hiring movers because neither of us can take the strain of moving anymore. Especially after more than a year of being stuck in the house and physical deconditioning, I just can't do it. I'll move a few things myself, of course but most the stuff is going to be moved by a few strong-backs with a moving truck.
I'm stubborn and hypervigilant but I'm not moving a whole house by myself again.

Phil Forrest

 

[Calzone]

Last time we moved, I did 100% of it. Made about 100 trips in the Benz sedan with all of our goods. This was December 2019 -January 2020. Our previous landlord was selling the house so we had to move. One day I rented a pickup to move the biggest stuff.
Next time we move is on our own terms, this is coming up in September. We're hiring movers because neither of us can take the strain of moving anymore. Especially after more than a year of being stuck in the house and physical deconditioning, I just can't do it. I'll move a few things myself, of course but most the stuff is going to be moved by a few strong-backs with a moving truck.
I'm stubborn and hypervigilant but I'm not moving a whole house by myself again.

Phil Forrest

Phil,

Understood.

What went unspoken is that I did not have to move a whole house. A decade ago, when we moved from Long Island City, we downsized in a very serious way.

Moving a 650 square foot apartment and emptying a Public Storage walk-in closet surely is not moving a house worth of goods.

Christian's help was greatly appreciated.

Also know that I don't think lack of strength is my problem at my age. I've done a pretty good job of keeping muscle mass and strength, but cardo is another story. I long for long runs and biking to get back my base.

Cal