New York March NYC Meet-Up

Hi Cal,

We are hunkering down in our "bubble" and enjoying our newly renovated living spaces.
Sounds like there will be a buying opportunity in the future. I'm sure you won't regret it. And you can get to the city when you need to. Know that we have a country setting, although we are in the "burbs". Miles of publicly owned land behind our house; kind of like having our own personal zoo. Lots of outdoor parties, somewhat smaller in size but mucho enjoyable.

My Makiflex Cameras by Nokton48, on Flickr

Here are my four Makiflexes (three Autos and a Standard) ready for use. This morning I was out photographing a new flower arrangement on my back deck. I used the 21cm f4.5 Makiflex Auto iris Heliar, that the rig on the far left. Bokeh at F16 with the Heliar is magnificent. I shot four 9x12cm HP5+ sheets in Voigtlander plate holders. I really like this new camera. It's like an old friend, as comfortable as an old pair of favorite shoes. I have quite a lot of new exposed film to develop as I have time.
 
Nokton48 said:
Hi Cal,

We are hunkering down in our "bubble" and enjoying our newly renovated living spaces.
Sounds like there will be a buying opportunity in the future. I'm sure you won't regret it. And you can get to the city when you need to. Know that we have a country setting, although we are in the "burbs". Miles of publicly owned land behind our house; kind of like having our own personal zoo. Lots of outdoor parties, somewhat smaller in size but mucho enjoyable.

My Makiflex Cameras by Nokton48, on Flickr

Here are my four Makiflexes (three Autos and a Standard) ready for use. This morning I was out photographing a new flower arrangement on my back deck. I used the 21cm f4.5 Makiflex Auto iris Heliar, that the rig on the far left. Bokeh at F16 with the Heliar is magnificent. I shot four 9x12cm HP5+ sheets in Voigtlander plate holders. I really like this new camera. It's like an old friend, as comfortable as an old pair of favorite shoes. I have quite a lot of new exposed film to develop as I have time.
Click to expand...

Devil Dan,

The commute will be about 1 hour 35 minutes on Metro North alone. The walk from the Gate House to the Metro North Station is 2.3 miles.

The walk from either 125th Street in my ghetto East Harlem or Grand Central (42d Street) are two very different walks to East 72d Street where my job is at. Lets just say the walk in East Harlem as being the exciting one meaning potentially dangerous (LOL) and that the walk to and from Grand Central is boring.

How crazy is it to be mucho green and not own a car? Anyways thinking about that new Volkswagon and Volvo, or Mercedes electric version of the GLA. "Don't tell Maggie."

I kinda love the Gate House because it is my style to do crazy things that are not conventional. A compound that would include major gardening, a greenhouse, and an open studio space where the Gate House would be our living space would be ideal for me.

I'm trying the old trick of building a "she-shed" for Maggie, but know it is really for me. LOL.

There is a rather large rear lawn, that looks like a football fiend in size. My lazy slacker mode would to get a pet sheep to leash on a kettle-bell, so I would not have to mow the lawn. Not sure "Maggie" would appreciate my new hill-billy ways. You know me: I'm a clever lazy slacker.

BTW those four M-bodies (LOL) are mucho cool. Muy macho. The santuary also has some monestary for nuns. Beacon has a population of about 15K, and there is an old Nabisco factory that is a big Museum set up by the DIA Foundation. The Dia Museum is near the train station and on the Hudson River.

90 miles below Albany and a little longer than 1 1/2 hour train ride to NYC if I want to shoot or get shot. Right now NYC is kinda lost. It thinks it is like Chicago with all the shootings.

Then again the "smart house" is less work, but the big draw is for me to do something crazy to keep my reputation.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Devil Dan,

The commute will be about 1 hour 35 minutes on Metro North alone. The walk from the Gate House to the Metro North Station is 2.3 miles.

How crazy is it to be mucho green and not own a car? Anyways thinking about that new Volkswagon and Volvo, or Mercedes electric version of the GLA. "Don't tell Maggie."

Cal
Click to expand...

Best of luck with the moving plans.

I've always lived 35-40mi from the city, which translates to a 1h-1h:30 commute door to door. Now I am doing train with a couple changes on both ends.

I tend to manage well commuting. It's another space suited for reading, keeping up with internet stuff, thinking and doing not so much. Some people despise it, and a coworker I met the other day told me I would not last 6 months... Even though I have 5 years of it in my back.

It's nice to be green although trying to get out of the town-city corridor usually means wanting a car. Everyone seems to be road tripping around here in Sweden (TBH quite nonchalant about the pandemic now) and I get the itch to do so. I tend to forget that rental and lending are options.
Car commuting is another thing, I did some for a couple months and it is bearable without much traffic, I just put on music and have a nice soundtrack along. But never as relaxing as on a train.

The bang/buck ratio in real estate is better out of the city. I'd love to be walking distance from work, it's way too much $ for a tiny apartment.
 
Prest_400 said:
Best of luck with the moving plans.

I've always lived 35-40mi from the city, which translates to a 1h-1h:30 commute door to door. Now I am doing train with a couple changes on both ends.

I tend to manage well commuting. It's another space suited for reading, keeping up with internet stuff, thinking and doing not so much. Some people despise it, and a coworker I met the other day told me I would not last 6 months... Even though I have 5 years of it in my back.

It's nice to be green although trying to get out of the town-city corridor usually means wanting a car. Everyone seems to be road tripping around here in Sweden (TBH quite nonchalant about the pandemic now) and I get the itch to do so. I tend to forget that rental and lending are options.
Car commuting is another thing, I did some for a couple months and it is bearable without much traffic, I just put on music and have a nice soundtrack along. But never as relaxing as on a train.

The bang/buck ratio in real estate is better out of the city. I'd love to be walking distance from work, it's way too much $ for a tiny apartment.
Click to expand...

Jorde,

One idea is just rent a car say for a day or weekend a month and plan on exploiting it the most.

I don't want the liability, responsibility, or the expense. If I need to rent a car for a week a month, I believe it still would be cheaper than owning a car. Call me lazy. Ha-Ha.

Also like Devil Dan I want my own sanctuary to live as in a bubble.

Interesting to note that when you have a darkroom one tends to live in the dark. I can be happy in my own universe of my own creation.

I just checked the "Smart House" and discovered through the street view tour that the neighboring house is kinda feral and abandoned looking. It surely is an eyesore, and the possibility of being a future construction project is highly likely.

This house is just off Main Street. Also on circumventing the block I saw how much Beacon has changed since the last time we were there. Lots of condos are being built.

Also took an areal view of Mountain Lane which ends up being a dead end with one way in and one way out with no intersections or cross streets. Main Street turns into East Main Street across Fishkill Creek, and then it turns into Mountain Lane.

Seems like a power line hiking trail going up to Mount Beacon is close to my compound. Mountain Lane BTW is a long road, and my Gate House is about 1/4 to 1/3 in from the beginning. All the properties with homes are along the road and the backyards border the protected sanctuary and Monestary for Nuns.

The vibe is much higher and north upstate. In other words much more hill-billy.

BTW I'm kinda tired of NYC. I want to move forward. Actually I think the commute will be more interesting that going to work. Today I learned that there is no scheduled experiments or patient studies. This means nothing to do, except surf the web, make some personal phone calls, check my email, post of RFF... Read the Wall Street Journal cover to cover...

Know that if I'm really bored I can read a book. Know that I'm socially isolated and safe. This will be my work week, reading, surfing. I even have a suspension trainer set up in my office to do a workout. Just pay me. LOL. I'm reminded of what my friend Dave use to say at Grumman, "I only come to work to rest."

So I'm looking at houses that date back to 1870, 1880, and 1890 that are turnkey and no money. Beacon was a working class manufacturing city of textiles back then.

I still love the gutted brick Victorian I call the Monster House. This is a historic three story Victorian with three floors built into a hill. What a monumental disaster, but what potential.

The Gate House has been on the market for over 250 days, I think because the living space is too small, but the price is so low that I could build a separate larger living space that is say only one bedroom, but with exaggerated mucho open space surrounded by gardens, where the original gate house would be a home office, guest house, or printing studio/gallery.

BTW my hoarding behaviors make it practical to basically only require a car once a month. I learned early on not to depend on others and to be self sufficient. I know how to stockpile.

I now have over a hundred coupons, $10.00 off, 10% off and even 20% off from Bed Bath and Beyond. Last week I did a load, I spent $102.00 and saved almost $45.00.

It was raining so I did something exceptional and took a bus with my loot from Bed Bath and Beyond. Here in NYC the bus you board using one of the rear doors. The first third of the bus is cordoned off with a plastic barrier to prevent free air circulation to protect the bus driver. No fare is collected, and passengers do their best to socially distance themselves. Everyone has to wear a face covering.

So now I don't take the subway and it has to be an exception that I even take the bus. NYC is sad place. Tears...

Cal
 
Cal,
Back in 2013, when I was on hard times, I sold my most beloved mountain bike to the then owner of People's Bicycle in Beacon.
This was a Specialized Stumpjumper M2 S-Works that I bought, custom fitted by Specialized for me. I worked at a bike shop and employee purchased it so I bought at wholesale. I tricked this thing out with every blue anodized alloy bit I could find. It had a set of Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brakes with a set of now-unobtainable 2 finger levers made by a CNC parts company now long gone. Kooka blue and purple splash CNC cranks with XTR rings, XTR front and rear derailleurs, Ringle front hub, XTR rear (after I blew apart the freehub body in the Ringle rear). GripShift SRT800 XRay, Kore riser stem, Titec Hell Bent bar. Rims were really rare Campagnolo Kilimanjaro Ceramic, and the tires were the greatest off road tire ever made, the IRC Yeti FRO.
I built this bike up over a period of 4 months and took out an insurance policy on it. It was worth 4x my 1967 VW Beetle.
This bike went with me to every port visit and almost every duty station I served at in the Navy. It's how I rode around in: Perth, Hobart, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Dubai, Victoria BC, and of course all over the USA. The only places this bike didn't go were Pusan, Iraq, and Spain.
In 2013 you'll remember I was burglarized, losing all my digital gear and my job at Newsday. Many thanks again to this community who helped me recover! So, I was working at the Home Depot and they were giving me fewer hours and I decided to sell the specialized. It was up on Craigslist for a while when the guy from Beacon contacted me. He agreed to buy it and I took the drive up that nice highway. When I got there, he asked his young tech to check out the bike and I had to show him how grip shift x rays worked, how Maguras worked and just the finer points of the bike. The owner was my same age and loved finding the 1996 time capsule.
I hope the bike is doing well. If you move up there, you'll have a great bike resource close by.
Phil Forrest
 
Phil_F_NM said:
Cal,
Back in 2013, when I was on hard times, I sold my most beloved mountain bike to the then owner of People's Bicycle in Beacon.
This was a Specialized Stumpjumper M2 S-Works that I bought, custom fitted by Specialized for me. I worked at a bike shop and employee purchased it so I bought at wholesale. I tricked this thing out with every blue anodized alloy bit I could find. It had a set of Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brakes with a set of now-unobtainable 2 finger levers made by a CNC parts company now long gone. Kooka blue and purple splash CNC cranks with XTR rings, XTR front and rear derailleurs, Ringle front hub, XTR rear (after I blew apart the freehub body in the Ringle rear). GripShift SRT800 XRay, Kore riser stem, Titec Hell Bent bar. Rims were really rare Campagnolo Kilimanjaro Ceramic, and the tires were the greatest off road tire ever made, the IRC Yeti FRO.
I built this bike up over a period of 4 months and took out an insurance policy on it. It was worth 4x my 1967 VW Beetle.
This bike went with me to every port visit and almost every duty station I served at in the Navy. It's how I rode around in: Perth, Hobart, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Dubai, Victoria BC, and of course all over the USA. The only places this bike didn't go were Pusan, Iraq, and Spain.
In 2013 you'll remember I was burglarized, losing all my digital gear and my job at Newsday. Many thanks again to this community who helped me recover! So, I was working at the Home Depot and they were giving me fewer hours and I decided to sell the specialized. It was up on Craigslist for a while when the guy from Beacon contacted me. He agreed to buy it and I took the drive up that nice highway. When I got there, he asked his young tech to check out the bike and I had to show him how grip shift x rays worked, how Maguras worked and just the finer points of the bike. The owner was my same age and loved finding the 1996 time capsule.
I hope the bike is doing well. If you move up there, you'll have a great bike resource close by.
Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

Phil,

I'm sure selling that bike hurt. Seems like it was part of you. Lots of history there.

All four bikes I own are time capsules. Thanks to your advice I loaded up the truck with XT cassettes and assembled kits to go XTR 1x11 and XTR 2x11 when I get rear wheels built. I built this stockpile using closeout prices when Shimano was going to come out with 12 speed.

Also because of 3/16 chain I even kitted out a 9 speed XTR/Dura-Ace drive train. Again all I need is a rear wheel.

The Ti IBIS Mountain Trials is very likely a one-off. How cool is that? My steel IBIS Mountain Trials goes back to the day when mountain biking had just gotten invented, and Scot Nicole was one of those first biker/builders who did the "repack runs." Later Scot would become inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, and he was a NORBA Trials Champion.

What is so great about the lower Hudson Valley for me is the air quality, some of the best in the country.

For technical single track some of the best trails in the country are on Blue Mountain State Park in Peekskill I have been told. Right across the river from Peekskill is Bear Mountain State Park and Harriman State Park.

Cal
 
So I have a positive attitude where I don't see me getting frail or vulnerable over the next 3-4 decades, but "Maggie" is baking in when she is. My biological age is 38, even though I'm 62 1/2. Maggie although 67 has a biological age of 45.

Know that my extended life span is an expected 106 years. Navy SEAL survival training teaches 95% of survival is a positive mental attitude. I'm pretty certain I'll live to be over 100, and the next 4 decades will be lots of fun with ample freedom.

I would like the privacy of a larger property/yard, Maggie does not want the work or maintenance, but guess who likely will be doing all that work and maintenance of growing food, gardening and the hard work of landscaping? I don't think it will be Maggie.

I'm not so sure I want to live in town and so close to Main Street. I rather be on the fringe. So hard work is part of my life and lifestyle. A 1/4 or 1/2 acre would provide physical work and some strength training, but instead I'll just go for a 2-3 hour ride by myself. Oh-well.

Also she shows me houses based on price, but many are too small or are two stories with only one bathroom. Anyways "woman factor" and the at times one-sided reasoning that goes with it is a world of great compromise.

So now I'm almost forced to dig in. I will demand an oversized two car garage that I will build as my out building. Perhaps I will insulate, heat, sound proof, and install a bathroom so I can shelter inside a cocoon of sorts. I could set up my tube stereo (300B Monoblocks 8 watts single endd triode) in a listening room with a sound treatment.

I can blend in my guitar, bass and amp collection. I could wheel in my printer, or even set up my darkroom.

Perhaps I'll put up a sign: "No women allowed." LOL. Another sign: "This is not public storage for woman's clothes, shoes and handbags."

Just give me my "Out Building" and I can be happy.

Cal
 
jszokoli said:
Cal,


I really enjoyed Charlie Kelly's book Fat Tire Flyer, it has lots of Repack info from the early days.



https://www.velopress.com/books/fat-tire-flyer/


Joe
Click to expand...

Joe,

Scot Nicole was the punk kid that hung with the big boys back then. He was kinda like their mascot. Scot says they only let him hang with them because he had good bike handling skills.

At this point I'm just looking at riding by myself. I can't see "Maggie" ruining that on me.

Also now I'm looking to be selfish, I'm looking at homes that promote only my interests not so close to Main Street, and perhaps are not so inexpensive.

One is a three story colonial with a wrap around porch. The kitchen alone is massive and has an interesting two staircase layout: one staircase goes to the second floor; and the other leads from the kitchen and goes to the third floor. Guess where my print studio will be. BTW the third floor has a full bath.

The home is already nicely landscaped and has nice gardening. It has that retro 1900 built feeling, new roof, new heating, central air. Love the claw footed tub, and the white porcelin farm sink. The kitchen has mucho-mucho cabinets for hoarding and taking advantage of sales (cheap-cheap-cheap). I say this house has a monster kitchen.

This home is not too far from the "Roundhouse." I like the color of the outside of the house: yellow. Now I'm spoiled: I have to live in a retro house.

The other I like is mucho close to the river, DIA, and Metro North. Another old house.

Now my attitude is "Selfish is good," I say.

Cal
 
Cal,
If you have the desire to grow some of your own food, half an acre is a very good plot size for vegetarians.
Back between in junior and senior year in high school, I got a weird urge to grow something I could eat. I looked up what grew well in the Estancia valley, with its hard, alkaline soil, and found out that I could grow potatoes with not too much effort. I asked dad if we could rent a roto-tiller and he just pointed to the pick and the hoe. So I hand-tilled up almost a quarter acre of our property, got sand, and organic material then made my own rich soil for growing. It was still going to be alkaline, but the potatoes supposedly wouldn't mind this.
I planted rows and rows of potato eyes and they came up! It was a hot summer and my dad said they were the most expensive potatoes in the world but our water bill was literally a few dollars back then (my dad is the guy who will drive halfway across town to buy gasoline from a station selling it $.02 less than one along the route of his commute. Total waste.)
Anyway, I tended those potato plants for a few months then harvested them and we had over a hundred pounds of "Augsberg Gold" varietals. Perfect for tossing a bit of olive oil on, some salt then baking in the oven for a spell. We ate those potatoes for months, so the expense in water paid off.
Just a small plot, maybe 20x20 feet would provide enough potatoes for a couple into the winter. I loved growing my own food and it is my eventual goal to do this again.

Phil Forrest
 
Phil_F_NM said:
Cal,
If you have the desire to grow some of your own food, half an acre is a very good plot size for vegetarians.
Back between in junior and senior year in high school, I got a weird urge to grow something I could eat. I looked up what grew well in the Estancia valley, with its hard, alkaline soil, and found out that I could grow potatoes with not too much effort. I asked dad if we could rent a roto-tiller and he just pointed to the pick and the hoe. So I hand-tilled up almost a quarter acre of our property, got sand, and organic material then made my own rich soil for growing. It was still going to be alkaline, but the potatoes supposedly wouldn't mind this.
I planted rows and rows of potato eyes and they came up! It was a hot summer and my dad said they were the most expensive potatoes in the world but our water bill was literally a few dollars back then (my dad is the guy who will drive halfway across town to buy gasoline from a station selling it $.02 less than one along the route of his commute. Total waste.)
Anyway, I tended those potato plants for a few months then harvested them and we had over a hundred pounds of "Augsberg Gold" varietals. Perfect for tossing a bit of olive oil on, some salt then baking in the oven for a spell. We ate those potatoes for months, so the expense in water paid off.
Just a small plot, maybe 20x20 feet would provide enough potatoes for a couple into the winter. I loved growing my own food and it is my eventual goal to do this again.

Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

Phil,

I rented a row house in Greenpoint. The owners had three young daughters, and had an above ground pool for them. Around the pool was a concrete patio. Over the years the loam and organic matter was depleted from the soil and what remained was an 18 foot circle of sand left behind when they moved into the burbs in Westchester.

McGolrick Park was nearby, and I raked windblown fall leaves into garbage bags to add into my sand garden. I destroyed a pair of workboots tilling that sand. I added bails of peat moss, cow manure, bags of lime...

The small backyard became a wonderful haven. I set it up with a containered herb garden near the door where I would grill and barb-B-Q.

I set paving stones to create a weaving walkway that meandered across the 18 foot circle lined with hostas. Beyond the hostas were flowering plants. The first year they were just a blend of wildflowers. The next year it was a bulb garden.

Way in tha back was a concrete landing that rose up a step. I used containers and set up a swamp garden, so we had a different enviornment that included a 55 gallon clay Chinese urn that I had water lillies, water Hyisith. Had a large container of Pickeral Rush with its stalks of purple flowers. In the urn with the water lillies I had Koi.

As a tree I grew a large Butterfly Bush in a galvinized wash bin. It created a wall like partition to cordon off a small table and two chairs for a coffee spot, a place to have breakfast or have dinner outside.

Within this small backyard I had created all these different spaces.

Interesting to note that I trained the Koi to be domesticated. One trick is to introduce them to and put in a few dumb goldfish. Evidently this calms them. Then like a dog you use food to train them. I could feed them out of my hand.

When we moved to our loft in Williamsburg I set up the Koi urn up in the loft, then I bought a Eiheim filter that was built for a 300 gallon aquarium to use on the 55 gallon urn. Koi live to eat, and I wanted to see how big I could grow these fish.

One fish I named Shaq because he was big and fat, but he did all kinds of stuff and tricks to make me feed him. He would come out of the water and splash me. Eventually he grew to be a 6-7 pound fish. When I had people over they would be drawn to my Koi, and Shaq would come out of the water like a jumping Mako shark to scare them.

My other large Koi was named Ali, short for alligator. He tended to hover horizontally near the surface. He was kinda a Brooklyn thug in attitude.

Because I had 5 Koi in such a confined space I would pump the water out the nearby window into the flower beds outside, and effectively I exchanged the water completely every day.

When there was a blackout in NYC I used a five gallon bucket to manually airate the water. I would drink a quart of water and went to sleep, but in about 40 minutes to an hour I would wake up to pee. At that time I would airate the urn again and drink another quart of water. This is how I saved my fish.

Also know that back in the day when I smoked weed I cultvated pot. I culled the male plants and this made the female plants into a different kinda plant where they concentrated all their efforts into reproduction. Skill was required because females would become hermaphoditic and grow male organs to self-pollenate.

I ended up growing the best weed I ever had.

Interesting to note that even though "Maggie" is a Social Worker that she had little understanding about our rescued dog with all his phobias and special needs.

Baby-Dog would attack people lunging at them. He had already bitten people twice before we got him, and there is a law that after three strikes the cops and ASPCA would take him an put him down.

So in East Harlem I had this 15 pound dog with a Miniture Pincher body with a Beagle Face that I had to muzzle because he was a vicious dog. Eventually he became famous in the hood, and everybody knew him. They rooted for him as the underdog.

Down the block on Third Avenue is a halfway house for ex-felons that use to be called "The Parole Transition Institute." All those guys understood "Three Strikes and you are out."

So Maggie with her PhD made a big deal that our dog never attacks people when she takes him out and that he only attacks strangers when I walk him. Maggie with her PhD didn't figure it out that he was overly protective of me because to him I was the one that mattered and the one that was important to him.

"Don't tell Maggie," but I just kept quiet. LOL.

Anyways, it would be nice to have a small greenhouse to grow, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, peas, string beans, eggplants all year round in containers.

Also know that I'm the person who cooks, cleans, and does the laundry. As a kid I always had to take care of myself. Early on in life I knew I had to take care of myself and learned to be self sufficient.

Cal
 
Looks like Sunday we will be going to Beacon to scout things out.

"Maggie" was less crazy last night and increased the price range and kinda stepped onto my side.

So there are three homes that are high possibilities, and two are new listings that were put up about a week ago, both are near the Roundhouse, but there is one that is close to Metro North that has a deep 1 1/2 car garage on a 1/4 acre opposite a golf course.

So my "out building" exists where I could build out a studio, sound proof building that is heated, has a bathroom, for my selfish enjoyment.

This house was built in 1880 and is a corner lot with a stockcade fenced in side yard with some trees for shade. The rear of the property slopes and there is a retaining wall that creates a terrace that I can see me adding a few terraces to to build out a shade garden because trees border and separate me from my rear neighbor.

The house is advertised as being "Sound-Proofed" because the front of the house is on 9D that leads to Interstate 84 and the bridge that crosses west over the Hudson River. Currently I live on Lexington Avenue, and even though I'm on the 4th floor I still get bombarded by street noise.

I would have a hill-billy front porch. Even though built in 1880 basically it is like a new house, and it is a smart house, only two bedrooms, and only one bath, but the layout is really nice. So far this is my fav. Its been listed since 5/22.

The colonial with the wrap around porch happens to be the one with the least amount of land, and it already is landscaped nicely. I love the 9 foot ceilings, the farm sink, all these original details that even include the built in antique floor to ceiling mirror. There is this stately staircase surrounded with built ins that takes you back to 1770.

This home has a one car garage, there is a first floor bedroom, and 3 bedrooms on the second floor with a bath that has a claw footed tub. Remember this home has a second staircase coming from third floor (servant's staircase???) that heads to the kitchen.

This home is more inland and is close to the Roundhouse about 2 blocks from Main Street. BTW the second story bedrooms look to be connected like a railroad flat.

Which one would you pick? The difference in square footage between the two houses is only 100 square feet. Land or curb appeal?

In the end I taught Maggie not to cheap-out.

Cal
 
MrFujicaman said:
Get the one with the 3 upstairs bedrooms and let Maggie have one for a closet.
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MFM,

One bedroom might not be enough: one bedroom for clothes; a second bedroom for shoes and hand bags.

I love crazy women. LOL.

My thinking is that with the 100 square foot house on the 1/4 acre I have room to buy one of those SIP modular sheds so she could have a She-Shed. Also there is an attic, but access is via a pull down entrance. If it is not a finished attic I will likely have to finish it for storage.

I gauge the 1 1/2 car garage to be 20'x30' so it almost has the same square footage of my apartment. How cool is that?

Cal
 
Saw a Tom Hanks interview last night plugging the new film "Greyhound."

I wondered what the film was about, and I learned that it was about the battle of the Atlantic during WWII. Tom Hanks role is as a Captain on a destroyer escorting a convoy.

What became evident is that the film unintentually is relevant to the Covid Pandemic today. Fighting German U-Boats was an invisible enemy, Hanks pointed out; and there was a parallel at the time in that it dealt with life and death situations that they didn't know how long that they would go on for.

I know some say that it might only take a year to develop a vacine, but what if it takes years, which is the stronger probability. Then the next hurdle is to manufacture enough.

It was said that if 30% of our population decides not to get vacinated that herd immunity will be impossible; and then they are saying than antibody levels decline rapidly and there already are indications that any immunity is likely to be "fragile" and not long term.

Anyways a thoughtful interview by Tom Hanks.

Cal
 
The weather Saturday looks to be stormy, and Sunday could have scattered rain. Oh-well. Perhaps another weekend for a trip to Beacon. Oh-Well...

"Maggie" reports that data suggests that hard hit poor communities in NYC might already have attained "herd immunity." The amount of those testing positive in Corona, Queens is 68%, and 56% in Jackson Heights.

Know that any immunity might be and looks to be "fragile," but in a second wave these communities are likely to be hit as hard.

Meanwhile in the more affluent neighborhood Cobble Hill in Brooklyn positive tests for antibodies are only 17%.

I live above 96th Street which is a hot zone mostly because it is a poorer community with many E-scent-L service workers living there.

This Friday I go for yet another "spit-test" for Covid. I get tested every other week.

"Don't tell Maggie," but yesterday I was scoping out the new Subaru WRX STI. Eventually when I do retire I still want a car.

Cal
 
Phil_F_NM said:
Cal,
Back in 2013, when I was on hard times, I sold my most beloved mountain bike to the then owner of People's Bicycle in Beacon.
This was a Specialized Stumpjumper M2 S-Works that I bought, custom fitted by Specialized for me. I worked at a bike shop and employee purchased it so I bought at wholesale. I tricked this thing out with every blue anodized alloy bit I could find. It had a set of Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brakes with a set of now-unobtainable 2 finger levers made by a CNC parts company now long gone. Kooka blue and purple splash CNC cranks with XTR rings, XTR front and rear derailleurs, Ringle front hub, XTR rear (after I blew apart the freehub body in the Ringle rear). GripShift SRT800 XRay, Kore riser stem, Titec Hell Bent bar. Rims were really rare Campagnolo Kilimanjaro Ceramic, and the tires were the greatest off road tire ever made, the IRC Yeti FRO.
I built this bike up over a period of 4 months and took out an insurance policy on it. It was worth 4x my 1967 VW Beetle.
This bike went with me to every port visit and almost every duty station I served at in the Navy. It's how I rode around in: Perth, Hobart, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Dubai, Victoria BC, and of course all over the USA. The only places this bike didn't go were Pusan, Iraq, and Spain.
In 2013 you'll remember I was burglarized, losing all my digital gear and my job at Newsday. Many thanks again to this community who helped me recover! So, I was working at the Home Depot and they were giving me fewer hours and I decided to sell the specialized. It was up on Craigslist for a while when the guy from Beacon contacted me. He agreed to buy it and I took the drive up that nice highway. When I got there, he asked his young tech to check out the bike and I had to show him how grip shift x rays worked, how Maguras worked and just the finer points of the bike. The owner was my same age and loved finding the 1996 time capsule.
I hope the bike is doing well. If you move up there, you'll have a great bike resource close by.
Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

Phil,

Were you a sponsored racer and sponsored by Specialized?

I knew two racers that were. One guy actually looked exactly like Ned Overend, "The Lung," and since Ned was also a specialized racer he got mistaken for Ned all the time.

The other racer was named Pat who was a skinny bitch with great technical bike handling skills.

As for my skills, I just have a high threshold of pain. LOL.

Cal
 
Since lockdown happened in NYC, I've been very anti-social. Have not taken the subway in months, and only took the bus perhaps 4 times in 4 months, which is basically free since you just board the bus and don't have to swipe your Metrocard.

In fact my Metrocard expires at the end of the month, so I have to transfer the available funds to another card that won't expire as not to loose the amount.

So how socially distant is this, "Maggie" tells me that my flip phone that she pays for has a message from Louis Mendez who called Sunday. About two months ago I got a text from his daughter about his up coming birthday, and as a gift what would be appreciated most was a pack of film.

I figured that I would give Louis his present in person because I run into him all the time, but that is not happening, so I have his snail-mail address to mail him his present.

Louis called just to see if I'm still around and to see how I'm doing. I mentioned heading up to Beacon soon. Usually I worry about him when I don't see him around; funny the role reversal.

So Louis tells me now he is now 80. Know that he has three kids from three different women, never married, and on Wick-A-Peed-E-A they only report 2. Fact is he has 2 daughters and a son. Also today he mentioned that he has two girlfriends.

You should know that I annoy Maggie because I don't carry my cell phone. LOL. Oh-well. Why do people love me?

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Phil,



Were you a sponsored racer and sponsored by Specialized?



I knew two racers that were. One guy actually looked exactly like Ned Overend, "The Lung," and since Ned was also a specialized racer he got mistaken for Ned all the time.



The other racer was named Pat who was a skinny bitch with great technical bike handling skills.



As for my skills, I just have a high threshold of pain. LOL.



Cal
Click to expand...
Cal,
I wasn't a sponsored racer, so much as a rolling advertisement. I think it was the nature of the grassroots CNC parts makers popping up everywhere to advertise by giving or severely discounting their components, to the mechanicss that would be servicing the bikes of the racers themselves, both independent and team sponsored. Our shop had the Trek team for race day support in my last year before I joined the Navy. I always liked Specialized more though back then. All the big manufacturers offshored production to Taiwan in that time, with the exception of the stuff built for the teams. I think I really just liked the red team color of the Speccialized bikes, ha. Although I have two steel Stumpjumpers, I'm always still on the passive lookout for a bright red team edition, which are rare as hen's teeth.
Speaking of racers and custom frames, one time I was riding around the Sedillo Peak open space area east of Albuquerque, with my friend Liam, when one of my coworkers passed us on a tight uphill singletrack, saying, "Phil, can you move over? We have a few folks coming up fast behind you. Keith is riding with us today too." By 'Keith', he meant Keith Bontrager. So I was on the uphill side of the trail, just off the path, trying to track stand and right after Bontrager rode by, I fell over onto the trail and slid a few feet down, still clipped in. Very embarrassing.
Phil Forrest
 
Phil_F_NM said:
Cal,
I wasn't a sponsored racer, so much as a rolling advertisement. I think it was the nature of the grassroots CNC parts makers popping up everywhere to advertise by giving or severely discounting their components, to the mechanicss that would be servicing the bikes of the racers themselves, both independent and team sponsored. Our shop had the Trek team for race day support in my last year before I joined the Navy. I always liked Specialized more though back then. All the big manufacturers offshored production to Taiwan in that time, with the exception of the stuff built for the teams. I think I really just liked the red team color of the Speccialized bikes, ha. Although I have two steel Stumpjumpers, I'm always still on the passive lookout for a bright red team edition, which are rare as hen's teeth.
Speaking of racers and custom frames, one time I was riding around the Sedillo Peak open space area east of Albuquerque, with my friend Liam, when one of my coworkers passed us on a tight uphill singletrack, saying, "Phil, can you move over? We have a few folks coming up fast behind you. Keith is riding with us today too." By 'Keith', he meant Keith Bontrager. So I was on the uphill side of the trail, just off the path, trying to track stand and right after Bontrager rode by, I fell over onto the trail and slid a few feet down, still clipped in. Very embarrassing.
Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

Phil,

Not only was I known for my high threshold of pain, but also for riding close to the edge of control, and also for spectacular crashes. Some of my friends like riding behind me for the best view. They found my riding style, or lack of, entertaining.

I would find out years later that I broke both of my collarbones at a doctor's visit. Never knew, and of course they never required any doctor's visit.

Cal
 
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