New York March NYC Meet-Up

Gold is very near $1900.00 an ounce. It is a hedge against inflation, and is looked upon as a store of value.

Signs of inflation are showing up. I know that banks have been accumulating gold, and I say they are part of the "smart money."

Not that cameras or lenses are investments, but they can be. Similarly a 1977 Stingray bass on EBAY like one I own is listed at $4K, about double what I paid for mine.

I know if you wanted to buy "physical gold" like coins or bars that you can hold in your hand, that the demand kinda outstrips the supply and getting physical gold is actually hard to do.

Anyways I believe the hoarding of things that retain value has already started. I have seen this happen before.

Cal
 
I think that when Maggie said "home inspector" she meant appraiser. Ask your new friend Brett for the name & number of a good electrical contractor and hire the guy to look over the wiring and breaker box.

The morons who remodeled this place in 1975 when my uncle got it, cut every corner they could. Try only 3 circuits for the house and 14 gauge wire with 30 amp fuses on each circuit. 3 prong outlets-using 14 gauge wire with no ground. Really cute! The guy I hired to redo the electric like to have crapped his pants when he saw that. I had him rewire the place using 12 gauge for everything-I'd bought 750' of it before I even hired him. He redid the fuse box and gave me 5 circuits to handle everything. 5 circuits with 20 amps a circuit on 12 gauge wire is WAY safer than 3 circuits @ 30 amps each with 14 gauge wire.

I'd already had to crawl under the house and run a ground wire to 2 of the outlets as the morons from 1975 didn't use wire with a ground-which was already mandatory by 1975. I ran a new Romex wire down from the outlets into a box under the house and connected it to the old 2 conductor wire and the new grounding wire I'd run into the box.

Also check for aluminum wiring-trust me, you don't want that hassle.

Also, if the house has a septic tank instead of a city sewer, get it inspected.
 
MrFujicaman said:
I think that when Maggie said "home inspector" she meant appraiser. Ask your new friend Brett for the name & number of a good electrical contractor and hire the guy to look over the wiring and breaker box.

The morons who remodeled this place in 1975 when my uncle got it, cut every corner they could. Try only 3 circuits for the house and 14 gauge wire with 30 amp fuses on each circuit. 3 prong outlets-using 14 gauge wire with no ground. Really cute! The guy I hired to redo the electric like to have crapped his pants when he saw that. I had him rewire the place using 12 gauge for everything-I'd bought 750' of it before I even hired him. He redid the fuse box and gave me 5 circuits to handle everything. 5 circuits with 20 amps a circuit on 12 gauge wire is WAY safer than 3 circuits @ 30 amps each with 14 gauge wire.

I'd already had to crawl under the house and run a ground wire to 2 of the outlets as the morons from 1975 didn't use wire with a ground-which was already mandatory by 1975. I ran a new Romex wire down from the outlets into a box under the house and connected it to the old 2 conductor wire and the new grounding wire I'd run into the box.

Also check for aluminum wiring-trust me, you don't want that hassle.

Also, if the house has a septic tank instead of a city sewer, get it inspected.
Click to expand...

MFM,

Most of Beacon has city sewers, but on the outskirts there are only septic systems. I want to avoid a septic system because I want a darkroom. Also know that I poop a lot. LOL.

Right now the pent up demand is causing homes to go to a consignment stage where bidding and other offers can happen.

I expect the economy to begin slowing, for reality to set in, and for a bit of a dramatic downturn to begin in the fall. Pretty much there is no recovery, only a massive head fake. We are in a very serious mess.

Also we want a rather modest small home. Two bedroom one bath would be fine. Devil Christian pointed out that older homes are leaky, and for practical reasons I don't want a large house to maintain, although I'm willing to pay for a larger lot.

Seems like the larger lots though have septic, so I might have to compromise to be happy-happy. The ability to grow enough food to sustain myself and Maggie I think will become mucho important.

It seems that not far away is a change of growing seasons, which means about a ten degree rise in temperature envelope. When this happens Central Park will become subtropical and will have a climate and growing season more like Maryland.

At that time Beacon will advance to a zone 7 which what was NYC Westchester, and Long Island. Beacon will displace a zone 6.

At Photoville, years ago, they kinda connected the dots for me of a rather bleak future. Global warming caused famines, which led to civil wars, which led to a refugee crisis, and all this migration and need for humanitarian aid.

In the Sunday New York Times was a section on how much of the world will become unlivable in the next few decades. BTW the Times feature suggests that Central Park already has become subtropical and the fauna already is changing. Cherry Blossoms flowered in mid March this year in Central Park.

Some of the flooding that Phil says to be aware of is very real. The amount of rain is expected to be the same, but rain will become less frequent, and when it does rain expect floods.

On this map there is kind of a narrowing belt where life can be sustained, and it is alarming how much of the world will not be viable. There are sections in the U.S. and China, and in India parts will get so hot that without air conditioning as life support death will prevail. There will be dead zones and a huge migration of refugees...

Cal
 
My guess is that I learned from being trained as a film photographer in art school I got hooked on the concept of delayed gratification. The process of developing hidden images and printing them opened up all kinds of unknowns that I found exciting and enchanting.

So now in securing first a retirement, and then a home, only happened because of long-term sacrifice, planning, and delayed gratification.

So "Maggie" and I are waiting for the market to turn. Yesterday the FED revealed that the economy will continue to struggle as long as Covid-19 remains out of control. This is not news to anyone with common sense, but I guess it becomes fact to those who believe in a "recovery."

Earlier in the week there was a special show that documented the lack of response and the bad management of the pandemic at a Federal level. Meanwhile PPE remains not stockpiled and in short supply to the point that a second wave could be worse than the first wave.

The defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies will start piling up over the next quarter is my journalistic connect the dots (facts and data) outlook.

So this first house in Beacon will be a modest 2-3 bedroom one bath. A big lot would be a bonus, but I think the end game would be to build a "Net-Zero" house that basically can be off the grid and have enough land where I could grow my own food.

Anyways in a way I want to take social distancing to an extreme and de-globalize to be as self sufficient as I can.

This first house is just a stepping stone because the Net-Zero house will require lots of capitol up front, but will return future savings that will be predictable.

I believe where we are heading is a Japan style deflationary spiral with a stagnant world economy. In Japan they have been stuck for about 2 decades.

Anyways I have a plan, it involves more delayed gratification, but I'm also excited at the possibilities and the prospects. Kinda interesting how photography spilled over as a philosophy, a way of thinking, and a way of life to the extent of being a lifestyle.

Some crazy stuff is that I went onto Ampex, a place where you can buy and sell gold, both bars and coins. These Canadian Maple Leafs that I bought in 2007 that are made of .99999 (five-nines) gold are some of the coins that have the highest purity.

My coins are also graded in hermetically sealed cases MS-69, where MS-70 is exceptionally rare. MS stands for "Mint State" meaning never cicrculated or even touched by human hands, and on top of that these Maple Leafs are not only a limited edition, but also "First-Strike."

Gold has been on a tear this year. Hard to price the premium on my coins because they are unavailable. My guess is they are worth at least double what I paid for them in 2007 when gold was only about $1K per ounce.

BTW the Canadian Mint no longer makes Five-Nines coins, they only did them for a few years, and mine date to the beginning of this display of craft.

My only remorse is that I should have been more greedy and bought more, but I have other hard assets that have appreciated in the same manner like guitars, bass'es, and amps. Kinda funny how these items are like a house that I never owned.

Kinda funny how the Net-Zero house is a smart house using heat-pumps for heating and cooling and a 10 kilowatt solar array. I thought I would always be a retro kinda guy that annoys people. LOL.

Cal
 
MrFujicaman said:
Never have I seen March drag on so long....
Click to expand...

MFM,

I expect soon that this long thread and this ranting will get deleted.

"Maggie" is now looking into more expensive homes. Now I feel like I'm training to be a real estate agent.

I made an impulsive buy on EBAY. Paid $300.00 for a nitrocellulose painted 1949 Fender Esquire that is a repo of a prototype that is made of reclaimed pine from a barn. The body is reliced and mildly distressed from laying around a shop for a few years, but the reason I bought it are the worm holes.

For those that are not Guitards, an Esquire preceeded the development of the Fender Telecaster, and only has one pickup in the bridge. Also this version of the Esquire is also known as "The Snakehead" because it features three-on-a-side tuners on a symetrical headstock.

This goes with my new hill-billy image. Also know that if I pull on my hair to remove the body to make it straight, my hair reaches my belly button. Of course I can blame the pandemic for not getting my haircut.

I guess I look a little scruffy like John's friend that we call "Homeless Jeff."

My latest favorite house is a yellow one that was built in 1880: three bedroom two bath, but it is a fixer upper, and it has a front porch, an enclosed side porch, and a rear porch. Love the claw foot tub, the fireplace and that it sits on a quarter acre lot.

I realize that I'm a caretaker of sorts. I tend to take care of people, always have, likely because I was just a kid when I had to take care of myself. Now my efforts are more about taking care of a house.

This yellow house has city water and sewer, is close to Metro North, and also not far from Main Street. Too bad we are not ready yet. We are waiting till after Labor Day.

I feel time is our friend.

Cal
 
MrFujicaman said:
I hope they don't delete it..it's kept me entertained during all this virus crapola.
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MFM,

For inquiring minds somehow I have collected 64-65 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupons.

I loaded up on skin cream, but I need to get more olive oil for the next "orgy."

I love their raw bean Kona coffee. Don't tell anyone or the people who throw out their coupons by my mailbox, but these coupons, even though they have an experation date, don't really expire.

Recently I used some $10.00 off any single item over $30.00 coupons from 2018. LOL.

BTW don't tell Maggie that I'm building another guitar. There is this process called Toreification that normally happens to wood over vast amounts of time. Moisture gets driven off and resins harden, and this causes structural changes where wood more closely becomes like a graphite composite where it becomes stiffer.

Today they can heat treat lumber to speed up this process by combining heat treatment along with a vacuum.

So this guitar body might have some mystical potential as well as worm holes that display its old 100 year old barn history. I'm trying to secure a "Snakehead" neck that is of "Roasted" maple which is rock maple that is processed with heat and vacuum. The wood becomes an amber color and no longer requires a hard finish.

So anyways this "Esquire" has much of my style. Should be pretty evil. I love the worm hole texture. It makes this guitar look tough.

I took notice last night how I tend to play my leads at the base of the neck, where I really hit the strings hard and I dig in. Most players play the end of the neck for a softer sound, but not me.

I'm really excited about my new guitar, "Don't tell Maggie."

Cal
 
Happy-happy: The "Snakehead" Tele body is expected to be delivered today.

This Thursday I will get "Spit-Tested" for Covid again. I get tested every two weeks because I work at a hospital.

Here at work I had a short 5 minute bombardment, and I learned that I have to "cook" the RF again and "bake-out" the matter collected on the walls of the cyclotron, by using RF energy to "scrub" the interior of the machine.

I don't have the ion source on, so I'm not using the full 80 Kilowatts that is required to be operational. I'll be baking the machine for the rest of the day, so just to give you an idea of how much energy I'm wasting, I learned in my home research that if you want to go off the grid that the typical home uses about 9.5 Kilowatts a month and to do this a 10 Kilowatt solar array is required.

So in about an hour of operating at full operation potential I basically use enough energy that eight average homes require over a months time.

So the big update is that "Maggie" and I are going for the homes that go unloved because they are too small for most. One was built in 1889, and the newer house was built in 1900.

One has a half acre, but only a septic and no city sewer for a darkroom. This home of course is more private, I easily could grow all my own food, and the big picture would be to build out a separate workspace detatched in the back.

The other home has a Scan-Dan-avian sensibility to it in luxury appliances thoughout, and a certain minimalist sparseness that is kinda modern and senible. I call this property "The Tiny House" because it goes unloved because it is too small for most, but that is why it would be great for us. This property is towards the middle of Beacon.

It displays windows around the foundation, so the basement with its separate exterior entrance would be my studio. They spent a lot of money on high end windows to enclose the "farmer's porch" to make it a 3 season room. My hope is since this space is not heated that it is not counted as living space.

These smaller homes make sense because of all the economic uncertainty that lays ahead. It is best to secure a mortgage while I'm employed because a steady stream of income gets me the best terms. Also I think it becomes a matter of time before I will be offered a "buyout" as organizations that offer pensions "de-risk" because FED Zero Interest Rate Policy makes it impossible to keep pension plans sustainable.

At best buying junk bonds and the stock market offers too much risk, and pretty much eventually that will be a loser's game. New York State is reported to be offering cash buyouts to its employees that have pensions this month, August.

If I retire early owning a small home will be an asset, a larger home a liability.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
The other home has a Scan-Dan-avian sensibility to it in luxury appliances thoughout, and a certain minimalist sparseness that is kinda modern and senible. I call this property "The Tiny House" because it goes unloved because it is too small for most, but that is why it would be great for us. This property is towards the middle of Beacon.


[...]

If I retire early owning a small home will be an asset, a larger home a liability.

Cal
Click to expand...
As my dad would say, you need coupling to a nuclear powerplant :D


Scandinavian sensibility is interesting. It's quite a curious culture on real estate here. Basically there was a fantastic socialist based rental system, which in the last decade or so has broken. TL:DR, for decent "1st hand" rents around the capital can be accessed after 20 years of queueing. That is, parents sign their kids up so they can rent when grown. Otherwise it's mortgage and buy.


As usual in a worldwide fashion, go a bit towards the boondocks and one gets a nice house for an affordable price. IMO train commuting isn't that bad. I kind of wish for those times one could get a plot of land and just build up your own house in there.



Retirement wise, a smaller house is smart. My folks are in a too large semi detached house that eventually will have too many stairs. Also, an old family house in the mountains. In a decade or so, I'll have to make sense of all of this.
 
Prest_400 said:
As my dad would say, you need coupling to a nuclear powerplant :D


Scandinavian sensibility is interesting. It's quite a curious culture on real estate here. Basically there was a fantastic socialist based rental system, which in the last decade or so has broken. TL:DR, for decent "1st hand" rents around the capital can be accessed after 20 years of queueing. That is, parents sign their kids up so they can rent when grown. Otherwise it's mortgage and buy.


As usual in a worldwide fashion, go a bit towards the boondocks and one gets a nice house for an affordable price. IMO train commuting isn't that bad. I kind of wish for those times one could get a plot of land and just build up your own house in there.



Retirement wise, a smaller house is smart. My folks are in a too large semi detached house that eventually will have too many stairs. Also, an old family house in the mountains. In a decade or so, I'll have to make sense of all of this.
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Jorde,

At one point you might get ownership of those properties.

The one house is one floor living, and decades from now that might be a great-great asset.

The almost half acre property that is an 1879 Colonial has land to work that likely would keep me young. It is a property that is better suited for the here and now.

The one level home is more turnkey. "Maggie" who is mucho fussy would change around the kitchen, but already is nicely done. Why would you replace new quartz countertops? Oh-well: woman factor I say.

In the end the old Colonial will require extensive exterior renovation. Asphat siding is over ragged aluminum siding over the possible original wood lap siding. Likely the sheathing would need to be replaced and vapor barrier. That would be time to apply EPS insulation. The windows are double hung single pane 6 lit per top or bottom. This all would cost tens of thousands of dollars, but this home is less expensive.

I believe this house even with the costs of exterior renovation will be less costly than the more turnkey home. There is something going on with the roof structure also, so with this in mind the homes eventually are about the same cost when said and done.

The average price of a home in Bacon is a lot more money. I'm cool with that. Cheap-cheap-cheap...

Cal
 
ooohhhhh, 80kw.. Im only pushing 50 here.. :p can get 65 or so, but we would probably get a phone call. lol
There used to be a station in PA that was built to push out 400kw......... was capped at 50 tho.
 
fiddle said:
ooohhhhh, 80kw.. Im only pushing 50 here.. :p can get 65 or so, but we would probably get a phone call. lol
There used to be a station in PA that was built to push out 400kw......... was capped at 50 tho.
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Fidel,

Don't tell anyone but we radiate people and release radiation.

Meanwhile my 300B mesh-plate single ended triode monoblocks are only about 8 watts.

Cal
 
I am mucho pleased and happy-happy that I bought the Snakehead Tele body I have named "Worm."

Worm has a translucent mildly distressed translucent white finish, and upon close inspection of the end grain it displays a slab cut that is quarter sawn from a huge tree. It is one slab of wood and not glued, so this tree had to be mighty big. Also the body weighs 5 pounds so the final guitar will be a porker, meaning heavy.

The tap tone is mucho percussive, and like a drum with a tight skin for a rapid decay and a sharp attack. I imagine because of the weight that this guitar will have mucho-mucho sustain.

So the grain across the almost 12 3/4 inch width runs almost parallel with the face where the most parallel section is perfectly centered right over the bridge and neck pocket. The run-out after re-sawing cause the board to cup, and across the 12 inch span of a steel ruler there is a fall off from flat of 1/10 of an inch on either side. The end effect is that the top of the Tele is arched in a convex way and the back runs parallelly in a concave manner.

Anyways it becomes mucho clear that this will become a rare and unusual guitar.

Today at work I'll fabricate a stainless steel control plate that will have two holes and is about the size of a business card. I am reclaiming the stainless from some medical equipment that was being thrown away.

I'm really excited.

Happy-happy.

Cal
 
**Gear Alert**

Finally found a mint copy of the Canon LTM 28mm f2.8 lens (ebay is rough) should
be here by Friday. Cal enjoy your new Snakehead guitar, should be a looker.
 
Range-rover said:
**Gear Alert**

Finally found a mint copy of the Canon LTM 28mm f2.8 lens (ebay is rough) should
be here by Friday. Cal enjoy your new Snakehead guitar, should be a looker.
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Bob,

"Worm" the Snakehead has mucho style.

I already have a Snakehead neck that I'm going to canabilize off another guitar. It is quarter sawn. I get another neck to restore the other guitar.

I own a black version of the Canon 28/3.5. It is a tiny lens. I love the rendering. Very old school with center sharpness and soft corners. Not the best for digital, but for film it is wonderful. Single coated contrast.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Bob,

"Worm" the Snakehead has mucho style.

I already have a Snakehead neck that I'm going to canabilize off another guitar. It is quarter sawn. I get another neck to restore the other guitar.

I own a black version of the Canon 28/3.5. It is a tiny lens. I love the rendering. Very old school with center sharpness and soft corners. Not the best for digital, but for film it is wonderful. Single coated contrast.

Cal
Click to expand...

Sounds good, have fun with Snakehead!
 
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