NYC Journal

The upholstery shop where I work is kind of a hodge podge building as the original structure has had other garage bays added onto it over the years. The boss put ac/heat in a few years back. So the original section got this giant traditional unit and my far section got a mini split. My section is far more efficient and comfortable and cheaper while the front shop sucks. My boss says he should have used three mini splits instead.
 
I think we have a maxi-split for a couple of rooms in our house. There is a fan/compressor thing outside and a gas furnace thing inside. The gas furnace thing works great. We used to have a heat pump, and in the winter, when you held your hand up to the vent, it just felt like you had left the refrigerator door open. Now we are nice and toasty. With climate change, however, it is seeing less use. The air conditioning part works fine too, except when it gets up around 100 degrees, and then it struggles a bit.
 
Nokton48 said:
Morning Cal,

Sounds like good one and done upgrades. I'm thinking about some of those too. Speaking of upgrades, latest project. You can handhold this and carry it around on your bikes. Your Leicas could be made to fit. I bought this camera from Adorama for seventy bucks. They said it's a basket case but it's EX+++ Lensboard is worth 70 bucks.

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Initial test of Makiflex Digital Back! Auto Makiflex [NODE="1"]Home[/NODE] 150mm f5.6 chrome Schneider Symmar Auto Iris Plaubel Makiflex lens mount. Key Day F11 Easily hand holdable, great way to test all my lenses. Much fun ahead. If I want I can switch to film in 30 seconds, although the camera needs totally reset in that case. But so versatile.
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Devil Dan,

I think the lead time is best if you order direct from Mitsubishi if you go this way. It seems my extended wait was due to going through a distributor, and my experience is that the direct ordering is a max wait of 20 weeks. I waited 11 months.

Also thanks for posting.

Cal
 
Contarama said:
The upholstery shop where I work is kind of a hodge podge building as the original structure has had other garage bays added onto it over the years. The boss put ac/heat in a few years back. So the original section got this giant traditional unit and my far section got a mini split. My section is far more efficient and comfortable and cheaper while the front shop sucks. My boss says he should have used three mini splits instead.
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C,

Good to hear.

Had my oil tank filled today, only 126 gallons, but $786.00. Heating oil is $5.99 a gallon in New York.

I figure at $5.99 a gallon at last years usage will cost almost $4.4K. I hope to shave that down.

Also planning for the second floor and attic. Happy-Happy.

Cal
 
I was greedy, so I spec’ed out a H13 similar to my Santa Cruz Model “F” as an exercise, and I learned that the price increased many thousands. Every option had an increase.

My speculation was correct, that pretty much there would be major huge price increases. Every option I used now add pretty steep increases.

Also the old growth wood is a rare and scarce commodity…

I’m pleased with my Model “F” and pretty much it is priced out of reach at this point. No new Santa Cruz guitar for Calvin. Not only did I avoid sales tax, I got a cash discount. If I had to order my Model “F” today the new pricing is a $3K on top of what I paid.

Cal
 
Most people are aware that the country is undergoing a period of inflation, and that the price of most goods has risen. It is not surprising that the price of Santa Cruz guitars has risen as well.
 
Looked into my Santa Cruz Model “F” order, and it seems the price increase is more like $5K and not $3K.

The “Calzone-Factor” is somehow I locked in the pricing from 2021, even though I placed the order formally in early 2022. Pretty much 2021 pricing was locked in as a favor when I first did my inquiry. Mighty cool.

Anyways I bypassed somehow two years of price increases. Lucky me, and now today I’m priced out.

The price increases are on pare with the gains of real estate as far as percentages. How crazy is that?

I love the retro old price. Sadly my friend Carolyn at Santa Cruz moved on to pursue music, but I’m also happy for her. Meanwhile I’m greatful for the once in a lifetime deal where I got a discount from a luxury/boutique business.

**************

What is becoming more real is making the attic my clean room/studio. Seems more practical because a second mini split for the second floor can also heat and cool the attic, no tax consequences, and the windowless room suits me well for a digital printing studio.

I learned that setting up my Enzo calibrated monitor in a darkened room helps avoid the excessive contrast and overuse of contrast in digital prints. Also better for my viewing station.

There is a section that is 16.5x15.5 that pretty much is a space that resembles an A-frame house, so two walls cant inward. There are additional roof lines, but pretty much only useful for storage space. Overall attic footprint is between 625-576 square feet, but the 16.5x15.5 comprises 255.75 square feet minus the hatch for the pull down stairs I just installed.

So a modest small space that can be heavily insulated with H-vac. Not too big but very workable.

The garage will remain a garage, and this will be my rough work area. I have 100 amp service there already installed for possible electric car charging (Snarky Joe pointed this out) and pretty much I could do my framing and wood working there.

In the attic the heavy insulation will aid in sound proofing. I’m pretty sure the non parallel walls will inhibit some resonance and standing waves, and I’m pretty sure I could add a reflex baffle with some sound treatment to optimize and tune the room.

Very much a man-cave, and a space “Maggie” will not invade. I intend on setting up a border to prevent her from immigrating into my space.

I love it. “Leave me alone,” I say. LOL.

Cal
 
I bought some KitKat bars at the grocery store checkout last week. They were $1.19 each, but they were having a buy two, get one free sale, so I saved a lot of money. I noticed yesterday that KitKat bars were up to $1.39 and there was no sale on. I like the old retro price. I have now been priced out of the KitKat market. I should have loaded up the truck when I had the chance. Of course, in a period of inflation, you can say the same thing about almost any product. Unfortunately, I don't buy a lot of stuff, so I don't save a lot of money.

**************************

Is the attic space you are talking about the attic space with the pull down staircase you installed, or the attic space where you are contemplating installing a spiral staircase? Do I remember correctly that you installed the pull down staircase in your bathroom?
 
Calzone said:
Very much a man-cave, and a space “Maggie” will not invade. I intend on setting up a border to prevent her from immigrating into my space.

I love it. “Leave me alone,” I say. LOL.
Click to expand...

With you in the attic and Maggie in a shed in the back yard, you have set the stage for an enduring relationship.
 
Yesterday I walked to my local lumber yard to place an order, about 2 miles there, and then back. Dain’s has been in business since 1848 and is the oldest continuous business in the city.

Somehow I have become friends with the owner, and this has proven useful since they do mill work and have all the big boy machinery. This is a great lumber yard and mucho vast. I get really great service.

The weather predictions are often wrong in the Hudson Valley, only because the weather is so moody and unpredictable. I went outside to cover my grill and it was snowing. Of course this was not in the forecast.

Cal the Gas Guzzler
 
“I was just minding my win business,” when my neighbor gave me a free turkey.

The turkey was frozen and is about 15-16 pounds, a “Butter Ball” without hormones or antibiotics. After a few days of thawing it now is time to cook it, even though it is 6 days before Thanksgiving.

I already have a giant turkey breast for Thanksgiving that I will begin thawing in a few days for the holiday.

So this is a double Thanksgiving of sorts. Know I got the giant Turkey breast for free also by spending over $400.00 in a month at Shop Rite.

I figure I will freeze cooked turkey into portions for my Asian noodles.

This is also the first time I’m using the Bertazonni’s oven. Although it is a convection oven I’m not using that feature, and I find that the Bertazzoni comes up to temp fast and is very steady and the cavity is very uniform by the browning of the turkey.

I have the turkey covered with foil, but an oven thermometer is thrust into the thigh. It reads 150 degrees “F” currently, and I need to get to 165-170 for the full cook.

Know that the Butter Ball instructions recommend only 325 degrees F as the oven temp. Basically a slow gentle cook. I expect a moist turkey, and I know the foil I have in place extends the time needed further out in the future.

Used fresh herbs from my garden. Chopped them and mixed them into a paste using olive oil. Don’t tell “Maggie” but I used a lot of herbs because I don’t like bland flavor.

I expect that I will design some deadly dressings, one with mucho onions, one with mushrooms, and perhaps a plain and or corn bread. I’ll spike all three with mucho cooked turkey, so pretty much it will be a 50/50 ready mix to make sandwiches.

So I miss developing film, and I have scoped out an area in the basement for a rather long and narrow free standing room that has a good location for a good pitch for a sink drain.

I’m not so sure how much I will print digitally if I have a darkroom. I think I would like to get crazy with film again.

Anyways my grand daughter loves my cooking, and cooking good food is like developing and printing film.

Turkey temp is 155 degrees F.

I’ll make a turkey broth for the dressing. “Brutal,” I say.

Cal
 
robert blu said:
It seems you are now an excellent cook or even a chief
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Robert,

I learned at an early age how to take care of myself.

Today, somehow, I am a caretaker of others.

Interesting to note that at almost 65 I am experiencing the family I never-ever had.

I removed the turkey from the oven when it was almost 170 degrees, and pretty much set it in the tray on a butcher block cutting board to protect the quartz counter top from the heat.

I kinda did a “stand development” on the turkey doing some “coast-cooking” I figure because the thermometer stayed above 165 for almost a half hour before I cut into it.

I kinda have a “monster-knife” that is German made. Pretty much I used it to cut through the skin and then I could tear the leg off rather easily. WOW, a really moist turkey that even the cartilage on the hip released easily with a little gentile twist.

The skin was developed to have medium contrast and had a sepia tone.

Right now I’m boiling the carcass to make my broth for the stuffing.

I think I also will make a long-grain wild rice stuffing.

The broth I’m making should be rather dense in flavor.

BTW I was accused of poisoning “Maggie’s” son-in-law. I made a lasagna in a turkey tray one Christmas that weighed more than 40 pounds. Had a layer of sausage, mucho cheese, and even broke a plastic pancake turner. So basically the lasagna was so good that the son-in-law keep eating until he kinda overdosed.

Anyways of course cooking at this level requires mucho time. Glad I’m retired.

Don’t tell anyone, but I caramelize about 5 pounds of purple onions until it condenses down to about the size of a tennis ball. Very sweet in a sauce. Also after boiling and frying I simmer the sausages in sauce for hours to tenderize them

Don’t tell anyone my secretes.

Cal

BTW I could never make any money cooking: it takes too much time.

”Brutal,” I say.
 
Another cooking secrete: I removed the skin and fat and boiled the carcass. I limited the amount of water to make a dense broth. Used a strainer to get rid of the bones meat and cartilage.

I only ended up with 1 1/2 cups of liquid but this is basically a concentrate like HC-110.

I already gave away a turkey breast: half a turkey breast went to my neighbor who gave me the free turkey; the other half breast went to the “Creature” who stopped by to pick up “the Critter” (grandson).

A relaxed day of cooking. Now I have meat to add to the stuffing. With the turkey concentrate I made today the stuffing should be “brutal.”

Anyways, people tend to feed more on my stuffing than the roasted turkey. It’s that good.

​​​​​​​Cal
 
We had a light dusting of snow in Peekskill overnight.

Yesterday I ran a 5K in support of the “Creature-Junior,” the eight year old grand daughter. I am mildly sore and reminded that I have to start doing things to maintain my fitness and strength. I kinda ran “off-the-couch.”

We will be checking out a mammoth tile shop to select tiles for our upstairs bath. Looking forward to getting more work performed so I can selfishly work on my more personal projects.

Originally I was going to build a “He-Shed” so I could have some of my own space, but the idea was so pretty and private that “Maggie” kinda annexed it. She is pushing 70, so it is a way to give her a grand gift for her next birthday. The setting overlooks the slope, the marsh, and the forested hillside. Very country and not suburban at all.

The cedar will make the shed bug repellant, The 8x12 shed is marketed as a “garden shed and has a half greenhouse roof that will be nested among my neighbor’s giant spruce trees along with six screened in windows and a Dutch door. The view from the house of the rural landscape is not obscured or blocked, and right across the yard is the cedar 4x8 shed that serves as a sunny detached porch that basks in the sun.

Overall the small shed is half hidden behind my own giant row of white pines that flank a fence, so the two sheds together only slightly narrow a panorama. Photographically speaking I am cropping the view slightly. The back backyard still very much remains open and uncluttered, and the two lawns are maintained. Walking past the garage, an aged concrete narrow walkway is like a fashion runway that guides to and leads to the back-backyard, and once past the garage the space opens up into a sculptural “reveal” of sorts that is inviting yet separate.

Meanwhile the pergola and patio in between the garage and kitchen is like an outdoor living space that is tucked into the front-backyard.

Overall the yard is evolving into separate sculptural spaces. In a ways it is a sanctuary not only for us, but also wildlife. Seems that the birds prefer and congregate at out house over out neighbors. Perhaps because I don’t fertilize the lawn and mulch instead.

I get “buzzed” by hummingbirds all the time and also by Dragon Flies. Amazing how many butterflies come to visit. I have a serious amount of Milkweed growing on my “slope” to feed and draw in Monarch butterflies.

Next year will be year three and our third summer. The Knotweed is getting close to being exterminated.

A big project next year will be putting a new hip roof on the two car garage. I’ll be doing this solo, and this involves a tear-off of the old roof. I think I’ll try to make carriage style doors also as a finishing touch.

Cal
 
Had my Crown oil burning furnace serviced today. The oil burner features instant on hot water, and lately the hot water supplied was sketchy. Sometimes it would run out, or other times would not be too hot.

A thermostatic valve had to be replaced. Oh-well.

I figure the oil burner is perhaps now nine years old, so some maintenance was due…

They say that energy prices will get crazier in about a year. The reports are that if China’s economy regains strength that energy demand will cause price increases. I figure right now energy prices are already high, but next year they could be brutal.

I bought some Techron fuel additive. A German mechanic suggested using it once a month on performance cars with fuel injection. Note that this is an octane booster, so it also is a performance additive. My guess is that the computer figures out that it can advance the timing a lot for higher power. Of course this blows out the carbon…

My surprise was that the price kinda more than doubled. Also the cost of antifreeze to winterize the Chevy C-10 was more money than I expected.

Maggie is kinda onboard with insulating the attic well. This could get a bit crazy also because I want to be “one and done.” No fiberglass that will settle, and if we use batts it will be the more costly Rock Wool that does not compress with age.

The attic with its cathedral ceiling has a section that is 15.5x16.5 feet that would be like an A-frame. There are nooks for storage, but these are not standing spaces. Oh-well. Kinda free-space that I’m making use of. I figure the dense Rock Wool should isolate the attic and help sound proof to make a pretty good “sound” room. I can see my 300B single ended triode stereo being set up there as a listening room.

Cal
 
I forgot to mention that I bought a “Snakehead” guitar neck that was discounted, but happen to be exactly what I was looking for. A Snakehead is a Leo Fender guitar that later would evolve into and become a Fender Telecaster. One odd feature is that the headstock features three on a side like a Gibson.

Anyways this guitar has “Calzone-Factor” and kinda stands out.

I have an idea of making bodies and selling them as a side hustle.

”Don’t tell Maggie.” She thinks I already have too many guitars.

When we had the loft in Williamsburg, I would spread out my gear and play, but then she would come home and complain saying, “I don’t want to live in a guitar shop.”

Cal
 
My Christmas spirit has awakened, and today I bought a relic’s Carbronita body to go with the neck I purchased yesterday.

This Carbrinita is basically a Telecaster body that is kinda getto’ed with the use of a Gretch pickup. Currently only routed for a bridge pickup, but I can add a neck pickup later.

The body was CNC’ed by Wildwood, and evidently this guy applies nitrocellulose lacquer and does a really good job of aging the finish to where it looks like a 60 year old guitar. The two tone “burst” on an Alder body looks great.

The Snakhead neck goes back to 1949 history.

When I had a loft in Brooklyn, we lived about 3 blocks from the Gretch factory on Broadway. Today it is a luxury condo that had a penthouse built on the roof.

I use to have a great disdain for Gretch guitars because of the neck joint. Basically they used a large furniture wood screw to hold on the neck. The neck mounts were not precise at all, and in fact the fit was loose, and had gaps. They used lots of glue, but eventually the neck would separate from the body.

Anyways the Filtertron pickups kinda sound great with a hill-billy sound that I crave. E-Ha.

So don’t tell “Maggie” that I’m building another guitar.

Anyways one of my Christmas traditions is that I indulge myself and do something totally selfish.

This will be another evil guitar.

BTW the Snakehead and Cabronita ( Spanish for a female little bastard) kinda have similar pickguards, so the Snakehead neck kinda fits in. Also the Snakehead was a single pickup guitar with only a bridge pickup.

I have two small Matchless amps that use EL84 output tubes. Pretty much a Vox sound that kinda is brutal with Filtertrons.

Cal
 
Hi Cal,

That sounds really cool. I can't remember ever playing a Gretsch although I love the mystique surrounding them. Will you be posting any pics? I'm sorely tempted every now and then to just pick up an inexpensive copy of one as the real ones are way out of my price range.

On another subject; about 6 months ago I sold my friends Olympus OM2 and a couple of lenses to Peter Yeh. We struck up a quick friendship during the process and Peter convinced me to attend one of your get togethers. I had always been way too self conscious with too many hangups to attend past meetups; I don't shoot with Leicas, I haven't really gone out to shoot much lately, you get the picture right? Any excuse not to attend.

So when Peter emailed me recently to tell me about the meetup in Astoria, I was so upset that I wasn't able to attend due to other obligations (I live in Nassau County, about a 20 minute drive to Astoria!!)

Also, during the camera transactions with Peter, I also got to reconnect with Helen as I was unsure hot to place an ad in the classified section. It was great reconnecting with Helen, she is such a gentle, loving soul. I planned to meet up with her at the time but it just didn't happen, I guess life got in the way again

Anyway, I love reading your posts and I hope to one day get together with you all.

Please keep doing what you do and happy Thanksgiving

All the best,
Paul
 
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