NYC Journal

Calzone said:
"Psycho Killer” came out by the Cars
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Cal, I'm sure you meant "Taking Heads" - unless there's a version I'm not aware of. The Cars were a great Boston Band - good late-70's/early-80's memories from both bands :)



...and not to be confused with another Boston Band - The Fools - who parodied "Psycho Killer" :)

 
It took a while, but “Maggie” finally realized a few things: being overly busy and making too many commitments leads to getting frenzied; and at the age of almost 70 this is a bad pattern of behavior that not only is stressful and unhealthy, but kinda makes no sense.

What is amusing is that she has a PhD and was a licensed therapist. Brrrr…

So this is coming from someone who is laid back and somewhat care free who is a self-proclaimed lazy slacker.

Lots of entertainment value here.

Paying a contractor to demo, insulate and sheet rock our dining room kinda jumps starts this years progress, otherwise the job would of gotten dragged out and would have been performed by me. Anyways money well spent…

The one editorial shoot did not happen, now a big gig in South Korea is being negotiated By our agent, but pretty much Maggie is way behind with editing her book, and we still have childcare until June.

Oh-well, it took all this tension, stress, and drama that led to what I call “hysterical woman mode” to basically have her figure out that there is too much on her plate; meanwhile our house is a work in progress and a construction zone…

So let’s see if a New Yorker can relax or even slow down, or if the nonsense continues.

One thing I learned from being a performance artist is “in your own time” where you have to patiently wait for the proper moment, and from my art training that to do the best job you have to be free of multitasking, distractions, responsibilities, and commitments. Basically you need to be able to focus and concentrate to be fully in the moment.

Anyways trying to share the nonsense that I endure and the sensibility I try to maintain.

Pretty much modeling will get put on hold, and no gigs until after June Maggie says… Let’s see…

Cal
 
A while back I learned about Tommy Emanuel a solo guitar player. I watched a performance he did at a bluegrass festival held in upstate New York, and he did this medley of a few George Harrison songs that he intro’s as “A little George.”

The medley began with “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and somewhere in the song I heard what I thought to be part of “Here Comes The Sun.” I played the medley a few times, but never got to where I recognized a superimposition or modulation hinting at a second song.

So pretty much an auditory hallucination of sorts which was a misperception. My mind skipped and confused thoughts with memory. A weird brain fart of sorts maybe. Anyways I am prone to such delusions…

So to pass the time I did some research and dug in to explore not only my mind, but also Beatles history. I had a feeling that my mind made a jump because of a combination of free association and reality that somehow got blended into my perception, a perception that was not real. Basically I suspected it was just a matter of “Key Signature” and then my mind filled in the blank.

Hope I’m not giving you a headache, but in fact ”While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Here Comes The Sun” are in fact are both in the key of “A:” but one is in A Major; and the other in A minor.

Realize in Jazz and Blues major and minor gets crossed over, so pretty much the one note difference is pattern recognition and part of ear training.

In reading Wikipedia I learn of an omitted verse from “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

I look at the trouble and hate that is raging/while my guitar gently weeps/as I’m sitting here, doing nothing but aging

The problems you sow/are the troubles you’re reaping/while my guitar gently weeps

I find profound how this song contrasts against “Here Comes The Sun.” One is so dark about the idea of universal love so out of reach, followed by a song that is so optimistic.

Both songs involve Eric Clapton. Of course Eric played the tasteful leads with the over bends that phrase a kind of sobbing, but “Here Comes The Sun” was written at Eric Clapton’s country home.

Also the history that goes with 1968-1969: Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated as well as Robert Kennedy; and the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia. Backstory is YoKo Ono kinda becomes the 5th Beatle and all kinds of drama was happening.

So you have Paul, and John, and George had not yet “come of age.” Paul and John were not enthused and downplayed “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Anyways I have to wonder who is my favorite Beatle and the best song writer. Another song I love is “Something,” another song by George.

How timely and relevant today is the song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps?” Also, how profound are the unused verses?

Anyways, I have a goal to somehow blend, intertwine, and Segway these two songs together.

Cal
 
The bathroom got painted and final trim which I will gel stain, and Monday it looks like we will have a functional bathroom.

The custom glass for the shower is about 2-3 weeks out, but we will have some improvised shower curtain in the meantime.

Pretty much demo started on a Monday and ten days later only one more day will be needed to hit this milestone.

We have a missing piece of trim, no big deal, but a pole that is a manifold for the hand held and rain head is backordered and is expected to be in stock mid-March. In the meantime a cheap shower head will be used. The reason why it is a long lead item is because of the brass finish.

Anyways I’m impressed by my new contractor, who was recommended by my friend James who is the owner of Dain’s, the oldest lumberyard in Westchester.

Happy-happy.

Cal
 
58 degrees was the high yesterday on the 10th of February.

How crazy is that. On top of that a mild winter. Oil was expensive, but I used less… It seems “Maggie” is correct that global warming translates into milder winters, but hotter summers. Glad that now we have the mini-splits for “life-support.” Now I need an 18KW generator as a backup. Know that I have natural gas in the house, even though my hot water is an instant on system provided by my Crown oil furnace.

The house is a lot quieter with ceilings and insulation added. Know that in 1912 they did not insulate houses, or at least not my house.

I now understand why I have newer oak floors in the upstairs: back in the day they had a coal stove in the basement and a grate in the hallway to heat the entire house; when hot water radiators were added they decided to gain access to the second floor joists by wrecking the second story floors.

Last night we moved back the dining room furniture, even though the walls and ceiling need to be primed and painted to get the living room back. Also all the old original window trim was saved with the hope of stripping off white paint and recycling all the trim to keep it original and to save money.

This jump start of hiring a contractor to leap forward was money well spent. This contractor was great, and it was wise to not use our first contractor and to pursue a new one. One thing I can say though is the first contractor allowed me to rescue the Heart Pine floor which meant a lot to me, proved I am stubborn and perhaps a bit crazy, because almost everyone would of written it off as unrecoverable.

I do love my kitchen a lot, even though it took 8-9 months.

Pretty much contractors did the heavy lifting for me. I figure and know I could of done the work myself, but it would of taken lots of time, and “Maggie” would not have been happy. I would not have rushed, and I would have taken the time to do a good job without the experience, tools or resources of a pro contractor with specialized developed skills. I would be developing those skills built on some limited experience.

So now come the easier tasks that are more sized for an animal like me like stripping and replacing a two car garage hip roof, or building out Maggie’s She-Shed.

Our contractor mentioned leveling out the front porch floor, which is a great idea to get rid of a trip hazard which also allows me to install a double sided rigid foam insulation with radiant barrier in the floor. Underneath I have 2x6 where I could use R-21 Rock Wool and get a R-27 total in the porch basement ceiling. This seems like a job I could do one day… Hmmm…

If I insulate heavily the porch hip roof pretty much I’ll gain a 3 season room that will not effect my taxes.

”No one ever got rich by paying taxes,” rich people say…

Cal
 
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Did a big house clean up today, and some maintenance like caulk the windows in the dining room. When I went into the basement to do a load of laundry I saw by the oil furnace a small puddle about the size of my hand. I used a paper towel to determine it is not fuel oil as this was close to the Becket gun for the Crown furnace (hot water).

Then I looked above the gun and saw a corroded valve and where the drip came from. So the leak is from a bad valve that needs to be replaced and the liquid is water. Oh-well.

I called it in and basically it is no emergency, and I’m not in danger of flooding the basement. Monday the service guy will come, but this repair is outside of the service contract. Oh-well again.

Anyways the leak must of just started, so pretty lucky to find it so early.

I’m a lucky guy.

Cal
 
I had several wall lizards crawling around on the sunny side of my house yesterday. And I’m located in Canada.

The Keeling Curve

I met the late Dr. Keeling several times during my career in climate science. Atmospheric CO2 levels were around 335 ppm in 1978 when I made a jump from physical chemistry to chemical oceanography.

Glenn
 
Cal, I'd level out the porch floor. At our age, breaking an arm or leg is a major butt pain !

The reason older houses have little or no insulation is that years ago, home heating oil was dirt cheap. I've seen bills from the late 1940's for my grandmother's house (AKA the big house) where they paid 12 cents a gallon for oil. The thinking seems to have been that insulating was costly and messy and with oil so cheap they just turned the heat up higher.
 
MFM,

I agree with what you were saying. Back in the day when I was poor, I drove “Rat-Rods” before the term was coined. Back then I said, “Oil is cheap” because it was cheaper than fixing engine and tranny oil leaks. Pretty much the cars I ran even though fugly were not oil burners.

The insulation I added and had added, along with other sealing has really tightened up the house. It will never be as tight as a new house, and it will breath, as new homes also have air quality issues at times by being too tight.

I was looking at the porch hip roof yesterday to evaluate how to best insulate it. The porch is on the north side of the house. Seems like a 1 inch rigid foam with double sided radiant barrier would be EZ-PZ to seal off the enclosure. I can’t vault the ceiling, but I would backfill the wedge like attic under the hip roof with rock wool, like the building inspector required on the powder room off the kitchen.

Leveling the floor will allow me to insulate the top of the porch floor, and underneath I can use 3 layers of 2 inch rigid XPS to get an additional R-30 (figure R-35 total). I’ll have to sheet rock the porch basement to meet the fire code.

The porch measures 6x16 for only 96 square feet, so understand that this Baby-Victorian is a small Craftsman cottage that was bought as a kit from Sears.

The porch basement was made and dug out sometime after the house was built. The walls are made of large field stones, so the walls would need to be framed in, insulated (likely rigid foam for mold resistance) and also sheet rocked. Know that the ceiling height of the porch basement is only 6’9” at the tallest and it slopes with a 3 inch pitch over the 6 foot width. To gain access to the porch basement there is a step up from my main basement.

Plumbing for the washing machine and a slop sink are on the other side of the porch basement wall. In fact there use to be a rough bathroom that had a sink and toilet in the porch basement. Hmmmm…

I am use to darkrooms that are long and skinny, and I’m only 5’10” with no girth, so I could even raise the floor 1 or 2 inches so I could insulate the floor. Devil Christian highly recommends insulating the floor for comfort, but a secondary reason would be to seal the room to aid in cleanliness.

There is a window on each of the short sides, so I will create a ventilation system and likely buy an expensive air purifier. Remember that the porch basement will likely be less than 96 square feet so I figure go overkill with air filtration.

So I can see a long skinny darkroom. There is a short cubby on one side of the door that would be suitable for setting up an enlarger. I can see doing what Devil Dan did where he had a table of adjustable heights, and the idea of using one of my drum stools or one of my doctor’s stools with wheels to focus the enlarger to compensate for the loss of height.

One great thing about this darkroom setup is I can lock out “Maggie” and keep her out. Also for the safety of the grand kids. Ever notice how women dump and discard their extra stuff or garbage in a man’s domain?

Leveling the floor was my contractor’s idea, but laying down a hardwood floor is within my capabilities. At this point with the kitchen and bathrooms out of the way their is no time constraints or inconvenience, and I can start and finish projects on my own. Only took two years and a lot of money to get this far, but we bought a project house that needed/required renovation. We bought the house that no one loved because it required lots of work, but now it displays mucho charm.

When I attend to the attic the attic floor will get one layer of R-30 rock wool with a second layer of R-30 rock wool running perpendicular to the first layer, for a total of R-60. Pretty much the upper range for my climate zone to make up for the lack of insulation in the walls for most of the house.

This means the attic will not be utilized for any storage at all. On top of that I am thinking of adding rigid double sided radiant-barrier to the rafters to stop/prevent the oven effect that happens during heat waves. I expect global warming to accelerate and worsen.

They say 25% of your heating costs are through losses in the attic. If I can mitigate this loss, I can live with a house that has most of its walls that breath.

So even though I’m retired, I kinda have many jobs, but truth be told a woman is higher maintenance than a house. How crazy is that?

Cal
 
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Glen,

One report suggests that Toronto within a decade will have the climate of NYC. How crazy is that?

Did you know that your country is like the Saudi Arabia for water, and the amount of wealth (water wealth) your country has yet to harness.

They even suggest that in the future there will be “Water Wars.”

Anyways in history the last time we fought Canada, we Americans got spanked badly (War of 1812).

Also as an American, I apologize for our rude behavior and hostility. For the most part Canadians are more polite and well mannered than Americans, except perhaps the women of Montreal that are rather forward and aggressive when they see a man they find attractive.

”Don’t tell Maggie,” but she did not pick up on these advances. Montreal women I would say can be rather aggressive.

They also say that Maple trees will not have enough time to propagate and advance northward as temperatures rise. In Pennsylvania they report loss of hardwoods and invasion of softwoods that typically thrive further south.

Know I picked the location of my retirement home at the “Gateway to the Hudson Highlands” not far from West Point, in the Hudson Valley as a strategic location that has an add-E-quit water supply and is somewhat sheltered from global warming.

Please forgive us dumb/stupid Americans and our selfish politics, because we need your water.

BTW I bike, I run, I walk and I put on less then 7K miles on my car. Before that I lived in NYC and either walked or used mass transit.

In my 65 years I only know of one Canadian who is a jerk and he is a member of this forum (RFF). This idiot tried to insult me by name calling like back in grade school, a man like myself who is of retirement age. He called me a “Gas-Guzzler” because I bought an old 1966 Chevy C-10 that is a barn find. Know that this truck remains parked in my garage and burns zero gas.

Anyways, I yelled at this guy and told him to, “Grow up.”

Cal AKA The Gas-Guzzler
 
I’m the only male in my family who was not in the U.S. Military, but I worked at Grumman for 17 years and helped win the Cold War.

Devil Christian suggests that I kinda built a high rise in the one bedroom of my 650 square foot luxury apartment when I lived in Madhattan. Pretty much he says I went “vertical” by building out space.

The bedroom was kinda set up like a submarine where every square inch mattered. Then again “woman-factor” and worse woman-factor of a fashion blogger who kinda used my studio space as her “closet” enough to open a small boutique of woman’s shoes, bags, coats, and accessories.

Pretty much the room was booby-trapped where one could easily be crushed by woman’s wear.

So in these “good old days” where I had my floor standing 24 inch Epson printer I called “the Jersey Barrier” a 27 inch EIZO calibrated monitor, and storage of thousands of dollars worth of paper, inks, supplies and of course my monster sized prints (24x36).

So I’m cool with having a printing workspace that is small and very submarine like.

If you think I’m weird/odd/crazy, perhaps you should know my second oldest brother who affectionately is known as my rich brother.

He is a Capricorn like me, Jesus, and Elvis. He is also like me, kinda gifted as far as intelligence, so know that in 1968 he attended Brooklyn College on a full scholarship. He only attended for a year, but living in poverty of course sucked. He only attended college for a year before quitting, and then he joined the Navy and got into their Nuclear program.

He ended up getting stationed in Hawaii and served on two nuclear attack subs: the Tautog (Blackfish); and the Porgy. He was the “Nuclear Operator” in the Navy for 5 years, and because he saved every penny during those 5 years he ended up with $30K worth of capitol in 1973 that he invested in small electronic companies that specialized in communications before they invented cell phones.

He ended up being the Nuclear Operator for Shoream the failed Nuclear Power plant that was dismantled because it failed to have an evacuation plan. The cost/waste was about 2.2 Billion dollars with a capitol “B.”

So even though it made no power, and was decommissioned, he still had the job as Nuclear Operator because they needed someone with the qualifications and the license. Did you know as a Cyclotron Engineer I was licensed?

Submarine duty is called “The Silent Service” and operations are highly secret, but I discovered a book with the same title that used declassified information to reveal all these secretes we are not suppose to know about, like Navy divers taping into Russian military communication lines not far or within their territorial waters. Some subs were modified for such missions.

”Don’t tell anyone.”

The way submarine duty works is that there are two full crews, and a cruise typically is for 6 months. My brother told me the limitation is the amount of food that can fit in a sub. Pretty much when loaded for a cruise the submariners are walking in halls that have low ceilings because they are walking on number 10 sized cans of food that are being stored.

So pretty much the same as in my digital printing studio.

So there was an incident involving my brothers “boat” (Navy jargon for a vessel that can fit in or on a larger “Ship”) named the Tautog.

Nuclear attack subs stalk each other, and there is a blind spot in the rear in the prop wash that the sonar cannot see. The Russians do this violent turning that is unpredictable to try and detect if they are being “shadowed,” and these maneuvers are called a “Crazy Ivan.”

Understand that underwater collisions occur, and pretty much it is standard procedure to scout out the situation, and then get out of there. No rescue, and pretty much leave them for dead. Oh-well…

So pretty much a collision happened between the Tautog and a Russian sub. I do not know if my brother was on duty (6-months) or (6 months off). The Tautog suffered a bent sail (Conning tower).

Evidently the Conning Tower punched a hole in the Russian sub, it took on water and was sinking. Know that at a certain depth water which weighs about 8 pounds per gallon experts enough pressure to crush a hull.

The crew of the Tautog heard all kinds of horrible sounds, and then the worse sound: silence.

For decades it was thought that the Russian hull imploded and the entire crew was lost, but the Russian Captain avoided crush depth (the nose of the sub was stuck in a dive with the added ballast of taken on water) and could not surface, he ordered the engines into full reverse, and was able to surface.

The Russian sub then listened and heard silence believing he had killed an American crew and sank an American sub.

Today my rich brother is married, has two kids, and is living in Hong Kong. He is an American, but his wife and children are Chinese.

The Straight of Taiwan is a bottleneck not too far from the China coast, a choke point of sorts. You should know that all American subs are Nuclear, and the Chinese only have a few. Diesel electric subs are very quiet, that is an advantage, but the weakness is that they have to either expose themselves or use snorkel depth to run Diesel engines to recharge batteries that reveal position.

The losses in any war would be horrific on both sides, but studies suggest the U.S. would militarily would win, but also militarily would be rather crippled.

My feeling though is that a war is brewing and almost is unavoidable, but the expression ”Time is the best weapon” I believe favors the U.S.

Also know my brother mentioned while stationed in Hawaii he and others would send up helium balloons with aluminum foil tails to reflect radar to get F-4 Phantom Jets to scramble.

The nonsense going on right now of testing NORAD is plan stupid and dangerous. Our response is being tested. Might be a time to play dirty or do something covert that we won’t hear about.

BTW did you know that Obama used a lot of Black Ops during his 8 years?

Cal
 
Also as an American, I apologize for our rude behavior and hostility. For the most part Canadians are more polite and well mannered than Americans

Cal, years ago a 12 year old bicyclist near Boston, MA cut across in front of my car. After slamming on my brakes I admonished him to be careful to which he replied "Go f--- yourself."
A week later in New Brunswick, Canada another twelve year old cyclist approached and as he rode by said, "Good morning sir, lovely morning, isn't it?!"

Hardly definitive but, for me, memorable.
 
CG,

It is funny how Canadians showed me how we Americans are so rude and hostile.

While sitting outside the birds of Canada even are friendly. They don’t seem to know that humans are a hazard to them.

In New York pretty much there are too many laws, and because of this New York and especially NYC no one really follows the laws and more or less it is a free-for-all and total chaos. George Carlin had it right when he said something to the effect in NYC that the Ten Commandments is more like the ten suggestions.

In Toronto I saw no jay-walking even, and out of habit “Maggie” stopped me from doing so. Even when there is no traffic and it is safe to jay-walk, no Canadian does it, anyways in Toronto they don’t.

Then I happen to be there when the Blue Jays had a game. I kinda got swept up into it, even though I don’t like or love Baseball. I am a Blue Jays fan.

Back in 1992, Canada had its bond rating lowered, and at the time they had a liberal government. Somehow it took about a decade and they got their AAA bond rating back. Sadly I don’t think we Americans could ever achieve that.

Then in the War of 1812 they fought bravely and spanked us badly.

Anyways I know we Americans are very rude and hostile. Perhaps the Canadians are a happier people.

At the hospital where I worked a girl I worked with was Canadian and from Toronto. One day she tells me that if Dr. “Q” keeps her after hours again that she is going to punch him in the face. Pretty much I talked her from going into “Hockey-Mode” and to stay calm, but pretty much a once very sweet, kind and gentile Canadian girl suddenly got swept up into the New York State of Mind. Nicole somehow became an American. LOL.

Anyways, how rude are we?

Cal
 
Did a sustained trail run. Covid really destroy my fitness base, so basically long slow distance, and then a hike to explore trails that might be good for mountain biking. I have 1500 acres to explore about 2 blocks from the Baby-Victorian.

Tomorrow we should have a functional bathroom upstairs. A heating guy will repair the dripping valve I found yesterday. To day the drip seems to have slowed down to almost nothing. Oh-well.

On my trail run I found a Preying Mantis cocoon, so I clipped it off the weed and brought it home to put in my yard.

Cal
 
Excited about having a new functional bathroom today. A mirror has to be ordered and sconces will be mounted later when the mirror is on hand.

The shower head will be a temporary one until the brass shower pole gets delivered, and there is a missing piece of decorative trim that will have to be installed.

The heating service was just a guy tightening a valve’s packing. Because I pay my oil bills so fast I doubt I’ll get charged, because I have a great relationship with them. I’m so pleased with their service.

I have my house back. Looking forward to the spring and summer to get a lot of work done.

Kinda entertaining and funny the Chinese damage control: accusing the U.S. of ten ballon incursions in 2022; but I don’t think the accusation that we (the U.S.) is a big abuser of surveillance and like the biggest gatherer of intelligence, even though we do dumb things.

The sich-E-A-Ti on is that the U.S. does not get caught red handed. “Truth and lies,” I say. I don’t think the Chinese are lying that we are surveillance abusers, but show us proof of our balloon incursions…

Interesting the Russian tank slaughters lately. Seems like the Ukrainians lay a minefield, but they figured out a tactic of using these 155 artillery rounds that are a U.S. weapon that lay mines To create a very-very effective tank trap. Pretty much tanks can’t advance or retreat and are enveloped in a mine fields where they can get picked off.

The blood bath continues.

Seems like the war economy of logistics is a problem for both the West and Russian, but the Ukrainians suffer the consequences. “Let’s get going,” I say, “Hurry-up.”

Cal
 
Being Cantonese you have to understand that “revenge” is a major part of Chines cultural heritage, but especially Cantonese culture. Ever watch a Chinese Kung-Fu movie?

Also “saving-face” is a facet of having or maintaining honor.

So a ballon is reported to have been invading Chinese airspace. I wonder if people in China are reading the headline ( disclosed by the Chinese) that the U.S. has violated Chinese airspace 10 times in 2022.

So if you count the three times of unreported balloon incursions when Trump was President, and add the 4 recent incursions we have a total of 7. So the Chinese say the U.S. has violated them ten times.

Wow. How timely to disclose today, and not to have disclosed this in 2022. Could the Chinese be making this up or lying? Could this be a “plant?”

So now people in China are wondering if this balloon is another U.S. incursion. Perhaps now the 11th.

Now I wonder how long the Chinese will allow this spectacle to get dragged out for dramatic effect. I wonder if it is really a U.S. balloon, or if it is a set-up to incite 1.4 billion people.

Been a more than a day now, but will this balloon drama get dragged out like a prolonged infomercial? Will the delay in the shoot down be delayed like Biden’s first response?

Then there is the cultural “revenge” you shot down my ballon, so I’ll shoot down yours so I can “save-face.”

“Pretty bad TV,” I say.

Then I guess there is this Russian deadline for a major offensive that will kinda begin February 24th.

No element of surprise. Mark that date in your calendar. Pretty much hurry up and get ready for a surprise.

Then there is scant info on the most recent three shoot-downs… UFO’s at this point.

Cal the Drama Queen
 
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