NYC Journal

Glen,

Many thanks.

As they say, “Health is wealth.”

I’m thinking of my wealthy second oldest brother. He made it a point that without good health quality of life is vastly diminished.

Oddly, so far I’m not really suffering. “Maggie” is just so tender though…

Cal
 
Went to a Christmas market held at the Peekskill train station.

When we got home we went for a walk to Reynold’s Hills to see in Andrew was home. On the way Joan, Andrew’s wife stoped her car to say hello.

Pretty much we were going to crash at Andrew’s house. We ended up staying for dinner. Andrew gave “Maggie” the tour of the 72 cabins. This commune was established in 1929 and formally was a walnut farm. 50 acres or about 10 city clocks with the lengthwise streets for you NYC folk.

An interesting meet-up. Maggie and Joan pretty much are bookworms. It was remarkable the list of all the same books they read.

Now Maggie has a new woman friend.

Maggie says I’m not romantic, but I point out all the things I do that are not following a script that in my way is clearly romantic.

I pointed out the remodeled cabin where the owner died that is expected to hit the market. Pretty much remodeled and happens to be about the size of a one car garage. If we secured the cabin it would be a remote workspace that is about a quarter mile up the hill.

Pretty much all the cabins started out as being garage sized, but then additions were added. No two cabins are alike. Very old hippy vibe and funky

Andrew and Joan never heard the term “worm-hole” as being used to describe the marsh that is beyond our back-backyard.

Cal
 
Let's hear it for steel cut oats, yay! I eat 'em raw - soaked in apple juice for a half hour, with an added dash of Greek plain yoghurt (one of my few foodie indulgences, at my age should I worry about a little extra cholesterol?) and sunflower seeds and whatever berries I can find on special discount at Aldi. Yummy food, only a little processed, super good for me.

Australia is good for berry fruits, they are a cash crop and available the entire year, altho' to you North Americans used to lower food prices, what we pay here for our berries would fair knock you over. As my MIL said when she was visiting last year and we took her to our local stupormarket, baking a berry pie in Oz isn't an indulgence, it's an investment...
 
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A co-worker named Jack wore this T-shirt that proclaimed, “Real Men Don’t Need Instructions.” LOL.

Seems like that is the case with steel cut oats.

Anyways simple pleasures and still affordable.

I’m doing an experiment as I write this post.

Cal
 
Yesterday at the waterfront there was a bone chilling cold. I was wearing my heated vest and activated it. Glad I had it.

I deep cycled the battery. I think I did some harm as the battery is taking a long-long time to charge. Oh-well.

I kinda killed and abused the battery when we did the surprise visit to Reynold’s Hills and subjected us to another cold encounter.

I hope I did not do any permanent life shortening damage.

Cal
 
Morning Devil Cal,

APSC Sony Nex C3 JB Welded to Peco Rear Standard Plate by Nokton48, on Flickr

I bought this Nex C3 16mp Body for Fifty Bucks at World of Photography. Then I JB Welded it to a flat scrap black metal Plaubel Plate from my junk box. Then JB Welded the flat plate/APSC Back to a flat revesible Peco Junior Rear Plate. VOILA! "Poor Man's Medium Format Digital Back". Great for testing and trying different OLDE lenses. This one is historically interesting, it was on the cover of the Peco Junior literature I have. It's the Plaubel 150mm F4.2 Orthometar, it takes the stock Plaubel Makina Hood on the front. So fully tricked out for digital fun. I finished this with a rubber magnifying Nex 3 hood $10 from Ebay.

Jellies 2 SRT100 58mm F1.2 MC Rokkor HP5+ pushed 1600 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Testing the Skier Box with 35mm insert. Sony Nex 5 Sony E 30mm Macro lens. Full power allows F16. Diggin' the Skier box.

You can whip through an entire roll in a couple of minutes.
 
Yesterday was kinda Christmas with the kid’s. “Maggie” took the grand daughter and her daughter to a Christmas show at out local Art Deco, Paramount Theater.

Meanwhile the son-in-law and the grandson helped me assemble a big train table to pass the afternoon.

The kid’s will be traveling south during th holidays.

Tomorrow is moving forward with the PET scan and Friday is the consult with our urologist. Its been a month of waiting and this is not so easy to endure when your future is uncertain.

I laminated a piece of maple (coffee stirrer) to the bottom of a graphite used nut to shim the neck I was going to level the frets. In my experiment I discover that the neck when stung up to pitch and with the truss rod adjusted is dead straight with no fret unevenness.

Generally you just have to give a touch, but this neck was basically good-to-go. It is a roasted maple one-piece neck riff sawn. I figure the marketing is true: roasted woods are more stable. What I love is no finish is required. Maple tends to get an orange/amber coloring that is kinda aged look.

So the next thing is it plays with really slinky action. I used a leftover set of 11’s to do all this experimenting with, but know I now use 12’s for more sustain, richness and a bigger sound. So now I know in advance that this 2 pickup Cabronita is going to play crazy great, and I don’t have any of the electronics wired up yet.

There will be a volume knob with a push-pull pot that will be set up with a pull-bleed cap to chop the highs as a preset tone. The second knob will be a ”blender” control that is two ganged pots to basically turn off or on the pickups at the extreme ends, or blend them in an infinite manner.

I have to adjust the nut, shim it on the treble side more and cut the slots deeper for 12’s.

The pickups are TV Jones Classics, so even though in a Tele body it will have that early Gretch sound. These pickups will be bright, but they also are hum canciling.

The body I bought from BloomDoom Guitars with an Olympic white that is aged. Body was made by Wildwood guitars, and it is Alder. I bought this body before price increases.

Glad I did, but this unfinished guitar is about a year old already…

Cal
 
There was about an inch of heavy wet snow overnight. Shoveled the small driveway and front walk. Our house has no sidewalks, a bonus for living on the edge of the city.

Fed our birds.

I saw rabbit tracks in the snow.

It seems the Gallium 68 was approved for use only pretty recently in 2020 according to “Maggie’s” reading. Pretty much it is the superior diagnostic tool for prostate Cancer. Again this indicates my urologist is muy bueno.

The gym personal training session was canceled by the trainer due to the snow. Oh-well…

I need to hunt down my needle files to proceed with my guitar shop work. I’m hoping to level the 12-25th frets on the DeMarino to be able to lower the action. Doing chords, especially 7th chords above the 12 fret is difficult on this guitar due to high action.

On the two pickup Cabronita I need to cut the nut slots.

Staying distracted from all the waiting…

Cal
 
Cal,
Wishing you the best tomorrow and Friday with your urologist. Sounds like you will be having the best of care, and how wonderful Maggie is in your corner. I've had cancer and will be treated soon for another, so I understand how challenging the waiting is. But you are so active and interested in so many things, rather than bemoaning the hand you've been dealt—very admirable and may I say an inspiration.
Robert
 
Robert,

Thanks for your support.

I feel the Cancer is likely due to “Weathering,” the term the black community uses to describe the health issues that come from chronic stress, poverty, and oppression.

So now Cancer is a game changer…

I will tell you that the waiting is fatiguing. I’m glad that hopefully today we will finally move forward. It has been about a month of waiting and uncertainty.

I can see how universal health care created shortages and waiting.

In Canada we heard complaints from Canadians about their health care system before we had Obama Care. Pretty much the same has happened here.

My friend Dave had prostate Cancer 15 years ago, no relapse and no other Cancers.

I worked at a Cancer Center when I was a Cyclotron Engineer. I know they say you are cured if you remain Cancer free for 5 years. I’m aware that Cancer also can lead to other Cancers…

All the best for your treatment…

Cal
 
I haven't caught up with the thread. Early travel for Holidays and snowbirding effectively... and say what??

Sorry to hear about the Cancer and hoping for a positive prognosis Cal. This part of the story should be just a short chapter of that book about lazy slacking and Madhattan.

Myself happily young and healthy but this 2024 has been a brutal year regarding acquainted people with Cancer. Specially impacting in the case of the smokers that got it, late. Just heard today that a neighbor, former heavy smoker, succumbed to an aggressive lung cancer.

As others point about your energy and activity, it is something to keep up. If anything, all of this has inspired me to enjoy life and avoid factors like stress. My relatives have gotten involved in a local group that helps out people affected with Cancer. WIshing the best to y'all undergoing treatment.
 
The PET suite at Hudson Valley is a trailer in a side parking lot. Pretty much something you could load onto a tractor-trailer.

I got a 5cc injection of GA-68. Took about 40 minutes of waiting for the radiopharmaceutical to circulate, before the PET scan.

Had to raise my hands behind my head with my wrists crossed for about 25 minutes for the throat to kneecap scan.

So after a month of waiting-progress. I was told it would take a day or two for my doctor to get the results. I mentioned my Friday appointment with my urologist, and a helpful comment was to make a call Thursday to ensure that the radiologist report was received.

So I figure that my Cold Aglutinin Disease is a form Cancer because it is unregulated growth. Pretty much my body overproduces too much of this IgM antibody. My CAD is considered Idiopathic, mean for no known reason. Generally CAD is associated with Hepatitis-C which I never had.

Cancer by definition is unregulated growth…

Back when I was 49 I was diagnosed, and subsequently I was monitored closely for a decade. For some unknown reason I remained asymptomatic. At times borderline anemia, as my Red Blood Cells have short life spans. Generally in a healthy person Red Blood Cells live about 90 days, my RBC’s die younger, but my body is able to reproduce enough that I don’t get sick or weak.

Hematologists say I am a medical mystery, and the high levels of IgM in my blood would otherwise suggest a very ill patient. After quarterly monitoring for over a decade it was deemed I was a stable patient that remained asymptomatic, and that further monitoring is no longer required.

Then I had my bouts of cellulitis. This likely is due to the CAD because CAD can compromise an immune system. So now I am back to being monitored again by a hematologist because of my advancing age. Still asymptomatic if you don’t count the propensity for minor cuts to become dangerous cellulitis.

When CAD makes the jump to a full blown Cancer it generally transforms into a Lymphoma. When this happens the morbidity is almost always death, meaning not long to live. The CAD as a condition takes you out quickly.

The risk of Lymphoma is about 5% or about 1 in 20. So far I remain a medical mystery defying the odds. The point here is that this risk and uncertainty I have lived with for nearly 18 years. Kinda could be framed as living on borrowed time, but as I age of course the risk increases and the odds decrease.

The point I’m trying to make is I already have been living with a Cancer risk for a long time. This of course grounded my attitude and my thinking. This prostate Cancer is a bit of a surprise because my PSA did not really suggest I have an aggressive Cancer.

Oh-well…

Friday I’ll find out about the good, the bad, and the ugly..,

Generally some of the bigger symptoms are fatigue, weakness, and weight loss, but I have none of these symptoms.

Cal
 
“Maggie” has been worn down with the waiting. She is suffering fatigue and is kinda exhausted.

While I’m not so fresh myself, I have not added any more new “weathering.“

I had the time today to wire up the mixer control and the master volume. So with the mixer there is bleed through, and in effect you really can’t get just one pickup alone. Oh-well…

Then the volume control knocks down the volume, but will not silence the guitar. I left the other leg on the pot floating, so pretty much, I was using the pots as a variable resistor that was not strapped to ground. This would explain things.

As they say, “Real men don’t need instructions.”

Anyways this would explain the extra loudness. The “extra” leg I forgot to strap to ground. An easy fix.

I still have to make a control cavity cover that mounts on the back of the body. The nut has to have some excess height that is not needed, but the guitar kinda honks. The neck and neck pocket is a tight fit, and I think the roasted maple adds something to the tone. Pretty much very different that the single pickup Cabronita that has a plain maple neck that is not roasted. Both guitars are alder bodied.

It would be interesting to switch necks to do an A-B test.

I have to do some research if I need to tie the “spare” leg to make it just a second volume control. So I think I did a pretty dumb mistake. Perhaps if I get the master volume to work as intended the bleed could or would be alright.

They use crazy thin gauge wire on the pickups, and pretty much I kinda beefed things up and added stress reliefs and reinforcement. Kinda went “German.” I kinda dressed things out in a Mil-Spec manner.

This master volume/mixer with a pull-bleed on the master volume as a pre-set. The idea was to save aboput $30.00 on not having to buy a SwitchCraft toggle switch, and use what I happened to have on hand.

Anyways having fun, and I think this Cabronita has a lot of inspiration in it. The neck was sold as a lowered price. It has a fat-back profile that is kinda crazy like a baseball bat. This huge neck invites me to do the “thumb” wrap and play a bit differently. Know that I have double jointed thumbs, so pretty much in practice I have a mucho short thumb.

Could be the bleed on the mixer might work as is with the floating leg with a proper Master Volume. The mixer as wired actually works like a tone control. Turning up increases treble, and turning then knob down increases the bass. Pretty much this is just blending the pickups. Hmmm…

So I think I might have stumbled onto something mighty cool. A funny and dumb mistake.
Cal
 
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I was 49 when I was diagnosed with Idiopathic CAD. I’m almost 67, so in early January it will be 18 years of living with a disease that could make a jump to Lymphoma that would take me down rather quickly.

So far it seems moot, but CAD like Cancer generally is a disease of old age. Generally CAD developes in really old people in their 70’s and 80’s. I likely had CAD well before I was diagnosed. I always seem to have been borderline anemic.

Also know that endurance athletes also can tend to be anemic. They kinda wear out their red blood cells rapidly though use.

So what I didn’t state in the post above is that for a long time I have been aware of my mortality and the possibility of an early death. This allowed me to embrace risk, and to live like there is no tomorrow.

Basically the threat of Cancer I have been living with a pretty long time.

Cal
 
I am laughing at my mucho dumb mistake. LOL.

Really-really dumb. Oh-well…

I’ll hook up the Master Volume. EZ-PZ.

The mixer I’ll let stand as is. When I can plug in I’’ll adjust the pickup heights to see what kinda tone I can get.

It could be kinda interesting if I can get this to work.

Ideally it would be great to get a sweep of tones that are useful. The .0033 uf bleed cap just chops the UBER highs, so this pre-set could be really useful.

Cal
 
I hooked up the missing ground and got the Master Volume to work, then the mixer fell into line.

Pretty much the mixer, a ganged pot, fades from one pickup to the other. The pot must have an audio taper so at the extreme ends the fade kinda is abrupt almost like a switch. The set screw is a really good indicator of the middle setting of both pickups on.

Had the opportunity to do some pickup height adjustment and some balancing of tone last night. Things are looking promising. The design is mucho simple, and it is easy to use. Seems to have also a broad range of usage.

Right now I seem to favor optimizing the tone with max volume and with the volume knob “pulled” out to engage the treble bleed. The .0033 uf cap chops the very top-end, a bit like a slightly cocked way-wash pedal. Works great as a preset, but the loss of high frequencies leads to a perceived loss in volume.

A logical starting point. Push in the volume knob to remove the bleed, and there is a jump in volume requiring a lower volume level.

The audio taper on the mixer has a pretty dynamic “swell” that somewhat can simulate a rotating Leslie speaker. Hmmm…

So this is a great playing very interesting guitar…

Cal
 
Another day of waiting, and a rainy day.

Yesterday I overhydrated to flush out the Gallium-68. They injected less than 5 mCi, not a lot.

I’m pleased with the 2 pickup Cabronita buildout. Only two finishing touches: make a back plate out of this black plastic sheet I have on hand; and cut down the excess nut height next time I change strings.

No rush or urgency…

What to do today? I don’t want to waste the day.

Joan, Andrew’s wife, lent me a small book on the 1949 Peekskill Riots. Pretty much an early recorded race riot. It is a short read of maybe an hour.

Snarky Joe is right: the farther north you go the more it resembles the deep south.

I say there is a big correlation between cooking food and developing film. It is just time and temperature… So I do some “stand” development when I cook my steel cut oats. I also add a milk to let the oats soak as if I’m using Diafine part “A.”

The rear bird feeder I suspect ia also feeding evil squirrels. Really nice to see the flocks of birds.

Cal
 
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