NYC Journal

The black camera is a Leotax T2L which was a serious competitor of the Leica IIIG. Rangefinder is excellent and the viewfinder is better than any Leica Barnack besides the IIIG. Mine is sporting a 2.1cm Nikkor O on a home-hacked Novoflex Nikon- M39 adapter. Viewfinder is a pristine Canon 19mm finder. This is one of my very favorite cameras with one of my very favorite lenses, very similar to a Super Angulon 21mm f/3.4. The T2L also has a standard winder lever, not a knob, total game changer for a Barnack copy.
The chrome camera is a Leotax K with a 5cm f/2 Chiyoko Super Rokkor. The Super Rokkor is supposedly a Heliar variant. This camera was purchased without a leatherette covering looking ugly and with a 5cm f/3.5 collapsible Konishiroku Hexar. All for $15 USD. I overhauled the camera and lens then covered it with a panel of vinyl MB Tex from my old Mercedes Benz.
I've been walking around with this pair of cameras for a few days lately, getting back to shooting a little like I used to. I prefer carrying two bodies, one with a 50mm, the other with a 21mm or other non-retrofocal wide which exhibits little or no distortion (the Nikkor O 2.1cm lens is such an optic.)
I also have the combat veteran Leica M4 with a dual range Summicron, this pair I took to Iraq in 2004-2005, and I'm slowly trying to do a soft retirement for the camera.
I have way too many cameras, come to think of it. But these little Leotax are what I prefer for long walks lately.
Phil
 
My bowel problems are common with radiation treatment.

I need to add some other laxatives and use Gas-X. Seems like these symptoms crept up on me.

Today was my 20th treatment out of the 39 total. My doctor said a few more weeks. I have to lay off the fruit and vegetables.

Cal
 
Phil_F_NM said:
I also have the combat veteran Leica M4 with a dual range Summicron, this pair I took to Iraq in 2004-2005, and I'm slowly trying to do a soft retirement for the camera.
I have way too many cameras, come to think of it. But these little Leotax are what I prefer for long walks lately.
Phil
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That M4 is a treasure. As of soft retirement, you mean to keep it in use for just some occasions?
I've mostly moved from 35mm; wished that Leica had made a Medium Format RF. Have noticed that it's not much Leica locally over here, Sweden of course is Hasselblad land. And may I be burnt at a stake for not being a Leica believer?? 😆

I've let GAS hit a bit this summer; with inflation Cameras are actually good assets but I am actually getting small big bang for the buck things. Leicas, Hasselblads, Mamiya M's and such have been going for ludicrous prices.

But the cameras that have been alongside life just have that sentimental value, like your M4.
Probably will send my Fuji 6x9 for a service during winter and am considering to send my now jammed for a decade OM-1 for a service locally when I am back home. 2015 was 10 years ago, was it already a decade since Cal's death march LIC to Brooklyn? Strange to think, my photo journey began with an OM-1 that I haven't shot for a decade, yet it still feels very much present as my camera.
As much as electronic cameras have the time ticking reputation, my two mechanical SLRs (OM1 and Pentax MX) jammed over these years. I guess just a rogue spring or mechanism that jumped out where it should be, but still.

As a 90s kid, been getting the whizbang modern AF machines which are great for easy shooting but lack the classic elegance. If I take another fall trip, I might be forced to pack light but am still considering to take Medium format along...
 
The laxatives finally kicked in. Had a bit of a rough night because I was in and out of bed between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM doing bowel movements. I weighed myself after I lost the bloat and came in at 152.6 pounds.

Let’s see if I have to go yet again. Already lost about 3 pounds.

Of course holding a full bladder is more difficult if you need to poop. My morning definitely is more relaxed not having the pressure of a poop deadline to get ready and prepped for radiation treatment. Also the bloating is gone.

The irony here is that fresh fruit, vegetables, and fiber are bad for you if undergoing radiation treatment.

Cal
 
Cal, this reminds me of the difference between accuracy and precision, which knowing your technical background you can appreciate. I have one of those digital bathroom scales, they all seem to be made in “East Asia” and use the same or similar weight sensors. Anywho, I’ve weighed myself before and after a healthy BM and haven’t seen a fraction of a gram’s difference. The scale supposedly resolves to 0.1 gm, but I doubt it. What I need are one of those classic sliding -weight scales.
 
Joe,

I am a bit OCD so I weigh myself several times to hone the accuracy.

This CVS scale seems to catch the peak. There is an envelope of time for the reading to be taken, so if you jump on the scale and the interval times out pretty much a false reading.

For greater accuracy I try to apply my weight smoothly and will use a chair for support to dampen the spike.

Anyways I performed a test to see repeatability in my method. Also single readings I never trust pretty much I like to see the same number 3 times.

I also have a hand luggage scale from CVS that I use to weigh my bikes. Error can be up to half a pound.

For photography I have calibrated brass weights, and a triple beam balance. At my hospital they were demo’ing research labs, and pretty much helped myself to expensive real deal lab equipment. I even have a small glove box to use to mix powdered developers. I have all this glassware from Fisher Scientific…

Cal
 
With no pressure on my bladder from my bowels holding a full bladder was less fraught.

The technologists were happy to see I was fully evacuated, but I still had some gas. I will be doing the max dose of Gas-X which is 4 tablets a day.

So basically I ate healthy for the first month, meaning grains, fiber, with lots of fruit and vegetables, which is no good for radiation treatment because of the bowel irregularities that are a side effect. Now I have to eat no fresh foods that have fiber. No more steel cut oats loaded with fruit. No more grilled corn or zucchini.

I have to learn to eat unhealthy less nutritious foods for less than a month. I can do that.

Today I arrived with a nearly full bladder over 300 ml. Around 350 ml is my max, so I did with permission a partial release. At the end of my treatment they usually check me ultrasonically to see if I still have a full bladder, but today they already knew because they can see it in the CT scan and they know I have remarkable bladder control.

Today I think I will start doing “burpees,” which are a squat thrust combined with a push up. Pretty much strength training that utilizes big muscle groups.

In the future I can use my 30 pound dumbbells and do a dumbbell overhead press to go full blown animal. The nice thing about this is no gym required and pretty much you can get ultra-fit by just doing max sets every day. I’m talking brutal strength and fitness.

I feel like after last nights evacuation I turned the corner. I’m over halfway through the radiation treatment which consumes my days, and pretty much I am in recovery mode.

In one night I officially went into skinny-bitch mode. One thing to note is that these over the counter laxatives can lead to an addiction of sorts. For less than 4 weeks I have to take them, but I think on Fridays and Saturdays I will not use them. I think it is smart to somewhat limit their use. Also know they are kinda costly.

Right now I have enough stockpiled to get me through August, and then I will be done.

Cal
 
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) denoted a slowdown, and this is what took down the indexes and made them turn red. Seems to me though that the indexes are mucho resilient when they really should not be.

Should I use the B-word (Bubble). I’m under the opinion that the economy is clearly slowing down, inflation is rising, and employment is not so great. Remember Trump fired the head of the LBS for reporting a bad number and the previous two month’s labor reports were revised lower.

Slowdown, slowdown, and more slowdown, but the markets still are in nosebleed territory and are making higher highs. What I am saying is that the markets are not reflecting the economy. As I say, “The numbers don’t lie.”

Seems like a Carlos Castenada book title: “A Separate Reality.” This book was about mind expansion using psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms and Pee-YOTE-EE.

The prediction from CitiBank of gold hitting $3.5K within the next three months I believe. Something is going to give.

Unfortunately both inflation and deflation can happen at the same time. By definition deflation is an oversupply, meanwhile inflation translates in to higher prices. At a certain point higher prices kills demand which in turn feeds deflation.

The money has to come from somewhere, and tariffs are a tax. Someone has to pay this new tax. So we have price increases as well as less demand.

Don’t forget the high debt levels in households and governments…

Paying this new tax (tariffs) will be costly. I think already this has costs some jobs…

BTW a family member who was a gamer/coder recently got AI’ed, meaning has lost their job and was replaced by a machine. There is a very long list of jobs where AI will replace humans.

My friend Mike the Skinny Hipster use to be a fashion photographer, but that job is gone. They say that live models will get replaced by AI generated images.

A commercial photographer I met at a recent meet-up lost his job he says to Covid and the Pandemic, but that job was getting phased out too. Doom-doom-doom…

Then look at the jobs that AI can’t replace: the trades like plumber; roofers, landscapers…

Do you see the future yet?

Cal
 
I forgot to mention how all the pre-tariff stockpiling has hidden and slowed down the effects of tariffs on the economy. This stockpiling is a Calzone like manover that involves hoarding.

This delays the future price increases that someone has to pay once this supply dwindles. The time for hoarding is over…

No tortilla (AI changed tortilla to tortilla) anymore, and these tariffs have become real and hardened. Spell tortilla. I wonder if ZI can’t use the word tortilla? A tortilla be comes tortilla…
Will this hoarding become a liability? Will this hoarding become a major loss that will be possibly unloaded? Will this smart decision become a huge mistake if there is a collapse?

BTW I think/believe a big collapse is a good possibility. Shall I repeat the term “Greater Depression?”

Don’t believe the overuse of the term “resilience” in the market headlines. When the shoe drops many will be crushed like ants.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) denoted a slowdown, and this is what took down the indexes and made them turn red. Seems to me though that the indexes are mucho resilient when they really should not be.

Should I use the B-word (Bubble). I’m under the opinion that the economy is clearly slowing down, inflation is rising, and employment is not so great. Remember Trump fired the head of the LBS for reporting a bad number and the previous two month’s labor reports were revised lower.

Slowdown, slowdown, and more slowdown, but the markets still are in nosebleed territory and are making higher highs. What I am saying is that the markets are not reflecting the economy. As I say, “The numbers don’t lie.”


BTW a family member who was a gamer/coder recently got AI’ed, meaning has lost their job and was replaced by a machine. There is a very long list of jobs where AI will replace humans.

My friend Mike the Skinny Hipster use to be a fashion photographer, but that job is gone. They say that live models will get replaced by AI generated images.

A commercial photographer I met at a recent meet-up lost his job he says to Covid and the Pandemic, but that job was getting phased out too. Doom-doom-doom…

Then look at the jobs that AI can’t replace: the trades like plumber; roofers, landscapers…

Do you see the future yet?

Cal
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Not much of a flinch, I was thinking to do some small investment but guess it is going towards savings accounts and winter vacation anyways. It basically looks no good, but markets are still at it as noted. European markets are a bit decoupled, but still when the US sneezes... the rest catches a cold.
A local economic newspaper had a funny article title that our economy is recovering, invest now! Whereas another one had a much more bleak and realist headline.

AI is very much present, and

Tacos are usual in this side of the Atlantic, though not as autentic. Tortillas are a different dish (omelette) in Spain. I do recall quite funny that it had to be NYC the place to have a Cubano Sandwich
😀
So the automatic filter does not like certain food? It's been funny to see the thread act like a chat for a bit.

PD: I had the tab open ready to post and forgot when switched to something else... I think TikTok mind spreads out of its userbase.
PD2: Would be easy to ask who is maintaining the forum, could be some embedded "feature" autocorrecting.

Calzone said:
Around 2007-2008 Damaso Reyes started the NYC Meet-Up thread. After about 3-4 Meet-Ups Damaso left for Barcelona and gave me this responsibility. I am a lazy-slacker who kinda inherited this.
Click to expand...
Which is a neat connection now that I think, I am from Barcelona and saw his exhibition of The Europeans summer 2012. Still a kid then, he is not active at RFF nowadays but I saw he is around NYC now?
 
Gotcha. Tactical Coordinator in Navy patrol aircrew parlance.
As far as being disappeared, I don't think anyone in this little cul-de-sac of the internet has anything to worry about regarding political reprisal. Now, random nutjobs are everywhere, just like your neighbors, Cal, but that doesn't mean that we need to stop speaking. If we do that "they" win. "They" being the fearmongers who would rather the populace be uneducated docile sacks of labor, beholden to debt and taxes. I am not one of those. As Cal has stated, very recently, long-standing governments were changed because people could not afford flour to make bread.
I'll just reiterate: 1793
Phil
 
Phil knows and understands that I tend to do very gross exaggerations, but the context is in the realm of possibility.

Arab Spring was caused by hungry children. In a way the U.S. was to blame. A strong dollar made commodities like food expensive. Commodities are priced in U.S. Dollars.

My neighbors have 4 building lots as their property. They have a driveway where two cars and a full sized pickup truck can park side by side. I understand not wanting to shuffle cars: inconvenient; and also not good for a car to start and then not really run.

In front of their house was a handicapped parking spot for a member of their family, so their son who lives in their basement along with his girlfriend always-always park in front of our house.

Understand that the city took away the handicapped sigh, and only a partial outline of an oversized handicap parking space still exists on the pavement, but even this is 2/3rd’s removed by a rather large blacktop patch fron the natural gas line replacement.

Pretty obvious that this is no longer a handicapped parking spot.

The son and the girlfriend now do not block our walkway. Understand that “Maggie” is 72. Snoopy and JJ’s kids never park in front of their own house. No big deal, but that is the kind of people they are. It is nice to have the convenience of unloading groceries through our own front door. Also our mammoth Japanese Maple offers a shady spot to park, and know our Audi is a black car.

They fly the yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” but they don’t understand the unspoken second half of that motto meaning “Live and let live.”

They are forceful with their positions and politics. Also some racial remarks of other people deeply offended me.

They bought a second home in Texas for retirement, and broadcast how they hate New York. They even fly the Texas State flag.

BTW not happy people, kinda angry.

Cal
 
I’m having my friend Bobby build me a custom Tele bridge pickup for a Tele with a pine body. The very first Tele’s before there were Telecasters were prototypes made of pine.

Pine is an interesting wood and is very different than say an ash or alder guitar. My pine Tele has great articulation, clarity, and vast note separation. For me great for Jazz although the sound is kinda compressed in a pure way. Another way to express this is that the notes are not so full, although this guitar has a lot of resonance and notes tend to “swell” as if an electronic effect was in use.

The pickup I currently have installed is a high output Lollar J-Street that is ill suited. In about 2 weeks I should have an ideal optimized pickup for a guitar I built from parts I gained by bargain hunted using time as my friend. Also I just happen to have the spare parts laying around on-hand.

Guitar mill offers many pine bodies, but I wanted one that had clear pine without knots. When they listed a few new ones that were clear (rare) I bought the best of three being offered, then I stalked a vintage roasted maple 1-piece neck that appeared to be quarter sawn. Snagged that one as a lucky find.

Pine is soft and damages easily, so Leo Fender later went with swamp ash and even later alder. My body is very light in weighty. Has an airy acoustic tone also that projects well even without an amp. Plays almost itself.

Kinda excited.

A nice reward for around when radiation therapy ends.

Cal
 
I’m taking mucho laxatives to combat constipation. Using two types as recommended by the radiation oncologist. Doing the max dose of Gas-X also in conjunction with my inhibitor and steroid.

Hope I don’t have a repeat of evacuating 3-5 PM.

My bowels presently are growling and even howling. Kinda like a soundtrack from a horror film. Now a whale sound.

Oh-boy. Pretty much no real science going on here, just experiment until I get it right. Today I am just repeating what I did yesterday. If required I’ll tone down the dosages.

Today we were going to go out, and I had the opportunity to park right in front of our house. I decided to save the wear and tare on the car, and left it parked in front of our own house. Surely this will annoy someone.

“Ha-ha,” I say.

BTW in the almost 5 years we have lived here I think this might likely be the first time I parked the Audi right in front of the house overnight. This I think will come off as provocative. Ask me if I care,

Cal
 
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Laxatives did not do me good today. After pooping, what became an evacuation, I had bad cramps suggesting I was not empty.

Then I thought the discomfort was gas, so I did the 4 tablet max dose of Gas-X.

At the hospital my bladder had not filled. Evidently laxatives eliminate a lot of water with the stool. Had to drink 2 small bottled waters, and another patient skipped ahead of me.

So not a quick flyby for my treatment today.

I need to throttle back the laxatives. Possibly do every other day was recommended by my nurse.

Had a bad morning.

My friend Dave somehow assembled a very tight blues band on the fly. They rehearsed just 3 times before having a gig at a brewery out in Centerport (Huntington) Lawn-Guy-Land. They killed. They opened with an acoustic set, and then played two electric sets.

Dave says they will add in some Cream and Hendrix to rock out.

Dave is retired and puts a lot of time on the guitar every day. He already was a very advanced player, and I can only imagine how great he is now. He is now at a level where other musicians seek him out.

As an acoustic player he has a heavy hand and projects big sound. I try to emulate Dave’s acoustic playing. Pretty amazing how loud an acoustic guitar can be.

Dave suggests power naps, and suggests that the fatigue partly is age related. I think there is some truth to that, but one of the major side effects of my treatments is fatigue also. Pretty much the double whammy.

Cal
 
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