Status Update
What a windy good for nothing day. You know those pictures NASA sends out of the Martian landscape they get from the rovers up there? Desolate, windblown, frigid… yeah, that’s today here in Great Bend. I opted out of walking to work today. Take away my street cred if you must, but I just wasn’t feeling it.
Andrea and I have been talking about whether or not to get our free membership to the gym going again. I’d hate to get it and not use it because it costs the station money whether we use it or not once we sign up for it. I know it’d be a good thing, but that place just closes too early. If you’re not wrapping up your workout by 8:30 then you’re liable to get locked in. And heading down anytime before 7:00pm is just madness. I know I’d be good for us though.
Everything at work is really starting to come together. It’s hard to believe the hell we were going though back in September with the whole system change. There’s another radio station here in town that has been stuck on the wrong satellite all day. Been giving Charlotte traffic reports all day. Nice to know that we’re not the only place in the world that’s had a rough time.
Other than that, just plugging along. I’m so darn proud of myself. I’ve got almost all of my Christmas shopping done already. Between the radio auction, and Black Friday deals online, I’ve knocked out about 90% of the Christmas list. It’s a big stress reliever actually. The money is spent already, so that’s behind us, and I don’t have to fret about what I’m going to bring as gifts for that trip to someone’s house we’re making THE NEXT DAY. I know nobody’s suprised, but there’s been several years I’ve been wandering Wal-Mart at 8PM Christmas Eve hunting with all my might to find a somewhat reasonable gift. This year… a breeze!
So keep on keepin’ on. And I’ll try to do the same on my end!
Time is catching up with her.
God bless my Toronado. It has been by and far the best car I’ve ever owned. Reliable, comfortable, unique… I have a lot more emotionally invested in it than I do monetarily. And over the years since I’ve painted it (almost 4 years ago!) time has kept marching on to prove that it’s still a 25 year old car that’s seen the rigors of use every single day.
The plastic fillers on the front bumper have been cracking for a long time. The left front has finally let go. My power door lock switch on the drivers side busted. I think I’m just going to swap it with the passenger side for now. You can get a new switch for $25, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. And worst of all, with being forced into 25 winters worth of Kansas salty roads, the rust is just starting to take its toll. There’s a small spot on the front fender. Little bubbles behind the rear wheels, and I just noticed yesterday that it’s just barely starting to bubble through on the rear bumper. And of course the hail damage from the “Carpet Bombing of ’08”.
Mechanically, it’s still solid as a rock! I honestly still wouldn’t hesitate to change the oil and drive to California! It still gets decent gas milage. I recently made a trip to Wichita, back to Great Bend, to Hays and back to Great Bend on one tank of gas! Not bad for an old barge!
So I’m wrestling with the thought of spending any more money on cosmetics for the car. My thoughts are I need to be saving for the successor. Which if I spend what I did on this one, won’t take long! For now I’ll keep driving it. It still gets some compliments. And from about 20ft, it’s still a pretty sharp ride. But it’s like when you know the time is getting near, and you’re going to have to think about the day when you just have to let it go.
One last shot of the RCA
Off to Dad's from here. Kinda cool when you look back at what it was when I got it!
Hockey… I need a team.
I’m pretty unfamiliar with the NHL in general. But I love watching hockey, and I’ve been following the season a bit watching games online. But I just don’t really have anybody to root for. For now, just kinda root for the underdogs. I mean since the nearest team is hundreds of miles away I can’t really root for the home team.
So I’ve decided that in addition to playing for the Stanley Cup, all the NHL teams are also playing for my fan-dom this year. Yes that’s right. Whoever wins the championship this year will earn my allegiance as a life long fan. So c’mon guys! Play on!
You can’t have mine… So here’s yours!
Well, a while back Dad, Carrie and Jake came up to visit and I was showing off my little speakeasy down in the basement and they were admiring my old GE Console radio. While probably joking, they offered to buy it. First of all I really didn’t want to sell it… and second of all they offered WAY more than it’s worth and I just can’t go about ripping off family like that. Co-workers? Sure! But you gotta draw the line at being a shuckster somewhere, right?
So I had it in my mind that I’d keep my eyes peeled for something for them. Good ol’ Trading post came through for me eventually (same place I got the Blazer… watch out)! A guy north of town was selling this old radio. He was asking $75, I got it for $60 and felt like I paid too much…
Here it is:
$60.00? WTF was I thinking?
It's old. And unearthed from a tomb apparently.
What a gift. Who's gonna want this crusty old junk? Even for free? The wood might make good kindling for a fire I guess.
Speaking of starting a fire!
So I’m committed at this point. I figure worst case scenario, the radio sounded decent and if I couldn’t get it halfway respectable I’d just toss it in a corner and use it as a work bench or something. If the record player isn’t too far gone and it cleans up okay it might turn out halfway decent. The knobs are looking pretty ratty, and Brasso has always done me right in the past. You have to start somewhere, right?
They won't be original with the silver trimmed knobs and all. But they look a heck of a lot nicer! At least it'll have nice knobs!
Then I start hitting the cabinet with a rag to see what’s just dirt and grime, and what is really damaged. Then some Old English. I’m no woodsmith so I’m not coming within 10 feet of this thing with sand paper. I’d destroy the damn thing, so whatever is broken is going to have to stay broken. Turns out once all the crud is scraped away, and the Old English brings some of the shine back, it’s not in too bad of shape!
Thar be shine! Haven't cleaned the speaker grills yet.
I'm starting to feel better about this project!
The most frustrating part has been the record changer. I got a new needle no problem. But the mechanism itself just didn’t have the gusto to run through a whole change cycle. The old springs were weak. And once I got it taken out to grease it, I found that one of the mounts that holds the motor on was busted, so I had to fab up some new ones out of hardware store parts. It seems to be working now, but there were some hairy moments getting from there to here.
So without further adieu. Here it is in action: The 1964 RCA Victor Console Radio!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVwO30oHgL0]
11.23.10Something to do
I think I have an idea. If I can find the resources, I think I’m going do some video editing. Need to dust off my editor… and my skills. Stay tuned!
This Sucks
Well, here I am. Finally have a night after work where there’s not something going on no running around, or things that have to be done. And… I’m bored.
Damn!
I don’t know if it is lack of things to do, or lack of motivation to get started? I’d play some Guild Wars or Minecraft right now, but I don’t really want to set aside enough time to actually accomplish anything. Like my free time is SO </sarcasam> valuable that I can’t spend to much of it doing one thing, that now I’ve sat around and done Nothing. I’m racking my brain trying to think of all the stuff I was wishing I had time to do. Then talking myself out of doing it.
I might just go grab my next N64 game and start the next re-review.
So I missed a day…
And so it’s already tomorrow on the east coast. I warned that the posts weren’t guaranteed to be packed with life lessons or interesting tidbits. And even then I forgot to even pull out my phone yesterday and at least post a “Sup”.
Oh well. The craziness continues. Went out to SWK this weekend. Kinda on a whim. But it’s always nice to make the rounds. As always just wish there was a little more time to spend with everybody. We really only have about 20 waking hours out there on a weekend and about twice that would make the whole thing a little more laid back from my perspective. I just always feel like I’m neglecting somebody.
So now it’s off to bed. A super busy week with Thanksgiving coming up and everything. Gonna have to scramble to get everything done in a short amount of time. Yay, Holidays…
11.19.10Up early
I’m getting today’s blog out of the way early since it’s AUCTION DAY! It’s a big project we’ve been working on at work that all comes to life today. So it’s going to be nuts and I might not get to the internet for the rest of the day.
I put together a whole new auction website this year using Google Sites. It’s over at eagleradio.net, just click the auction banner. And if you feel like bidding on some stuff, just check the item listing and give us a call during the hour it’s on!
Here’s to a super quick day!
EDIT: Oh yeah! You can listen to the auction online too at the auction site.
Nothing to blog.
There’s seriously nothing to blog about today. But gotta keep the streak alive!
Getting ready for the big radio auction tomorrow, that’s going to be nuts. Then off to a play as soon as that’s done. Should be a nice reward after a long day like that. No break in between though. I hate that feeling of being rushed from one place to another. I know once I’m in the seat though and enjoying the show, I’ll all be good.
Here’s hoping for an uneventful weekend and time to get some stuff done in life, not work!