September 11th
Put the flag up this morning in rememberance of Septermber 11th. Thanks to everyone who is or has been taking the fight to the other guys, and keep all us softies safe here at home.
God Bless America!
Here’s the “new” radio all finished and in action!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_DO2up764s]
09.7.09Scenes from the Labor Day weekend.
Well Andrea and I hadn’t been back to Cimarron since April of this year. Which is really kinda sad since we’re only two hours away. We really have to do better. But we took the three day weekend and made the rounds to see everybody. Had a great time! I don’t know about Andrea but I know I ate WAY too much the whole time. But it was awesome to see everybody and I even got Dad to weld up Andrea’s fuse block bracket for her car. I really gotta get him to teach me how to weld.
But here’s a few highlights of the trip. Check out my Picasa Gallery for a ton more pictures!
Solving the world's problems.
The Duncan cookout.
Opening turns of the Duncan Invitational Croquette Tournament.
Playin' Wii Sports Resort
White girl
It was a blast. Should have got some pictures of the ribs from Mom and Duane’s. MAN those were tasty. I got about a half slab in my fridge, just waiting for tomorrow night!
Thanks to everybody that was there. It was an awesome time! And we’ll be back sooner next time.
09.1.09Behind the Scenes: Old Junk
Here’s the “new” radio in action. I re-soldered the connections on the repaired capacitors, and cleaned up controls a little bit. Below are the results. I just love the tubes in these old radios, and even the sound of the power selector. The volume isn’t “volume”, it’s “LOUDNESS” Check it out!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOoELOOQaeI]
08.30.09Radio innards.
Well I got the new radio the other day and I figured I’d take a look inside and see if I could make any improvements. The source selector/power switch is kinda finicky and causes the right hand speaker to cut out at times. And the FM reception could be a bit better. If you’ve never seen inside of one of these old things, check this out.
Pressboard covering removed from the back.
It looks like the amplifier has been repaired at one point. It looks like whoever fixed it knew what they were doing, but didn’t repair it very well. They replaced some capacitors, but there is no labeling of wires, and the capacitors are simply taped together and then tied to the bottom with some thin wire. Because they aren’t secure, they’ve wobbled around and some of the wires are starting to break free of their connections.
Amplifier
Previous repair.
Tuner
08.30.09
Another old timey picture.
Click for full size.
If it looks a little bit “off”, it’s because this picture was originally black and white, and I’ve had it around for a while and I color a little bit on it in photoshop when I get bored. It’s not done, but it’s kinda like a puzzle, you just work on it a little bit at a time. Here’s a link to the original file. I’ve had it for a while, but don’t think I’ve ever shared it. So there ya go.
08.27.09Score of the day!
Well since I took my old radio to my office at work, people had been commenting on it. So everybody pretty much figured out I “like that kind of stuff.” Well today one of the gals up front said somebody was selling an old radio phonograph that supposedly worked and they were only asking $20. That’s all I knew about it, but I figured I’d take a look. I mean it’s not like I buy something old and cheap all the time, even if I don’t need it. Oh wait.
Well here it is. Not too bad for $20 I guess. And the basement needed better tunes that the little boombox I had.
Fold down phonograph.
The tone arm is bent, but I think it's fixable.
FM, baby. Welcome to the friggin' future!
All in all it works pretty well. The turn table does spin, but the tone arm needs fixed. The tuner works, but the volume and balance controls are a little scratchy. But it works!
08.20.09How to catch a cat.
We were playing with Sydney last night and after it worked the first time, I had to grab the camera and see if it would work the second time!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9dtJYfG5RQ]
08.20.09Mmm…
Good supper tonight. Some High Life beer brats and… well some High Life.
This is probably could have easily just been a tweet. Oh well!
08.18.09I feel so bad.
But it’s not my fault!
The other day I decided to drive the Blazer to work. You know to kinda justify the insurance and registration, plus it’s only like 5 blocks from the house. What could go wrong?
Well the Blazer made it to work, and even ran a few errands around town without incident! (Yes, it was a proud moment). But there’s still a lot that needs done on that thing so I popped the hood and after about twenty minutes I noticed an ANIMAL stuck in the passenger fender between the battery. “Oh no. How long has it been there… please don’t be dead.” I poke it and it’s warm to the touch and squirms a bit. “It’s alive!”. It seems to be a cat. I try to figure out how the heck it got in there, but I can’t for the life of me. So I have to take the battery out, and can tell it’s starting to get scared. So with the battery removed I try to pull the cat out, while keeping it in a position that will keep my forearm intact should it FLIP OUT! I can’t get it out, so I decide to go inside and get some food and see if I can lure it out. By the time I’m walking out the door with food in hand, I see a white cat hauling ass down the driveway and down the alley out of sight. I knew there was no way I was catching it so I let it go.
That’s not why I feel bad.
Yesterday as I was leaving work I noticed the older lady next door. She was standing in her back yard calling “Kitty! Heeere kitty kitty!”
But it’s not my fault! Really!