Music Monday: Johnny Rivers and Swayin’ to the Music 1977
Posted By RichC on March 16, 2020
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Who really wants a plugged tire on their BMW X5 35d?
Posted By RichC on March 14, 2020
A little over a year ago I replaced the run-flat tires on the 2010 BMW X5 35d with a relatively economical set of Vercelli NON-run flat tires. 
This necessitated adding a temporary spare in my underfloor storage area … but besides price, the ride quality is much better.
Unfortunately this past week nail found its way into my front left tire and thankfully didn’t leave me stranded. It was a slow leak triggering the TPMS sensor (and BMW’s reset on the E70 and probably others takes a long time). It was an easy home plug since the relatively short nail was right in the center of the tread pattern (below). Hopefully my attempt at plugging these tires will be better than the many failed plugs in my lawn tractors over the years.
So far so good.
Workshop weekend after a miserable week of COVID19 contagion
Posted By RichC on March 14, 2020
It was a tiring week with the drip, drip, drip Coronavirus news and highly-reactive financial markets. Although frightening, investors rightly or wrongly responded with a selloff of historic proportions. The entire meltdown seemed more like hysteria and 
panic and had me wondering how our country and nation ever faced plagues, a weak economy due to serious financial malpractice, large scale terrorism and a world at war? Perhaps we’ve all become complacent thinking disease or bad things would never happen again?
Health and financial stress aside, I escaped into the workshop and started my long-in-planning Music room / Library remodeling and bookshelves project. Even with the stress, I did smile upon noticing one of my corner-clamping blocks had been tamper with by a little girl (Katelyn) back in the late 1980s (photo-left).
My ambition was less 
than it should be as we instead decided to watch a couple movies as well as with the distraction of other non-important projects. Bird deterrents and crock lids for the patios were sitting on my workbench so I glued together some scrap wood and used up some old varnish on the walnut one as well as some REALLY old “green” Petit marine EZ-poxy paint from the 1980s that was still useable, which was shocking (I used it to paint the name Brenich on our first boat – good memories). 
It was shocking that the paint still mixed, brushed and dried after over 35 years!
The second distraction was the arduous job of moving everything out of the room and then finagling a way to move the piano; it was tedious … especially sensing skeptical Brenda hovering over my shoulder.
All good in the end and I did at get the 4 HEAVY sheets of 7-layer maple plywood rough cut to shelf size … should have put on a mask because of all the dust … but alas there are no more to be had (a semi-attempt at joking about the hoarding and emptying of shelves in stores due to COVID19 now in our area).
First positive coronavirus cases confirmed in Greater Cincinnati, UC Health officials say
BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio – Four patients have tested positive for COVID-19, UC Health officials announced on Friday.
Tech Friday: Our forced switch from Virgin to Boost Mobile
Posted By RichC on March 13, 2020
Earlier this year in preparation for the Sprint – T-Mobile merger, Sprint ended their business relationship with Virgin Mobile USA; Sprint was the carrier for 
the Virgin plans which we opted to switch to back in the summer of 2017. Neither Brenda or I have had any problems or complains with our wireless service or pricing for years now and we really hated the idea of being forced to switch. 
But .. business is what business is … and unfortunately our seemingly attractive deal ended (although the really good $1/month deal was over after the first year).
Perhaps I need to give BoostMobile a chance … even though the switch felt force on us without any other options. I looked into the 55+ and AAA Sprint plans, but even talking to Sprint’s Customer Service to try and get pricing seemed like pulling teeth.
Ting would be my favorite wireless company due to their simplicity and excellent customer service, BUT the tiered billing system always had me pinching pennies and data. The self-imposed “frugalist” in me had me thinking about that next jump in a monthly bill – I might as well have a flat fee unlimited plan (probably the same reason I preferred cruise vacations, before they started to nickel and dime travelers). My personal “monitoring anxiety” reminds me what it would be like if I were driving an EV … can you say range anxiety?
This sound rings a bell and student loan memories #TBT
Posted By RichC on March 12, 2020
Question: How old do you have to be to identify this 
widely recognized sound from our automotive past?
| What is this sound? |
My first “real job” was as a Shell gas station attendant when I turned 16 years old (although cut lawns, did odd jobs and worked as “boy” labor for a commercial fishing company). Pumping gas, washing windshields and checking oil was a great job … and I even had a uniform to wear. The manager worked around my school schedule and gave me more hours in the summer along with the bonus that came from “selling quarts of oil” and never pumping more gasoline than was paid for. There were always a couple of us on duty at the same time and we enjoyed running out as soon as we heard the sound of the bell (mp3 sound above). That was customer service back in the day.
A couple of stories I’ve told to friends and family before has to do with the “rolling” price meter and gallons counter on the 1970s gasoline pumps. As the price would roll to the next cent, there were little 1/3 tick-marks and the objective was to always stop the pump at the “1/3 mark before the next cent.” 
By doing that, we never over-pumped more fuel than we sold … AND my manager gave the “pump jockeys” the number of cents of gasoline saved in our paychecks. Hey, I was being paid $2.35/hr plus a quarter for every quart of oil sold, so those extra cents were a big deal. It was too bad we didn’t get a bonus for selling packs of cigarettes … I would have made a fortune (cigarettes were about 50 cents a pack I think). I was nice to have a few spending dollars to put gas in “mom’s car” and extra for “money-making” photography business/hobby, I was also able to save for college since every dollar I put in the bank was one dollar fewer that I didn’t have to borrow.
Ah … student loans .. the bane of today’s millennial generation. I’m not saying that my final student loan debt was painful compared to today, but while working, it was tolerable and could be fit into our budget .. it was still shocking that I took the full 10 years to pay it off and that I even had it when the kids were growing up (we paid off Brenda’s smaller loan much faster .. but even she had a student loan)! Perhaps having them helped us make it a priority as parents to budget for Katelyn and Taylor’s college? No complaints about having student loans and no regrets for us … but I do understand the struggle for those who dig their holes much deeper.
I still treasure my student loan freedom letter (below).
Down, Down, Down the stock market goes on #COVID19 fears
Posted By RichC on March 11, 2020
Although I suspect all the selling on Wall Street has to do with needed cash or the “sell and re-assess later” attitude, I’ve been puzzled that gold (usual safe haven) and utilities have been hit as well. Personally I thought these areas might balance exposure to industrials, tech and energy. Obviously not as Wednesday’s market close was again very ugly.
Still, I do think that if we truly are going to experience a longer term bear market or possible recession that utilities with their fixed cost and attractive dividends based on steadily supplying the electric, gas and water everyone uses should be ok???
What is the utilities sector?
It includes electric, gas and water utilities; independent power producers and energy traders; and companies that produce electricity using renewable sources.
The Utilities sector has tended to perform better when growth and trade concerns resurface, and to underperform when those concerns fade. That’s partly because of the sector’s traditional defensive nature—people need water, gas and electric services during all phases of the business cycle—and these are domestic goods and services, so it has very little international exposure. That suggests that signs of weakness in the global economy amid coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic concerns could relatively support the sector.
All things RMS Titanic … now you know the rest of the story
Posted By RichC on March 11, 2020
My friend Jeff gave me a couple “used” books for Christmas this year after we talked last year about our favorite authors and books over the decades. Sloan Wilson, of “Man in the Gray Flannel Suit” fame, 
also wrote several World War II US Coast Guard and Merchant Marine novels that both of us read and discussed in the 1980s (our mini 2-person book club). I had forgotten the actual story lines so recently am enjoying reading them again, besides I’ve always been a big fan of factual-fiction as it pertains to military and nautical history.
Ice Brothers is the first of the two books … although am currently reading Pacific Interlude … and the story coincided with me reading a question posed about the RMS Titanic and last lifeboat photos. I’m a long time user and occasional reader of Quora.com so in seeing this question, I was off down the rabbit hole reading the interesting answer.
How was it possible for a photograph of the last lifeboat off the Titanic to survive?
Photographs of Titanic’s lifeboats were taken from the rescue ship Carpathia as she picked up survivors and brought the lifeboats aboard the morning after the disaster. They were developed after Carpathia returned to New York and sold to the news media or otherwise preserved.
There are no photographs of either Titanic or her lifeboats taken at the time of the sinking or from the lifeboats themselves. The technology of the day was not capable of it, and none of the survivors would have thought to bring a camera and all its associated apparatus with them, even in the unlikely event that they owned one.
The answer above that Woody Hancock gave was no doubt complete, but the later post by Dave Nitzer was the more interesting read .. and it had photos.
His Answer:
Watching stocks tank day after day requires a strong stomach
Posted By RichC on March 10, 2020
The “old school” razor sharpening animated GIF below has NOTHING to do with my emotional state after stomaching Monday’s stock market crash and “oil war” between Russia and Saudi Arabia … so don’t read anything into my poor attempt at humor.
After watching the DOW drop over 2158 points and seeing the index close just a tad better has kept me from seeing any light at the end of the tunnel. Have the coronavirus and this oil dispute really as bad as the market perceives them? Anyway, I thought this razor blade sharpening illustration was pretty neat, not that I’m getting ready for anything!
Music Monday: That sorrowful bluegrass sound from Alison Kraus – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Catfish John” for the slew of bad news
Posted By RichC on March 9, 2020
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Woodworking: Best plywood edge banding advice and #video
Posted By RichC on March 8, 2020
While planning a long overdue bookcase woodworking project, I needed to learn a little more about edge banding. Previous bookcases that I’ve made have all been solid wood and either painted (in our first and second homes) or stained and poly finished oak (several book, CD, video and DVD case). This planned project is a bit larger and requires edge banding of birch plywood on 30+ shelves and likely support pieces. I contemplated cutting my own wood, but using a quality birch and hot melt edge banding makes more sense.
I stumbled on an excellent YouTube content provider Matt Jackson and Next Level Carpentry who offered up some excellent time saving “production” tips that might make my project easier. I was hoping to get started on our Library/Music room in February, but now that it is already March … who knows? Perhaps I’ll end up just archiving the idea and will find the time next winter?
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.