Official Gramps' Memorial Eternal OT Thread

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

One thing I discovered yesterday is that my new TV only has optical and HDMI audio outputs, so my old Bose sound system is a non player, and it's severely lacking in any case. I have a lot of mid to high frequency hearing loss, and it was really hard to understand much of what the female announcer said - the guys were marginally better. Back at the other house I have an Onkyo receiver and Definitive Technology speakers - much much better - the speakers are fantastic. When that doesn't work I have another way - I have a unit designed for cars when you want to add amps and speakers and keep the head unit. I feed in speaker level inputs - left and right and mix some center output with both and run that to a two channel equalizer, a headphone preamp, and then the hearing aid control that does Bluetooth transmission to my hearing aids. I'm going to have to experiment here because it's normally just me, and I don't want the expense of replicating all that.

Have you ever thought of using a hearing aid. I understand the technology w/that has come along way in hearing.

 

[volfanhill]

One thing I discovered yesterday is that my new TV only has optical and HDMI audio outputs, so my old Bose sound system is a non player, and it's severely lacking in any case. I have a lot of mid to high frequency hearing loss, and it was really hard to understand much of what the female announcer said - the guys were marginally better. Back at the other house I have an Onkyo receiver and Definitive Technology speakers - much much better - the speakers are fantastic. When that doesn't work I have another way - I have a unit designed for cars when you want to add amps and speakers and keep the head unit. I feed in speaker level inputs - left and right and mix some center output with both and run that to a two channel equalizer, a headphone preamp, and then the hearing aid control that does Bluetooth transmission to my hearing aids. I'm going to have to experiment here because it's normally just me, and I don't want the expense of replicating all that.

Many of us would pay good money not to hear the women folk

 

[AM64]

Have you ever thought of using a hearing aid. I understand the technology w/that has come along way in hearing.

I have digital hearing aids, and they do help a lot, but they can be frustrating. Like in a restaurant all the background noise is a real distraction. That's a problem with football broadcasts, too; the fan noise masks a lot of the broadcast. Movies and similar are easier because of the CC, but that doesn't work well on unscripted stuff like news and sports. Most of my work over the years dealt with sound and vibration, and try as the might audiologists did, they never seemed to get adjustments right. I finally bought a programmer and worked for some time, and came up with a pretty good compromise.

 

[AM64]

Many of us would pay good money not to hear the women folk

If I'm not watching TV or something I really want to hear, I don't generally wear hearing aids around the house ... for exactly that reason sometimes.

 

[1972 Grad]

If I'm not watching TV or something I really want to hear, I don't generally wear hearing aids around the house ... for exactly that reason sometimes.

My wife seems to think that I need hearing aids, if you get my drift? I may have selective hearing.

 

[AM64]

My wife seems to think that I need hearing aids, if you get my drift? I may have selective hearing.

Your secret is safe with me ... silence is golden sometimes. Deciding when and when not to use hearing aids is definitely selective in my case. I don't know about other wives, but when mine is in the kitchen you'd think WW3 is in progress.

 

[Ernest T. Vol]

My wife seems to think that I need hearing aids, if you get my drift? I may have selective hearing.

She'll be wanting to test you for dementia next.

 

[Carl Pickens]

I have a question for you shoulder surgery guys ... I’m 15 days out from surgery, but still having intermittent pain... even when the arm is still and in the sling.... aching kind of throbbing. Is this what you experienced and if so, how long did this go on?

 

[1972 Grad]

I have a question for you shoulder surgery guys ... I’m 15 days out from surgery, but still having intermittent pain... even when the arm is still and in the sling.... aching kind of throbbing. Is this what you experienced and if so, how long did this go on?

Workin' in a coal mine
goin' down down.
Workin' in a coal mine,
Whoop, I wanna sit down.

5 o'clock in the mornin'
I'm already up and gone.
Lord, I'm so tired.
How long can this go on?

 

[Carl Pickens]

Workin' in a coal mine
goin' down down.
Workin' in a coal mine,
Whoop, I wanna sit down.

5 o'clock in the mornin'
I'm already up and gone.
Lord, I'm so tired.
How long can this go on?

This really sucks. Not being able to use your dominant hand is maddening.
My best friend called me the day after my surgery to check on me..... after asking how I was doing he proceeded to say “I tried doing everything with my left hand last night to see what it’s going to be like for you. The first hour wasn’t too bad, but then I had to wipe my ass and got s*** all over my hand. You’ve got a tough road ahead of you.”

 

[1972 Grad]

This really sucks. Not being able to use your dominant hand is maddening.
My best friend called me the day after my surgery to check on me..... after asking how I was doing he proceeded to say “I tried doing everything with my left hand last night to see what it’s going to be like for you. The first hour wasn’t too bad, but then I had to wipe my ass and got s*** all over my hand. You’ve got a tough road ahead of you.”

S*** is just the same stuff that you put in your mouth earlier. Don't lose any sleep over getting it on your hand.

 

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

Browns vs Titans today. Both 8-3 teams. Browns march down the field & kick a field goal on their first possession.
Myles Garrett plays for Browns. He's the guy that took a players helmet off & struck him in the head w/it last year.

 

[NorthDallas40]

The natives are restless this morning

 

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

Browns vs Titans today. Both 8-3 teams. Browns march down the field & kick a field goal on their first possession.
Myles Garrett plays for Browns. He's the guy that took a players helmet off & struck him in the head w/it last year.

The way things look Titans forgot there was a game to be played today. Browns giving Titans a big beat down...
No way Titans can come back for a win in today's game.... 38-7 at the half....

 

[Orangeburst]

Well steel and aluminum are all but gone from the USA. We have facilities that can recycle them, but to smelt raw ore into steel or aluminum went the way of the Chinese and to build a plant that can do that again would take years and electrical infrastructure that we don't have anymore either. Our politicians and business moguls sold their soul and left the rest of us to die.

Consumers as well. All in the name of paying less, See it everyday and no thought to life cycle costs

 

[VolStrom]

Consumers as well. All in the name of paying less, See it everyday and no thought to life cycle costs

About 7 to 10 years before I retired I started to see that with my own company as they started buying bargain basement crap machinery instead of well made equipment. Oh you need a new front end loader, don't get a caterpillar get a Jing Song Ltd for half the price and watch it sit in the shop most of its life. As I get on the older end of the spectrum I look at my life expectancy and make purchases based on my life expectancy and how many times I'll use something, but I have hand tools that I got when I was in my mid teens still that work better than the new junk you can buy today.

 

[AM64]

Consumers as well. All in the name of paying less, See it everyday and no thought to life cycle costs

I'm an engineer and even before that I was all about repairing stuff. It is heartbreaking (as an engineer) to see products dumped because we've managed to make them obsolete. Technology does make things obsolete and that's certainly accelerated in my lifetime. For example, with faster processing speed and huge gains in digital storage, the systems that we struggled to build 30 and 40 years ago to monitor loose parts in nuclear steam systems are simple now. However, a lot of obsolescence is driven by fashion rather than function. My wife gives me grief because I don't fix stuff, and doesn't really understand when I explain components aren't off the shelf any more - you no longer go out and buy a tube (I'm that old) or a transistor, resistor, or capacitor and breath life back into something.

 

[VolStrom]

I'm an engineer and even before that I was all about repairing stuff. It is heartbreaking (as an engineer) to see products dumped because we've managed to make them obsolete. Technology does make things obsolete and that's certainly accelerated in my lifetime. For example, with faster processing speed and huge gains in digital storage, the systems that we struggled to build 30 and 40 years ago to monitor loose parts in nuclear steam systems are simple now. However, a lot of obsolescence is driven by fashion rather than function. My wife gives me grief because I don't fix stuff, and doesn't really understand when I explain components aren't off the shelf any more - you no longer go out and buy a tube (I'm that old) or a transistor, resistor, or capacitor and breath life back into something.

You must not be as cheap as I am. Just this year I had a 10+ year old Samsung 46" TV die, I did a bit of research, took it apart and diagnosed a bad power supply board, cost me about $65 vs buying a new TV. A few months later my 13+ year old refrigerator died, a little research and I found that the control board was bad, a trip to town and $199 later and it was working again. Not long after that my washer decided to stop draining, a little research and I discovered the trap into the pump was clogged with about $2 worth of coins and buttons, net cost +$2. Some things just aren't worth fixing, but if you don't mind older technology and what you had suited you, why not fix it if its cost effective?

 

[Orangeburst]

About 7 to 10 years before I retired I started to see that with my own company as they started buying bargain basement crap machinery instead of well made equipment. Oh you need a new front end loader, don't get a caterpillar get a Jing Song Ltd for half the price and watch it sit in the shop most of its life. As I get on the older end of the spectrum I look at my life expectancy and make purchases based on my life expectancy and how many times I'll use something, but I have hand tools that I got when I was in my mid teens still that work better than the new junk you can buy today.

It depends on the company. Put a bid out that meets a certain limited requirement and whether the bean counter or engineer has control. Bean counters dont understand what you are even talking about.

 

[AM64]

I have a question for you shoulder surgery guys ... I’m 15 days out from surgery, but still having intermittent pain... even when the arm is still and in the sling.... aching kind of throbbing. Is this what you experienced and if so, how long did this go on?

I hate to tell you, but it may be a year before you are pretty normal - especially when working above your head. Don't be surprised to find that some days years later you'll still feel a twinge when you do some things or sleep on the shoulder wrong. Your surgery seems more like my second one - my first was more like ND40's. The PT went a lot faster on my second, but it was still about a year before doing stuff overhead was more or less pain free for either. You both need to give us periodic updates on how it's going - for those who aren't there yet and for comparison to those of us who've been there. On the other hand if you are a fitness buff - like some of us aren't, you may do a lot better!

 

[VolStrom]

It depends on the company. Put a bid out that meets a certain limited requirement and whether the bean counter or engineer has control. Bean counters dont understand what you are even talking about.

Back in the early days of my career we had IE's that had to justify major expenditures. All real engineers know them as imaginary engineers, but in their defense you could tell them why you wanted to buy a particular brand and why and they would usually agree with you and authorize it. Now days the bean counters are the bane of the business world. I got so tired of hearing about capex justification and ROI, ROIC and who know how many other BS numbers the counters can throw out. I'm glad I'm done with it.

 

[AM64]

You must not be as cheap as I am. Just this year I had a 10+ year old Samsung 46" TV die, I did a bit of research, took it apart and diagnosed a bad power supply board, cost me about $65 vs buying a new TV. A few months later my 13+ year old refrigerator died, a little research and I found that the control board was bad, a trip to town and $199 later and it was working again. Not long after that my washer decided to stop draining, a little research and I discovered the trap into the pump was clogged with about $2 worth of coins and buttons, net cost +$2. Some things just aren't worth fixing, but if you don't mind older technology and what you had suited you, why not fix it if its cost effective?

I do a lot of that. The refrigerator in the garage died this year - we bought it when we moved into our first house in 1976. I've replaced fans, the thermostat at least once, etc; I'm guessing it's the thermostat this time, but my wife wants it gone. The dishwasher is pretty old and I've replaced a lot of parts. The last time I was ready to just replace the DW and then started reading reviews on new ones and fixed it - with that ring that goes around a milk jug when you break the seal. Same with heat and AC units - until something like the heat exchanger rusts through. The plasma TV is iffy though; there are two display boards - top half and bottom half of the screen, and apparently no new parts; I'm not convinced that for the use it gets (my wife has two other TVs and there's the 65" in the living room), it's worth a gamble on something from ebay. What I mean is you don't go out and find a 12AU7 or a 1/4W 33kohm resistor and fix something like you used to do, and I really miss the old schematics and circuit diagrams.

 

[AM64]

It depends on the company. Put a bid out that meets a certain limited requirement and whether the bean counter or engineer has control. Bean counters dont understand what you are even talking about.

I used to make an art of having to use emergency purchase requisitions to get around the bean counters. As the user, you know what you need and you can't explain why a good quality piece of equipment does what supposedly a "similar" piece of equipment wouldn't do.

 

[Orangeburst]

Back in the early days of my career we had IE's that had to justify major expenditures. All real engineers know them as imaginary engineers, but in their defense you could tell them why you wanted to buy a particular brand and why and they would usually agree with you and authorize it. Now days the bean counters are the bane of the business world. I got so tired of hearing about capex justification and ROI, ROIC and who know how many other BS numbers the counters can throw out. I'm glad I'm done with it.

I will be honest, not even sure engineers look at COO. If I was in purchasing position I would ask price and schedule of consumables. labor and what if's. I never see it and have to use it as a selling point when I can.

 

[Orangeburst]

I used to make an art of having to use emergency purchase requisitions to get around the bean counters. As the user, you know what you need and you can't explain why a good quality piece of equipment does what supposedly a "similar" piece of equipment wouldn't do.

Secret sauce that as a seller I much appreciate.