Older Folks and Vaping Back Porch - Part Five

[Robert Cromwell]

They're saying on the local news and we all know that everything they say is true, that here in Florida if it hits 1.3 billion (and you can bet your behind I will have a ticket) the one time payout will be somewhere over 600 million. Now no matter how you look at it, that's real money!
If I were to win it we would all have a hell of an odyssey but, probably a little further away than April as passports would be required. I just read an article in the Sun-Sentinal about world cruises, something like 6 months, 32 countries and 60+ ports of call. Around 50,000 dollars double occupancy.

No cruise for me. Would not want to spend 6 months in a floating hotel.
Would rather just fly to a few select countries and spend all the time in each one that I wanted.

 

[Yiana]

Yeah, cruises scare me. It seems like people get sick a lot.

 

[garyoa1]

No cruise for me. Would not want to spend 6 months in a floating hotel.
Would rather just fly to a few select countries and spend all the time in each one that I wanted.

your reply...
Not to mention on yer OWN PLANE!!!!

 

[garyoa1]

Let me be the first to say "I have an incredible idea that will make both of us a boatload of money.. and will only require a minimum of investment on your part .. it's a sure thing, trust me .. all you need do is immediately wire 10 million dollars to my offshore account which is fully managed by Bernie Madoff safely and securely from his Prison Cell .. "

your reply...

I'll dew it fur 5.

Just sayin...

 

[DavidOck]

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend

Especially after the Vikings missed that field goal!

 

[MattB101]

Ok, ok. I'll figure something else out. Still we'll do something. Suggestions?

 

[DavidOck]

Ok, ok. I'll figure something else out. Still we'll do something. Suggestions?

buy us a train?

 

[MikeE3]

buy us a train?

Careful what you wish for.

 

[Iffy]

I was glad to read the explanation of Lathe of Heaven. At first I thought Robert had misspelled latte.

Now dat's funny!

Guess I'll be buying some more tickets before the drawing on Wednesday, since nobody hit.

I bought a QP on a whim just to disprove a 'ramp rat' claim dat fer $3 ya could triple da grand prize.

I did not lose $2.

My purchase was da first tic I've bought in near 20 years.

Honestly, I've told all da 'rats' at da 'office' (local boat ramp), I will not buy 'nother tic in dat da stress is not what I seek, if I won. There would be just be too many precautions I'd have to take to keep any sanity I may have left. Although... my mind does race wid da possible noble accomplishments!

Two of my multiple stalwart beliefs are:
- Count your blessings, not your money
- Be careful what you ask/desire/pray for

Dat aside, who wants to start a 'Porch Pool'? SJK...

 

[MikeE3]

Dat aside, who wants to start a 'Porch Pool'? SJK...

Something like this?

 

[yiddleboge6]

Something like this?

Hmmn.....that looks a whole lot like the place some of us are headed to in April.....

 

[Kenna]

Something like this?

Yes, please!

 

[clnire]

I wanted to take a cruise when I was younger. But now that I am an old curmudgeon, not so much. Too many people in too small of a space for my liking. Too much disease and weird things going on. I still might enjoy a cruise to Alaska, but that's about all.

 

[Ken_A]

That's precisely why I just posted the pic. The poem chokes me up too hard.

Ken, have you seen the movie Inception? I won't go into details, but they go through levels of dream states to accomplish their mission. I need to watch it again because I didn't realize at first they were showing all levels at the same time. It jumped around and I started getting confused (not hard for me!) til I realized that. But an interesting movie.

Good to hear from you, amoret. Lurk and pounce when ready!



But are you sure you're really awake now?

I used to have a lot of dreams where I would re-live bad situations in my past, and wake myself up yelling, often in that uncomfortable way that Ken describes. Nowadays, it doesn't happen so often, probably a combination of hearing loss and having resolved the emotional impact of those bad events. Don't know how much of one or the other, since I live alone.

my saying "wake up" was just thought. I never actually SAY it. Maybe I should try it....

...
Not to that extent. Must say that I do envy your ability to 'construct' your dreams!

I've had directed dreaming since I was 10. It can be fun... Until your subcontious starts throwing out weird stuff just to confuse the issue.

...hit the wrong dang button...

This actually has happened to me a few times, although not that many layers. Only two or three times of "waking up" and realizing I was still asleep. If I do realize I'm asleep and want to wake up, I try to yell in my dream - that does it every time.

will definitely have to try that... For me, it's usually only two or three times. Just really strange this time. Usually, I'm having a particular bad dream when it happens. Nothing specific, just dark, and a feeling of a nebulous formless "dark danger" just out of perception. THAT one is my dream equilivant of a waking panic attack, which I also fortunately don't get as much of anymore.

 

[lulu836]

Where's all those computer guys/gals? I already had a program on my pc that opens them, and everyone knows......I get that "deer in the headlights" look when they start talking tech......

The few of us who were reminiscing noticed (at least I did) that there were quite a few glazed looks and more coming so I just stopped. Most folks who weren't around for the beginning of the "computer age" are not interested in how it started or how printed circuit boards were invented or vacuum tubes or anything else. More and more I see groups of 20-somethings in social settings all staring at their cells phones. I found out that what they are doing is texting each other instead of holding a verbal conversation. What happens when they interview for jobs or want to express an opinion to someone who is smart enough to NOT be staring at their cell phone? Just a whole new degree of dumb.

 

[lulu836]

I wanted to take a cruise when I was younger. But now that I am an old curmudgeon, not so much. Too many people in too small of a space for my liking. Too much disease and weird things going on. I still might enjoy a cruise to Alaska, but that's about all.

Cruises are not necessarily crowded and disease ridden. I have taken quite a few and I did not get sick and I did not feel crowded. The food is deliriously delicious and the state rooms are plenty big. Alaska would be a good one to start with especially the "Inside Passage". Cruise staffers will do almost anything to assure that you have a wonderful time. You get to see a lot of places you would not be able to see if you were like taking a vacation to even one of the many destinations.

 

[MikeE3]

I've had directed dreaming since I was 10. It can be fun... Until your subcontious starts throwing out weird stuff just to confuse the issue.

I didn't know there was a name for that. Over the last couple-few years I've become aware that sometimes it actually feels like "I'm directing the dream". Never thought of it that way but yep ... that's just what they're like. I actually have to ask myself ... was I sleeping ... was that a dream ... or was I just laying here having fantasy thoughts.

 

[bigbells]

Lulu's mention of vacuum tubes brought back a memory of something I did a few times in my youth, but not once since then: when the TV stopped working, the procedure was to take off the back of the TV, carefully coax all the vacuum tubes out of their sockets, put them carefully in a paper bag, and take them to See-More TV. There were, I don't know, maybe 10 to 15 vacuum tubes (other than the main tube).

See-More was the name of the local TV shop when I was growing up. Cleverly named, because the owner's name was Seymour.

At See-More, there was a tube-testing machine right there on the sales floor for customer use. You looked at each tube to find the ID, a series of numbers and letters, sometimes hard to read especially on the smaller tubes. Then you looked on the chart to see which of the many numbered slots to plug that particular tube into to test it. You then took the tubes which were bad to the counter, and got replacements.

I do still have a tube radio that I put in a cupboard about 20 years ago. Maybe I'll pull it out and put it on a shelf as a conversation piece one of these days.

 

[Kenna]

I wanted to take a cruise when I was younger. But now that I am an old curmudgeon, not so much. Too many people in too small of a space for my liking. Too much disease and weird things going on. I still might enjoy a cruise to Alaska, but that's about all.

I'd like to take one of those European riverboat cruises. Or a train trip across the US. I'm one of those history buffs who wants to go see every historical monument, roadside plaque, & old house in the country.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

 

[MikeE3]

Lulu's mention of vacuum tubes brought back a memory of something I did a few times in my youth, but not once since then: when the TV stopped working, the procedure was to take off the back of the TV, carefully coax all the vacuum tubes out of their sockets, put them carefully in a paper bag, and take them to See-More TV. There were, I don't know, maybe 10 to 15 vacuum tubes (other than the main tube).

See-More was the name of the local TV shop when I was growing up. Cleverly named, because the owner's name was Seymour.

At See-More, there was a tube-testing machine right there on the sales floor for customer use. You looked at each tube to find the ID, a series of numbers and letters, sometimes hard to read especially on the smaller tubes. Then you looked on the chart to see which of the many numbered slots to plug that particular tube into to test it. You then took the tubes which were bad to the counter, and got replacements.

I do still have a tube radio that I put in a cupboard about 20 years ago. Maybe I'll pull it out and put it on a shelf as a conversation piece one of these days.

I remember my Dad doing that as a kid. Well actually the TV Repair man made house calls and brought along a portable tube tester. I thought it was so cool watching him take the tubes out and then how they would light up or not when he put them in a tester.

Then when a TV/Electronic shop opened in the neighborhood .. Dad by-passed the repair man and took the tubes to the TV shop and tested them himself.

About 12-15 years ago ... I had occasion to track down a shop w/ a tube tester ... yep I found one. An old Fender tube guitar amp died and I pulled the tubes and determined which one failed. Luckily I was able to find a replacement.