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    • jimmyjam wrote:

      chief wrote:

      jimmyjam wrote:

      Here's my new sexy beast.
      lookin' good! funny, a buddy of mine showed up the other day in a white one. did you get one of those 10k off deals?
      I got 15k off. It's a 2018. And I got a 10 year 200,000 mile power train warranty. I am very happy with the purchase.
      outstanding! bet you felt like a thief in the night driving off the lot with that black beauty. yahoo!
    • chief wrote:

      jimmyjam wrote:

      chief wrote:

      jimmyjam wrote:

      Here's my new sexy beast.
      lookin' good! funny, a buddy of mine showed up the other day in a white one. did you get one of those 10k off deals?
      I got 15k off. It's a 2018. And I got a 10 year 200,000 mile power train warranty. I am very happy with the purchase.
      outstanding! bet you felt like a thief in the night driving off the lot with that black beauty. yahoo!
      Actually now that I think about it, it was really 13.5 k off and then I negotiated an additional 1k on my trade. I had 15k stuck in my head from that. Still a heck of a deal. And the only dealer I know that gives the 10/200 warranty on a truck.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • LIhikers wrote:

      Traffic Jam wrote:

      Talkin about sexy cars...

      After I bought my new Crosstrek, I noticed people were constantly looking at me, like doing double takes. I thought, damn, I must look good! Until someone rolled their window down at a red light and told me they loved the color of my car. :D
      It's the first, I'm sure.Nobody cares about the color of a car that much.
      What color is it?
      Thanks! But It’s the car. I’ve only seen one of that color in Knoxville.

      Lost in the right direction.
    • Traffic Jam wrote:

      LIhikers wrote:

      Traffic Jam wrote:

      Talkin about sexy cars...

      After I bought my new Crosstrek, I noticed people were constantly looking at me, like doing double takes. I thought, damn, I must look good! Until someone rolled their window down at a red light and told me they loved the color of my car. :D
      It's the first, I'm sure.Nobody cares about the color of a car that much.What color is it?
      Thanks! But It’s the car. I’ve only seen one of that color in Knoxville.

      Looks sharp! :thumbup:
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • odd man out wrote:

      So my new hobby/interest is competing in the Team Trivia contest at the local brew pub every Tuesday. Been going for a couple months. So far I've had two third place and one first place finishes good for 50$ in gift cards at the brew pub, which is pretty good considering I don't have a team since apparently I have no friends. So if I keep winning I can drink for free. I'll admit its a bit of a rush for a team of one old fart to beat a whole table full of youngsters.
      I posted this in Dec 2017. I have kept up my trivia hobby for the last year, playing nearly every Tuesday night. You get a gift cards at the microbrewery for first (30$), second (20$) and third (10$) place. I can now finish in the money most every week. My wife comes about half the time (retired reference librarian) and then we can usually win. I eventually joined the Sate Team Trivia League, which just means they track your score every time you play and at the end of 6 months, the top teams are invited to a state-wide tournament where you can win real money. Today we played our first state tournament (about 100 teams play simultaneously in six regions around the state). I was able to round up a team of six (the maximum). In addition to my wife, my son who plays occasionally was there, plus a few friends from work who have also played with me a few times were all there. The top six teams win cash prizes from $2000 down to $100. Although we didn't win it was a lot of fund and we did do well. We were in 5th place in the state going into the final round and if we had gotten the last question correct we would have been in 3rd place (but we didn't, alas). You can bet up to 15 points on the last question so unfortunately, it doesn't matter so much how you do on the other 19 questions, if you get the last one wrong, you're screwed. The next season ends June 30 so maybe we can do better in the summer tournament.
    • When we win all the time, people say "you must be smart" and I always so that winning trivia is not about being smart, it's about knowing lots of crap, or more accurately, it's about WANTING to know a lot of crap. You've probably seen comics to bits on TVS where they ask people on the street pathetically easy questions and they don't know the answers (even the college educated professionals). I mean you have to go out of your way and try to be that ignorant. At our house we have a rule that no cell phones are allowed when eating UNLESS you are looking up the answer to a question that is being discussed (which happens quite a lot). For my whole life I just get annoyed at not knowing things. So when driving home from work, I may think to myself "I wonder what state borders the most other states?". So I get home and look it up (It's MO, BTW). The other day I wondered in what order the four artists that the Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles were named after were born. That one I was able to work out on my own (Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael). Just yesterday I wondered what was the last African country to change its name. So I looked it up and found that just this past year Swaziland changed its name to eSwatini. Who knew? Well now we all do.
    • Astro wrote:

      Research shows that Orange colored cars have the least amount of accidents. :)
      I just saw this quote for the first time. And I laughed.



      My Grabber Orange Mustang has been in the body shop twice for accidents and once for rust repair on the used rear quarter panel installed after the mishap shown above. A few weeks ago, my mail carrier backed into the same rear quarter panel - 4 months after the rust was repaired and repainted. She claims she didn't see the car in her mirrors... Fourth time is the charm!
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • StalkingTortoise wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      Research shows that Orange colored cars have the least amount of accidents. :)
      I just saw this quote for the first time. And I laughed.


      My Grabber Orange Mustang has been in the body shop twice for accidents and once for rust repair on the used rear quarter panel installed after the mishap shown above. A few weeks ago, my mail carrier backed into the same rear quarter panel - 4 months after the rust was repaired and repainted. She claims she didn't see the car in her mirrors... Fourth time is the charm!
      It is like you are on a personal mission to buck the trend. Although I am sure not intentional. ^^
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Astro wrote:

      I believe both MO and TN touch 8 other states (will have to get atlas out and double check tomorrow).

      Easy way to remember the TMNTs is that they are in alphabetical order (DLMR). :)
      Yes you are right about TN, forgot there was a tie. As for the TMNT, a few years ago on our trip to Italy we spent 4 days in Florence going to all of the major art galleries, so that's how I remember them. Also in "The School of Athens", Raphael painted both himself and Michelangelo in the painting. Raphael looks much younger as he was only about 26 years old when he painted it. They say Raphael added Michelangelo after walking into the chapel across the hall and saw what was he was painting the ceiling.

      There are lots of interesting facts you can learn by visiting these sites. Michaelangelo's David is a case in point. It is displayed so you can view it form all sides. The subject's pose looks 3D from most directions, especially the front which is what is typically seen. But from the right angle (viewing from the back left), you can see that this was carved from a relatively flat slab of marble. It's quite a remarkable illusion.

      You is obviously qualified to be on the team. Stop by some Tuesday for a free beer.
    • odd man out wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      I believe both MO and TN touch 8 other states (will have to get atlas out and double check tomorrow).

      Easy way to remember the TMNTs is that they are in alphabetical order (DLMR). :)
      Yes you are right about TN, forgot there was a tie. As for the TMNT, a few years ago on our trip to Italy we spent 4 days in Florence going to all of the major art galleries, so that's how I remember them. Also in "The School of Athens", Raphael painted both himself and Michelangelo in the painting. Raphael looks much younger as he was only about 26 years old when he painted it. They say Raphael added Michelangelo after walking into the chapel across the hall and saw what was he was painting the ceiling.
      There are lots of interesting facts you can learn by visiting these sites. Michaelangelo's David is a case in point. It is displayed so you can view it form all sides. The subject's pose looks 3D from most directions, especially the front which is what is typically seen. But from the right angle (viewing from the back left), you can see that this was carved from a relatively flat slab of marble. It's quite a remarkable illusion.

      You is obviously qualified to be on the team. Stop by some Tuesday for a free beer.
      I am terrible at trivia but enjoy free beer.
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Traffic Jam wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      I believe both MO and TN touch 8 other states (will have to get atlas out and double check tomorrow).

      Easy way to remember the TMNTs is that they are in alphabetical order (DLMR). :)
      Yes you are right about TN, forgot there was a tie. As for the TMNT, a few years ago on our trip to Italy we spent 4 days in Florence going to all of the major art galleries, so that's how I remember them. Also in "The School of Athens", Raphael painted both himself and Michelangelo in the painting. Raphael looks much younger as he was only about 26 years old when he painted it. They say Raphael added Michelangelo after walking into the chapel across the hall and saw what was he was painting the ceiling.There are lots of interesting facts you can learn by visiting these sites. Michaelangelo's David is a case in point. It is displayed so you can view it form all sides. The subject's pose looks 3D from most directions, especially the front which is what is typically seen. But from the right angle (viewing from the back left), you can see that this was carved from a relatively flat slab of marble. It's quite a remarkable illusion.

      You is obviously qualified to be on the team. Stop by some Tuesday for a free beer.
      I am terrible at trivia but enjoy free beer.
      If it wasn't so far away for both of us, we could go together, and I would do the trivia part and you could have the free beer. ;)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • My recent bluegrass camp was great but some things were a disappointing repeat of last year.

      I memorized a lot of tunes for the jam sessions but as soon as I start playing with other people, they go out of my head. If i miss a note or make a bad sound, I get anxious, hesitant, and screw it all up. A lot of times, I had to close my eyes so I couldn’t see the other musicians but that affected intonation and tuning.

      Prior to camp, I painstakingly made index cards with the first few measures of the memorized songs, thinking they would jog my memory in the stressful (to me) environment, but it didn’t help. After a few days, I didn’t bother with them and just played drones, chords, or tried to pick out the melody.

      Realistically, training my ear is probably the best skill to have so not remembering the songs forced me work on that.

      But still...it was frustrating and demoralizing to suck that bad.

      One of my instructors recommended a book called The Practice of Practice and it has been illuminating. Hopefully, it will help to change my mindset, to not view mistakes as failures but opportunities to improve, and to become more effective in my practice.

      I highly recommend the book for anyone trying to learn a new skill, whether it’s musical or not.
      Lost in the right direction.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Traffic Jam ().

    • I'm having similar worries. We went up to Interlochen (National Music Camp) for a concert a couple of weeks ago. It reminded me that for many decades they have a week-long chamber music camp for adult amatures. I played a lot of string quartets on high school but not since then. I would love to go but worry I couldn't keep up. The camp is advertised as being for all levels, but in a string quartet, it's frustrating if everyone's ability don't match. I would hate to be the guy holding back the group. Maybe I will still go for it. But first I need to get my bow rehaired.
    • Fortunately, as a bass player in bluegrass, I rarely had the melody. You just play the chords, but I would improvise rifs to fill in, but never with music - all by ear. Fortunately my string quartet coach was a music theory expert an taught us all about chord structures , which is all I needed to pick out the bass parts. I have no idea how those people on the lead instruments could know all those melody parts. I think a lot of it was also improvised. Basically, you start and end on the right note at the right time and what happens in-between doesn't matter so much.
    • One of my other hobbies is SCUBA diving, although it has been years. To celebrate a big birthday I took a dive in the New England Aquarium's Giant Ocean Tank. I worked there many decades before, and luckily still had a connection who got me in. Best Birthday present ever!










      Bonnethead Shark





      That is Myrtle the Turtle, the most famous resident of the New England Aquarium.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • IMScotty wrote:

      One of my other hobbies is SCUBA diving, although it has been years. To celebrate a big birthday I took a dive in the New England Aquarium's Giant Ocean Tank. I worked there many decades before, and luckily still had a connection who got me in. Best Birthday present ever!










      Bonnethead Shark





      That is Myrtle the Turtle, the most famous resident of the New England Aquarium.
      Sure looks a lot different from your summer PCT hike in the desert. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • I've been thinking of taking up photography as a hobby. I've always traveled with a point and shoot camera and enjoyed posting photo blogs of trips for friends and family. I've had some of my favorite pics printed for display around the house. But my current camera needs replacing so I thought this might be a good time to step up to a serious camera that has the potential for great image quality but is still reasonably compact and affordable. I think I've settled on getting a Fujifilm XT20 with the 18-55mm lens, currently about $1000. Waiting to save up the money. Maybe a Christmas present.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by odd man out ().

    • So for two years in a row I got a bag of flour for Christmas. Last year it was the all important southern self rising flour needed to make real biscuits (learned about here). This year I got the all important 00 flour needed to real pizza crust. Trying it out tonight. According to the video, it should stretch out as shown. We shall see soon. I'm not optimistic.

    • I found my forever fiddle, the one that I will live with for the rest of my life!

      She was made by Robert Glier, Jr. in Cincinnati in 1926. She sounds so rich, resonant, and sweet (despite me)...a million times better than the previous one.

      I anticipate many years of happiness.

      :)
      Lost in the right direction.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Traffic Jam ().

    • Traffic Jam wrote:

      I found my forever fiddle, the one that I will live with for the rest of my life!

      She was made by Robert Glier, Jr. in Cincinnati in 1926. She sounds so rich, resonant, and sweet (despite me)...a million times better than the previous one.

      I anticipate many years of happiness.

      :)
      How wonderful. How about the bow? Did you also upgrade that too? If you are like me the bow is worth more than the instrument. My bow is by GF Lotte (French). My cello is a true novelty item. Made by the Gibson Guitar Company of Kalamazoo MI ca. 1940.
    • odd man out wrote:

      Traffic Jam wrote:

      I found my forever fiddle, the one that I will live with for the rest of my life!

      She was made by Robert Glier, Jr. in Cincinnati in 1926. She sounds so rich, resonant, and sweet (despite me)...a million times better than the previous one.

      I anticipate many years of happiness.

      :)
      How wonderful. How about the bow? Did you also upgrade that too? If you are like me the bow is worth more than the instrument. My bow is by GF Lotte (French). My cello is a true novelty item. Made by the Gibson Guitar Company of Kalamazoo MI ca. 1940.
      I didn’t upgrade my bow but plan to. I have a nice, pernambuco bow but it has a weak spot and jumps/vibrates in the center.

      I went over my budget on the violin but got an excellent deal, as the shop is offering deep discounts right now due to covid 19. I never could have afforded such a wonderful instrument. She is way too good for me...way out of my league.
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Traffic Jam wrote:

      I found my forever fiddle, the one that I will live with for the rest of my life!

      She was made by Robert Glier, Jr. in Cincinnati in 1926. She sounds so rich, resonant, and sweet (despite me)...a million times better than the previous one.

      I anticipate many years of happiness.

      :)
      That is so great TJ. We can tell from your smile that you have found a keeper :)

      No pressure, but it would be great is you put something up on YouTube sometime that you could share with the group. Bet you cannot wait to rejoin your music group to try this out. Have fun!
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier