Modrl Railroading – structure building summary for 2023

Since late last summer I’ve been beating myself up with regard to my model railroading ‘structure building’ hobby. It all had to do with me finally getting motivated last yr around this time (Feb/2023), getting back to my hobby table building my “kits” (I hadn’t done anything project-wise during all of 2021 nor 2022). So, it was a big deal to getting back and start making things again. Then, … [Read more...]

Model Railroading – kit building – LaserKutModels

It’s pretty tough starting a mom & pop business out of your garage these days. Decades ago, you could put an ad into the various hobby related mags, announcing your new model railroad kit manufacturing company, and hopefully, via these magazine ads, as well as by word of mouth, your mom & pop business just might get enough customers to make your start-up a successful one, like Art’s Bar … [Read more...]

Model Railroading – recent thoughts – motivation

So…as some of you have noticed, I’ve been sharing my recent builds (after almost two yrs of being in a funk and not having any motivation to work at my project table). And, I’ve been getting the “likes” as well as some nice comments. But, the following comment this morning truly surprised me: “I am never going to be a great scale modeler but your work is inspiring.” This following (after the … [Read more...]

Being down – and how I (temporarily) fixed it.

Several weeks now, I’ve been kinda down. Lots of reasons. But, once I knew BFF Rick was going to come over (originally yesterday but we moved it today), I got my stupid, sorry, depressed ass off the couch, out of bed, out of the funk, out of the mope, whatever, and started cleaning and tidying; I’m the type who doesn’t make the bed each day; and I sometimes ‘laugh’ (or, roll my eyes) when I see … [Read more...]

Model Railroading – FSM – Swakhammer’s Welding Co.

Hmm. I’ve been pretty lax for the last three months, not posting progress reports on any structure builds, so I’m a bit behind. I started this kit in mid September, and have been making slow progress especially during the month of November as I was preparing to move back home to MN from NC. The particular kit (manufacturered in 1990) is from a company called Fine Scale Miniatures (“FSM”), in … [Read more...]

Hertz bankruptcy

Hertz car rental bankruptcy. How can a company with “only” $9 billion in annual revenue even think it will ever be able to pay off ~$17 billion in debt? Their debt load is almost twice as much as their annual revenue. Either way, even before the virus situation, the expected average annual earnings (profit) of a Fortune 500 company is around 8-10 percent of annual revenue. So, let’s round that … [Read more...]

quote from randy peprock re pandemic re-opening

“Reopening everything and pretending like the pandemic is all over is like when you're watching a Friday the 13th movie and you think it's safe for the campers to come out of hiding after Jason is "killed", and then he jumps back out of the lake with a butcher knife. Stay safe. We're not out of the woods yet.” … [Read more...]

Vigilante murder in Georgia

Vigilante/cold blooded murderer/redneck: (paraphrasing) “well, I thought he had a gun, he reached into his pants”. The young man in question, was out jogging, and had shorts on. Here are my thoughts: When I wear shorts to go to the store, i usually carry my cell phone and my wallet in my short’s pockets, having just those two items tend to weigh down the shorts at times, causing me to have to … [Read more...]

Pandemic – reopening – rude people

What is the world (i.e., these United States) coming to? A small business owner runs an ice cream parlor, and re-opens his business with social distancing rules for ordering, etc., and within the first day (or evening), people coming into the place are so rude to his staff that he has to then close it up again. It’s just ice cream, folks. You can live without … [Read more...]

Trump – fake news

Here’s a great quote. It’s from an article at Bloomberg.com regarding the financial state of the parent publishing company of the National Enquirer (they apparently have a negative net worth - their debt/liabilities exceeding their assets). “...Trump said last month that the National Enquirer produced ‘far more accurate’ news stories than the Bezos-owned Washington … [Read more...]

Charter cable – argh

I go online to charter/spectrum, and want to check out how much it’s going to cost me to add a new service to my account. They will provide pricing (via the web) if it’s a brand new account, BUT will not provide pricing if it’s an existing account. They force you into talking via phone or online chat to a live person. So, I open a stupid chat session, after actually logging into my spectrum … [Read more...]

Bezos and Nat’l Enquirer story

Re: the Jeff Bezos, National Enquirer story and then totally unrelated Re: Alex Jones/Infowars website/“talk show”. I think, if I were Mr. Bezos, with the wealth he has, I would just buy up the parent company, if they were publicly listed on a stock exchange, and then shut them down. For the National Enquirer, it seems they are owned by a larger firm (Which also owns several other mags), so the … [Read more...]

movie theme songs

Why is “Superman” (the movie theme song) playing in my head at one in the morning? … [Read more...]

Jury duty day 2

Day two of sitting in the basement of Dakota County Courthouse, waiting to be selected (or not selected) for a jury trial. Me, and several dozen of my “closest friends”, twiddling our thumbs... Will provide an update at the end of the day. … [Read more...]

“Executive time”

Boy, I really need to take some executive time. I’ll either be in the residence napping, watching Fox News, or twittering for hours on end. If either of my pals, Vlad, or Kim Jong-un call, please wake me up - I love talking to them, they’re my BFFs! To heck with this leading the nation nonsense, it obviously can run very well without me. I don’t understand why people think this job is so hard?? … [Read more...]

People not remembering a Halloween custume they wore??

Admittedly, I’ve probably only gone to a handful of Halloween parties in my lifetime, but for someone to say, “oh my, I just don’t remember exactly which costume I wore that year in medical school, I know I was one (the KKK robe) or the other (being in blackface), seems to be stretching the truth a little bit. Or, am I mistaken? I mean, even if I had gone to forty Halloween parties over the … [Read more...]

Little Girl Activities

As noted with my photos and video, I was able to spend time with the little girl, and her GranMaRose yesterday. Afterwards, we spent the evening playing games, drawing, etc., and Jordan (Lailah’s dad) drops by, to drop off Lailah’s little sister Ruby, for the girls to spend the night with GMR. Most of the evening, I played with Lailah, and GMR played with/watched Ruby. While I was watching … [Read more...]

Boys and dolls – a confession

Ok, I’ve shared most everything else about my life, here is something so very personal I’ve never shared with anyone before, in the last fifty plus years. I played with dolls as a very young boy (very early elementary school years). Both GI Joes, as well as “Barbie, and Ken”. Don’t ask me how I got started with Barbie, or which came first (Barbie or GI Joes), since I don’t remember. I’m sure my … [Read more...]

Misc thoughts at a flea market

Was invited out to go see a local indoor flea market here in “Beautiful Downtown” Apple Valley, after having brunch at the nearby breakfast place (“Mason Jar”, in Eagan) with the little girl, her parents (Jordan & Katie), baby Ruby, and GranMaRose. Saw lots and lots of vintage / antique stuff, such as old cameras (1960’s plastic “instamatic” era, as well as perhaps, 1940’s “Brownies”, and a … [Read more...]

Survey: English muffins, and Sleep Apnea

Two unrelated questions tonight, first one is not so serious, second one is. When choosing English Muffins at the grocery store, do you buy/prefer Bayes, or Thomas?? If you don’t know the difference between them, let me know, and I’ll elaborate. Who out there is willing to tell me (via commenting below or private IM) if you have sleep apnea, AND are using a CPAP machine? Do you feel it works, or … [Read more...]