"Tony" Thought Journal 3.0

[Faye Fox]

I came across this sign on the internet yesterday and I realized how true it is. I have less patience now with so called "friends", who want me as a listening post for their problems, They never want to hear what I have to say about my problems. So it's a one-way street. When we first meet I'll always ask "how you're doing" or "how's it going", not once will they ask how I'm feeling knowing I went through some health issues.

Friends who like to gossip about other people I wonder what they're saying about me.

I have maybe three or four relatives and friends who our hearts are connected. We would go out of our way to help each other without hesitation. They are a true friend and are hard to find.

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That is the story of my life. I have several friends that have a lot of drama in their lives, and I am expected to listen, sometimes for hours. If I want to talk about my life, then I get cut short or one puts her hand up to say stop, I don't want to hear it. I realize I use to talk to much, but now I am working on learning to stay silent. Why share your life with those that don't care?

That is what makes SOC special, some here do really care.

 

[Tony Page]

That is the story of my life. I have several friends that have a lot of drama in their lives, and I am expected to listen, sometimes for hours. If I want to talk about my life, then I get cut short or one puts her hand up to say stop, I don't want to hear it. I realize I use to talk to much, but now I am working on learning to stay silent. Why share your life with those that don't care?

That is what makes SOC special, some here do really care.

I agree, I was never much of a talker once I hit SOC I can't stop whatever thought comes to my head and I think I should share I put on SOC.
I feel like I've been talking too much so I try to reduce it but it's difficult when so many things go through your head.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I agree, I was never much of a talker once I hit SOC I can't stop whatever thought comes to my head and I think I should share I put on SOC.
I feel like I've been talking too much so I try to reduce it but it's difficult when so many things go through your head.

I think it's great that we all enjoy talking to each other. The world is crazy and SOC is kind of a little meeting place where we can share our lives and some memories with people who speak the same language. We have a shared experience that younger people have no interest in. So don't stop sharing, Tony.

 

[Faye Fox]

I agree, I was never much of a talker once I hit SOC I can't stop whatever thought comes to my head and I think I should share I put on SOC.
I feel like I've been talking too much so I try to reduce it but it's difficult when so many things go through your head.

Spill it out Tony, whether it is a short post or a long one.

"When I was 17, it was a very good year." As the song goes, for me, it was true.

I graduated high school in Brooklyn, which at first was a little scary, knowing my daily routine was over. I didn't know what lied ahead. I did take a test to work in the MTA as an electrician. I studied electronics in HS, not electrical. I studied a workbook and learned about conduit installation, loads, etc.I received a letter from the MTA that I passed the test and was put on a list for hire. Two friends who studied electrical in HS failed the test. Over the 3 years that we studied our vocational choices, we joked, which was better or harder to learn, electronic or electrical. Now I had something to tease them with.

Of course you can make more money as an electrician then you can as an Electronic Tech. Even with an HS diploma that I passed Electronics, I didn't qualify as a tech, so my first job after HS was at Olympic radio and television on the assembly line.

I am finding going thru your diary thread, interesting. You made an interesting point that being an electronic tech or engineer is different from being an electrician. White wiring is used for positive in electronics, but negative in electrical work. I guess more correctly in electrician talk which deals with AC, white is grounded and black is hot. I have often wondered why it wasn't the same as in electronics.

Electronics techs are a thing of the past. These days, if electronics fails, a repair technician (appliance, automotive, broadcast, etc.) puts in a new board. No knowledge required and instructions are in several languages, so it is all more basic mechanics and less knowledge.

 

[Tony Page]

Spill it out Tony, whether it is a short post or a long one.

I am finding going thru your diary thread, interesting. You made an interesting point that being an electronic tech or engineer is different from being an electrician. White wiring is used for positive in electronics, but negative in electrical work. I guess more correctly in electrician talk which deals with AC, white is grounded and black is hot. I have often wondered why it wasn't the same as in electronics.

Electronics techs are a thing of the past. These days, if electronics fails, a repair technician (appliance, automotive, broadcast, etc.) puts in a new board. No knowledge required and instructions are in several languages, so it is all more basic mechanics and less knowledge.

The future for electronics and computers software is going to be in the hands of AI.

I feel the need for software engineers is going to be reduced AI will take over the task of writing software.

I can see the future having electronic equipment with output connectors designed for AI to plug into so they can troubleshoot defective equipment.

I remember back in the late 60s I worked for a company that got contracts from a prime military contractor. In other words we were getting military contracts but not directly from the government.

We were building a harness with about 50 connectors on it which we had a ring out, ( verify point-to-point continuity that the connectors were wired correctly). They had a sheet of point-to-point connections that was being buzzed out by two people it took up to 3 days.

I was a new hire put in charge of test and inspection. Since we had 200 harnesses to build, one of the first things I did was build a test rack that the harness connectors plugged into and you would turn some knobs and test each connector for continuity. Now you only need one tester, The ring out job took a total of four to five hours. It was a savings on Manpower. When I was hired they said we might have to hire more people because there was a backlog in test and inspection. I asked my new boss to give me a week so I can get a reading on what was going on. I found it was no organized method to picking the jobs to be worked on. I prioritized the work and the complaints about our department holding up projects diminished. There were individuals in the department they were taking easy job that wasn't needed for weeks instead of the next hot job that was needed yesterday thereby causing a lot of complaints. The department I found had no controls no supervision and it was desperately needed. Closest thing they had to a supervisor was a lead tester/inspector who had a great mouth, but who was not that productive.

The odd thing was during my interview I was put to the test against this lead person. The boss asked me what reading I would get if I did a resistance check at a certain point on a schematic. This was right down my alley, I was very good at series/parallel circuits calculations. I had gotten one of the highest grades on a test at RCA Institute on that very subject. Without knowing it he was putting me against the lead who he disagreed with on what should be expected at that point on the schematic. We did a check on actual equipment, I was correct and I got the job. I was about 21 years old and planning on being married within the next year.

 

[Tony Page]

I want to apologize for any mistakes I make, I'm using a 15" hp laptop and I'm not use to it.

I might have to split my time between it and my cell'

 

[Tony Page]

My wife and daughter decided to put a big effort in this weekend to go through boxes that were put in storage after the fire. these boxes contained items that were from our kitchen and dining room. They were being stored in our basement. My daughter and her husband brought up from the basement about 40 boxes of goodies to go through.

what did the boxes contain? the kitchen boxes contained just about everything you can find in the kitchen except for electronic items like mixes and ovens and can openers. anything electronic and plastic had to be tossed because of the toxic smoke that deteriorates electronic items, and permeates plastic. they were entire dish sets that were stored in the top shelves of our cabinets, Pyrex baking dishes, casserole dishes, serving plates, glassware, and some decorative pieces including some vintage bottles.

The boxes that contained the dining room stuff had a lot of figurines and statues. There was antique Demi test sets, pitchers, vases, crystal bowls, most of these will hand me downs from our grandmother's and came from Italy, there was also my collection of bird figurines. Most of these I got from the dollar store or garage sales.

In the dining room we had a China cabinet and four large display cabinets. My wife has a collection of Hummel that was her mother's that was in these boxes. also in these boxes there was some Norman Rockwell, Lladro, Kim Anderson, and Precious Moments figurines.

We no longer have these display cabinets so we decided to have a garage sale this coming weekend to reduce the quantity of stuff we have so if we do decide to go to South Carolina it'll be less to pack.

Right now my dining room is stacked with boxes of stuff for a garage sale.

Today we were heading to town hall to apply for a permit for the garage sale.

At some point today I'm hoping to get outside to organize the driveway to get it ready for the garage sale.

My daughter is very intense on doing the garage sale this weekend, my wife and I with the weather getting colder are not as interested.
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[Mary Stetler]

I came across this sign on the internet yesterday and I realized how true it is. I have less patience now with so called "friends", who want me as a listening post for their problems, They never want to hear what I have to say about my problems. So it's a one-way street. When we first meet I'll always ask "how you're doing" or "how's it going", not once will they ask how I'm feeling knowing I went through some health issues.

Friends who like to gossip about other people I wonder what they're saying about me.

I have maybe three or four relatives and friends who our hearts are connected. We would go out of our way to help each other without hesitation. They are a true friend and are hard to find.

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It is true. But as I get old so do they and then they dwindle.

 

[Mary Stetler]

Spill it out Tony, whether it is a short post or a long one.

I am finding going thru your diary thread, interesting. You made an interesting point that being an electronic tech or engineer is different from being an electrician. White wiring is used for positive in electronics, but negative in electrical work. I guess more correctly in electrician talk which deals with AC, white is grounded and black is hot. I have often wondered why it wasn't the same as in electronics.

Electronics techs are a thing of the past. These days, if electronics fails, a repair technician (appliance, automotive, broadcast, etc.) puts in a new board. No knowledge required and instructions are in several languages, so it is all more basic mechanics and less knowledge.

I know a guy....

 

[Tony Page]

I would like to share an idea I've had or maybe it's a philosophy. Something that I followed for as long as I can remember.

First I want to explain that I am a big fan of treasure hunting not with a metal detector, but by getting bargains at estate and garage sales, going out of business sales, storage units etc.

My idea (philosophy), from my earliest age was to purchase items well below their current market value and save them for when I got older hopefully they would have increased more in value thereby increasing my overall wealth.

As an example a while back I purchased a Lenox Vase Florentine and Pearl for $5 at a garage sale I'm told now it's worth about $200.

What brought this to mind was my wife and daughter going through boxes of stuff. I realize a number of items were my purchases, and my wife like them so she put them in her curio cabinets.

Some items I sold not long after I purchased because I needed the money but I did try to hold on to most.

There is some luck involved in these purchases sometimes you just "hit it right". People are just anxious to get rid of what they have for whatever reason.

I remember I was at one garage sale with the woman running it, was selling her husband's sports memorabilia for practically nothing apparently they had just had an recent argument and he moved out. I didn't purchase anything because of the size of the items but I'm sure the value was there for somebody to make a profit.

Photo below of Lenox Vase, it's a large piece.

 

[Tony Page]

I believe I mentioned in a different post that my wife and daughter had been going through boxes of stuff that were put in storage after the fire. They separated items for family and friends, to keep, and yard sale and donation. As they were going through the items they gave some away to family and friends. The remainder will be put in the yard sale this weekend. what's left after that we'll be donated.

I've been very busy this week between the garage sale prep and DMV visit.

Now that my wife does not need corrective lenses, I took her to the DMV to get her license renewed, it was due. When we got home from the DMV my wife realized that her checkbook was missing. We spent the rest of the day moving money out of that account into another and closing it, then opening another account at the bank. the whole day was shot between DMV and banking problems.

Yesterday I spent most of the day getting tables positioned and cleaned for the yard sale. Today I was busy making pole signs, setting up the coin and bills for the change needed for the transactions, and ordering food for tomorrow's lunch. Tonight I will go with my daughter put in the signs on the poles.

We put the opening time at 10:00 a.m. this will give us time to set the tables up with items and price them. The yard sale is scheduled to close at 3:00 p.m..

We will cover the items to try to prevent overnight moisture making the items wet.

it's a big task after a fire to go through your merchandise. These boxes contain stuff that were actually in a storage facility. Next we have to go through items that were stored since the fire in my barn as well as there's some furniture stored there.

 

[Tony Page]

Day one of the yard sale is over. the weather was chilly in the morning but became more bearable a few hours later. My daughter advertised the sale on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. One of my cousins saw the ad on Facebook and decided to give us a visit. I haven't seen him in a number of years and I really enjoyed sitting down and going down memory lane with him, it created a lot of laughs for us. I was told by another one of my cousins about a year ago that he was having problems with his nervous system, I noticed his mouth kept opening and closing involuntarily. He's about 10 years younger than me so I will put him around 72. We always enjoyed each other's company because we have a lot in common. we both share a common interest in electronics and audio, I promised him some stuff I have in my barn once I dig it out that I'll never use again like speakers, amplifiers, test equipment all my electronic stuff he can have, I know he'll put it to good use.

I'm so glad my daughter and her husband handled most of the physical aspects of the yard sale, I definitely was not up to it today. I decided earlier today not to sell my Bird collection, actually it's mostly Eagles. I felt it was too risky leaving them on the table outside where someone might accidentally knock it over and break it I didn't want to risk it.

Tomorrow is the last day for the yard sale. Whatever is left most of it will go as a donation, to one of the local charities.

I decided to put out some of my music CDs, some are still in original packaging never opened. I guess they're not as popular as they used to be, I didn't sell one of them. I myself do not listen to the music CDs as much as I used to since I got Spotify.

 

[Tony Page]

I've been spending most of my time since yesterday afternoon trying to resolve an issue with my email. My Yahoo email has been down since yesterday. I've spoken with a specialist from Yahoo and while we were in the middle of correcting the problem the site went offline now I can't get them back on line.

This email was my main email it's folders contained information I would like to have kept.

I tried to get into my emails through Google, they are not too bright. They send me an verification code to the email that is down how am I supposed to find it if I can't open the email.

Needless to say it's been a frustrating 24 hours. I will try to call the Yahoo specialist later today or late tonight.

My grandson's birthday was this past Monday he was 11. We have a tradition that for whoever birthday it is they can select the dinner for that night. He wanted to go to a Ramen restaurant. My grandkids love Ramen noodles. They seem to enjoy the food at the restaurant, I'm probably the only one that didn't care for it. My granddaughter's birthday she'll be 9 tomorrow. For her dinner she wants steak, now that's more like it, I'm sure I'll enjoy that.

We are still packing the garage sale stuff to clean up the driveway, it's been slow because of other things with higher priority going on.

 

[Tony Page]

I made dinner last night. It was minute/cube steak with little white potatoes cooked in a slow cooker.

My family tells me they enjoyed it, however I thought it could have tasted better. The steak and potatoes were cooked perfectly, the flavor of the gravy was good I just thought it could have been a little more bold.

I got the idea for the concoction of ingredients I used from reviewing about 10 YouTube videos and about another 10 recipes from the internet. I used the Dual technique for the temperature and time to cook it at. first I put the slow cooker on high for two and a half hours and then another two and a half hours on low.

Besides the beef minute Stakes and potatoes, I used 15 oz cans of beef gravy, beef broth, diced tomatoes, and cream of chicken soup. I used dry packets of beef gravy, and lipton's onion soup. I also put in a small onion diced, and one cup of water. salt and pepper to taste.


I've been trying to remember if I've ever used a slow cooker in the past I can't recall a time when I did. I enjoyed doing this so I definitely will try another slow cooker recipe in the future.