Running Bear's December 2023 Coffee Shop


Status
Not open for further replies.
bnsf971 said:
Troy, something to maybe take your mind off your non-coof...
We all think our voices sound horrible, and sound strange to us, but normal to other people.
Many of your regular readers may pay extra for a "special" book read by the author.
If you read the book yourself, your fans may buy it because you read it.
You don't have to pay a third party to read it, and you may sell a few more audio copies if you read one yourself.
Since you're now in charge of your marketing, maybe you could conduct a poll of your readers, and see if they'd pay more for an "author read" book.
Click to expand...
I agree with the concept on the big name authors. I'm still in the small fry pool.

And, there's a little technical detail of all of my main characters are 30-50 year old women, speaking in first person.

Even though my voice is fairly high and nasally, I won't pass for a female. As someone who listens to audiobooks, having the narrator be off-gender from the main character in first-person is disconcerting. Third person isn't near as bad, but you'll find better reviews when the main character's and the narrator's gender match in the audio.

That's why Jim Dale narrated the Harry Potter books, and not Dame Judy Dench.
 
Good morning from So. Central Wisconsin. 38f degrees going to 44 and a nice day. The skies yesterday were kind of gloomy but today the weather app is showing sun.

The son and I spent quite a few hours yesterday afternoon on the internal WiFi of the house. It started with hopefully improving the train room coverage concentrating on my shop/studio. Paying for 1 gig service my shop was getting low 100’s. It morphed into a whole house thing. Seems my 5g coverage within the house was hit or miss as the son decided my Mesh system was a POS. I think that’s a tech term for not good!

Finally after some adjustments he asks, what is the square footage of the house? I tell him and he looks and says, you have to include your lower level. Told him they are fairly equal and since they are stacked I never worried about the router “strength”. Seems that is important. A 2500 sq. ft. router was not cutting it even though the house is an open concept design. It was previously located in the open loft area above the living room in Terry’s office. But with a new NETGEAR WiFi Nighthawk $$$ router device our speeds in 95% of the house are now in the 700mb range, but some spaces are higher. This is a Speedtest result a few minutes ago from my chair in my cave outside the trainroom. It is maybe 10’ below the router location.
IMG_3688.png


This one is at my bench in the Workshop/weathering studio! It is maybe 50’ away but has a small mechanical room between my bench and router
IMG_3686.png

Those were my main areas of concern. I am happy. Terry never complained about the speed but could tell last night things were different.

The TV monitors though max out in the 200mbps range due to the limitations of the Roku app we use for streaming but were both in 70 range when we were testing before the new router was added. I read that for 4g viewing on the monitors you need at least 40mbps. We were getting that, but it is better now even though I can’t tell any difference on the monitors. The Eero Mesh system we had was not always broadcasting in the 5g spectrum and we (he) couldn’t figure out why. The reviews online though for it showed most other users were having the same issue.

Yesterday when testing from my chair the upload was in the 500’s and down was mid 700’s. It maybe higher this morning because other then the NEsT thermostat my IPadPro is the only device on the network right now. But really I don’t have a clue on any of this stuff but with the router properly located and strong enough we are finally seeing the results of the 1g speeds we pay $65.15 per month.

Today we will check the daughter’s house and then her studio/office that is located separately outside the house maybe 600-700’ away.

The guests were gone by 11AM yesterday. Tonight we have some neighbors of ours and the daughter for an open house from 5:30 till 10. It is the holiday season and Terry and I both enjoy the entertaining bit.

Finally, Terry and I decided around midnight yesterday what our response to the Eminent Domain mess we are in will be. We decided to sleep on it, check with each other this morning and then let the attorneys handle it. There will be no winners IMO on this thing.
 
Last edited:
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 56° on this Friday morning in North Central Texas. The rain has seemingly moved on, with a combined 1.05" in the rain gauge from yesterday and overnight. Rain resumes tomorrow night and through Sunday; the NWS is expecting another 1.5". Colder Christmas Day but no rain. At least that's their forecast for now and we all know how inaccurate they tend to be. Seasonal weather after that with daytime highs in the mid-50's and nighttime lows near 32°.

A kind of a mixed bag on yesterday's grocery trek. Started badly since they had no carts in the end of the store where I usually enter. Ended badly because there were no baggers available, but they're the same folks that shag the carts from the parking lot. Problem also at check-out, because a lady in front of me had $575.00 worth of groceries and had no clue how to bag her own. The checker herself was putting forth a valiant effort, and then I hit her with $375.00...but at least I bagged most of my own. I don't mind since I have to wait anyway and I can separate my cold stuff for the cooler. It's usually a long trip home as we had four other stops to make along the way. In between was just the usual hassles of carts and pallets partially blocking aisles, but I am used to that. No stock-outs on any items that were on my list. I did overwhelm the deli guy with my request for 10 pounds of sliced turkey and ham. He questioned my amounts until I told him I was feeding 50 people on Saturday. Putting up that much stuff was an effort, but it all fit in the fridge or freezer. Problem was that I had to put it all up before I could eat my lunch. Later I looked at how much my retirement accounts lost Tuesday, not as bad as I figured and I made back 75% yesterday. I believe that Tuesday was just a blip from the computerized trading algorithms.

I did not go out to the train shed yesterday, as there were just too many other things going on. I hope that all of my layout residents are safe.
Here's a freight train running through Charlottesville; pictures from 2019.
04-02-19 010.JPG
04-02-19 011 (2).JPG

04-02-19 012 (2).JPG
04-02-19 013 (2).JPG


Alan -
Espeefan said:
Who does this math?
Click to expand...
Maybe the same folks that do the math for the government.
Troy - Get well soon.
Patrick - I understand the house situation. I initially did my land on a 10 year note separate from the house on a 15 year note. After they were paid off by 1995, the money went towards putting the three kids through college; 2 in private college and the third got a masters in two public colleges. There were a couple of years that all 3 were in school at the same time. Now I am being forced to pay for other person's college loans.:mad:

It has turned into a dense fog outside, I could hear the dumpster truck emptying my dumpster but I could not see it 150' away. I did see some flashing yellow lights in that general direction.
Everybody have a fabulous Friday.
 
Relatives from Yorkshire are bringing presents for family here. They will take presents back that are for London.
They arrive shortly. Better put the kettle on and sweet mince pies out.

I read that some members are not feeling 100%. A speedy recovery to all who require.
 
Morning folks,

Another warm, dry one but Mother Natures has apparently scheduled her delivery of 4" of solid state white stuff for tomorrow just in time to ensure a white Christmas. More work today on the Globe Wernicke 42" wide cabinet assembly for the "train" room. A couple of the units needed some TLC so out came the Gorilla glue and clamps. I still need to get the base unit down from third floor but need to recruit some help for that endeavor.
 
Good morning, everyone.

Getting a late start. Woke up early this morning with an earache, I haven't had one of those since I was a kid. I forgotten how uncomfortable they actually were. I got up and took a couple of Excedrin since we had no eardrops or anything like that. It did the job! About an hour later it had subsided and was able to go back to bed for several hours and hasn't returned since. Don't know what that was all about.

Looking at the radar, there is a big batch of rain in our area. Looks to continue through the afternoon. Glad I got all the last-minute errands and gas fill-ups done earlier.

Have a safe day all!
 
Afternoon All,

Started out today with a walk at 57F. The air felt damp which made the air feel cooler. After a small chore I headed to the train room. and drilled and mounted all the grab irons on both cars and drilled the holes for the foot stirrups on both cars. The instructions said to wait to glue the stirrups on at the very end. Tomorrow is brake gear. I'll have to figure something out. I spent a couple of hours with the visor over my eyes so I'm done for the day.

Yesterday gas jumped about 40 cents a gallon here. One station was slightly less. Every station I drove by last night (about 30) had the exact same price. That sure sounds like price fixing to me. I guess the gas companies gave themselves an early present.

We went out to dinner last night. Four adults at a sports bar. We had supper with no alcohol, and it cost $80. At this rate the only time we are going to eat out is for a special occasion.

Hughie- Really great scenes. Mincemeat is yummy.

Troy- How about Christmas Vacation or It's a Wonderful Life?

Karl- I look forward to seeing your 3D haul. Enjoy the track laying.

Willie- Nice scenes. Enjoy your family get together tomorrow.

David- I hope you enjoyed your family members visit.

Swal- Everything looks beautiful especially the backsplash.

Bill- That company must make a lot of RR maps. I have the exact map but with the Pennsy routes on it.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Last edited:
Boris said:
Good evening. 30° and clear, going to 23° overnight. Earlier tonight I was out and observed a brilliant first quarter Moon, with Jupiter, the bright star to East of the Moon. Usually not that clear here in the evenings.
Click to expand...
You answered a question I had yet to ask.

I was in God's country, Westminster, MD it was dungeon dark! I saw a bright star, close to the moon not long ago. Now I know it was Jupiter, thank you!
 
kbkchooch said:
I did place an order for some 3D printed goodies. A 53 Chevy, a 58 Fury, a set of items that include a mobile home, a pickup, a car on jacks, another under a cover, several dogs, a stack of tires, a preggo woman in shorts and a fat guy on a lawn mower.
Click to expand...
That is an eclectic selection of items. I'm almost afraid to ask why.

I hope your wife gets through this soon.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.



Back
Top