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47 year old tank


sen5241b

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I got nothing and my wife is still sleeping so I will re-post a trip I took on Spirit Airlines. If you don't want to read it, go back to sleep at it is 6:00 am here.
I had to edit it a little as it may not have been PC enough and I don't want to get Tarred and feathered.
Well since the last time I was on here I did go to a few places. A riverboat cruise through Germany on the Danube river and 3 Hawaiian Islands. We just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and that is where we went on our honeymoon.
This time we went to Maui, Kauai and Lanai as Lanai was not open to the public the last time we were there and it is secluded. The diving in Hawaii is not very good but I did three dives anyway just because I could.

Early this week I had to go to Florida on business and I flew Spirit Airlines. I usually go on Jet Blue but Spirit had a flight that was a better time. Have you ever flown on Spirit?
It is an experience and there is a reason Jet Blue charges in excess of $300,00 and Spirit charges $17.67, round trip.

The first thing you notice on the flight is that there are no TVs, no little hole to plug ear phones or charge electronic devices in, no blankets, pillows, magazines or those little papers that keep the grease off your head from the last guy who sat there.

There is also no free soda, water, peanuts, juice or anything else. as a matter of fact, when you take your ticket and scan it at that little kiosk, it asks you how much you want to pay for your seat. There are $10.00 seats, $20.00 seats and $50.00 seats. I took the $10.00 seat as I assume the $50.00 seat you have to sit on the pilot's lap, but I am not sure. If you don't pick a seat I don't know where they put you as I didn't see anyone lying on the floor and it was night time so I couldn't tell if anyone was strapped to the wings. Carry on bags cost you $50.00 and if you want to take luggage there is a "Bank of America" there where you can take out a home equity loan.
The hostesses were friendly but they didn't have much to do as there was nothing they could give you except a smile when they told you "Sorry" we don't have that or Sorry, you have to pay for water and peanuts.

I noticed a guy near the back of the plane with a bow and arrow, I figured he was the air marshal.
I sat by the emergency door and she instructed me that in an emergency I would have to open the door. I said "fine" I have no problem with that. It was a door knob with two deadbolts. So we are flying and it was a very turbulent flight. I spoke to the hostess for a while as she was standing in front of me ironing. It got very rough. She leaned over and took a book out of the overhead compartment. It was a bible.

I read the Bible a few times in Viet Nam, but that was just before we would go into battle, a hostess on a plane reading a Bible in rough weather is not very soothing to me.
Then I tried to remember all the safety features of the plane. Of course, the safety features were the smoke detectors in the bathrooms, the little plastic card in the seat back that has the emergency instructions on it and those little orange life vests under the seat because whenever a plane traveling at 600 miles an hour hits the sea in a fiery crash, we always see all the people in perfect health floating with those little orange vests.

So I looked under my seat to see if there was a credit card slot next to the life jacket just in case I needed it. Then I was thinking, if anything happens I am going to be the safest one on the plane as I will take all the safety devices. The first thing I will do is make my way to the bathroom so I can grab a smoke detector. I will have to be fast as there are only 6 of them. Then I will get that little plastic card from the seat back and swipe my credit card under the seat so I can get the vest and if I have time, I can grab that bible. I may even be able to grab a few more of those plastic cards in the confusion.
I am seated by the emergency door and I know how to open it as I have the key. I am just waiting for something to happen.

Generally if you see the pilot running towards the back of the plane or if the hostess is having no trouble laying on the ceiling of the aircraft, those are sure signs that you can start reading that bible. But none of those things happened. Speaking of the back of the plane, that is the safest place to be as whenever you see pictures of a plane crash you always see that tail in perfect shape sticking up out of a sand dune.

There was one Supermodel on the plane and she was about 7' tall and if I was standing she could probably eat spaghetti off the top of my head. She had a ponytail and she sat a few rows in front of me on the plane. I kept watching because her pony tail almost got stuck in the overhead bins.
Speaking of overhead bins, I was sitting there waiting for the plane to take off and I was bored as I only had that pony tail to look at and the big guy who couldn't fit into the seat. So I take out my book just as the Captain shut off the lights.

I wanted to turn on my overhead reading light but I noticed you had to put two, size D batteries in it and I didn't have any. So as I am sitting there in the dark it started to get stuffy and I reached up to turn on those little air things. I turned it and nothing happened. A few seconds later the hostess comes over to me and hands me this little paper envelope.
I open it up and it is one of those little paper fans that they used to give you in cheap Chinese restaurants. You can't make this stuff up.

Anyway the flight was uneventful but it gave me time to think, why don't they just make the entire plane out of the same stuff they make the black box out of? That always survives.
As I left the plane I had to squeeze past the hostess selling time shares as the co pilot was holding one of those cardboard containers with the slot in it for quarters for homeless dogs.
Make believe there is a picture of a plane here, I am standing next to it with a Supermodel who has a ponytail

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I don't have to much to report today except that I volunteered at the Long Island Aquarium yesterday (Atlantis)
It was my first day volunteering. First they had me washing the sharks, then I painted murals on the sea turtles. OK, I didn't do any of that. I did have to stand by the sting ray pool and tell the two year olds how to feed the rays. The rays have this weird nose apparatus that all the kids insist on putting the food. But that just makes the Rays sneeze as their mouth is way down under their body. That was fun.

Then I was at the touch tank where the little kids can touch the "sea stars" (we can't call them starfish any more because the starfish complain that it is not PC because as they are not fish)
It was a Wednesday so only two kids came over to touch anything and they were both to scared to stich their hands in the water.

After that I stood for an hour in a corridor doing nothing, but it was great because there was a bench there and I have to rest my aluminum knee occasionally. I was supposed to tell the people how they rescue turtles and sea lions for rehabilitation so they can be released to the sea. They have a full hospital now as about 200 cold stunned turtles were found and saved.

The bird exhibit was not for me. The birds squalk to much and I have tinnitus from Nam so I can't take that high pitched noise (It feels like Philip screwdrivers pushed through my head) so they put me in the butterfly and bug room. I liked that as it was quiet. Butterflies may make noise but if they do, I couldn't hear them. No one was in there but me and the beautiful butterflies. I just had to move the butterflies off the walkway and pick up the ones that croaked. They only live a week or so, so they drop like flies, or butterflies.

Then it was off to the shark tank where I learned that the smaller nurse shark, which is about 5' belonged to Tracy Morgan from SNL. He got it from those guys on that show "Tanked" who thought it would be a good idea to put a nurse shark in a home aquarium. They get like 10' long.

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So it was fun and I will go there again when I get some time.

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The butterfly exhibit and the Natural History Museum was hands down my favorite. The environment they set up was awesome, so many neat plants and the butterflies were incredible. Hah, a retired jarhead talking about beautiful butterflies, time for me to go do something manly... 

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Your recount of Spirit Airlines has never been more true. To be fair, they advertise bare bones, and that’s certainly what you get (if you pay a small fortune for the bones.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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7 hours ago, paul b said:

... Maui, Kauai and Lanai 

Is it just me, or does this have a Larry, Moe and Curly feel to it?

 

I thought $50 would get you the right seat, next to the pilot, license or not. And maybe the opportunity to point out where you want to aim if you're going to pick an alternate landing site or corkscrew in.

 

Have you had a chance to meet Joe Yaiullo? He's the Curator and co-founder of the Long Island Aquarium. He's also a buddy of ours and, for you, a fellow WAMAS speaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Origami said:

Is it just me, or does this have a Larry, Moe and Curly feel to it?

 

I thought $50 would get you the right seat, next to the pilot, license or not. And maybe the opportunity to point out where you want to aim if you're going to pick an alternate landing site or corkscrew in.

 

Have you had a chance to meet Joe Yaiullo? He's the Curator and co-founder of the Long Island Aquarium. He's also a buddy of ours and, for you, a fellow WAMAS speaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$50 with Spirit will allow you to parachute out anywhere along the planned route, but you have to provide your own chute, which would also classify as a carry on, so tag on another $300 ;)

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Tomorrow I have an emergency visit with my knee doctor. At this point I am supposed to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, or at least walk around a Hardware store looking for a nose ring. But after about 50 yards, the thing locks up and I start walking like Neil Armstrong on the moon, and that was way before Michael Jackson invented Moon Walking.

I think maybe he left a loose toggle bolt or put the thing in backwards because I can walk backwards pretty good.

I hope he doesn't have to tear the thing out because I think he threw away my old knee so he can't put that one back.
I have a Caribbean trip coming up soon and I need two knees to dive. If you dive with only one knee working, you tend to swim in circles.

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I just came back from the Knee guy and it seems only 1 or 2% of his patients get this.  Guess which percent I am?

He said it is rare and I got a bad case of it.  Thats Great!!!.
I wanted to be in the One percent with this.

 

It seems that a ligament that runs along side your knee is rubbing up against the titanium implant and it doesn't like it so it is irritated.  So am I.

Now I have to take this heavy duty steroid and one of the side effects is Knee pain.  You can't make this stuff up.:wacko:

 

Then I have to go for knee injections.  I thought the reason for getting a knee replacement was so you don't have to get any more knee injections.  

But I guess this time the needle is filled with WD-40. :eek:

Edited by paul b
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I should have done this myself because this is what happens when you hire someone. If you want it done right, you should do it yourself.
The only reason I didn't do that is that I need two hands to use the saw to cut out my old knee and I also need two hands to put my fingers in my ears because my screaming may scare me.
I also would have installed a grease fitting and maybe an adjustment screw. I would have gotten a good American made adjustment screw and not one from Home Depot where their screws come from China and are made out of old I Phone 3s.  :ohmy:

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Congratulations! We've all wanted to be a 1%'er! 

 

Sorry to hear, Paul. I always think about "Everybody's free to wear sunscreen" when taking about knees. Maybe you heard this playing in a Home Depot in the 90's while you were walking around looking for a barn cat. 

 

 

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We are in this new home and our tastes changed a lot since we were young during the Cretaceous period.  We always had modern.  I wanted my house to look like the StarShip Enterprise.  I already look like Capt. Picard so what the heck.
But now we are going for more industrial/Steampunk.  

We were looking for an vintage factory window for my wife's bathroom and we just received it.  The frame is in very bad shape but I will not replace it as I am looking for that.  I need to stabilize it so it doesn't fall apart as it is even hard to pick up because pieces fall off.  The wood that doesn't fall off is cracked so much like an alligator that one neighbor ran away as I was carrying it in.

It has some design etchings in it and the center pulls open.  I will install it in the room with LED strips behind it.  

I am painging the frame black but I "alligatored" the paint on the frame so it still looks very old.  I did some test pieces of wood to see what looks best.  I don't want it to look like it was just painted but I also can't use the existing frame color which is sort of like the bottom of Columbus boat.  It just doesn't go but they thing should look very cool.

This side of the frame is the "Good side"

IMG_2290_zpsujnlgqgd.jpg

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Yesterday we went to the City to see the Grand Kids. That was uneventful, but when we got home My package arrived. It was a strip LED light for over my kitchen cabinets. (not everything is for fish tanks)
I ran the electric up there a few days ago (I know an electrician )

So I installed the thing and it really looks beautiful. It can change colors and also makes a nice night light when we watch Re runs of
the Sonny and Cher show. :cool:

Anyway, as we were watching Siren on TV (very cool show about Mermaids) my wife asked me to put it louder which I did.
The over the cabinet LEDs changed from white to blue. I did it again and they went to red. Every time I change the volume on the TV, the light changes color. This is very weird especially because to change the color with the supplied LED remote, you have to aim the thing at the light. But I have to aim the volume adjuster at the TV and the color changes.
I didn't go downstairs but maybe the fish tank is also changing colors, if it is, my fish will get PTSD

Now what do I do? :m15:

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I just finished my new motorized Steam Punk lamp.  It has a "fire" inside and when you turn the valve handles, it winds the mechanism on the Grand Fathers clock and spins the gears and tiny bicycle chain for about 5 minutes.  The right valve handle moves the gong hammer.  It can be dimmed.

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCSAZf3W2Tc

008_zpsvlfvn8jh.jpg
 

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Haha that's awesome!! Great job! And here I thought you were kidding about steampunk! And yet still bird dog of the 50s in the background. :) I know so many of those songs because my uncle gave my mom several mix tapes that he compiled of 1958, "the year you were born" for her birthday one year. Those were the soundtrack of our childhood while we built our tree houses out in the desert of Arizona. :) Before you ask, "What trees?": mesquite and Palo Verde.

Hope your knee is improving.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

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So I went away for 2 days and last night after I came home I found my male Mandarin dead.  This is very unusual because I never find a dead fish and my fish don't get sick.    I "think" I saw him eating a few days ago but I didn't notice anything weird with him as he was full bodied and smiled a lot.
I did notice that he hasn't paid any attention to the really good looking female mandarin in a few months.
I also have not used my Mandarin feeder since I moved here 8 months ago because I just have not had time to set up my brine shrimp hatchery.  But he was not thin at all so I don't think I needed it and there are bluestripe pipefish and a scooter bleeny that are also fat and fine after a few years. 
 
I am not sure how long Mandarins live and I don't remember when I got this one so it could have been ten years or more ago.  He outlived two females, one died from being egg bound and I think the other one jumped out.  Maybe he broke her heart.   I do have a lousy memory and have not kept a log book in decades.  He was dead to long to do a necropsy but I am sure it would not show anything.  
 
Normally when other fish die of old age, they stop eating for a few days and hide a lot.  He was not eaten by bristle worms but Mandarins have a thick slime that keeps other fish from eating them and maybe bristle worms don't find them tasty.  I have bristle worms that could finish off a halibut in a few hours.
Male20Mandarin_zpsqqpbzpmm.jpg
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A little while ago I took out my bicycle.  I am supposed to ride the thing to exercise the knee, and the rest of me.  I used to swim 3 times a week then after a few silly, but manly surgeries I had to give up swimming.  Now I can do it again, but it is 20 degrees and my boat is in a snow drift.
So I rode the bike for about a mile or so and it was much easier than I thought.  Then I noticed it was mostly down hill.  Coming back was another story and I was straining to get back.  My ears were also getting frostbite.  So I was peddling and peddling, working harder and harder and I thought I was going to get a heart attack.  If my lips were bigger I would have put them over my nose and given myself CPR.  
Since my knee operation I haven't exercised to much and I need to get back into shape so I can resume my job as a Male model. 

If my bicycle would have fit in an ambulance I would have called 911. 
But I made it back.  Sat down and had a nice glass of Grand Marnier and a piece of dark chocolate just for medicinal purposes of course.  :smokin:

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But, in the end, you made it. Victory!

Write again tomorrow, if you can make it to the keyboard.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

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Last night I noticed one of my long growing corals bleached and croaked. Another one has a bleached part so I had to look for a test kit.   I found an alk kit but I think it is old because it’s in a wooden  box .
 
I used it anyway and the alk is so low that that it is only good for goldfish. I quickly searched through my tank and couldn’t find any goldfish.. OMG. I ran to my favorite LFS. And their goldfish were getting last rites so I figured I had to go with my saltwater stuff.  I needed to drastically raise the alk. 
 
I had some 2 part stuff and quickly mixed it up. I dumped a bunch in and watched the white cloud spread around the tank.
 
A half an hour later I dumped more in. (I really like to watch that white cloud).
 
I tested the alk. OMG.  It only raised it half a point so I dumped in more. Then more. I got the alk up to where I can keep kissing Gouramies.   I then had to leave to watch my Grand Kids so I am not sure if my tank will make it to 49 years old. 
 
Today I will get home and see what I have. If anything.
Apparently the Long Island Sound water is very low in alk so if the tank is still running I should test it next time I change it.
 
That,  or look for Goldfish :D:ohmy:
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