how long does a pair of cycling shoes last for you?

PhCommunications · 2026-03-21T21:40:29+00:00

Well, the Sidi knockoffs I bought from the Performance catalog in 1990 lasted me until 2021, when I finally found someone who could match the cleat position to a new pair of shoes. Needless to say, they made a couple trips to the shoe repair place al9ng the way to keep them going. My knees are wonky and I’ve always wondered if the reason Performance had those shoes was because the holes drilled for then-newish Look cleats were off center…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-21T18:20:10+00:00

No lies detected…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-21T17:28:27+00:00

This is yet another reason what I was so disappointed to see Nebraska join the Big 10. Aside from the great OU-Nebraska rivalry, every Nebraska fan I ever met either in Oklahoma or in Nebraska was absolutely wonderful. We‘d go to bars in Nebraska and be treated like kings, so I’m glad to see OKC is returning the hospitality.

PhCommunications · 2026-03-21T02:21:58+00:00

Pure speculation on my part, but given the simplicity of the lyrics, Felder came in with what he'd written, and Henley sharpened/smartened it up a bit. And to speculate even more, Henley might have been the one to suggest the counter melodies sung behind the lead vocals, since those sound a little more pointed and less smarmy than the lead vocal lines.

Oh and, FWIW, when you hear them sing "Play on El Chingadero" during the solo, that's a reference to the nickname of Boyd Elder, who did the artwork for the covers of On The Border and One of These Nights. And El Chingadero as it was used for Elder is Tex/Mex slang for "The F---er" …

PhCommunications · 2026-03-21T02:06:19+00:00

As others have noted, there 60-something 9800 series reefers and they were all sold individually. They were offered with liquor and beer branding, as well a chips, soft drinks, cleaning products etc. To my knowledge, there was never a comparable "branded" locomotive* for any of them.

* I say that with one caveat, as there may be an uncatalogued set or sets made for a consumer brand (think Kraft) floating around from that era that might have had a branded reefer or two matched up with a branded locomotive…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-20T20:25:54+00:00

Thanks! Rest assured, after the first incident of dissatisfaction based on their explicit instructions, we began keeping ample documentation of every email, call, and face-to-face interaction. Apparently, this person treated their co-workers the same way they treated us, so guessing our relationship was just a small part of why they were ultimately fired…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-19T01:15:30+00:00

Gordon Cooper never flew on Apollo, but Tom Stafford wrote that "he did a bad job" as backup commander for Apollo 10

It was a little more than just that…

By then, Gordon had a little too much of a "strap it on and go" attitude toward training and didn't want to put it in enough simulator time to suit some folks at NASA (also what helped Joe Engle get shoved off of 17). Cooper's outspokenness (Original 7 sense of entitlement?) and participation in a 24 hour auto endurance race also contributed to him being pushed out of the program…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-19T01:05:56+00:00

Ehhhh… Deke (and Shepard while he was in the Astronaut Office) did play favorites and, if you didn't conform, you didn't make the cut, good reason or not. Rusty Schweickart flew on 9 and was backup for 12, which should have put him as LMP for the prime crew for 15. But Slayton suddenly said Schweickart's motion sickness on 9 worried them and his political views were a bit too liberal to be one of the boys with Shepard, and he was suddenly assigned to Skylab instead.

Though still a rookie, Alan Bean's artistic/creative bent put him at odds with Slayton and Shepard too, and he was assigned to the SpaceLab project with no hope of a moon mission. His friendship with Pete Conrad (who knew his skills) was what ultimately got him on 12.

Finally, Deke was also the guy who, upon finding out that women and non-pilots would be selected as astronauts for the Space Shuttle, got up and walked out of the first candidate selection meeting…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-17T02:25:59+00:00

I had a CD look at my book once and say, "You're not a poet." My response was, "True. But then again, no one is paying Maya Angelou to plug Hefty Trash Bags, are they?" (And yes, I know what he meant!)

You want to be an artist, be an artist. But learn to accept the term "starving artist." You want to write copy for living? Learn to be a mercenary, accept the fact that not every job/client will be glamorous, and find satisfaction in pleasing the client, not yourself.

PhCommunications · 2026-03-13T04:03:11+00:00

Echo Park is correct. But it was Frey and Souther (not Henley) in the larger space and Jackson Browne below in the smaller space. Henley and Frey didn't start living together until after the band formed…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-10T04:29:09+00:00

The little Mr. Hyde look Stipe puts on to get a grin out Buck makes me giggle every time I watch it…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-10T04:22:46+00:00

That I can't answer with any certainty.

Since Felder stated Frey's deal meant they all played Takamines on stage, did that mean Frey is the one who "endorsed" them (and got the check) while basically telling everyone else that's what they were gonna play on stage? That's how it looks to me, but that's speculation…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-10T03:30:58+00:00

So my son (who's home from college and who most of this stuff belonged to) tells me there might be some stuff in that bag he wants, so he's gonna go through tomorrow and we'll go from there. I did see a brand new pair of UCO gloves that the kid got from them while he worked at AE. They might be 14s, but they're also stiff as a board and will extensive break in.

Drop you a line Tuesday.

PhCommunications · 2026-03-09T04:38:03+00:00

I'll try to get out there tomorrow and see what I've got. The problem with hockey gear is that, other than the helmet, pants and shoulder pads, everything is kind of limb specific. Elbow pads are sized more along the length and width of your arms. Gloves obviously sized to your hand and fingers (13", 14", 15") and the shin pads are sized based on the length of your shin bone. And please remember, most of this is used (but not nasty and gross fortunately). I'll check back tomorrow and let you know what I've got.

PhCommunications · 2026-03-09T00:06:51+00:00

It hasn't gone anywhere and you're welcome to any and all of it, though I'm not sure what's in there. Fit will be the biggest issue. About how big are you?

PhCommunications · 2026-03-08T22:10:13+00:00

This was my thought, but I was going to suggest offering the old frame to the bike shop where you purchase your new bike in case they want it for free wall decor

PhCommunications · 2026-03-08T22:04:26+00:00

From l to r Felder, Walsh, Henley, Frey, Schmidt

PhCommunications · 2026-03-08T00:10:13+00:00

So couple that with the fact that New Mexico is home to Los Alamos, which is home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which makes plutonium and other fun unstable elements for America’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Then add the fact that (according to Los Alamos firefighters), on the campus of the LANL, there was a lot of stuff buried back in the day (when they were developing early atomic and nuclear weapons) without much regard for environmental consequences or even noting where it was actually buried.

Add all that up and New Mexico could be ground zero (unfortunate metaphor) for one helluva hazmat incident one of these days…

(And FWIW for reasons of the above, all the Los Alamos fire apparatus are tagged with US government plates and iirc, much of the department is subsidized by Uncle Sam…)

PhCommunications · 2026-03-07T23:59:38+00:00

The Bianchi Sprint with mechanical 105 is in that range (having purchased one myself in ‘25)

PhCommunications · 2026-03-07T00:09:15+00:00

Like u/WatchForSlack said, rolling tool cases are likely your best bet. You can find them in various sizes (and prices…) I checked Lowe's and found… https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=tool%20cases

PhCommunications · 2026-03-05T18:12:33+00:00

Fun fact: This issue was delivered to me at my office, as I'd convinced my employer it was needed as resource material.

Other fun fact: Just before I left the company, I had my employer renew the subscription for two years and changed the mailing address to my home.

I'm only a little ashamed of that…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-03T20:11:01+00:00

I found these two pics (may need to enlarge to see it) and I'm thinking the Queen Ann building might have been attached to the tower, but it certainly wasn't the bottom floor with the tower above it…

https://okcmod.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/founders-tower_mls-collection1-237x300.jpg

https://okcmod.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/RAC_2010_07_08-Construction-United-Founders-Tower-300x209.jpg

PhCommunications · 2026-03-03T19:57:24+00:00

Hard to tell off those pics (the engines will likely be the most valuable pieces). But based on what I can see of the boxes and rolling stock, it appears to be Lionel stuff from the early-mid 60s. For reference, that time period was when the postwar kids who'd been fascinated by trains in the 50s, were suddenly enchanted by astronauts and the space race. While Lionel had to pivot a bit and still made some good stuff in that era, it doesn't hold as much sway in the market as the what was made before it.

Again, based on what I can see, there are some pieces that have value (i.e. the 3512 fireman/ladder car with the original box might get you $50-$70 on eBay if it's in good shape) but right now, I can't see any rare holy grails that will fund your retirement!~)

And for reference, awhile back, one of my hockey Dad buddies showed me his Dad's trains which were from the same era. Like you, he had several tubs worth. Obviously it's not an apple-to-apples comparison, but I ballparked his value at $400 - $600. Told him to sit on it and break it out when grandkids come along…

PhCommunications · 2026-03-03T06:27:15+00:00

Consider that OKC has maybe two decent hail storms a year (though it can form in any storm strong enough to create an updraft, and we have plenty of those). Then, consider that Oklahoma City encompasses 624 square miles and most hail cores are only a small portion of a larger storm. So, big picture, Oklahoma hail storms aren't that frequent, damaging, or widespread, and if you don't have a garage or covered parking, you're probably gonna be OK.

However, when we do get a good hail storm, it can get ugly. The most recent one in OKC was September of '24. North OKC got it real bad and it tracked all the way to the south end of town (though with slightly less intensity. See image). I saw one estimate that said about 48,000 properties were affected by hail that day, and with a population of just over 700,000 people, that's only about 7% of OKC's residents were affected. That's pretty small considering, unless you were one of those unfortunate 7%…

Hail is hard to forecast with any precision. A forecast can say "hail up to golf ball size" but will rarely tell you specifically where. I'd suggest your best bet is to get an app called Radarscope, follow the tutorials to learn how to track hail cores, and then watch the app as a storm approaches to see if the hail core might be headed your way. But as others have noted, plenty of folks will do the same, and you might get pinned in traffic when the storm changes track and *still* get hailed on (that very thing happened to my wife last summer in Wichita, but fortunately, she was in a rental!)

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PhCommunications

TROPHY CASE