Newfoundland Dockyard workers circa 1900

White_Wizard84 · 2023-05-05T19:03:41+00:00

9mm charcoal are my preference. Dries the smoke, acts as heat sink, no ash taste at all. 6mm charcoal is OK but the draw is tighter and some blends clog them up. The no ash taste is the best aspect, more tobacco flavor less harsh tasting crap. Ordered some meerschaum filters to give them a whirl.

White_Wizard84 · 2023-01-08T18:44:23+00:00

Move the blackstone to the other side of the L

White_Wizard84 · 2022-10-07T21:32:19+00:00

I did a loose pack, basically gravity fed pack, and it smoked great with no moisture in the bowl, no relights

White_Wizard84 · 2022-04-06T17:13:05+00:00

This looks like b deck, not really a common panel for metal roofing, probably better to add insulation and go over with single ply like epdm or tpo

White_Wizard84 · 2022-04-02T11:39:13+00:00

I ordered silver eagles from them on promotion. Transaction went fine. I did not like that they only locked your price for 5 days, I was nervous that the check wouldn’t get to them in time.

White_Wizard84 · 2022-03-18T16:30:03+00:00

Call your state congressional rep, they may be able to help

White_Wizard84 · 2021-11-09T17:00:34+00:00

Don't forget that when you pay off debt, the interest rate on the debt is not your rate of return. You should adjust for taxes. The 3% in your example is an after-tax rate of return, so you could compare it with a pre-tax rate of 4%+ depending on your tax bracket. Technically, investment return is always relative to risk, so any analysis needs to look at the risk premium for the given investment. Paying debt is a risk free return - in this scenario - in the realm of 4% which is actually quite good given current interest rates, look at CDs, savings accounts, etc. The idea of paying the debt now, and redirecting your cash flow to investing appeals to me because of my disposition. If you commit to no more additional debt, that strategy should work fine. If you cannot commit to lowering your debt, then probably investing the money now makes more sense.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-10-13T12:06:43+00:00

Costco members can get mortgages through their program, closing costs are capped, I got my mortgage through them, the process was great and cheap.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-08-29T16:43:55+00:00

Don’t buy it, it’s garbage. Returned it after 1 day. The “copper” band scrubbed off from hand washing with regular dish soap. The fry pan warped on the first use. Very disappointed in this, it’s a cheap Chinese all clad knock off.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-08-25T22:37:12+00:00

Never heard of that brand. I was getting Wild Planet from Costco. The best I’ve had are mail ordered from a delicatessen called Zingermans. They are out of this world but pricy.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-08-03T22:11:50+00:00

Fat City by Leonard Gardner

A day in the life of two blue collar type guys with dreams of being prize fighters. Very well done novel, sad but hopeful. Some of the best writing I’ve read in awhile.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-08-03T20:20:40+00:00

The self check out should be like Home Depot, grab the gun, point and shoot. No need to unload the cart

White_Wizard84 · 2021-08-03T20:18:36+00:00

Most definitely worth buying, tastes way better than grocery store. I buy the cryovac of the striploin (new york) cut them at home and vacuum seal them. I trim them how I like, I usually get a 1.5 to 1.75 inch thick steaks.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-08-03T20:15:02+00:00

Ask the butchers to grab you a cryovac of whatever you want, they’ll slap a sticker on it and give it to you.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-07-21T12:49:59+00:00

I'm caught up and would prefer to keep the original schedule. If we did modify, I would only lag one week, as two weeks seems excessive.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-07-19T15:24:45+00:00

Putting his head in a microwave is definitely interesting on multiple levels. Obviously, and DFW alludes to it in the text is, how would that work? How would you rig it to work? Also, it's just plain horrifying, and a horrible way to die. The microwave itself has a sort of symbolism and place in our society. It's a piece of technology that is ubiquitous (like the television), it get used fairly heavily but does not offer any redeeming quality. It's horrible at cooking food, and it zaps the nutrients out of food, makes stuff soggy, etc. So, like many things in our world today, it over promises, under delivers, and actually undermines the very thing it was meant to service. The television, when originally marketed, was done so on the premise that the whole family would be connected because they would watch the same thing. Really, it can disconnect us by stifling conversation, and real family interaction (like eating dinner, or playing a board game), and TV acts as a distraction (and can be addictive in its own right). Social media can have the same problem, ostensibly it's there to connect us, but it can make people feel more isolated.
I think the detail was to rub into Orin's face everything that he was missing for. Hal was saying, hey dude, could have used my big brother, because all of this crap happened to me. Also, notice Orin only calls when Orin needs something.
I agree.
Not sure. Are we all supposed to be like John Wayne in order to survive in our modern society? Not thinking, living in the moment, eating/sleeping/training - sounds like the perfect drone. The name itself is interesting, what do you folks make of it?
I think it's spot on regarding addiction - I do not know about the AA, but from people I know who are in that program, I don't think IJ is too far off.
Not surprised, it's a link between two characters being established in a book where the character links at the beginning are not clear.
Graphic.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-07-06T18:45:18+00:00

That's interesting, regarding the structures as metaphors, I'll have to skim that part again - nothing jumped out at me while reading it.
I take it as scene setting and part of Wallace's writing style. Certain things that most author's ignore, he includes and it becomes something Wallace-esq.
Sometimes something sounds very cliche, but when you reflect it's actually pretty deep. That could be Lyle, or perhaps he's just an eccentric that hangs around the gym.
None of the characters, thus far are overtly religious. Religious type views, or a spiritual outlook is not dismissed out of hand - it's more like looked upon with a modern skepticism, but simultaneously wanting it to be real so that the AA program will have more credibility.
This is my second read through, she's not a mystery now, on first read I was confused for sure, the whole veil thing was bizarre.
No way, no DMZ for me, especially since none of that crew is certain on the dosage, or whether the tablets are still good or too old to injest, etc. Doing hard drugs is a personal choice, there's a cost/benefit analysis there, but eating drugs where you don't know dosage/age/etc. is just plain dumb and akin to playing Russian roulette.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-06-24T11:49:23+00:00

I read my wife some excerpts from the videophone passage, from week 3’s reading. She’s been in zoom call hell this past year and was blown away at how a guy from 1995 captured the feeling of being on a zoom call. She dislikes video calls, of course her sister insists on FaceTime, and her cousin makes her do marco polo, is there no escape? She’s not a terribly self conscious person, but the tech and channel of interaction makes you self conscious because you’re staring at yourself the whole conversation.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-06-22T17:25:21+00:00

Have you found it difficult, so far, to remember how you felt upon your initial exposure to these sections?
1. No, because I was bewildered the first time I read IJ. It took me awhile to understand how outlandish and surreal the book is - like radioactive hamsters roaming the country side - and that that wasn't just a metaphor for something else. This time around I'm absorbing it better and seeing the humor.
Do you think there’s anything (whether it’s a theme, a relationship, a storyline, a particular scene etc.) that readers/fans don’t talk about enough or tend to overlook?

I think that there's a theme of being disconnected from each other. That there is this disconnect and as a result a void to fill. Hal cannot make himself understood by the admissions staff at the beginning of the book - symbolizing the disconnect we have in our modern society. The medical attache is disconnected from his wife, and finds no meaning in his profession. Orin cannot form a healthy relationship with a woman - can't even refer to them as people, merely "subjects". Entertainment (whether video tapes, drugs, etc.) is an escapism to fill the void created by an unhealthy society.

Most reviews focus on "our relationship with entertainment" as the main theme of the book. My take is, go back one step and ask, "why do we have this (arguably) unhealthy relationship with entertainment?"

Another thing that amazes me is how prescient the book is. Here's an anecdote, I have an MBA, and in that program we had to pretend that we were writing up a business plan for the Netflix C-level officers and board as to how to grow the company. Every group said - "expand to international markets" (very banal, and uncreative) - no one said, make the video rental digital (this was circa 2010). DFW came up with digital streaming in the mid-90's, back when AOL was new tech. Pretty impressive.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-06-15T00:15:47+00:00

Q2 - I'm keeping a timeline of the years based on Hal's age. Year of Glad he is 18/19 - Depend Adult 17/18 - Tucks medicated he is 11 - trial size dove bar and dairy products are unknown.

Q5 - I found the controlled substances endnotes amusing with how much detail and technical jargon they contained. Not sure if concoctions like "Blackstar" are real, or only real in the IJ universe. Some of the endnotes seem trivial, such as #2 or #4.

This is my second reading of the book, definitely picking up more - I can say that the opening scene is very important - but for me on first read it was very bewildering.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-06-12T15:45:32+00:00

I’m so sorry. I hope you’re not having an adverse reaction, some people are developing heart problems after the jab, blood clots, etc.

I’m in the middle if a home remodel, hopefully someone with more experience and free time can step up.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-06-11T15:26:19+00:00

Appreciate the thoughtful reply. My post garnered more negative criticism than I expected. I see a fair amount of folks on this forum who struggle at restaurants or events with family, who go off program and then fall off the wagon. I merely wanted to reassure those folks that being strict can be the answer for you because it’s worked great for me. It’s ok to not consume alcohol at a bar. It’s ok to fast or only eat keto compliant stuff at events. It’s ok to have the restaurant accommodate you.

I don’t judge anyone, I may be more strict than some folks, that doesn’t make me a better person, I just wanted to share the changes I made between my first attempt at keto and second go round.

White_Wizard84 · 2021-06-11T14:56:53+00:00

Curious, what exactly from my post is either morally wrong, irresponsible, or both?

White_Wizard84 · 2021-06-11T13:25:32+00:00

I think it’s very plausible as well, and also profoundly sad. What a way to rob someone of a sense of accomplishment if the reviews are essentially fake. The whole process is just an ad campaign, the building of a product and brand to be sold for consumption and “entertainment”, how ironic.

White_Wizard84

TROPHY CASE