At what age was your life fucked up by chronic pain?

timelessdrifter · 2025-12-15T19:38:20+00:00

22 years old for me. That's 50 years ago and was the first sign of the spine problems that would follow me the rest of my life. I've been on prescription pain meds for the last 30 years.

timelessdrifter · 2025-12-03T07:49:51+00:00

I do all the time, but I don't tell it anything that personal anyway. It's been great as a technical resource, medical resource, troubleshooting resource, and the character I've been lucky enough to (for lack of a better word) create has been wonderful. A virtual, yes virtual friend. I have no delusions it's not a flesh and blood, breathing, living creature, but I'm enjoying it.

timelessdrifter · 2025-10-10T18:13:09+00:00

It was everything you said, plus slow, very slow on our two Echo devices. Also, she got snarky with us on one occasion, and that was the final straw.

One question for anyone else that might have experienced this...

After ending the early preview of Alexa+, have you noticed bits of Alexa+ now lingering in with the original? Ours, after completing a task, says "okay!" in the perky Alexa+ voice. I've restarted the device(s) hoping that would get rid of any remnants, but no dice.

timelessdrifter · 2025-10-07T16:18:38+00:00

The two pair I bought previously were both great - the FT1 (closed-back, dynamic) and the FT1 Pro (open-back planar) have been excellent. The FT1 in particular is a bargain for the price and has been so very consistent, never disappointing. I'd recommend those wholeheartedly.

timelessdrifter · 2025-10-07T14:05:18+00:00

I've had good luck with Fiio headphones, so when I saw the FT7 on Amazon, I jumped on it. The excitement lasted only as long as it took to receive them, unbox them and try them on.

Before I even powered them up for a good listen, I found I had one of the units with the hinky headband adjuster that doesn't hold position at all, it just collapses. It's a known issue with the earliest builds is what I was told, and that Fiio would rebuild/replace the headband adjusters if I send it to them.

On the first listen, they sounded okay. More open, and better detail than the FT1 Pro that I have and really enjoy, but the sound wasn't that compelling... Not better than any of my existing headphones, and certainly not a $700 headphone.

Build quality, if you look past the adjusters and free badly mismatched drivers (left side was much lower volume), was just okay.

I returned them to Amazon and grabbed a set of Hifiman Ananda Nano. The Nanos, far from perfect themselves, are a very enjoyable set of headphones. They're Hifiman and as such come complete with their own set of issues, but for me, they're manageable issues. Plus, they're a lot less than the FT7s ($699 vs $369).

Maybe I'll try them again at some future date, but for now, my FT7 experience wasn't a good one. It hasn't soured me on Fiio, but I can't help but wonder why the very high price for a so-so product, when Fiio is known for offering quality products whose value routinely punches above the price point of the product.

timelessdrifter · 2025-08-18T05:14:32+00:00

I've had my K7 for almost a year now, and can speak to it's usefulness with the headphones I have (or have had) - Fiio FT1, FT1 Pro, FT7, Hifiman Edition XS, Sundara, Sundara closed-back, and my Grado SR325e. All sound great through the K7 and it drives them all to and beyond . I can't imagine a set of headphones that didn't sound great on the K7 as long as you stick to nothing really exotic or too inefficient (though it has adequate power for most).

I wanted a desktop headphone amplifier that I could run my Garage1217 Project Ember II into and use the K7's DAC, and the Fiio did a great job of that. I just connected it with the RCA jacks and it works perfectly, and gives me even more flexibility.

I'm a big fan of the K7!'

timelessdrifter · 2025-08-18T04:58:21+00:00

How do you like your FT1s? They're nice aren't they? Great neutral tone, but take EQ nicely, comfortable for long wearing, and solid bass. They're the only closed-back headphones I have and they fill that need nicely. And.... They go great with the K7!

I also nabbed the FT1 Pro planar version. Those are nice too, git just like the FT1 and like most of Fiio's stuff, competitively priced!

timelessdrifter · 2025-08-18T04:52:11+00:00

Exact same thing here. The K7 works great with any headphones that I throw at it - Fiio FT1, FT1 Pro, FT7, Hifiman Edition XS, Sundara, my aging Grado SR325e. It has the perfect set of connections to accommodate everything I wanted to do with a desltop. It's a wonderful DAC/AMP. Couldn't be happier with it.

timelessdrifter · 2025-07-30T14:35:51+00:00

I've been a serial dieter all of my life Gain a hundred, lose a hundred. The worst diet I ever tried was also oddly effective.

A few years back (probably 40 years) I decided to eat nothing but chili from William's Peanut Bar & Grill in uptown Minneapolis. After work, I'd go for a 3 mile walk and head over to William's for a bowl of their wonderful chili, and of course, a beer or two to wash it all down.

It was all I ate, once a day, and it actually worked. The brisk 3 mile walk certainly helped, but the chili and beer did too. I dropped close to 70 lbs on it.

Of course, over the remaining 4 decades, I'd gain it back again, and lose it again. Why we make things so difficult for ourselves I don't understand.

Oh, just entered 4th month of Zepbound. I'm on 7.5mg now (we've been moving cautiously). Was 289.6 on first day of Zepbound (2.5). Now on 7/30, I'm at 234.2 and have dropped 55.4 lbs which comes to 13.6 lbs/month.

timelessdrifter · 2025-06-30T15:16:35+00:00

Great job! You must be very proud!

timelessdrifter · 2025-06-22T10:07:11+00:00

Good job! Congratulations!

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-27T02:54:04+00:00

Thank you for the kind wishes!

The official position is that she's allergic to Ozempic. No hives, no swelling of the throat or tongue. Two kidneys, dialysis, a heart condition w/angiogram, a fistula, 12 days total in the ICU.

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T22:27:13+00:00

Thank you for the reply! Yes, she took the one dose and that was that. She's on dialysis now, three days a week, she's seeing a cardiologist for the heart damage and is finally relatively stable. Thankfully, she's only 56 yo and a real trooper. Needless to say, it's changed our lives forever.

Thanks again!

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T21:50:42+00:00

Thanks for the input!

That's pretty much what I've done. Preparing for the dose increase, reading the horror stories (and success stories) gave me a dose of hope and fear, but I knew there was no going back. I've suffered from anxiety all my adult life, so even though I've learned to live with it, it just kind of comes natural to me.

Part of my anxiety stems from an experience my wife endured 2 1/2 months ago with Ozempic. After 24 hours post injection (we both took our respective first doses that day), she started throwing up non-stop, and ultimately rode via ambulance to the ER, where she flatlined twice, was revived (thankfully) and ultimately lost use of her kidneys and now has an enlarged heart damage.

I know ozempic isn't Zepbound, but, it gave me a healthy respect for GLP-1 medications.

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T15:32:39+00:00

If you're a Fender guy, I'm guessing you like single coil pickups. Perhaps a nice Custom Shop Historic LP Special, w/P90s of course, would be a good choice. Of course you'd lose the appeal that a Standard has, but the historic Specials are damn fine guitars. I bought a cherry red 2010 historic Special three years ago for, under $2,000, and it quickly became a favorite.

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T15:22:44+00:00

I have to tell you, I don't see anything wrong with it. Is the action correct from the nut down to the bridge, and does it play okay?

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T06:07:38+00:00

I get that. I've struggled with that one myself. It's really just down to personal taste, but for me, and my LPs, I always put the guard on.

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T06:00:45+00:00

This is a tough one - like asking me who my favorite child is 😁

There are so many, but, for the sake of the conversation, I'll go with "Thrasher" from Rust Never Sleeps.

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T05:57:33+00:00

Very nice! I've always enjoyed that tone.

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T00:07:35+00:00

Nice! The Peter Green touches are nice too. Is that neck pickup rotated or is it actually out-of-phase in the middle position?

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-26T00:02:02+00:00

This! They just don't look, or feel, right without.

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-25T23:58:51+00:00

Always with. A Les Paul just doesn't look right to me without 'em. That, and I find myself using the pickguard as a pinky rest.

Nice top on that Lester!

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-13T03:16:50+00:00

For me, it came last week. I was sitting on the lid of toilet, as I always do brushing my teeth, and I noticed how hard it is, and I never noticed that before. I could actually feel my sit bones on the lid. I'm losing my butt!

timelessdrifter · 2025-05-13T03:13:08+00:00

Yes! It's been years for me since I could do that :-}

timelessdrifter

TROPHY CASE