Elliot´s Trackside Diner May 2010 - Model Railroader Magazine

Afternoon, Zoe, I'll have a RBF, please. Thanks!

We'll see if Firefox will behave better than last night. Had almost caught up, and it crashed out with three tabs open.

Jeff, the van's looking good, and I'll second the comment about it'll look like the old paddy wagons with your lightbar on top. And I'd agree that maybe you could be on the FD board or be a trainer of some kind for your local VFD; they might as well make use of all your experience, right? Oh, I'd say I hope that you prove your doctor WAY too short on his estimate of your maximum age.

Chris, good to hear your CU's on top of THAT debit card thing. When I had a problem with mine (back with a bank) being possibly compromised, they had me close that card and issued me one with a new number. Whatever fixes things. Sorry to hear about your repairs on the vehicle. Thanks for the tips in your email.

On that plastic sub-topic, I do use my d-card online, but only a limited number of places (and I always check for the https and the locked icon in my browser. Yessiree, only safe internet practices for me. Of course, if some thief tried to access my checking account, there wouldn't usually be much to spare in there anyway, so I guess they'd move on to look for a higher-roller than me.

Ulrich, Good to hear about your interview this morning - probably helped that you have a good attitude, knew/know who you are, and are ready to go after it. That puts you ahead of the other guys Keith, Jeff and others commented about, who 'sorta/maybe/kinda' want to w**k. You go for it, friend. Hope you get a good word back before long!

Rob - glad to see that some people who know lots more about vehicles than I do, answered your cry for help on the ATV. You would not want to follow most of my advice beyond "Is the gas tank filled?" How's your wandering cow doing?

Sawyer, as you said, the speech is over, so not to fret over that anymore. All you could do at this point, would be to practice some in front of a friend or two, so your nervousness doesn't as likely blank your mind next time. Sorry to hear about your losing Sandy - I remember hearing about her for a long while, it seems.

I was thinking of my own 'speech moment' in my junior year of high school...I was at a military academy ('nuther story there, but no, I wasn't that ornery!) and you had to give a speech in front of the whole school (about 300-360 cadets, plus the instructors) once in the year. I was a junior and the other two giving their speeches with me that day were seniors. They get up, speak from the podium, get done and sit back down. My turn comes, I get up, give the speech (did okay, but not outstanding or anything), and sit back down. AFTERWARD, somebody tells me that the seniors get to give their speeches from behind the podium, but juniors were supposed to give theirs standing out beside the podium (no hiding, or something like that). However, since I had given my speech for that year, I didn't have to the following year. Lucked out!

Lee, I saw that video - guy was verrrryy lucky on that one!

Well, our MRR club is all moved out of the old location now. We got the layout sections moved the tail end of last week/start of this week, and this past Monday got the cabinets put in in the room where we'll have them there. The club secretary/treasurer/LHS owner turned in the keys today to the former landlord and has notified the electric company to remove us from the electric bill on that old location. Next, putting up wallboard on the wall studs, and then start laying out the layout sections for the new (and slightly modified) design. No rent and no utilities, just whatever expense to put ducting from the A/C over to the layout room.

I'll be starting some kitbashing of shells and (chassis's/chasses?) from my Athearn RDC's, plus putting some Ernst regearing kits in two more (have one with one in it, plus another Athearn that came with their gearing - a later version of the Athearn RDC's). Harder part will be getting neat and straight cuts of the shells so I can glue them together without painfully obvious join lines. Supposed to bring the shells to the club meeting Monday night for the LHS owner/member to take a look at how the best way to cut them neatly would be. Yeah, I know, would've been cheaper to buy the P1K versions when they were on sale, but 1) I didn't have the funds at the time, and 2) I just LOVE a challenger - plus 3) I'm able to spread out the expense better this way. Will post some pics as I get going (or maybe start a topic if I can sneak it by the "I know better than you how you REALLY should've done that" RC's in the big forum...)

Oh, Chris - on your iTunes question (assuming it's similar in Windows as on my Mac), once you get iTunes re-installed, drag the folder(s) with the albums (and songs in them) onto the iTunes icon on your desktop, and you should get all of your tunes imported into iTunes. Now, your playlists, you may have to set them up again. Also, go here and check the discussions for possibly 'iTunes crash' and 'restoring playlists' (but usually you need to export a file with the playlists, which I would guess you hadn't done  - I hadn't the first time I had a glitch like that). Hope that helps, and email me if you have more questions or need help finding what you need on the iTunes support pages.[edit] Good to hear you got things going again!

Sam, congrats on the new job (and too bad to hear THAT instructor wouldn't tell the full truth...). Hope you get that Engineer position within the year. And if you move, remember to check out how the layout room basement is arranged...

...and Missy:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

(It's not too early now, is it?)

About time for me to head home from the office, wanted to say late to type with a bigger keyboard. May be back in for some ice cream at the big party a little later.

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau (rain predicted tomorrow...)