USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Foxfyre]

Good night darlinks. No change in the vigil list.

 

[Dajjal]

 

[Foxfyre]

Today's puzzle. I counted at least 10 faces. . . .

10

The highest number counted is 15, but I haven't counted more than 10.

10 is all I can find... But I am blind in one eye, and can't see out of the other...

I found an 11th face. Still looking.

 

[Dajjal]

 

[Ringel05]

My Nikon TC 20E 2X teleconverter arrived today!! Finally!! Unpacked it, attached it to the camera....... Lens will not attach to it...... None of my lenses fit....... Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!
Checked with Adorama where I bought it online, "It's supposed to work with your camera......" "Oh wait, it doesn't work with your lenses, sorry". "Let us find one that does...... (long wait)...... Sorry, Nikon doesn't make one that works with your lenses........"
Back it goes.
Teleconverters increase your focal zoom by 1.4 - 2 times which would make a 55mm - 300mm a 110mm - 600mm zoom. Buying a Nikon, Tamron or Sigma lens over 300mm zoom (autofocus) costs an arm, leg and one's first born.........
Think I need to upgrade my camera.

 

[Ringel05]

Also checked with Adorama to get a quote on my old Nikon EM set up; camera, lenses (2), leather cover and camera bag.

 

[Foxfyre]

In case ya'll missed it. . .

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[Foxfyre]

And one more. . .

 

[Dajjal]

 

[Montrovant]

Well, I got my first job rejection today.

 

[Foxfyre]

Well, I got my first job rejection today.

Ah, then you are offiicially on your way to a new career. I haven't had many jobs that weren't preceded by at least some rejections, sometimes many. And I know from experience of friends and family that I know, it will require some convincing of a new employer to hire you when you've been out off the labor market as an adult as long as you have. Our daughter-in-law has a college degree but as a stay at home mom until our granddaughter was in college, she was not anywhere near as 'employable' as she would have been with more recent work experience, references, etc. So don't get discouraged.

Because I was unemployed each time Hombre was transferred around the country, it made me less employable so it usually took me awhile to find somebody willing to take a chance on me. And sometimes I had to take far less than the job I intended to have--sometimes unrelated to my skill sets--in order to show the employer what I could do. I almost always moved up pretty quickly or at least if there was no upward mobility possible, having a job made me look more employable to the next employer so I could change jobs.

In a corporate buyout, our son lost his job as the plant manager of a facility he designed and supervised the building of on the gulf coast. He received a fairly nice severance package so he sent out a few dozen resumes, and took the family on vacation. But he didn't realize how much being unemployed reduces your appeal to employers. When they returned home he checked his e-mail, phone message etc. to see how many responses he had gotten. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

His immediate response was 'shit!' And after numerous other non responses and flat out rejections, he was genuinely concerned because his savings weren't going to sustain them for more than a few months.

Just when he was getting panicky, he got an offer from an oil company for a position in the Texas Panhandle. Though it was a small town that most people would not choose to live in--they love it there--it turned out to be his dream job. They bought his home at a fair price in his old location, paid all his moving expenses, and started him with a salary he could live with and with good benefits. And it just got better from there. Has it been all wonderful? No. No job ever is. But there has been more good than bad and he fully intends to retire where they are.

The point being that sometimes it does take awhile to find a good fit no matter how qualified you are or how much you can offer an employer. So keep plugging away and don't get down on yourself when they say no.

 

[Foxfyre]

We are getting ferocious winds now--temps in low 50's but it feels a lot colder out there in the wind. Wind advisory for New Mexico today but after stepping outside I think they need to upgrade to a high wind warning.

Still no winter storm warning yet but I expect to see that on my phone any time now. They are saying less than 1% chance that we will get no snow tonight though they are predicting no more than 1 or 2 inches accumulation. But the weather forecasting in New Mexico is like putting 10 meteorologists in a room with a dart board with probabilities on it and they all throw a dart at it and average their scores to come up with a number.

 

[Montrovant]

Well, I got my first job rejection today.

Ah, then you are offiicially on your way to a new career. I haven't had many jobs that weren't preceded by at least some rejections, sometimes many. And I know from experience of friends and family that I know, it will require some convincing of a new employer to hire you when you've been out off the labor market as an adult as long as you have. Our daughter-in-law has a college degree but as a stay at home mom until our granddaughter was in college, she was not anywhere near as 'employable' as she would have been with more recent work experience, references, etc. So don't get discouraged.

Because I was unemployed each time Hombre was transferred around the country, it made me less employable so it usually took me awhile to find somebody willing to take a chance on me. And sometimes I had to take far less than the job I intended to have--sometimes unrelated to my skill sets--in order to show the employer what I could do. I almost always moved up pretty quickly or at least if there was no upward mobility possible, having a job made me look more employable to the next employer so I could change jobs.

In a corporate buyout, our son lost his job as the plant manager of a facility he designed and supervised the building of on the gulf coast. He received a fairly nice severance package so he sent out a few dozen resumes, and took the family on vacation. But he didn't realize how much being unemployed reduces your appeal to employers. When they returned home he checked his e-mail, phone message etc. to see how many responses he had gotten. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

His immediate response was 'shit!' And after numerous other non responses and flat out rejections, he was genuinely concerned because his savings weren't going to sustain them for more than a few months.

Just when he was getting panicky, he got an offer from an oil company for a position in the Texas Panhandle. Though it was a small town that most people would not choose to live in--they love it there--it turned out to be his dream job. They bought his home at a fair price in his old location, paid all his moving expenses, and started him with a salary he could live with and with good benefits. And it just got better from there. Has it been all wonderful? No. No job ever is. But there has been more good than bad and he fully intends to retire where they are.

The point being that sometimes it does take awhile to find a good fit no matter how qualified you are or how much you can offer an employer. So keep plugging away and don't get down on yourself when they say no.

Yeah, this job was completely unrelated to my degree. I've been looking at all sorts of possibilities, although I've only applied to 10 or so places thus far. I'm starting with the better looking possibilities first, but I expect I'll be throwing applications/resumes at all sorts of positions soon enough.

I saw what looked like a very nice data entry job just before I went to bed last night, so I saved it rather than go through the process so late. Today, it's gone. I'm wondering if it was mis-posted, as the salary was much better than expected.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Nothing finishes a man cave as nicely as a good stereo system. Do you live alone, no one to be disturbed when you crank the tunes, yanno?

I've lived alone for 32 years now. Don't have any neighbors near enough for loud music to bother either, and I do play it loud, often... ...

Yup, I can relate. I live out here on my teensy spread, just short of 200 acres. The nearest neighbors about a mile North on their 100 acres. Dogs barking, loud music, generators, nothing really disturbs anyone else.

Sorry it takes awhile to get a reply going, pard, but it's winter and we just can't get a break here in Wisconsin. Seems as though the last three years where we had zip for winter got all backed up and it's all hitting us now. I had 37 below one morning, which considering I'm almost happy with because they say that cold will kill insect eggs that otherwise will survive winter, and we've had an abundance of BUGS for awhile, but the snow, holy cow, it's like the storms are on a SNOW HIGHWAY and WE'RE ON IT. Wisconsin has been ground zero for the snow storm track. We're buried in snow now and it's snowing AGAIN, NOW. I was starting to wonder if having my John Deere with the snowblower on it was overkill... aaaahh... NO... now I'm thanking GOD I have it.

Yeah 200 acres... that's so AWESOME brother. There's lots of open country around here too with all the farms and such, and one of my best buds with his brother owns their old family farm up on the ridge here, 480 acres, we go up there and deer hunt, shoot the guns, whatever, it's REALLY nice to have a good buddy that owns so much land. It makes my little acre and a quarter seem like a garden. But, here in the township, my little acre and a quarter is worth a nice chunk of change. A half acre is going for $25,000, unimproved, a bare lot, or trees and not cleared.

Yeah I'll have to add this, because I AM an incurable audiophile. I seem to have no compunction about spending money when it comes to audio gear. I bought the above Yamaha integrated amp, and it's so good it makes me dream of owning it's big brother...

... and I shouldn't be thinking about such things... but I just can't help it. The amp I bought was only $850, it's big brother here is $7,000 retail from Yamaha. Of course there's better deals to be found, but, IDK... maybe... I just can't believe how good they sound. I never owned a "separate" before. A component designed for one thing only, and in this case stereo listening. The great part is it's an "integrated amp," meaning it isn't JUST an amp, it has a built in Sabre, 32 bit DAC, which is just awesome stuff, so it will decode a digital stream from whatever you want. An amp alone won't do that because it doesn't have built in DAC's.... "digital to analog" converters, an amp alone needs a preamp. Most home theater receivers have Burr Brown 24 bit DAC's, so there ya go, not even as good as the Yamaha integrated stereo amps. This is just such nice stuff, my hats off to Yamaha. Had I known they sound so good before I'd never have waited this long to buy one. Crank it up and enjoy... sounds like you have a live band in your house... providing you have decent speakers. I'm running my Bowers & Wilkins DM-604 S3's with it, and yes, I have droned on for quite awhile about this, but it doesn't take much to make me do that...

Yamaha A-S3000 High-Performance Integrated Amplifier BRAND NEW 27108945491 | eBay

All that makes my Kenwood tower I owned years ago seem prehistoric. I was a great system in its day, though. Now, I make do with a small, battery-powered radio in the house. I have an old turntable stored away because I still have stacks of plastic in storage.
Our snow came all at once, it seems. I can use the snow blower but the stuff is so deep, I'm running out of places to put it. And the temps are all over the place, too. The past 2-3 days, it's been just around and slightly above freezing. Last night, we dropped to double-digit minus temps again, currently it's -16! I've been letting the wood stove die down at night I don't have to keep getting up to feed the fire and it gets too hot to sleep. I have to leave here early and will just leave the fire be for now.
Just turned on the news and they're calling for another huge storm for your neck of the woods. Good luck!

Our first electronics other than basic radios that still had tubes and a black and white TV was a stereo system with a turn table in a free standing cabinet like piece of furniture. We had strictly 45 and 78 rpm vinyl records in those days--cassettes probably hadn't been invented yet. We wore out a lot of records on that old stereo system and at some point it gave up the ghost and was replaced with much more sophisticated modern systems. But nothing we have had over the years could rival the terrific speakers in that old record player system--superb undistorted magnificent sound. Some things really haven't gotten better.

My parents had one of those cabinet stereo systems. I still remember singing along with Burl Ives and Johnny Cash records. My dad also had a piece of music, "Victory at Sea", that he was very fond of. While sound quality may have improved over the years, there's still a lot of great memories...

 

[gallantwarrior]

Well, I got my first job rejection today.

Welcome to the "grown up" world, along with the rest of us. Good luck on your search. And remember, everything happens for a reason. Perhaps there's a better job waiting for you out there.

 

[gallantwarrior]

It's been clear and cold here. That's good, I wasn't looking forward to more snow. I'm running out of places to put it and I need to get something else done besides clearing away snow.
Here's a new picture of my most recent "boarder". She's made herself quite at home and is living in the pen with the wethers (geldings) and bucks. While not actively feeding the animal, I'm not running her off yet, either. She's very young and an orphan to boot. She's the bigger brown goat on the left.

 

[Montrovant]

Well, I got my first job rejection today.

Welcome to the "grown up" world, along with the rest of us. Good luck on your search. And remember, everything happens for a reason. Perhaps there's a better job waiting for you out there.

I meant the first rejection of my current search. I've had to do a job search before, just not very often.

 

[Ringel05]

We are getting ferocious winds now--temps in low 50's but it feels a lot colder out there in the wind. Wind advisory for New Mexico today but after stepping outside I think they need to upgrade to a high wind warning.

Still no winter storm warning yet but I expect to see that on my phone any time now. They are saying less than 1% chance that we will get no snow tonight though they are predicting no more than 1 or 2 inches accumulation. But the weather forecasting in New Mexico is like putting 10 meteorologists in a room with a dart board with probabilities on it and they all throw a dart at it and average their scores to come up with a number.

We are currently under a high wind warning.
Also just saw that Flagstaff AZ had their snowiest day on record last Thursday with 3 feet of snow...........

 

[Oddball]

Saturday morning....Let the cartoon begin!