A finals project for you lazy, engineering majors!

I must confess that even in the 60's my ee classes were mostly theoretical. When the local commercial radio station had an opening for a chief engineer, I was a freshman, and was the only applicant. I would have expected some competition since about a quarter of the town's population was engineering students.

Leftyretro said:

Back in our days we use to calculate ohms law in long hand and wound our own IF transfomers...

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You were lucky. We calculated ohms law in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.

Brought up some bad childhood memories duffy?

I didn't have paper or a pencil.
I planted trees the size of pencils and waited till they grew up and then made paper from them. I had to sharpen strips of coal for a writing device.

I didn't know how to write any way so I just made up my own words and stuff.

(Sort of explains my spelling and grammar huh.)

with all those smiley faces I can tell the prozac is kickin' in.

gabeNC said:

with all those smiley faces I can tell the prozac is kickin' in.

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Prozac I don't think so..... now can tcmtech plz share what ever he is on as sometimes his quotes, he must be smokin somefing good

The only thing I am on is a good sense of humor and a pile of great friends with uncommon interests and life experiences!

Just DO the mad scientist thing with all your heart! You may not get any where with it but your going to have the best life adventures to recount when your at the old duffers storage facility some day!
I am not yet 35 and look at the crazy stuff I have created and done so far!

When you see the social herd going one way take a 90 degree turn and see where you end up at.
The herd will say your lost but if you went that way on purpose its an adventure! And you never know what you will find while your out wondering around!

bryan1 said:

Prozac I don't think so..... now can tcmtech plz share what ever he is on as sometimes his quotes, he must be smokin somefing good

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Here's a rare shot of TCM enjoying some R&R....

**broken link removed**

Sorry thats not me. I never got into the illegal drugs. Prescription only but even then only for the needed time. Still a funny picture though!
I have some ex coworkers that would be so jealous if I did have one of those!

Honestly lately I have been up beat and generally happy just because the 6+ feet of snow is gone and the weather is finally over 70 degrees!
I can work outside and in my shop again! You cant blame me for being an outside person! I have even mowed my yard twice now!

I admit I was rather grouchy when I first joined here. But if all you saw out your windows for 3 months was snow drifts 10 feet high and the daily high temperature was 0 degrees F, you would be a bit grouchy too!

tcmtech said:

I admit I was rather grouchy when I first joined here. But if all you saw out your windows for 3 months was snow drifts 10 feet high and the daily high temperature was 0 degrees F, you would be a bit grouchy too!

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TCM... I know EXACTLY how you feel... I grew up in Wyoming. I don't miss that at all! Wind blowing all the time, you run the heater in the car then overnight the doors freeze shut. I've popped freeze plugs off of my engine block too, puddle of slushy antifreeze under the car. Wonderful in the summer (all 3 weeks of it) but just brutal in the winter.

You guys should live in Northern Wisconsin. Nothing but happy sunshine riding the fun bus all year down the sunny streets wearing shorts and flip-flops.

**broken link removed**

tcmtech said:

Honestly lately I have been up beat and generally happy just because the 6+ feet of snow is gone and the weather is finally over 70 degrees!
I can work outside and in my shop again! You cant blame me for being an outside person! I have even mowed my yard twice now!

I admit I was rather grouchy when I first joined here. But if all you saw out your windows for 3 months was snow drifts 10 feet high and the daily high temperature was 0 degrees F, you would be a bit grouchy too!

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You may be one of those that suffer from SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. There is light therapy where you can purchase a special UV lamp that you sit near for specific periods of time each day (perhaps while you websurf). You may have diminished seratonin and other endorphins due to being indoors from the cold.
If it's any consolation, my area receives lake effect snowfalls and this winter was particularly rough with 140"+. My plow took a beating from it as did the snowblower. I just rebuilt the snowblower from the wheels up, including the motor. Soon the plow goes in the garage for a teardown and rebuild.

You may be one of those that suffer from SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. There is light therapy where you can purchase a special UV lamp that you sit near for specific periods of time each day (perhaps while you websurf). You may have diminished seratonin and other endorphins due to being indoors from the cold.

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Thats what the prescription drugs I was talking about were for. My good old Doc changed jobs last fall and left town.
He used to write me an annual prescription with one $50 visit a year,
His replacement is some gal from India that wants me to check in every month at $75 a visit to renew my $26 a month pills.
She doesn't see the problem because a $100 is only about two hours of work a month. (to her maybe)
IF I made $50 an hour year round I dont think I would need the pills. I would be south all winter scuba diving!

It why I went without them this winter. Sorry for the sometimes sour disposition I had. Plus having the coldest winter and heaviest snow in nearly 50 years didn't help me much either. Long hours of plowing snow and fighting with it every where I went then dumping everything I made right back into winter living expenses got to me.
I hate working my butt off only to have slid backwards at then end of the day.

Dang - you were right, gabeNC!

Shouldn't have been that hard to guess!
Us outgoing independent outdoors types tend to have this common ailment. We just dont make good house pets!

This is why God invented weed. Tell your $75/month desi-doc to get stuffed.

TCM, what you got is a case of cabin fever. Nothing a good curvy woman could not cure.

TCM, what you got is a case of cabin fever. Nothing a good curvy woman could not cure.

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I tried that cure a few times! Trust me they cost me far more than $75 a month and they created far more stress than they relieved!
I would like to have a good woman but thats a surprisingly hard order to fill! I am picky about who I may spend my life with.

Mostly though I am by nature one of those people that is happy living by myself but still enjoys having a large social network.
It runs in the family, Every generation has one or two single for lifers and I guess I am it this go around!

The cousins have husbands and wives and kids. I have a business and loads of equipment most only dream about having at my age and no one to be responsible for but me! Thats a hard freedom to risk loosing!

tcmtech said:

I tried that cure a few times! Trust me they cost me far more than $75 a month and they created far more stress than they relieved!
I would like to have a good woman but thats a surprisingly hard order to fill! I am picky about who I may spend my life with.

Mostly though I am by nature one of those people that is happy living by myself but still enjoys having a large social network.
It runs in the family, Every generation has one or two single for lifers and I guess I am it this go around!

The cousins have husbands and wives and kids. I have a business and loads of equipment most only dream about having at my age and no one to be responsible for but me! Thats a hard freedom to risk loosing!

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But you are really missing out on something special, and you may not appreciate this at your young age of thirty something.

A life long friend who will see you through difficult times and hardships is a need most find fulfilling.

Someone who likes to discuss the same things as you is a wonderful thing, and to deprive yourself of a life partner is truly something that you will miss out on, sadly you may never know it.

A terrific someone really completes your life (Pardon the Movie quote), and to not experience this is certainly a shame. I never knew what I was missing until I met my wife, and now that we are together I could not imagine being without her.

So my advice is, be open to the idea of including someone into your life.

My 2 cents.

tcmtech

You need to set small goals for yourself in advance of winter's approach. By that I mean, plan some weekend trips to nearby attractions or even one weekend far out of town to a warmer area. It's those small goals that you'll have something to look forward to as the cold doldrums pass by. After the Xmas/New Yrs. holiday, things always get a bit gloomy, what with coming down from hunting season, Indian Summer, Thanksgiving, the Xmas holiday itself. It's too much hustle and bustle squeezed into a couple of months and then the useless months of Jan., Feb., & March have many cold climate residing folks experiencing mood swings; it's understandable.

Again, just set up some short excursions and other activities for the winter weekends that involve fun to distract your propensity to think about the cold and snow. Heck for that matter, try turning the winter adversary into a desire by riding a snowmobile, or skiing, etc. Skiing is a great way to meet "snow bunnies"! Try taking up snow shoveling with a **broken link removed**!

**broken link removed**

Sounds like good advice but you dont know the way my life is, what I do and how I live. I would like a person in my life but I have had far to many bad experiences and know far to many people that have had worse than me.

Dating now adays is not like it was for my parents and grand parents. As an independent person with some nice things and resources I get a fair amount of interest from women. Unfortunately the common theme seems to be find a guy and take him for every thing you can! I am not risking my life's work in hopes I will feel better in the winter.

I like what I do and where my life is at. I could easily become one of the 50 hour a week 52 week a year working zombies again like most people but whats the point. I have done it enough before and it did not suite me one bit. I made more money but it cost me more to live. I put in far more hours and never had any more to show for it than I do now. And I had far less time to spend with friends and family too.
I actually needed to be on stress medications when I did work for others.

Vacations are great if you can afford them. Going places is fun if can leave your place behind unattended or dont have obligations to business or work. I however hate having college and vehicle loans and I put every penny I can into paying them off as soon as possible. So until they are paid off that means living the sparse life for a few more years and hoping the house doesn't fall down around me before I can afford to build a new one.

I scuba dive in the summer and travel some too! I am going to Iowa this weekend and wont be back for around 10 days or so. If I can afford the fuel to get there and do enough work to afford to get back.

As far as a woman in my life, If I find someone great, but for my entire life I just have not felt the overwhelming need to have someone by my side. When I have had someone there were great times but the overall hassle was not something I was ever comfortable with.
Watching someone you care for change into someone you hate is horrible. Having done it several times never made it get any easier either though. And having to work for 9 months to recover everything I lost is even worse! I did it, hated it, and learned from it!