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[UKFlounder]

With all this talk about reading books, has anybody here ever written one? It has always kind of been a fantasy in the back of my mind (a wild and crazy guy am I!) but I never thought it to be realistic. It still may not be, but I have found an idea that think could work and I have started the research on it (non-fiction, of course.) My instinct is that this could take a loooong time, perhaps years, to gather the information and then actually write it, but I'm kind of leaning towards making it a personal goal, even at the risk of disappointing myself by stopping at some point. I really do like this idea and the first research has been productive.

Of course, stuff like getting it published will be tough calls, but that is still a while away (and I have some not unreasonable hopes that the local historical society where I volunteer might help with that as it publishes local history books occasionally and this would fit into that category. The society could then handle the copyright, printing, sales, taxes, etc. and I would feel like I had made a contribution to local history.)

Even if nobody publishes it and I have to self-publish it or just photocopy a few copies for some people, just finishing such a project might feel like an accomplishment. I've not mentioned this idea to anyone yet, as I wonder what happens if I commit to it, but don't see it through, but I figured I'd mention it here, in relative anonymity, and see if anybody else has done anything like this or has any advice or suggestions.

[dan_bgblue]

Before I can honestly answer the question, I need to know your definition of "book".

[UKFlounder]

It will be a non-fiction account of Civil War soldiers who had some connection (birth, residence, death or burial) to Campbell County. It will be both a listing of as many names as I can find and any stories (military or human interest) about them that I can uncover.

I currently have a list of about 1300 names to research but have a couple other sources that might add a few more.

I’m guessing it will be 100-200 pages (all text, few or no photos) but that’s just an early guess right now

[Darrell KSR]

I have two books I want to write...have sketched some thoughts on each, but never gotten around to it. Neither with the idea of making money, just something fun to do. Long ago I gave up the idea that I'd be a John Grisham, as I know I don't have the time for that, and likely, not the imagination.

Books I want to write are a small e-book (maybe 60) pages or so related to soccer for Dads (focusing on all kind of basic to esoteric things to help them enjoy their kids' sport more, even to be an expert to their friends, as well as learning to follow professional soccer), and a book based on my Dad's life, "Hickman's Hassle." I probably have relayed a few stories here in the past, but his life was remarkable growing up, raising himself and his brother after his Mom died and his Dad was an alcoholic in and out of jail. "Little" stuff like skipping six weeks of school to hitchhike across the country. When he was in elementary school. Finding a human skeleton in an abandoned church. Dozens of stories that would curl your hair, make you laugh, and possibly weep for a youngster who actually turned out ok after all of that. I have very few regrets in life, but one of them was that I did not just make time to spend the hours needed to interview my Dad about these things. He and I talked about him writing the book, and he said he had started on it with a collection of short stories, but alas, my stepmom claimed she never saw the notebooks.

Flounder, you know that Rainman co-authored a book, don't you? It was about poker, and professional poker players and a collection of interviews from them. You might want to hit him up about that.

[UKFlounder]

Rain who?

Good idea

[Darrell KSR]

Rain who?

Good idea

If you hit him up, tell him to get back here and at least say hello. I know he's enjoying life as a Grandfather, playing music and stuff (from others on Facebook--I'm not a Facebook person), but he can't forget his roots.

[blueboss]

On the heels of another month, bring on July.


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[Darrell KSR]

A/C starts not blowing cold today. HVAC guy is out checking it right now. Am I going to get slaughtered with weekend rates?

Magic 8-ball says...

[blueboss]

A/C starts not blowing cold today. HVAC guy is out checking it right now. Am I going to get slaughtered with weekend rates?

Magic 8-ball says...

Service run could be higher but it sounds like a relay of some sort which aren’t expensive and shouldn’t take a lot of labor to replace.


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[Darrell KSR]

Service run could be higher but it sounds like a relay of some sort which aren’t expensive and shouldn’t take a lot of labor to replace.


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So far he says one of four things. Two have been ruled out (dirty filter or dirty ducts. Said he had to replace some sort of breaker first. We get maintenance twice a year, and they've been saying that would need to be replaced soon, so fine with that.

Now either something related to freon, or something related to coils. Not sure which. I'm in the back with the cats and wife is talking with him, which I'm fine with. She knows it better than I do anyway.

[blueboss]

Low on coolant is an easy one.

I’m watching cats/gators 2002... not the tubbyball I remember.


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[Darrell KSR]

System is 15 years old now. No repairs needed til today, so I guess that's good.

He called it a freon leak. We'll see how long it lasts, might leak out tomorrow. Replenished, and getting cooler.

[dan_bgblue]

Good repairman. You could have gotten one a lot worse. If this was the first top off of Freon in 15 years your unit may run another 10 years before it happens again. Most units have a low pressure switch that cuts off the compressor when the coolant pressure drops below a certain point. You unit could have been loosing a bit of Freon per year over it's life and just finally hit the critical level.

As you said, just have to wait and see

[KSRBEvans]

Getting a lot of Amy McGrath commercials on Pandora. Thinking about paying for Pandora Premium through Election Day just to avoid them.

Sadly, looks like I'm going to get 4 more months of McGrath ads on Pandora:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ll/5349403002/

Pandora Premium looking more attractive....

[Darrell KSR]

Just FWIW, if you ever have a product or service that you want to stay decent, don't tell me about it.

YouTube TV announced today that they're going up 30% next month. They increased their price 25% earlier this year ($40 to $50), and now $50 to $65. So this year alone they've gone from $40 to $65. I know the dollars aren't huge, but that's a large percentage increase this year (25/40, 62.5%, right? Anyway...) Yes, they added 8 more channels I won't watch. Bleh.

[KSRBEvans]

Happy Bobby Bonilla Day. Bobby gets another 1.19 million for a contract buyout from 2000. Mets could've paid him a lump sum of 5.9 mil in 2000 or 1.2 mil with 8% interest each July 1 from 2011-2036. They chose the 2nd one.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...y-every-july-1

[blueboss]

Getting pretty lively out there with an early start setting off fireworks...


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[dan_bgblue]

Is it at the hands of normal, fun loving citizens or are the Lootyville crew on the prowl?

[blueboss]

I’ve never been in a war zone so I have no idea what it sounds like, but my neighborhood was lit up last night.

Individual firework displays started around 8:00pm, and went on through midnight. I’d say the peak was around 10:00. I was out on the front porch around 10:00 and the smoke alone was unbelievable. Let freedom ring loud...it did.

I suppose a lot of folks worked out a lot of frustrations last night after being cooped up and everything other than riots cancelled.

Lootyville had a pretty quiet night as far as protests, but I did see on the news this morning there were quite a few shootings in and around the city.


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[dan_bgblue]

Lot of noise here in BG as well until about 10:30 or 11:00. I figured it was as much neighborhood activity as I have ever heard. Only year that was even close was the first year Kentucky opened up sales of rockets and mortars to the general public. 2 other things that helped cause the neighborhood activity was that there were no organized shows anywhere last night, and stimulus money was burning holes in people's pockets.

[KSRBEvans]

Mrs. BEvans and I decided to celebrate Independence Day with a hike at Jefferson Memorial Forest. Maybe not the best idea in afternoon heat, but we thought "hey, short 1.5 mile hike, in and out in an hour."

2 hours later we come out about 3 miles from where we parked. (Yes, we got massively lost.) It was either walk uphill on the road for 2.7 miles back to our car or try to find our way back on the trail where we got lost the first time. Neither seemed like a good choice. I called an Uber that took me (Mrs. BEvans refused to suffer the indignity of getting Ubered) back to our car.

Oh, and I tripped over a tree root on the trail and fell. Didn't injure my hip but did this:

B31241E7-8C18-4102-B1E4-543D523B2DFF.jpg

Not my finest moment.

[Darrell KSR]

Yikes.

4 days in a row of running, and think I will take today off. Or maybe do a short run or walk.

[blueboss]

Mrs. BEvans and I decided to celebrate Independence Day with a hike at Jefferson Memorial Forest. Maybe not the best idea in afternoon heat, but we thought "hey, short 1.5 mile hike, in and out in an hour."

2 hours later we come out about 3 miles from where we parked. (Yes, we got massively lost.) It was either walk uphill on the road for 2.7 miles back to our car or try to find our way back on the trail where we got lost the first time. Neither seemed like a good choice. I called an Uber that took me (Mrs. BEvans refused to suffer the indignity of getting Ubered) back to our car.

Oh, and I tripped over a tree root on the trail and fell. Didn't injure my hip but did this:

B31241E7-8C18-4102-B1E4-543D523B2DFF.jpg

Not my finest moment.

Something to think about.


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[Darrell KSR]

Mrs. BEvans and I decided to celebrate Independence Day with a hike at Jefferson Memorial Forest. Maybe not the best idea in afternoon heat, but we thought "hey, short 1.5 mile hike, in and out in an hour."

2 hours later we come out about 3 miles from where we parked. (Yes, we got massively lost.) It was either walk uphill on the road for 2.7 miles back to our car or try to find our way back on the trail where we got lost the first time. Neither seemed like a good choice. I called an Uber that took me (Mrs. BEvans refused to suffer the indignity of getting Ubered) back to our car.

Oh, and I tripped over a tree root on the trail and fell. Didn't injure my hip but did this:

B31241E7-8C18-4102-B1E4-543D523B2DFF.jpg

Not my finest moment.

By the way, I'm not talking here. You remember that on June 5, 2019 (National Running Day), I tripped when going from a yard back to the road, and ruptured tendons in my thumb, dislocating it, requiring surgery and pins to be put in it. Thumb still hurts today and is "tight" more than a year later. Not my finest moment, either.

[KSRBEvans]

Something to think about.


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Yeah, Mrs. BEvans thinks I need something like that. I was never the most graceful person to exist even before my left foot stopped working like it should.

Maybe I should invest in a set of those walking sticks...maybe a little bubble wrap, too....

[blueboss]

Yeah, Mrs. BEvans thinks I need something like that. I was never the most graceful person to exist even before my left foot stopped working like it should.

Maybe I should invest in a set of those walking sticks...maybe a little bubble wrap, too....

Can’t tell you how many times I wished I had a bubble wrap suit on.


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[Darrell KSR]

86° in the house.

Yes, A/C out again.

Good news... Freon hasn't leaked out.
Other good news... Bad valve needs replacing. Pretty minor repair.
Bad news... Won't have part til Monday.
Good news... Walmart neighborhood market had extra stand fans that work well and a desk fan. Ceiling fans are great, but these really do the trick.

[KSRBEvans]

My Dad's truck always seemed to break down in the winter when it was 5 degrees and snowing outside. Your A/C has to go out on the weekend. It's bad when timing works out like that. Hopefully you have a basement you can hunker down in and stay cooler.

We never had central air in our house growing up. When I was about 8 my parents bought a window unit that would keep one room of the house cool if you kept the door closed. The rest of the house, they'd open the windows and put a series of fans in the windows and throughout the house to create a cross-breeze of some type that would pull the hot air out of the house in the evening. Looking back, it was really something how they could do that.

[CitizenBBN]

Mine went out this week, but not as bad as it sounds as I have a window unit to use for the master suite, so as long as I stay here it's OK.

Bad news is most of the system will have to be replaced given the age and parts issues. New condenser unit and coils for sure, if they can find coils to work with my furnace unit. Otherwise whole thing goes.

[Darrell KSR]

It's funny, my wife was talking to the technician and she tells him it's 14 years old. It's been terrific, no repairs. Nothing special, but a good, solid Trane system. Anyway, so he immediately jumps into it might be better if the system gets replaced, because the coil could be the problem and the compressor might be next. So my wife then begins asking ballpark estimate on the repairs so she can start thinking about the replacement.

They look at me like I have 6 heads when I suggest why don't we look at it and see what the problem is before we start guessing on pricing for repairs or replacement. (You guys know me by now... 1-I don't like decision making without knowledge, and 2-I'm not fond of spending money.)

He spends 5 minutes and tells us he found the problem, and showed us where the freon was freezing up at the defective valve, which wasn't letting it through the pipe.

We have a maintenance contract with them, which gives us regular price after hours and weekend visits, and FWIW, everything has been near perfect every time. The only issue last time they came out was they suggested we'd need a new breaker switch or something and when they came out a couple of weeks ago we told them to go ahead and do that. Anyway, I think they do a good job of keeping it tuned up and working like it should. Stuff happens.