Since I killed my Alfa Romeo I am already thinking about what to buy as a replacement car. My wife wants me to get something sensible, with back seats and all of that. Here's what I'm thinking of.. Opinions? John?
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I have been tracking my weight loss progress, weighing myself daily, since I started my diet on August 20th, 70 days ago. I have lost 25 pounds so far, but want to lose another 31 pounds to reach my goal. Like many, I lost a lot of weight in the first two weeks, then weight loss slowed. I began to have stalls, but then the weight loss would pick up. In recent weeks I have started to have problems cheating on the weekends. I am going to have to build up some will power and stick more rigidly to the diet to continue the weight loss. The main reason for 'cheating' is that my clothes are falling off of me, and I am so pleased to have lost 25 pounds. I look better and feel better, and I am not gaining weight. I have a personal motivation issue to start getting hard core for the next push to continue the weight loss progression. I have adjusted my expecations and realize this is a long haul. If I lose no more than an average of one pound a week, I will still be completely satsified. ...
The Atkins Diet Poster Girl: Most commonly sighted on the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board Brook is the walking talking inspiration to thousands in support of the Atkins way of eating. And, she's even wearing Cardinal red. My diet is going well. The pace has slowed down, but I stay on a downward trend. The fact that I'm down over 25 pounds, and I am wearing much slimmer clothes, look and feel better, is plenty of reward to give me patience for a long trek towards my ultimate goal of 180. And, Brooke continues to remain an inspiration to all us "Atkineers'.
Car crash update. I was unable to get a tow truck out yesterday, so this morning I thought to myself...hmmm..I wonder if the car even drives? So, I went to the crash site and tried to start the car. It started up but died. Then I popped the hood and saw the air flow hose was disconnected and I put it back togther. This time it started and ran normally. So, I started giving it some gas and after scraping around a telephone pole I got it out of the ditch.
Since the car hit the telephone pole broadside, on the passenger side, it is mechanically sound. Meaning nothing happened to the engine or the drive train. The frame is bent, but all of the wheels are clear. Basically the whole passenger side door is now shaped exactly like a telephone pole. I drove it home, and it drove fine. There is so much body damage, the entire passenger side pretty much destroyed, that it would cost far more than the value of the car to fix. However, it does run fine and would be a great parts ...
Wow.....my Alfa Romeo is dead. I just wrapped it around a telephone pole. I walked away with just some bruises on my right hand. I was out for a country drive at lunch, now with leaves all in their glorious fall colors, and coming out of a curve it started to fishtail. I hadn't done anything remarkable to start it fishtailing, and I almost got it recovered, but it just refused and went into a ditch, slamming into a telephone pole at about 30 miles per hour.
I survived, the car did not. At least it can't cost me money any more, and I can't undo what has just happened, so life goes on. It's just a car.
I am terribly fortunate I was not killed in the accident. Had I not hit the telephone pole the car probably would have flipped, and with the convertible top down...well..let's not think about that.
Well, I got a shipment of films from Naushad. It did not include the films I paid for. This package contained 13 feature films that Naushad wanted me to sell for him. Turns out, of course, the films are in terrible condition. They have sat in storage for about 20 years, and at the time they were put there they suffered from extensive wear. Most of the splices are old and ready to break. The film is brittle and needs to be cleaned. When I clean a section of film, my rag is covered with black filth.
Surprisingly, the films generally do not have any fade. They generally have excellent color, good contrast and sound. However, they are scratched up to all hell,and are not worth much money. I imagine after selling them all I will make enough money to cover the original shipping cost from South Africa and not much more.
Naushad is sending two more batches, one of which is supposed to contain the prints I paid for. I suspect there will be a few hidden gems in these piles of tra...
I have a 150 pounds of 16mm film showing up tomorrow from South Africa. I am going to the airport in the morning, will fill out the customs forms, and hopefully will be home with the film early in the day. I have decided to take a day off of work so I can get a head start reviewing my haul.
I sure hope I'm not setting myself up for dissapointment. I'm imagining stacks of cartoons and TV series episodes. All easy to sell for a healthy profit. I could, of course, end up with damaged goods, faded colors, and bunch of educational reels nobody wants.
It's going to be an exciting day, it's like Christmas in October.
My copy of "The Last Starfighter" showed up yesterday and it was one of those rare occasions where the film is in much better condition than I expected. It appears to be in near-mint condition, perfect LPP color and virtually no wear at all. What a great, great, film to show to family and friends.
I'll update when I find out how g...
I just added a new feature film to my collection yesterday. I won a copy of "A Raisin in the Sun" from my friend Steven Sigel for only $70. Even though my wish list is composed mostly of animation, comedies, and science fiction, I still like to add classics to my stable as well. I have just started collecting the closing prices of features in my 'must have' list. This allows me to track availability, current owner, and the price the film sold for so I can budget accordingly. For example, here are some films that recently closed that I would like to own some day. "Time Bandits" : closed at $180. Actually this was a big mistake, I meant to win this auction but didn't get my bid placed in time. "Ghostbusters" - $590 "Raiders of the Lost Ark" - $1,025 "Star Wars" - $2,025 "The Empire Strikes Back" - $1,634 As you can see, this ain't a cheap hobby. Halloween is coming up and my wife had a neat idea. She suggested w...
For some time now I have been keeping a list of the movies I would love to own someday. In general I tried to keep modern movies off of this list, since they are rarely if ever available. A few modern films have crept into the list, simply as an indication of how much I love that particular film. I believe this list is fairly complete. As you will note it is heavy on comedies and science fiction. This is a reflection of my personal taste in films and the kind of films I like to show. If you feel there are any absolutely gross errors of omission, please let me know. The top of the image shows the films in my current collection. There is a blank area leaving room for new acquisitions. This list represents my 'bidding list'. I do not intend to bid on any films that are not on this list. Likewise, if any of these films ever come up for auction, I will pursue them if it is within my means to do so. Here is the list, in a pictorial format:
