Just though I’d share this all with you.
A month ago to the day, I posted a message
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=41087.1
asking if anybody had a few Dakota Mahogany granite tiles they didn’t really need. I needed a few to do a matching backsplash for my countertops.
Ralph Wicklund, a BT regular, who lives in Jacksonville FL posted saying he had some leftover from a prior job, and posted a pic of what he had. It didn’t look close, but I cut a small sample of a scrap I had lying around and sent it to him in the mail.
He took a few side by side pics and sent them to me (lighting is critical here)……Near perfect match!!!! See pics.
We ultimately talk on the phone, and strike a deal. He also mentions that he has some friends that will be passing near me on their way from FL to WI in April. (turns out like within 6 miles!!!) and if I were in no rush, could transport the tiles, thus saving shipping charges, (granite is heavy).
Any how, they passed through today, 10 minutes ahead of schedule, and……………in addition to what we agreed upon, Ralph gave me all the granite he had!!!…….AND 20 lbs of fresh Florida grapefruit!!!!!!!!
Met his friends just off the off ramp on HWY45 where we did the exchange.
BT er’s can be like family if you stick around long enough.. Gotta’ remember that next time I get into a flame with someone, though
And as far as Ralph W. goes……….BT er’s don’t get any better
THANKS.
Jon B.
Edited 4/15/2004 7:27 pm ET by WorkshopJon
Replies
>>all the granite had!.......AND 20 lbs of fresh Florida grapefruit!!!!!!!!
I hope he packed the granite first!
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in (now it looks like) April and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim and Rich and Steven and Mark and Jason and Shep and Jen and Mike and Joe and Bill and Ken for their offers!
Several donations have arrived! Thanks and God bless!
I fixed that grammatical error.
My computer locked up as I tried to attach this....
Hey Jon,
That is a great story, thanks for sharing it. Good to know that "community" still means something to some folks.
Is that notch where he cut out the sample??
:)
Nuthing like fresh grapefruit!!
Mr T
Happiness is a cold wet nose
Life is is never to busy to stop and pet the Doggies!!
"Nuthing like fresh grapefruit!!"
But 20 lbs??? Good thing it lasts a while! Wife doesn't know it yet, but we're havin' grapefruit salad tonight.
Jon
now ya got something to to stick some silicon carbide sandpaper to to HONE them chisels!!!! <G>
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Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
and for breakfast, lunch and supper!!!
LOL!
If those are your toes in the bottom of that pic you got yourself some serious slabs of granite;o)
"just nail that board up there!!!"
"look, lady..."
Nice topic!
Junkhound provided me with one of those old blow torches like plumbers used to use, sometime back. Didn't ask for a damned thing in return, in spite of the fact the post office was annoyed with white gas fumes in his parcel and caused him some grief.
I'll always be grateful to him....and the torch works and I use it on occasion!
Frank, my 4 grandkids went thru the gallon of maple syrup you sent unasked in return like it was soda pop, they enjoyed it more than anyone! Make them pancakes when they stay over (actually scrambeled eggs with a little pancake mix added floating in syrup <G>.) They added the syrup.
It looks to me like the sample in front(the lower right), has a bit more of the pink hue to it. Pretty close, though.
"It looks to me like the sample in front(the lower right), has a bit more of the pink hue to it."
Dave,
Picky, picky. IMO close to perfect. Besides, their going to be perpendicular, so the light cast will always be different.
Jon
Ralph, I think I'm short some grapefr....errr, tile, too.
Great story. By the way, can someone drive by my home and drop off a new pick-up truck? ;)
If only there were more posts like this rather than a seemingly infinite number of partisan political threads each day.
Thanks again for the great story.
"Great story. By the way, can someone drive by my home and drop off a new pick-up truck"
Steve,
Actually, I'm going to probably be flying over Cleveland tomorrow. If you post the exact coordinates of where your house is, I'll release said requested truck from the plane at just the right time. LOL
Jon
Holy cow! You might hurt someone.
By the time that thing travels that far through the air, it'll gain a lot of energy. The velocity will be impressive.
Anybody want to calculate the force that would be contained in a one ounce Matchbox truck after falling ten thousand feet?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Actually, you gotta figure aerodynamic drag. At some speed it equals gravity, and the falling object continues at that constant speed. It's called the terminal velocity. For human sky divers, it's about 120 MPH. The matchbox toy would probably max out a lot slower than that.
-- J.S.
"For human sky divers, it's about 120 MPH"
I've seen that reported more often as 170-180 mph for a randomly oriented human. I've been in gusts, at ground level, of 135 mph and didn't take flight. Almost everything else did - tools, truck doors, etc. (Dutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands)
An experienced skydiver can assume a lower drag orientation and go about 300 mph. Dive instructors practice this for the purpose of catching up with divers in trouble. About 5 years ago, there was a successful save by an instructor of an unconscious student below by that technique.
But even from 6 stories, a human can get going pretty fast, albeit less than terminal velocity. The person I know of that did that didn't die but she killed the person she landed on.David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
Pop's DE in early '43 lost a guy overboard due to a wind gust off DH, also one to a wave washing overboard. Not much chance once blown over there when the only reason to be above deck is chipping ice. Pop said he never saw the sun in all the time he was in that area.
Yeah, I look at those pillboxes left over from WWII and think of GIs fresh off the boat from Fort Dix, NJ in cotton fatigues standing watch not knowing if the Japanese were about to land or not.
Most of the toxic wastes I clean up were from slow leaks or multiple events over many decades. The DH spill was June 2, 1942. The day the Japanese bombed the tanks! As part of the whole Aleutian Island diversion from Midway. (it didn't work, we'd broken their code).David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
Maybe the physics has changed (where's Newton when you really need him?) but when I was jumping in the 60's a spread eagle position gave you a terminal of about 120, a "bomb" position (we called it then) - arms tightly crossed over your chest and legs slightly parted to give some stability - boosted speed to about 180.
Each person has their own terminal - I was pretty skinny in those days and, from a spread eagle, had to pull arms and legs in a bit to keep up with my friends.
That was back in the days when a standard chute was a 28' round modified military canopy with a couple of panels cut to give some manuverability; but the really hot folks had a "Paracommander"
I jumped with a 35' cargo chute once and opened high - took a couple of days and one or two counties for me to land {G}
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in (now it looks like) April and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim and Rich and Steven and Mark and Jason and Shep and Jen and Mike and Joe and Bill and Ken for their offers!
Several donations have arrived! Thanks and God bless!
from my jumping experience back in the late 70's- early 80's, it seems to me bob is about right on this one (DID EVERYBODY SEE THAT? BOB AND I AGREE ON SOMETHING!!) 120mph was more or less normal for the average person, flat, level, spread eagle position, with no specialized jump suit - which have more sail area. for purposes of 'relative work' -or formation jumps with other skydivers- jumpsuit mfrs developed a 'standardized rate of fall' so that by customizing the sail area/extra fabric of the suit they could make people of all shapes and sizes drop and same velocity. this is very useful when you're trying to build stars, snowflakes, etc. if memory serves, the standard rate was only about 110mph, or maybe even slower than that. slower fall = more air time = more fun, obviously.
maximum terminal velocity was about 180-200mph depending on factors such as altitude, body weight and shape, clothing and position- and ability to hold optimum form in a 'max track'. this involved putting the arms back along the body, legs straight out, feet about shoulder width, which increases drag at the feet and minimizes it at the head, making for a nearly vertical attitude and you HAUL A$$! (which is incredibly exciting and fun- btw)
at extreme altitudes, freefall records for speed are significantly faster.
m
Mitch,
What is the max speed freefall record anyhow?
Holy Cow!
Alright, but the next time I'm charging ya.
it's probably in the guiness book- seems to me some guy who hopped out of a balloon years ago at about 85,000 ft damn near broke the sound barrier or some such insane velocity. (also, keep in mind the sound barrier is slower in thinner atmosphere) i'd guess probably at least over 300mph from that height. i checked guiness online but it wasn't obvious what to search for.
believe me, top speed from normal skydiving altitudes seems pretty friggin fast!
m
> some guy who hopped out of a balloon years ago at about 85,000 ft ....
Some of the top secret military experiments right after WWII that gave rise to the Roswell space alien thing involved parachute jumps from extreme altitudes.
-- J.S.
The consensus among those with more experience is 120 mph. Guess I heard wrong.
But are Bob and Mitch agreeing? Or is Mitch only agreeing that if Bob were thrown out of an airplane, Bob would hit the ground? And Bob feels that he should be given a parachute first? <G>David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
LOL!
actually, i should be allowed to pack bob's chute...
(he must have me on 'super-ignore' or something. i've tried to contact him 3 times to see if he could use an older bosch rotary hammer as a donation for the mission work he collects for, but he's never responded. maybe someone could ask him for me?)
m
It took him a while to notice my email to him about a tool donation also, so it's not just the right-wingers.
I think most of the Caribbean is 120-volt, 60 cycle, so I think it would be a great donation but I've never been to Haiti (and probably won't be going anytime soon!) so better to ask.David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
Jon
I'm not kidding here....I had a long time BT'er here offer to have someone he knows take care of the people that ripped me off.
course I'd "never" ever say who..........kinda blew my mind a bit.
What a nice person to offer......I mean that!
I took a mechanics lean out on their house instead but the BT'er is in my heart forever...lol
BE The Soppranos
andy
My life is my passion!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
"I'm not kidding here....I had a long time BT'er here offer to have someone he knows take care of the people that ripped me off."
Andy,
Guess I forgot to mention the BIL is an FBI Special Agent
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He's the guy between my black friend and the one in the Navy shirt.
Works anti-terror in DC currently, and carries an Uzi AND a .40 CAL Glock.
Glad he's family, trust me, you don't want to mess with him.
Edited 4/16/2004 10:57 pm ET by WorkshopJon
Edited 4/16/2004 11:01 pm ET by WorkshopJon
Ralph is good people. I think he is a kind of stand up guy so it wouldn't surprise me what he did.
MG,
Do you know Ralph personally?
But yeah, definitely a very nice guy, and someone I'd love to meet in person.
Jon