Much introspection… I think I’m done with this. My soul has been bared and no more needs to be written. Time to settle down with a cocktail and watch the clouds go by.
- = -
Ok, Not really (see also, date). 
I still have plenty of secrets and adventures. Maybe even adventurous secrets.
I found this on an apartment door in Coventry in Cleveland Heights.
Umm…
For Apartment 4, ring 6.
What if you want 6? 4?
This is another of the things I found in my attic a while back. (In case you’re wondering why I was tromping around the attic — at this time I was installing a light in Ennie’s closet and this satchel of papers sat right near where I was installing it)
Ahh — the 70′s with their creepy guys with their creepy chickens in their creepy party bus you put your kids into while you’re drinking cocktails.
<shudder/>
It just looks like a pedo-van. No, I’m not saying that Colonel Frank is one — but looking at it with today’s eyes I’m seeing the creepy mobile home and creepy guy with the neckerchief and the creepy cock looking at him.
This packet of literature was sent out to a jobs center back in June of 1971. This was going to be the next big thing.
That the Colonel Frank custom-designed Party-In unit will take its place along with such famous names as McDonald’s, Holiday Inn, Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken, etc.
Interestingly I could not find a single reference to the Party-In concept once on the internet. I guess it didn’t work out.
The 70′s were a strange time — especially compared to now. (In fairness, “now” will likely seem strange 40 years from now as well)
But I guess it comes with some entertainment for the adults back in the house as well though… I’m not really sure that this type of fun is as appropriate for the kids.
- = -
In the end though it’s not a bad idea. The marketing for it looks strange and creepy now, but we are 40 years removed from it this. Closed-circuit TV was a new concept to be applied to something like this. We still have the remnants of the “Love-In” type terminology finding its way into the “Party-In.” The clip-art is odd… but that’s what you had back then.
I was talking about this with En this morning and the way this would likely work now is a food truck to cater a birthday party or something similar. The whole notion of not worrying about the food and entertainment for a party isn’t a bad one.
You can take a look at the whole set of Colonel Frank’s Party-In Literature as a PDF. It is pretty cool to read — a real throwback.
Many moons ago when Insurance.com was its own entity we had an intern. She was working in the marketing side of things and I barely remember her — I think I was introduced to her once and she was tucked away in that cube all summer.
Time passed.
Eventually I changed cubes and was in the cube that she had occupied a year or so before. She never really cleaned out her desk.
I think she’s why Insurance.com failed. I think she was a spy.
What else can explain this: ???
She had a computer next to her. The computer can remember numbers like that just fine. The level of care devoted to transcribing number after number is mind-boggling.
This looks like what you’d see from a numbers station. It’s a way to send secret messages… that or maybe a one time pad. These aren’t the only pages in that notebook… there are dozens of pages that look like this.
Is it any wonder that the year after this notebook was written that we had our first lay-off?
I think not.
Why don’t you come over and look how long it is. It’s hard to imagine it fit in that small box!
Can you feel it?
No.
I’ll wiggle it for you.
Can you feel me?
I feel you! I Feel you!
I guess I have to use the three big holes.
The guys don’t have to be that tight… just keep it from whipping around.
Pull it out real slowly.
I’m coming out of the closet.
Oh — that’s a long rod.
I’m just going to pound that rod in.
Let me know when you need another napkin.
Ok pull it… slow down!
Let me see if I could shift it over a bit.
- = -
And not one of these is what you think.
The above is from my home loan that I signed.
I’m not allowed to have radioactive materials at my house.
At the same time, elsewhere on some other document that I initialed (that I don’t seem to have any more) indicated that I would have a smoke detector.
The interesting thing with that is the average smoke detector uses a few micro-curies of Americium as an alpha particle source to detect the smoke.
I was really reading this. It’s the biggest transaction that I’ve done up to that point (and in fact the biggest to date still).
I pointed this out to the loan agent — the fact that the documents are in conflict.
He looked at me with an annoyed look and pointed at the where I should keep on initialing.
Sometimes reading this stuff really doesn’t do you any good I guess.
With my recent trauma I know there has been talk of the future of the pancakes.
There will be pancakes “Bob” damn it!
I can (mostly) walk! It’s a miracle!
Praise “Bob!”
My hip has been ruptured already!
The yetis need their sustenance for the ritual X-Day drill. Though this year it might not be a drill. Who knows, maybe the kook Harold Camping primed the pump as it were. Maybe the X-ists will come this year.
Maybe it’s 1998!
Maybe… in less than three weeks time the world will end… On July 5th 1998 the world will end. This time for sure!
We’ll show the world who the real kooks are. And we’ll be camping!
Overman Pancake
Maybe.
But at least there will be slack-jacks.
Last weekend was the 79th running of the 24 hour race at Le Mans. Speed channel was covering it and they did a marvelous job of it. You need to tune in next year for the race — or hell, many of the races and shows!
That being said it’s easy to get loopy after you’ve been on the ambling about for more than seven hours — both working or just watching the race.
It’s dusk. You’ve been awake all day. The race has been going on for seven hours now. You’ve had more than your fair share of alcohol…
Just skip to around 1:20 for the fun bit. (Ignore the slightly wonky video — he seemed almost out of range for what he was doing. The audio on the other hand it just fine.)
Ahhh… like I said… live + drunk.
I’m not sure who’s drunker.
*hic*
First, just cause I’m a dick and this is going to stick in your head all day long:
Ooh my little lumpy one, lumpy one
I hope you gonna go away some time seroma
Ooh you really grow on me, grow on me.
Always seem to fillin’ up my seroma.
Right under the cut, gettin’ huge
Even after gettin’ drained, on my hip,
Really don’t want to go away.
My my my i yi woo
My my my my seroma.
(With many, many apologies The Knack and thanks to Cynthia!)
- = -
Now that I killed that sone for you I’ll continue on.
From yesterday’s post you know I had it drained and 28cc of fluid came out of it. It was all good and non lumpy. The doctor told me to keep it iced and put a weight on it.
I did. I kept it iced all day long and tried to apply pressure as well. Somehow whatever I was doing was insufficient and by the night it had regained most of it’s volume. Not good.
En brought over some therapy weights that she had before we went to sleep and I just put them on my hip letting gravity do it’s thing. There was perhaps six or seven pounds of weight bearing down on the lump. This of course only works while I’m on my back since it’s in an awkward spot on my hip. (It’s on the part of my hip above the crease on my thigh)
Upon waking up I realized the lump was smaller. This was the first time that it changed size in the direction I wanted it to.
But I didn’t want to lay on my back the entire time I’m waiting for this damn thing to go away.
This has turned from a medical problem into an engineering problem. I figure that the weights were applying some force to the seroma. I’m estimating around 30 newtons of force spread over perhaps 200cm^2. All I have to do is replicate that. The question is how.
Yesterday, in addition to the Aleve that the doctor recommended we also picked up some bandages. The problem was that there would be no way for me to wrap it in a way that it would apply pressure to the right spot.
That is until I saw the Altoids tin.
With the Altoids tin strapped under the bandages I was able to selectively apply pressure to exactly the lump. Ever since it’s been on the lump has been getting smaller and smaller!
As it turns out I independently re-invented a pressure dressing for myself. 
I was careful to spread out the bandages to ensure low pressure everywhere but the Altoids tin. Under the tin itself I’m guessing the pressure level from the weights has been more-or-less replicated. Additionally the flat bottom of the tin and the radiused corners ensure that there are no points with exceedingly high pressure.
I’ve been wearing this all day and I’ve not had any problems at all and it’s not uncomfortable. I think engineering has prevailed!
Dear Griffin:
I was so excited when I saw your product at the local shop! I’ve been looking for a way to charge my iPad in my old Chevy and I was amazed when I saw my car on the package! A 1934 Chevy was right there on the box! Sweetness!
Immediately I picked it up the PowerJolt
and excitedly unpacked it. I tried it out in my daily driver, a Chevy Volt, and it worked great. Later that day I drove down to the local car show. I figured that my gear needed a bit of a boost and I wanted to try it out in my show car. I was dismayed when I discovered that I had no socket to plug it in on my dash. I don’t smoke so I never really looked closely. I looked all over and did not find anything to plug it into. Booo…
At the show I met up with my good buddy Dave who has a 1940 Chevy. I wanted to know if it would work there. Sure enough he had a cigarette lighter sitting there. I plugged it in but it didn’t really fit. It was kinda rattle-y in there. We used the aluminum foil from the hot dog I just ate and wedged it in so it would get some juice. With that I connected up my iPad since by this point it was drained. And… nothing. It just sat there. Booo again.
We were both stumped. I pulled out the PowerJolt and tried the actual lighter to make sure it was working. No problem. A few moments after pushing it in it popped out glowing a cherry red. It obviously had power.
1934 Chevrolet Master Series DA 4-Door Sedan - Photo by Lars-Göran Lindgren - Used with permission
Just then our friend Joe walked over and reminded us that up until the ’50s these cars had six-volt power systems. He offered up his ’72 Camaro’s outlet and finally my iPad had some juice. At last the mystery was solved.
I figured you’d want to know that your box somewhat misstates what the contents are really compatible with.
Sincerely,
George
- = -
Ok, I wish I had a ’34 Chevy. But it is an interesting rabbit-hole I went down when I started to explore the picture on the box. It looked like a car from the 30′s, but I’m not a car geek enough to know. I narrowed it down to either a 1933 or ’34 Chevy.
I wanted to know if cars back then even had cigarette lighters? The answer: maybe. The modern socket came about in 1925. I hunted around to look at some schematics of the old Chevy cars. The 1934 didn’t have one listed. I didn’t know if it was just left out or what. As I went forward eventually I found the 1940 model marked the first appearance of a cigarette lighter. I’m deducing that the 1934 didn’t have one since they would have marked it.
The 6V sockets were a bit bigger than the 12V sockets. Presumably this was a safety to ensure that you couldn’t plug a 6V lighter into a 12V socket. The 6V would have lower resistance to get more (though lower voltage) current to flow to get the same heating. Plugging it in to a 12V system would cause it to draw too much current which would be dangerous. (Precisely it would draw four time the current that the socket would be likely have been designed for)
(As an aside it’s cool to see how little it takes to make a car work. Now cars have miles of wires, then, not so much. Even my bike has a small booklet as a schematic — and it’s tiny print!)
The other fun fact is that up until the 50′s most cars had a 6V power system instead of the 12V that modern cars have. The Chevy in this case was no exception. We did get lucky on at least one thing: the Chevy had a negative ground system. Some cars of the era had a positive ground system. Why? To keep the points in the ignition system a bit cleaner.
In any case, this was an interesting little jaunt down history!
I hope Griffin doesn’t hold a grudge for poking some fun at their expense.
