Hello, Geezer coming back to this forum. Paul B
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
boozeman
Member
Hi Paul, nice to see a familiar name here. Ho have you been? I hope you are doing well. I've been away from the hobby for many years and logged in to start some research as my son has shown a deep interest in the hobby and I was thinking of setting up a small reef for him. I'm surprised to see that this forum is nowhere near as busy as it was a decade ago. Where did everyone go?
Welcome back. A lot of people are in facebook groups or local club forums these days.
I'm right over there.
Paul B
Premium Member
Boozeman, Wow a name from the past. How the heck are you? Very nice to see you here.
Many people left this forum a few years ago for various issues but they are remedied now and it is very friendly. I was away from here myself and came back recently.
There are also a lot of local forums all over the place and some people gravitated to sites in their areas.
I wish your Son luck in the hobby as it has given me half a century of fun.
Welcome back.
Many people left this forum a few years ago for various issues but they are remedied now and it is very friendly. I was away from here myself and came back recently.
There are also a lot of local forums all over the place and some people gravitated to sites in their areas.
I wish your Son luck in the hobby as it has given me half a century of fun.
Welcome back.
boozeman
Member
Thanks Paul,
I’m doing well. Sold the store a couple of years ago and retired. Been keeping myself busy helping out a friend with his wine import company. My son pictured in my avatar when he was about 5, will be graduating next year as a pilot (how time flies). although I was born and lived all my life in NY, Im planning on leaving. Maybe I’ll set up a reasonably sized reef when I move
I’m doing well. Sold the store a couple of years ago and retired. Been keeping myself busy helping out a friend with his wine import company. My son pictured in my avatar when he was about 5, will be graduating next year as a pilot (how time flies). although I was born and lived all my life in NY, Im planning on leaving. Maybe I’ll set up a reasonably sized reef when I move
Paul B
Premium Member
That sounds great Booze. I retired about 18 years ago and haven't looked back. I may have to go back to work so I can take a day off because I am to busy with fun things.
Your son looks like he is going to be a great pilot. Our Daughter went back to law school after 20 years. She is almost done then she may go to medical school. She doesn't want to work, she just likes school so I am not sure if she is my real Daughter because I hated every part of it.
Your son looks like he is going to be a great pilot.
Our Daughter went back to law school after 20 years. She is almost done then she may go to medical school. She doesn't want to work, she just likes school so I am not sure if she is my real Daughter because I hated every part of it. SantaMonica
Well-known member
I think I spotted an aquarium being covertly installed in that plane.
Paul B
Premium Member
This Friday I will go in for my 31st surgery. This one is a tiny surgery and I am not sure why they are even calling it surgery. I have this "freckle" on my lower eyelid and being my wife makes me go for a skin check every year the guy found this tiny spot about a quarter the size of what a bite would look like from an anorexic toddler mosquito who still has his baby teeth.
So it's supposed to be skin cancer and of course they must remove it. I am 74 years old and it would take 60 years for this thing to kill me so I just don't get it.
Yesterday they made me go for a pre- op check up and a covid test which I feel is way over kill.
After the "eyelid specialist surgeon" (who knew there even was such a thing) finishes removing the thing in 4 hours. (yes, this is supposed to take 4 hours for some reason. Maybe he has to glue back my eyelashes one at a time) then I go to the "eyelid plastic surgeon" in a different building miles away who will attempt to make me look like I have Betty Davis eyes.
This will take all day and I will probably have a patch on my eye so I can change my name to Paulie Pirate. My wife will have to drive me and I am not crazy about that because she drives with a left foot gas pedal because her right leg doesn't work any more. I won't let her drive on the highway but we have to for this as I don't want to drive with one eye. (And most of my friends ran to Florida to escape the cold)
On another note, yesterday as I was looking for the doctor for the pre op and I asked my 12 year old " I Phone 4" to tell me how to get to this place. My phone just "said" that I am not connected to the internet and it can't tell me anything. I am not that good with I Phones but it never had to be connected to the internet for that and it even worked in Hawaii, Tahiti and Brooklyn so I wasn't sure why it didn't work all of a sudden.
I took it to a phone fixing place and he told me the phone was to old and Apple stopped using G3 so they shut it off and I needed a new phone. They didn't sell phones there so I don't think he was lying just to sell me a phone.
I don't want a new phone because this one is simple and all I do with it is take some pictures and call people. I don't watch epic movies like
"The Ten Commandments, Avitar" or "Gone With the Wind" on it and I don't play games. I never use it for E Mail because I really don't even know how so I don't need a two thousand dollar "I Phone 27" with 43 Gigabytes. (I don't even know what a gigabyte is)
So this morning I went to the Verizon store to get a new one. First I researched (on my computer) the best phone for my needs. I found this Apple 13 Mini is supposed to be the best in the size I wanted.
I got to the store at ten to ten because they open at 10. I pulled up to the door and noticed there was a girl waiting to get in.
She was a tall blonde, thin, nice looking carrying a tablet and wearing red sneakers and smoking a Marlboro cigarette but I really didn't pay much attention to her.
I said, you were here first so you go in first. She said she works there. She asked me why I was going there. I said "my phone croaked and Seri doesn't talk to me any more".
She asked if she could see it so I handed it to her. She asked me my password and pushed two buttons and handed it back to me.
It's fixed......She said the Data function was turned off.......... Like Duh.
I said, I probably should give you the seven hundred dollars you just saved me.
She said my I Phone 4 is good but it is much slower than a new phone. I said to her, if I am traveling on the highway going 60 MPG, isn't my I Phone 4 going as fast as an I phone 14?
So it's supposed to be skin cancer and of course they must remove it. I am 74 years old and it would take 60 years for this thing to kill me so I just don't get it.
Yesterday they made me go for a pre- op check up and a covid test which I feel is way over kill.
After the "eyelid specialist surgeon" (who knew there even was such a thing) finishes removing the thing in 4 hours. (yes, this is supposed to take 4 hours for some reason. Maybe he has to glue back my eyelashes one at a time) then I go to the "eyelid plastic surgeon" in a different building miles away who will attempt to make me look like I have Betty Davis eyes.
This will take all day and I will probably have a patch on my eye so I can change my name to Paulie Pirate. My wife will have to drive me and I am not crazy about that because she drives with a left foot gas pedal because her right leg doesn't work any more. I won't let her drive on the highway but we have to for this as I don't want to drive with one eye. (And most of my friends ran to Florida to escape the cold)
On another note, yesterday as I was looking for the doctor for the pre op and I asked my 12 year old " I Phone 4" to tell me how to get to this place. My phone just "said" that I am not connected to the internet and it can't tell me anything. I am not that good with I Phones but it never had to be connected to the internet for that and it even worked in Hawaii, Tahiti and Brooklyn so I wasn't sure why it didn't work all of a sudden.
I took it to a phone fixing place and he told me the phone was to old and Apple stopped using G3 so they shut it off and I needed a new phone. They didn't sell phones there so I don't think he was lying just to sell me a phone.
I don't want a new phone because this one is simple and all I do with it is take some pictures and call people. I don't watch epic movies like
"The Ten Commandments, Avitar" or "Gone With the Wind" on it and I don't play games. I never use it for E Mail because I really don't even know how so I don't need a two thousand dollar "I Phone 27" with 43 Gigabytes. (I don't even know what a gigabyte is)
So this morning I went to the Verizon store to get a new one. First I researched (on my computer) the best phone for my needs. I found this Apple 13 Mini is supposed to be the best in the size I wanted.
I got to the store at ten to ten because they open at 10. I pulled up to the door and noticed there was a girl waiting to get in.
She was a tall blonde, thin, nice looking carrying a tablet and wearing red sneakers and smoking a Marlboro cigarette but I really didn't pay much attention to her.
I said, you were here first so you go in first. She said she works there. She asked me why I was going there. I said "my phone croaked and Seri doesn't talk to me any more".
She asked if she could see it so I handed it to her. She asked me my password and pushed two buttons and handed it back to me.
It's fixed......She said the Data function was turned off.......... Like Duh.
I said, I probably should give you the seven hundred dollars you just saved me.
She said my I Phone 4 is good but it is much slower than a new phone. I said to her, if I am traveling on the highway going 60 MPG, isn't my I Phone 4 going as fast as an I phone 14?
Vinny Kreyling
Premium Member
I hope you gave her a tip!
Paul B
Premium Member
Anyway, the next day, my phone died again so I figured it was trying to tell me something but it didn't want to bother SIRI to tell me.
I had to get a new phone. You just can't walk into a phone store, not in New York anyway and the place is huge like Home Depot. It's like going into a doctors office which by the way I have to go to today for two surgeries.
You have to make an appointment and you have to do it on your phone. If I could make an appointment on my phone, I wouldn't have to go there and get a new phone now would I?
So I go to this huge mall 45 minutes away and this girl about as old as my Grand Daughter greets me like her Grand Father and sits me down. (I hate malls because like all men, I get that mall look) She asks me if I am comfortable and perhaps need a blanket, put my feet up or a cup of tea.
Then she asks what she can do for me and I give her my 12 year old IPhone 4. This totally amazes her and she calls over all the other employees who were younger then my phone.
They were amazed and never saw an IPhone 4. They are all playing with it and using functions that I had no idea were on the thing. They thought I kept it in my flannel pajamas for 12 years because it doesn't have a scratch on it and looks like it came out of the Henry Ford factory yesterday.
So she comes out with this "IPhone 13 mini" which I searched and figured I needed. It is supposed to have the best camera and the pictures of you actually look better than you really do.
It actually has two cameras and I think it is the same phone Steven Spielberg used to film Avatar. Or was that that other guy? I don't know.
She shows me some of the functions and tells me that when I get home to my nursing home the thing will know it's connected to wifi and automatically transfer the old data and pictures from my old phone into this one. Like really! I doubt it.
She said due to the antiquity of my old 3G phone she couldn't just transfer the data (which is mostly fish pictures) to the new phone because my old phone would get all nervous and blow up or go on fire.
So I leave the store with this new phone which doesn't do anything yet and go home. I called my wife on my way to see if the thing worked and what do you know, it did.
I get the thing home and lay it on my counter to get my wife. When I come back, it reads "Hello Paul".
What a nice phone. It does all sorts of things and now I am in my kitchen waiting for it to make me breakfast. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:
I had to get a new phone. You just can't walk into a phone store, not in New York anyway and the place is huge like Home Depot. It's like going into a doctors office which by the way I have to go to today for two surgeries.
You have to make an appointment and you have to do it on your phone. If I could make an appointment on my phone, I wouldn't have to go there and get a new phone now would I?
So I go to this huge mall 45 minutes away and this girl about as old as my Grand Daughter greets me like her Grand Father and sits me down. (I hate malls because like all men, I get that mall look) She asks me if I am comfortable and perhaps need a blanket, put my feet up or a cup of tea.
Then she asks what she can do for me and I give her my 12 year old IPhone 4. This totally amazes her and she calls over all the other employees who were younger then my phone.
They were amazed and never saw an IPhone 4. They are all playing with it and using functions that I had no idea were on the thing. They thought I kept it in my flannel pajamas for 12 years because it doesn't have a scratch on it and looks like it came out of the Henry Ford factory yesterday.
So she comes out with this "IPhone 13 mini" which I searched and figured I needed. It is supposed to have the best camera and the pictures of you actually look better than you really do.
It actually has two cameras and I think it is the same phone Steven Spielberg used to film Avatar. Or was that that other guy? I don't know.
She shows me some of the functions and tells me that when I get home to my nursing home the thing will know it's connected to wifi and automatically transfer the old data and pictures from my old phone into this one. Like really! I doubt it.
She said due to the antiquity of my old 3G phone she couldn't just transfer the data (which is mostly fish pictures) to the new phone because my old phone would get all nervous and blow up or go on fire.
So I leave the store with this new phone which doesn't do anything yet and go home. I called my wife on my way to see if the thing worked and what do you know, it did.
I get the thing home and lay it on my counter to get my wife. When I come back, it reads "Hello Paul".
What a nice phone. It does all sorts of things and now I am in my kitchen waiting for it to make me breakfast. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
Good Morning. I used to be on this forum many years ago just after Lincoln got shot. I had a thread that went on for many years. I decided to leave then but the owner John invited me back.
He offered me 3 weeks in the Bahamas, all expenses paid including the 53' Yacht crewed by many of the people appearing on "Dancing with the Stars".
(the winners, not the losers)
I am not quite sure if he will come through with that now with the price of gas, but we will see.
My tank is still going and it is now 51 years old. The oldest fish are a pair of almost 30 year old fireclowns which are still happy and still spawning.
View attachment 32371420
I still don't quarantine or even offer up tea leaves to the Gods but my fish don't care and most of them don't even drink tea.
I do have a big reef tank problem because about 10 years ago I added a little piece of light blue, photosynthetic sponge.
Now most of my tank is covered in light blue, photosynthetic sponge.
It looks nice but wants to cover my corals and if I sleep late, it will cover me in bed.
This gobi is sitting on beautiful blue "Montipora" (which is actually sponge)
Since I was here I wrote a book. It's not an autobiography or a new addition of the bible but I won't mention it here except to say that JohnL is reading it.
More than 100% of the profits go to MS research in my wife's name. It is selling so fast that I got a call from a country along the Amazon River pleading with me to stop printing it because they are running out of rain forest. They had to stop printing the Bible because there wasn't enough wood for both books.
Since I was here I spoke at a few reef forums and had fun. I also started a new hobby but that is also for another day. I am old so I am not sure how many other days I have.
I also moved here to the eastern end of Long Island NY 4 years ago. I put everything in vats, drove the 60 miles out here and filled the tank. The ocean is about 90 yards behind my house so I just collect water there and dump it in. I first remove the ice cubes.
This is one of the places I collect. Occasionally I can't get on here because Dorothy Hamill uses it to practice for the 2030 Olympics.
I also invented this feeder if anyone is interested. I am not sure if I was still posting on here when this happened. But it feeds baby brine shrimp to various fish.
Time to cook, I may get back to this later. I am baking bread and making my wife her favorite, it's an Italian peasant meal.
Escarole and beans.
Have fun.
PAUL!!
I became you.
i have not done a water a change since we last talked. No skimmer… feed fish a few times a year. RODI membrane is older than he moon and likely contributes moreTDS than it removes. Everything is happy.
I don’t have old glass bottles in my tank. I fear if I put them there, the transformation will be complete and an aluminum knee will be inevitable.
Last edited:
Paul B
Premium Member
I had two surgeries yesterday. They took a small cancer thing off my lower eyelid which I probably was born with.
Anyway the first surgery at 9:30 am they called me the night before to tell me to have a big breakfast and stay hydrated by drinking water.
OK but right after that, the second doctor who was an eyelid plastic surgeon called me to tell me not to eat or drink anything from the night before. It's a good thing they called because I would have eaten 7 pancakes with eggs.
The second surgery happened about 5:00pm even though my appointment was for 11:30 am. So we sat there, kind of hungry for 5 1/2 hours before they took me in to the "little room" where they put you to "get ready".
The nurse comes in and tells me to take off all my clothes. I told her the last time a woman asked me that, I got married.
So I am naked with the paper gown and the anesthesiologist, doctor, nurse and the guy who sweeps the floor come in to ask questions.
The eye lid, plastic surgeon asks me which eye it is?
Now I just came from the surgeon who removed the thing from my left eyelid and didn't close the wound because this guy is supposed to do that and it is all bloody and swollen.
I asked him to "Look closer". OK I see it is your left eye. Now I am thinking maybe this guy is a podiatrist or audiologist.
I jokingly said to him, can you make me look like Brad Pitt. He said, no problem, but just that one lower eyelid.
The anesthesiologist asks me if I have ever been under general anesthesia before and this is after I just said to him that this will be my 31st surgery.
So as we are talking they say ok all done. I said: "Whats done"?. The surgery is over and you did great.
If you have ever had surgery, the stuff they put you out with is so good that you don't even know you were out for an hour. This happened for my last three surgeries. You don't even realize you had an operation until you get up off the gurney and notice you are naked and the cold is going to parts on you that never get cold.
Now I am home and except for looking like I got hit in the face with a baseball bat, all is well except my left lower eyelid looks like Brad Pitts eyelid.
Anyway the first surgery at 9:30 am they called me the night before to tell me to have a big breakfast and stay hydrated by drinking water.
OK but right after that, the second doctor who was an eyelid plastic surgeon called me to tell me not to eat or drink anything from the night before. It's a good thing they called because I would have eaten 7 pancakes with eggs.
The second surgery happened about 5:00pm even though my appointment was for 11:30 am. So we sat there, kind of hungry for 5 1/2 hours before they took me in to the "little room" where they put you to "get ready".
The nurse comes in and tells me to take off all my clothes. I told her the last time a woman asked me that, I got married.
So I am naked with the paper gown and the anesthesiologist, doctor, nurse and the guy who sweeps the floor come in to ask questions.
The eye lid, plastic surgeon asks me which eye it is?
Now I just came from the surgeon who removed the thing from my left eyelid and didn't close the wound because this guy is supposed to do that and it is all bloody and swollen.
I asked him to "Look closer". OK I see it is your left eye. Now I am thinking maybe this guy is a podiatrist or audiologist.
I jokingly said to him, can you make me look like Brad Pitt. He said, no problem, but just that one lower eyelid.
The anesthesiologist asks me if I have ever been under general anesthesia before and this is after I just said to him that this will be my 31st surgery.
So as we are talking they say ok all done. I said: "Whats done"?. The surgery is over and you did great.
If you have ever had surgery, the stuff they put you out with is so good that you don't even know you were out for an hour. This happened for my last three surgeries. You don't even realize you had an operation until you get up off the gurney and notice you are naked and the cold is going to parts on you that never get cold.
Now I am home and except for looking like I got hit in the face with a baseball bat, all is well except my left lower eyelid looks like Brad Pitts eyelid.
Welcome back
Vinny Kreyling
Premium Member
Watch out for those Angela Jolie dreams!
Paul B
Premium Member
Every morning I make breakfast for my wife. On weekends we go out but most other times I cook or bake. She makes dinner most of the time unless I feel creative.
This morning I made scones. I have to substitute a lot of ingredients because we try to eat healthy so very little fat, salt, sugar and M&Ms.
It's very easy to cook or bake if you can load everything up with butter, salt and sugar. That doesn't take much talent. Cooking healthy while making it taste other than sawdust and cardboard is harder.
As a matter of fact, if you mix sugar, butter and salt in a pot and eat it, it would probably be delicious all by itself.
I am not sure why these biscuits rose so much but I probably added to much baking powder. Anyway they will go great with some eggs.
October will be our 50th anniversary so my wife has been busy trying to pick a place to go and we are taking the family including Grand Kids. It has to be friendly for 10 year olds (boy and girl) and handicapped accessible. Either one is easy but both of those necessities are tough.
I don't want to go to Europe now the way the world is so we are trying to stay on this hemisphere. I was even looking at American Riverboat cruises but they are mostly for geezers like myself. I won't go near Disney as the place gives me the horrors and we have been to most of the Caribbean but we may end up there if we can find a suitable place. It's just that most of the Caribbean Islands are pretty much the same.
We don't want just a kid place because it is really for us and our Grand Kids spend about 18 hours each day on their tablets anyway.
It will be in June so it will be hot and although we know many people in Florida, it's just to hot there then. I was thinking maybe somewhere in Canada or Nova Scotia. Even Alaska but we are still looking and if anyone has any suggestions I would like o hear them but they have to have those qualities. Kids and handicapped.
This morning I made scones. I have to substitute a lot of ingredients because we try to eat healthy so very little fat, salt, sugar and M&Ms.
It's very easy to cook or bake if you can load everything up with butter, salt and sugar. That doesn't take much talent. Cooking healthy while making it taste other than sawdust and cardboard is harder.
As a matter of fact, if you mix sugar, butter and salt in a pot and eat it, it would probably be delicious all by itself.
I am not sure why these biscuits rose so much but I probably added to much baking powder. Anyway they will go great with some eggs.
October will be our 50th anniversary so my wife has been busy trying to pick a place to go and we are taking the family including Grand Kids. It has to be friendly for 10 year olds (boy and girl) and handicapped accessible. Either one is easy but both of those necessities are tough.
I don't want to go to Europe now the way the world is so we are trying to stay on this hemisphere. I was even looking at American Riverboat cruises but they are mostly for geezers like myself. I won't go near Disney as the place gives me the horrors and we have been to most of the Caribbean but we may end up there if we can find a suitable place. It's just that most of the Caribbean Islands are pretty much the same.
We don't want just a kid place because it is really for us and our Grand Kids spend about 18 hours each day on their tablets anyway.
It will be in June so it will be hot and although we know many people in Florida, it's just to hot there then. I was thinking maybe somewhere in Canada or Nova Scotia. Even Alaska but we are still looking and if anyone has any suggestions I would like o hear them but they have to have those qualities. Kids and handicapped.
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
Alaska - fished Kodiak Island last year (Larsen Bay). Most amazing thing I have ever done in my life. Other parts of Alaska less remote may be fun. But small planes, float planes, bugs. Not family 'fun' - more geezer dream come true.
Nova Scotia - worked there twice (mining industry) - absolutely beautiful. Fishing would be great. Not sure family vacation though.
I don't see kids thinking either one is amazing.
Maybe
Yellowstone - and a trip through some other national parks. While a lot is not accesable, I am sure a lot is. Maybe grand canyon, arches, or dinosaur park ... throw luxury train ride in there somewhere. Canada has a few of those (coast to cost sight seeing train ride experience) also.
Nova Scotia - worked there twice (mining industry) - absolutely beautiful. Fishing would be great. Not sure family vacation though.
I don't see kids thinking either one is amazing.
Maybe
Yellowstone - and a trip through some other national parks. While a lot is not accesable, I am sure a lot is. Maybe grand canyon, arches, or dinosaur park ... throw luxury train ride in there somewhere. Canada has a few of those (coast to cost sight seeing train ride experience) also.
Last edited:
Paul B
Premium Member
Bean I was thinking of a train but I need to research more. I doubt the kids would like to sight see though. I have been through there as I was stationed in Colorado for a while and although I loved it, I don't see my kids liking it.
I think we need some sort of water thing.
I think we need some sort of water thing.
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
They say the water Park in New Braunfels, Tx is the absolute best.
Maybe plan some kind of trip around that? Geezer stuff to and from?
Maybe plan some kind of trip around that? Geezer stuff to and from?
