Kinda quiet...What's everyone up to?

[Eddie Horton]

Been a little subdued around here as of late. What's the forum regulars been up to? Any new toys, new babies, new houses, new hobbies, new cars, etc? We were supposed to close on our house yesterday, but of course it's been pushed back until next Friday. There's always a few things that need to be touched up, it seems. Haven't purchased any new audio/video toys in a while, but we have hit Home Depot pretty hard for all the things first time home owners need. Also, we had to buy a fridge and just for fun we got a new living room and bedroom suite. There goes all my disposable cash for the next couple of months. Oh well, that's how it goes when you're married. The good news is I should have enough brownie points in my favor to get something nice when we get moved in.

[Nicholas Mosher]

Working a bunch. I'm so happy I got my old job back that I had left before traveling last year. 10min drive on backroads with a larger paycheck.

I've been doing lot's of studying for my PP-ASEL written exam, and have about 30hrs in the Cessna 152-II. Haven't flown in two weeks due to weather and my instructor being on vacation, so I hope to put another 8hrs in the cockpit this week with the money that has accumulated. Hope to get my Private Pilot license by Thanksgiving.

Still haven't got my new home theater seats yet. Made a bunch of kitchen/dining upgrades with my free cash over the past few weeks. My other stuff was getting pretty worn out, especially my chef's knife. Raided the Sur La Table and Crate & Barrel catalogs. Got everything I wanted but the pan upgrades. Have to do some saving to get the All-Clad stuff I want... :D

Great DVDs I've snagged recently were Crash and Born into Brothels.

Red Sox are tied for first in the AL East as well as for the Wild Card. Red Sox/Yankees October baseball is what it's all about!

Nice to see you guys! Whaen are the 170v.2's coming out? :p

[curtis]

I started a new job about a month ago and it is going great. The only downside is that my daily commute has gone from about 5 minutes one way to around 45-60 minutes. If you want to gauge the traffic in LA....I live only 15 miles from my new office...but I do have to traverse probably some of the worse traffic. Without the traffic, it would be about 20 minutes.

The only new toys I have gotten is a new Toyota 4Runner and I am working on the A/V system for it.

[bikeman]

Ordered a pair of HTM-200's this week. They have to come accross the continent so they won't be here for another week.
Tore down a wall in the house so it's sheetrock time along with painting the front porch. Gotta get it all done before winter which can start almost anytime around here.
Restarted my Netflix account so movies are back on the menu.
I've also started a new job (same university) and I'm working exclusively days for the first time in a few decades. That's why I don't post in the morning anymore.
I'm very satisfied with my sound system so I'm no longer persuing Nirvana which means I'm not as active on some of the Forums as I've been in the past.
I'll post my impressions of the 200's in a few weeks. I'll first use them in a two channel system just to get a feel for how they stack up all on their own and then they'll become the surround speakers in my home theatre. It's always fun to audition new toys.

David

[Lou-the-dog]

Lessee... outside of the normal livestock chores I've been busy finishing up construction on a "shelter house" that a few of us have donated the labor towards. I included the quotations on "shelter house" because it is more of a community/family center located at our local park. The building is 50' X 70' with full kitchen facilities, concession for the ballpark, handicap accessible restrooms and banquet room. Been devoting my spare time to it since Aug of last year. Kinda proud of it with all labor donated and material costs paid by fundraisers and grants. Also been building much needed additional feed storage at the farm. My wife and my teenage daughter this past year have taken to destroying the front bumper cover on my Chrysler by jamming it on high curbs and such. They have finally succeeded so I put it in the shop out at the farm to replace it and do a few other needed repairs. Crop harvest is here so soybeans will be combined in the next few days or so...corn soon to follow.

Randy

Oh yeah, flag football for my eldest son, gymnastics for my youngest daughter, band for my oldest daughter and just keeping the youngest two out of trouble.

[Eddie Horton]

Randy, I think you need a few more things to do.

[tjennings]

I know I don't qualify as a 'regular' yet since I've only been here for a month, but I really enjoyed reading everyone's updates.

Since the summer racing (running / duathlons) season is over, I've been just working out at a less frenetic pace and enjoying my home theater upgrades. Instead of running so much, I've been bicycling the 13 miles each way to work once or twice a week. Great workout, about 50 minutes to bike in to work. I have to contend with quite a few traffic lights on the way. GE where I work (we make the locomotives you see pulling trains - I design computer systems) has a nice locker room for showering / leaving the biking clothes to dry. Biking back home is more uphill so it takes me about 55 minutes on the return trip.

The 50" HDTV is really coming in handy for football season, soooo glad my 11 year old 35" tube tv bit the dust in July! I got the HDTV on Aug 3rd, so it is nearly 2 months old already. And I got the new Denon universal DVD player on Aug 27th, but Crutchfield replaced it already because it started acting strange after a few weeks. Just received the newer unit (mfg in July, as opposed to last December) on Wednesday and the video is GREATLY improved... I guess the 7 months of firmware updates really made a difference. I stayed up until 3 AM this morning sampling DVD-As, SACDs, and movies / concerts... 3D looking. The sound quality has always been superb compared to the 2 year old Toshiba it replaced... and now with this newer unit I can say the video is much MUCH nicer also.

Gettin' old... our 2 daughters celebrated their 23rd and 17th birthdays this summer, and my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with family. We had a great time... but how time flies...

It was great to learn more about you 'regulars!'

[Eddie Horton]

You know, what tjennings said got me thinking. By 'regulars', I didn't mean that only certain folks could post. This forum is a fairly small, tight-knit group, and if you've posted more than once in the past year then you seem like a regular to me. Just wanted to (hopefully) make that a little clearer. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

[curtis]

Gettin' old... our 2 daughters celebrated their 23rd and 17th birthdays this summer, and my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with family. We had a great time... but how time flies...
'
Looking at your avatar picture....you do not look old enough to have kids that age or married that long. Is the picture "enhanced"? :D

[metalaaron]

I've been spending some time in Azeroth, and messing with my iPod nano.

sounds like a superbowl party is in order at tjenning's this season. :)

my hat goes off to all of you guys with families. i'm sure my mother was pleased that the last of us three (my sister) just left the house. she said she wouldn't trade it in for the world, but she's glad it's over with. :p

[tjennings]

Got married right after college, had the oldest a couple of years later, so just got a fairly early start on the fam. Not enhanced, just lots of vitamins. ;)

[sensibull]

Might as well chime in and join the party :)

Let's see... Just started doing layout for a book called Million Dollar Mistakes written by Moses Avalon of Confessions of a Record Producer fame. First book in a while I'm actually going to read after I finish doing production on it... I'll be sure to share any juicy tidbits I come across...

Our twins (http://www.mindserai.com/twins/large/04_23_05/IMG_2057.jpg) just started daycare, which makes my "commute" from the kitchen to the office a lot easier -- no blind-side leg grabs or tantrums on the way. And I can finally turn up my 340s a bit :D

Latest toy is a 12" touchscreen LCD I got for insanely cheap off eBay, and which (after a bunch of tweaks and mods) I will be incorporating into my HTPC setup. Should boost the WAF factor immensely.

[BGHD]

Not considered a 'regular' either, but trying to wake up this forum too.

Finally ended my on-going search for an AVR. Just received the Pio 74txvi this weekend. So far so good. Over the year or so, since buying my Ascends, went from a Pio vsk912 > HK DPR 1005 > HK DPR 2005 > HK 435. The Pio 74 will probably stay. I've taken the advice to "buy it and try it" to heart, so please don't flame me for 'utilizing' Costco's return policy (the HK 2005 was defective & went back to Frys). To me, the Ascends have held their own to whatever I've thrown at them, so those won't change for quite a while.

I'm also in my never-ending search for A/V furniture. Looking for something that'll last a while, so I'm taking my time and saving my money. For anyone in the Los Angeles area, Pacific Sales (at least in Cerritos) has a very good selection of furniture at really good prices. Lots of decent HT setups too.

[Mag_Neato]

Here goes......

The wife is not able to take care of the household duties she normally does due to nursing school/clinicals, so I am busier at home. My son had his 11th birthday last week. Had to sign him up for basketball. He tried out for and made it on to a traveling baseball team. I'm trying to catch up at work, and still working two jobs to keep the boat afloat. With the expected hike in natural gas prices, I gotta start winterizing the house.

The only upgrade was a free one due to winning a contest over at Axiom. I picked up a pair of QS8 surround speakers.

[Cliff_L]

Not a regular poster per se, but more of a regular lurker. ;) Although I guess I have been on this board now for quite some time. It's great to learn a little more about everyone else! Lots of diverse interests in addition to HT. :)

My work is still the same (civil engineer - hydrologist) although with all the hurricane stuff lately, it's possible we may get even more studies for the state of Louisiana as a result. Having fun with my 5+ month old son who seems to learn new things every day.

Drove 8 hrs to Slidell, Louisiana this weekend with a volunteer group from my church to help clean up flooded homes & remove downed trees on Sat & Sun AM. (Went to Hattiesburg, MS 2 weeks ago to do the same thing). It was a very rewarding & productive trip, but there is still TONS of work to be done down there. As a result, I missed Serenity but hoping to see it this week.

Wife & I have been catching up on Lost S1 & I've been catching up on BSG S1. Nothing new in the HT department though.

[BradJudy]

I spent much of the weekend at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (I'll post a write-up when I get a chance). The past couple of weekends were largely spent painting the house.

[tjennings]

Sensibull - your twins are ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How sweet!

Nick - too cool that you are taking flying lessons - GOOD LUCK on the PP license! Maybe you can fly yourself to some of these HT get-togethers!

Randy/Lou-the-dog - kudos for the family center at your local park! That sounds like a lot of work. Must be a woman thing with the car bumpers and curbs, mine do the same thing... :rolleyes:

CliffL - that is fantastic you helped with the cleanup in Lousiana, I bet that was a great feeling. And I've missed the first 2 episodes of LOST this S2. :mad: I loved S1.

David / Bikeman - are you a professor? What do you teach? Do you ride your bike to work at the university?

Mag_Neato - hang in there, once your wife gets a nursing job things should get easier, nurses make a nice income (and deservedly so). And winning some Axiom surrounds - wow - that had to be a very pleasant surprise! I'm going to do some winterizing myself, might even dump some of that Cocoon insulation into the attic before winter. We'll see if I get around to it... it might get put on hold once I get my front three 340's around Oct 21st!

Curtis - I've been in LA twice on vacation, and wow, yes, the traffic is horrendous, worst I've ever seen I think. The 1 lane exits to another major interstate just creates huge bottlenecks and backups... they need to blow those bottlenecks up and put 2 or 3 lane exits in so traffic keeps moving.

Metalaaron - hmmm, a SB party, now there's an idea! Problem is, our local Erie stations aren't able to do the HD pass-through programming yet... slated for summer of 2006, so the SB will be just fuzzy regular tv. :( But the ESPN HD college / pro games are something to behold!

[Kurt C.]

Chasing my two year-old son around and looking for a new job in the Boston area so that I can finally afford a full set of 170s!

Actually, I managed to snag used 170c for just over $100 on ebay. Should be here Friday. I'm planning to do a rigorous comparison of it with my Ascend AS-C1 and whatever other center speakers I can get my hands on. Brings me to a question. Can anyone suggest a good DVD that will allow me to evaluate ONLY the center channel?

I was thinking of "Down by Law" which has an excellent Dolby Digital MONO soundtrack. Any other suggestions?