From: Stormin Mormon on
And, they don't have the common sense to wrap it in a towel,
and let it drip instead of spray.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"The Daring Dufas" <the-daring-dufas(a)peckerhead.net> wrote
in message news:hg9tsg$rp2$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
Michael A. Terrell wrote:



I remember years ago, I repaired a 20kw Delco generator on a
crew boat
that had a narrow range thermal intermittent problem with
the voltage
regulator. It wouldn't work when cold, it wouldn't work when
hot. It
would only work when the temperature was around 85�F. I
pulled the
regulator assembly, took it to the island TV repair shop
where I set
it up to bench test it and discovered a defective FET. There
was no
exact part available so I tried one meant for a TV set and
the darn
thing worked great. I've seen a lot of narrow range thermal
intermittent
problems in solid state engine control systems for some odd
reason.
Once again, this was something I'd spent hours working on
because there
was no replacement within 2,300 miles. The boat developed a
cooling
water leak on one of the V12 diesel engines and when the
boat captain
told the superintendent, the boss said "Screw it, run it
till it quits!"
The leak got worse and sprayed salt water all over the
generator and
that electronic regulator I'd spent so much time repairing.
I don't
know if you run into or have experienced this sort of
nonsense in your
career but doggone it seems to happen to me much too often.
It's very
frustrating to work your butt off to fix a problem and have
someone
come along and destroy all your hard work.

TDD


From: The Daring Dufas on
HeyBub wrote:
> The Daring Dufas wrote:
>> I told a young lady dispatching for a corporate repair service we do
>> service calls for that I wished I was 50 again. I started having some
>> circulation problems with my legs back around 2000 or so due to high
>> blood sugar. I fixed the blood sugar problem but I'm still working
>> on the damage that was done. There's no way I could hold down a
>> regular 9-5 job because of the pain so I work as hard as I can when I
>> can. I refuse to take pain meds when I'm going to be driving or
>> climbing ladders, as a result, when I get home, I'm really hurting. I
>> explain to folks that "My hair hurts, my toenails itch and my eyeballs are
>> squeaking." That makes it hard to get any sleep. I ran a couple of
>> service calls today that had me on my feet for 6 hours or so and I'm
>> paying for it now. I refuse to just lay down and do nothing because
>> if I did, I'm sure I'd wither away so I keep on trucking. Hell, it
>> only hurts when I quit moving!
>>
>
> There is no reason for your symptoms. Medicine today has a huge arsenal of
> pain-relief medicine.
>
> Consider the first five seasons of "House." Dr. Gregory House ate Vicodin
> like gumdrops and still managed to direct others in the operation of
> complicated machinery (CAT-scan machines, spoons, etc.) while he, himself,
> drove a motorcycle back and forth to work.
>
> A fairly new drug, Lyrica, has been found effective against diabetic
> neuropathy. It causes some people to walk into walls, so be careful, but the
> hallucinations are worth it!
>
>

I have a drug problem or more correctly, I have a problem with drugs.
I don't like taking anything. I'm very resistant to anyone or anything
controlling me. The same goes for for being dependent on anyone or
anything. I don't like anything that interferes with my control, dulls
my senses or alters my perception of my environment. Back in the good
old days, my fellow Hippie Freak friends thought I was weird because
I've never consumed an alcoholic beverage in my life, never smoked
anything legal or illegal or taken any illegal or recreational drug. I
won't take anything unless I know what it is because I've had physicians
damn near kill me with drugs. That's the psychological component of my
drug problem. The physiological component of my problem with drugs
causes medical practitioners look at me like I was a Martian. Drugs
don't work on me as they do other people. The dosages of pain medication
it takes to have any effect on me will put a "normal" person in a coma.
This has doctors thinking I'm some kind of drug addict when in fact, I'm
not taking anything. The last time I was in the hospital I was being
tortured with tiny doses of pain medication and it's impossible to get
the medical staff to understand. My physician friends are so terrified
of the DEA that they are reluctant to write prescriptions for high doses
of pain medication because it would make them appear to be drug pushers.
There are drugs that work for me but I don't like the way they make me
feel in the doses that affect me. I'll never understand people who will
purposely take something that alters their mind or turns them into
Jello, it's beyond me. Oh, I like the TV show "House" but it's a TV show
not real life. I've seen too many lives, careers and businesses ruined
by drug addiction. The show did give a somewhat true depiction of a high
functioning drug addict but it's still just a TV show.

TDD


From: Michael A. Terrell on

The Daring Dufas wrote:
>
> I have a drug problem or more correctly, I have a problem with drugs.
> I don't like taking anything. I'm very resistant to anyone or anything
> controlling me. The same goes for for being dependent on anyone or
> anything. I don't like anything that interferes with my control, dulls
> my senses or alters my perception of my environment. Back in the good
> old days, my fellow Hippie Freak friends thought I was weird because
> I've never consumed an alcoholic beverage in my life, never smoked
> anything legal or illegal or taken any illegal or recreational drug. I
> won't take anything unless I know what it is because I've had physicians
> damn near kill me with drugs. That's the psychological component of my
> drug problem. The physiological component of my problem with drugs
> causes medical practitioners look at me like I was a Martian. Drugs
> don't work on me as they do other people. The dosages of pain medication
> it takes to have any effect on me will put a "normal" person in a coma.
> This has doctors thinking I'm some kind of drug addict when in fact, I'm
> not taking anything. The last time I was in the hospital I was being
> tortured with tiny doses of pain medication and it's impossible to get
> the medical staff to understand. My physician friends are so terrified
> of the DEA that they are reluctant to write prescriptions for high doses
> of pain medication because it would make them appear to be drug pushers.
> There are drugs that work for me but I don't like the way they make me
> feel in the doses that affect me. I'll never understand people who will
> purposely take something that alters their mind or turns them into
> Jello, it's beyond me. Oh, I like the TV show "House" but it's a TV show
> not real life. I've seen too many lives, careers and businesses ruined
> by drug addiction. The show did give a somewhat true depiction of a high
> functioning drug addict but it's still just a TV show.


I take Gabapentin for Diabetic neuropathy. I haven't seen any side
effects, and it allows me to use my left hand for my cane without losing
the feeling. The same for driving. At one time I couldn't drive more
than ten minutes without losing the feeling in both hands. It doesn't
alter your mood, and isn't addictive. All it does is that the edge off
the pain so you can function. It comes in different dosages. The only
thing I don't like is that you have to take it three times a day so
there is a small amount in your bloodstream at all times. It takes a
little while to work, so you can't just pop a handful and expect
results.


--
Offworld checks no longer accepted!
From: Michael A. Terrell on

The Daring Dufas wrote:
>
> I told a young lady dispatching for a corporate repair service we do
> service calls for that I wished I was 50 again. I started having some
> circulation problems with my legs back around 2000 or so due to high
> blood sugar. I fixed the blood sugar problem but I'm still working
> on the damage that was done. There's no way I could hold down a regular
> 9-5 job because of the pain so I work as hard as I can when I can. I
> refuse to take pain meds when I'm going to be driving or climbing
> ladders, as a result, when I get home, I'm really hurting. I explain
> to folks that "My hair hurts, my toenails itch and my eyeballs are
> squeaking." That makes it hard to get any sleep. I ran a couple of
> service calls today that had me on my feet for 6 hours or so and I'm
> paying for it now. I refuse to just lay down and do nothing because
> if I did, I'm sure I'd wither away so I keep on trucking. Hell, it
> only hurts when I quit moving!


The same with me. I have a lot of trouble sleeping any set schedule,
so there is no way that I could work full time. I keep busy repairing
computers to give away, do a little free consulting and tech support for
a business owned by some friends. Anything to keep busy. :)


> I'm used to working on stuff I've never seen before. Heck, I sometimes
> think if a flying saucer broke down, somebody would call me and ask me
> if I could fix the darn thing. One thing that really burns me up is when
> I don't get called first, "Oh this guy was cheaper but he couldn't fix
> it." I was straightening out a computer system for a trucking company a
> while back and the fellow told me he had to get some billing out and
> didn't have time for me to finish up. I told him "This data is corrupt,
> whatever you do, don't try to open this application, DON'T CLICK ON
> THIS." You can guess what the idiot did. I had spent hours getting that
> system back up.


That is where I would have burnt the files to a disk before letting
them get near it again. :(

I was talking about fixing a TV transmitter, having never seen the
inside of one before. Hell, the only thing I had ever done at a TV
station before that was be on a kiddy TV show while I was in Elementary
school. :)

I read a couple thousand pages of equipment manuals for the equipment
at that station, starting the first night on duty. After that, I knew
the basic configuration by heart when I had the first failure. :)


> I remember years ago, I repaired a 20kw Delco generator on a crew boat
> that had a narrow range thermal intermittent problem with the voltage
> regulator. It wouldn't work when cold, it wouldn't work when hot. It
> would only work when the temperature was around 85�F. I pulled the
> regulator assembly, took it to the island TV repair shop where I set
> it up to bench test it and discovered a defective FET. There was no
> exact part available so I tried one meant for a TV set and the darn
> thing worked great. I've seen a lot of narrow range thermal intermittent
> problems in solid state engine control systems for some odd reason.
> Once again, this was something I'd spent hours working on because there
> was no replacement within 2,300 miles. The boat developed a cooling
> water leak on one of the V12 diesel engines and when the boat captain
> told the superintendent, the boss said "Screw it, run it till it quits!"
> The leak got worse and sprayed salt water all over the generator and
> that electronic regulator I'd spent so much time repairing. I don't
> know if you run into or have experienced this sort of nonsense in your
> career but doggone it seems to happen to me much too often. It's very
> frustrating to work your butt off to fix a problem and have someone
> come along and destroy all your hard work.


I was used to the older techs destroying things because their
training was 20+ years out of date.


> I hope your health improves and you are able to pass on your expertise
> to a younger crowd of techies because I'm afraid that discrete component
> board level repair is becoming a lost art. I wish I had a kid to whom I
> could pass on what little I know and the kid could take that knowledge
> and expand upon it and pass it on to others. I remember when I was a
> kid and being desperate for information on how things worked. I was
> always getting into trouble for taking things apart.


The VA gave up on my health about five years ago, when they granted
100% disability 14 days after I had to file.

The two local electronics vocational courses were dropped several
years ago. The only people who express an interest in electronics don't
want to learn to solder, or any math so there isn't much that you can
teach them. They think that a couple hours of being shown how to use a
meter is all they really need to become experts.


--
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