About Lugnut -- Patrick Malone

I guess I feel compelled to continue on at least a weekly basis of reporting events as they unfold. On the health front this week is a scheduled week off from chemo. I continue to feel good and I'm optomistic that I'll get to stop treatment for awhile.

I sold my hot rod to the first looker. It took about twenty seconds for the guy to commit to buying it. He's happy and I'm glad Barb won't be dealing with it later. Besides, selling it provided me enough cash influx to splurge on a Supratek Syrah and the ZYX. As a result my system sounds as good as it can get without upgrading amps or speakers which I never intended to do. When I made my first high end purchases back around '74 my retailer gave me some really good advice. He told me to get the speakers with the characteristics I want and upgrade upstream. He also shared the wisdom of getting the absolute best source at the same time. With a great source and adequate speakers you can upgrade between to huge benefit and minimize total outlay to audio nirvana. This logic has worked very well for me. My speakers can be picked up for $650-750 on the used market, being floor standers missing the last octave..flat to 40 cycles. Honestly, they compete with most $5-7K speakers because too often the more expensive speakers owners haven't taken the time to match everything as well as I have to make theirs sing. Hope this is viewed as advice rather than a sermon.

The rest of my hot rod proceeds are going into a major roof redesign. Geez, this is about as much fun as buying a refrigerator but it's the right thing to do for Barb. Our home was built in the mid 50's having a pitched gravel roof with what's called Dutch gutters. Aesthetically it's a beautiful design where there is a dam at the roof edge and the downspouts come through the soffit area. Luckily we live in a very dry climate as the seal at the facia area cannot be kept. Water leaks into the soffits and drips in a few areas around the perimeter of the house. I'll be eliminating that design, putting in more soffit vents and roof vents and having continuous gutters all around. The facia, which angles back toward the house will be replaced as part of overall plan too. It will still enjoy the aesthetics but be very functional. So, a week of living with the guys replacing and repairing the soffit/facia and then another week of removal and re-roofing followed by a couple of days of gutter install. I don't think I'll be doing much daytime listening...maybe at Steve's place. He's offered a key, perhaps in jest. He he. Should I take him up on it???

My sister will be here on the 7th and she's offered to help with the construction of acoustic treatments. I'd appreciate any advice I can get about DIY constructing treatments similar to those offered by the Eigth Nerve. I have three boxes of dense, rigid fiberglass 3M 2'x4' panels I've been storing for twenty years. Two boxes are one inch thick panels and the other is two inch thick. I have way more than I need to do the job. I'd love to exchange emails with an owner of these products or get some info about their construction. Help??

Paul Frumkin is probably coming out in late May and if I continue to feel better Steve and I will be making plans to visit Albert Porter. He's agreed to be an audio tour guide for this experience. What a nice man! Even though he is held in the highest regard here at Audiogon it's a little known fact that he is personally responsible for a number of innovations at the pinacle of playback. I'll not comment further on this since he's chosen to not toot his own horn. This is exciting as I'm sure you guys understand. He was thoughtful enough to call me out of thin air one day. Subsequently we have talked numerous times. We share the same values and I know how comfortable I'll be there. When he offered to share his single malt scotch I commented that I might want to pick up some Cognac as that's my preference. He's got a stash of some very old and highly regarded Cognac he's saving for me. Listening to his system and sipping on the nectar of the gods. How much better can it possibly get??

Life is good. I am thankful. Much of my good fortune is because of you guys. I continue to get surprises almost daily and I'm feeling guilty about it. He he. Kirk, aka Audiofrankj, sent me a treasured book I've begun reading. Some of my now favorite recordings have dropped in out of the blue from you guys. Being lucky enough to feel as good as I do right now I'm mostly consumed by a need to be normal for however long it lasts. I feel a little shallow reporting on all of this normal stuff but I want this thread to survive in the hope that the message will live for a very, very long time. Inactivity will kill it. Remember, it's not about me but our shared humanity. Please, continue to post.

You should have a good time with Albert. He is a gracious host, has a nice system, and a demented sense of humor. Just tell him not to cook the VTL's. If you get the chance when he's not looking, steal a couple of LPs for me. I'll send a list later.

I'm looking forward to meeting you in person Lugnut, I have the last of that old special Cognac hidden under the counter so my Tuesday night music guests don't drink it before you get here.

Nrchy, how about you coming that same weekend and we will make a party of it. I might even give you an LP or two as a bribe.

Hi Pat. Amazing thread here. All these wonderful people understand what's important in life, and that it could easily be any of us in your predicament.

As a physician (radiologist), unfortunately i see really ugly things all the time. I have to call the doctor (whose often known the patient for 30+ years) to tell them their patient has "whatever." It takes the wind out of most of them - you'll never hear this side of it, but your doctor dreads calls from me, dreads having bad news to share with you, dreads that someone in their care has been afflicted with something bad. We're trained to stay objective and be able to distance ourselves from the matter at hand (which is actually good, otherwise we'd have difficulty coping) but it always hurts. For this reasons, I make it a point to call other doctors when the news is really good. For example I read a CT on a paient who had widely metastatic ovarian cancer, whose last 3 scans looked worse and worse, but on my scan, the tumors had all shrunk to barey measurable size. I called the oncologist to give her some really good news.

We in the medical profession are just people - we get sick, we fail, we regret - and we listen to music, we hope, we try to smile. Sometimes no matter what we do, mistakes are made, people/patients misunderstand us, call us arrogant, heartless, greedy and so on.

It' an honor and an awesome responsibility caring for people - and I hope you're happy with the people taking care of you: that they're competent, compassionate and considerate, that they temper reality with hope, that they offer extra supprt to you and your family.

Anyway, no matter how much i may think we (docs) suffer with our patients, it's nothing compared to what you - the patient - and their families suffer. Hang in there, keep the faith, and enjoy the music!

Art

Art,

That's an interesting point you brought up. My oncologist is one caring individual. When I told him how good I was feeling and I knew the Taxol was kicking some serious ass the guys face lit up and it made me happy. I've known he has had a heavy heart about everything leading up to this. One failure after another making me feel worse when I knew he would anything to make me better. During our last visit we discussed what is happening as a result of this thread. He was touched. Then I listened about his trip this week to Moab, Utah to ride bikes in some of the most breathtaking scenery known to man. We joked about some aspects of his trip in that it is the heart of the polygamist Mormon splinter group yet they temper their strict behavior because of the tourist income. (No judgment, just observation on how we humans behave) We talked about wishing that we knew each other under different circumstances as we like each other a lot. Perhaps I stepped over the line here. I dunno. The thing is I wanted him to know that no matter what, even in failure, he is respected by me for his efforts, and I know he is very good at what he does. It is what it is. He appeared to really appreciate what I said. He and I have a plan unlike any I've heard of so I might bop til I drop rather than choosing unconsciousness over pain. If it works my wife or daughter will post this for the benefit of all. If she doesn't then it's no issue. It's his desire that he see me until I cannot come in any longer and anticipates I will come in very late in the process. We both want to make this the best it can be. Sounds weird when I read what I just said but it is the truth and I'm not going to lie about anything even if it I seem a fool. I have faith that dying is not only easy but most likely rapturous. This I've come to believe after being with a very close friend and my father and holding their hands when they took their last breath. I dread the path of getting there but won't be given more than I can handle. The doc knows this is how I feel and it seems to please him. Bottom line, there will be an especially pleasant little corner of Heaven awaiting him.

Nate, if you come down to Albert's I'll gift a record of your choice. Just send me a list.

Hey, I've talked to Albert and he's a lot like me. This will be a lot of fun. I know I'm walking into an environment where I'll be glad to be myself.

Albert, Cognac, good food, friends and extreme, ground breaking audio playback. About the only thing missing is the dancing girls. Maybe by then Steve will have a copy of that Marsel Marceau album he's been looking for. Thanks for the invite and looking forward to toasting you with that sensuous old Cognac.