About Lugnut -- Patrick Malone

Pat, I'm glad to hear you are going to have a better than expected week and enjoy time with your sister. What "aged vinyl" does your sister like to listen to? I hope you do get those porch-view pictures at Ron's place and post them here.

All the best to you and don't bull too much and lose the light again. :~)

Lou

Hi Pat, we're just back from our trip and I'm catching up here. (Missed entirely too much of the Tour de Lance while we were away, and what little TV coverage we did manage to catch was mostly in French [which is Greek to me] since we were primarily in Quebec - not that I'm complaining!)

For some reason, the first time I attempted to open this thread the other day it failed to display or indicate the existence anything beyond page 9 - making things appear as if there had been no new activity or word from you since I last had a connection, around mid-month. That really bummed me out; am I relieved to discover it was only a glitch! Not to mention that you've been feeling decent enough to enjoy what you're able to do.

I don't ever go fishing these days. It had seemed an essential part of my being during my teens and twenties (spin-casting lures only), but I think you've inspired me to get out there again sometime soon, all by myself, just for the contemplative succor it provides amid this world of crapola. (Hold that last observation - I just looked up as I write this and see that hummingbirds have returned to the yard during our absence :-)

Oh, love the pix - but then, I already knew that you were (a la lingua jazzbo) a beautiful cat!

BTW, if the preamp ever needs to come out of the system for service, the PSFM (Perfect Sound Forever machine) does have the ability of connecting directly to an amp from the optional variable outputs, with a useful measure of integral attenuation control (digital, but who's counting while we're at it anyway?) available via the remote.

I read that Lance will soon embark on a cross-country bike ride with around 100 other cancer survivors, I believe starting sometime in late August in northern California and finishing up here in DC in about early October or so (better check me on the specifics). Maybe if it's not scheduled to pass too far away - and if you're feeling up to it and want to do so - you could possibly go and witness this somewhere along the route? In any case, we'll plan to get down to the finish and give some big cheers just for you.

Glad you are feeling better, Pat. One could actually feel the collective sigh of relief throughout Audiogon.... Enjoy your sister's visit.
Sota Cosmos should be here next week - apparently the motor alignment was so smashed in transport that there was no way, Kirk said, that I could have fixed it.........even with the help you so graciously offered.

Great news for a very deserving soul. I will continue my prayers for you, i still believe your going to beat this. I feel much to strongly your incredible journey has much more to experience. Keep giving yourself all the rest your body is asking for, you will be back!

Alex,

If Lance is starting in Northern California and going to D.C. then he just might come to Boise. There are several great bike races here and he'd be honored by we citizens if he did pass through. For sure, I'd get out to cheer at him.

The CDP may be a gift from heaven if I need to send the preamp off. I'd already considered the variable outputs.

And Alex, I'd really recommend you do go out and fish. About the only thing I can think of that I haven't done enough of is swimming. Now I wish I'd spent more time in the water. Simple things we enjoyed as kids are some of the best things we can do as adults. So much to do in a lifetime and never enough time.

Lou, Mary and I both are huge Neil Young fans so we always listen to his stuff when together. In the world of rock we both love the joint family tree that resulted from Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds. So many good groups and wonderful tunes came about as a result of those guys it still makes my head spin. You can imagine the vinyl I pull when we get on a roll. When my friends were here last week we pulled David Crosby's "If Only I Could Remember My Name". Man, I wish someone would find the master tapes and reissue this masterpiece to audiophile standards.

One thing for sure, of all the fine folks I've met personally here at Audiogon I think I'm most like Albert. I bothers me NOT if a record is less than audiophile grade IF the music moves me. I demand my system to allow me to enjoy the music I love. When Bill Dillon was over and we listened to NY's Greatest Hits he remarked how listening catapults us to a different time and place. My brother called recently and he remarked how much he doesn't like music videos because it ruins the connection the mind makes with where you were when you first heard a song. I agree with him 100%. It's too bad I'm not more like Albert. If I were I'd have about a zillion tubes to roll and my system would have a dead silent background too. But then I'd also tell many really bad jokes too. As if that's a bad thing.

Nate, I heard you laughing. And Doug, you know I love you but you need some rock 'n roll in your life while I need some more classical. Too bad we don't live closer so both could rub off of one another. Larry sent me some classical CD's I enjoy a lot.

FWIW, I can't figure this health stuff out at all. I felt like crap yesterday and today I feel really good. Go figure. I'm glad I'm feeling good today. One of my fellow club members is coming over this afternoon amd I'm betting he brings some vinyl that hasn't seen a stylus for years. And later we'll pick up Mary and probably go out to dinner. Barb and I haven't done that for quite some time and to think that was one of our weekly or bi-weekly dates. It would be nice for her to enjoy some small slice of the way things used to be with us. The poor woman might as well have the same thing wrong with her as I have. She's suffered right along with me and has remained cheerful in the process. Just for me. Bless her heart.

Denis, can't wait to get a report on your Sota. Please let us all know how it goes. Time to warm up some tubes and listen to The Waterboys again until my guest arrives. A good weekend to all.