1. On a bike, screw the speed limit and keep up with traffic.
On the highway in my truck I generally stay on the outside lane and at speed that gives the best mileage, which is a bit below the posted limit; try that on a bike and you may get run over. Including in town.
2. The kids may be grown, but you still tend to think of them as 'the kids'. Despite both being arguably smarter than I, and one getting to play with WAY cooler toys than I do.
3. "So THAT'S what this thing feels like when the front wheel leaves the pavement."
4. Being able to see the sights clearly is a very nice thing.
This brought on by having to go to bifocals last fall; to get pistol sights in sharp focus I have to tilt my head so far back I look like Obama standing in front of a marble column. So decided to get some reading glasses for close stuff(friend recommended this place) such as working on the table and some reading. Then, last week, I took them to the range with me and tried them with a pistol, and DAMN! I haven't seen the sights that sharp and clear in years. Target's fuzzy as hell, but with sharp sights could make nice tight groups.
5. Getting old sucks.
I've known for some time it takes longer to recover from physical stress than it used to. Now... I've been doing some part-time work at the old place of employment, which resulted in getting late calls to work hoot shift three times in five days. Yesterday I got a solid nights sleep, and that afternoon decided to get some exercise; it was pointed out to me by my 50+ year-old body that one nights sleep isn't enough to get over being VERY short over several days. Also, see #4.
6. More than before, there are times on the highway you really wish you could order "Get off the friggin' road and let me RIDE!"
7. I tolerate bullshit a lot less than I used to.
8. Cooler weather is great, but I hope it stays warm enough that women still wear summer stuff; Lord, I love pretty women in skirts. And shorts. And- well, you get the idea.
9. Dielectric grease has more uses than I thought.
My cruise control in the truck started acting up a while back; I mentioned it to the widely-knowledged Og and he- knowing where the connections are and having dealt with it himself- suggested getting said grease, cleaning the contacts and giving them a coat. It worked.
Then I started having trouble with a mp3 player I picked up a few months ago, sound either cutting out or only coming from one earbud. Had a bright idea: got the grease, put a film on the earbud plug, worked it in & out a few times, wiped off; it's worked perfectly since.
3 comments:
Those of us with substantial or severe astigmatism have faced the "fuzzy sight" problem for quite a while. A great many moons ago (long before I needed bifocals) I had a terrific optician who understood shooting. He would invite shooters to come in at closing time with their guns and a target,and mark the spot on the lenses through which we viewed the sights while in a shooting position (particularly valuable for prone and/or sitting rifle). Bausch and Lomb used to make a chemically hardened precision yellow glass called Kalichrome for prescription lenses for aviators and shooters, and he would order a set of lenses in it, with the prescription 1 to 1.5 diopters stronger for the shooting eye - basically the entire lens at a low bifocal strength - and the astigmatism axis aligned co-axially with the sight picture rather than in the center of the lens. Couldn't walk in the glasses worth a damn, but they really improved my shooting.
And, back in the '80s an outfit whose name escapes me used to make a spring-loaded clip-on loupe attachment for attaching to one side of eyeglasses which came with replaceable lenses 1, 1.5 or 2 diopters stronger. Originally made for jewelers, it worked well for shooters, and "walkable" because they could be swiveled out of the way.
You might check into "mechanic's bifocals", they have the close focus part on top. Also useful for, yknow, working on stuff.
When I first got married the missus and I had a '58 VW. It had a nasty habit of the electrics cutting out at inopportune times. The connections were all screw tightened in bakelite connectors. One of the electricians at work gave me a partial tube of dialectric grease and told me to find every connector I could, release it, clean the wire end and inside of the connector, and put a toothpick end's worth of grease on it. Took me several days to find 'em all. That was more'n forty years ago and that car still has all it's electrics working. Yes, I know the guy who now owns and drives it. It still has a funny little click when reversed. I loved that car and wish I could have it back.
I had a pair of glasses made with the bifocal on top for planking boat bottoms. They were great for running a CNC mill as well, saved my neck a world of hurt from having to bend back so far to see A: where I was putting screws, and B: the controller.
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