Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

OK, fess up. How many of you haven't even started your Christmas shopping (humbug...hate it) yet?

All I have to do is get one gift certificate today and I'm done. The balance of my shopping was done early last week. Not ONE store or fight the mall/crowds/traffic this year. Hello Amazon. 

Sounds like Amazon are paying for this as an advert [emoji16]

No affiliation other than a happy (and calm) camper. 

[bd139]

Amazon and Ocado just delivered the entire of Xmas here. Retail can go to hell.

[mnementh]

OK, fess up. How many of you haven't even started your Christmas shopping (humbug...hate it) yet?

All I have to do is get one gift certificate today and I'm done. The balance of my shopping was done early last week. Not ONE store or fight the mall/crowds/traffic this year. Hello Amazon. 

I too am Bezos' bitch for Xmas this year... 

I just had a heaping helping of "Fuck that noise" starting pretty much the day after Thanksgiving.     The only brick & mortar shopping I've done this year was some thrifting for gag gifts and a little jewelry. Oh, and a pickup online order at GormStop.

mnem
"Yes, mistress (don't ask )... will you be having the "Naughty Elf" tonight, or (shudder) "Rudolph" again...?" 

[med6753]

Amazon and Ocado just delivered the entire of Xmas here. Retail can go to hell.

Can I get an Amen?    Got the last gift card. Shopping DONE. This gift giving crap has gotten way out of hand. I don't lament the passing of Christmas. 

[med6753]

I too am Bezos' bitch for Xmas this year... 

I just had a heaping helping of "Fuck that noise" starting pretty much the day after Thanksgiving.     The only brick & mortar shopping I've done this year was some thrifting for gag gifts and a little jewelry. Oh, and a pickup online order at GormStop.

mnem
"Yes, mistress (don't ask )... will you be having the "Naughty Elf" tonight, or (shudder) "Rudolph" again...?" 

Wow, Little mnem is gonna be thrilled! But how long before he'll want to hang a Briggs or Honda off the back of it? 

[mnementh]

That's actually for my little grrl. She's got this whole "Trinity" thang going on right now. I have lettering for her name and some discretely-sized MLP stickers to try and "girly" it up a little... but if I go too far she will have a bit of a " Daaaddeeeee...!" fit on me. 

The boi got an electric trike last year... it's only fitting she should get the "make yoo jelly" gift this year, especially since she's not getting the iPad until later. Maybe. I might make a stop at Sam's and get her the 32GB one if they still have it.

mnem
ploop?

[med6753]

OK, how long before SHE'LL want to hang a Briggs or Honda off the back of it?? 

[mnementh]

I'll put the motor off the boi's electric trike on it first. Baby steps. 

Oh fuck me... Target has the 128GB iPad for $50 off, in stock for pickup at my local store, and I have a refund in my PayPal for that defect screen...

mnem
"It's only money."

[Specmaster]

No retail here apart from food, I just don't want some other Johnny picking out the best food for me. Present shopping for adults is easy peasy lemon squeezy, I just give em money then they can get what they want in the Jan sales. Pisses me right off buying presents just to find in the boxing day sales its half fecking price[emoji83]

[mnementh]

You have got to be fucking kidding me...



Literally AS I'M READING the confirmation eMail for the iPad at Target... my wife texts me all crying because she dropped her phone and cracked the screen. 

mnem
"Yes, mistress... it has been been a "Naughty Little Elf", and it must be pewn-ish-ed..."

[Zucca]

Amazon and Ocado just delivered the entire of Xmas here. Retail can go to hell.

Imagine how many boxes are in transit before XMas. Amazing. I think they have to design the storage and the supply chain with the Xmas worst case spec. in mind.

[GreyWoolfe]

OK, fess up. How many of you haven't even started your Christmas shopping (humbug...hate it) yet?

All I have to do is get one gift certificate today and I'm done. The balance of my shopping was done early last week. Not ONE store or fight the mall/crowds/traffic this year. Hello Amazon. 

Thanks to Mrs GreyWoolfe, Christmas is done.  A lot of it months ago.  Amazon delivered the last of it yesterday.  Oldest daughter in Texas got such good deals on a ton of stuff that when we went to visit, we had to take the Tradesman van instead of the sedan to bring it all back.  Her and I aren't exchanging gifts this year but I am looking at a small bit of TE for me.  Time to make an offer.

[med6753]

No retail here apart from food, I just don't want some other Johnny picking out the best food for me. Present shopping for adults is easy peasy lemon squeezy, I just give em money then they can get what they want in the Jan sales. Pisses me right off buying presents just to find in the boxing day sales its half fecking price[emoji83]

Food shopping is still me, in the store. I go early in the morning and I'm usually done in less than a half hour.

[bd139]

No retail here apart from food, I just don't want some other Johnny picking out the best food for me. Present shopping for adults is easy peasy lemon squeezy, I just give em money then they can get what they want in the Jan sales. Pisses me right off buying presents just to find in the boxing day sales its half fecking price[emoji83]

That’s why I went Ocado. Robots do the picking and the food comes from Waitrose

Presents here are cash, tech, art and crafts stuff so nice and easy. No token or reciprocal gifts - cards for all non immediate family members other than kids and then the most annoying and loud toys I could find.

I look at camecamelcamel UK for pricing trends before I buy. Saves Boxing Day wallet disappointment.

Starting to get some time back again now and assets are secured so I’m going to initiate a mid life crisis I think. Suggestions welcome. No female company, no motorbikes, nothing that fioats, must be children friendly. A colleague of mine moved to Thailand and bought a massive snake. So not that. Definitely not child friendly.

[mnementh]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Berg-Toys-Buddy-Pedal-Powered/dp/B004FTQ04C

Get one for you too. 

Glad to hear you sounding in good spirits. Best of luck in the new year... maybe you should get a guard dog. You know, just in case. 

mnem
*Amazon Prime Xmas Music*

[med6753]

Starting to get some time back again now and assets are secured so I’m going to initiate a mid life crisis I think. Suggestions welcome. No female company, no motorbikes, nothing that fioats, must be children friendly. A colleague of mine moved to Thailand and bought a massive snake. So not that. Definitely not child friendly.

Good to hear that things for you are settling down a bit. But having gone through similar circumstances myself I know there will be more drama to follow. Unfortunate but true. But hang tuff and you'll get through it. 

Mid life crisis that's child friendly? Isn't that an oxymoron?  Mid life crisis to me is something like hookers and blow so I got nothing.   

[bd139]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Berg-Toys-Buddy-Pedal-Powered/dp/B004FTQ04C

Get one for you too. 

Glad to hear you sounding in good spirits. Best of luck in the new year... maybe you should get a guard dog. You know, just in case. 

mnem
*Amazon Prime Xmas Music*

That’s funny because I was looking at these earlier  https://www.icetrikes.co/products/adventure-hd

Thanks - appreciated . I jest but it’s a proper mess and was totally avoidable but nothing whatsoever to do with me through any causality chain I have worked out. I stand proud and innocent. As for guard dog that’s not a bad idea. Not against the woman but the associate. I think a scope PDA multiplier on the end of a stick will shove ‘em off. Maybe even shove ‘em under 

”you’ve been fibrillated!” (in Arnie’s best accent)

Starting to get some time back again now and assets are secured so I’m going to initiate a mid life crisis I think. Suggestions welcome. No female company, no motorbikes, nothing that fioats, must be children friendly. A colleague of mine moved to Thailand and bought a massive snake. So not that. Definitely not child friendly.

Good to hear that things for you are settling down a bit. But having gone through similar circumstances myself I know there will be more drama to follow. Unfortunate but true. But hang tuff and you'll get through it. 

Mid life crisis that's child friendly? Isn't that an oxymoron?  Mid life crisis to me is something like hookers and blow so I got nothing.   

Me versus dramas:

https://youtu.be/7YyBtMxZgQs

[Specmaster]

Starting to get some time back again now and assets are secured so I’m going to initiate a mid life crisis I think. Suggestions welcome. No female company, no motorbikes, nothing that fioats, must be children friendly. A colleague of mine moved to Thailand and bought a massive snake. So not that. Definitely not child friendly.

Wow, sure is great to see you back on form again and as others have already said, there be some lows to come yet but I just know that you have the right temperament to get through this and come out on the other side far happier. How are the kids taking it? They of all people don't deserve to suffer so do try not to be too judgemental in front of them.

Now then, midlife crisis let me see, how about that dream car, or a skiing holiday, flying lessons or that large bit of TEA gear or lab you always wanted before?

[med6753]

You have got to be fucking kidding me...



Literally AS I'M READING the confirmation eMail for the iPad at Target... my wife texts me all crying because she dropped her phone and cracked the screen. 

mnem
"Yes, mistress... it has been been a "Naughty Little Elf", and it must be pewn-ish-ed..."

I don't care if I'm called a chauvinistic pig but women and electronics do not mix. For her birthday I bought her a Kindle Fire. That lasted just beyond warranty when she dropped it and broke the screen. Of course since it was a present from me I offered to buy her another one. Done. 2nd one. Just beyond warranty stopped charging the battery. I think she broke the solder connections from the USB to the board. I did manage to get the Kindle apart without destroying it but I haven't pulled the main board yet so it's a pending repair. 3rd one, on my dime. Now she's reporting that it has slowed to a crawl. I'll have to look at it next week when she visits. I've had the same Kindle for almost 2 years and other than the SD card taking a dump no issues.     

[mnementh]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Berg-Toys-Buddy-Pedal-Powered/dp/B004FTQ04C  Get one for you too. 

Glad to hear you sounding in good spirits. Best of luck in the new year... maybe you should get a guard dog. You know, just in case. 

mnem
*Amazon Prime Xmas Music*

   That’s funny because I was looking at these earlier  https://www.icetrikes.co/products/adventure-hd

Thanks - appreciated . I jest but it’s a proper mess and was totally avoidable but nothing whatsoever to do with me through any causality chain I have worked out. I stand proud and innocent. As for guard dog that’s not a bad idea. Not against the woman but the associate. I think a scope PDA multiplier on the end of a stick will shove ‘em off. Maybe even shove ‘em under 

”you’ve been fibrillated!” (in Arnie’s best accent)

Fortunately, you have enough of that kind of HV that you can spare one to that good purpose... 

   
https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Bicicleta-Electric-Bicycle-Conversion/dp/B01CLY54D0/

That trike is something... with one of these on the back would be effing something! And I might actually get my fat arse out there without fear of getting stranded. 

mnem
*Trikey*

[bd139]

They are pretty fast with electric drive.

[factory]

My other better than 4 digit meter a HP 740B has it's own half baked thread here I must get back to  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hewlett-packard-740b-dc-standard-digital-voltmeter-(and-740a)/msg1419955/#msg1419955

Proves HP and Nixies are better than Crusty Flukes 

Added some pictures of the 740B Output connector box to the linked thread.
I'm still looking for something to connect them to, sods law I didn't bother bidding on one that was missing them years ago, thinking I would never find the Input/Output boxes, then buying those and not being able to finding a 740 to go with them.

David

[mnementh]

You have got to be fucking kidding me...  Literally AS I'M READING the confirmation eMail for the iPad at Target... my wife texts me all crying because she dropped her phone and cracked the screen. 
mnem
"Yes, mistress... it has been been a "Naughty Little Elf", and it must be pewn-ish-ed..."

I don't care if I'm called a chauvinistic pig but women and electronics do not mix. For her birthday I bought her a Kindle Fire. That lasted just beyond warranty when she dropped it and broke the screen. Of course since it was a present from me I offered to buy her another one. Done. 2nd one. Just beyond warranty stopped charging the battery. I think she broke the solder connections from the USB to the board. I did manage to get the Kindle apart without destroying it but I haven't pulled the main board yet so it's a pending repair. 3rd one, on my dime. Now she's reporting that it has slowed to a crawl. I'll have to look at it next week when she visits. I've had the same Kindle for almost 2 years and other than the SD card taking a dump no issues. 

My wife is actually pretty good. She's been using the same Vostro 220 desktop I built her out of the salvage pile (they were still a current model at the time) at a short-term job 4 years ago; that's why I'm giving her a off-lease i3/8GB Lenovo E540 this year; same as I got my dad.

The kicker? She gets home, hands it to me all puffy-eyed and sniffly... and I peel the glass screen protector off and hand it back to her. *~BING!~* All bright and happy again, hugging on me & kissing my cheek. I smile and kiss her back, and cry a little inside; thinking of her happiness first and being pro-active just cost me 130 clams unnecessarily. 

I Guess one of us will really love the new Vivo XL4 on Christmas day...

mnem
But you said...

[mnementh]

They are pretty fast with electric drive.
[Electric Trike Video]

Well, hell... I would sure hope so with a 20KW motor. That's big enough for a car. Not a big car... not fast... but still... meant for a car. 10KW is meant for a motorcycle conversion. Typical for a bike is 500-750W; 1KW is considered excessive even for a fatass like myself.

You could go twin front drive  1.5-2KW for ~$800-900.

mnem
*Waiting for a honking huge package from Amazon*

[Specmaster]

Those trikes do look like fun, but they also scare the shit out of me, they are from a visibility aspect the same as those sinclair C5's which were branded a death trap on the roads.