Musings and Thoughts

Engine Serang · #**126** 7th July 2021, 16:08

I have been diagnosed with the same problem but my numbers are considerably smaller. Annual bloods gave a PSA of 4.1, doctor recommended a consultant. Due to Covid we had a telephone meeting , a re-test was recommended and it was 3.9 which is ok. Consultant does not put any faith in old fashioned pokes up the bum, its straight to the scanner if needed. much to my relief, The Big Yin can bugger off. Last PSA was 5.0 which is ok because when you reach 70 the threshold goes up to 5.
Living in Dublin and earning too much for a Medical Card this has cost Euro595, I'm not complaining but it makes it difficult listening to people knocking the NHS. Thank your lucky stars.

BobClay · #**127** 7th July 2021, 16:56

It did make me think of the plight of many who due to the lockdown over COVID are being affected if they have other problems.

Make no mistake, I really am grateful and fully understand the mis-diagnosis given the circumstances of this bloody virus and it's various pals.

Also, I'm getting used to needles to the point where I'm starting to enjoy them .... which is a bit scary .... (I daresay we all remember the needles you had to endure when we were at sea years back. Cholera, smallpox, yellow fever. Could have signed on some ships as a pin cushion.)

Engine Serang · #**128** 7th July 2021, 19:53

Yes queuing up to go down the pilot ladder to the Port Medical Officer who would not climb (couldn't climb) up to the ballasted ship. Officers jumping the queue to get the needle while it was still sharp. Bahrain 1970. And then back down the hell hole on watch. But we were men.

YM-Mundrabilla · #**129** 8th July 2021, 07:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

A strange post from a man who only recently told us:-

YM's rule for those who ride pushies (Sturmey Archer or not)!

Either look where you are going or go where you are looking.
I was doing neither along the path at Port Melbourne Beach one summer many years ago and broke two ribs. It must have been spectacular to watch.
All in the name of getting ship photos for you lot of course.

We Lot only wish two index fingers were broken instead of your ribs.

Not my fault.

Malcolm G · #**130** 8th July 2021, 07:47

Ah, it's all a matter of the shape of the stern.

Makko · #**131** 8th July 2021, 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobClay

I have a dark admission to make. I recently bought an electric bicycle. Ahhh I know, a huge drop from an 1100cc Suzuki. But given I'm on half a hundredweight of medication for the old prostate problem and the oncologist has told I must exercise I figured it would be a good way to comply.

Hi Bob,
Join the club! I got my left knee operated two years ago. The meniscus was chewed up, the joint was full of debris and I have a hole in the cartilage! A bit of a mess, the pain of which, I had endured for a number of years. What a relief, finally.

So, I decided to go step further and exercise. I bought my bike (Benotto RS9000) with airmiles. What a piece of kit it is! 27 gears with triggers on the handlebar, hydraulic disc brakes, dual adjustable suspension (sag and rebound). Very different to my old "hacked" bikes when I was a kid, but we were, in a way, pioneers of mountain biking - Then we moved on to trials/moto cross! (I still have a Yamaha MX400, 1976 but cannot find the invoice to be able to take it out.)

I do between 25 and 40 kilometres a week and enjoy every minute. I use an UnderArmor app called MapMyRide which works quite well, although several weeks ago it went mad and said my maximum speed was 240.8 Kph!

Keep safe to all and do as much exercise as you can!

Regards,
Dave

BobClay · #**132** 8th July 2021, 16:49

Now there's a working bike ....

John Rogers · #**133** 8th July 2021, 23:35

Dave, never put your horse away wet, same with your bike, if you are taking a photo of your trustee steed wash is first.

lakercapt · #**134** 8th July 2021, 23:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by YM-Mundrabilla

Here in Oz once you get to three score years and fifteen (ie beyond the red line) Medicare offers us oldies a review of one's health with a nurse who will test your mental as well as basic medical health more comprehensively than a normal GP consultation allows.

I had my test last Wednesday so for anyone here in Oz contemplating it here is a few of the questions:

What city is this?
What day is it?
What month is it?
What season is it?
What is the date?

Then tests blood pressure and blood sugar.
Holds a piece of A4 paper towards you with words 'take this in your right hand'.
She then says 'fold it in half and throw it on the floor'.
A whole heap of questions on lifestyle questions follows:

Who does the cooking?
Who does the shopping?
Who does the washing/housework etc?
Who does the garden?
Do you exercise?
How much water do you drink?
Do you drink alcohol?
Do you have your own teeth?
Do you walk with a stick?
What is 7 x 2 followed by plus 7, plus 7 plus 7 (up to 35)

Might give a few clues to anyone contemplating such a test.

I got 30 out of 30 but made me even more grateful for my health and life at 77. There are a hell of a lot much worse off.

I had a similar test recently in the Geriatric clinic and had to draw a clock and place the hands at ten to ten. A few other tests and told me my cognitive memory was not so good. Mentioned that Confus said small pencil and paper better than lomgest memor

Makko · #**135** 9th July 2021, 00:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Rogers

Dave, never put your horse away wet, same with your bike, if you are taking a photo of your trustee steed wash is first.

Ha ha! Suitably admonished, Uncle John! I had to pick the "missus" up first from her 21 Km run, then take the jet washer up, connect it, etc! I think that it looks more "convincing" though in this state!

Keep safe!
Rgds.
Dave

BobClay · #**136** 9th July 2021, 00:50

Well .... never trust anybody who keeps everything spotlessly clean ... for here there be dragons ...

John Rogers · #**137** 9th July 2021, 03:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makko

Ha ha! Suitably admonished, Uncle John! I had to pick the "missus" up first from her 21 Km run, then take the jet washer up, connect it, etc! I think that it looks more "convincing" though in this state!

Keep safe!
Rgds.
Dave

OK, so its the better halves fault. I can live with that.

Engine Serang · #**138** 9th July 2021, 07:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobClay

Well .... never trust anybody who keeps everything spotlessly clean ... for here there be dragons ...

I always said that Cleanliness is next to Godliness but not in my Engine Room.

Malcolm G · #**139** 9th July 2021, 08:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

I always said that Cleanliness is next to Godliness but not in my Engine Room.

Cleanliness is only next to Godliness in a dictionary with many missing pages.

BobClay · #**140** 9th July 2021, 10:20

I've always thought a work place should be a bit scruffy. Not dirty or grimy necessarily, but certainly untidy and a bit scattered about. That way it indicates somebody is actually doing something in there.

The pix below is my principal workstation for surfing and such. It's a 10 year old PC (an early core I7, and much upgraded) running Windows 11 (beta testing on Microsoft Insider ring.) It's also a radio station, the two black boxes just the other side of the chair. Power supply on the right, SDR radio transceiver on the left.

I've ended up with three radio stations in my place, don't ask my why, I don't really know myself.

Wires everywhere (the word 'wireless' has always been a misnomer to me,) other stuff everywhere, yet I know where everything is ... (..ish.) Now that's what a work place should look like.

Malcolm G · #**141** 9th July 2021, 10:53

Bob,
Win11
The system told me that it would not run with my i7 960
Maybe a bit older than yours, but not much.
What's the secret?

Ps, your workstation is a bit tidier than mine....

John Rogers · #**142** 9th July 2021, 11:02

Nice Mess Bob, is the mug upside down to keep the Jaspers out or to stop visitors from throwing coins in.

BobClay · #**143** 9th July 2021, 11:23

Not sure. I think it has to be 64 bit, which allows for more memory. Mine is maxxed out at 8 Gigs of RAM as that's all the motherboard will take. I've replaced the C drive with an SSD, the video card to allow for multiple monitors and a much larger cooler for the CPU.

Basic specs are CPU Core I7 660 @ 2.80 GHz Lynnfield
8 Gigs DDR3 RAM @ 669 MHz
Graphics NVIDIA Geforce GTX660 with 2 Gigs RAM
C drive Samsung SSD 860 500Gigs SATA3 SSD (solid state drive, no horrible whirly bits.)
There's another internal drive for general storage at 1TB and this has whirly bits.

So there's nothing particularly super duper about it. It initially ran Windows 7 then upgraded to Windows 8. First started using Insider Ring testing for Windows 10 about 5 or 6 years ago. Has been full updating of operating system very regularly since then, often periods of once a week.

This version of Windows 11 pro 64 bit went in a couple of weeks ago and has had some minor updates since to fix a couple of small bugs. (I'm running three monitors and the Task bars on the extended monitors weren't right.)

Current installation of Windows 11 is: 21H2 OS build 22000.65
Windows Feature Experience Pack: 421.17400.45.3

The most obvious difference to the user is the Start Menu has a new layout and is on the centre of the Task bar. The bottom left corner is now strangely bereft of life (after a lot of years when you think about it.)

BobClay · #**144** 9th July 2021, 11:25

The mug is the right way up John. (You need to lay off the Rum ....

)

Engine Serang · #**145** 9th July 2021, 11:33

It'll never pass First Lieutenant's inspection.

rogd · #**146** 9th July 2021, 11:56

I expect the electrical installation complies with part P and is subject to a regular EICR.

BobClay · #**147** 9th July 2021, 12:39

Absolutely. All done by me and protected by localised RCDs, breakers and power monitors.

Dartskipper · #**148** 9th July 2021, 14:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makko

Ha ha! Suitably admonished, Uncle John! I had to pick the "missus" up first from her 21 Km run, then take the jet washer up, connect it, etc! I think that it looks more "convincing" though in this state!

Keep safe!
Rgds.
Dave

I had to read this a couple of times before I worked out that you didn't power wash your "missus" first after her run.

But then I do tend to have a slightly alternative outlook on life sometimes!!

Cheers,
Roy.

BobClay · #**149** 22nd July 2021, 10:38

Given all the wonderful spacecraft SciFi writers of novels, film and TV have given us over the years, who'd have thought we'd be going into space in a giant dick ? There's a metaphor here somewhere ....

ShipwreckX · #**150** 23rd July 2021, 06:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobClay

Given all the wonderful spacecraft SciFi writers of novels, film and TV have given us over the years, who'd have thought we'd be going into space in a giant dick ? There's a metaphor here somewhere ....

Looks more like what Captain Kirk would travel in.