The little Inn by the wayside

[Baldie]

And again, twice in a month this could get regular, OI Mazbot you lazy lump of Fe2O3 get me a Guinness Ahhh thanks, now where was I, oh yeah after the Wedding to Deniece, we went over to New Zealand and we actually got to visit Hobbiton, it is on the farm where the movies were actually filmed and after The lord of The Rings trilogy, they were going to pull all the sets down as part of the original agreement but tourists started to come around and the owner decided that after the Hobbit was finished he could make more money restoring the sets and even adding more features for the tourist trade, if you ever visit New Zealand I recommend a visit there, and also a place in Wellington called The Weta Cave, that is Peter Jacksons Special effects workshop and definitely worth the trip. Bye for now, be back soon, drains Guinness, and waves.

[eMTe]

If I ever visit NZ I know of only two places I want to visit - Hobbiton and Marlborough wine region.

Said visit is currently flagged 2,5 on my three-grade list of places to visit during mortal existence. 2 being the visits becoming more or less likely to happen and 3 being the visits very unlikely to happen.

[Zyx]

This forum is now over 11 years old!

Fun fact: This board was started on a Friday.

[eMTe]

All these posts, in vain.

Eons will pass, the sun will die, the Universe will collapse, then it will reappear, the whole process will start again and after billions of years another Zyx from Helsinki, unaware of his past incarnation(s?), will announce on CWF forum that it is 11 years old.

Dreadful business, this...everything.

[Zyx]

All these posts, in vain.

The discussions are ephemeral. That they happened, was important, not that they are stored.

[eMTe]

Nothing is important in view of impending apocalypse.

[Railwaymodeler]

*A bright headlight and a plume of diesel exhaust appears on the horizon, then a locomotive horn sounds*

Hey guys! Been a couple years!

All hell broke loose a couple years ago. A few people who said that they would get "Even" with me did just that. Or tried to. Remember the holy war I had years and years ago against a corrupt city government and a rotten transit manager? Those guys. Again. Two years later, the ordeal is finally over. It's cost me a LOT, cost me people I cared about dearly, but there is finally peace. Not going to say much more about it though.

The good news has been that I am still working for a hobby shop, still get to spend the entire day with the things I enjoy the most. Spend the day repairing trains and building a railroad club layout. Ride a historic streetcar on my breaks. Head home, more trains!

I got the email about CWF turning 11, so I guess it did do some good. With all the carnage of the last couple years I forgot about this place. C, it's more carnage than you can probably imagine, so don't take that as an insult!

[eMTe]

cost me people I cared about dearly

This section of your post is the most unsettling.

[Tormuse]

cost me people I cared about dearly

This section of your post is the most unsettling.

Same here... RWM, sorry to hear about the "carnage;" I had hoped that was all in the past. I'm concerned about what it is they did to "get even," but it's okay if you don't want to talk about it.

In any case, it's really good to see you again; it certainly has been a long time! Maybe we can reopen the hobby thread and get some pictures of those trains.

[Railwaymodeler]

I can't say a whole lot except that everyone is physically OK, just separated by some distance now. Still together in spirit and soul, but physically separated. So it's not too bad. A bit depressing still, but eventually the idea is to rejoin in the near-ish future.

Anyone ever see the old movie "Mr Smith Goes to Washington?" It was a little bit like that. Where Mr. Smith stands firm against graft and corruption, and gets seriously raked over the coals for it. Except extend that out over almost two years.

Yes, getting the hobby thread going again is a good idea. There's more trains than ever here! Own three train layouts at home, and manage a railroad club which means a fourth one!

[jayenkai]

*hugs*

I'm glad that things appear to have normalised, but... yikes, that sounds horrific!

[Tormuse]

*hugs*

Ooh, I forgot that was an option!

*Hugs!*

(Maybe I can get a group hug going)

Well, maybe when you rejoin with them, you can all come to Canada. I daresay it's a much friendlier place. (I may be a little biased, though)

[eMTe]

Die Hard franchise speaks openly and unconsciously about your problems, RM.

The Guy and his trouble with both The Family and The Universe.

Me, I'm currently up, but aware that ups and downs come semi-regularly, like Darling and Murray rivers.

These natural fluctuations are very fun for an optimist, like me, but I don't wish them (the fluctuations) to pessimists. They (fluctuations, not pessimists) can seriously spoil your imaginary line of life.

[Railwaymodeler]

Never seen the Die Hard movies. Maybe now I should go rent one, now that you got my curiousity piqued.

first time I saw the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" I immediately saw parallels to my life.

I tend to think of myself as a combination of optimist and realist. Yes, things are going to happen. Yes, serious things are going to happen to anyone with strong beliefs, but also yes, any of those things can be worked around.

I think most of the things I have dealt with come from an ironclad sense of right and wrong, and from ideals of leadership, corporate and political, that do not sit well with corrupt (Financally, morally, or otherwise) individuals, who are exactly the type to rise to those jobs. And, of course, a simple willingness to take those who are corrupt, and root them out.

[eMTe]

Maybe your morality sensors are a little too fine-tuned?

I gave up trying to save the world as soon as I realised that I'm mortal and that I'm thirty-something years old and that many mortals before me just spent the life moderately happily without doing anything particularly right or wrong. Not to mention doing great big things.

If life was an rpg game I'd probably be true neutral character. Whatever it means; since life isn't an rpg game it'd probably mean oportunism. Fierce oportunism can lead one to hating himself later in life, so caution is advised. But it is probably true, that I'm an oportunist and have little moral brakes of doing harm to other people when I feel threatened. On the opposite, I have strange and almost suicidal (socially) tendencies of speaking truth to completely wrong persons (supervisors, girlfriends etc.) and in completely wrong time and situation (usually when I can lose rather than gain).

Yup, being caught in the middle is absolutely perfect solution for me. I'm most likely doomed, so I can't advise it for other people, but I still think it's much better solution than pursuing goals considered good or evil. One must do a bit of harm to others and a bit of good, and sleep with that.

[Tormuse]

Regarding the Die Hard movies, I have seen them and I don't think there's anything about them that particularly ties to your situation, RWM, except that bad stuff keeps happening to McClane, which could be said about the hero of any action hero franchise, really. Still, they (mostly) make pretty good action movies, so they might be worth checking out if that's your thing. (Though, IMO, the quality takes a sharp dive after the first two movies)

I tend to think of myself as a combination of optimist and realist. Yes, things are going to happen. Yes, serious things are going to happen to anyone with strong beliefs, but also yes, any of those things can be worked around.

I think most of the things I have dealt with come from an ironclad sense of right and wrong, and from ideals of leadership, corporate and political, that do not sit well with corrupt (Financally, morally, or otherwise) individuals, who are exactly the type to rise to those jobs. And, of course, a simple willingness to take those who are corrupt, and root them out.

Someone once said that a valuable life lesson taught by video games is that if you're meeting enemies, you're going in the right direction.

[eMTe]

Someone once said that a valuable life lesson taught by video games is that if you're meeting enemies, you're going in the right direction.

Every human is like a bookstore worker, he is born, he lives and dies.

@Die Hard movies

I argue, parts III and IV are enjoyable. The whole franchise is just one huge plot hole, and latter parts don't differ in that. Actually, in plothole genre of action movies Die Hard is probably the winner. <--- not ironic

[jayenkai]

Ugh.. what a weekend.
Laptop's harddrive died on Thursday night.
Since I'm pig sick of the number of issues I've had with that flamin' laptop, I ordered a new one.
New laptop arrived nice and quick, and I've spent most of the weekend playing "restore the hundreds of backups!" and "reinstall your favourite apps", as well as "tweak the setting in your favourite apps, because they NEVER get backed up!!"
Grrr.

Next I have to see about fixing up the knackered laptop so I can hopefully flog it on, and be rid of its stupid issues FOREVER!!

[Railwaymodeler]

Yup. I know how that all goes. I built myself a nice machine out of a damaged laptop. Hooked an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse to it. It's a machine only a couple years old, plays Trainz 12 nicely.

Then it died again. Not a major issue. Traced it down to a burned power board (A small board with the power jack and two USB ports on it), but I need to order the part and my usual vendors are out of them. So back to using my old tower for now. Glad I did not dismantle it! I did take the HDD out of the laptop and connect it to a SATA connector in my tower. Gotta love that about SATA. Same connectors on 2.5" HDDs and 3.5" HDDs.

[eMTe]

Railo turning bot, fun.

Fun, I mean, I always thought that first humans turned bots will be Zyx and Scythe as they were the most intelligent down-to-the-metal human beings on these boards.

Gives me creeps, I've never been down to the metal, I'm progressing through biological, evolutionary means. I smile when I smile, I scream when I scream. Scary, being a bit

Communication is a really scary invention