Mike just pointed out to me in person that I have my own emoji. :chappy:

Mike, in person.

Making me the first non-Jason forum member to have first-hand knowledge of the existence of Mike.

And that makes me happy meal.

Flyboarding...
 

So, yesterday was a special day in my world, and so my girlfriend arranged an extraordinary experience: trying to pilot a water powered flyboard!

Basically, they attach two water jets to a board your feet are strapped into, powered by a jetski connected by a firehose, and you're suppost to fly it.

It's a lot harder than [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM8kEHjQz9U"]this video[/URL] makes it look. I spent /much/ more of my time in the water than above it...

...and I have been thinking about the physics and the dynamics, and how to control the machine so I don't crash, ever since. It was a wonderful gift! :tu: :chalsall:

You and your girl can try this next....
 

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrtG6NFZ-yY[/url]

The girl is my wife's daughter's half-sister (from Calgary Canada)

I have the best wife....
 

My 10th anniversary gift.
It was custom made for me from a local Luthier (Guitar maker)
She ordered it 13 months ago to give him time to build it.
Note the custom logo she had inlayed on the back.

[QUOTE=petrw1;444507]She ordered it 13 months ago to give him time to build it.[/QUOTE]

Extraordinary cool. 8-)

Nice! Cool! Congrats! Is it you in the photo?

About "wife's daughter's half-sister", as I am not a native speaker, and have to [U]think[/U] every time I read those "family relativity" words in English, that was a real puzzle for me, I had to put it on paper, hehe, who married who, and who had children with who. But once you figure it out, it looks quite simple and common, hehe.

Tis me.
Thx

After years of impairment, I got my hearing aids today. Acclimation is the name of the game right now. There are currently 3 different programs: All Around (general use), Restaurant (noisy place), and, at my indication, Music, which shuts down filtering and listens in all directions. This is for playing music with my friends.

So far, I am most comfortable with the Restaurant mode. There is a considerable background hiss in the others. This can be corrected, by being within a few feet of a transceiver hooked up to the audiologist's computer.

I am content to let things wear in, a bit. The doctor has already order slightly longer wires for the ear inserts. The current ones tend to displace the on-top-of-the-ear unit, if one tries to get the buds deeply seated. This is pretty minor. I am encouraged by results, so far, considering how programmable the little things are. She (audiologist) ran a string of calibrations, including some in which she put a tiny microphone in my ear, along with the hearing aid, so that the program could hear how things were sounding in the particular acoustics of my ears, and ear canals (which are different.)

Mainly, right now, everything is really noisy, especially in the higher frequencies, which I have not been hearing for years. This means being far more aware of the sounds I make just by moving around, and the general background noise of a city apartment with windows open and fans running. It has also made me more aware of sounds which might indicate fans in a state of decline: gritty or whiny kinds of things.

This acuity may finally persuade me to find ways to quiet my computer. This could mean a more appropriate case for the power dissipated within, with higher airflow from bigger fans, which run slower. If I can't do that, I might have to cut back on processing activities. :<( Of course, if I could upgrade to a recent i7, with an HAF-type case, (.....and a pair of [STRIKE]1080s[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]K80s[/STRIKE] Titans of some descriptions, since we are dreaming ;<), things would be MUCH better. :w00t:

Perhaps Winter, which IS coming, will resolve this. :smile:

According to [URL="http://www.timeanddate.com/date/birthday.html"]this[/URL] and some mental calculus, I will be myself a mersenne prime's prime exponent old in minutes, in the very-very-very near future (deliberately vague).

[QUOTE=kladner;444749]After years of impairment, I got my hearing aids today. Acclimation is the name of the game right now.[/QUOTE]

Congrats; I'll need some soon. Seriously.

Acclimation is to be expected, and should be studied and worked. Just like the first experience most people had given a new tool to help them perceive: glasses.

[QUOTE=chalsall;444801]Congrats; I'll need some soon. Seriously.

Acclimation is to be expected, and should be studied and worked. Just like the first experience most people had given a new tool to help them perceive: glasses.[/QUOTE]
That is exactly analogous. I remember when I first got progressive multi-focal lenses. My eyes had to retrain for the correct directions to look for correct focus.

At even less than 24 hours, things are pretty good. The next test will be when I go to work this afternoon, and try to comprehend speech in variously noisy environments.

Chris, I would urge you to get these beasties as soon as you can manage. I have spent way too long asking people to repeat themselves, [I]repeatedly. [/I]I got mine under a discount program under Dan's insurance. The source is a non-profit, the Chicago Hearing Society. With taxes, the pair came in right at $2,800. I was told that they would cost about $3,000 [U]apiece[/U] on the regular market.

Granted, these are pretty sophisticated. They communicate with each other, and adjust volume and filtering individually, depending on where desired sounds and noise are coming from. In the Restaurant program, they de-emphasize the rear microphones (2 mics per unit) and narrow the forward field, to try to pick up desired conversation.