Equipment Crew- Part III

[americandream11]

Someone give me some rep. It pisses me off that some loser neg repped me when I've been nothing but helpful here. I deserve some respect!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

[jfindon]

Merry Christmas guys.







First white Christmas in at least a decade, I'm psyched.

Also nailed 310x5x5 benching tonight, finally back to repping three plates per side next week.

[-aesop-]

Man, that's a nice lookin' tree.

[4MEandThem]

Merry Christmas Crew

[4MEandThem]

I put you in the green Merry Christmas

[Stasher1]

Merry Ho-Ho to the BB.com Equipment Crew family. Hope Equipment Claus fills your basements/garages with tons of heavy (and expensive) goodies.

[jfindon]

Man, that's a nice lookin' tree.

Thanks.

It's 5am, time to finally go to friggin sleep. I suck at wrapping.

[Keetman]

Merry Christmas to you all.

I worked last night, but I'm home with my family today. We are getting a break between visits, so I thought I'd pop in and give you some Holiday Greetings. Regardless of what you're doing today, I wish you all well and hope that everyone can find something to smile about and be grateful for.

[rlundregan]

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm thankful for all of you!

[animalfan]

Nice trees JF and Keet! How tall is that tree Keetman? I've been in that room and can't believe you have a tree tall enough to hit the ceiling!

[yankeemarko1]

Christmas morning. What better way to celebrate than a climb to the top of Piestewa Peak to look for Santa's sleigh. I did not see the sleigh flying overhead but I met someone pretty amazing and want to tell the story. As you know, I wear a fancy schmancy knee brace when I exercise or hike now. I get to the summit of the mountain and this guy says "you're doing pretty good with that brace on". I started talking to him and telling him about my knee injury and after about 5 minutes, I noticed he had a prosthetic leg from the knee down. I tend to look people in the eye when I talk to them and honestly didn't even notice it. He was in a motorcycle accident and lost his leg but still had the will to climb to the top of the mountain. For the people who don't live in Phoenix, this is a pretty strenuous hike with a tiny bit of rock scrambling at the very top. He was pretty awesome and a real inspiration. I didn't realize till I got home that I got him in a pic but only from the back. He's wearing the blue t-shirt. All in all, a good day.

A view from the circumference trail.




The rest of these are from the top. The elevation at the top is around 2600 feet.




The guy in the blue shirt is the gentleman I was talking to. His name is Pat.

[Keetman]

Nice story Yankee....that man is pretty remarkable. Its always great to hear stories of what people can accomplish in spite of their liabilities.


Animalfan....that is a 12' tree. Its an artificial tree, and the first one we've had....it turned out pretty nice, imo and we were happy. The place we normally got our trees reduced their stock last year and hinted they were going out of business. We looked elsewhere, but the trees we were looking at were close to $200. I wasn't paying $200 a year for a tree that we'll throw out back to burn.....so we found an even bigger artificial tree on sale last year after Christmas.


Hey....speaking of remarkable people.... the actor Charles Durning died at 89yo yesterday. I almost never really bat an eye at a celebrity's death, but I did read an article about him that I thought was quite intriguing. The man was the son of a WWI vet (who died when Mr. Durning was 12) and he grew up very poor. He quit school, moved out, and joined the Army during WWII. He was among the first wave of soldiers to storm Normandy and one of only a few from his boat that survived. He was in the Battle of the Bulge and was captured by the Germans....during his capture 90 prisoners were lead to slaughter and machine gunned down in a forest....again, he was one of just a few to survive. He escaped the War with a Bronze Star and several Purple Hearts. Then he came back and had a successful acting career.

I've seen that dude in movies and tv all my life and had no idea he was a true American hero. Just wanted to share this story and salute Mr. Durning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/mo...nted=all&_r=1&

[Kodokan]

Merry Christmas everyone...hope life is treating you all well and you all have a great holiday!

[twodog]

Inb4 the end of day. Here's hoping that y'all had a Merry Christmas, and that you have a great New Year !

[mensagitatmolem]

Yankee - thanks for posting the pics, as well as the info on the guy in the blue shirt. As we near the end of 2012, you have shown yourself to have a high level of determination as well.

Keet- Thank you for posting the info on Durning. I was aware of some of life. He has done quite a bit of acting/entertaining over the years, as well as has seen just about everything. Would like to thank you for your public service that you offer to your community.

[KBKB]

Merry Christmas!

The other actor who died recently is Jack Klugman. I remember watching him in The Odd Couple and Quincy, M.E.

That's a cool story about Pat, the guy who hiked up Piestwa with a prosthetic leg. I used to see a guy running the same trails on which I ride my bike. He had two of those springy prosthetic limbs. I was impressed at his ability to handle the rocky terrain.

I got these photos while hiking the Barnhardt Trail on Sunday:



One of the waterfalls:



We all thought that these icicles, below, were pretty cool. Keep in mind that we don't see many icicles here.



The trails were not only snowy, but icy too. My son cut walking sticks for us with his kukri. We all own perfectly good metal tipped hiking poles, but none of the five of us thought to bring them. We were hoping for some snow melt so that we could see the waterfall, but were not expecting that amount of snow and ice. My wife slipped and fell twice and one of my friends fell once, going off the trail. Fortunately, he landed partly in a nearby tree - and my wife grabbed his boot - or he might have continued down for quite a ways. I was wishing that I owned a pair of crampons on this hike.

[Keetman]

We didn't have a white Christmas here in Central Ohio....and we didn't have one last year either.

Today...the day after Christmas, we getting pummeled. I am off, so I don't have to drive, but its been snowing since early this morning with some ice/rain before that....its still snowing.

Getting ready to go clean the driveway and then push my kids down a hill. White Death is upon me.....

[OSUDimond]

We didn't have a white Christmas here in Central Ohio....and we didn't have one last year either.

Today...the day after Christmas, we getting pummeled. I am off, so I don't have to drive, but its been snowing since early this morning with some ice/rain before that....its still snowing.

Getting ready to go clean the driveway and then push my kids down a hill. White Death is upon me.....

You aren't kidding man. It just wont stop snowing. Roads are going to be terrible by the time I head home tonight. Good thing I traded in my old beat up civic for a 4X4 truck.

[Keetman]

You aren't kidding man. It just wont stop snowing. Roads are going to be terrible by the time I head home tonight. Good thing I traded in my old beat up civic for a 4X4 truck.

Yea, the 4x4 is going to be nice. I heard some douchewagon on the radio today crying about the giant 4x4's passing him on the freeway. He didn't like the snow that got kicked up on his windshield. That's what they make wipers for, no? LoL.....love driving past people in my truck in the snow!

Its been a long time since we got a good covering like this. I'm not a big winter dude, but this is nice for a minute. I figure by Saturday....I'll be dreaming about opening the pool.

[animalfan]

Snow just started falling here, but I am hearing that it's going to come hard. My son is playing hockey tonight, they are playing a team from Germany. Pretty cool, and he's excited to play.

I finally got around to getting the chimney checked out and cleaned, we've had fires in it for the last few nights. It's pretty nice, and the wife loves it.

[jackbravo]

i just went out in my jeep to HD and got myself one of those 1500w ceramic heaters for the garage so i can do some squats. essentially worthless. don't want propane heater in the garage asphyxiating me though.

[OSUDimond]

i just went out in my jeep to HD and got myself one of those 1500w ceramic heaters for the garage so i can do some squats. essentially worthless. don't want propane heater in the garage asphyxiating me though.

We didn't get hit as hard as it looked like originally. I still haven't had anyone in the store for 5 hours now. Snow scared everyone off.

[Keetman]

The worst part for me ended up being the type of snow, not necessarily the amount. I went out to snowblow my driveway and there's a good 5" on the ground....but its heavy and wet. That type of snow just kicks my snowblowers ass. I ended up spending every bit of 2 hours out there and only really got about 70% of the driveway cleared. It got dark and was snowing more, so I said screw it and got in the truck.....then took it up and down the driveway about 20 times. Wife can now get the car out and I'll have the truck, so we're good. I'm sure I'll have more to do tomorrow. Its actually "easier" or at least quicker to shovel it, but there's more effort involved. Double edge sword.....light fluffy snow is much easier to clear, but not as fun for the kids.....who went sledding with Mommy while I worked.

I don't think I'm gonna make it till Saturday on the pool dreaming......I may get out a lawn chair and sit back there tomorrow with a beer...by my hole with snow over it.

Feelsbadman.

[jackbravo]

We didn't get hit as hard as it looked like originally. I still haven't had anyone in the store for 5 hours now. Snow scared everyone off.

yea...they kept saying on the radio "level 2 warning" driving not advisable. i'd imagine that's part of it. roads weren't too bad though.

The worst part for me ended up being the type of snow, not necessarily the amount. I went out to snowblow my driveway and there's a good 5" on the ground....but its heavy and wet. That type of snow just kicks my snowblowers ass. I ended up spending every bit of 2 hours out there and only really got about 70% of the driveway cleared. It got dark and was snowing more, so I said screw it and got in the truck.....then took it up and down the driveway about 20 times. Wife can now get the car out and I'll have the truck, so we're good. I'm sure I'll have more to do tomorrow. Its actually "easier" or at least quicker to shovel it, but there's more effort involved. Double edge sword.....light fluffy snow is much easier to clear, but not as fun for the kids.....who went sledding with Mommy while I worked.

I don't think I'm gonna make it till Saturday on the pool dreaming......I may get out a lawn chair and sit back there tomorrow with a beer...by my hole with snow over it.

Feelsbadman.

surprised you don't have one of those small snow plows attached to the front of your truck.

[pumping4life]

Hey everyone!

Hope those of you getting nailed with the snow get a break soon.

I also hope everyone had a great holiday. My mom's friend brought over Pat Obrien's Hurricanes. After the 3rd one, I was having trouble walking straight. I took an afternoon nap and woke up with a hangover. I haven't been drunk and hung over in the same day for a very long time.

[Keetman]

.....surprised you don't have one of those small snow plows attached to the front of your truck.

I had one on my last truck, it came with it though.

I don't have much of an opinion on them, but I've chosen not to get one on this truck. Unless I wanted to go make some money with it, it just doesn't make sense for me. The plow itself won't be cheap, takes some maintenance, is hard on the truck, has to be stored in the summer, and increases my chances for tearing something up.

I have a 240' driveway and it would be nice to have for that and that alone. However, its concrete and I could run the risk of tearing the driveway up...which would suck. Not to mention, that in general....since we're in the middle of Ohio, an not on the lake, the winters aren't near as severe. I never really needed it that much. For the most part, the snowblower for the driveway and the 4 wheel drive for getting me around safely seem to be a nice combination.

Not that I was second guessing all of that this evening!

[hulked]

Just saw this while browsing the exercises section. Couldnt resist sharing

[rthawker]

I had one on my last truck, it came with it though.

I don't have much of an opinion on them, but I've chosen not to get one on this truck. Unless I wanted to go make some money with it, it just doesn't make sense for me. The plow itself won't be cheap, takes some maintenance, is hard on the truck, has to be stored in the summer, and increases my chances for tearing something up.

I have a 240' driveway and it would be nice to have for that and that alone. However, its concrete and I could run the risk of tearing the driveway up...which would suck. Not to mention, that in general....since we're in the middle of Ohio, an not on the lake, the winters aren't near as severe. I never really needed it that much. For the most part, the snowblower for the driveway and the 4 wheel drive for getting me around safely seem to be a nice combination.

Not that I was second guessing all of that this evening!

Sounds like you have a good argument to help convince the wife that you need a four wheeler with a plow.

[jfindon]

We got a few inches of snow yesterday, switched over to sleet/freezing rain now. That's ok, gives me a nice cooler for my wine. I also just bitchslapped a wine glass accidentally and it shattered into a million pieces, that's what I've been doing for the past hour.

[Pelipe]

Just saw this while browsing the exercises section. Couldnt resist sharing

That is great, thanks for sharing made me laugh