rwsem said
Hey, if this is an annual post; tell us what you've been up to!  Still into the watches?  Good to hear from you.

Fair enough.

Still into watches but not much has changed since we last talked about it. The Breitling still needs a service but I am about to convince myself that I should sell it rather than get it serviced. Still into firearms but haven't purchased anything other than the Grizzly since the last time I came around. Started working as computer tech support for Apple last year but that has run its course since I can't stand to have a headset on all day. I also wanted to study in my spare time to perform my job better but that would be against Apple policy (can't say any more about this topic). I guess this is the world us old-timers now live in.

My musical activities (guitar) is where I have been spending most of my time the past couple of years. I've picked up a couple of custom guitars along with a couple of quality tube amps.

My most recent pursuit has been looking at the sky. I was out in the back yard several months back and saw a UFO- I'm not kidding. There have been a number of random sightings from the area as well as to the west out in the Hill Country. There was even multiple reports of sightings during SXSW. I picked up a nice motorized EQ mount telescope and I shall be giving astrophotography a whirl once the temperatures drop and I head out towards a darker site. I can see stuff from the back yard but light pollution is a bit much for astrophotography from home, especially for DSO (deep space objects).

Been on 2 vacations since I have been active here. The wife and I went to Puerto Rico after I left Apple last year and my mother sent us to to Huahine a few years back, in the South Pacific.

That was an awesome vacation, especially if you like quiet, water, and extreme seclusion. Mom took pity on us because life just kept throwing curve balls at us for many years and we hadn't had an actual vacation since 2000. Now that we are non smokers, in 2-3 years we should be able to afford a trip back to the S. Pacific with the funds we no longer use for cigarettes. Our next target will be the Cook Islands.

Now that the house is paid off and we quit smoking, we have been in a much better financial position over the past couple years... thankfully. 

There you have it. My life is an open book.

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Thank you very much ese927.

As Steve CT mentioned before, once in the brotherhood, always in the brotherhood. Welcome to the forums and I am sure you have already noticed, this is a tight knit and knowledgeable group who genuinely cares about each other. I can't think of a better group of guys to hang out with.

Several members here stepped up and offered me a helping hand when things couldn't get much worse in my world quite a few years ago. Because of this crew, I will never forget that there are still good people out there who care about others more than themselves. That is a rare trait these days, unfortunately.

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Dave_Ks- thank you sir. It feels pretty different not having life kick the crap out of me every day.

rwsem-

It was a truly peaceful and relaxing place. The only way to reach the resort was a 30 minute boat ride form the nearest "town". My stress level was non existent except for one incident.

The wife and I were cleaning up after a day of diving and kayaking in order to go to dinner. While waiting on the wife to get finished, I decided to head out to the deck to get a picture of the beautiful sunset that evening. Naturally, I removed my lens cap and proceeded to drop it. It rolled along the deck about 10 feet (as I was chasing it) and then exited into the water through the slots in the deck once my hand was 3" away from grabbing it. 

Because this island is so isolated and off the grid, there is no place to buy another lens cap. I figured that it may be buried if I waited till the next morning to fetch it. Off with the clothes and back into the water to recover it. The good news is the water is so clear that I was able to see it hit bottom and could easily see it from dry land. The bad news is that the water is about 30ft. deep under those bungalows. It took 20 seconds to recover the cap and another 1/2 hour to get ready to go to dinner again. The real irony is that I didn't even get the sunset picture that spurred this whole fiasco.

We still laugh about that. 

How clear is clear?

This was taken from the deck in roughly 15ft. of water. Tried to get an underwater shot but it kept disappearing in the coral heads everytime I got close. I've never seen one in the wild before.

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Thanks lbruce. I am a pretty happy person these days and in a far better state of mind.

It looks like you have been doing pretty well with the custom grip gig. Congrats!

Let me know when you are ready to tackle a pair for my Grizzly.  Maybe I will just make it happen myself since I know you don't do other grips at the moment.

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lbruce said

Last time I checked you did right well at grips and such yourself. Want to help with the backlog?

LB

Maybe once I can afford a CNC and have a couple years to figure out how to operate it, I will commit to a definite maybe. In other words, about the same time you send the Grizzly back.

At least you had sense enough to make jigs. After realizing the time it took to freestyle the one large frame rosewood grip, that was enough for me. I did proceed with the 1911 grips for awhile but then wore out my jigs, sold all my 1911's, and never got back to it. 

I will probably get out there and make something for the Grizzly though. It deserves something a bit nicer than the factory installed Pachmayr.

The biggest question confronting me is what wood to use. I think I may try some heavily figured Wenge but that stuff is a beast to work with. It will take longer to stay splinter free than make the grips. Nothing like a splinter going septic to ruin your week. After writing this statement, bocote it is.

While backlogs aren't pleasant, at least you have a backlog. That means you are doing a great job.

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Thanks SMF. It has certainly been a while.

Hope life has also been treating you well.

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