Machinery Infatuation

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I bought my first NEW piece of farm machinery. I am not sure if this is a failure or a success, but it is different. I picked up a NEW Rotary Cutter (bush hog, brush hog, mower, etc) from a dealer. It cost me almost as much as the tractor did with its bits of hardware and options. It seems to work well on the CNH Boomer 33. I planned on getting up to NY in the next couple of days, but Gracie has been sick.. she has been up and down. The steroid treatment and a change in diet seem to be helping at this point. Besides hauling the tractor and mower up to NY I have numerous events planned over the next month. I will be in Charlotte for a conference as well as Tucson Arizona and of course other events and activities. I started installing radio equipment in the Humvee. It now has a telescoping 30 foot antenna, a 24 volt to 12 volt converter, a removable SDR radio and some other stuff to be sure. I'd like to get it to the Stone Mountain Hamfest -- thats what i am shooting for. I thr...
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I have been absolutely beyond my capacity to do things, in other words I am overwhelmed. I really do not like the feeling when things move from "difficult" to "impossible". It happens occasionally, maybe once every couple of years.

I was asked to be Southern Division Governor for Toastmasters. I did not consider it. Between work as a manager, the Tioga County planning board, Berkshire Town planning board, two Toastmasters clubs (one as president), graduate school, the farm and barn rehabing and other projects not mentioned I cannot take on a whole lot more.

We had a Toastmasters dinner for the Raymond club. That was fun. We had three speakers from around the area. They gave great speeches.

I stayed at nemacolin last week in rural PA for a few days last week for work. The place was really quite something. I understand there is 50 million dollars of art in the resort. It is owned (and resided in) by Joe Hardy the founder of 84 lumber. There is a 4900 foot runway right next to the main buildings for his Cessna Citation. Our pilot won't fly the Hawker corporate jet in there, however. He said it is barely long enough and at 50 foot wide it is is not wide enough. The architecture is what I termed "Greek Revival- Redneck." The place is very fancy and finished but, it has a sense of organic planning and sprawl. Unfortunately, I was stuck doing homework. I had to get my term paper in. The internet access was just plain bad. On the other hand, the spa-exercise place was an experience I will not soon forget. It was very emotionally-moving in style. It was minimal of minimalism, subteranian, dark, shadowy with mirrors, sounds of constant running water, the views were earthy and the feelings were quiet and cool without being damp. I had a couple of great workouts. It felt great getting up at 5:30 AM and exercising after I had my term paper turned in the night before.

I canceled my Denver trip. Too much stuff going on. Something had to come off the list. It has gotten that bad lately. I am headed to Seattle next week for the STC (Society for Technical Communicators) conference. This class will be over at about the same time. This class took a lot out of me. Most (all) of my classmates are financial professionals. This subject matter is a new discipline for me. I had to work hard and refer back to accounting and economic books to ensure I had some of the principals down. I learned a lot. It is interesting to learn how to decide on a Capital Structure of an organization. How much debt to carry and to plan the cash flows... there is a lot to it and the stakes are very high. Your model must be right when you are dealing with dollars in these scales. The overall concept gained encompasses the concept and model of valuation. It is a formula comprised of FCFs (Free Cash Flows) and WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital) and all the contributors to the formula including internal and external risks etc. Unfortunately, it has been almost all book work. The 120 dollar text book is showing considerable wear and tear. I known I will use the material. The book will will look good on the shelf next to "Business", "Management", "Human Resouce Management," and hundreds of others.

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Machinery Infatuation

-
Image
I bought my first NEW piece of farm machinery. I am not sure if this is a failure or a success, but it is different. I picked up a NEW Rotary Cutter (bush hog, brush hog, mower, etc) from a dealer. It cost me almost as much as the tractor did with its bits of hardware and options. It seems to work well on the CNH Boomer 33. I planned on getting up to NY in the next couple of days, but Gracie has been sick.. she has been up and down. The steroid treatment and a change in diet seem to be helping at this point. Besides hauling the tractor and mower up to NY I have numerous events planned over the next month. I will be in Charlotte for a conference as well as Tucson Arizona and of course other events and activities. I started installing radio equipment in the Humvee. It now has a telescoping 30 foot antenna, a 24 volt to 12 volt converter, a removable SDR radio and some other stuff to be sure. I'd like to get it to the Stone Mountain Hamfest -- thats what i am shooting for. I thr...
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I remember the first "Earth Day" in 1970. I remember it well. I was in third-grade at Oakview Neighborhood School in West Irondequit, NY. We had energized school lessons regarding care for the environment and there was a common thread in our cultural changes that we all need to care more about nature and ourselves. There was almost no opposing dialog. We had seen large fish kills, weird colored skys, and bodies of water we wouldn't even think about swimning in, including Lake Ontario. This was almost 10 years before the awakening of " love canal " in nearby Nigagra Falls NY. Generally, in 1970 the dialog was about polution and what we can do to reduce polution. Polution consisted of many things, trash along the highways, untreated sewage and industrial dumping and runoffs. Don't forget about sound polution, also part of the polution spectrum. We were also significantly concerned about needlessly cutting of trees and wasting paper. Since 1970 we have made g...
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