ProfessorTomoe

My silver odyssey has paid off big time. Here's my "family portrait," containing my current stash:
https://media.invisioncic.com/l328053/monthly_2025_05/FamilyPortrait2_0-small.jpg.ee3ba9a3f3312d12aa561e62072a2312.jpg
For some reason, the board won't let me link images anymore, so please click on that. It's safe, I promise. It's a metric assload of silver - around 21 troy ounces - worth almost $700 at spot prices. I don't know if I'm going to sell any of it or not. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.

Surgery went well, although the new drain line is shorter than the old one. It's a PITA to deal with in the bathroom.

Good luck!

Just got back from the Doctor's office.  Short run down on what happened.
1) Stop taking walks until my hip gets better.  That's about the worse thing I can do for it.
2) Do a set of exercises twice a day for the hip
3) Use  Diclofenac gel on the hip in the morning and knees as needed.  Only once a day, however.
4) Getting meds for migraine
5) Need to make sure I see Dr. Frogge on the 1st, but it looks like one of the 16 biopsy samples taken may be cancerous.  She isn't a urologist, so didn't really know what all the report meant, but she said make sure I do see him.  She was rather emphatic about that.
6) If my hip doesn't get better, I may need a series of injections.
7) I see her again in 3 months to see how things are going, sooner if the hip gets worse.

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mgQYcOfFUs 
Somebody needs to say it
Might as well be Burl Ives 
 

I did a bit of price comparison shopping, and believe it or not, I managed to snag a Johnson Massey-brand 1 oz. silver bullion bar from APMEX by way of Walmart for less money than if I had bought it from APMEX directly. Saved about $4 on the overall transaction when you figure in the shipping/handling - APMEX wanted $9.95, but Walmart's was free because I'm on the Walmart+ plan.
Here's what I bought:

Let me tell you a short, sad tale. Back when I was a kid, I had a little bit of money - just under $100. I took some of it and used it to get into the booming silver market of the day, in the mid-70s. I bought a 10 oz. silver bar (which turned out to be a junk silver pour) for a tad less than $80. I then held onto it until hard times hit, after I'd got married in 1983. I tried to cash it in. Lo and behold, the place from where I bought it no longer existed, and the exchange where I tried to sell it at first didn't want to accept the Certificate of Authenticity that came with it. They eventually caved in, but with me taking a loss of almost $30. The lesson they imparted? "Buy something like Englehart Fabricated next time."
Well, Englehart no longer fabricates ingots, although their bullion is still around. Their ingots look like crap, though. For a trader, that doesn't matter. For a collector like me, it does. So, I picked a happy medium between reputability and holdability, then bought the best I could afford (Johnson Matthey, above - mine will have a different serial number). I could have bought something in Assay, but I'd never have been able to put my fingers (well, my cotton-gloved fingers) on it. Plus, it'd have been more expensive.
So, come next week, I'll finally have a reputable, sellable (in case of emergency only), ingot of silver bullion of my very own. I'm stoked. Can't wait.

Anyone who buys into the "Prepper" market is, IMHO, a bit off to begin with.

Even though it tarnishes, I like the look of silver over gold.

We're home! The drive home from DeFuniak Springs, Florida was tough for Mrs. Prof, since it rained quite a bit of the way, but she fought the good fight and brought us home safely. We're here, at last!

I love the chaotic gestalt.
Anyway, fate tried to throw up one last block on our way to the ship - a bomb scare that shut down the tunnel leading to the PortMiami main entrance. Traffic was backed up for hours, but we made it! I'm onboard, here, in the middle of the night, in my Prime Time, typing away on the new MacBook! Everything seems to be working well. If it weren't for the 40mph winds and the rough seas, I'd say things are almost perfect. Thank God for scopolamine.

Grats, Lee!

'Yay!  Woot.  Horn sounds!

The International Horn Society followed through with their statement today. I now have a signed music publishing contract in hand!!! My first "real world" one!!!!
Now, all we've got to do is get the thing placed on their website and put out the good word. w00t!!!!!

/me Good enough in context that you get a Gold Star with a smiley face in the middle.

Osama Bin Smokin'.

Turns out that the doom and gloom the three sentences implied were not as doomy and gloomy as I first thought. I spoke with the doctor's office and asked them several pointed questions about the report, and they said that it was a mild outcome that allowed them to go ahead and give cardiac clearance for my lipoma removal operation. Go figure. Anyway, I don't need to make any changes to my medications or diet, thankfully, unless I start getting short of breath or feeling chest pains. End of line.

Great!  You need random good news at times. Actually, everybody should get random good news every week or so.

The very same.

I have spent the better part of my day today trying to figure out why my laptop succumbed to yet another Blue Screen of Death. At my son's urging, I have gathered my issues and submitted them to the gurus at the BleepingComputer forums in an attempt to debug the situation. I hope I will get a resolution to the situation soon.
However, for reasons I cannot explain at the moment, I soon may not need to debug the situation too deeply. I might just be able to replace my 4-year-old workhorse with something even more powerful. Watch this space for further developments. If they happen, that is.

Hello, gentles all.
I have not been doing well of late and allowed myself a long leave of absence to recover. I have avoided most forums and all social media during the intervening time. I am now back, however, and intend to stay that way. I might not be very active but I will be here and available for forum needs as well as I am able.
I hope you are all well in spite of everything.
~tOH.

I'm supposedly being treated to a "last supper" tonight, prior to tomorrow's lipoma removal surgery. The meal of honor will be Japanese beef curry, served with koshihikari rice (top level stuff, if it gets here in time). I definitely feel honored. Curry and rice is one of my all-time favorite meals. It'll definitely soften the blow of having to fast from midnight until 10am Tuesday for the surgery.
Will report on how things go, both gastronomic and surgical.

Today is Explorer's “Gotcha” day. Can't believe it's been 5 years now.

*ROAR snarl growl rowr*
...oh, sorry, make that...
pacman -syu ROAR snarl growl rowr

Our female tortoiseshell cat, Pretty Girl (we didn't pick the name, she was a rescue from a hoarding situation) and me, relaxing together in my recliner,

Our female tortoiseshell cat, Pretty Girl (we didn't pick the name, she was a rescue from a hoarding situation) and me, relaxing together in my recliner,