Did my first repair in a WHILE...

[rca2000]

SOme of you know that last year was NOT a good year for me.

It all began BAD this time last year---when my storage garage got robbed. I NEVER got back ANY of my stuff....and the landlords were NOT very considerate about it, either. I got a BIT of money back,m about 1K from insurance--but that CANNOT replace things like a 29JC20 complete chassis , a BUNCH of tube amp chassis, radios, tube car radios, etc...etc...


But if that is ALL that had happened.......I would have just "shrugged it off" as another disappointment. But it was just the BEGINNING of bad times for me !!

IN late MAy, I ended up with Kidney failure.....I was placed on Dialysis. I ALMOST dies, on May 18th, the morning of the ETF convention I was supposed to attend....but I was "brought back', from not breathing, and "Given another chance"..but only "half a man", as I describe myself.
days a week 4 HOURS a day of Dialysis...and this is STILL the case---and may be for a LONG time too....though my kidney function HAS improved a lot...

Then in Late August.....my dear mother died suddenly of a massive brain aneurysm. NO warnings. She was NOT sick--not even for a DAY !! That was EXACTLY the way she "wanted to go", quick, painlessly and not "lingering on machines'...so God was merciful in that too...but STILL mom was CLOSE to me--more than anyone else....and so I was, and still am devastated !!


ANyway.....I know most won't care--almost NONE of my "friends" or relatives did. Just a recap. But I DID fix my first tv board the other day--since mom died. A simple re-cap of an LCD PS. BUT I did it WITHOUT the set and made SURE all of the run voltages are there after repair--as I always did. It felt GOOD to get "back into it" after all of that trauma. I hope if will NOT be the last time either !! I also trolbleshot a projo--"leakage" on the signal board, and another flat-panel with no remote function, looks to be a bad IR sensor. ALLof that felt good to do !!

I SINCERELY pray this year will be better. I CANNOT stand another year like 2013...

[Kamakiri]

I feel for you, my friend. My father in law passed a couple weeks ago, the week before it was a 19 year old adopted son of my wife's cousin who was killed in a car crash, the week before, my uncle who I hadn't seen in 17 years.

In 2013, we attended three other funerals, one for a baby that was only two hours old. He died in my wife's arms as they all prayed.

Last week, I had a custody case for my two boys to get them out of a dangerous situation.....lost temporary custody because the court saw no "imminent danger" before the final court date, and my 13 year old son ran away from his mom's house and lived for a couple days in a runaway shelter in the city.....and he couldn't live here or I'd be in contempt of court. Brave kid.

Trials happen in life, my God do they happen, but in the worst of times all you can do is grab on to little bits of joy whenever they come your way. I stopped part way through a Predicta Holiday chassis when things started to get really bad here, and I'm going to pick up the soldering iron today if I get time. Our hobbies are an escape, and we all need to escape....for just a little while.

I'll keep you in my prayers.....we all need them.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by rca2000

SOme of you know that last year was NOT a good year for me.

It all began BAD this time last year---when my storage garage got robbed. I NEVER got back ANY of my stuff....and the landlords were NOT very considerate about it, either. I got a BIT of money back,m about 1K from insurance--but that CANNOT replace things like a 29JC20 complete chassis , a BUNCH of tube amp chassis, radios, tube car radios, etc...etc...


But if that is ALL that had happened.......I would have just "shrugged it off" as another disappointment. But it was just the BEGINNING of bad times for me !!

IN late MAy, I ended up with Kidney failure.....I was placed on Dialysis. I ALMOST dies, on May 18th, the morning of the ETF convention I was supposed to attend....but I was "brought back', from not breathing, and "Given another chance"..but only "half a man", as I describe myself.
days a week 4 HOURS a day of Dialysis...and this is STILL the case---and may be for a LONG time too....though my kidney function HAS improved a lot...

Then in Late August.....my dear mother died suddenly of a massive brain aneurysm. NO warnings. She was NOT sick--not even for a DAY !! That was EXACTLY the way she "wanted to go", quick, painlessly and not "lingering on machines'...so God was merciful in that too...but STILL mom was CLOSE to me--more than anyone else....and so I was, and still am devastated !!


ANyway.....I know most won't care--almost NONE of my "friends" or relatives did. Just a recap. But I DID fix my first tv board the other day--since mom died. A simple re-cap of an LCD PS. BUT I did it WITHOUT the set and made SURE all of the run voltages are there after repair--as I always did. It felt GOOD to get "back into it" after all of that trauma. I hope if will NOT be the last time either !! I also trolbleshot a projo--"leakage" on the signal board, and another flat-panel with no remote function, looks to be a bad IR sensor. ALLof that felt good to do !!

I SINCERELY pray this year will be better. I CANNOT stand another year like 2013...

OMG!!!!! I'm sorry to hear that! I had a horrible year myself. My cousin passed away on Easter and my mother was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer soon after and she passed away November 18th. Also the brain mets (it spread to her brain as well as other places) did affect her judgement from time to time and caused her to sleep a lot, she was coherent and understanding 80% of the time until the last day of her life where she slipped into a coma for a few hours and passed on. I'm thankful for that where at least she did not have to suffer hat way for a long time although I'm sure she did suffer otherwise. Like you mom was close to you, my mom was close to me. I feel like Robin without Batman. I'm still trying to deal with it

What's weird is my bother in law's mother passed away two weeks after mine (I have a step brother and step sisters, my father remarried) and he runs the cancer research program at Ohio State. My mother's best friend, her mother passed on too. It was a bad year for me too.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

I feel for you, my friend. My father in law passed a couple weeks ago, the week before it was a 19 year old adopted son of my wife's cousin who was killed in a car crash, the week before, my uncle who I hadn't seen in 17 years.

In 2013, we attended three other funerals, one for a baby that was only two hours old. He died in my wife's arms as they all prayed.

Last week, I had a custody case for my two boys to get them out of a dangerous situation.....lost temporary custody because the court saw no "imminent danger" before the final court date, and my 13 year old son ran away from his mom's house and lived for a couple days in a runaway shelter in the city.....and he couldn't live here or I'd be in contempt of court. Brave kid.

Trials happen in life, my God do they happen, but in the worst of times all you can do is grab on to little bits of joy whenever they come your way. I stopped part way through a Predicta Holiday chassis when things started to get really bad here, and I'm going to pick up the soldering iron today if I get time. Our hobbies are an escape, and we all need to escape....for just a little while.

I'll keep you in my prayers.....we all need them.

Yeah, you got to soldier on. Compared to my mother's best friend who lost her mother (she passed on at 97), I'm handling my problems like a trooper. I'm still hurting but I know I have to do a lot of things to live, I have to unload the house, reverse mortgage the bank owns it and you have like 6 months to get out, look for steady work (I've had many interviews and worked at a department store for the season) take care of my two cats and so on. I know money is tough, but one thing that keeps me sane is amateur radio, I might buy me a cheap Bao Feng radio. I have a 2 meter HT but I always wanted to try 440. I even have an escape plan if need be, my gradeschool buddy and his wife live in Ohio near and across from Wheeling, WV, she can have me a job down there, I just have to give the word.

[soundman2]

Really sorry to hear of all that has happened to you - just horrible! It was 2011 that was a bad year for me. My mother died of cancer, a friend of ours got pancreatic cancer (she died in 2012) and an old friend died due to drinking home brewed beer and falling asleep in the bath and went under the water and drowned. My mother's best friend got lung cancer and died in September 2012. It's gets worse. My wife's mother got bowel cancer and died in November 2012. Nothing prepares you at all!