Re: whereabouts of John Pumpernickel?

"John P" <none@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Gary Listberg" <erilda21789@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"John P" <none@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Hi Gary,

Got a phone call that you were asking about me. I'll bet this is the
first
time I've been in unet for over 10 years. How have you been? Still
visiting SAA I see.

Oh yeah. Been pretty much consistent since the groups got started. I'm
mostly a lurker here as most of my friends have moved on over the years.
I've been good. Just retired after nearly 30 years at the plant.

Congratulations! You're still young enough to take on another job. Is
that in the works or are you going to sit out this bad economy? Tell you
what, I'm old enough to remember the Great Depression as you know and the
way things have become is very similar to the conditions at that time.

Believe it or not, I've had several offers despite the bad economy but then
again what I did was very specialized as you know so not many that could do
it without years of training. However, I'm done working. Much as I liked
the job at first, over the years it grew very tiresome especially the public
relations part of it. Yuk! To be honest, John, I think we're heading for a
depression if we're not already in one.

After awakening from the coma, I lost all interest in astronomy. The
29"
sat here for who knows how long until a guy stopped by one day about 5
years
ago asking if I wanted to sell it and for how much, so I let it go. It
was
a bargain for the price at the time as you know and I spent many a
nights
sketching. I don't know why I lost nearly all interest in my old
hobbies.
The docs say I had some sort of a stroke during the coma that affected
memory and personality, so maybe that's why.

I wish I had known about the 29" being sold. I'd have made you an offer.
Granted, I don't have the space and I probably would have had to borrow
some of the neighbor's property to store it, but somehow I would have
made a way.

That Coulter was a beast alright. I remember when the delivery truck
arrived at my place of employment at the time. My coworkers had lots of
surprised and puzzled looks on their faces. Took over a year to receive
it from the time I ordered it, but it was great to have despite being so
awkward.

I never knew how you managed the ladder system you used with the tiny seat
on top of the ladder. Must have made you tired quickly, but then again that
was 20+ years ago so maybe not. I forget how much older we are.

Do you still have your 12" SCT? That was sure a beauty of a scope. If
I
ever got another, that one is nice and portable so I'd probably get
something like it.

No, it never did have the best of mirrors, so I traded it on Astromart
for a C14. I had the guy send me results of mirror testing first though.
You just never know when you buy a scope what sort of mirror it truly
has. Oh, you can go with some of the guys that make mirrors like Royce,
etc and then you are pretty assured of quality, but with the Chinese
stuff now it's hit and miss. I don't know if you've heard of a company
called Orion, but I favored their little 6" Mak. Because they're made in
China, quality is not assured. Had to go through 3 scopes before I had a
decent mirror. They never asked any questions though and paid the
shipping each time, so I can't complain.

I came across the Orion website one day recently when I was trying to get
reacquainted with scope venders. They have a large variety of scopes.
Sounds like they back up their scopes to from what you say.

They're not too bad. I've picked up a good many things from them over the
years and have had my fair share of returns. Never a problem. I do think
customer service has taken a slight dip in the last couple of years though,
but so far not a tremendous drawback. I know you're basically a pen and
paper guy and they still cater to that.

>> They say that during the 5 years or so I was "out", Mars drew closer
to us
than it would for the next 60,000 years and there were some big sunspots
around that time also. Sorry I missed them. Geez, I have a LOT of
catching
up to do. Is Hawking still alive? Last I heard he was trying to come
up
with a theory to explain everything.

Yeah, that was all back in '03. In August of that year, Mars had a very
close opposition. I tried to get some images, but never had anything
decent as it appeared pretty low for most of the US at that time. '05
was better, but of course more distant, but by then I had sold the C8 I
used for planetary. Then there were the giant sunspots in Oct '03.
Aurora lit up as far S as FL for several nights. I do have some images
of those huge spots if you would like to see them sometime. Hawking is
still alive, now 66 I believe, and the disease is causing him to be
almost totally paralyzed now, but he still keeps on working. I'm not up
on his theories presently though.

Did Celestron stop making scopes? Can't tell from what I've been
reading.
It's either that or they are importing from China.

Celestron still makes them, but I believe most, if not all, of their
scopes are Chinese imports. Can't say one way or the other about the
quality though since I haven't owned a new one since the takeover. I
think the scope firms are hurting pretty badly right now due to the poor
economy.

What is all this hype with Chinese importation. When did that all start
happening in mass? I really must have missed out on all of that. Why has
the economy become so dependent on them. As you know, I come from a time
where the upper echelons would have greatly frowned upon this
relationship.

Well, I guess it all boils down to politics. While you were on your
"temporary vacation" (please don't be offended at that description), some
certain someones got the idea that the economy would be boosted if we opened
the trade door with China. It worked, at first that is, but now it has come
back to haunt us. Sometime I could explain it further if you like, but not
here.

I spent many a nights looking out the window at the stars while I was in
rehab. There wasn't a whole lot to see with all the bright city lights,
but
I did make out URSA Major a few times, along with Cass and of course
Lyra.

Overall, I guess I'm beginning to miss the hobby once again. They said
much
of my personality/ interests would return with time and I'm hoping that
they
do.

After my uncle had his stroke, his personality completely changed. He
was never the same person. He still had many elements of his former
personality though that would come through from time to time, but he
never did regain what he once had. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing as
we all learned to accept it. Funny how medical science can do wonders
with eyes and infection, but when it comes to things that deal with the
brain or heart they still have a long way to go. My brother used to say
that it was because of penicillin that people lived longer much more
frequently and I used to laugh, but now I think he was right.

For the most part, my former personality has returned. It took quite some
time as there was memory loss too. I think the greatest challenge was
regaining movement. Being comatose for so long, many muscles atrophied to
the point where the docs said my arms/ legs were like a ten year olds.

You don't remember me stopping by, but I do recall how thin your arms/legs
became. Nice that your back to your original self though (or nearly so).
For a while, we thought you were heading for a permanent vacation.

Well, stay warm and let me know what you've been up to.

It was -14F here last night and expected to get a bit colder. We have
plenty of wood and coal to keep the fire going. Great to hear from you
again, John. I was beginning to think that you fell of the face of the
earth!

Didn't fall, just stumbled a little :). Thanks for contacting me after
all of this time.

My pleasure! Maybe you could bring some joy back to this and the other
groups. Spam has gotten worse over the last few years and there are even
greater cases of nutcrackers as well. Filtering works, but then you end up
reading the replies of all the people who shouldn't have responded in the
first place. Oh well, what can I say, I've been guilty of that too on more
than one occasion.

Take care and God Bless,
Gary


Ciao,
John

Gary

John

"Gary Listberg" <erilda21789@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:gm8140$b81$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Used to be a gentleman who frequented here by the name of John
Pumpernickel? Is he still a member of this group or does anyone know if
he's still on usenet at all?

Thanks,
Gary L.









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