Mark...

This is getting seriously scary.

So... in addition to everything else we have in common, we've also got Heathkit.

I don't have one of those clocks. My "big" project was a multi-band shortwave, but I grew-up learning to play an organ my dad built "Thomas by Heathkit" (one of these: http://lakeland.craigslist.org/msg/2925757294.htmland) and the first stereo I ever heard was a Heathkit receiver.

Remember that digital FM tuner before ANYone had a digital FM tuner? I wanted one of those, but it cost half as much as... well, more than I was worth.

Fine. I guess I can cope with having way too much in common with you for either of our comfort. One thing we don't share: you stopped smoking.

The sad thing is that although I did build that thingy.....
I could not even see well enough to build one now.
It was fun. It still runs.
There are a couple of trim pots that are problematic, but I spray them with contact cleaner every few months and wiggle them a bit, and good to go.

If I were younger, I would replace them with better parts, but.........

I even took a couple of little teeny led's and put a couple of : marks between the hour and minute markers.....LOL. OCD? Not me.
Also found a little voltage regulator circuit and added a battery charger circuit. And replaced the really hot running power transformer with a larger one, although there was not much room to make it bigger.
And added a tiny fan to the back panel to try to keep it cooler.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

It's a fine looking watch, and you certainly deserve it for staying smoke free for as long as you have. I have seen so many fail at their attemps to quit smoking, I salute those that have had the strength to accomplish that goal.

I was also looking for the PCIe slot to plug in the GPU.... :D

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

LOL...I thought the fact that it has a radio receiver in it for the time signals was way beyond cool.
The last version I bought myself was a gift for getting my job at Pierce back in 2005. It is much battered now, the crystal shattered last year, and the crown itself pulled out and broke. The commercial catch line they have...'unstoppable' would apply here. It still runs.

If I would get a new one, I should like maybe to find a leather protector or cover to cover it whilst at work. I have envisioned such a thingy, but have not found one suitable yet..........
Ya know, a fine, soft, leather cover with a velcro flap to cover the crystal.

Hmmmmmmm/

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I even took a couple of little teeny led's and put a couple of : marks between the hour and minute markers.....LOL. OCD? Not me.
Also found a little voltage regulator circuit and added a battery charger circuit. And replaced the really hot running power transformer with a larger one, although there was not much room to make it bigger.
And added a tiny fan to the back panel to try to keep it cooler.

Meh, a real hacker would install a processor with an ethernet port and run an NTP server on the thing so you could feed the rest of your computers with the correct time. :)

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I finally quit about four years ago, so if you can benefit from my experience, all the better.

Nicotine consistently gets ranked as the most addictive drug we know of. This is partially because of its availability (most cities don't have heroin and cocaine shops on every corner. :^p ) But there's more to it than that. It gets into your brain chemistry in subtle and devious ways.

For me, it was a depression two months into it that drove me back the first couple of attempts, the last gasp of the dying addiction that told me that the rest of my life would be worthless if I wasn't sucking on burning leaves several times a day. So I beat this by deliberately quitting when I was at one of my lowest points, when my wife and I had split up and I was losing the house and broke (is all good... we got back together eventually.) When the two-month depression came around, it couldn't touch me as I was already there.

So don't take it personally if you don't stick with it first time. If you're hard on yourself it will only depress you and make it worse. It may take you a couple of tries to learn all the tricks nicotine has up its sleeve. Get back on the horse as soon as you can.

One of the ways that nicotine addicts you is causing you to associate all your favorite things with it. That first morning smoke with a coffee, or driving, or using the computer, or with a cold beer, all get tied to smoking in your head. You may need to change your "rituals" or habits or hobbies to avoid the cravings, such as by finding new ones that are anathema to smoking (ie exercise, swimming. etc.)

You'll inevitably gain some weight if you don't exercise, but given you'll now have the lung capacity and stamina you had when you were ten years younger, this would be an ideal time to hit the gym. This helped me tremendously to stick with it and stay away from tobacco. You won't feel like destroying your bod when you've put all that effort in to build it up.

I also suggest you give this page a read. As a fan of classic cinema and TV, I think you'll find the number of its icons who lost their lives to tobacco use staggering. I certainly did.

I quit by using Nicoderm patches. I found all of the other patches (ie store brand) were crap as they were too weak to alleviate the early-morning all-over tingles of a maximal craving. One bonus of using patches is that you'll have amazing vivid and for some lucid dreams.

Here's to you quitting for good. :^)

Edit: I think I can kick in $20 if you stick with it.

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