About Lugnut -- Patrick Malone

Michael ... I'm sorry to hear about the challenges you and your wife are facing. I'm sending wishes and prayers your way, and hope you will have the strength to prevail.

Pat, I had heard that smoking was bad for your health, but I had no idea it could cause instaneous combustion of the hair. What a hoot.

In high school, two of us went with a third friend to his dad's karate club and sauna late at night. We were without papers or a pipe. Being resourceful, I found some gum in someone's drawer and a garden hose in the basement. I got the foil from the gum, laid it in the hose, and perforated the foil with a paper clip. Wallah -- instant pipe. My friend borrowed the pipe-contraption ... and a day later got pulled over, and the police found that pipe and busted him. Two months later, he borrowed a gag pipe I had made from a gasmask and a corncob. Yep ... he got pulled over again and the police found that one as well. They made him get therapy. LOL.

But seriously, Michael, Pat ... please know that you and your wives are in my prayers.

Thanks, guys. I can relate to the humor. I used to work in a plumbing warehouse back in the 60s and got quite creative with brass pipe fittings. I also remember travelling home from Woodstock (yes the 1969 Woodstock) and getting stopped and searched by some local yocal cops. They made me empty every pocket except the one that would have landed us in the slammer!!

My wife Susan is making it all so very easy on everyone. Great sense of humor (including lots of cancer jokes). So far, except for recovering from the surgeries, she has been completely healthy. That's the hardest part for her; she felt fine until they started treating her. And tough; after her 3rd op, which they said would be 1-2 weeks recovery, she was back to work in 1.5 days!! tis most recent they say 2-6 weeks and she is planning on going back this Wed after 1 week. So far I have been very lucky; she's made it awefully easy on me. The 3 of us (my wife, son and I) had one shouting match about a week ago but that's all. 'Course with a VERY smart, VERY stubborn, 16 year old, that's probably 5-10 less than our typical weekly total ;~) I really do appreciate the good thoughts and kind words, tho.

Hi all,

I'm uncertain about posting certain stuff here and this is one of those difficult posts that I'm going to sugar coat a little.

Last week I developed abdominal pain that progressively got worse and was not controllable with the current doses of pain meds. We moved up my scheduled CT scan to this last Monday and a visit with my oncologist to yesterday. The Xeloda did not work. The cancer has spread to many area in my intestinal cavity with an associated fluid build up that was causing the pain.

The only purpose for any of the chemo treatments has been to aleviate symptoms. There is one last type of drug I can use that may halt/reverse this for awhile and I accepted the offer and yesterday had my first round of Taxol via port injection. We'll see where this goes from here.

This isn't what I had desired to do and if I could turn back the clock (and have a crystal ball) I'd do things differntly. In a sense, through no fault of my own, I've painted myself into a corner. That's about all I can say within my comfort level of sharing with you guys. Man, I don't want to go into the gory details for fear of turning some of the readers off. Anyone that feels there may be value in more information can contact me personally and I'll be glad to share.

I really want all of you to know that my goal remains to enjoy every day to the maximum. With that in mind I have plans to outsmart the worst part of this situation in a fun way.

I sold my '67 Nova ten second REALLY COOL street car yesterday. Did I mention how COOL it is?? Anyway, the sale has freed up a large chunk of change. Most of the proceeds will go toward a better car for my wife and a new roof for the house among other sucky things to buy. I am going to buy myself a new, at least new to me, preamp and likely a new cartridge.

I sold the Wright preamp and am considering the TAD reference that BizzyBee is offering. The audition period and 10% restocking fee seems very reasonable and if it's within my performance needs I'll be happy. If anyone has any input about this preamp, especially how well it does on the frequency extremes I'd really appreciate hearing about it. I have access to a large variety of the best old tubes to experiment with. The preamp is cheap enough to allow me to buy another cartridge. My preferences for cartridges are different from most of the ears that follow this thread. I'd really like a Sumiko Celebration but am concerned about the amount of gain in the mc section of the TAD. I'd like to know if Sumiko has a dedicated step up for this cartridge and how much it is. The alternative is the Blackbird which I know will work and clearly is within my budget. I haven't heard the Blackbird but have heard the Celebration. Input is always welcome.

Hi Pat,
I'm really sorry about the developments. And the car. It sounds cool. I had to sell our cool '73 Corvette (454-4spd) last year because we were moving to live with an elderly (and sick) relative and there's no garage at our new address. Did I mention the Corvette was cool (Ontario Orange ... love it or hate it). At least I get to keep the gold chains and chest wig that were mandatory attire while driving the car.
But cars are just lumps of metal (or plastic in the Corvette's case) ... it's the fleshy bits that count. Here's hoping that things look up for your fleshy bits.
Sean

Pat, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is glad to read all the news you see fit to print. Everything you have shared here has been welcome to me. Even the stuff about cars. There are clearly difficult moments now. I send all my good wishes and prayers, and I am continually inspired by your example.