In my opinion the best classic rock drum solo has got to be (In-a-gadda-da-vida) by the Iron Butterfly. Circa 1969. @holla2040
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I debated back and forth to post or not… and a couple more times about whether I should post it on this thread or not… but here goes.
I don’t remember who it was, but a couple of weeks back somebody posted a link to the Matts Offroad recovery Christmas Party. While watching it, one of the guys sitting at the table looked allot like my friend and coworker Robert from when I was in college… I just dismissed it as his doppelganger. Well, a couple of nights ago I ran into a mutual friend at the county fair, and he told me that Robert had passed away. Apparently, Robert was part of the security team for Matts. He passed away while providing security for the offroad Recker Games in spring 2003. My friend who told me about it was standing next to him talking to him when he collapsed.
Robert first appears at the 27 min mark
Off Road Wrecker Games Chaos Before The Storm! (youtube.com)
Robert and I had allot of fun together. I helped move he and his family 3 times. One of my favorite memories with Robet was taking a group of Boy Scouts on Peak to Peak in northern Utah. Neither one of us was a leader assigned to the group. A coworker talked Robert into helping him out and Robert got me to come along. The two of us drug 10 Llamas and 3 young men to the top of the mountain picking up trash along the trail. It was my first and hopefully last experience with Llamas… word to the wise they kick… and are quite accurate! 
Another time Robert invited me to go with him to an event and listen to Waddie Mitchel deliver some of his famous cowboy poetry. As part of the event there was a beard contest. After much prodding from Robert, I entered the goatee category and won a $500 prize for best goatee… I never would have considered entering without his encouragement.
Lots of fond memories horseback riding, and team penning with Robert. Team penning was another adventure he talked me into. My horse was a get up and go lots of gas… half saddle bread half Thoroughbred that had only seen mountain trails… far from a cow horse… he hadn’t been around cows much at all or ever been in and indoor arena. Exposing him to both at the same time was an adventure… The folks who thought they were there to watch team penning got a saddle bronc show instead. 
The next week Robert arranged to bring my horse to the cattle auction so he could be more exposed to cows. Team penning turned into a weekly activity for us…
Finally, two summers ago (22) I ran into Robert and his wife at a popular mountain lake in Northern Utah. We caught up and reminisced about old times and I introduced him to my wife and two of my kids and he introduced me to his wife.
So many fond memories with Robert. He had so much enthusiasm for life and an infectious laugh and smile.
At 53 he is gone way to young. I was told, he hadn’t been feeling well but was pushing through because the event was important to him… Listen to your bodies… if something doesn’t feel right, nothing is important enough to put your heath at risk.
Now back to the classic rock discussion.
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Sorry for your loss my friend. You are totally right. Take care of yourself and your family.
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you’ve probably already seen this
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If Neil Pearts Working Man solo isn’t in there, it’s just wrong:
9:15 mark
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Rick’s video is intros.
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He was a very very class act and in my book the best
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It’s the first night in Chattanooga when the humidity is low and pleasant. Me and Mrs. Bigdaddy2166 and the three Chihuahuas are enjoying the Langmuir-engineered fire pit
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Idiot truck driver shenanigans.
One of our contractors going back to the batch plant for another load of concrete.
1/2 mile from the paver, doing around 50, the grade is about 55’ wide and he is on the on coming traffic side, oblivious to the foreman behind him honking his horn and flashing his lights, and the guy on the side waving his arms frantically.
Sheared off all the mounting bolts to the truck, ripped the hydraulic pump off the transmission PTO, bled out the transmission, and tweaked the rear frame (cross members don’t line up where they were anymore).
Also shifted the bridge deck 3/4" (can see the lines where it used to set on all the beams).
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Wow, was the bed lifted up? Seems like plenty of clearance there.
Oh yeah, bed still fully up from dumping concrete at paver. Never put it down, just drove away.
I got the call just after I got the pic. Yeah, that dude’s fired.
Broke up the monotony. Go over and get it extracted from under the bridge, then transported back to the truck parking area, then get the truck off grade.
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That is definitely one of those things when you see it you say:
- Glad it wasn’t me, or
- I am having a better day than him…things could always be worse.
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Three Chihuahuas, are you crazy man!!? My sister has one and that dude is a handful.
I will say my parents had several that were mixed, and they were great. My sister’s is full blooded. That dude has the attitude of a terrorists!
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No, they are great. All three are very calm unless you’re the UPS Man. They hate him and the post lady.
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Obviously the guy is at fault but after seeing this same situation over and over it seems there should be some fail safes required on the trucks.
My 2020 RAM 1500 Limited truck has all sorts of fail safes built in. The suspension is constantly correcting for level and you can set it at 4 different heights. If it is on the low height (meant to be used for easy entry/exit/loading) or the high height (meant for off-roading) and you go faster than 35 mph, it will automatically go to the aerodynamic height or standard height (whichever it was in before being set to one of the other heights).
The only problem with these electronic systems, they are like the limit switches: the system gets confused and starts shutting off systems. Currently my truck is out of commission and is waiting in the dealership’s lot to have a diagnostic run. This happened mid July. I got an appointment but it is not until Sept. 10th (they are backed up that far). I called another dealership, 75 minute drive from my house, and they could not get me in until Sept. 6th. So they gave me the option to park it in their lot and they would likely be able to squeeze it in earlier: that was 2-1/2 weeks ago.
I have lost:
Electronic Stability Control
Lane Keep Assist
Cruise Control
Air Suspension System
4WD unavailable
Steering directed Headlights
Start/Stop unavailable (turns engine on/off in stop and go traffic)
And, the “Check Engine Light” is on
You would not want a dump truck to have this potential of failure of systems. But maybe something like a sign on the hood that pops up in front of the driver: “BED IS NOT SECURE”. That would be simple enough.
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that’s BS. The more I hear nightmares like this, the more I want to keep my 98 Ram1500 running. 190K miles, I only went to church on Sundays.
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Congratulations to all the 2024 Olympic competitors. USA! USA! USA!
Although I didn’t watch a tremendous amount of the coverage, I felt like there was more US patriotism shown by our athletes than other recent Olympic campaigns. Considering most of them are under age 30 and with all the “influence” they get from pre-school on, I thought they handled themselves well, showing respect of their country and their competition.
They also were apparently ready for the challenges of their competitors:
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Totally agree. I remember the “Black Power” movement that was happening, I think the 1972 Olympics, and I did not like that display. This year there was lots of crying and mouthing the words of the anthem.
For every athlete that gets a gold medal, there are 10 others that deserve it. So much goes into everything culminating at the right moment for those athletes. Noah Lyles is a prime example. He won the 100 meter that was not his specialty and then got 4th in the 200 meter that he was favored to win. He contracted COVID but it could have easily been the flu or cold freak accident that takes someone out of their best.
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The problem is, they can design all this stuff (kinda)
But they can’t fix it in a timely fashion. So unless its under warranty your screwed. Technology has gotten to a point where it’s just too complicated.
Question is do you really need all that stuff? I still say there is a market for well built cars without a computer system that could run a small manufacturing company. I don’t need a computer to tell me my turn signal does not work.
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