Got my electric bill for June with the Peak hours pricing that started June 1. It was $5 cheaper than my May bill and there were more hotter days in June than May.

must say I haven't missed the reference to nipple lube. Words I haven't seen for quite a while. You guys haven't changed at all :)

Richard, if you sell the 928 get a DCT in your next car and take that to the autocross.

Or, get a triple screen setup, HOTAS controller, TrackIR and a good flight combat sim.

Good Monday, um no I guess it is Thursday. Weird having a holiday on a Wednesday. For me it was not much different than most days, and my cheap ass boss did not have a holiday pay schedule figured out.

So back to routine. We are going to start arranging what needs to go on the trip. I will lay out the pile of stuff and we can get started on packing the luggage. Tomorrow evening everything needs to be packed and ready.

Is DCT a PDK? I've been avoiding those afraid I might like them too much.

I did the 3 screen cockpit thing back in the 90's. Friend of mine install the then hute 24' CRT monitors for American Airlines. Another friend wrote a program Hellcats of the South Pacific. Set up the program specificall for the 2 huge monitors and a desk we put together to surround yourself with the monitor. Rigged up so foot controls, yoke, throttle etc. That graphics were kind a rudimentary, but still 3D with shadowing etc and enough detail you really got into it.

Made the programmer made because I beat his score on the first sortie. I flew the Hellcat in like it was a cruize missle, wiped out the bases defences, ack ack guns, planes on the tarmac, etc, Then bombed the base with impunity.

There was another sortie where you had to sink a Japanese aircraft carrier. Nobody could sink it without getting shot down. I came in right on the water and carrier guns couldn't hit me. The flew thru the fantail and dropped a bomb as I went thru.

One time I bailed out and parachuted onto the deck or a Japanese carrier. The game said I was found by friendlies and found my way back to base.

The game designer guy got mad at me and refused to give me a copy. Said I beat him so bad I had to buy a copy if I wanted it. LOL.

Think you will have to get one of those car top carriers for the Macan to haul as much stuff as the 911?

On my Cayenne the clothes hanger hooks don't work very well. End up with anything I hang on them on the floor before I can get home from the cleaners.

Morning all. the house is still standing even if the hood did try and explode to much.

What!!! Everyone OK?

Lighting farts get out of control? Change burn ban to burn bun.
Rocket go down the chimney? Had that one actually happen one year.

as far as I know no one got hurt. Just about every house around us lit stuff off. The pets were not amused.

Sure had fun blowing stuff up when I was a kid.
Trashed all my models for that year, balsa airplanes, soup cans, coffee cans, ant hills. cicadas, don't think there was much safe from explosive treatment.

Dual clutch, yes.

I knew you did well on that old game is why I suggested getting back into it. The new sims are much better and more realistic. The flight models and weapons modeling are much better.

One of the older Battlefield games (BF1942) has the Battle of the Coral Sea but with moderns stuff. We like to parachute onto the deck of the enemy carrier and shoot the enemy there before they can take off. Sometimes they run to the zodiak type boats to take one of the control points on land. We plant charges on them and let them disembark before pushing the button. We plant charges on the deck as well to catch planes or helos taking off. It isn't very realistic but it causes a lot of laughter when we play. Sometimes so much we have a hard time breathing and seeing what is on the screen because we laugh too hard.

Did you know you can fly into the back of an open C130, shoot the pilot and take over? Did you know that some people can lose control of a helicopter so badly that when they jump out the centripetal force from spinning the helo flings them half way across the map superman style. Or that you can almost drown your side gunner in the Blackhawk because you got too low flying under the bridge? Or that your kids can get your 70+ year old dad to play by telling him to stand behind the sand bags and shoot everyone that comes form over there --->?

The combat sims aren't something that non-aviation understanding people can sit down and play right away and survive very well though. Nothing like hearing your daughter do the evil laugh and the guy trying to get on your tail suddenly blows up as she strafes his SU-27 with her F-16. Or trying to bomb your target while your 8 year old son is a mile behind you thinking you are safe only to realize he has the Corsair Charlie with the 20mm canons and not the .50 calibers and he can in fact reach out to you at that range.

We don't play much online, but we have had as many as 20 at the house to play together.

As a kid in Hawaii in probably 1968 we lived in Waipahu, close to New Years eve mom bought us a box of fireworks that every boy would love. It was the full size "black cats" of the 1960s only made in China so even bigger. In Hawaii NYE was a big celebration, and folks set off fireworks like mad.

My brother and I spent three days blowing things up. We popped countless fireworks. From morning until bedtime. After three days, it got boring. And we did it right in our own front yard, in a residential neighborhood. No one cared, and it was 100% legal.

On NYE the folks across the street set off a string of fireworks that I kid you not, went from the ground to the top of a utility pole. It took over an hour to pop all of them. On New Years Day the red paper from the Chinese fireworks were in drifts like snow drifts. In fact I crashed my bike because the drifts were too big to ride through. I fell into a pile of red paper in the grass and was covered in red paper.

I guess that just got fireworks out of my system. I have not bought one firework of any sort since. I just can't see blowing up my hard earned money. I am too cheap.

Our dogs don't seem to mind fireworks. There is an amusement park about two miles from our house. They had a fireworks show the other night that had to be an hour long. We can hear the booms and if I go in the back yard I can see parts of the fireworks. The Christian University about a mile away has the occasional fireworks shows. We can see that from the front porch and hear them clearly. Our dogs got used to I guess.

What is a good platform to look into playing on? I used to love flight sims but got out of them when the kids came along.

Nope, we did not order the roof rack option. With the rear seats folded forward we will have lots of room. It looks like we will be hauling two extra bags for Jim, the owner of the car washes. Not gonna use his full name on line. I have know him since 1978 when I moved to Oklahoma. He is driving his 911 to Parade, with his wife, and two kids IN THE car. That is gonna be a tight fit for them. It will be a lifetime memory for the family if they survive it all.

This will be the first parade with no luggage restrictions. I doubt we will even need to fold the seats forward, but it is an option.

My attack schnauzer was not amused last night. Fireworks are, for her, no bueno.

Same issue with our Boston. The lab is old enough that it didn't bother him till they really got going.

Pepper didn't seem to mind the popping and local booming. But wasn't actually out in it.

My 2nd Golden, Camber, would bark to go out when it was thundering. When it thundered she would run to the edge of the yard towards the thunder and bark at it. She was an alpha dog!

My first Golden, Penny, I had a bigger yard and did all the stuff to train her to be a retriever, including gun training with loud cap guns, fireworks, and real guns out at the family farm. Even took her to a big local fireworks display. She did great and just sat with us not paying any attention to the noise. Right up to the big finalie. She bolted to hard the broke the 1 inch leather leash when she ran past the end of it. Not far down the street from where we were was a sedan full of college kids. They happened to open a door just as she was came by and she jumped right up into the crowded car on top of them all. Then all the doors flew open and the kids cam piling out not realizing what had hit them. It was hilarious. By the time I ran up to the car the finale was over. Penny hopped out of the empty car and came right over to me. Everyone around got a great laugh out of it.

Pepper is at a new groomer right now. Don't know if I am going to like them. So far they are not making any points. Had to a agree to them doing a fecal sample to make sure she didn't have any bugs before they would keep her to groom. Even after contacting her regular vet. The only reason I take her to get her groomed is I can't bring myself to cut her nails. Camber kept her own nails trimmed and loved playing in the hose sprayer.

The flight sim we use most is from Third Wire. They will run on just about any PC these days, but a discreet graphics card will make them look much nicer. The DCS series is also a good sim but has much higher hardware requirements. If you just want to get into it without a huge cost upfront the Third Wire series is inexpensive and there is a ton of DLC for it. Most free. If you are interested in the DLC stuff, send me a note or PM.

My nephew has this setup and it seems pretty decent and is programmable.

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-T16000M-FCS-Flight-Pack/dp/B01N2PE8CZ

I use CH products because I like the programability better and more buttons but it is twice the cost.

I only use a single monitor with TrackIR. I cannot tell you how much it helps.

WWII
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Modern (the pilot is using TrackIR in this one)
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How TrackIR works.

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This is DCS. Very realistic.

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IL2 Stomrovic
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