Hello From the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina
Background:
We live at an elevation of about 3,500 feet where the borders of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia kind of intersect. Our county has about 22,000 people living here and the biggest town is about 1,300 people. But for some strange reason we have a 24 hour Walmart. :scratch:
However, civilization, as defined by access to Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Markets, Costco, Sam's Club, Barnes & Noble, Best But, etc. is but a 90 minute drive away. :bag:
My wife and are retired. She's a former educator, while my life was somewhat different. I began working as a Field Operator for the NSA, DIA, MACV-SOG (you should google MACV-SOG), and the NCIS. I travelled to many different places and did some interesting things for 4 years. I then went back to school and got an MBA and I worked for various Fortune 500 companies in Product Management, Marketing, and Advertising. :fence:
I then had an epiphany and realized I wasn't really doing anything useful in corporate America. :upyours:
So I went back to school and became certified to teach almost any subject, but I particularly enjoyed working as a Special Ed teacher working with high school students with severe disabilities. I did this until I had to leave the classroom when I was diagnosed with a particularly virulent and aggressive Stage IV cancer. The docs tell me less than 300 cases are reported annually, worldwide. And I was given a 20% chance of survival. :sorry:
That was two years ago and I'm currently cancer-free. I was OK with the 20% odds: When I was younger (and much more stupid :doh:) I would often volunteer for Special Ops assignments with low probabilities of success and I always came back, I never lost a man from my team, and I never got shot. :yay:
As I told my lovely wife of 44 years, I was OK with 20% odds as I had faced unfavourable odds in the past in my Special Ops days and I always came back. :trust:
My first audio system was a Sansui 5000A, a Dual 1219 with a Shure V-15 II, and AR 3a speakers, all purchased from the PX's I had access to while travelling. The AR's sounded better than anything else I listened to. :concertina:
As a side note, the first concert I ever attended was Jimi's Hendrix's last performance in the United States. He performed in the Honolulu Civic Center on the night of August 1st, 1970. This was the first rock concert I ever went to. What a way to start! :carrot:
I bought a "hold back" ticket on the day of the show and was seated at the center of the first row. I can actually see the back of my head in the photo at https://piglets1975.blogspot.com/201...07350982854001
I was spoiled for life: No subsequent concert (many different artists) ever measured up to Jimi's performance on the night of August 1st, 1970. It was a magical evening. :guitar:
My User ID:
I have since become an avid collector of used vinyl and FM Tuners (I am one of the moderators for Yahoo's FM Tuner Group at www.fmtunerinfo.com). I currently have over 25,000 records in my basement and about 20+ FM tuners. Even though we live in a TV "dead zone" (no over-the-air TV signals can be received in our area), we can pick up very listenable college and Public Radio FM signals from North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. :wow:
My System:
Click on https://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/6137.html for my system and my listening preferences. I am particularly fond of Celtic music, and most of the people living in our area are of Scotch/Irish decent and there is an incredible Bluegrass presence in our area. Several years before Doc Watson's death, my wife and I visited a charity fund raiser he was playing at. It was a very small venue (less than 200 people) and it was all acoustic (no mics or amps). I had a Canon digital camera with built in stereo mics and I was able to capture most of his performance. :band:
I spend my days listening to music and cleaning LP's. And I am very content. :cool:
