Back when MUD was a very different place to hang out than it is now I accumulated a lot of contacts for people who aren’t around any more. Some of the older crowd might remember our resident expert on Weber carburetors, whose username was naturally: Weber Sarge.
Well it’s probably been a decade or more since he sold his truck and moved on. Something made me think about him today, and after scratching my head long enough I remembered his real name, pulled him up on my 23yo computer and punched in the numbers. We ended up talking for over an hour.
He tried to sound upbeat, but between the lines I could tell that his health is failing. Mobility limited, dexterity limited, vision limited. And yet he still is hanging on to a highway maintenance job, probably mostly based on seniority.
He was most animated in telling me about his current hobby: restoring and using antique sewing machines. Disappointed in the quality of both the current machines and materials, he has developed a small network of fellow enthusiasts who are enabling him to make his own clothes, clothes which he is sure are of superior quality to anything that you can buy today. He has remnants of bolts of cloth and canvas that he says are like what Carhardt used 40 years ago, and explained the ‘puffing’ techniques that fabric manufacturers use today to make 9oz fabric advertisable as 15oz.
He also said that the same way we have newbs here mine the classifieds and resurrect 20 year old ads for parts, he still gets calls from time to time from people who have sleuthed him out for help with their Webers. He simply doesn’t have the hands or eyes for carbs anymore. He was very happy to hear that I do.
He said he would try and keep in touch. That was the same thing he told me in 2017 or 2018, the last time I called.
Mods: I am fully aware that this is not tech. I posted this here because several of the people who would appreciate seeing this don’t visit chat. I would personally appreciate it if you could leave it up here until Friday at least. TIA.
Well it’s probably been a decade or more since he sold his truck and moved on. Something made me think about him today, and after scratching my head long enough I remembered his real name, pulled him up on my 23yo computer and punched in the numbers. We ended up talking for over an hour.
He tried to sound upbeat, but between the lines I could tell that his health is failing. Mobility limited, dexterity limited, vision limited. And yet he still is hanging on to a highway maintenance job, probably mostly based on seniority.
He was most animated in telling me about his current hobby: restoring and using antique sewing machines. Disappointed in the quality of both the current machines and materials, he has developed a small network of fellow enthusiasts who are enabling him to make his own clothes, clothes which he is sure are of superior quality to anything that you can buy today. He has remnants of bolts of cloth and canvas that he says are like what Carhardt used 40 years ago, and explained the ‘puffing’ techniques that fabric manufacturers use today to make 9oz fabric advertisable as 15oz.
He also said that the same way we have newbs here mine the classifieds and resurrect 20 year old ads for parts, he still gets calls from time to time from people who have sleuthed him out for help with their Webers. He simply doesn’t have the hands or eyes for carbs anymore. He was very happy to hear that I do.
He said he would try and keep in touch. That was the same thing he told me in 2017 or 2018, the last time I called.
Mods: I am fully aware that this is not tech. I posted this here because several of the people who would appreciate seeing this don’t visit chat. I would personally appreciate it if you could leave it up here until Friday at least. TIA.