Hey old people, tell us what you can't do!

First off 40 is. No where old,start talking about being in your seventies. I choose not to fly In the clouds anymore. Don’t choose to drive fast. I like to focus on what I can still do
 
What I can’t / won’t do?

Running, the knees can’t deal anymore, bit I’m bicycling 100-150mi/week.

Hang gliding: Just not interested anymore. And, lifting and carrying a 70# telephone pole is tough on the shoulders.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
My body still only wants me sleep for 6 hours. No matter what time I go to bed I'm waking up 6 hours later alarm or no alarm. I know that magic is going to stop someday.
Click to expand...
My body wants me to sleep for 10-12 hours... It just doesn't ever want me to START sleeping. Agh!
 
FoundSoul said:
I'm pretty sure I can still do this... but it might hurt on the landing.....

STOL right? Look mom, I'm learning airplane acronyms!!!

View attachment 134472
Click to expand...

I can't slalom ski anymore. Or, I can't get up on one ski anymore, I should say. I can drop one and still give it hell. But wakeboarding is easier on the body. This was behind a new Malibu, I had to tell them to tone the wake down. It was so much bigger than the last boat I wakeboarded behind, 19 years ago.

Screenshot_20230729_070910_Photos.jpg
 
frfly172 said:
First off 40 is. No where old,start talking about being in your seventies. I choose not to fly In the clouds anymore. Don’t choose to drive fast. I like to focus on what I can still do
Click to expand...
I was trying to word my thread as closely as possible to the other thread I modeled it off of.
 
I can't hear worth beans - especially in environments with a lot of background noise. Noise cancelling headsets are the greatest invention ever for old folks like me. Spicy food gives me heartburn. I still eat it because it tastes sooo good, but I carry antacid tablets to mitigate the effects.
 
OK, OK. Hang in there and reaching 80 years, you can join nearly 2000 pilots in UFO aka, United Flying Octogenarians. If you serve, even just one time, as Pilot in Command upon reaching 80, then you can be a member of UFO for your duration. Google us.
 
At 82, I can do just about anything I used to do when I was 50, it just slower or takes longer Example, former max speed downhill skiing, 50-60 MPH, current max speed 40-50. OTOH, taking a little longer on some "activities" is a definite improvement.

The worst thing is the longer time it takes to recover from any injury which has definitely been a PITA, literally and physically.

All things considered, older and slower is clearly the better of the two available options.

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Dylan Thomas

Or in other words, don't waste a chance to extract the last ounce of good stuff you have left.
 
Last edited:
SixPapaCharlie said:
I finally caved and got some prescription bifocals and I hate to say it but I love them.
I tried progressives but head movement warped everything and irritated me.


I can't wait until I get cataracts. If you need cataract surgery, you can get lens replacement and insurance will cover it because um.....
My 75 year old parents have 20/20 visio n and don't need glasses anymore. Its wild to see them w/o glasses as they were always a part of their face to me.
Click to expand...

I'm 72 and had cataract surgery earlier this year. It really is nothing. And compared with what my great grandmother experienced in the 1960s, it is really NOTHING. I do, however, wear glasses. Fixed focal length lenses are covered by my insurance. Multiple focal length lenses are not (and are expensive). I'll get new ones next year.

What is bad is the fact that I haven't been able to get it up in over 15 years. An aftereffect of prostate cancer surgery. And, yes, the FAA knows all about it. There are two sets of nerves that run by the prostate. Once controls urination and the other erections. At least I don't need adult diapers.

I would be much happier if my body didn't look as bad as it does. Oh well, it beats the alternative. My MIL was a nurse and she was fond of saying that growing older isn't for sissies. She was sure right about that one.
 
FoundSoul said:
Any chance you are familiar with MegaSquirt EFI?
Click to expand...

I am a bit. Have MegaSquirt & EDIS on my Cobra build.

Where are you running land speed racing? That's something I've been interested in...
 
Ted said:
I am a bit. Have MegaSquirt & EDIS on my Cobra build.

Where are you running land speed racing? That's something I've been interested in...
Click to expand...

Very cool. DIYAutoTune/AMPEFI was my company up until just over a year ago. Started it in a spare bedroom in late 2004/early 2005. Ran it for about 19 years and handed it off to the new owners when I needed to do something new on October 1st 2023.

One of the cool opportunities that opened up for me while I was doing that was getting to go racing and call it work. I crewed for some customers out at the Bonneville Salt Flats starting back in 2006, and caught the bug and started building a car. I towed it out to Bonneville (from Gainesville GA, 2000 miles each way) in 2014 but the event rained out, so I started running with the ECTA on an airstrip up in Wilmington, Ohio at an event called The Ohio Mile. The ECTA has changed hands since then, and runs their events in Arkansas now. I still have the car and plan to get it to Bonneville someday, but I'm a little tied up with a new business at the moment so it may be a little while before I get it there. My fastest so far is 217.39mph. Current record in my class (F/BGC) at Bonneville is 212mph. And I'll have 5 miles to get up to speed instead of just 1. If the car holds up, the record is attainable. That's been a goal for a long time now.... to go out there and set a record over 200 and get my 200mph Club 'Red Hat'. It'll happen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ted
Ted said:
I am a bit. Have MegaSquirt & EDIS on my Cobra build.

Where are you running land speed racing? That's something I've been interested in...
Click to expand...

Just noticed the Freiburger quote in your sig. I don't know him well but we ran in the same circles and have met a few times out on the salt. His co-driver Keith Turk and I are friends, and Keith used to be part owner of the ECTA back when I ran with them. To get back to the aviation theme for a sec-- Keith's a helicopter pilot and was an instructor for the military before he retired.

This car...
1729734315743.png

These guys...
1729734334497.png
 
Half Fast said:
Along with road racing? ;)

(Note to @FoundSoul - Ted has my old IT race car.)
Click to expand...

I really haven't done anything with that Chump Car yet. I keep thinking I will. And I keep getting busy. Track days is all I've done on a road course myself so far. Used to autocross the MR2 way back when.....

Another 'maybe someday'.

It's sitting in my shop at the back of the DIYAutoTune building, two cars over from the Land Speed 240sx. With a near mint '86 MR2 in between, slightly modified (ok so I turbocharged it in 2004 and that's what lead to the creation of DIYAutoTune).

Oh, and there's a 64' Lincoln Continental in there too, my love.....
 
Old...yup. Things I can't do? I can't stand BS from anybody. Lie to me and you better be prepared to be called out on it. Sooooooo sorry if you can't handle it. (yes, that was sarcastic)
 
@FoundSoul Small world. I did a Megasquirt conversion of a 1980 911. Car ran so much better than the stock fuel injection/ignition system.
 
Hang 4 said:
@FoundSoul Small world. I did a Megasquirt conversion of a 1980 911. Car ran so much better than the stock fuel injection/ignition system.
Click to expand...

It really is man! Great to 'meet' you here. Though we technically never owned the name or core 'MegaSquirt' functionality, I'm assuming you got yours from us as we had 80%-90% of the market for them, and of course our derivatives (MSPNP, MS3Pro, etc) were all ours, though had a basis of their IP under our further development.

I had a lot of fun running that place for a lot of years, learned a TON and met a lot of cool people, and had some cool opportunities. It was fun. But I figured out I'm much more entrepreneur than executive, meaning I find life in creating things, not running them as they grow beyond a certain point. I like making the baby more than I like changing the diapers, so to speak. So I'm working on creating something new now. And having fun again!
 
I went to watch my granddaughters volleyball game in a gym and there were few chairs so I sat on the floor against the wall. I didnt think anything about it. I got up to talk to my granddaughter at one point and as I went to sit down a guy came over and offered me his chair. I took it! Ha!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top