mikewint
Captain
Yes, I'm still here and have not run away to hide my head in shame.
Let me first apologize to all of you and especially to those whom I consider to be my friends, for having deceived you as to the origin of some of my posted pictures. I do have an explanation if you are willing to listen/read.
My Pictures: I am a terrible photographer and am getting worse as the damage incurred to my right eye in the '60s progresses. While I can still see light it is blurred and missing portions. My only camera is an old Kodak that uses film. Consequently whenever I go to something like the Air and Water Show I get pictures from friends who are with me or I borrow their cameras and attempt to take my own pictures which they also send to me if they remember who took what photo.
When I decided to do the Air Show post I looked through the pics I had and found none of them showed what I wanted to display. So I emailed these friends asking them to forward any pics that they had of the show, some of which would be photos I had taken (hopefully). I went through those sent me picking the best for my post. It had not occurred to me that they had sent me pics taken from the internet. I should have been more honest with you about their source.
My Boat: I do own the Meridian which I claimed. Going back to the Photo issue above, I do not have a decent picture so I went to the internet to try to find a suitable photo. Pride and a lack of honesty on my part prevented me from stating that this is not my exact boat but a picture of one that is just like it, as others have posted about their pictures and boats. I cannot photograph the boat at present since it has been stored for the winter nor will I supply personal registration numbers to anyone. If we are all still here in the spring I will post actual pictures. Until that time you can believe or not and I can't blame you if you do not.
Finances: Some have questioned my financial ability to own such a boat while that is again quite personal I will offer a partial answer. I am not rich nor ever likely to be so unless the lottery hits. But, due to a fortunate series of events in my life I have enough to be comfortable.
1. My Grandfather was a chief design engineer for Uarco, a company that produced business forms and the machines to record sales. He received stock in the company dating back to the 1930s which has split many, many times.
2. My Dad, an owner of Fords, all his life, felt he should own part of the company, so he purchased original FoMoCo stock in the 1950s.
3. Mom, an office manager for Montgomery Wards was impressed with a new type of adding machine which could do simultaneous calculations of several columns of figures. The machines were being introduced by a growing company, IBM. Seeing how well they were doing she purchased stock, also in the early1950s
4. In the 1970s the PC was born and I was particularly impressed with a small company with the strange name of Apple. When their stock was offered in the early 1980s I purchased 100 shares of their first and 100 shares of the second offering at $22 per share. They didn't do to well for the first 5 years but I had faith and continued to purchase stock, at one time for about $2 per share.
5. I am mostly retired and as such receive pensions and social security. For 7 months the Fed check goes in the bank for the boat
6. I also defray some expense by offering charters to a select group of friends and acquaintances. They pay, I drive and tend, and get to go everywhere they go almost free.
Again, I can only say that I am very sorry to have been less than honest with all of you. At my age one would think all lessons would have been learned but stupidity knows no bounds.
Mike
Let me first apologize to all of you and especially to those whom I consider to be my friends, for having deceived you as to the origin of some of my posted pictures. I do have an explanation if you are willing to listen/read.
My Pictures: I am a terrible photographer and am getting worse as the damage incurred to my right eye in the '60s progresses. While I can still see light it is blurred and missing portions. My only camera is an old Kodak that uses film. Consequently whenever I go to something like the Air and Water Show I get pictures from friends who are with me or I borrow their cameras and attempt to take my own pictures which they also send to me if they remember who took what photo.
When I decided to do the Air Show post I looked through the pics I had and found none of them showed what I wanted to display. So I emailed these friends asking them to forward any pics that they had of the show, some of which would be photos I had taken (hopefully). I went through those sent me picking the best for my post. It had not occurred to me that they had sent me pics taken from the internet. I should have been more honest with you about their source.
My Boat: I do own the Meridian which I claimed. Going back to the Photo issue above, I do not have a decent picture so I went to the internet to try to find a suitable photo. Pride and a lack of honesty on my part prevented me from stating that this is not my exact boat but a picture of one that is just like it, as others have posted about their pictures and boats. I cannot photograph the boat at present since it has been stored for the winter nor will I supply personal registration numbers to anyone. If we are all still here in the spring I will post actual pictures. Until that time you can believe or not and I can't blame you if you do not.
Finances: Some have questioned my financial ability to own such a boat while that is again quite personal I will offer a partial answer. I am not rich nor ever likely to be so unless the lottery hits. But, due to a fortunate series of events in my life I have enough to be comfortable.
1. My Grandfather was a chief design engineer for Uarco, a company that produced business forms and the machines to record sales. He received stock in the company dating back to the 1930s which has split many, many times.
2. My Dad, an owner of Fords, all his life, felt he should own part of the company, so he purchased original FoMoCo stock in the 1950s.
3. Mom, an office manager for Montgomery Wards was impressed with a new type of adding machine which could do simultaneous calculations of several columns of figures. The machines were being introduced by a growing company, IBM. Seeing how well they were doing she purchased stock, also in the early1950s
4. In the 1970s the PC was born and I was particularly impressed with a small company with the strange name of Apple. When their stock was offered in the early 1980s I purchased 100 shares of their first and 100 shares of the second offering at $22 per share. They didn't do to well for the first 5 years but I had faith and continued to purchase stock, at one time for about $2 per share.
5. I am mostly retired and as such receive pensions and social security. For 7 months the Fed check goes in the bank for the boat
6. I also defray some expense by offering charters to a select group of friends and acquaintances. They pay, I drive and tend, and get to go everywhere they go almost free.
Again, I can only say that I am very sorry to have been less than honest with all of you. At my age one would think all lessons would have been learned but stupidity knows no bounds.
Mike
