Nanuq

You're good, JTB. You're good!

Congratulations! Enjoy the celebrations, lads. If I couldn't live in the land of ice and snow I'd sure take a long look down under. Exactly how close are you to Antarctica?

Did someone say DOXA???

Was that a server hiccup?

All right.... don't you remember that Christmas morning when you were 8? You got that cool chemistry set, and had to keep mixing, and mixing and mixing the chemicals, until BLAM!!! ....and the cat was no more. Best to just wear the thing for awhile........

And people wonder why there are server hiccups. They don't realize we're laughing so hard that stuff gets knocked over now and then.

Unexpected generosity like this just leaves you speechless. There are no words... I've experienced it several times, and others here have written about it. It's hugely humbling, and inspiring. What an amazing gesture! And an answer to your question: yes, that watch is incredibly rare. There will never be another one like it in your life.

YOWZA!!!! Now THAT is shweeeeeet! Congratulations!

Oh wait... I know. He hands you the ultimate icon of all watchdom, the one, the only.... The Watch

Oh, you DIRTY DOG!!! That was cruel! C'mon, c'mon..... WHAT IS IT???!!!!!

I have some great earphones for my "real" sound system, and I'm looking for some nice earbuds for my iPhone. I see ads for $400 Klipsch earbuds, and $20 Skullcandy earbuds. I'm thinking they really can't be that different. But man that's a lot of money to throw around trying to find something nice. So I'm turning to the discriminating and sonically experienced members of this fine board, and ask your advice and opinion! Have you found a pair of earbuds that make your mouth water? Do you think the Skullcandy buds are harsh in the upper midrange? What have you discovered as you try different brands? C'mon, spill it.

Mahalo, Lani. Or... "una inuuq aaniqtuuq" The really enjoyable part of collecting is the pursuit. Wait till you get into pursuing rare and impossible to find gens!

Is this what he meant by cross-eyed crypting? I'm so confused....

Didn't you get the memo? Drat... we all placed orders for a dozen each Rolex 6263, Rolex DR Seadweller and Rolex 6541 Milgauss. He ought to be back soon, if the Temporal Customs don't hold him up too much.

With respect to Rudyard Kipling... The Rolex "You must choose between me and your watch" -Rudyard Kipling Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout, For things are running crossways, and Rolex and I are out. We quarreled about the crown guards.....we fought o'er a good cheroot, And I know she is exacting and she says I am a brute. Open the old cigar-box.....let me consider a space; In the soft blue veil of the vapour hiding my Explorer's face. My Rolex is pretty to look at, steel is a loving lass. But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of loves must pass. There's peace in a Laranaga, there’s calm in a Henry Clay, But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown away....... Thrown away for another as perfect and ripe and brown ... But I could not throw away my Rolex for fear o' the talk o' the town! The Explorer, my watch of beauty.... gray and sharp edged and old..... With never another Rolex to purchase for love or gold! And the light of Days that have Been the dark of the Days that Are, And Love's torch stinking and stale, like the butt of a dead cigar....... The butt of a dead cigar you are bound to keep in your pocket...... With never a new one to light tho' it's charred and black to the socket. Open the old cigar-box......let me consider awhile.... Here is a mild Manila......there is the Rolex guile. Which is the better portion..... a watch to make your heart sing, Or a harem of dusky beauties fifty tied in a string? Counselors cunning and silent....comforters true and tried, And never a one of the fifty to sneer at a movement that died. Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes, Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close. This will the fifty give me, asking naught in return, With only a Suttee's passion.......to do their duty and burn. This will the fifty give me, When they are spent and dead, Five times other fifties shall be my servants instead. The furrows of far-off Java, the isles of the Spanish Maine, When they hear my harem is empty, will send me my brides again. I will take no heed to their raiment, nor food for their mouths withal, So long as the gulls are nesting, so long the showers fall. I will scent 'em with best Vanilla, with tea will I temper their hides, And the Moor and the Mormon shall envy who read of the tale of my brides. For Rolex has written a letter that gives me my choice between The wee little whimpering watch and the great god Nick o' Teen. And I have been servant of watches for barely a twenty - month clear, But I have been Priest of Partagas a matter of seven year; And the gloom of my bachelor days is flecked with the cheery light Of stumps that I burned to Friendship and Pleasure and Work and Fight. And I turn my eyes to the future that Rolex and I must prove, But the only light on the marshes is the Will o' the Wisp of Love. Will it see me safe through my journey or leave me bogged in the mire? Since a puff of tobacco can cloud it, shall I follow the fitful fire? Open the old cigar-box .....let me consider anew..... Old friends, and what is a Rolex that I should abandon you? A million surplus watches are willing 'o bear the yoke; And a Rolex is only a Rolex, but a good cigar is a Smoke. Light me another Cuba..... I hold to my first-sworn vows, If Rolex will have no rival, I'll have no Rolex in my house!

Hey now, by the time late July rolls around it's downright balmy! But we still take a mountain bike to get there so the trip to the outhouse goes by quicker. One must always "be prepared". See the grass peeking through? You know it's going to be a scorcher come August!

These are times that try the souls of even the most stalwart of men. Rest assured we will get to the bottom of this!

The only thing running on the server was TwoTone, in his ballet slippers and tutu again. Sheesh. We keep having to get him to climb down offa there.

A brief note to put people's minds at ease... so far there are no signs anything is amiss with the board and all digging we're doing is turning up nothing serious. Research continues but at this time people can relax. If anything remotely strange comes up, immediate and dramatic steps will be taken.

Okay, you twisted my arm... I'll give you TWICE what she paid for it new. Heck, THREE times.... Deal??

They were inexpensive because they were generally disliked due to their design: they're not automatics, so they needed winding at least once per day. But they had screwdown crowns, which made it harder to keep them wound. The Oyster design for a manual watch was not a very well received idea.

...and in the end we find that we're really not all that different, after all. I'm glad everyone kept this civil today. Thank you. And now for the one remaining question: Who has the best sub?

If Obama does nothing more than give the nation a boost of JFK-esque confidence, that is probably all we really need. Confidence. Then stay out of the business sector's way.

Shweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. And oddly, familiar.