eunomians

***In Memorium*** My best friend... R.I.P. Tokyo 1969, he's looking and smiling at my mom when this pic was taken My father, my best friend, my daddy, passed away on Tuesday at 2:42 AM from Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. He had been in and out of the hospital since the begining of March due to massive amounts of bizarre complications. I had been staying with him at his house as much as I could for the past many months. He lost control of his bowels, and could not sit up. It broke my heart. He had clots in his legs and lungs, almost died, but he made it through that episode. Then he had a mysterious infection in which he had an uncontrollable fever of 40C for more than 5 days. He miraculously beat the fever with 11 antibiotic IV's running in him. He got Pneunomia twice, almost died twice, but pulled through. He tried every possible Chemotherapy, some worked for a while (such as Pentastatin), but all ceased to work in late June. So the last resort was to try Chem-Path, which destroys 99% of the body's immune system. With my father being so weak after all of the insane complications, it was a huge risk. They said that one dose could kill him and that it was up to my father and I to make the choice to play Russian Roulette. We went for it. There was no choice left. He got the injection, I held his hand for the critical hour, waiting, hoping that he would not go into cardiac arrest. He lived! 2 days later, they gave him more Chem-Path, his white blood count drops dramatically, it was killing the cancer like crazy! Despite the fact that my dad could no longer use his legs, and the fact that he had lost 50% of his normal healthy body weight; he was making plans with me to drink beer and eat hotdogs. He wanted so badly to take a ride in my new car that he had not gotten a chance to see yet. The Oncology team then told me to go home and get some rest, since my dad was doing great. 12 hours later, they call me and tell me that I need to be there ASAP. Suddenly my dad had a wild infection, they find out that his gallbladder is destroyed. My dad loses the ability to talk, he could just mumble. They prepare him for surgery, I hold his hand, kiss his forehead, tell him not worry, that I'll see him when the surgery is finished. They remove most of his Gallbladder, the surgery was fairly successfull. Again, the hospital tells me to go home an get some rest. I had been up for 24 hours at that point... They told me he was recovering just fine and they decided to move him into a less intensive care unit since things were going so great. After only 2 hours of going home, the hospital calls me back. The leukemia starts to grow suddenly. After the surgery, he gets a fever over 40C again. They keep him sedated (eyes closed, no talking) because he's got painfull tubes in his mouth and nasal passage going into his stomach; and a breathing machine. His kidneys stop working. He started to bloat due to water retention. The PH balance in his body turns acidic, his organs start to shut down one by one. So less than 3 hours after they tell me all is well, they tell me he has an hour left to live. I was given 2 choices. As the cancer spread, his blood pressure was dropping, along with his heart rate. Either I stand there and watch him go into cardiac arrest (where he might regain consciousness for a split second) or I pull the plug. Either way, he was to leave this world. Me & my mother got as many of our friends as possible to come and see him. I know he could hear us. As the minutes ticked on by, his vital signs were slowing. I held his hand. I wrapped my arms over him, I kissed his forehead, I smoothed his silvery hair... The ICU unit had very bright white lights on, they had classical music blasting from a speaker next to dad's head... Suddenly I realized that this was a launch pad, that my father was about to exit this world. I held him, I kissed him, they yanked out all of the IV's, they turned of the breathing machine... He left this world. I watched a big lion slowly turn into a mouse. I lost my best friend, my mentor, my hero, my confidante... My Daddy, my Pop. So suddenly and so viciously. For the record, I want you all to know that my Dad served in Vietnam. He was a combat surgeon. He was anti-war, but went to save lives. He was exposed to Agent Orange spray (like many Veterans) during his tour of duty. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia is directly caused by Agent Orange. The U.S. Gov't 9 months ago admitted that Agent Orange does cause Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. The US Gov't and the Veteran's Affairs are REFUSING to assist in any compensation for healtcare for Veterans with this cancer. There are 100s of Veterans who are dying from this brutal ugly cancer. My dad's best friend, who also served in Vietnam, is dying of the same cancer right now! 2 weeks ago, he was in the same Oncology unit as my dad. At that point my dad could not walk anymore, but his friend could. Anyhow, while on his way out after Chemo treatment, his friend came into my dad's little room when I was there. They told each other that they loved each other. These are 2 tough, I mean really tough guys saying the word "love"! My dad's buddy said, "I'll see you at the next BBQ". My dad said, "Hey, you think we can eat some ice cream together like we always did?" Bill said, "Yup, we sure as hell will, just you & me buddy". Then Bill left. It took me a day or so to realize that they were saying goodbye to each other. I decided to post this here because for some strange reason it is a part of my healing process. I seek not your sympathy, but felt it was my duty to be honest about my anguish. Best regards to our community, Euno PS. Dad: I love you with all of my heart, Pop. You lived a selfless life, you saved 100s of people's lives, and showed me that the "externals", the "body" are all unimportant. I love you, I love you. PSS. My dad's friend is now very very ill, as of a week ago. May he have the strength to win this battle. PSSS. My Dad & Mom in happier times, Tokyo '70

I'm kinda getting tired of waiting for the grand entrance. What's going on? Any updates?

This ol' hunk of steel... Circa 1968 or 1969, caseback marked III 68 (if I recall correctly - it's been a long time since I've cracked her open). One day I will update the Twinlock to Triplock due to an itty bitty breach (tube is worn). I'm lazy with this one, which is very very stupid. I promise I will get around to it sooner than later. In any event, she's all original aside from the insert, which NOS. I have the original insert and would never part with it. Oh, and this is the 26J iteration of caliber 1520.

Just got my iPhone activated yesterday (took 24 hours to port my number). Gonna have to take some more pics and update what I lug around with me on a daily basis

Happy b-day Ubi. And happy b-day vbarrett!

Bertieng, you got a crappy piece. You need to have it replaced. Mine is perfect in everyway. Make sure that the item is not drop-shipped, make sure that it is hand inspected. Cheers

Woa Bazz, those pics are hot!

What happened to the Photography section that dealt with cameras, non-watch pics & how-to's? Thanks for all the effort and hard work

Saabin, I've always thought of you as a true madman

Nice! Reminds me of the 80s Renault 5 Turbo: vrrrroooom!!

It's back, not sure if I should be happy or not about this

Don't fight the Nautilus. It's worth every penny.

Wish I picked up one of these Oysterquartz watches a few years ago. They are really starting to pick up pricewise.

Seiko SKX-007K or my trusty Marathon steel Navigator or it's black composite brother do just fine. I make it a point to not wear chronos or any vintage watches.

These pens are starting to grow on me. I think that I will pick one up at some point soon. Again though, what about the issue of finding refills easily? I'm referring to rollerballs not fountains.

Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that I could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I ordered six McNuggets.

A man was driving along a rural road one day when he saw a three legged chicken running down the road. He was amused enough to drive along side it for a while, as he was driving he noticed the chicken was running 30 mph. Pretty fast chicken, he thought, I wonder just how fast it can run. So he sped up and the chicken did too! They were now moving along the road at 45 mph! The man in the car sped up again, to his surprise the chicken was still running ahead of him at 60 mph!!! Suddenly the chicken turned off the road and ran down a long driveway leading to a farmhouse. The man followed the chicken to the house and saw a man in the yard with dozens of three legged chickens. The man in the car called out to the farmer "How did you get all these three legged chickens?" The farmer replied, "I breed 'em. Ya see it's me, my wife and my son living here and we all like to eat the chicken leg. Since a chicken only has two legs, I started breeding this three legged variety so we could all eat our favorite piece." "That's amazing!" said the driver "How do they taste?" "Don't rightly know, I ain't caught one yet!"

... Because his career was in ruins.

...He is down in the dumps a lot.

Fell into familiar territory again...

That's a good question By-Tor. I am curious as well. An almost perfect modern Daytona would be something that I would buy. Who cares about the chrono functions working or not.

Great watch, and very collectible due to it being an oddball.

You are not alone with the 80 hours a week figure I sometimes also forget to set the time; but like our buddy in Alaska pointed out, there are times when I've forgotten to even put a watch on. Talk about feelin' like I'm stepping onto a Tokyo Subway train at rush hour with no clothes on!

Hell, I agree with you. But you have to remember that the world is controlled by the Rothschilds, Vanderbilts, DuPonts, Rockafellers, O.P.E.C., etc... In the end, you have no choice: "they" have already chosen for you what you will & will not have in your lifetime.