report from soggy Boulder

Jim R. · 1590

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Offline Jim R.

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on: September 15, 2013, 02:33:01 PM
Hello fellow Bottleheads,

By now most of you have probably heard of and/or seen the devastating floods in Boulder and a few other places along the Front Range of the Rockies.

We are fine -- not even a drop of water in our basement but our next door neighbor has some significant flooding in hers -- which has happened before though not on this scale. In our condo community this is the only home that sustained any damage, so we are all very thankful and fortunate.

Many, many others, including many very good friends are not so lucky, most of them had to be evacuated from their mountain homes by Blackhawk helicopters but there are still hundreds of people unaccounted for, and still many friends who we cannot contact.

It's a mess of enormous scale and yesterday we learned that this is already the second largest airlift rescue mission since Katrina, and the rain is supposed to pick up again tonight and tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope this is ok with Dan, but I'd like to ask for some help from the BH community... Two very close friends who used to live in the apartment above ours lived in one of the hardest hit areas in the mountains and on Thursday morning they watched as their nextdoor neighbor's house floated away, and then more and more over the next day. They couldn't get out and we could not get to them, but finally yesterday afternoon one of the blackhawks was able to land and take them, their two dogs and cat out -- shortly after the retaining wall behind their home cracked. They have no idea if their home will be there when they can get back there and they have no idea when they'll be able to get back. It looks pretty sure like they will lose everything, but for now they are staying here in our community in the Woman's brother's basement indefinitely.

Of course the community here is rallying to support them and in my small way I plan to help out too as they are both music lovers and Jeff is a brother audiophile as well. I am planning to give them my Orcas and sub, but given all the other support we need to give them and other close friends, I simply cannot afford to build them a s.e.x or stereomour amp to go with the speakers. I am also donating my modified sony playstation as a cd player and building them an alix based music server and everything else needed to put together some music for them as it could be months or years before they are resettled in a real home of their own again.

So, as much as I want to do this for them on my own, I'm asking those who are in a position to help if they may chip in a few bucks towards the purchase of a s.e.x or stereomour kit and if somebody has something like an HRT music streamer dac they aren't using, that would help but is not necessary at this point.

Of course every cent will go to these people, there will be no boutique upgrades and I will supply all interconnects and speaker cables, etc. (which I already have plenty of lying around.). It is best to email me directly and then I can give you my paypal account and can keep a running total and I will announce when we have sufficient funds.

Please only do this if you are completely comfortable doing so -- I don't want anybody to feel guilty about not giving -- sometimes we are simply not in a position to do this.  For me, this is one of the very few ways  I can help my friends with something tangible and that I can do myself.

Thanks for reading,

Jim

Jim Rebman -- recovering audiophile

Equitech balanced power; uRendu, USB processor -> Musette DAC -> 5670 tube buffer -> Finale Audio F138 FFX -> Cain and Cain Abbys near-field).

s.e.x. 2.1 under construction.  Want list: Stereomour II

All ICs homemade (speaker and power next)


Offline galyons

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Reply #1 on: September 15, 2013, 02:40:10 PM
Jim,
Please post or PM a PayPal account.  Although not as critical as clothes, food and housing....music goes along way to feed and shelter the mind!!!

Cheers,
Geary

VPI TNT IV/JMW 3D 12+Benz LP-S>  Eros + Auralic Aries + ANK Dac 4.1 >Eros TH+ Otari MX5050 IIIB2 > BeePre >Paramount 300B 7N7 > EV Sentry IV-A

Thorens TD124/Ortofon RMG-212/SPU >Seduction > Smash^Up> Paramour 45 MQ >K12's


Offline Jim R.

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Reply #2 on: September 15, 2013, 03:04:44 PM
Hi Geary,

Thanks much, and you're right about the priorities but my wiffe and the effected woman's sister-in-law are already working the money and clothes thing. We live in a very close knit community here and all kinds of offers for them are already pouring in. I just want to do something for them with my own two hands and want them to have something that they'll have forever.

Paypal is: seamus {at} indra [com]

FYi, my wife went over to see them last night once they got to the neighbor's house and they looked horrible, shell-shocked and exhausted. We gave them ice cream and tequilla, but imagine what 3 days of not being able to tell people where you are, no way to get out, and watching homes all around you go down the river that was never a river before. When they heard the helicopter making a landing near them they couldn't believe it.

-- Jim

Jim Rebman -- recovering audiophile

Equitech balanced power; uRendu, USB processor -> Musette DAC -> 5670 tube buffer -> Finale Audio F138 FFX -> Cain and Cain Abbys near-field).

s.e.x. 2.1 under construction.  Want list: Stereomour II

All ICs homemade (speaker and power next)


Offline Jim R.

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Reply #3 on: September 17, 2013, 03:58:20 PM
Ok, seems in hindsight that this was a really bad idea. Geary, I'll refund your contribution tomorrow and then find a plan B.

I'm going to put the s.e.x. 2.1 iron in my old s.e.x. 2.0 as I'm not going to be able to use that in my shop as I had planned.

-- Jim

Jim Rebman -- recovering audiophile

Equitech balanced power; uRendu, USB processor -> Musette DAC -> 5670 tube buffer -> Finale Audio F138 FFX -> Cain and Cain Abbys near-field).

s.e.x. 2.1 under construction.  Want list: Stereomour II

All ICs homemade (speaker and power next)


Offline earwaxxer

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Reply #4 on: September 17, 2013, 04:15:55 PM
Hey Jim - Sometimes those condo's are designed such that they can withstand the impossible event. I remember when we were living in NJ when hurricane Floyd hit. We got 16" of rain in less than 12 hours. Many 200 yr old homes were flooded, our town home was fine. Even with a stream that flowed through our back yard. The reservoirs took it... 

Eric
Emotiva XPA-2, Magnepan MMG (mod), Quickie (mod), JRiver, Wyrd4sound uLink, Schiit Gungnir, JPS Digital power cord, MIT power cord, JPS Labs ultraconductor wire throughout, HSU sub. powered by Crown.


Offline Jim R.

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Reply #5 on: September 17, 2013, 04:45:59 PM
Eric,
As i said, we had no damage ourselves, not even any standing water in the area around us -- 3 blocks south of us was devastated and some friends who can see our neighborhood from the mountains said our area looked like a huge lake, but that was just to the south of us.

My friends in the mountains were not in a condo but a 4 story house built into the side of the hill. Report from some people that hiked in today is that their house is still standing but the retaining wall is still hanging precariously and nobody knows if there's any structural damage or not. In any case they were not allowed in to grab even some clothes for work, and of course there are no roads and they say it will be months before even temporary gravel can be put down. Many of these hills were just wiped clean, and a lot of tthat was due to the lack of vegetation and trees from the 4 mile canyon fire of 3 years ago this month. Compound disasters. They scaled up the air rescue missions yesterday and today and now it is probably larger than the Katrina rescue, though they can't use boats on the mountains :-).

-- Jim

Jim Rebman -- recovering audiophile

Equitech balanced power; uRendu, USB processor -> Musette DAC -> 5670 tube buffer -> Finale Audio F138 FFX -> Cain and Cain Abbys near-field).

s.e.x. 2.1 under construction.  Want list: Stereomour II

All ICs homemade (speaker and power next)