Kinda bummed right now, I just learned that a friend of mine passed away last month. Ted was an older gentleman in his late 60s, I met him a couple of years ago through Freecycle, and he gave me a turntable, as well as some other pieces of equipment. He said he didn't want any money for them, I offered to get him a nice TV for his apartment (he lived in an assisted living place), but he already had two large flat screens. It was getting near Christmas, I asked if he wanted me to bring him a Christmas tree, or decorations, cookies etc. but he said he was fine.
About the end of May/June this year, we were talking, and he mentioned he had a couple of pieces of equipment that needed fixing, and asked if I could take them somewhere to have them fixed. I told him I could do one better, and offered to fix them myself. He had a Nakamichi DR-1 cassette deck, and a Sony DTC-ZE700 DAT deck. I ordered the belts for the Nak, installed them and gave it a good clean up, and made some test recordings. Of course, I couldn't take any money from him for the repair. He mentioned that he didn't like the food in his new place, so when I took the Nak back, I brought with me some nice tortellini alfredo from a nearby restaurant that does good food. He enjoyed the food, and I got an e-mail from him a couple of days later saying it was a pleasure having the cassette deck back, and he hoped it lasted for another 20 years.
I took the DAT player with me at this time. Things had been a little bit hectic for me over the summer, what with taking my daughter to a local water park three days a week and teaching her to swim. I finally got around to looking at Ted's DAT player last Thursday, and using a thread here on AK, I managed to get it working. I e-mailed Ted the week before to apologize for not getting to it sooner. I then e-mailed him last Friday to say that I'd fixed it. After I didn't hear back from him, I tried calling his cellphone, but it went straight to voicemail. Monday this week, I called his assisted living place, and said I hadn't heard from him and was worried. They never called back, so tonight (Wednesday), I called them again, and they gave me the number for his brother. After a couple of missed calls, I spoke to his brother for about 30 minutes, this was my first time speaking to him. He told me that Ted had a stroke, and passed away on September 6th. I knew he had problems with diabetes, but whether this was related to the stroke I don't know. I plan on sending the DAT deck to Ted's brother sometime this week or next week.
RIP Ted, it was nice to have known you, sorry I didn't get your DAT deck fixed sooner.
Lee.
About the end of May/June this year, we were talking, and he mentioned he had a couple of pieces of equipment that needed fixing, and asked if I could take them somewhere to have them fixed. I told him I could do one better, and offered to fix them myself. He had a Nakamichi DR-1 cassette deck, and a Sony DTC-ZE700 DAT deck. I ordered the belts for the Nak, installed them and gave it a good clean up, and made some test recordings. Of course, I couldn't take any money from him for the repair. He mentioned that he didn't like the food in his new place, so when I took the Nak back, I brought with me some nice tortellini alfredo from a nearby restaurant that does good food. He enjoyed the food, and I got an e-mail from him a couple of days later saying it was a pleasure having the cassette deck back, and he hoped it lasted for another 20 years.
I took the DAT player with me at this time. Things had been a little bit hectic for me over the summer, what with taking my daughter to a local water park three days a week and teaching her to swim. I finally got around to looking at Ted's DAT player last Thursday, and using a thread here on AK, I managed to get it working. I e-mailed Ted the week before to apologize for not getting to it sooner. I then e-mailed him last Friday to say that I'd fixed it. After I didn't hear back from him, I tried calling his cellphone, but it went straight to voicemail. Monday this week, I called his assisted living place, and said I hadn't heard from him and was worried. They never called back, so tonight (Wednesday), I called them again, and they gave me the number for his brother. After a couple of missed calls, I spoke to his brother for about 30 minutes, this was my first time speaking to him. He told me that Ted had a stroke, and passed away on September 6th. I knew he had problems with diabetes, but whether this was related to the stroke I don't know. I plan on sending the DAT deck to Ted's brother sometime this week or next week.
RIP Ted, it was nice to have known you, sorry I didn't get your DAT deck fixed sooner.
Lee.
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