Installed my 3 in 1 socket splitter (with my 23w GE Self Ballasted Metal Halide Par38's) into my detached garage above my motorcycle.
Took out my Programmed Start 28w GE CFL, and put that into my bedroom ceiling fan for now. The CFL is in my room temporarily.
I really gotta find a good place for that CFL...

John (thorncollector) visited us this afternoon, and brought lots of goodies, including a 131W SOX-E lamp, which completes our collection of all the SOX ratings  

Photos and more details later on 

At my friend's motorcycle garage where I originally kept my bike, he and I replaced an F96T12 HO lamp that burned
out in one of the two High Output fixtures in that garage... the last remaining GE 95w lamp. We replaced it with a cold temp F96T12
110 watt lamp from Sylvania. Since the garage is filled with expensive, heavy motorcycles, it took both of us to replace the lamp.
But now all four HO lamps are 110w. Full mercury?... I don't know.

Funny story:
My friend is unfortunately a "know it all" type of person. As soon as he flipped the switch after the install, he looked for a second and
said, "I don't like how it started." Then I said, "What do you mean?" And then he said, "See how it flickered before it starts?"
Me being the lighting enthusiast I am, I then said, "Bruh that's what it's suppose to do. These are all Rapid Start ballasted fixtures."
Then he pointed to the other HO fixture and turned the lights back off. He then said, "See when I turn these back on, that one fixture
there starts up right when I flip the switch. See? Watch... boom." Not surprisingly, he quickly realized that fixture was doing the
same thing. haha... he gave in and we went back to talking about motorcycles.
He's done this before though, with the previous GE 95w lamp that EOLed. I told him which lamp was burned out, and he immediately assumes I'm
wrong and thinks the opposite lamp burned out, and even explains why. 

My friend is unfortunately a "know it all" type of person. As soon as he flipped the switch after the install, he looked for a second and
said, "I don't like how it started." Then I said, "What do you mean?" And then he said, "See how it flickered before it starts?"
Me being the lighting enthusiast I am, I then said, "Bruh that's what it's suppose to do. These are all Rapid Start ballasted fixtures."
Then he pointed to the other HO fixture and turned the lights back off. He then said, "See when I turn these back on, that one fixture
there starts up right when I flip the switch. See? Watch... boom." Not surprisingly, he quickly realized that fixture was doing the
same thing. haha... he gave in and we went back to talking about motorcycles.
He's done this before though, with the previous GE 95w lamp that EOLed. I told him which lamp was burned out, and he immediately assumes I'm
wrong and thinks the opposite lamp burned out, and even explains why. 

Heh, you should offer him one of those Accupro electronic HO ballasts that'll instant start the lamp. The 8ft HO in my garage used to have one of those ballasts. I swapped it out with a older magnetic Advance.

@Joseph_125, to be honest... I'm really thinking about taking BOTH of those HO fixtures. Both. I'm having talks with
my other best friend about getting me some help in terms of purchasing a home. (Her Grandpa is a realtor) ((She just bought
a home with her husband who is also a best friend, and she is already offering her downstairs fluorescent fixtures to me!))
Once I buy a home, my other next step would be to take those HO fixtures in the bike garage, and replace them with other reliable fixtures.
Since the owner of that bike garage is awesome, there is a high chance that I'd be walking out with those HO fixtures. (With his help
of course)
So yeah I don't really want to replace the ballasts in those HO fixtures just yet... because soon they *could* be mine.

Wrapped up some 35W SOX and 250/400W MV lamps we got in a recent haul that came without packaging.

Built up a ballast board for 400W MV lamps   

Im working on redoing my grandmas undercabnet lights.

Organized a box of my MV lamps.

Could not finish up the cabnit lights project due to factors out  of my control but i manage to save some bulbs and other electrical goodies from her house and also bring it slightly more up to code. Will probs be back in late august to finish it up.

Went to the ReStore, got a GE 250w R40 Infrared lamp from 1998 and a Lights of America 4P 13w CFL adapter with package. Will be back for a two-pack of GE 67w red-etchers and other miscellaneous things.

Performed a little experiment in ballasting MV with incandescent, we have a 50W MV but no ballast, so we tried 150W and 200W incandescents, the 200W is the better choice, it would seem 

Performed a little experiment in ballasting MV with incandescent, we have a 50W MV but no ballast, so we tried 150W and 200W incandescents, the 200W is the better choice, it would seem 

I can't figure this one out!? You used incandescents to ballast MV lamps?? Not sure how that works?

I can't figure this one out!? You used incandescents to ballast MV lamps?? Not sure how that works?

As a resistive ballast: Connected just in nseries with the ballasted lamp.
But the mains voltage needs to be more than about double the arc voltage, so with standard MV (95..120V arc voltage; exact value depends on the exact wattage rating, 50W has 93V arc) it works in 230V world, but does not in 120V US (or Canada).

This is the pinciple, how selfballasted MV's work: There the incandescent filament is already inside of the outer, together with the connection.
The 230V types really have standard style MV burner, with a starting probe and resistor. The arctube (it differs a bit compare to standard MVs) is only optimized for maximum total efficacy and the heat it gets from the ballast filament.
120V models have to suffice with the low voltage for ignition, so use arctube with auxiliary filament heaters heating the arctube before ignition (using heat controlled bimetal switch), but once ignited it is again a mercury arc discharge (with arc voltage around 60V for 120V SBMVs) in series with an incandescent filament.

I can't figure this one out!? You used incandescents to ballast MV lamps?? Not sure how that works?

It's rather like a blended mercury/tungsten lamp, the MV is in series with the incandescent filament, just in two separate bulbs  

It was just an experiment until we get the correct ballast for the 50W merc.

See photo here