Category: Blog

Status: Cold clear day with bright sun, I didn’t engage the solar panels until I can replace the $600 worth of batteries on the fridge.

Plans: Church tonight at 19:30

Narrative: Had my morning cup of Jo and caught up on my E-Mail. I am doing research this morning on replacing the batteries on the three UPS units. I called Interstate battery center in Suwanee and they politely told me that I had the wrong part number. Then they suggested that I purchase an SLA battery instead of the DCM (Deep Cycle Mobility) battery I asked for. I said goodbye and had t calm down a little, they should know their product line. All they do is batteries!

Still angry I drove out to the battery center where I just happened to meet the person that told me the batteries in the garage had a bad part number. I showed her the page from the Interstate website showing the part number I had asked for, she responded that she passed on what she was told. I responded that an SLA battery is quite different from a DCM battery as she headed into the office to talk with the manager. The manager came out and asked if he could help me, I told him about the conversation I had with his employee and he responded with questions about what I was going to use it for. I told him a UPS and he told me that I was asking for the wrong battery that the SLA is for UPS systems. (In fact that’s wrong, UPS batteries are yet a third category of High Rate.) I mentioned that we were talking in circles and that I came there to get a price on a DCM battery pointing to the part number on the sheet! He finally relented and looked up the price all the while telling me he’d have to special order it. (Which didn’t concern me.)

When I got home I called the Interstate battery center in Marietta, they gave me a price and availability on everything I asked for. (So guess who I am buying the batteries from next week.!)

I was absolutely shocked at the prices from both battery centers, they were almost double what I paid about 5 years ago! I need to reassess the service I require on the three UPS units and purchase an appropriately priced battery for that service. The Primary UPS only runs for about an hour, but it needs 100Amps of current for the rated output. The two subordinate UPS units draw much less current, but are expected to run for several hours.

Tomorrow: Have to think on that for a minute.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: It’s cold winter day.

Plans: We have a date with our daughter at Chili’s for dinner.

Narrative: I’m up with a very sore shoulder so I thought i’d catch up on my blog. I’ve been wearing socks around the house for months, but I am having an issue with my boots having a foul odor. I’ve tried dusting them with foot powder and airing them out under a fan to no avail. I’ve even resorted to dipping my feet in bleach every day. It could very well be I just need more than one pair of shoes.

Spent a good part of the day applying for a job. I don’t need the money per se’, but it can’t hurt to have a little extra. I am still going through my work clothes to make sure they’re still suitable for the workplace.

Went to Chili’s for dinner, had a Caribbean salad with grilled chicken. Delish! We were going to meet up with the daughter, but there was a misunderstanding on which Chili’s we were going to. Boo!

Tomorrow: Church at 19:30.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: Cold and Damp.

Plans: Eat breakfast, have a cup of coffee and get a new Comcast modem. Going to be a very busy day, my wife has to register for her class today and I’ll likely be filling out forms for a job.

Narrative: Put some Baileys Irish cream in a cup of coffee and i’m going through my E-Mail systems this morning.

Drove to Comcast service center and picked up a second Comcast Internet modem. When I got home, my wife told me that the Internet was down. Sure enough, my existing modem had gone offline and the firewall did not engage the Cellular backup. I installed the new modem and was greeted with an self install routine. I put that modem online and started work on the Arris that I own by calling Comcast. After two hours it was determined that the concept was not doable, one account per address, one modem per account. Boo! I took the modem back after dinner and the guy who greeted me said one modem per account.

We got our three meals from Home Chef today. We decided to cook the salmon as our first meal. It took roughly an hour for the two of us to prepare it and the dinner was very tasty.

Tomorrow: Have lunch with the daughter at Chili’s.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: It’s COLD and wet outside. PiAware receiver is running ok at 50 degrees warmer than the outside temp, but has low counts. Homestead UPS batteries are depleted limiting their run time to a couple hours. Right shoulder is sore from bursitis and I cannot reach behind my back with my right arm. I have five broken teeth in my jawbone. My passport expired on Friday.

• Project: Prepare for going back to work.
• Assess work clothes and acquire a pair of protective toed boots.
• Try and locate a pay scale for the new job.

Plans: Get organized.

Narrative: Got up at 07:00 and had eggs/toast for breakfast. Left about 7:30 for church services and got home around 12:30. Gobbled up turkey sandwich and took a good two hour nap before catching up on my blog.

Found the job description of a position with the Constellis I should be occupying in a couple weeks, it did not have a pay scale attached to it. Boo…

Had a good dinner with the wife and we enjoyed a fire in the fireplace burning up the orange crates I demolished on Friday.

Researched adding a second modem to my Comcast account, it turns out it’s pretty cheap! I’ll drive to the Comcast place tomorrow since that is by far the easiest way to accomplish this. I’ll also be able to solve a problem I’ve been having where the Internet drops off for about 2 minutes every once in a while. I’ve had this problem for about three months where all my cameras report no internet connectivity.

Worked on a jigsaw puzzle with the wife for a while before heading to bed.

Tomorrow: Drive to Comcast customer service and get a modem.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering: Project: Theme: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: It’s very cold and raining tonight.

Pi News: The PiAware is in it’s permanent spot on the side of the chimney and I hope it stays dry. (Time will tell.) I had to remove the Flight Aware filter, there were some anomalies that I couldn’t defend. I may put it back when the weather clears up next week and try again.

Plans: Get some rest, i’ll need it for tomorrow. My shoulder is still sore from the shot I got on Friday. I need to stretch the muscle and put ice packs on it to reduce the inflammation from the bursitis.

Narrative: Had my morning cup of coffee before throwing a bag of stuff together to upgrade my son’s PiAware to SSH.

The drive was uneventful and upgrading the Pi was pretty easy since I had just done it to my Pi the day before. We played around with the gain settings and the commands to display the temp of the processor. Headed home around five for a casserole dinner. Wrote some E-Mail and watched the beginning of Eragon before retiring for the evening.

Tomorrow: Church service setup starts at 8AM even if it is raining.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs:

Status: It’s a beautiful, cold but clear day. I do not know where the white keyboard ended up and the blue RJ45 crimp tool may also be with it.

Plans: Check out my shoulder at the doc and get my FlightAware filter from the PO box.

Narrative: Didn’t sleep well, which is about normal these days. Had a good hot cup of coffee with the sweetie while we watched Today on NBC.

There was a pretty good amount of ice on the car this morning so we did get started pretty early before the 9:45 appointment. The doc took an xray and wiggled my arm some before declaring it bursitis and gave me a shot in the joint. I am really glad that it won’t require surgery since they want me to start work in a couple weeks.

Added the Flight Aware filter to the cable to the PiAware, I know it’s not needed, but I need to make sure it won’t help the performance. The integrated filter is at least 100:1 outside the bandpass so with this filter Cellular is way beyond being received by the flight Aware SDR dongle. I have plenty of gain (Like 16dB) left on the preamp to compensate for the insertion loss of the additional filter.

Tomorrow: Find my keyboard.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: It’s a very cold but bright sunny day.

Plans: Continue to clean and clear out the “Stuff”

Narrative: Made a pot of coffee for the sweetie again this morning. (I try and get it setup so that it starts automatically at 06:30 for her each day.)

Worked with my Son in Tampa on the PiAware. He is having issues with the long FlightAware antenna. (It doesn’t work at his house for some reason.) We did manage to modify his configuration to maximize the reception of the ADS-B broadcasts this morning.

I also worked on my PiAware setup at the homestead, I permanently mounted the box that houses the FlightAware receiver and the Raspberry Pi computer that sends the information to the Flight Aware website.

The current antenna has a 10′ and a 6′ section of chain link fence top rail as a mast. I am considering extending the antenna another 4′ using two 10′ sections giving me 20′ of mast. There are two problems that have to be considered, the Flight Aware antenna will then be the tallest item on my roof (Lightning) and it would not be Guyed. (Self supported.) I’ve checked the current 16′ and it doesn’t move much even in a pretty good gust of wind. (Which is good for not needing guy wires like the TV antenna does.)

I will need to seriously think about the lightning though. The current setup has the old TV antenna as the sacrificial lamb, it is the highest item on the roof and is severely grounded expecting to get hit by lightning.

Tomorrow: Pickup the Flight Aware parts from the Post Office and make an dental appointment.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: My cave is a pile of stuff and my ear needs the stitches removed.

Plans: Go through at least one tub a day, sort, put away or discard in the trash. Church services at 7:30PM.

Narrative: Woke up to a pretty day, had my morning coffee and played with the PiAware a little before taking an early nap.

Trip to Emery hospital was uneventful and removing the stitches was so quick that I didn’t have to pay for parking. 🙂

In cleaning the two tubs today I ran across an aluminum box that I had bought years ago that would work well as a shield for the PiAware on the chimney. I mounted just the cover of the box on the siding today in preparation of putting the PiAware box underneath it tomorrow.

Church services went well, I didn’t tackle the parking mess tho. Will have to buy some new signs, I’ve lost one No Parking sign and four small cones.

Tomorrow: Thursday is becoming my day to spend time with the sweetie, Friday is normally date night but Thursdays seem to be less hectic for some reason.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: Flight Aware receiver is laying on the chimney under a plastic tub, it needs a more permanent home.

Plans: Doctor appointment in the morning.

Narrative: Slept in a little before heading out to the doctors office. Thanks to a student doctor the consensus with my shoulder is possibly a torn rotator cup. I have an appointment on Friday to explore that possibility. I still have an issue with deep muscle pain and tingling feet at night.

Did a bit of house cleaning today. I have tubs of “Stuff” from all the traveling last year that needs to be “Pruned” and sorted. Two peach crates of stuff have been put away and the crates broken down for kindlin.

It rained the morning so I didn’t get onto the roof today. I did gather some hardware to mount the Pi-Aware on the side of the chimney when I get a chance. I do need to enable SSH and VNC before buttoning it up, I might try that very early tomorrow morning. (Like 3AM)

Tomorrow: Get the stitches out of my ear from the surgery last week.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: Pi Aware receiver is laying in a box on the chimney until I can decide whether to mount it inside or outside. My hair is a bit too long.

Plans: Get a haircut in the morning.

Narrative: Had my morning cup of Jo with the wife and we discussed our plans for today. I headed out to the barber (by the way of the bank) and the wife went to walk the park with friends. The haircut went about normal, they do an excellent job.

Back home I worked on the Pi Aware receiver for a little while. I cut the 10′ chain link fence top rail at 6′ and attached that to the top of the 10′ rail holding the 1090 MHZ Flight Aware antenna. It appeared to increase my visibility some, how much we may not know for a couple days. I can’t push it any higher without it being shadowed by the TV antenna’s on a nearby mast. I definitely don’t want to push it over the top of the TV antennas and being the lightning rod for the house.

Spent some time talking to mom about Dental implants and crowns. (Of which I have considerable experience with.)

Went to the Dollar store looking for Necco’s, but didn’t find any. I did find them at CVS, will have to check that tomorrow.

Had really good leftovers for dinner, played scrabble and watched a movie with the wife before retiring for the evening.

Tomorrow: Doctors Appointment in the morning.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News: