Status:On a remote site for the first time in years, it feels very familiar. Generator powered with a very small manning requirement is the trademarks of a MASS GBR.
Plans:Keep this system running and have a little fun doing it.
Narrative:Got up VERY early at 4:00 and took a shower. Finished packing for the trip to the site and sent my coworkers a message I was ready to take them.
05:45 and four bags stored in my room we’re headed to the airport.
Stored Bags
Dropped them off and I drove in Costa Rica for the very first time. I’ve been here maybe eight trips and we always got a driver with the vehicle. Arrived at the hotel without incident. Finished last minute packing and headed down for breakfast.
This hotel has quite a spread for breakfast, it is $23 if you had to pay for it. Eggs made to order all kinds of breads and several versions of fruit.
Trip to site was uneventful, takes like 10 minutes. Radar performed pretty good overnight so it should be a good shift.
I setup the VPN to the house without much fanfare and checked my company resources. We took pictures and a video of the departing team’s Delta Aircraft. i’ll have to find a way to transfer that large file from my phone and share it.
Feeling words: Confident, Capable, Guarded
Tomorrow:SLEEP, buy a rotisserie chicken and have a good dinner!
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? Yes Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? Yes 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: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:
Status:A day of rest and preparation. I’m in a Hilton hotel for the day. I have to pack what I need to operate the system for a 24 hour shift.
Narrative:I managed to get my room configured so that all my data flows encrypted to Atlanta. My cell phone connects wirelessly and the laptop is an Ethernet connection.
Had an awesome breakfast and logged into my company E-Mail. No issues thus far using Linux Mint for my corporate requirements.
Updated my blog and sent links to the family. It has been a while since i blogged. Choosing what to write about and how much detail to go into is a challenge for me. A time blog is also pretty boring, still this is to keep me close to my lovely wife.
I had a good dinner with the departing team members but I stayed up too late which made getting up a bit harder.
Tomorrow:Operate a remote site for 24 hours and repair it if necessary.
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:Flew to Liberia Costa Rica and got a room at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport.
Plans:Recover from the previous day and get caught up on what the team is thinking.
Narrative:Had a really rough day, it started when I woke up at 3AM still feeling the effects of the pill i took yesterday.
I finished packing my bags for the trip to Liberia today and i started feeling sick to my stomach. I ended up having dry heaves because the nausea was so bad.
Do I go, or stay a day and recover? (That was my question i wrestled with all the way to the airport ticket counter.)
Limo driver was on time and no issues getting to the airport at 06:00 in the morning. Checking my bags was also easily accomplished even though one of my bags was overweight at 51 Lbs.
No issues with Security or getting to the gate, i was a bit early being there 07:00. I did not feel good enough to eat without risking getting sick on the plane. I bought a $3 coke and a bag of plain M+Ms just in case I had to eat something in the next seven hours before I get to the hotel.
Boarding was uneventful and i managed to catch a few Zs during the flight. Customs and Immigration at Liberia airport was also uneventful.
The guys took us to the store and we picked up some odds and ends to make our stay comfortable. I wanted a rotisserie chicken but they looked overcooked with blackened skin.
Back at the hotel things didn’t go so well. The fridge was warm, the Internet wire did not work and the phone was also out of commission. I had to walk my happy butt down to the counter to get them fixed. (TWICE)
Finally got enough nerve to eat a meal. I headed over to the bar, ordered a beer and Salmon dinner that i had gotten on a previous trip. It was good, i enjoyed the dinner and the two Guard Folks with me.
Headed back to the room and the fridge was working. I loaded the cokes I bought and started working on the Internet connection.
There is a wall Internet Ethernet connection in this hotel room. What I failed to observe is that the wire i was using was connected to a non functioning port on the wall. No issues with the Wireless the GL.iNET routers. Nor did I have any issues with the VPN back to the house. I fought the Internet Wired connection for about half an hour before I realized it didn’t work at the wall. Plugged the router into the other port and I was good to go.
Hotel VPN Network setup
My primary travel CPAP did not work when I powered it up and I had an A.S. moment because I hadn’t tested the backup travel CPAP in years. These are not optional, i’ve tried! The CPAP rolled off the bed while I was breaking out the backup. When I powered up the backup it worked! The primary also worked after getting bounced on the floor.. Good do go, sheesh
Took a 4 hour nap and started writing in this blog. Took a minute to get reacquainted with WordPress and the format, but i’m back in the saddle. I was looking aroung for something to sip on and found a small coffee maker. Okay, no instructions and three tries later I had a hot cup of coffee. M+Ms go very well with hot coffee.
Engineering: Downloaded new Open VPN files to configure the GL.iNET routers so that they reach into my home network.
Tomorrow:Catch up on where the team is and where they are headed. Breakfast at 06:30 and i’ve not gotten enough sleep yet.
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:
