Month: April 2020

Status: Sheltering In Place, we have plenty of food and supplies with out portable fridge to help out. I have submitted my resignation for 1 May 2020.

Plans: We have scheduled a InstaCart for this morning at 09:00.

• Check in at Work 06:00
• Watching our shopper get our groceries at Kroger 08:00
• Putting away our Groceries 09:00
• Groceries done, back to work 10:00
• Work done, time to work on the Cameras. 11:00
• Cameras running, PiAware is stumbling.
• Unable to fix PiAware and i’m bushed. 14:00
• Took a shower and sipp’n on a margarita
• Had a large salad and White Chicken Chili 17:00

Narrative: Rose to my alarm clock at 06:00, nine more days of that before I retire again. Logged onto work E-Mail and exchanged E-Mail most of the morning. Our InstaCart showed up around 9:30.

My Flight Aware receiver is floundering, I may not be able to repair it until next weekend. (I don’t know if it is the Pi, Software or the receiver at this point.)

Worked on my neighbors cameras for a good part of last evening and this afternoon. I have a good view of the inside and the back yard. I use a “WGA600N Gaming Adapter” that was originally designed to bridge the gap between a “Wired” Internet gaming console and a wireless router in the home. It connects to the wireless in my house to extend our network into remote buildings to support the cameras in them.

Almost any “Travel Router” has the ability to bridge wireless to an Ethernet connection and they are MUCH smaller. (A mango is less then 3×3″ about the fourth the size of this gaming adapter.)

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Back to work in the morning and mow the lawns in the afternoon.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in Place, we have plenty of food and supplies. Storms headed our way.

Laughable: Floridan’s head to the beach and The Washington Post newspaper called them on it. LOL (No, I was really LAUGHING OUT LOUD….)

Laughable: I was checking my receivers and saw this guy doing a joy ride with the storm approaching. Good timing guy…

Laughable: I wanted to throw a rock with a few dollars for a gift. With my poor throwing ability, I used a roll of toilet paper instead. (I don’t know which one is worth more these days.) It took two tries to get up the driveway LOL.

Plans:

• Eat Breakfast and have my coffee.
• Repair wireless router on the roof that died overnight
• Prepare for storms and lightning today.
• Get ready and have church services at 10
• Threw a roll of toilet paper to a friend
• Took a nap.

Narrative: Yep, I was on a aluminum ladder climbing on the roof with a storm approaching! I changed out the TP-Link Wireless Travel Router that failed last night. I mounted on the chimney just yesterday. I put in a GL-iNet “Mango” router in its place. For those who know about them, it’s Mango 14.

The PiAware is currently linked to the “Slate” portable router that’s in the wiring closet. I have to rename the SSID to associate it with the “Mango” that is on the chimney. I want to run it for a couple days since going on the roof isn’t really safe during inclement weather. (Especially at my house, LOL)

No significant weather yet, the storms rolled through the lower part of the state this morning.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work in the morning.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies. Overcast, rainy day.

Plans: Work inside and in the attic today.

• Eggs for Breakfast
• Worked on the roof until after lunch

Narrative: Worked on the Pi Aware receiver that is mounted on the Chimney. I wanted to separate the network from the Pi using wireless. Also wanted to upgrade the Pi to a Raspberry Pi 4. Which I am on the fence since it runs so much hotter. I had to shed the metal box to allow wireless connection to the Pi. My only remaining problem to solve is galvanic isolation for the power supply. (Needs to be able to withstand several thousand volts.)

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Sunday

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We’re sheltering in place with plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Work in the morning and rest in the afternoon, walking around the block is probably not going to happen.

• 06:00 Work
• 09:00 Break
• 10:00 Work
• 11:00 Lunch and call Nancy
• 12:00 Nap
• 14:00 Trip to the Liquor store.
• 15:00 Try to fix TPM sensors in Blue Focus.
• 17:00 Eat a salad
• 18:00, dinner is drumsticks.

Narrative: No stimulus check yet, Boo! Work was pleasant and we went for a walk around the block for a break. Took a nap at noon then off to the liquor store for some skinny margarita mix for the wife. (Which they didn’t have.)

Home again, I have had this “No Fuss” solar charge controller for years. They have been perfect for my low power needs.

I bought a classic charge controller some time ago and put it on the house solar panels today. I am not certain if it is any more efficient than the simple one I had though?

I will have to measure the power output with a RC DC power meter to know how the two compare. One problem with these commercial charge controllers is that the battery voltage determines the system voltage. If I put a diode on the output as I did the previous controller I am not sure it will remember the 24V voltage needed to charge the batteries.

Tried to set the TPM sensors in the Blue Ford Focus. Turns out the left rear tire is the spare and does not have a TPM. The tire place also will not work on the tires since the tread wear is almost to the wear bars. Four more tires, yummy!

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Saturday, possibly rain.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We’re sheltering in place and have plenty of food and supplies. We are replenishing the consumed food with InstaCart orders. We are rewarding the shoppers with a 30% tip and no less than $15 regardless. (It was $30 on Monday for that shopper, but then again it was $100 worth of food.

Plans: Work in the morning with a break taking a walk.

Narrative: Seems like I am busier than I expected and not working the priority list above so I’ve added a simple task list below.

• Work 4 hours starting at 06:00
• Put away Insta-Cart Groceries before 10AM
• Walk around the Block
• Call Mom 11AM
• Nap Time 12:30
• Order Insta Cart
• Eat Dinner
• Package and ship Carr’s Mail 18:00
• 19:00, talked to Mike

Had my morning cup of Santo Domingo coffee while working from home 4 hours this morning. It was a slow day at work today.

We ordered groceries and they came about 09:30 from InstaCart shopper driving a Mercedes Benz. Kathy and I think the Uber drivers are now shoppers. LOL It works for us since we are high risk (Over 65) and don’t need to be walking through a store where at least one person in the store will have the virus.

We walked around the block after I clocked out of work about 11:15. We’ve walked a little over a mile every day and my body is sore tonight!

Had a ham sandwich for lunch and took a good nap. We ordered one more InstaCart to get some items we forgot before eating leftovers from yesterday.

We went to the Post Office to mail our neighbors letters after closing time. We had a difficult time working the postage machine with cloth gloves on. We ended up taking the gloves off and touching the screen with our fingers. (Not the best plan.) We did sanitize with hand sanitizer before we drove home. We’re going to try plastic gloves next time and see if that allows us not having to touch the screen directly. Riskiest thing we’ve done all week!

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work in the morning and have a margarita in the afternoon.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We’re sheltering in place with plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Cobble together a grocery list for tomorrow, the delivery on Monday was too large.

Narrative: I worked this morning and that went ok. Kathy and I took a walk around the block at 9AM and that was good to get out of the house. I worked on my cameras today, using them on my phone tends to take them offline. They are all working today!

Had a ham sandwich for lunch and took a good nap. When I woke up I put water in my primary UPS trolling batteries, they needed it. (It almost took a gallon of distilled water to fill them.)

I mounted the third 300W inverter on the wall in the garage. It will be used to provide power over the class II wiring using a transformer to reduce the voltage to 60VAC.

We got a couple packages from Amazon today and one of them was my COVID toilet paper, LOL.

Dinner was left overs from yesterday, we are eating about 3 large prepared meals a week. Lunches are a mixed bag of sandwiches and leftovers. Breakfast is mostly oatmeal, cold cereal or eggs.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work in the morning and prepare for our second round of groceries using InstaCart.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Work, Walk around the block and put the groceries away from InstaCart.

Narrative: Woke up with the alarm at 5:50 and started the coffee while I checked in with work.

We walked around the block while our InstaCart shopper picked up our groceries from Kroger. When we created the cart on Sunday it was $50, by the time he started shopping it was over $100. A woman shopper apparently deferred to a man shopper because of the size. It is a huge benefit for us so that we can avoid the virus during the peak of the risk. We gave him a $30 tip for his trouble. He put all the groceries on the porch in such a way that we could open the door. Good Job.

It is such a pretty day I mowed the front lawn and ran generator #3 at full load for almost two hours. I put a fan on the engine after I’ve cut off the fuel supply to cool the generator.

Took a shower and a nap before grabbing my next project. I bought a 24V power supply that had enough Umph to power a 300W inverter. It needed a power cable and DC wires installed so that I could add it to the house wiring. I am not happy about the mount though, it would have been nice to have ears or other attaching hardware.

Feelings:

Tomorrow:

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we’ve got plenty of food and supplies. Although the house got struck by lightening last night, we can’t find anything damaged by it.

Plans: Work in the morning and Order our first “InstaCart” tomorrow.

Narrative: 06:00 brewing a cup of Dominican Coffee and getting organized. It’s a very nice day considering the chaos last night.

My Raspberry Pi “Pi-Aware” died last night. It survived the first lightening strike, but I guess there was another one that knocked it offline. No permanent damage since power cycling it returned it to working order. That Raspi is a pretty big risk to my network since it is hard wired Ethernet connection. I have significant protection that apparently is sufficient since I heard the lightning strike the antenna just before midnight. (And saw the flash in the cameras.)

Took a walk, very NICE day today.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work in the morning, put away the groceries from Insta Cart.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We’re sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Attend Zoom Sunday Service and prepare for large storms headed our way.

Narrative: Had scrambled eggs with spinach for breakfast then watched the TODAY (r) show with Kathy before we get dressed for church service at 10.

We’re not expected to get the bad weather until late this evening. The sun peeked it’s head out off and on this morning. It’s quite nice outside even though there is severe weather approaching.

We have two weather fronts headed towards us. The first one will be from the south bringing warm moist air from the gulf. Then the cold front whacks us from the west with all the energy in the warm air. We’re battening down the outside for the heavy winds this morning while it is still nice outside.

We have several nests of carpenter bees in the wood around the garage. They are not on the porch area anymore since we have a wasps nest. LOL I tried spraying in their holes this morning and it splashed back on me. Good thing I was wearing a coat and glasses… I rinsed off then washed with soap before finishing the spraying at a distance this time. I sure don’t want to make a trip to the hospital!

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work for four hours and then check out any damage by the storm tonight.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Need to make a run to Lowes and get some roofing sealant before the storms tomorrow. We’re planning on taking a walk.

Narrative: Got up and sipped on a good cup of coffee while I get organized.

I found out that I totally forgot to write in my blog yesterday so I spent a minute to get caught up. Then I wrote in this page but it seems that it didn’t get updated. ARG

We took a good walk around the block at 10AM this morning. It’s 53 degrees and bright sun, just beautiful day for a walk.

After we got home had a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, it was pretty good.

We both took a good long nap to get refreshed and while Kathy was making dinner I mowed the back and side lawns. (They were needing it pretty badly.)

Dinner was Chicken Pot Pie with a large salad. Excellent!

Spent a minute to prepare for the storms and long run tornadoes tomorrow. Filled two of the five generators with fuel and checked all five for oil. I have five DC power supplies to charge the batteries using the generators, they are good to go. The portable fridge also has three sources of power to maintain our frozen foods.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Easter Sunday, not a fun day to be at home. Strong storms predicted for tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To