11/12/24

 

Going downtown.  End of year lots of work to do. Not going to make it.  Too much work .  

Marilyn home. After 2 weeks at her moms house.  

Her mom needed the help after her surgery. It was good to have her spend time with mom. But also good to have her home. 

House chaos with contractor re grouting the bathroom.  

Work is just so stressful.  Not liking the trip downtown and just so many asks.  Can’t take a breath without an ask.  

Going to try to walk today.  Did elliptical yesterday.  Want to get a full week to exercise. Been a slug for the past few weeks.

Gotta try and be better.  Gotta be stronger.  

A little more than a year I'll be retired.  I want to be active and full of life and not just a lump on a log sitting in a chair. 

At work and I have to do reports and get the team going on the current project.  To many things are promised for the end of the year and too many things are just being added to the pile.

Good news Mike will help me replace the ebike motor on my fat tire bike.   the motor needs to be changed out and the back brake needs to be looked at. Not sure what is wrong with the brake.  I'll rebuild the motor over the winter and have it ready to swap in when the motor breaks again. 

4/20/24

Saturday in Greeley CO.  Wedding day for Katherine ( Katie ) and Steven.  Wedding was a nice Catholic church in Windsor CO.  Two things were off, I brought the wrong shirts and my shoe were squeezing me!  Shirts worked out, I kicked off the shoes after the ceremony.  We took Mary, who is a friend of Katie to the ceremony. Katie used to board Scout, her horse, at Mary's stables. Mary was fun to talk to, Lot of stories. 

Reception was at the Atlas Theater in Greeley.  It was a super time. Lots of fun, lots of music, lots of dancing. 

4/19/24

 

Friday in Greeley CO.  When we arrived at the hotel they had a definite scent of vanilla in the lobby. I was wondering why it was so strong.  Now I know. Greeley in kinda know for it's…. Ummm how should I put this….. Aroma.  Not far outside Greeley are feed lots and beef processing. When the wind is from the northeast it bring two things, snow and a pungent essence of beef farming. 

We went downtown and had breakfast at Doug's Diner.  It had biscuits that were as big as your head! We took pictures of the downtown in the snow. 

Then we went to the Midnight Oil bookstore.  A really friendly used bookstore in town. M was shopping and searching through the stacks.  

I noticed some Bambu Labs 3D printers working on stuff. I asked the owner and he makes some 3D dragons and other articulated toys for the kids. 

He then mentioned the local library, that they had a maker space. Hmmm. 

The LINC library had an innovation center.  In addition to the usual library stacks and computer stations, they had a makers space. We caught up with David Turner the head of the innovation center and he showed us around. They had 3D printers, laser cutters, UV printers, vinyl cutters and that was only one room! They had a room of looms and sewing machines, a full woodshop and a broadcast center. All of which are available to the community to use! Wow. What a cool resource for the local population.  Imagine a young person going in there and getting a taste of working with that equipment. That could be a life changing encounter. 

4/18/24

Sleep was hard last night. Hot, Cold, Hot…. Maybe I'll set the temp really low and see if we can just be under and keep comfy.

Light snow this morning.  Workout in the gym at the hotel.  Elliptical did not have a shelf  for devices. Think we'll go to Doug's Diner for breakfast this morning. 

Doug's was awesome for breakfast. Have to do that again. 

We walked back to the hotel and met Karen and Gary. We dropped off the jeep for charging and we picked up Karen a Gary and went to the Greeley Historical Museum. That was a good time, It's cold and raw outside and it was way better than being outside. My knees were grumbling at me and we walked back to the hotel. Karen and Gary have to go pick people up at the airport we are going to pick up the car, see Katie and Steven, then go out to a late lunch. 

4/17/24

Off to Denver today! Actually Greeley Co.  Early start to the airport. We have two first class tickets, Hooray! Had breakfast at the airport,  Flight was crowded but we had comfy seats and got on first thing,  Flight was mostly smooth and I got some sleep.  M had a charcutier plate. Prosciutto and pineapple is the bomb. Rented a hybrid jeep. What a pain in the ass to charge. You think it would be easy, but nope. 

Battery for the Nikon died.  Good thing I brought another. 

4/14/24

Sunday.  Better weather for today. Going to do a walk later today. Try my new sneakers. See if they strangle my toes.   

Did the port and starboard sides for the model today. Now have to work on the top side. A couple of more weeks and I can start cutting parts. 

Went to poetry ready this afternoon. Marilyn was reading her poem which was published in Pennsylvania Bards Eastern PA Poetry Review 2024.  

The reading was well attended and there were a bunch of  readers.  I felt a little out of place with all the poets in attendance.  I inflict my literary ignorance on you dear reader and no one else.  M read her poem well and felt real good about it and I was so proud to see her do it.  

4/13/24

Cold windy day. Wanting to go out but to stinking raw.  Anyway me and M are just low energy today.  After taking Mike and Gail home last night we got in after midnight. Thankfully the traffic  was not as bad as it was going to the city.  We spent the day napping and doing some work around the house. I made some business cards for myself and did more work on the plane model. 

4/12/24

Finally Friday.  Getting last birthday presents for M. I'm hope she'll like them all. A bunch of little things. 

Went to Dinner with friends in south Philly.  My gods! The traffic was horrible. I really love my friends but I was just about to give up and go home an hour into traffic.  Getting there was not fun. It turned around as there was parking to be had the weather was not terrible. 

Dinner was very nice. Great company. I knocked over a tray of drinks being served. Pasta was divine.  It was a great night. 

4/11/24

 Miss me?  Sorry been busy and really not in any interesting way.   The special project was Mike's Birthday present. A bottle of Bourbon laser etched and in a custom box.  Made sign for Hilltop bookstore.  

 Work, still a drag.  Mostly trying to get by.  They are trying to make things my problem and I do believe the problem is theirs.  Which is who will replace me.  After I leave it will not be my problem.   Still have a ways to go yet. 

I still see about a 1K views from the other side of the world.  Hong Kong, China and others.   Really would like to know who downloads my blog from there?

Work completed. At least I won't have to go in for a couple of weeks …. Win!   I also made an executive decision that we would skip Thursdays. Let's see how long that lasts. 

Too tired to work on the plane tonight.   Just going to veg out. Now you can see why you have not seen me for a few days…..

3/22/24

 FriYAY!!!   Made chicken in the oven this morning.  I'll have a good lunch today.  Would be better on the grill but it's 25 deg out!  Yikes! It's still winter!  

Going to Home Depot after lunch to get clamps for the project. Need some 12 in and 24 inch clamps. 

 

3/21/24

Thursday, yesterday was a rare workday. Looks like we got several wins, the demo was widely accepted, and we got an attaboy from sales as a support case led to a sale.  I expect things to go downhill from here. 

Worked out this morning on the elliptical.  Working from home today, well cause I can. 

Worked on the Kadet project last night. Got a good chunk done. Found some rules of thumb for model plane design. Think I'm in the ballpark. 

Got the cut plans for the special project box. I might cut it tonight to see how it will work. Cut foam tomorrow. 

Cut the box… it did not glue up straight. A bit warped.  Going to recut tomorrow and get some clamps.  Also, going to use thin CA to assemble instead of carpenters glue.

3/20/24

Took M to the airport this morning. Got back in time.  Looks like there was a big fire in the over 55 trailer park across the street. The club house burned down. The road was blocked on the way home. 

Also, there was an armored car heist that lead to a shelter in place, SWAT situation in Amber too. 

Things are going right to hell today. 

3/19/24

Tuesday, Downtown, cold , winter is back..  Late meeting forgot to check. Going home at 2 and back on the meeting at 3.

Starting to make my Todo list for the weekend:

• Box for special project

• Charge Connector for RC nav lights

• Kadet on Fusion 

I should be working on the Kadet on Fusion this week, but after work I turn in to a vegetable.  

3/17/24

Monday, Cold today workout in basement!   

Still waiting on tax doc from a work broker.  What a slipshod operation these guys have. Said it would be done last Friday, nothing still. Will check again in the afternoon. 

I feel sorry for the guys at work as I had to just get on people to get the project done. I wanted this task done and been hearing excuses for a month. Tomorrow I want it done or I want to know why.  

Getting Camera equipment ready for M today. She is going to use it next week. 

Made orange box for Hilltop Bookmarks

3/17/24

Had breakfast and met Jonanas from Washington crossing RC club at their field.  It was a really nice place and he was a great guy we talked RC for about an hour. It was a nice sunny day bit windy. The plans looked great but in bad shape. I hope I can get some scanned. 

Came home and worked on a special project. 

Make burritos for lunch, left them on too long and darkened them to much. 

Went for another 2 miler walk on the path. 

Worked on part for the Kadet, Got 4 components modeled.

Made a links for the laser data and log.  Now I'll be able to keep track of time. 

 

3/16/24

Saturday, a bit colder this morning. Worked on Kadet project last night. A guy called that I got in touch with at the swap meet. We are going to meet and he is going to give me a bunch of plans. Wow can't wait to see them! 

M and I are going to redo the bookmarks. Due to marking from the honeycomb support. It must have been dirty. 

We did the book marks again. Mike came over and he helped with doing a glass etch test array. We also made the box again for the book marks. Putting the score line on the outside of the bend really helps. He showed me the work he did on his yard pergola. He has subassemblies ready for us to do a final assembly. 

I spent the rest of the time importing the canvases for the Kadet and am just about ready to start modeling parts. 

We rescued a old oak rocking chair that need a little love and glue. M really loves it. The price was right, free!

M and I went for a walk on the path. Boy, I was beat. 

3/15/24

Fri Yay!  Working from home. Really nice yesterday we took a walk on the path. It was good to get out in the sunshine, and great to have the time after work before it got dark.

Did work today, then wen out again with M on the path. M found a miniscule yellow plastic duck on the sidewalk. Placed on a cable TV hatch. Left the little duck in place maybe it will find it's intended target. 

Worked on bookmarks. Made them but doing side B they got dirty from the grid. Going to have to do them over again. 

3/13/24

Wednesday, up early again.  Try to go to sleep a bit later.  

Work is just so taxing…

3/12/24

Frickin' Tuesday. Went downtown to work. The Demo for upper management is just a wreck. Too long too many  cooks.  I just want out, but have to motor  on.  

Walked to and from work today. Starting to be nice weather and Love, love, love the time change and more daylight. 

The bookmarks were a smash at the bookstore. Have the new plate and will make a jig this weekend.  

3/11/24

Monday, Dentist today.

The weekend was a blur. I went out the RC swap meet in Lebanon with John. We drove out and it was raining pretty good. They parked us in the grass, We did not get stuck thankfully. John and I wandered the halls among all the RC stuff. We met a bunch of fellows from the clubs we belong to.  I was on the hunt for plans. I ended up with covering and balsa. I got plywood for the laser cutting.  

I came home and M and I made the bookmarks for Hilltop Bookstore. I got a good feel for how this is going to go.  I'm going to need to make jigs to position stuff in the laser to get things right.

Sunday, cleaned up the basement to make room for  the wood and just get rid of all the junk from the packaging.  I took the blueprints for the Kadet to Staples to get scanned. I shoed Mike the laser. He seemed to be impressed. 

Monday, went to the dentist to get a crown replaced.  Ugh Dr Joe is a nice guy but I'm just never liking the dentist. Sorry Joe! Took the rest of the day off.  Doing a bunch of little chores. Got the Mac working in the docking station really well. Now I can leave the work laptop there. I think that is a win! 

3/8/24

Really crumby sleep last night. I think the stress is on me. It's Friday, going to try to relax a bit more. Let's see what work will do today.

Opened up the laser, put it on the riser and connected it al together.  Loaded up the coolant and it is ready to fire up.  

Spent the evening adjusting the mirrors, one was out, since it was the first time it took about 20 minutes to get the adjustment just right. 

Make some simple cutouts and ran a test.  Made an engraving of a plane and a bike thing for M.

Seems like fun! 

3/7/24

Been kaos this week. Working downtown, not getting time to come up for air.  I'm stoked about the time springing forward this weekend. More time at the end of the day to walk and get outside. This week has been cloudy and rainy, raw is the operative word. 

Very stressed out from work. The work, the people, everything about work is killing me.

Did the demo for the RC club last night. After a very long meeting, showed the demo and the guys kinda of liked it.  

3/4/24

Monday, Cloudy outside, Lots of work to do this week. Not real motivated for this week. 

Could only do a 30 min treadmill today.  See how the day goes, maybe get in a walking mile outside today.  Not going to rain until tonight. Laser should come today. Have to check on shipment progress.

The laser was delivered int good condition. Partially unboxed it in the garage just to check for damage, none found. 

The rest of the day at work was booked solid. Had to give all the guys the word on the pay review. All of the guys came out pretty much ok. 

Chris and Mike came over to get the equipment from the garage into the basement. The laser was the biggest and bulkiest. It went down without a fight. This evening I assembled the base and am ready to get a team lift of the laser into the final position. 

Contacted John to go the Lebanon R/C swap meet.  A good 90 minute drive away on Saturday, I'm going to hunt plans to make kits from. Not going to buy any planes this year.

I contacted Sig Manufacturing late of Montezuma  Iowa, I found they had a bunch of kit plans so I ordered a bunch. I'll put them in the library. 

3/3/24

Sunday, really nice day out here. Spent the whole day yesterday messing with plane plans. Found that using CorelDraw works to do a bunch of the stuff that I wanted to do.   Edit PDF and Drawings.  It also does tracing but you need a good graphic to do it well. Either way it’s going to be tedious to do and will take more time than I expect.  

It was good to do that as it was raining like crazy on Saturday. Good day  to stay inside and dry. Just a very wet Costco run with Mike for the essential coffee beans was the only reason I was out of the house. 

We made cheesy popcorn and watch DrDolittle on streaming,  It was a cute little move. 

Got the bench for the laser sorted and unpacked the air filter. Ratchet strapped it to the bench so that it rolls with it.   Now just waiting for the laser on Monday. 

Sunday was a great sunny day! We got in a 2 mile walk on the path. The chimney guy finished up his work. It really looks good. However he left his battery charger in the back yard.  No worries. 

For lunch we grilled up a couple of burgers. Oh man that was so good!  Tasted like summer.  I tried the best I could to keep awake for the rest of the day.

M helped me out with zoom for our club meeting. I'm doing a Fusion 360 demonstration for DVRC. I hope they like it.  

3/1/24

New Month!  Spring is beginning.  Sunny today, good workout and it's a Friday.  Work will be a pain in the ass, 

Pest guy and chimney guy busy at work today.  

Packages from the laser were delivered today.  

Was doing research and found that I have a Great Planes Cub.  And I have the plans ! Hooray!  The cub needs a bunch of work and converting to electric. I now can make parts for that!  That makes the Teleamaster, FourStar, Cessna, and the Rascal / Kadet, that I have kit plans for.

2/29/24

Leap Day!   

Made power point for club yesterday, I hope it goes over well.  Need a picture from the field, try this weekend. 

2/28/24

Slept like a dormouse last night. A good night's sleep feel refreshed. Workout this morning and a strong cup of Café Bustelo.  BTW it's great in a drip coffee maker. 

Mike came over yesterday and we brought the work table to the basement. The replacement screws were too big. Ugh more coming in on Thursday. A whole lot of packages coming at me from the laser company. I hope they make it undamaged. 

2/27/24

Up late last night. Could not sleep. Did presentation power point for work. I think it's good . Who knows. They'll want to bore the executives to tears with a Command prompt demo, oh please help us.  Just give them a little information, tell them a good story and let them cheer for the heroes of the program.  Nope they'll do, now put this value in here and see how the log messages change, Wow wasn't that cool!!!  Nope it's not.  Those guys are sales pukes, tell them a story and give them something to sell. 

Did a hour walk on the treadmill.  Always feel like a mouse on a wheel. Running and getting no where.  Welcome to my life. 

Meetings all day today. Can I stay awake? This is going to be fun!

Looks like a whole bunch of people from Singapore are reading this blog.  Can't say why? Maybe living vicariously through some schlub on the east coast is really what they want. Yeah, I didn't think so.  One more thing, Taylor Swift is unlikely to show up on this blog at any time.  Not knocking the Swifties,  maybe just the guy on the other side of the world that's expecting a Taylor to make a guest appearance on this crummy blog! 

2/26/25

Monday, Laser cutter ordered, check, chimney guy  work on house, check, Home Depot delivered the work table, check. Lots of activity and it's before 8 this morning.  

Could only do 30 min on elliptical this morning.  Maybe 30 minutes on tread this evening. 

The Home Depot crew delivered the table this morning, fully assembled. Not ideal, it's got to be disassembled to bring it to the basement. 

Chimney guy need to cut a tree for safety. Trees grow back, lawsuits are forever.  Yeah, cut the tree. 

2/25/24

Sunday morning.  I have to get that outlet in the coffee nook fixed. I keeps tripping and I need my coffee in the morning dammit!!

Decided on buying the laser cutter.  I hope it is worth it. I can make all the plane parts I need. Going to have to find other project to do with it. 

2/24/24

Saturday. Espresso machine is running a clean cycle. No one likes a dirty espresso machine.  M going out with Hilda for brunch.  I'm not having breakfast as I'm in a brain fog and just need coffee.  Come 'on coffee machine! 

Going to jam on Fusion this morning to get a drawing to set up as a template for cutting on the scroll saw. 

So finally I got a manufacturing model going in Fusion and I was able to get a nice template to stick on the plywood.  

Went to the basement to cut out the battery shelf. A part not to big or too small. First step the drill press. A couple of 1.75 inch holes. Looking good. Then 1/8 inch holes, 8 of them. Done. Cut it to size on the table saw.  Again looking good. Next step was to make the tabs on the sides.  I had to stand the piece up and nibble away at the piece like a dado blade. I was nervous at the placement of my fingers.  Not close, but I had to be careful. Tried a short cut where I would slice the tab out but the piece got under cut. Not good. Then the scroll saw.  Not the best there. Lines were not straight at all. Was really rough cut. I could have done better, maybe with more practice. In all it took about an hour and a half.  Way too long. The final product was OK. Not really great. I could use it in a pinch but in reality a big nope. 

So What now.  Indeed what now. Not going to make parts like that. I will have issues making parts much smaller than that.  The cutting on the table saw was worrying. The nibbling dado cuts were ok on this part. But a no go on smaller parts. I really am attached to my fingers, and I would like to keep them attached to me. The scroll saw may need some practice to get a better cut. That can be done. The accuracy is just not there.  

2/23/24

Well it's Friday.  It's been a long week even though it was four days.  You can see that it’s not much happening.   

Meg and M went to see Willy Wonka yesterday. They came over and had hot coco and sat by the fireplace. 

Today the plumber is coming over. Get the drain fixed once and for all. 

This weekend I'll print out a part and try to cut it out on the scroll saw. See what kind of mess that will be. 

Plumber came in and took care of the issues! Hooray no issues!  Talked to him about a circulator pump for the kitchen faucet so that we can have hot water in the kitchen faster.

Fought with Fusion 360. The free version cripples the output of the drawings a bit. I was tring to find a way to set up the drawings for laser cutting and for printing on stickers to cut on the scroll saw.  Using the manufacturing model may be the right answer for this issue. 

2/22/24

Thursday working from home. Plumber was supposed to come today but canceled. At least working from home is good.  Next week chimney guy will be here so I'll be here too. 

2/21/24

Humpday 

Work is same, more stuff to do and less time to do it.  

Lunch was good. Rice vermicelli is the thing that going to work for lunch.  Hot tap water and little microwave.  Chicken sandwich will work too.

Plumber wanted to come over today. But will come tomorrow. Going home drained….

2/20/24

Tuesday day after president's day. Working downtown.  Called Brian the plumber to come over when he can to fix the drain and the faucets in the upstairs bathrooms.  Bought a bunch of coffee for work at CVS Café Bustelo was on sale. 

Coffee was good in the office, never as good as home coffee.  Looks like that chimney will get done next week.  

2/18/24

 Spent most of the day working on the Kadet. Got the basement ready for the scroll saw. Place to unpack and place to put it. 

Yesterday's work out was great on the treadmill, my legs are a bit rubbery this morning.  

Pretty good sleep, I have a splitting headache today.  

Finally decided against getting the Omtech Polar laser cutter and goi9ng with the Xtool P2. Better large material handling and easier maintenance and alignment. But bigger and more expensive.  

Lots of work on the weekend. Cleaning up the workshop, putting away projects. Just getting everything organized. Found a bunch of stuff  that I had in storage that I can use now.  

Trying to get a hold of expenses organized all last year and this year's expenses and did a deep dive into our purchases for the year to date.  Looking for areas to trim and looking to budget again. 

Went to John's house to see his workshop and planes. Quite an impressive collection.  Dropped off his pins and went over the plans for the new plane that I'm working on. He seems to like it, I'm going to go forward to do the demo for the club. Have to get some pictures for the power point. 

 

2/17/24

 Snow day Saturday!  Snow but not as much as they promised. The back yard trees look amazing with the snow clinging on the branches. Enough that we are staying in today. 

Put Fusion 360 on the phone and tablet. Ha! I can bring my designs and show them off anytime.   

2/16/24

Friday!!!

Just a grind being downtown this week. Dealing mostly with a guy at work with trust issues.  Just wearing on me.

Good news I've been getting a good night sleep. Work is progressing on the Kadet design. Learning so much using Fusion 360.  Making a bunch of mistakes but feeling my way around.

Friday work day over. Snow in the forecast, maybe 6 inches. Went to the grocery store.

At Giant a Mom in front of me said to her little girl, " Let's Boogie! ".  The toddler then said, " Ok mom. Let's Booger! " 

Ok kid just Booger down 

2/13/24

Still a rotten sleep. Snowing, sleeting outside. Have to get to work downtown cause big guys are in the office. Don't want them to be pissed off and have us there all the time. 

2/12/24

Not a good sleep night again. Not sure what is keeping me up. It's going to be a hell of a Monday.

Made a modification to my Stanley Cup. Drilled an air hole in the lid to get a better sip. All sip no glug.

Got ideas for the Kadet to use tabs with the formers. Trying to design in for manufacturing. 

Finally got tax docs together. Sent them off for processing. I hate this time of year for that. 

Went to Wegman's for my lunches this week. Tuna and provolone subs. 

Understood using the timeline in Fusion 360. it was really frustrating before understanding it not it make a lot of things easier. 

2/11/24

Went to Wake and had coffee this morning with Mike and Gail.  Coffee was good. Somehow coffee being good was not good enough. More description?  Sorry I need my coffee before I get more descriptive!

Worked on the T-28 and the gyro interconnect board. It all worked!! T-28 all ready to go flying! 

The Kadet project is going through revisions. Found ways of making the whole thing simpler Flatter sides, easier cuts.

Went on a 2 mile walk on the path.  It was great to get out there with M.  I had a good time in her company.  

2/10/24

Up early again last night.  Made egg sandwiches and mango slices for breakfast.

Worked on the Kadet drawing last night while I could not sleep. Learned how to print out parts and also sent the sideview to Staples for a large format print. Was only $9 !  What a bargain! 

We walked on the path, was just warm enough not to wear a jacket. We did a little over 3 miles. 

Put together my gyro / radio board. Needs a little rework work clearances. It's usable and fixable. I may have to resize the Kadet a bit. The wing pocket on the fuselage is 10.75 inches and the wing I have is about 11.75.  Now have to remeasure the wing to be sure. I used a tape measure I should use a square.  

Watched video on foam core wings. Looks pretty simple once you have the setup. The equipment looks pretty cheap. 

2/9/24

Downtown yesterday. Had very little sleep. Very tired and stomach really hurt. That korean spicy chicken soup did nothing to help matters.  

Was watching a video series on how to design a RC wood plane model using Fusion 360. It's very helpful and informative in both the CAD and RC building world.

How To Start Designing RC Airplanes in Fusion 360 Tutorial [Episode 1]

I'm learning lots of tip and tricks and really good how to's.  He making an airliner model but I see how it can simplified for the much simpler models that I build and fly.  For example he's making a wing with 3 spars.  I only need 1. if I was making something more complex maybe 2 but most of the steps are the same. 

Working from home today. Going to pick up my jacket at the repair shop at lunch time.

2/7/24

Humpday. Up real early, hope to go back to sleep.  Going downtown today. Can't shut down mind. Just too many things to think about are keeping me up. Not even important stuff. Things that want my attention I wish they would leave me alone! 

Cold on the train platform.  My egg bites were pretty good. They'll work better in a sandwich. 

Survived the work day without too much grief.

Saw a guy that used to work with downtown. He retired and is very happy. I hope I can get there!

Waled from work to the train station. I wish the weather can hold and it stays light enough to do that more often. There was a big wreck outside the train station today. Lots of cop cars. Always mayhem downtown. 

2/6/24

Tuesday, Sunny, Good Sleep.  Elliptical work out. Working from home due to a 4pm meeting today.  Really don't want to deal with the late train coming out of Center City. 

Found object.  I have been find the weirdest things lately. Like an bicycle tire pump at the train station. Small toys and sunglasses on the path But this morning we found a Lego head in the bathroom. It probably traveled in the tread of the cleaning lady's sneaker and ended in the bathroom.  Just glad I didn't step on it late at night. 

Great today I was able to do two workouts! Jumped on the treadmill this evening. Maybe I can start doing that again. 

2/5/24

Good morning workout.  Did stepper for 45 min.  

Egg rings were just garbage. Leaked egg out the bottom and burned them before the eqq was solid. I used them and I'm going to return them, that's how unhappy I am. Bought a pan with little egg wells in it, that should do it. 

Made chicken for lunch. The foil half steamer tray pan works great in the toaster oven. Made 4 breasts of chicken for a few meals.  

Worked with M to help her with her stories. I don't know I hope I gave her some good advice. Sounded goo at the time. 

Board arrived from PCBWay. It looks good! I can't wait to build it up with parts. 

Moved some computers from my desk, they were getting hot in the sunshine and the fans were blowing loudly. Put them on the server rack.  I really have to tear down that server rack and redo all the wiring. What a rats nest. I have to figure what to do with all the IoT devices though.  First need to take inventory.  I'll put that in the list of getting a plumber, installing the garage door opener, installing the celling fan, and redoing M closet.  The closet is job one!!!

2/4/24

Sunday morning. Egg rings didn't work as expected. Leaked all over, might have to get pan hotter and pour the eggs more slowly. 

Taking baby steps in Fusion 360 this morning. Want to see if I can move, draw and select items at my will. 

Made a bunch of sketches today on Fusion.  Showed M, she seemed impressed.  I still need a lot of work.

John came over. Measured up the clevis again and ordered up a M5X20 clevis pin. A package of them this time. 

Made chicken breasts up for us to cook tomorrow.

Sun made a big comeback yesterday and today. Both days in the 40's for Kwh production. Yay! 

2/3/24

Saturday, looking in the McMaster Carr package found the clevis pins are in a package of 1 not 25 and they are $4.50 a piece! Yikes.

Mike got his car bashed in at the train station last night right while he was there! The asshat drove off to boot. 

Went to the leather shop to pick up my jacket with a new zipper and the guy is in the hospital with COVID. So he hasn't got to it. 

John coming over today I asked him to bring the clevis pin again.

John was suppose to come by and did not. Hope everything is ok.

Download AutoDesk Fusion 360 for the Mac.  Going to give it a whirl to see if I can learn how to use it.

Made popcorn and watched Mr & Mrs Smith on streaming last night.  It was different, not sure but it left a lot of unanswered questions and seems like it is dragging us into watching it. 

2/2/24

 

Groundhog day!  

No shadow this year.  Which means spring comes early. Or not.  

Friday!  Almost the weekend.  One more day of work.

2/1/24

Downtown again.  

Not much today.  Late train home. 

Went to store on way home and found biscuits in the bakery section. I'm rotten at making biscuits, M loves them, The pop from a tube biscuits are awful.  I'll make biscuit and egg sandwich for breakfast tomorrow for M.

1/31/24

 Hump Day.  All downhill from here. I guess!!!  Great sleep last night.  Could have used a couple more hours.   

I'm having real issues getting in a workout after work. Dark early, not felling myself when I get home, just want to be alone and relax and get the stress off me.  This just crushes my desire to work out when I get home.  Would be better when I can walk to and from work when it warms up. 

Dreaded Scrum of Scrums ( SoS ) today. Man, I hate this meeting!  Got through it, even it was ok.  Tomorrow will be another 3 things that need doing and I can't get resources for. 

 

 

 

1/30/24

 Taco Tuesday.  Working downtown, wanted to walk but a still a bit too cold. Maybe this afternoon it will be 41 F. 

Ordered a solder rework station.  Hope it's better than the iron and the solder-plut. 

PCBway has the boards done and they are ready for shipping. 

1/29/24

 Monday. Started this morning with a 45 minute work out on the elliptical. Found some reasons why ubuntu was not sharing with me. The Bluetooth seems to be a bit of a pain yet. I hooked up the old battery keyboard and it feels better.  Looks like that battery is coming up. Back from the dead. 

I can see that the new gyro board is being worked on at the factory. I'll have it in a week or so. 

Ok I set up onenote on the linux box. Seems to work, surprising !  

Not much Monday.  Just work today.  Picking up a bit for the house cleaning tomorrow.   

 

 

 

1/28/24

Sunday,  Rainy day. 

My flying buddy John came over today. Before he came over I had to finish up a couple of project to free up some space. We are going to balance his new Cessna 150. 

Finished the cub with the big wheels and fixed the elevator. Then put it in it's place. M helped by marking the wheel collars and coming in when 4 hands were needed. She then sweeped up the workshop floor. What a great help!  

John came over. The Cessna is 84 inch in wingspan. After moving things around we  put it al together.  Then we adjusted the balance machine and lifter the plane onto it.  It was pretty good! 

We then inspected the plane and thought that all the bolts to hole the wings on were a bit fiddley. The thought of losing a  couple at the field and then having to go home dur to that was not a good prospect.  We got on the McMaster website and ordered up some hardware that will be here next week.  

We then were talking about retirement and Medicare insurance. He's going to get me a couple of forms that I'm going to need to fill out. Also, he is going to give me info on some seminars for information.  Retirement close but not that close.  We were thinking of going flying together during the week. Yeah! 

Finished the new gyro board.  Sent it off to PCBWay. We'll have it soon! 

1/27/24

Weekend, .Good workout day,  Elliptical in the morning and a walk on the path later. 

Working on converting the old tablet to a Linux machine having mixed success … actually quite frustrating.  Going to drop it in a few minutes…

I really don't know why I put so much effort into that stupid computer.  I'm just going to leave it be and get to work on the things that matter! 

Costco was a mad house today. I got what I needed but I was whipped by the time I left.

The new TV Bluetooth receiver worked!  It needed a APTX LL or low latency codec.  We watched a show and it sounded great. 

1/26/24

Friday!!!!  WFH day.

Would like to welcome all the recent viewers from Singapore and China.  Looks like they have downloaded all the entries in blog.   I sure hope they find some intelligence value out of it, because I sure don't!   Ha! 

Did elliptical this morning. ( For you guys on the other side of the world… go outside and get some fresh air! It will do you a world of good. )  

Working from home at least there is no train involved today.  We are planning to go to the shoe repair in Abington to get a new zipper for my leather coat.  Put it on Monday and remembered that the zipper was missing some teeth.  That zipper was always useless. Want a nice heavy YKK zip put on. 

John's was the place that I was envisioning. An old time craftsman. Shop just crammed with projects and things to do and old machines to do it on. My heavy duty zipper will be on my coat by next week. 

Working on making the tablet a Linux machine. Table is too slow to run windows and want to see if I can run Linux. 

Bluetooth for TV was a failure. Lips and sound were out of sync. 

1/25/24

525 days left.   Back downtown.  Train was uneventful. Oatmeal and coffee in a quiet office this morning.  At least the motion sensors on the office light are not going out and leaving me in the dark. Being in the dark at work a perfect metaphor. 

Noodle experiment was a bust. Cooking the fresh egg noodles with hot water ended in gummy starchy noodles with starchy broth.  Nope, going another way with the noodles.

Going to get a medium sub and a large sub from Wegmans for next week. That and some dry noodles will be a winner.  

Last meeting of the day. Think I can get onto the early train.  

On the early train hooray!   Home early! 

Could not believe the sleep I got last night.  Only awake for 5 min! got up felt refreshed. 

1/24/24

 Working from the office downtown yesterday and today.  Got a haircut yesterday morning. It was good to get groomed! Almost look human again.    

 

Found a pink duck on the card reader at work.  

 

Last night on the train there was some excitement. The train was crowded for an early train on a Tuesday.  In the tunnel coming out of the city the train had a loud bang and sparks flew everywhere out side the train. The train came to a halt. After about 10 minutes the train starts limping again to the nearest station. They got some people off to express to Jenkintown. But the staff did not know if the train could continue. Then after 20 minutes the conductors asked everyone to get on the Lansdale train. Which was very crowded with only standing room. Everyone smashed in and made a crowded train VERY crowded.  It took more than 90 minutes to get to my home station.  UGH. 

Got a meeting at the very end of the day so I won't be on the early train out today. 

Lunch time rolled around. Tuna sub hit the spot. Got a large tuna sub at Wegmans and had them cut and wrap it in two parts. Two days of lunch.   

Back from lunch and had to do the dreaded reboot of the computer. Hope it restarts.