Category: culture

Supposed to be clear in Houston, and that means also in the mid 80s by afternoon. Humid as a swamp too. Spring has sprung, and we’re on our way to Summer. It never got sunny yesterday, and it was 86F at one point, all while being about 90% RH. Just generally unpleasant.

I stayed home and fought with computer and website stuff all day. It kept me in and out of the humidity. I was really unmotivated to drive up to the BOL, so I didn’t. Spent part of the day doing auction stuff, part learning about wordpress, part looking at tax stuff, and part watching videos. I didn’t even sit by the water feature/storage pond and have a tiny little fire.

Today, though, I’m gonna jam. Really. For sure. Maybe. In any case, I have a couple of things I need to do, and a couple of pickups. Then there will be kid taxi services, as D1’s sport has ended- meaning she needs the earlier pickup, and D2 has rehearsals after school with no late bus.

I’ll try to fit my stuff around theirs. And I’ll try to get some of the home list done. There are things I can do. Always.

Perhaps easier to stay on top of things if you do them when you have time. Perhaps not.

Try to keep up. Stack.

nick

It was not the weather we were forecast yesterday. I know, big surprise… It started damp and overcast but ended warm and damp. There was some sun in between too. Today is forecast by some to be clear, and by others to be raining later. We’ll see.

I didn’t end up going to the BOL yesterday. Mainly it came down to mood, and some gastric distress. I got off to a slow start, and wasn’t really interested in loading up the truck. My back was hurting again, and I didn’t want to trigger it further.

I did get to the chiropractor, and did some shopping at Lowes, but I didn’t load the truck. The solar panels I intend to bring to the BOL are big and heavy. So is the floor tile, the fire ant killer, and some of the other stuff I have waiting for a ride to the lake. Carrying stuff in front of me is part of what triggered this attack.

So I did small things. Shopping. Changing the A/C air filters. Some paperwork. Some auction stuff. Some personal maintenance… It was a down day and I’ll regret the time later but I felt off all day.

I’ll be playing today by ear. I may head up to the lake after all, just not with the solar panels, or I might take them. We’ll see. I’ve got stuff to do around here as well as the pile o stuff up there. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of stuff to do.

I don’t actually want to run out of stuff to do, and end up sitting on the couch in my clean and organized house, staring at the TV wishing I had something else to do…

Fortunately, I don’t see that happening. UNfortunately, I also don’t see me getting half of what I need to do done.

Balance. That’s what’s needed. Right? Oh, and a shite ton of work.

Stack. Work. Live.

nick

Only if the weather is clear. I have to load up the pickup truck, and I don’t want everything to get wet. It’s supposed to be clear. Yesterday we were supposed to get hammered with rain, and we didn’t. I’m not counting on clear, until I see it. The weather liars lie without consequence.

That said, we did get rain, just not much.

I did a bunch of stuff yesterday. Lots of driving. Client, pickups, kid taxi service, you name it. It was a tight schedule but I made it to everything. I could have spent a couple of hours at my clients, and I might have actually solved the issue instead of just replacing gear. Turns out, most of it lit up, but there is still a problem as the stuff in the attic doesn’t show up on the network… Could be the link at the attic end, or the port on the switch in the rack could be smoked. That is a troubleshooting visit for another day.

I finished the day at home topping up fluids in my trucks. For some reason the Ranger is low on radiator juice. Dunno where it goes, but some went. That is the one fluid I don’t usually stock either, so I’ll have to buy some. Washer fluid got topped up, wiper blades got changed, and the oil was checked. I don’t spend much time or effort on vehicle maintenance or cleaning, but I don’t want them overheating and blowing up either. So it tends to happen in spurts, usually prompted by something needing attention. I had a thought that D1 would help me and it would be a teaching moment, but she was busy at a friend’s house. It will happen, eventually.

I am hoping to load up the truck and head out later today. I want to sleep in a bit, and get a slow start. I may even try to hit one of my ‘next week’ pickups on the way, if possible. It’s nice to combine trips and some of the stuff I won should got straight to the lake.

Wife’s plan for the day is car shopping. She’s ready for something new, and to pass the minivan to the kid. I’ll wish her luck. Her car and what she does with it is something she handles and I stay out of. It’s better that way.

Some might call it division of labor, but I call it ‘minding my own business and staying out of trouble.’

I’ll spend my time and energy on something else, like stacking.

nick

Wet and cool, then damp and warmer… or pouring rain with flooding streets. IDK who to believe. It would be nice if it wasn’t pouring down. We started yesterday with some misty drizzle, and ended with threatening skies, but in between we even saw some blue sky and sun. The streets even dried off for a while. Seems a shame to get wet again…

I hit the Costco for a replacement TV and then headed to my client’s house. Got the physical change done expeditiously. Then I started chasing issues. Turns out there was a lot of damage from the nearby lightning strike. The main switcher lost an output channel. That’s a new card for the cardframe. Lost the video output from a Denon home theater receiver. That makes about 4 times we’ve had that particular failure following lightning. Lost a PoE switch in the attic. Again. I’ll be replacing that today and then seeing if we lost the attached WAPs … He also lost a control board for the pool filter system, and the keypad system for the driveway gate.

Lightning is hard on gear. We’ll have more failures over the next couple of months.

I was able to fumble my way through the IDE and make the control programming changes to integrate the new tv and to work around the blown output channel. Imagine my surprise when I finally figured out that the new sony/googletv doesn’t have any IR input for the remote control… it’s bluetooth linked. Most of our control system is still based around IR emitters for each piece of gear. I had to get TCP control set up, turned on, and configured both in our control software, and on the TV. Got it working but it was a pain in the azz. Some was my fault (assigning a fixed IP that was already in use, and getting the gateway wrong) but some was a bug in the IDE that saved a random IP instead of the one I entered.

Brief digression… programmers. Oy. I’m entering the target IP and the form is error checking me so 192.168.10. errors and turns the whole entry red. 192.168.010.040 is ok. Which I guess is fine, except that from then on, every place the IP is displayed, it’s 192.168.10.40 and not the full dotted quad… that was in the IDE. The sony guys suck too. When I got the gateway wrong on the TV, it filled up the whole network trying to connect and phone home, kicking all the other devices off line.

Ok, back to now. I’m headed to D2’s school in the morning to do some more sound work, then the store to buy a new switch, and then to my client’s house to install the switch. I can do that in minutes and I’ll see if we need to replace any of the WAPs. The gate technician will need internet at the gate to do his repairs and testing, so it’s important to get that back up before he gets there. The WAPs can be replaced next week if needed. Then it will be a pickup or two, and home.

I think I’ll head to the BOL on Saturday as the weather is supposed to clear by then. I don’t think I’ll be able to mow while I’m there, but I gotta make the effort if I can. I’m taking the giant 460w solar panels up there. I think I’ll try to install a system on the dockhouse, so that airconditioner won’t cost me money all summer… (yeah, apparently there are TWO panels in the lot I bought. 940W total for a couple hundred bux. Sometimes you get a great deal in the auctions.) I probably won’t head up Friday after doing the pickups because the kid has something Friday night.

Busy day today. But hopefully I’ll move a couple of projects forward. And maybe I’ll find time to stack something.

nick

Overcast, possibly raining, and probably a bit cooler today than yesterday. Yesterday got pretty warm and damp by late afternoon, despite the almost solid overcast. There was some sun poking through, mostly when I was driving into it…

Spent the morning at the doctor’s office, then got the kid from school early. Did my pickups, which were mostly for the BOL. I really need to make a trip up there to get all the stuff out of the driveway and living room where it is staged. Got home in time to do a few things around the house. Dinner was crockpot beef pot roast. Yummy.

Today I’m headed to my client’s house to install a new TV to replace a dead one, and to troubleshoot his new issues with control. He said they had a lightning storm so there might be actual dead gear, or some stuff might just need to be rebooted. I am betting that there is some damage. We’ve gone to pretty extreme lengths to protect the gear, but lightning is pretty powerful.

Hopefully it will be straightforward, and I can get him back up and running quickly. Kid has things I need to drive her around to because it’s Thursday…

Busy is good, but I’m falling behind…

I can still make improvements, and still stack, but I need some ‘catch up’ days. Probably not going to get them, so I guess I’ll just soldier on.

But you can stack…

nick

Cool and clear, chance of rain. Like yesterday, only 100% more rain. The rain we did get was in the middle of the night, with drying ground in the morning. That is the BEST kind of rain. And we’re 3/4 of the way through March and we have summer highs. It was well into the 80s yesterday, with 84F as the sun went down. After that it was perfect weather for driving around with the windows down. So I did.

Did some work at D2’s school to start off the day. Got most of the sound work done, and the one lighting task I had on my list. Spent some time talking with the teacher, who is only part time, and does a lot of it as a volunteer. She and her husband seem to be good people.

I was still being careful all morning, but my back was loosening up. I went to the chiropractor after school and got some relief as things moved back into place.

I spent the afternoon doing pickups at a couple of auctioneers. Then I went grocery shopping.

We’re paying $4 per dozen large white eggs. Roughly. I buy the 18 packs for $6. Single packs of 12 were ‘limit five’ but 18 packs were unlimited. I picked up a new flavor ice cream from Blue Bell– banana fudge. I’m not a big fan of either, but why not try it? It has a “thin” taste. Not a lot of flavor, and it doesn’t stick around. Trying new flavors is cheaper than getting a girlfriend or a sports car…

Today I’ve got Dr visit in the morning, then pickups, then kid stuff. I might try to get to my client’s house to do some diagnostics and triage. Seems they got a bad lightning storm… and now some other stuff doesn’t work right. Lightning plays hell on electronics. I’ll try to fit another chiropractic appointment in too.

Then Thursday I’ll spend the day working at my client’s place.

Meanwhile, stack something to eat. Got spices? Got enough sugar to can fruit? Salt to do pickles?

nick

Cool, warming later, possibility of rain… same as yesterday, but we didn’t get the rain. And it got into the low 80s F with fairly high humidity. Not a great day for yard work.

But that’s what I did. I was having some spasms in my middle back, which is unusual. It means I can’t take a fully deep breath without the “pinch”, and I can’t really hold my arms out in front of me, like to carry something… So I piddlefarted around the house all day, grabbing small tasks when I could. I got some stuff done, but it wasn’t a super productive day as most of those things didn’t need to be done right this minute. Still, they are off the list now.

Today I’m supposed to swap out the new tv at my client’s house. I’ll hit the chiropractor, then Costco for the TV, then head out there. I’ll make it work somehow. After that, it’s modify the control software to integrate the new TV, check that it’s all working, pack up the old tv, and hit the road. I’ve got a pickup that has to happen on the other side of town, so I need to wrap up at my client’s before 2pm. I’m picking up another 400W of solar panel. I think. Should be anyway. There are a couple of other things, but that is the main item.

Then it’s home to be a kid taxi service… that’s my life.

And it’s a pretty good one.

Of course it could use some tweaks, and It probably won’t continue forever, but right now, it’s good.

Preps and a preparedness lifestyle got us easily through many things that could have been bad. Most were just mildly inconvenient instead. I say that you should prep like your life depends on it, but really, hopefully, it’s mainly your comfort and peace of mind that depend on it.

Stacks help with both.

nick

Cool and clear, should be a nice day. Yesterday started cold, but ended mid 70s. Really nice to drive around with the windows down. Hoping for more of that today.

Did some stuff yesterday. Drove around and did a big loop of pickups. Got some good stuff. Talked to one of the guys and he’ll take the two biggest things in my foyer on consignment. Talked to another, and he’s giving up on the reseller life.

Ventured out into the community to buy some Friday night fish fry and ran into two people I know, one a friend from my hobby club, the other I saw at Costco for years. I’m bumping into people I know when I’m out and about. That used to be my signal to start thinking about moving. Now I’m firmly rooted, and it’s a signal my meatspace plans are working. Now these are ordinary people not movers and shakers, but those aren’t really the folks I wanted to meet. I don’t really want to come to their attention. I like recognizing someone from a store or business outside that context. It tells me I’ve been paying at least a little bit of attention, and that I’m getting out among the people.

It’s very easy to isolate at home with a few contacts. I think that’s not a good idea though, as comfortable as it may be. Who you know and who knows you might be vitally important in a world run face to face. Time to get out there and practice.

Speaking of practice, today I’ll be letting D1 drive me around to my pickups. One is in Seabrook, about an hour and a half away, then the other is due north an hour to Baytown, then back across town to the west side and home. I don’t know how much of that I’ll let her drive, it’s pretty exhausting when you are a new driver. It will give me some time to coach her on the expressway. I have only been able to coach her on surface streets so far. Pray for light traffic, and calm drivers…. and my composure.

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Get out and about. Talk to people. Stack relationships.

nick