Cool and clear, chance of rain somewhere. Maybe out in the country, where I’ll be.
Did some things, shopped, did some more things. Picked up some needful things.
Money is always good.
Work, work, work.
Back at my client’s house today.
Short shrift. Again.
Stack up some money!
n
Another cool clear day in the making, warming later.
Spent most of the morning and early afternoon at my client’s house. I’ve begun removing old gear from the rack and installing new. We are not going anywhere near to a “Rip and Replace”. We are upgrading control and audio, with some minor changes to video.
My business partner (on these sorts of jobs) is down from Dallas to get the control and networking sorted. But he’s having an issue. Last night he thought he’d killed the AT&T DSL somehow and spent a bunch of his and my time chasing it. Well, AT&T finally got back to him saying that their service was down and would be down until the 18th. WTH? Even a cable cut gets fixed faster than that. I can’t wait to get fiber or fixed wireless there. DSL is teh sux.
FWIW, I can tell it’s winter because the skin on my fingers is cracked open. My dad always had issues with skin cracking around his finger tips and now I do too. The crazy glue sealer only hurts for a short time… while the exposed crack burns constantly.
My client is about 30 miles from my house, so I had more time with the Jack Reacher audiobook. It’s chapter 12 before he does anything the least bit active… and he’s on his third day of exertion in the same clothes. Jeez.
Today I’ll be headed to my client’s early to go over system design with my partner, then a lunch break to do shipping (4 cases of Mold Armor brings the total for the last 15 days to 8 cases, the algorithm loves me for some reason) and some pickups. I’ve also got gear at my secondary that I need on the job.
And speaking of auctions, my local auction went live with over 300 lots. I hope it sells well and he doesn’t decide he’s not making enough money off my stuff… some stuff already has opening bids but it’s always nerve wracking.
I need to dig out more industrial stuff for him for the next one. Not really a problem.
And just like that, ebay is finally moving some stuff, I have stuff in two local auctions, and I’m earning in my “real” sideline business. Now I need to get some of the big ticket items listed so I can cash in.
And then I’ll buy some more stuff, and stack it high.
nick
Cool and clear, with sun! Supposedly for the next few days the weather will be nice. I hope so. It was Sunday, with a bit of dark scattered cloudiness in the afternoon, clearing later.
I spent Sunday cleaning the house, hoeing weeds in the raised beds, greeting my returning pack members, and generally doing home front things.
Later in the evening, I sat down to do some quick drawings for my install this week. Oy vey. When I was doing it full time, I used a specialist CAD package tied to a DB for system layout drawings. I even bought my own copy when I went independent, for $1500 US. It’s been a while, and I don’t even have it installed anymore, but I looked and I can D/L the fully functional demo for free. So I did. And 8 years later it still sucks. The main selling point is their library of symbols for all the av gear you might put in the drawings. 1200 manufacturers, many thousands of symbols. And they suck. Balls. Still. Back in the day I ended up drawing about 1/3 to 1/2 of the symbols myself and I am still seeing the same thing. No rack gear symbol for Directv receivers? REALLY? They have schematic blocks for the DVRs, but no “front view” for the rack layout drawing.
Worse, the style of all the symbols is horrible. I’d need to print C size or bigger just to get text labels that were readable, and since that used to be one of the major problems with the software, I’m not even sure that would work.
I’ll be taking a big drawing pad to site, free handing the layout, and then drawing it from scratch in Visio. At least in Visio I can produce a good looking drawing that accurately and simply conveys the information needed. And once I get back in the groove, I’m almost faster producing the ‘stencils’ than looking them up in the other software and adding them to the drawing.
The same company also produced a tool that was the best in the business for what it did. It was called ‘Rack Tools’ and let you build drawings of equipment racks from their library of symbols, or easily add your own. I started my old version up, it phoned home (said there were updates, and asked, but I said Yes) and then bricked itself saying it wasn’t supported any longer. Flocking Axholes. I can’t even use the old version anymore? can’t open old drawings and print or copy them out…? I’ll reinstall the software, and not update, but iirc it phones home to ‘register’ so that might not even work. Who nukes your installed copy without warning? Jerks, that’s who.
Proprietary tools that self destruct are the absolute worst. And anyone who builds them that way sucks. I hope you get ransomwared out of business you jerks.
So that’s what I’m doing this week, starting today. Rip and replace, with some reused gear, that I’ll find out about today when I meet my partner on site. I don’t like ‘winging it’ for things like this. I like to solve as many of the issues before starting the work, because I know there will be plenty that arise as we go. But it is what it is.
Stacking some FRNs with this project, and for a while at least, they are a useful thing to stack.
Stack some of your own.
nick
Cold and clear warming to cool and clear. Probably won’t get to hot and clear… It was beautiful on Saturday. I even got the mower out and cut the grass in the back yard.
Did my non-prepping hobby meeting with mini-swapmeet. We had a good turnout. Some cash was exchanged for some stuff I’d picked up over the past couple of months. Not much, it’s more about the camaraderie than making money most quarters. Nice to see people getting together for a shared interest. Lots of donuts were eaten too.
Came home and did some ebay listing, some housework, and general ‘real life’ stuff. Didn’t do much ‘prepping’ outside of building community and getting out into meatspace. In the mean time, my daughter is learning to shoot a rifle, so that is cool. She officially knows more about sailing very small boats than I do too. They had good weather for their day, with a chilly night. Wife and eldest will be home today some time around noon. It was a short camp outing.
Turns out that hamsters don’t like syringes full of liquid meds poked down their throats. Who knew? Yes, had to give the furball some meds last night, and this morning. Not an easy thing to do. Certainly harder than I expected. Little fluffy has a couple of tumors and a bare patch on his flank. So far he’s still active and eating. We take on an obligation to the animals under our care, but with $7 hamsters, there are limits. Meds and comfort are about as far as we’re prepared to go with this one. So the kids will probably soon get another life lesson. And the parents too.
These are the ‘good old days’ so make hay…
and stack all the things.
nick
Cool and clear, maybe even chilly. Except in the sun, then it feels hot.
Did a couple of pickups yesterday in the bright sunny coolness. Lots of driving. Since I tend to fall asleep while driving, I thought I’d try listing to a book on tape (well, cd.) I picked up the second Jack Reacher, and since I’ve been seeing the books at Goodwill, I was thinking I might as well give it a try. Geez what a tedious pos. I’m 7 chapters in and he JUST thought to ask how the girls have been murdered, and NO ONE has yet asked how the killer might FIND his [extremely specific] type of victims. Given the huge popularity and success of the series, I think it must get better. MUST. I’ll keep listening to see, but so far, not impressed.
Today is my non-prepping hobby meeting, and tiny swapmeet. I’m bringing a couple of things. Leaving the expensive items at home… it’s close enough that I can pop home if someone asks about them.
Wife and eldest will be learning about shooting rifles. Youngest will be home with me. Full weekend.
Store up some good times while you are at it. These are the ‘good old times’.
Stack it up.
n
Cool and hopefully clear. We got some good rain yesterday but after it stopped everything dried out. We got more than an inch in about an hour at my house. Sun came out, the humidity was down, and it turned into a really nice day.
I sold a couple of items, so I had shipping to do. Listed a few smalls to keep the ball rolling. Sorted a couple of bags of inventory. Messed around with the parts truck a little bit (tried putting a battery on it to start it. Battery terminals have been removed so I shelved that for now.) There are a few parts I can grab, even if I sell it ‘whole’ to the repair shop. I need some switches from the doors and steering wheel. I also sprayed the interior liberally with anti-mold spray. I’ll get the switches today or this weekend.
This weekend. Busy again. Non-prepping hobby meeting and one day swap meet on Saturday. Wife and oldest off to GS camp for “Intro to rifle shooting” while youngest stays home with me. And somewhere in there I have to do a set of drawings to figure out what I am doing with all the new gear at my client’s house, which I’m supposed to spend next week installing. All the normal weekend stuff needs to happen too. Joy.
Daughter 1’s first theater show opened last night. Proud papa! Stage crew rocks! I’ll be helping with teardown tonight after the show. The show is a one act musical adaptation of the Junie B stories. It was pretty cute, and the kids did a pretty good job. I didn’t bring hearing protection, but I should have. WAY over mic’d and amplified. D1 says “they need the mics because they can’t project”. I say, “They’ll never learn to project if they have mics.” You can make an argument that because everyone uses mics, the kids should learn how to use them, but I argue that that MUST come after they learn to do it without a pile of gear. Kids today. We didn’t have mics and we survived. Bah.
I’ve got a couple of non-prepping hobby related pickups today, and hopefully at least a couple of bins to drop off. And a vet visit with the hamster late in the afternoon. He’s got a bare patch, that is swollen up like a nickel sized blister, with a couple of lumps in it. He’s eating and active, doesn’t flinch when you touch it, but it’s ugly. I guess were gonna spend some money to find out if Fluffy is ok or not. The wife and I agree that hamsters do not get expensive surgical interventions. That’s the current plan anyway.
Life proceeds as if everything was normal. It clearly is not, but we want the kids to have as much as possible, for as long as possible, a normal life. And if it never goes pear shaped, they had their childhood. We do talk about the issues though, and we had a lesson on percentages and inflation, and food prices at the dinner table the other night. D1 instantly understood that when I said, ‘we might be eating a lot of rice and pasta with a whole lot less meat for dinner’ that there were a lot of people that wouldn’t even have that. I’m getting a whole lot less “you have too much food” nonsense lately too.
“Laugh-a while you can, Monkey Boy!”
And stack while you can.
nick
Thank you to all who have served, and for the sacrifices you and your family made.
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Cool and very damp. Today someone will be getting some rain in the Houston area. Hopefully it won’t be me.
Yesterday I dropped off 6 bins at the auctioneer. Picked up 11 empty bins. He’s still willing to take more, so I’ll keep giving him stuff.
Of course that was after I had a bit of dizziness in the morning. None of us is immortal or invincible, and I’m getting that loud and clear. I’ll be trying to get in and seen by a doctor asap.
Lots of people have pointed out that your best prep before everything goes pear shaped is to get your physical self in order. So I’ll do a little work on that.
In the mean time, I’ve got ebay stuff to list, one sale to pack and ship, and house to clean. D1 has opening night for her school play tonight, so that will eat late afternoon and then the rest of the day.
Short shrift today.
Get to stacking.
n
Cool and slightly increased chance of rain. Yesterday was overcast much of the day but when sunny it was very nice. A bit humid, but nice. This run of days without rain has really let me get some stuff done.
I spent a few hours sorting and pulling stuff to take to the auction yesterday. I am taking six black and yellow bins and a large box to the auctioneer today. I actually have more room in the storage unit than I did when I started. I still have far too much stuff that I’ve put in “ebay” bins though. I have to move some of it to “sell it now” from “sell it sometime”, even if it means less money. That will take another round of sorting.
I also have a bunch of books there. Some are ‘inventory’, some are ‘apocalypse library’ and some are all about gubs… I’ve put together a pretty good library for -smithing, or repair. I’d like to do some machine work and try my hand at some restoration or mods, eventually. Getting all this stuff out of the way so I can use my tools again is definitely one of the goals. And there is crossover to my non-prepping hobby too. Since I love books as objects as well as what they are, it’s hard to sell them, even when purchased explicitly to sell. So I have a few *cough* piled up. The ones for sale need to be sold.
Goals for today are to get some easy listings banged out. Test at least one major piece for sale (high end speakers probably). Take stuff to the auctioneer. Maybe later do a little paperwork for my client’s upgrade.
All the usual stuff.
Yesterday’s shopping trip let me stack a bit more food. We ate one steak for dinner, and I’ll freeze the rest. I may go back and see if there is any prime left and buy the limit again. And I might buy another 50 pounds of rice or flour. ‘Cuz the pasta aisle was wiped out.
I added a keyword for skills, and started with my comments about sewing. I’m hoping to fill in some other skills too. That would be in addition to the ones we’ve already spent time on like food- acquiring, storing, cooking; communication- meatspace, ham radio; medical; financial- planning, frugality/deals; teaching… and others, although the focus is often on the task, and not how to accomplish it. Perhaps we talk more about ENABLING the skill, than actually how to do it. Which is ok too.
Skills are enhanced when you have the stuff to use them with, so keep stacking.
nick
Cool and damp. Possible sunny later. I really hope it’s nice as I’ve got stuff to do. Was nice yesterday but I ate something that disagreed with me and I was afraid I might do a Biddn if I strained lifting and toting… so I worked on stuff around the house until it was time to get D2.
Mondays are short work days for me anyway with the kid home and projects piled up. This time we did a sewing project. I picked up a fabric backdrop of a fantasy jungle scene, and put it up as the back wall of her lower bunk, making a kind of jungle play fort out of the bunkbeds. Unfortunately it was two pieces and they were only glued together, and they seam failed. Fast forward and we have a nice project to sew it back together. So we sewed. Got the machine out, set up, tacked the seam back together with fusible interface, and then ran a line down the seam. She did the next one. She did ok for her first time, and we’ll try something more complex next time.
Since everything was out, I did some small repairs on a back pack/ laptop bag that has been waiting for a long time for the repair. It ended up being a bit more complicated than I thought, but I got it done. It’ll either go into the auction, or my wife or kid will steal it…
I think everyone should know how to do basic sewing with needle and thread, and at least straight seams with a machine. My ‘everyday altoids tin’ has a golf pencil, with 18 inches of stout black thread on a heavy needle wrapped around it. It’s great for a quick repair, and works well on webgear too. I’ve got an embroidery capable sewing machine, a serger, the wife’s machine, and an antique mostly manual machine. You don’t need much- a set of needles, a few spools of thread, some fray check liquid, and some fusible interface will go a long way. A basic machine isn’t expensive though, and a pair of good scissors is worth spending money on. You can do a lot with just an iron, fusible interface, and fray check. Heck, for years I kept a variety pack of iron-on patches in my travel bag. If I got a tear in my pants or shirt while on the road, I could iron the patch onto the INSIDE of my pants and fix the tear very well until I got home. For fabric and leather, I hit up the Goodwill, and I used to hit the IKEA ‘as is’ section for drapes, bedsheets, or curtains to re-use.
In the last year I added specialized leather repair tools- mainly stouter needles, heavier thread, and something called a ‘jerk needle.’ I’ve got some hope that I can do some leather work at some point just because I think it is cool, ever since seeing a guy doing tooled leather at a craft booth at the Silver Dollar City amusement park when I was a kid.
I don’t expect I’ll be making shoes or shirts after the fall, but it’s definitely worth knowing how to fix your own stuff, whether it’s gear, shoes, or clothes. (I did make an entire long overcoat/trenchcoat modeled on the one Jack Nicholson wore in Witches of Eastwick for my final project in my costuming class. Well, I designed it and sewed it. The woman that ran the shop did the pattern and cutting…) For anyone who is too ‘manly’ to sew, it’s a POWER TOOL! Are you going to tell me there’s a power tool you won’t try to master??? You don’t have to actually master it for it to be useful, but it is good to have an idea of what you’re doing around sewing. One more skill, one more system to add to the stacks.
Keep stacking my friends,
nick
Cool but clear and sunny later. Basically gorgeous weather. And the forecast says the same for a couple more days too. Hooray! That was yesterday, started running the heat in the morning, and ran A/C in the late evening once the house had soaked up the sun. I’m certainly hoping for more of the same.
Yesterday was eaten by ducks. And pain. I was paying the price for my lifting, bending, and toting the day before. The inversion table and the foam roller both got a workout, and both helped, but I couldn’t walk, stand, or sit without pinching pain in my back until late in the afternoon, and after my second go ’round with the table and roller. That coupled with the family coming home meant not much got done. I did put away a few more Halloween decorations, got out the Thanksgiving decoration bin, and cleaned up some stuff in the garage and attic.
I added a couple of small bins to my upright freezer to better organize the meat. I had been just stacking it on shelves and it would cascade out if I bumped it wrong… I don’t know if the plastic bins will hold up in the cold, but they are better than having everything slide around. I need to find a few more that fit.
I ate my first grapefruit off my potted tree for breakfast yesterday. It was a bit on the smaller side, like a navel orange, but was delicious. Only three more on the tree, but that’s more than I got on the big tree in five years. And then the freeze killed it the year it produced a dozen fruits. I really like the idea of fruit and nut trees as a prep, but they are damnably hard to keep alive here in Houston. And I’ve still not seen a single fruit or flower on the peach tree.
Growing your own food is hard. Get started learning about your area and your garden.
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For the last couple of days, I’ve been thinking about doing some followup on stuff that worked for me, and that I still like. So here goes.
I really like the container I got to save cooking fat in the kitchen. It is stainless steel, has a flip up lid, a strainer, and the top 1/3 lifts off to reveal the saved fatty goodness in the bottom. Got it on amazon and it works well. Saving cooking fat has a long history and is a great way to save money and cook tasty meals. Use mason jars, airtight canisters, or something airtight and new, but start saving that bacon grease, and using it later.
Ditto for the little flip top trash can I got for the bathroom counter. It looks like a mini version of the old school round topped metal trash cans, with the ‘flap’ in the top. It’s a bit thin and the stainless isn’t really, but it does the job of catching all the little bits of paper from the breathe-rite strips and any other little bits of trash. Those bits would flutter and scatter all over the bathroom when I used to toss them toward the regular can.
The Toto Drake dual flush toilet works really well. Only one time since I put it in did it need a plunge, and that’s down from several times a day. Every Toto toilet I’ve put in has worked very well. This one has a very small amount of water in the bowl, and a lot of dry porcelain. It gets dirty quickly. If having a spotless bowl is important, get one with a bigger water puddle. Other than that, it’s a flushing CHAMP.
The can organizers I installed at the beginning of the lockdown work, but they have slightly distorted over time. They are plastic, and have sagged enough that cans don’t roll through as freely as when it was new. FIFO is important when using your preps, but the racks aren’t as efficient for storage as just stacking flats of cans. You won’t get as many cans in the same volume space, but they are MUCH easier to actually use daily for cooking when you can get to them. I added more despite knowing they aren’t perfect, so that I could have more varieties of cans in the dispenser. If you’re not just piling up cans against future need, get some kind of FIFO can racking.
And while I didn’t use them as much this year as last, both styles of cooling vest worked well for me. Techniche for the evap one, ergodyne for the gel pack.
The Uniden Home Patrol II scanner continues to work well, and I’ve heard a lot of stuff going on in my area on it. Pair it with a good discone antenna from MFJ and listen to it. There is a lot of stuff that is going on around you that never gets reported. Start paying attention to it, and you’ll be better off.
High tech ‘cool’ fabrics for shirts, and shorts, and wool blend socks. What a difference in hot weather comfort. Cotton is NOT for that first layer, or maybe even for the second. About the only good thing about cotton is cost and flame retardant properties. Even for my cold weather clothes, the high tech breathable wicking t shirts in long sleeve are more comfortable than anything else I’ve ever used as a first layer. Clothes have gone technical, and it makes a difference. If the cost is too much, look at Goodwill. A lot of stuff there is never worn. You can try the technical fabrics cheaply, and then spend the money in the store on a brand you like, if you must have new. These are not the stinky poly blend fabrics from decades ago.
Boots and shoes. I rotate through shoes, rarely wearing the same pair two days in a row. It helps the shoes last longer, and your feet will be more comfortable. And for gnu’s sake, get shoes that fit. All the different manufacturers use different ‘lasts’. The last is the shape they build the shoe on, and by trying different brands you can find shoes and boots that fit your weirdo feet. KEEN has a large ‘toe box’ but the soles are a bit slippery when wet. I wore through a couple of pairs and generally liked them. Asic and Columbia made the lightweight ‘sneakers’ I wear on normal days. They are available in wide widths if you need that, or have a high arch. They fit me perfectly in a EEE width. They aren’t “sturdy” but they are lightweight and have held up well. I wore the Columbia pair in Disneyworld and never had an issue. Get some shoes that FIT and don’t be afraid to try sports and active lifestyle brands that are smaller, they have to cater to their buyers, and seem to offer more options.
And for long term, leather boots with vibram soles. Any overmolded soft plastic in place of rubber will turn to goo with time and crumble to a sticky mess. Men should be able to buy all leather dress shoes from a quality maker, and with care they will outlast you. Cole Haan, and most of the J&M lines are not quality. They are better than Stacy Adams, or modern Florsheim, but not by much. Workboots are either disposable or will last a lifetime. There are US makers still, and they have quality reps. Find a solid pair you can maintain and they should last a long time. Chased by zombies while wearing sandals made from old tires or barefoot just isn’t the same as crunching through the detritus of a fallen city in good boots. If you do go for disposable (and I like my under armor technical boots) know that just storing an extra pair won’t help once the plastic ages out. Mil spec and milsurp are designed to be stored and still be usable so having at least one pair is a good prep. Bonus is that they fit me well and are very comfortable.
I’ll stop the list here for today. If you have something that has worked well for you put it in a comment. There are plenty of things I might add below as I think of them, this list was just ‘top of mind’ when I wrote the post. I’m already thinking of the Honda inverter gennies and DeWalt cordless tools….
Improve what you’ve got stacked, add to your stacks, organize your stacks, and KEEP stacking…
nick