Orlando, FL

This morning I found an email from Fay in my inbox saying that she had a really bad toothache that has pained her all weekend. She said she would not be in until after her dentist appointment at 9:00 AM.

As it turns out, she didn't make it in until after 12:30 PM. She said she needed to have a root canal, but she needed to find a doctor that was part of our health insurance network.

Today was a sunny and warm day. It was really nice. Work was not too taxing - even with Fay out. In fact, I think having Fay out made things quieter and less stressful for me!

This evening we made a red chili for dinner and then we took Buddy for a walk. We stopped at Publix so Bobby could buy some eggs before heading back home.

I started The Twilight Of American Culture last night. The Introduction was seven pages long, but it reads like a good book. I think I will be going to the bed to read more soon.

Weekend

On Friday morning Fay was an hour and a half late coming in! She phoned in to say that she was having a "coughing fit" and would come in when it subsided.

Just to be safe, I took the can of Lysol™ sanitizing spray and showered her office chair, the keyboard, mouse, telephone, fax, door knobs, the copier, and anything else her germy hands might have touched.

Orlando office finished the week up with $210k in orders. I did not see how Hollywood did.

Bob was very discouraged on Friday evening. He had a couple of quizzes/tests and he didn't feel quite right about them. Then he had a surprise money issue pop up too. It seems that he had a lot going on during his day.

We had baked hamburgers with steamed vegetables for dinner. Then we took Buddy for a walk.

On Saturday morning I got up around 7:00 AM and took Buddy for his walk while Bob got breakfast ready. After walking Buddy I went to Publix to get low-carb flat bread, yogurt, and cheese.

I kept having this coughing "tickle" in my throat. I said to myself, "Uh huh, now you've caught Fay's cold." I told Bob and he went to the bathroom vanity and produced a high-powered bottle of cough syrup with codeine in it!

Most of the day was spent at the computer with Bob doing homework problems. I made a quiz for him in MS Word and gave that to him for more practice. We noticed that the new printer is running out of black ink already. So, we had to go out to purchase a new black ink cartridge.

We stopped at Office Depot first because Bob wanted to get VISA gift cards for Toastmasters Club, but they did not have these cards in the values he was instructed to get. I priced the Epson 127 black cartridge here and it was $36! So, we went on to Staples.

The 127 black cartridge was $31 here, plus we got 10% off, plus we got credit for used HP cartridges we brought back. After Staples we went to Chik-Fil-A for lunch.

On the way home from Chik-Fil-A we stopped at The Book Worm - a used book store on Bumby where we browsed the stacks. I found a hardback from 1954 about nuclear engineering, and a book about mechanical movements from 1969. I spent $12.

After taking another dose of cough medicine, I laid down and took an afternoon nap.

In the evening I made a saucepan of black bean soup from a dry mix. We had this soup with broken up sourdough pretzels and mozzarella cheese. It was good.

Later, Bobby took a shower and I read more of Empire - getting very close to the end! Then I took another dose of cough medicine and sank into a deep sleep!

This morning we got up around 7:30 AM because Buddy was crying. So Bob got him harnessed up while I filled his bowl and started breakfast for us.

I made omelets with mozzarella cheese and leftover black bean soup inside of them! We also had Canadian bacon cooked under the broiler with sugar-free apricot jam on them, and some yogurt.

This morning I placed an order with Sparkfun.com for breakaway headers, LED display driver MAX7219CNG, Light-To-Frequency Converter TSL235R, Thermoelectric Cooler 40x40mm, and a 0 -20 mA Analog Panel Meter.

Then I put in an order with Parallax.com for a small 8A Solid State Relay and a small atmospheric pressure sensor. I am going to use the SSR in my automatic plant watering project with the Basic Stamp.

For lunch we had Sweet Pepper Soup with pretzels. Then Bobby had to go to SPCA Open House where he volunteered to be a "Kitty Kuddler" or a "Bark Buddy". You have to work directly with animals for three months before you are eligible to work in the animal clinic.

While Bob was at the SPCA, I made another chemistry quiz for Bob to work on.

I finished reading Empire while Bob was out. My next book is The Twilight Of American Culture.

For dinner this evening, I lit the little grill and put ribs out to cook. We had ribs with steamed vegetables. Buddy evening got to crunch a couple of rib bones too!

After dinner we took Buddy for a long walk. We stopped at Publix and got a pint of vanilla ice cream and some blueberries and we enjoyed this for a snack. Then we cleaned the house.

Now it's time for another week of work. I wonder what kinds of surprises are waiting for me this week.

Orlando, FL

Skies were clear when I got up this morning. It was a little cool outside, so I wore my raincoat while taking Buddy for his morning walk.

I told Bobby to make oatmeal for breakfast.

After a good filling breakfast of hot oatmeal I got a shave and showered, then dressed for work.

Work was good today. There were several orders today and we have already beaten last week's sales. I think we might eek out a regular week this week.

Fay and Craig went to lunch at 11:30 with Mike Zupo at Darden. Shortly after they left, I went to lunch myself. I took the truck to Exxon to get a tank of gasoline, and then I went to my storage unit to retrieve my angle grinder and cut the blade off of the lawnmower to picked up last night. I had to grind the head off of one of the mounting bolts too, but then the engine rolled right off of the mower deck.

I drove to Seven-11 to get some lunch, drove back to FER, deposited the mower deck in the dumpster, swept out the bed of the truck, washed my hands, and sat down at my desk to eat my lunch. A few minutes later Craig and Fay returned.

At 2:30 PM Evelyn showed up. She had to help Craig install a desktop label printer and a biz card/receipt/document scanner for his desktop.

After setting up our external hard drives for the Thursday back-up, Fay and I left shortly after 5:00 PM.

Bob had a baked turkey roll and canned carrots ready for dinner when I got home this evening. I even drizzled some of the gravy onto Buddy's dry food !

With dinner out of the way we took Buddy for a walk and checked our mail. Bob found the last tax form he needed to complete his tax return. He is happy to find out that he will be getting a good sized refund this year!

I went to my truck with a motorized screwdriver and my socket set to disassemble the lawnmower engine I scavenged. It's badly rusted and filthy, but I slowly removed screws and pulled it apart. I saved some of the shoulder screws, the carburetor and the generator coil. When I get it pulled open I am going to save the valve springs too.

All of the pieces that are going to be discarded were dropped into a paper shopping bag, and when I finished I walked over to the trash chute and just dropped it down to the dumpster.

The main thing I am trying to salvage is the aluminum that the cylinder and crankcase are made from. Lawnmower engines are a good source of cast alloy.

Tomorrow is Friday!! Yay!!

Orlando, FL

Today was a good day. It started out cloudy and overcast, but there was a good breeze blowing and those clouds were really scudding across the sky.

By 10:00 AM the sun was out and the sky was blue and cloudless. When I went out for lunch it was warm and nice, but the weatherman was predicting dropping temps later.

My foot felt better today. Not 100% better, but maybe 90% better!

This evening we had baked pork chops and green beans for dinner. Sure enough, temps are dropping outside, but we still took Buddy out for a nice walk.

We picked up a copy of The Orlando Weekly during our walk and we checked the mail on our way back upstairs.

Now Bobby is finishing his chemistry homework. When I finish this blog entry, I am going to take the truck out to pick up a discarded lawnmower we saw by the curb. I want the aluminum from it's engine block for melting down.

Yes, another Mad Scientist™ project for me!

Can't Walk, Swim, or Drive Straight

Orlando, FL

It was cloudy when I got up this morning, but it hadn't started to rain yet. I harnessed Buddy up and took him for a two-block-long walk. We would have gone farther, but I was really babying my right foot.

When we got back home Bob had omelets on the table for breakfast. Yum! Right after breakfast I had to shower and get ready for work.

Work today was fairly constantly busy. I had some quotes to write and some file folders to make, but there were only a handful of orders.

There was a telephone conference this afternoon with Craig, Gabe, William, Nancy, and Neil. Evidently the commissions have been particularly poor this month and the partners are asking the outside sales people to take a small pay cut. Craig said that the partners vowed that inside people would not be affected.

In the afternoon it finally started to rain. Then it started to rain hard! We are having some strong thunderstorms this evening with tornado warnings!! Definitely not our typical winter weather.

When I got home Bob had some oven-fried steaks and carrots ready for dinner. Yum!!

After dinner I harnessed Buddy up for another walk, but when we got to the street it was pouring. So, we made a walk in the garage. Not quite as good as a neighborhood walk, but it lets Buddy do what he needs to do.

Forecast calls for rain tomorrow too. Will have to be careful tomorrow morning on the rain slick streets.

Orlando, FL

My right foot hurts. I don't know if it's sprained, or if I have a stress fracture. It hurts around my right ankle and top of foot. There is some swelling too.

After getting my shower and shave this morning I rubbed Tiger Balm into it and then pulled my socks and shoes on over it. I mostly hobbled around work today.

Work was busy on the phones, but kind of quiet for orders. Craig is very concerned because order entry is down and evidently the commissions paid last month were terrible. The partners had to put money into the business again last month.

This time of the year is usually a slow time anyway. Plus, we just had a price increase, so sales will fall after that. I don't know what it's going to take to bring the sales back like before. That might never happen again.

Bob got home only a few minutes before me. We didn't plan for dinner and nothing was thawed out. I opened up a box of butternut squash soup and we had that for dinner. Then we walked Buddy.

On the way home Bob popped into Publix to get eggs and heavy cream. I waited for him in the lobby.

The Feb. 2011 issue of Fine Woodworking came in the mail today!

It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. We are having an unusually wet winter this year.

Weekend

It was definitely cooler outside when we got up on Saturday morning, but the skies had cleared up and it looked like it was going to be a really pretty day! We started the day off with a dog walk, and then we came home to a breakfast of eggs, Canadian bacon, and coffee.

After breakfast I finished drying our laundry and folded it while Bobby worked on his home work. Later I came in to the office and worked with my Basic Stamp for a while. My current Stamp project has a conductivity cell that measures soil conductivity to indirectly measure soil moisture, if the soil is (relatively) dry, the Stamp starts up a pump (if there is sufficient water in the water tank) and runs the pump until the sensor detects saturated soil. Such a simple idea, yet it is amazing how many things can go wrong!

At 11:30 I got a shower and came back to the office. I asked Bob if he wanted to go out, to go ANYWHERE because it was such a pretty day outside. He said that he needed a break from homework so we harnessed Buddy, put his Outward Hound™ back pack on him, put some dog snacks in his back pack, and headed down to the car.

We drove out to Winter Garden and parked the car along Plant Street in the historic downtown and we walked out of town on the West Orange Trail. The West Orange Trail is a hiking/biking trail that follows old railroad rights-of-way. This one is 19 miles long and runs from Apopka to the Orange-Lake County Line.

We went west out of Winter Garden and walked through downtown Oakland (about two miles away), and continued all the way to the end at Killarney Station (five miles away). Here Bob went to the restroom and I gave Buddy his doggy candy bar.

Then we turned around and had to hike back. I think the hike back was nicer than the hike out because the breeze was at our backs and it felt a little bit warmer.

We passed many people out enjoying the day on their bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, running, and walking. We saw plenty of unusual things we had never seen before like abandoned industrial sites, a field with beehives in it, etc. Of course, we also saw plenty of mundane things like suburban backyards and failed real estate developments.

We came to places where the rails were still in place on the ground, but huge oak trees had grown up and enveloped the rails making it impossible to remove them!

The trail took us over the Florida Turnpike on a rehabilitated railway trestle.

We knew we were going to be sore on Sunday, but Buddy looked like he was having the time of his canine life. I think the cooler temperatures were making it easier on him. The last time we took him for a hike, on the Cady Way Trail in east Orange County, the heat wore him out, and he was sore for three of four days!

The round trip walk was 10 miles for us. When I woke up I had no idea I would be walking ten miles this day. One thing is for sure now - I will be buying new sandals when I get paid. My right sandal sole is worn clear through and there is a 1/2 inch wide hole.

We are going to go back and see the rest of the West Orange Trail some day, but we will rent bicycles when we do and pedal the 14 miles to Apopka. Still, it will probably take an afternoon to go up and back.

We loaded back into the car and drove east out of Winter Garden. We drove to the next town over - Ocoee. Here we stopped in to visit Connie, the proprietor of The Book Rack - a secondhand book store. We browsed the store and Bob found a 1971 text on organic chemistry that I urged him to get as an aid for that course later this year.

It was after 7 PM when we finally got home. Buddy didn't need to take a walk, and it was too late to start cooking a meal, so we just had some snacks, worked at our computers, and read a little bit.

I am sure that I slept very soundly last night. We were all tired!

This morning I got up around 7:00 AM to take Buddy for his walk. Then we came home to a breakfast of eggs, Canadian bacon, and coffee.

My big project today was getting the Basic Stamp project working. It worked, but not quite right. Sometimes, when you copy complex code out of the text, it is better to use simpler code that you actually understand because the fancy stuff can have unexpected consequences.

I made white bean chicken chili for lunch and I baked a French green bean casserole to have with dinner.

Today was another sunny, clear and cool day. We went out after lunch to take Bob's old printer/scanner to storage and get a 3-hole punch out of storage. We came right home after that trip.

We are a little sore today. My right foot hurts and the ankles is swollen. We rubbed Tiger Balm into it and that helped. It helped enough that I could run the vacuum cleaner this evening!

Buddy got an evening walk around Lake Eola, and then we came home. I ran the vacuum and cleaned the tables, but Bob never pulled himself away from his homework. Some of these classes are going to be challenging for him!

Here comes another week of work at FER. I am really looking forward to my next vacation!

Orlando, FL

Around 2:30 AM I thought I saw a flash of lightning, but I was not sure. A few moments later I heard the roll of thunder and knew that a thunderstorm had come up. I got up to go pee and looked down at the street light on Pine Street. I could see a deluge coming down!

Bob said that he never heard the thunder during the night.

I got up around 6:10 and took Buddy down to the street for his walk. It was still raining when we stepped outside. He was not too thrilled with the idea of getting rained on, but we made our walk anyway.

We had hot oatmeal for breakfast. That's a good thing to have on a cold rainy morning. The day didn't really start off cold; that would come later.

The radio announcer was reading off the locations off all the car accidents. I passed one of them on my way to the office. Lots of rain slicked streets.

Wonder of wonders - Fay came in about 5 minutes early today!

It rained off and on all day. I got rained on as I took the trash out to the dumpster.

FER-Orlando brought in $168k in orders and I knew for sure that Hollywood would beat us this week. Nope. They brought in about $80k. Still, not a very good week for FER.

This evening Bob made a dish with beef, eggs, onions, mushrooms, and spinach in it. We enjoyed this for dinner and then took Buddy for his walk. I also started the laundry.

I am glad the weekend is here. This was a hectic and busy week! We still have 40-some days, but I am looking forward to vacation too!

Orlando, FL

Today was overall a good day, but when I woke up, I wanted to keep on sleeping for a couple more hours. I got up around 6:10, took my vitamins, fed Buddy, harnessed him, counted out Bob's pills, and then took the dog for his morning walk.

Bob had scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon ready when I got back.

Then I had to get cleaned up and ready for work.

Fay was 30 minutes late coming in this morning - she had some kind of doctors appointment.

Weather today was sunny, cloud-free sky, and warm. I think it got up to 80°F today.

During lunch I went to Chik-Fil-A and got a roll-up sandwich.

This evening we had gingered chicken strips and green beans for dinner, and then we took Buddy for his evening walk.

It is kind of stuffy and warm in the house this evening, even with the door and window open. So I have closed them up and turned the AC back on - first time this year!

Orlando, FL

We got up at 6:00 AM when the alarm sounded. I took Buddy for his morning walk while Bob made scrambled eggs and sausage links for breakfast.

After breakfast I got my hair clippers out, sprayed some WD40 on the blades, and went to the shower to clear the hair off of my scalp. Then I showered and dressed for work.

I took my box of Absinthe Grasshoppers from the freezer and headed down to FER. I got in a little early, but I needed to get the orders and morning stuff out of the way before Shari Kaplan from New Age arrived to give training.

William picked Shari up at the airport and brought her to the office. Craig went to pick up Betsy and he drove her to Tampa for a conveyor oven symposium. Neil and Nancy also came to our office for training. Fay ordered roll-up sandwiches and salad from the Millenia Cafe and they delivered it to our office.

My grasshoppers were popular!

We had an enjoyable training session with Shari. She is really enthused about her product! I wish more of our factory people were as excited about the product as she is!

Training finished up around 1:00 PM. Then we had to get back to our desks and catch up all of the email and other tasks. The afternoon was a little hectic because of this.

It's a full moon tonight. I saw the moon rising as I was leaving the office. Weather was sunny, dry and warmer today. There were strong thunderstorms yesterday, but we needed some rain.

I am almost half way through Empire. I will probably be reading it for the rest of the month! LOL! I am also working through some conductivity measurement exercises with my Basic Stamp. These will help me make a sensor to measure the moisture content of soil by soil conductivity.

Absinthe Hopper Cookies

Brownie Layer:
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter
10 1/2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate - finely chopped
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Absinthe Ganache:
1/2 cup heavy cream
10 oz fine-quality white chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons Absinthe
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Green food coloring

Chocolate Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
10 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Brownie Layer:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a 13- by 9-inch baking pan and line with 2 crisscrossed sheets of foil, leaving a 2 inch overhang on all sides. Butter foil.

Melt butter and chocolate with brown sugar in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until combined. Whisk in flour, cocoa, and salt until just combined.

Spread batter evenly in baking pan and bake until set and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs adhering, about 20 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

Absinthe Ganache:
Bring cream to a simmer in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan and remove from heat. Pour over white chocolate in a bowl. Let stand 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Stir in Absinthe, food coloring and extract - chill, covered, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 1 hour.

Chocolate Ganache:
Bring cream to a simmer in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan and remove from heat. Pour over bittersweet chocolate in a bowl. Let stand 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Chill, covered, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 30 minutes.

Assemble Layers:
Spread absinthe ganache over top of cooled brownie in a thin even layer using offset spatula, then chill until firm but still slightly sticky, about 30 minutes.
Spread chocolate ganache over mint and chill until firm, about 2 hours.

Lift dessert out of pan using foil overhang. Run a heavy knife under hot water and wipe dry, then trim edges of dessert (1/4 inch off each side). Cut dessert into squares and peel from foil.

Weekend

Even though it was chilly on Friday night (we ran the heater), it was warmer on Saturday morning with an overcast sky and a colorful sunrise.

I took Buddy for his morning walk while Bob made a breakfast of spinach omelets, Canadian bacon, and coffee. It was almost ready when we got back home. Buddy even got to enjoy canned food for breakfast!

Bob had to go out for the morning to Toastmasters Treasurer Training. He came back around 11:30 and we had butternut squash soup for lunch. I put some goats milk cheese rolled in blueberries with crackers on a small plate for Bob and he got to enjoy pretzel nubs in his soup. I had to settle for Swiss cheese strips.

We spent the afternoon at the computers. Bob was working on his chemistry home work assignment. He gets the problems to solve from a website.

Dinner was baked pork chops with a side of long grain and wild rice.

In the evening we took Buddy for his walk. When we got back to the house we checked the mail and found my W-2 in there! Now I can do my taxes!

Back upstairs at the desk, I downloaded the Form 1040EZ, and started filling it in. It looks like I am going to be getting a nice sized refund this year! Yippeee!! I couldn't print the form out because we ran out of ink. Bob said we would go to the office supply store in the morning and get more.

We were up until around 10:30 doing his homework. Then I went to bed and read Empire while Bob showered. I think I was out by the time Bob came to bed.

I got up around 7:00 this morning and started making breakfast while Bob took Buddy out for his walk. I made asparagus omelets with sausage links, left over pork chops, and coffee. I had the food ready to put on the table just as they returned.

After breakfast we cleared the dishes into the dish washer, and went to the computers. Bob said that he wanted a whole new printer that would be able to hook up to the network. The HP printer only connects to my computer and whenever Bob wants to print something, it's a big hassle because he has to mail the document to me, and ask me to print it for him.

Around 11:30 I went and took a shower and when I came out I told him that I was ready to go. We went to Staples and got a new Epson Stylus NX625 printer, scanner, copier. This model was on sale for $99. The nice things about this printer are: it is network and wireless capable, it is full duplex capable (it prints on both sides of the sheet). Another nice thing - it has slots to accept memory cards from cameras, so now Bob can download pictures from his camera phone right to the computer! The main draw back, like all printers, is that the ink cartridges are expensive.

We are going to defray the cost of the ink by joining the Staples Rewards program. By doing this we get 10% off of ink refills and we get $2 per cartridge that we bring back refunded to us.

After Staples we went to the O'Boy's Barbecue in Baldwin Park for lunch. I had a Smoked Turkey Chef Salad and Bob had a pulled pork plate with fries, slaw, and baked beans. The portions were huge and we were both filled!

Next we came home and brought the new printer upstairs and installed it. We also had to reconfigure the router because we forgot the password and encryption key, so we reset it to the factory defaults. Then we reset the password and encryption. Bob needed to get access to the wireless on the router so that his laptop could print to the new printer.

We are very happy with the new printer. It seems to work well for both of us.

In the evening we took Buddy for his walk. We took a long walk because the weather was nice, so we walked all the way around Lake Lawsona and back home.

Because we had such big lunches, we really weren't hungry for a dinner.

Now we have our weekly house cleaning finished. I vacuumed and cleaned the glass tables. Bob cleaned the kitchen floor.

I have to return to work in the morning. This weekend was too short. Bob has tomorrow off for MLK birthday.

Hopefully this week at FER won't be too challenging.

Orlando, FL

Hooray! Another week down!

It was cold today. All day. It was sunny and partly cloudy, but it was cold.

FER-Orlando had an "okay" week for sales. We brought in $210k. We don't know how Hollywood did - Barbara didn't send the report.

US Postal Service delivered my new book today - The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing. Between learning how to make HDR photos and the techniques in this book, the pictures in our next book are going to be the best ever.

Bob is having a long day today. He's been at school all day long. He has Histology at 10:30, Chemistry at 3:30, and UCF Pre-Vet Club this evening. He should be home around 9:00 PM.

I walked Buddy, started the dish washer, put a load of whites into the laundry, checked the mail, ate some baked chicken wings for dinner, put whites into dryer, started the darks, and read a little bit of my new book.

After getting this done, I am going to fold whites, and then lay down and read more of Empire.

I am glad the weekend is finally here!

Orlando, FL

It was chilly this morning. I pulled on some flannel pants and my lined raincoat to take Buddy for his morning walk.

We had scrambled eggs with sausage links for breakfast.

Bobby had to leave shortly after I left so that he could claim a good parking space on campus. He had histology and chemistry today.

Fay was out most of the day at Jury Duty. Life was a little hectic for me as angry dealers phoned in demanding to know why she didn't have their quote ready. This shit happens every time she is out.

She came in shortly after lunch and said that she was excused from the jury. She found out that it was a child abuse case being tried and she told the defense attorney that she had already convicted the defendant in her mind.

Today was definitely a day of changes for FER. Craig was very wound up with some of the changes that came out of yesterday's dinner with Larry Bryce, Brian Holdrich, Gary Dykstra, Kevin Clark, Chris Karssiens, Joan Salah, and Steve Otto. Manitowoc may own the company, but it appears that old Enodis people are going to be running it!

Because Craig had so many juicy new stories for us, we all stayed late to hear his "scoop". Then I started my computer de-fragmenting, so I didn't get out of there until around 6:15 PM.

Dinner tonight was beef brisket and green beans. This was a particularly good brisket! We will get another one if we see it in the supermarket again.

We took Buddy for his evening walk and I stopped in Publix to get milk, eggs, and yogurt. There was only junk mail in the mail box this evening.

Orlando, FL

It was a good day. In the morning it clouded up and looked like it was going to rain, but it cleared up and temps were in the high 60's today. Weatherman says it is going to get very cold again tonight.

During our walk this morning I took Buddy to the Orlando History Center. In front they have some alligator sculptures. Buddy lifted his leg and peed into the opened toothy mouths of both alligators!

Work was fairly light for me today. Right before she went to lunch, Fay came to me and confessed that she's been seeing a weight loss doctor. Her's must be a tough case - I can't tell that she's lost a pound! She was about to cry she was so frustrated and confused. I dunno why - I mean, I have shown her a couple of times what needs to be done. Restrict carbohydrates - especially highly refined carbs (anything white is bad). Increase your activity, just a moderate amount (walking the dog, walking with a friend, some activity 30 minutes per day).

If she would pack her lunches with meals that she thought about beforehand, and took a walk around the office park during her lunch, the pounds would melt off of her. Oh well, it's her struggle. I have my own pounds to worry about.

During lunch I went to Publix to get some salami and cheese for lunch. The cashier who rang me up was named "Minolta". Tee hee hee!! Some of these names are so creative! Like "L'Oreal", "Sylvania", or "Tropicana".

Bob had his first Statistics class today. He still sounds very upbeat about getting into school and making progress in the UCF Pre-Vet Program. I am glad. Losing his job at Florida Hospital was a blessing in disguise and he is taking full advantage of it now.

For dinner we had chili that I put into the sink to thaw this morning. We topped it off with some sour cream. It was a good meal. Then we took Buddy for his evening walk.

Now I am ready to curl up with my book in bed.

Orlando, FL

The house was chilly this morning, but when I went out to the street with Buddy it felt almost warm. "Must be a temperature inversion or something...", I said to myself. The weatherman said the high would be almost 80°F today.

Work today was fairly light. There were only three orders to process and some filing to do.

Today was Bob's first day at University Of Central Florida. He had histology and chemistry today.

The sky clouded up and it got as dark as night outside. Then it began to thunder. Eventually the rains came. It rained hard for about half an hour. Everything is still wet and foggy outside. Still, I would rather have this than the slushy mess they are having up north today. It even snowed in Wilmington!

I realize the pictures I took of the solid-state relay box last night might not be so clear on how it works, so I drew a diagram of the circuit contained in the box. That is what the picture posted with this entry shows.

This evening we had chicken wings and microwaved vegetables for dinner. Bob said that he had a good day at school.

Weekend

Whew! What a busy weekend!

I was really looking forward to this regular weekend after a regular work week, and it seems that we really made the most of it too!

It was cool when I got up on Saturday morning. I couldn't sleep, so I went to the living room and read the rest of Wired magazine while Bob and Buddy slept. Around 7:00 AM I took Buddy down for his walk while Bobby made a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and coffee.

Next I started a load of white laundry while Bobby cleaned up the kitchen and got the dish washer ready to run. When the whites finished washing they went into the dryer and a load of darks started in the washer. When the darks were in the dryer and the whites were folded up, we got ready to go out.

Around 11:00 AM we loaded Buddy up into the Xterra, drove down to Lake Ave, and parked while I took money from my savings account via the ATM in the Publix lobby. Then we got back in the car and drove to Batteries Plus. Bob asked about a replacement lithium ion battery for his laptop computer. The price they gave us was not competitive and they did not have it in stock, so it looks like Bob will be ordering his battery from Amazon.com! With a battery that holds charge he will be able to use his laptop between classes at school, and the laptop will be more useful on vacation.

After leaving Batteries Plus, we headed west on Highway 50 to Forsyth Road. We turned north and drove up to University Blvd. Here we turned east and drove to UCF. We drove around the campus and Bob checked out the buildings where he will be having classes. Even though his first class doesn't start until 10:00 AM, he will be there around 8:00 just to get a good parking space!

Buddy really enjoyed the trip around campus. We had the windows rolled down and he sniffed continuously.

We left UCF and drove west on University to Chik-Fil-A where we got chicken wrap sandwiches and some chicken strips for Buddy. Then I drove the Xterra to Aloma where we stopped at an Exxon and put $30 of gasoline into the tank.

We continued west to Fairbanks and drove to Skycraft Electronics/Surplus. This is a fun store - it's full of surplus electronics, mechanical devices, and stuff to use in projects. Bob found an HDMI cable for the WDTV box! I picked up a solid-state relay (SSR), some limit switches, a small submersible pump, some lenses, a small and cheap plastic microscope, and a small camera tripod to replace the one that broke during Christmas. My total was $55.

We headed back to Orlando on Highway 17-92 and stopped at Sam Flax to get some refill X-Acto knife blades.

After this we came home. I could not wait to try the SSR! I hooked up an extension cord that I had "modified" especially for this, plugged a lamp into the receptacle end of it, and plugged the plug into the wall. Nothing happened, then I touched the terminals of a 9-volt battery to the screws that say "3-32 VDC". Still, nothing happened, but then I noticed the "+" and "-" signs on the SSR. I flipped the battery over, touched the terminals again, and the lamp lit up! We have a winner here!

We took Buddy for his evening walk and checked the mail on the way back upstairs. We just opted for snacks in the evening instead of a dinner meal.

I spent the evening messing around with the surplus lenses, trying to find their focal lengths using trial-and-error methods.

We headed to bed around 9:00 PM (yes, we are old men now), but sat up reading for an hour or so.

This morning we got up around 7:00 AM because Buddy was crying to go out. I harnessed him up, pulled on a light jacket, and took him downstairs while Bob got breakfast ready for us.

It was a clear and cool morning. I could tell it was going to be a great day!

We had eggs, Canadian bacon, and coffee for breakfast. Bob also put yogurt with honey on the table for us, but I reminded him that I am cutting carbs out, and gave my portion to him to eat.

To help Bobby get ready for chemistry class, we ran a little experiment this morning. We filled a bowl of water (with a tablespoon of vinegar too) and put two cordial glasses upside down and filled with water into the bowl. Then we ran bare wires under each glass and connected the other ends of the wires to battery terminals. A stream of bubbles started to come off of the wires and collect in the tops of the glasses.

I told Bobby that the wire connected to the negative (-) battery terminal was giving off hydrogen gas because hydrogen ions are positively (+) charged and are attracted to the negative charged wire. The wire connected to the positive (+) terminal was giving off oxygen because the oxygen ion is negatively charged (-). I made him get the text book out and verify that these were facts.

I took my PVC pipe spectroscope to the bathroom with the lenses and turned off the lights. I practiced projecting the spectrum on to the white side of the bathtub. Using the flash light and the white LED laser pointer, I was able to do this. I tried using the fluorescent lamp, but it makes so much light that it lights up the room and washes out the spectrum. I think the hardest part of projecting the spectrum and focusing it will be aligning all of the components and making everything stand on the same plane.

We left the electrolysis of water experiment running while we went out. We left Buddy home this time. We drove to Staples to cash in a gift card. We got a battery powered electric pencil sharpener for Bob to carry in his book bag. We also got index cards, error correction tape, and a spiral notebook. We browsed the entire store.

Next we went east on Colonial Drive to the Sweet Tomatoes restaurant. We both got salads and soups for lunch. Then we headed to the 408, and drove all the way to Winter Garden where we spent quite a bit of time looking for The Bookrack, a used book store that we did some business with. It looks like Connie, the proprietor, has closed up shop.

We headed to the new Fowler Groves shopping center and went to Lowe's. We browsed Lowe's mostly because we needed to find a place to go to the bathroom, but we ended up buying a few things while we were there.

When we got home I started cutting away at a plastic project box installing an electric receptacle, an on-off switch, grommets for wire penetrations, and the SSR. I wired up the power switch in series with the SSR, and then the power receptacle. I have a pair of four-foot-long wires coming out of the control side of the SSR that I can remotely operate with the Basic Stamp. Remember, the SSR needs 3 to 32 volts DC to operate the SSR. The Basic Stamp can provide 5 volts DC.

Our goal is to incorporate the Basic Stamp into a device that senses soil conductivity. When the conductivity drops below a set value, the Stamp will start up a small pump that will pump water to the soil until the soil conductivity rises above a set value. Then it will turn the pump off. We will also have a water level sensor for the plastic tank that holds the pump to prevent the pump from running dry, and we will have LED's to show the mode of operation and give warnings. Basically, we want to build an automatic plant watering device for our balcony micro-garden!

I don't know how long it will take us to get this project built - we have a lot of experiments to perform. We have to test and get experience with the water level sensors, and we need to find out how much conductivity a certain percent moisture in the soil gives so that we can find out where to set the pump-on and pump-off set points. But, we've taken the first steps.

While I took Buddy for a 30-minute evening walk, Bobby got a dinner of baked lamb chops and buttered green beans ready.

After I got my SSR remote control box project completed we started house cleaning. Bob cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors, and I vacuumed and cleaned the glass tables.

I am tired. I need a quick shower, and then to bed to read or draw some sketches in my notebook. I know this will be an exciting week of changes for Bobby. I hope it isn't too demanding at work for me.

Orlando, FL

TGIF ! ! !

Today was better for me than yesterday. I got a lot done at work today - I pulled all of the stuff older than two years out of the dealer files and put it into the trash. Now all I have to do is pull the old stuff from the project files and trash it, and update the dealer discount spreadsheet and my big 2011 stuff will be done.

This morning the electric power and telephones went out at the office for about half an hour. A real blessing! That is probably why I was able to get the files thinned out so easily!

During the afternoon Evelyn came in to work on Craig's computer. She set up a rule that automatically forwards email from Joan Salah, our Manitowoc AVP to Fay and me. We did this because she refuses to copy us on messages to Craig, so he will be automatically forwarding the messages to us going forward.

This evening Marrissia and Kevin stopped by after spending the day at The Magic Kingdom. They drove their car into the garage and parked behind my truck. They came up and we gave them a tour of the house and Buddy was very friendly with them!

We walked over to Wildside Barbecue for dinner. We had a really nice dinner outside on the patio. They are spending tonight in Cocoa Beach and meeting Carnival Cruiseline's Dream tomorrow. They are sailing to Mexico, Honduras, and Belize. I am sure they will have a great time.

Orlando, FL

It was raining when I got up this morning. There were even flashes of lightning!

Buddy didn't know it was raining until we walked out the Pine Street door and onto the sidewalk. He wasn't too happy with the idea of getting wet.

We walked a block and a half east, then north one block, then west a block and a half, and came back into the building through the front door.

Breakfast was egg omelets with Canadian bacon and cinnamon toast! Yum!

Bob had to go to the doctor's office this morning to have his lower extremities checked by a neurologist. He has to go back tomorrow to have his upper extremities checked out.

My day today was, well, it was one of those days that could not end soon enough. Lots and lots of little things going wrong that just added up to a disgusting day overall. Lunch was particularly difficult - I had a fight with my Chik-Fil-A salad and although I managed to eat most of the salad, I think it might have won. I had to toss my shirt and pants into the laundry when I got home.

During lunch I went out and the skies had partly cleared up. I brought my home built spectroscope with me and turned it up toward the sun. I was pleased to find that my new spectroscope resolves well enough to show the Fraunhofer lines from the sun!

I would like to get a reflecting diffraction grating, some lens, and build an adjustable slit to make an improved spectroscope. If I could either spread the spectrum out or magnify it, I should be able to make out the lines even better.

My sister, Marrissia, and her husband Kevin, are coming to Florida today. They are going to spend the day at Disney tomorrow, and then have dinner with us in the evening before heading to Cocoa Beach to meet a cruise ship on Saturday. That will be a nice dinner.

Temps are dropping outside again. Tomorrow morning will likely be very chilly, but hey, at least tomorrow is Friday!

Orlando, FL

Past two days at work have been kind of boring. Both days have been partly cloudy and at times it looked like it was going to rain. Temps have been in the high 60's.

I've been having some pain in my chest and back when I breathe in deeply. It's been going on since Christmas. Also, some itchy pain in my back and down my left arm. It feels sorta like shingles, but there is no eruption on the skin. It's not as bad as it was last week, but it's still there.

It is windy tonight and there ware scattered showers coming. It sprinkled on us as we took Buddy for his walk. On the way home we picked up a free copy of the Orlando Weekly paper.

There were credit card offers and Clear internet service ads for me in the mail this evening. Nothing worth keeping.

Just getting started on Niall Ferguson's Empire. He's a good writer, but he's a wordy writer too.

Orlando, FL

I woke up still sore, but ready to return to the grind stone. I took my handful of vitamins, counted out Bob's pills, and then harnessed Buddy up for his morning walk.

When we got back home Bob had breakfast ready for us. I had oatmeal with raisins.

Work was okay today. We stayed fairly busy. Fay noticed that the carpet had been cleaned. Craig noticed that the carpet had been cleaned.

I got a lot done today. I ordered all new 2011 price lists from the factories, labeled and filed new LongHorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster restaurants, addressed an envelope to Peggy Patterson and sent my gently used Christmas cards to her for special needs children art projects, processed a few orders, and handled various service issues. By the end of the day I was tired. I've been tired a lot lately.

This evening we had zucchini meatloaf and lima beans for dinner. Bobby stripped the bed, washed the sheets, and re-made the bed today too.

I finished reading Blind Descent last night. Tonight I will start Niall Ferguson's Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World. Ferguson is a good author. I think this is the third book of his I own.

Long Weekend

My long three-day weekend started on Friday morning with me making pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Then we took Buddy for his morning walk.

Since I had the luxury of time, I sat down and began working with my Basic Stamp microcontroller. I have been trying to get the Stamp to read and write from USB thumb drives using a datalogger module. I got the demo program to run just fine, but it only records one value. The demo has you wire up a Cadmium Sulfide photo-resistor into an RC time circuit and record light levels.

Well, to get more than one input, I simply added a second CdS photo-resistor and added a variable to the program to hold the values it would report. When I ran the program I was disappointed to see that yes, the Debug window would display the values, but when it read the previously written values to the USB drive, nothing was coming back.

I downloaded the FTDI USB drive specification to investigate what all of the $08 $20 codes meant when the program calls the drive. Turns out, when writing to the drive, you have to let the drive know how much info you are going to be sending, and you have to give this information in Hexadecimal! The default was set up for 13 bytes ($0D), but I wanted to add a comma, and a five-digit number. This would bring us up to 19 bytes ($13). To help me with the conversions from decimal to hex, the uM-FPU programming environment has a converter!

After re-formatting the thumb drive, plugging it in, uploading my revised program to the Stamp, and running it, I was finally pleased to see the device writing two comma separated values to the USB drive, and then a short time later, reading them back! Such a simple thing to do, but so much work to make it happen!

I continued to ready Blind Descent. It is really a fascinating book and I am making fast progress through it. I am glad I have more books waiting on my night stand!

In the evening I called Mom to wish her a Happy Birthday (her 60th!). Then we tuned into CNN to watch the ball drop in Times Square for New Years. Out of our windows we could see fireworks in every direction.

When 2011 finally came in, we did not waste much more time standing around awake. We went right to bed!

The first thing I did on Saturday morning was go to the computer and check my bank balance at Navy Federal Credit Union. My paycheck was deposited during the night and there was a small bonus payment!

I balanced my checkbook and using the online bill pay, paid the rest of my bills in about 15 minutes. Then I got Bobby ready to go grocery shopping.

We went to KeKe's Waffle House in Millenia for our first 2011 breakfast. I had French toast and Bob had a Greek omelet.

When we finally got to BJ's Warehouse we were disappointed to find that they would be opening late on New Year's Day. Same thing for Home Depot. So, we went to Super Target and browsed the non-food side of the store.

BJ's opened at 11:00 AM and we went in to buy our bulk items. I spent about $250 in BJ's, then we went back to Target to get the rest of our groceries. My total here was about $200. Then we took this big haul back home to put away.

Once all of the food was put away, I left Bob on the balcony to turn (re-turn) a bowl on his lathe, while I went to Ace Hardware to get carpet shampoo and a new dog leash. Next I went to Lowe's to get some PVC pipe, elbow, and coupling, then I went to my storage unit to get my vacuum cleaner out and chop the pipe to 15 inches with my compound mitre saw. After this I headed home.

On my way back to the house I stopped at Advance Auto Parts and got new wiper blades for the truck. Man! What a difference! I also got an estimate for a replacement O2 sensor - $109 for the upstream sensor, and $113 for the downstream sensor! I think I am going to have to take my volt-ohm-milliamp meter down under the truck and test these sensors to find out which one is on the fritz. A hundred bucks is too much cash to toss around hoping you replaced the right one!

We took the dog for his walk, and then ate corned beef, sauerkraut, and potatoes for our New Year dinner.

I brought my vacuum cleaner back home and changed all of the HEPA filters inside of it.

In the evening I put together a small stroboscope following plans I found in Make Magazine. Here is a picture of my finished stroboscope. We took this into the kitchen, started water dripping from the faucet, turned off the lights, lit the water with a small flash light, and peered through the strobe to see the water drops appear to hang in the air!

You can make the apparent speed of anything moving slow down by viewing it through the stroboscope. I think adding speed control to the motor could make this even more useful.

This morning we made cheese omelets with Canadian bacon and coffee for breakfast. Then we got all of the furniture that we could off of the carpet and started our bi-annual carpet shampooing. Doing this makes the carpet much cleaner, and it even feels stiff and cleaner for a few days after you do it!

The carpet dried fairly quickly. Bob wiped all of the window sills down while I cleaned the rugs. Buddy was confined to the balcony while we did this.

Next we loaded the vacuum, carpet shampooer, and shampoo bottles up in the Xterra, drove to McDonald's drive-thru to get lunch, and then went to FER. Bob read his Chemistry De-Mystified book in the test kitchen while I shampooed the carpet in the office.

It took about an hour and a half to clean the carpet in the office. I am not 100% happy with how clean they turned out, but they are definitely much much cleaner than before.

We loaded our stuff in the car, locked up, and headed out. We went to the storage unit to put my vacuum cleaner away, then we dropped some old clothes off at Salvation Army, and came home.

The first thing we did when we got home was clean the carpet shampoo machine really good. It gets a lot of dirty lint and dog hair inside of it.

The next thing we did was herd Buddy to the bathroom and lift him into the bathtub. He hates getting a bath, but he is way overdue for this one. I scrubbed him nice and clean and then took a shower myself.

I spent the afternoon building an improved, higher resolution spectroscope (also in Make Magazine) with the PVC pipe that I bought and cut up yesterday. This little project took me about 4 hours to complete. When I turned it toward my fluorescent camping lantern, I was very pleased with the increased resolution!

The image is large enough to photograph, but I had the unusual problem of the image being too bright! It really over-exposed the pictures. I took some anyway and then uploaded them to Photoshop to adjust the exposure. Then I uploaded the spectra to the Science Toys website to have the nanometer scale appended to them.

I can't wait to take this improved scope out on the street and inspect the street lamps, neon bar signs, and other light sources!

Now my weekend and holiday is about over. I am tired and sore. Maybe it won't be so bad to get back to my routine.