As The Days Dwindle Down . . .

We’re starting to wrap things up here with our departure set for Thursday morning.

But now we’re on our Memorial Goodbye Dinner Tour with friends and family. We kicked it off last night with dinner at King Food with all the kids.

Well, it was supposed to be all the kids, but our  daughter Brandi called in the afternoon to say she wouldn’t be there because she was feeling bad and was just going home.

Turns out the “feeling bad” caused her to end up in the emergency room at 4 am trying to pass a kidney stone.

Ouch!

She’s back at home and feeling a little better, but will be home for the next several days.

Just as I was getting ready to leave the coach this morning to wrap things up with one client, another one called me and said their Internet was down and they couldn’t process credit cards. So after asking a few questions I decided to head there first.

Getting there I found the problem was that the 8 Port Switch that distributes the Internet to all the computers in the office had died, so it was off to Fry’s Electronics to pick up a new one.

Back at the client’s I installed the new switch and everything was back up and running again. So then it was off to the original client that I was supposed to finish up with.

They had two remaining problems. They wanted to have their Ouickbooks set up for multi-user to share the database, and their Xerox ColorCube printer would not print double-sided, even when you told it to.

The Quickbooks problem just needed the right folders shared, which can sometimes be tricky in Win 7, but this time went pretty fast. But the printer problem took a little more work.

Finally ended up downloading the manual from the Xerox website and found the answer buried in a footnote. The printer has 3 paper trays, 1 for manual feed and the other two can be filled with whatever you need. The printer is picky about what kind of paper it will print double-sided, and as it turns out both trays had been set to ‘Labels’ in the printer setup, and they had forgotten about it. So setting the trays back to Letterhead fixed the problem.

Leaving their office, I drove over to our storeroom to drop off some bins of stuff we don’t need, then it was back to the rig, just in time for Jan and I to turn right around and head to Pearland to meet some friends for dinner at Central Texas BBQ there. Then afterwards we went over to their house nearby for coffee and a delicious dessert Bonnie had made.

Finally heading home about 7:30 we stopped off at Brandi’s to see how she feels and get our last hugs in with Landon, who actually was already asleep, but not yet in bed.

Heading home at last, I told Jan it would be good to get back on the road just to get some rest. She said she was thinking the same thing.

Jan had a an early morning doctor’s appointment tomorrow so I’m going to bed early.

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Thought for the Day:

Experience is the name we give our mistakes.

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Happy Valentine’s Day to My Sweetie!

Been trying to post the blog all evening. Park Wi-Fi is down and Air Card signal is flakey.

Finally posted this from my Droid.

Changas and Charro Beans . . .

Once again, with Jan staying over at Brandi’s Landon-Sitting for the weekend, I didn’t sleep very well and was up at about 8 am.

I spent the morning finishing up this laptop I’ve been upgrading for a client, and then about 11:30 I headed over to Brandi’s to pick up Jan. She had called earlier to say she wasn’t really hungry, so we didn’t go out for breakfast.

But by the time I picked her up about noon, Brandi and Lowell were back from their weekend, and so we handed off Landon, and headed over to McDonald’s for a fish sandwich lunch, and then it was home for the afternoon.

Jan napped, as she was pooped chasing after a very active 17 month old, and I finished up the laptop, and then I got in a short nap too.

Then about 5:15 Jan and I headed up to Pasadena to meet our friend Barbara at a new-to-us restaurant called Jimmy Changas. We had heard it was good, and the crowd waiting for tables was proof of it. We had a 20 minute wait, but believe me it was worth it.

This was Barbara’s Shrimp and Mango Tostado Salad with Margarita Vinaigrette Dressing. And it tastes even better than it looks

Jan had the Chile Relleno which she said was just about as good as Esther’s in Los Angeles, which is our benchmark for Chile Relleno. I had the Stacked Pork Enchiladas, which was pulled port and grilled spinach, stacked in layers of tortillas with Monterey Jack cheese, and then topped with a Chipotle-Poblano cheese sauce. along with Mexican rice and Charro Beans.

Wow, that was good!

Leaving Jimmy’s we got a better look at the Fiery Waterfall out front.

Our next stop was Barbara’s so we could talk some more and I could check out her computer and clean it up some.

Finally, getting our good-bye hugs, Jan and I headed back to the rig about 10:30.

Another nice day out of the few remaining we have here in Houston.

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Thought for the Day:

In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual – Galileo

adsfsd

Herons and Holosuites . . .

I was up about 8 this morning, mainly because I don’t sleep well when Jan’s not here. Of course she’s not far away, just over at Brandi’s, Landon-sitting for the weekend while Brandi and Lowell take a break.

I picked up Jan and Landon about 10:15 and we headed over to The Egg and I for breakfast. I hadn’t expected it to be too busy since most breakfast places are busier on Sunday, not Saturday.

But boy was I wrong about Egg and I. We had a 20 minute wait, but Landon was great, just spent the time looking around at all the people and pointing at things.

As usual he was a good eater and plowed through his pancake and fruit like Sherman through Georgia.

One funny thing that happen at the end of the meal was after he had been eating with the spoon, he banged it on the plate several times pretty loudly, and I said “No, Landon. Don’t do that, Don’t bang your spoon on the plate like that.”

He looked up at me kind of solemnly, and then took the spoon and tapped it on the plate very softly, “Tink, tink, tink.” And then looked up at me again with a big grin on his face. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Brandi and Lowell are going to have their hands full with this one, believe me.

Finishing up breakfast, we drove over to Fry’s Electronics so I could pick something up, and Landon fell asleep on the way, so Jan stayed in the car with him. And when I came back about 20 minutes later, they were both asleep.

Leaving Fry’s we headed down to the rig to show Landon around and introduce him to Mister the cat. On the way we stopped off at the bank and then Kroger’s for some Powerball lottery tickets for tonight’s 325 million dollar drawing.

Getting to the rig, Landon was really fascinated by our cats, Mister and Emma, especially Mister. His cat at home won’t let him get near, but Mister was just rubbing up against him and purring.

Landon also spent some time riding Jan’s Moose Footstool and watching Barney on the TV.

He’s crazy about Barney so Jan had prerecorded some episodes to keep him entertained.

Before heading back to Brandi’s, Jan went outside with Landon to let him help her feed the birds, and I got some shots of the heron and the Roseate Spoonbills.

They’ve gotten a lot redder since we go here in November.

Getting back to Brandi’s, and getting Jan and Landon squared away, I headed over to a client’s for awhile, still working on finishing up some last minute tasks.

Leaving the office and heading back to Brandi’s, I got a call from Sam’s Optical saying Jan’s glasses were ready . . .  for real this time. I told them we’d try to get by before they close at 7 pm.

Getting to the house, we decided to have dinner at Barcenas Mexican Restaurant right down the road, but looking at the time, we went by Sam’s Club first to get Jan’s glasses, and then it was on to the restaurant.

Then after leaving Jan and Landon back at Brandi’s, I drove back over to my client’s for a while.  Earlier this afternoon I had been making the System Recovery Disks for all three new computers, but ran out of DVD’s. So I picked up another 100 pack while we were at Sam’s, and now I was back to finish the job.

I got back to the rig about 9:45 and then started back to work on this laptop I’m upgrading. Another long day.

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Thought for the Day:

Quark:"Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They’re a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working."

"But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people… will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don’t believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes."

"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Siege of AR-558" (1998)

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A Landon Weekend . . .

Today started with a heavy downpour that began during the night and continued into the late morning. When I talked to Nick Russell on the phone, I told him he was falling down on the job because he was supposed to be pulling all this bad weather out to Apache Junction instead of leaving it hanging around her. Get to work, Nick.

About 11:30 I headed into town on a bunch of errands. But my first stop was the RV park office so I could get our reservations set up for next year, and also to let them know when we would be leaving.

Then it was on to Fry’s Electronics to take back some bad RAM. It’s a very bad feeling when you take a client’s very expensive laptop apart to install new RAM and when you turn it on, it’s DEAD!

The procedure in this case is to reverse what you just did, so I installed the old RAM back in.

And it worked again. WHEW!

So now I put the new RAM back in . . . and it’s dead again. So then I took the other stick of new RAM that was in the second slot and put it in the the first slot. And it worked fine.

Again I put the first stick of new RAM back in, and it’s dead again.  So now I know for sure that one of the two new sticks is bad. So it’s back to Fry’s to swap it out.

This was Patriot RAM, one of the top names, and I’ve never gotten a bad stick before. But it sure gave me a fright this time.

My next stop was a quick one at a client’s to let them know I’d be in the office tonight working on some things.

Then it was on to Sam’s Club to try and get our prescriptions straightened out. It ended up taking me about 45 minutes, but I did make one big improvement. I got the $717 for a 3 month supply drug down to a $10 a month one.

Before leaving Sam’s I filled up with gas and then headed back to the rig to pick up Jan so we could turn back around and come back up to Brandi’s.

We’re Landon-sitting (well, Jan’s doing most of it) this weekend while Brandi and Lowell take the weekend off to celebrate his birthday out of town, so we had to stop off at their house to get the car seat so we could pick up Landon at his Day Care. He seemed really glad to see us which made Jan happy.

Getting him strapped in, we drove up to Sam’s Club again, this time to pick Jan’s new glasses that they’d called and said was ready. I know they said they’d expedite them, but we just turned the order in yesterday afternoon, so it was hard to believe they would be ready this soon.

And they weren’t. It was a false alarm, but they should be here in the next day or so. As long as they get here before we leave next Thursday, we’re fine.

Leaving Sam’s, we drove up I-45 to the Golden Corral Restaurant for dinner.

This is a good choice when we’ve got Landon because there’s plenty of choices for him. One thing he really, really liked was the chocolate syrup from the chocolate fountain. You might say he really got “into it”.

Landon fell asleep on the way back to Brandi’s, and it’s always amazing how, although he never opens his eyes or wakes up, he knows to pull his arms out of the straps and then hold them up for you to take him out.

When we got back to Brandi’s, Lowell’s sister Sherry was there to help Jan if she needed it getting Landon to bed, so I headed over to my client’s for a while.

I did manage to finally get the UPS software problem fixed so I’m glad that’s out of the way.

I finished up and headed back to the rig about 9 after a long day. Getting back to the park I did get this shot of the moon rising over the bayou.

Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do it justice.

Tomorrow I’ll head back over to Brandi’s about 10 am to pick up Jan and Landon for breakfast at the Egg and I, and then we may bring Landon back down to the rig to show him around and introduce him to Mister.

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Thought for the Day:

Everything we see is just a shadow cast by that we do not see.

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HughesNet and IHOP . . .

Today was pretty straight forward. Just errands and client stuff, so after morning coffee and some delicious apple-walnut muffins that a client gave me on Tuesday after I fixed her network.

So yes, I will work for food.

We left the rig a little after 9:30 heading for the Sam’s Club up in Webster. Jan had an appointment with the eye doctor at 10:15 to get new glasses. Then after that was finished we drove back out to our doctor’s office to try and get our prescriptions straightened out.

She added a couple of new ones to the mix without really checking with us. Normally the prescriptions for both of us run about $90 for a 3 month supply. Now with the two she changed, our total would be over $1500 for 3 months.

Uh-uh. Ain’t gonna happen.

Then the rest of the afternoon her nurse and I played phone tag trying to get it straightened out.

Leaving there, we headed over to King Food for lunch, trying to get in our last few meals here before we leave town. We’re really going to miss this place when we’re back on the road.

Then it was back to the Sam’s Club optical department so Jan could order her glasses. And on our way over there, I got a phone call saying my glasses that I ordered on Monday had come in. Great.

Saving a few bucks, Jan had an old pair of frames that she still really liked, so she was able to use those instead of buying a new pair. Hopefully her glasses will come in before we leave next week. They said they would expedite them.

And I was really happy to get my new glasses. The coating had started coming off the lens a few weeks ago and it was kind of like looking through Vaseline.

Finishing up with Sam’s Club, I dropped Jan off at Brandi’s while I ran by a client’s place. They wanted me to give their computer a general checkup, and also see if I could figure out why their Internet is so slow.

It was nice to see another older computer that I had built a while back, still running fine, this one dating back to January 2007. And after checking over the computer (no problems found), I figured out why their Internet is so slow.

Being out in the country they had a Hughesnet satellite system with a 1.5 Mbps download speed. The only problem is the data limit they have. They are only allowed 350 MB in any rolling 24 hour period, and then they get throttled way back. In fact according to Speedtest.net, they only get about .30 Mbps, one fifth of their rated speed.

And the reason they’re always so slow . . . their son keeps streaming movies. So they never ever really get out of the throttled period. One movie can easily be over several gigabytes, so that’s their problem. I suggested they get Netflix and get the DVD’s by mail.

Leaving the client’s, I got back to Brandi’s about 5:30, and then Jan and I headed over to the IHOP in Kemah for dinner, finally getting home about 7:15.

We’re in the home stretch now, hoping to leave a week from today, so I’m going through my checklist trying to get everything crossed off before we leave.

Stay tuned to see how it goes.

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Thought for the Day:

A rifle transforms one from a subject to a Citizen.

adfs

Powerball and Water Heaters . . .

First thing this morning while I was waiting for the RV Mobile Lube guy to show up, I crawled under the coach and coated the levelers with silicone spray to keep them lubricated and ready to go for this next year. One more item checked off my “Before We Leave” list.

The lube guy showed up about 9:30 and got right to work. First off he had me start the engine and let the temperature get up to 145 degrees to make the oil drain easier. While he was under there, he replaced the oil filter, both fuel filters, and lubed the chassis and the driveline.

Next up he replaced the coolant filter, topped off the coolant, and then checked the SCA (Supplemental Cooling Additive) in the coolant. Then he pulled the big air filter to check it out. And after looking at it I told him to replace it. It looked like a a bird had built a nest with all the trash inside the filter. It’s hard to see in the photo below, but that’s a pile of dirt/sand underneath it.

Next he serviced the generator by running it for about 10 minutes, and then changing the oil, oil filter, fuel filter, and the air filter.

The transmission was next. He had me start the engine once more, and with the wheels chocked and the air brakes on, put it in Drive. This put a load on the transmission to make it warm up faster, in this case to 165 degrees. Then after shutting the engine down, he replaced the TranSynd fluid and the transmission filter.

The last thing he did underneath the coach was to check the fluid level in the differential. The level was low, and after looking at the fluid color, I had him pump the old fluid out and replace it with new 85w140.

Wrapping things up, he set the tire pressures to my specs, cleaned everything up, and was on his way by about 2:30. A busy guy.

In between helping the lube guy, I had a project of my own – to finish up installing the replacement power window unit in my truck. Between being so busy and all the bad weather we’ve had recently (Thanks again, Nick), this is the first chance I’ve had to work on it.

So I went from this

to this.

The installation itself went pretty quickly. Just pull the glass back out, install the motor/track assembly and glass, and then reinstall the door panel.

Which took more time than all the rest put together. If it would fit at one end, it wouldn’t fit at the other. And so on, and so on.

But finally I got it all back together and working. I don’t have to get out of the car at ATM’s any more. Neat!

My next project was flushing the water heater, something that should be done every year.

This is the procedure I’ve always used.

Turn off power/gas to water heater. Be careful not to apply power to the unit until it’s full of water. Otherwise you can burn out your unit.

Open faucet and run water until no hot water is left. Leave faucet open.

Turn off water to coach.

Remove the drain plug (the bottom one) and let a few cups of water out.

Replace the drain plug and remove the T&P valve (the top one).

Pour about a cup of vinegar into the top hole.  I use a turkey baster.

Replace the T&P valve and tighten down.

Turn the water back on and check the open faucet. As soon as the water is flowing smoothly, turn it off.

Turn power to water heater back on and wait an hour.

Turn off power to water heater.

2. Open faucet and run water until no hot water is left. Leave faucet open.

Turn off water to coach.

Open bottom drain plug and let water run out.

Use your ‘magic wand’ to flush out all the gunk still inside the water heater.

Don’t know about online, but the water filter vendors at the rallies usually have them. The wand makes it real easy to flush out all the gunk inside. Continue until only clear water is running out.

Replace the drain plug and tighten securely.

Turn on water to coach.

Leave the hot water faucet open until it stops spitting and spurting.

Turn the water heater back.

You’re done!

When I did this after our first year on the road, I couldn’t believe how much stuff I got out of the unit. I don’t think it had ever been flushed in the 8 years before we bought the rig. We had a lot more hot water after that first flush.

About 4:30 Jan and I headed out for dinner at our favorite local burger place, Stomp’s Burger Joint.

You’re looking at a full pound of Angus Beef there. Makes your mouth water just looking at it.

On the way home we mailed a letter at the Post Office, and then made a stop at Kroger’s for a few things. I got some lottery tickets for tonight’s PowerBall drawing for $250 Million. Unlike a lot of states, Texas makes you pick whether you want Annual Payments or Cash Value when you buy your ticket.

It seems like most people chose the Cash Option, but I always get Annual Payments. As for the reason, check out the stats on tonight’s Powerball.

The $250 million dollar prize taken in 30 annual payments is 8.3 million dollars a year before taxes. The Cash Option is a total of $156 million. That means by taking the money in cash you lose $94 million dollars, or a little over $3 million dollars a year.

I don’t know about you, but I could do a lot with an extra $3 million dollars a year!

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Thought for the Day:

It’s possible to be clueless without being blonde.

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