For My Next Tric . . . er Project

Not wanting to be surprised again, like I was last January when my client happened to mentioned during the last week of the moth that we needed a Ad Card ready to mail out in a couple of days for our big February sale.




So since our annual June sale is coming up, I got a jump on things today by getting everything set up and sent off to the printer/mailing company. Looks like it should be ready to mail out the week of May 14th. Perfect.

Getting home about 4:15, we headed right back out to have dinner at Jimmy Changas, a favorite Mexican place of ours right back up I-45. Originally we were also planning to do some Wal-Marting afterwards, but decided to put that off until tomorrow.

I had a small side salad and then a big bowl of the Mexico City Style Soup – chicken broth with rotisserie chicken, rice, cilantro, tomatoes, cheese & tortilla chips.

Jimmy Changas Mexico City Chicken Soup

Jan went with the Pollo Mariscos – shrimp and crawfish tails sautéed in white wine sauce, atop a grilled chicken breast — with pico de gallo, charro beans and Spanish rice

Jimmy Changas Pollo Mariscos

Our 3 year old Azio Lighted Keyboard has been acting flakey lately so I ordered a new one from Amazon last Friday to be delivered Monday (yesterday).

Azio Lighted Keyboard

We both really like this one, with large lighted keys that can be set to 8 different colors. Plus, unlike other keyboards, it doesn’t have some keys in strange places.

Well, apparently it was delivered yesterday, just not to me. I got a text message about 12:30 telling me it had been delivered by the USPS, saying it had been ‘handed directly to a resident.’

Well . . .  NO! There are only 3 people here at the client’s office and none of us got it. And normally what happens is that I received the package and then about 30 minutes later the text message comes through.

I’ve got a call into the PO and they’re looking for it. So someone out there has a new lighted keyboard, just not me.

I sent an email off this afternoon to RV Mobile Lube to set up an appointment for next Thursday. I’m getting the following:




1. Full Service Oil Change – Change oil and filter, lube chassis and driveline, replace all fuel filters on diesel and correct tire pressure.

2. Full Generator Service –
Change Oil, Oil Filter, Replace Air Filter, and Replace Fuel Filter.

3. Coolant Service – Coolant Test and Filter Replacement.

4. Possible Air Filter Replacement

This will be the 5th time we’ve used them for service. Much more convenient than taking the rig into a shop.

I got a lot of comments on my 50 amp tester. Several people noted that they have a Progressive EMS to do everything that my tester will. And that’s true, up to a point.

We have a Progressive EMS ourselves, and it has saved our butts a couple of times. But it only helps when you’re parked and plugged in. It didn’t help us last year when we were trying to find a working 50amp site at the Soledad Canyon TT park north of LA.

We spent more than an hour walking from empty site to empty site looking for a place to park our rig. And when we did find one that had good voltages on both legs, we found that after we were parked and hooked up, our Progressive would not let power into the coach because the pedestal had an open ground or neutral, or reversed ground and neutral.

With the tester done, I’m on to my next project. It involves this,

Actuator

and this,

Actuator Controller

and it will be mounted here,

Dump Valve Actuator

along with another one right beside it.

It’s going to be my bargain-basement remote dump valve system. And by ‘bargain-basement’, I’m talking less than $75 . . . Total. The actuators are $15 each, operate with 135 pounds force, and have a 4” travel. Which coincidently is the exact length of travel of my dump valve handle. And it takes about 20 seconds to move all the way in or out, so it won’t be slamming the valves back and forth.

The controllers are about $13 each. After that it’s just fiddly bits. I’ll keep you informed.

Jan and I headed up to Webster, first to drop off some prescriptions at Sam’s and WalMart before heading back over to the East Star Chinese Buffet for dinner once again. Yes, we were just here this past Sunday.

What’s your point?

And we may go back again on Thursday.

What’s your point?

And then after a lot of boiled shrimp we headed back over to the WalMart to pick up our prescriptions and a bunch of groceries, before heading home for the night.




Thought for the Day:
 

I’m sorry, but Shrimp Ceviche shouldn’t have baby octopus parts in it. I don’t need to see tiny tentacles dangling from the tines of my fork. Just saying.

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