Our RV Adventures

or I got burned.

Jan and I left the rig about 12:30 heading over to a client/friend’s to install the new computer power supply I picked up from EPO this past Thursday.

We’ve known Tom and Lyn for more that 30 years, and in fact we lived on the same street together for many of those years, and our daughters were close friends. So it was nice to get a chance to sit down and talk for a while.

I’ve seen Tom and Lyn quite a few times over the years, but this is the first time Jan has come with me and been able to get together with them.

So while Lyn and Jan were catching up, I went in with Tom to install the new power supply and get his computer up and running again. But after installing it and pressing the power button, all I got was dead silence. Bummer.

This was a brand-new supply, I had just opened and taken it out of the box. So I started pulling it back out the computer case, and that’s when I noticed something. The fan blades inside the power supply case had a lot of dust on them. And on top of that, the company name on the box wasn’t the same one on the power supply.

This was a USED power supply, stuck back in a new box. Which explains why it didn’t work.

So I pack it all back up, and after spending some more time talking, Jan and I headed back up to EPO to trade the bad power supply back in. But I ran into a problem. I didn’t have the receipt since it was back at the rig. I’ve known the owner for years, and all I would have had to do was talk to him, and the lack of a receipt wouldn’t have been a problem. But he wasn’t there, so I just bought a new power supply, and I’ll return the bad next week.

Sometime in the next couple of days, I’ll get back over to Tom’s to try again.

By now it was time to meet Chris and Linda for dinner at Sam’s Boat right on Clear Lake. Sam’s is a Bar/Sports Bar/Restaurant, and seems to always be busy.

But the main reason we were there was so we could be waited on hand and foot by our granddaughter Piper.

She’s worked here for a while, and being a cute young blonde, makes REALLY good tips. And tomorrow being Super Bowl Sunday, it should be even better.

She did get a few minutes to sit down and chat, but she quickly got busy as the Saturday night rush started.

Besides the great service (not that we’re biased, or anything) Jan and I were really impressed by the fact that Piper has mastered the trick of taking our entire order for four people without writing anything down. And we had a number of options and special requests. And she got everything perfect. Didn’t miss anything.

After a great time, and great service from Piper, we said our goodbyes and left Piper with a very busy restaurant.

Our last stop on the way home was at Wal-Mart for some groceries and supplies, getting us home a little after 8pm. Like I said, a busy, fun, family day.

One good thing about my trip to EPO was I found a new toy. A Globe Helicopter.

But the problem was they didn’t have any in stock, just their demo. They said they should have some in next week, and that they were $99.99.

So when I got home, I checked Amazon, and lo and behold, they had them, and they were only $28.99.

Mine should be here Tuesday.

Looks like it will be great for flying in the rig since the blades are protected. I’ll keep you updated.

The other thing I ordered from Amazon is some more dried hot peppers, as in Trinidad Scorpion Butch T peppers, at 1,400,000 Scoville units, now rated as the hottest peppers in the world.

I want to grind them up and add the powder to the Ghost Chili Salt that Nick and Terry Russell bought for me in Florida last year. This makes the food a lot hotter without getting too salty.

Last time I did this I used the dried Ghost Chilis I got at Jungle Jim’s Market in Cincinnati last year. But now I’m out. So I thought I’d bump things up a couple of notches this time.

Regular readers will remember that up until a few years ago, Ghost Chilis were consider the hottest, at a little over 1,000,000 Scoville units. Then they were replaced by the Trinidad Scorpion at about 1.3 million.

Then last year a new king was crowned, known as the Butch T version of the Trinidad Scorpion. For a comparison, a jalapeno is about 5000 units, and a habanero is about 20,000.

The king is dead. Long live the new king.

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Thought for the Day:

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.” – Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia 1787).

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Catching up on Yesterday.

A couple of things arrived in the mail. One was the two extra thermal fuses that I ordered so I would have a spare in case one blows again in our washer/dryer. Ordinarily I wouldn’t worry about it since the one I bought locally cost around $18, and if I ordered one from the Splendide supplier they’re $40. But I found them through Amazon for $2.69 ea. So I ordered two.

I figured Nick will need one sooner or later.

I also received the pair of Denso 26” wiper blades for the rig I ordered, also from Amazon. Fleetwood sells them for $40. Amazon had them for $18. Nice.

I headed out about 12:30 on an afternoon of client stuff. First stop was a client that’s still running XP on a computer I built for him in 2006. It does what he needs and he sees no reason to upgrade, but as it turns out his power supply finally gave up the ghost after 7 years.

Had a little trouble finding an ATX power supply locally, since all machines use SATA now, but I finally tracked down. I’ll deliver it on Saturday and get him up and running again, hopefully for another 7 years.

I got back to the rig a little before 4pm, just in time to pick up Jan and then our friend’s Dick and Lillis. We were taking them to our favorite local Chinese place, King Food.

You’re always nervous when you take someone to a place you’ve highly recommended, but it turns out that they liked it as much as we did.

We got home about 7:30 and then I had to turn right around and go back up to Webster to do some computer stuff for a client that can’t be done during the day when they’re working.

The big problem as usual, turned out to be upgrading the UPS shipping software. Every January they come out with the new version, and ever January it turns out to be a real pain. Something always doesn’t work right.

This time it turned to be a problem with configuring the Remote Workstations located on other computers around the office. The setup sure doesn’t work like it used to, and there’s nothing in the instructions telling me how to do it differently.

About 11pm I gave up and headed home. I’ll call UPS Tech Support tomorrow and see what the problem is.

Back to Today.

I left the rig about 11:30 for more client stuff, and some errands. On the way home I picked up some MegaMillions Lotto tickets, and mailed Jan’s fingerprint cards back to Gate Guard Services for Jan’s Security Guard License.

Then I stopped and filled up the truck and WOW!  A week and a half ago when I filled up, gas was $3.09. Now it’s $3.29.

Bummer!

Getting back to the rig, I took a look at the Day/Night shade on my side of the bedroom. And it turned out to be a simple fix. The barrel tie-downs on both sides had cracked letting the cords loose, so I was able to quickly repair things without having to restring the shade. Took me longer to take it down and put it back up than to actually fix it.

So that’s two down and one to go. Only the living room one is left.

About 5pm Jan and I headed out to meet some friends at the Kelley’s Country Cookin place in Alvin for dinner. Really good food.

Then we all headed over to the Alvin Opry for a great show. Since we’ve only got a little over two weeks left here, this will probably be our last visit for this time.

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Thought for the Day:

The duty of a Patriot is to protect his country from his government. – Thomas Paine

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