Our RV Adventures

I spent most of the day at work tracking down a problem with our Click-N-Ship Business Pro software for our USPS shipping account.

Normally we just place the package on the scale, call up the address from the address book, or enter it from scratch if necessary., and then click the Print Label button.

This prints out the shipping label, complete with postage,  and charges our account for the postage. Then just slap the label on the box and drop it in the outgoing container and you’re done. Easy Peasy.

And we have the same type of software for our UPS shipments.

But after six packages were processed this morning, before I came in, the seventh one wouldn’t go through. giving an error message when Print Label was clicked.

After doing some checking, turns out that the Account Login Authentication wasn’t working, i.e. the software couldn’t login to our online account. So after rebooting the computer and trying it again with the same results, I put in a call to the help line, and waited for about 20 minutes. Finally talking to someone, that our software looked fine from their end, and anyway, they had nothing to do with ‘Account Authentication’.

Well, that was 20 minutes I’ll never get back.

So I was back on the phone calling the Account people, at the same number, just selection #2 instead of selection #8. I immediately got someone who told me everyone was busy, took my number, and said someone would call me back. That was 11am.

When I hadn’t heard from anyone by 3pm, I called back. And was told that they were working on the problem. I said, “What problem?” and she said, “The login problem.”.

So it was their problem all the time. But I didn’t find out for 4 hours. Great.

I’ll try later tonight to see if it’s working yet.

One thing funny today was a women calling in and saying she’d just got a new catalog and wanted to open a charge account like it said.

We all looked at each other, wondering what she was talking about, since we haven’t charge accounts for years. But she insisted that’s what her catalog said. So we had her read to us from the payment information paragraph, and it wasn’t like that in our copy. So finally I had Jennifer ask her for the date on the front of the catalog.

After a long silence, she said in a quite voice, “2012”

“And you just got this in the mail?”

“Well, maybe not.”

‘Click!’

I did get in a new toy, or toys, maybe, today. It’s a set of these PECHAM WiFi Switches.

They’re similar to the other ones I bought, but smaller and cheaper.

One of them I want to use to control my Power Converter. Used to keep the rig’s house and engine batteries charged while we’re plugged into shore power, my unit has 3 different charge levels, 14.4V, 13.6V, and 13.2V.

When it first turns on, it starts up at 14.4, stays there for about an hour, and then drops to 13.6 for a while, before steady-stating at 13.2V. And as far as keeping the house batteries charged, that works fine.

But the way the rig’s charging system works is that the engine batteries only get charged when the house battery voltage is above 14.0V. That’s the voltage the battery isolator pulls in and connects the house and rig batteries together. But since that only happens when the power converter first turns on, the engine batteries would gradually discharge over a period of time.

So my solution was to put the power converter on a timer that would cycle the power on and off several times a day. But I was never happy with the way it all work so I’m replacing the mechanical timer with one of these WiFi ones. Then I can modify the schedule remotely or manually control the timer itself.

Not sure what I’m going to do with the other one, but I’ll think of something.

The Headline of the Day:   MSNBC Host: Handgun Bullets Are Ineffective In Stopping School Shooters Because They’re Too Slow.

So maybe like in the Matrix movie where you could see the bullets coming and then dodge them?

Thought for the Day:  No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. – Abraham Lincoln

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Catching up starting with Saturday, I had planned to install my new LED headlight bulbs but both my Clymer’s and Hayne’s car manuals lied to me. They  said that the headlight mounting bolts were 3/8” inch. They weren’t

So I had planned to get the right socket when I stopped off at the rig to feed Karma Saturday night, but then I saw it was supposed to rain all day Sunday, so . . .

Never Mind!

Jan and I headed down to Seabrook about 5pm to drop her off at Kathy’s for her Annual Coworker Get-Together. Then I headed back toward Santa Fe with a stopover at King Food for a big bowl of Hot & Sour Soup for my dinner.

Getting to the rig, Karma was very happy to see me . . . or at least to see me open her container of Meow Mix Tuna and Shrimp. Of course she has her dry Meow Mix all the time so she wasn’t really that hungry. Also gave her a big squirt of whipped cream, her favorite.

Then after cleaning Karma’s litter box, I read for a while before heading back up to Seabrook to wait for Jan’s call that she was partied out. Which came about 9:45.

After getting a group photo,

and saying our goodbyes, we were on our way back to Katy, getting there around 11:30.

Later Jan and I were sleeping soundly until about 2:30am when a thunderstorm moved in and parked right over us. But it wasn’t the storm that woke us up.

It was the 140 pound Black Lab Miss Kitty, who terrified of thunderstorms, decided to join us . . .  by knocking open the bedroom door and leaping onto the bed with us. And snuggling down between us, whimpering.

Luckily for us, Baxter could have cared less, otherwise it could have gotten really crowded really fast. Finally getting back to sleep, I was awakening about an hour later to a leaking roof.

As least that was my first thought since something wet was dripping on me. Turns out that it was Miss kitty sitting up, and DROOLING on me.

Yuck!

This is how Jan pretty much spent the weekend here at Brandi’s

That’s Baxter on the left, then Mooshe the cat, Jan, and Miss Kitty on the right. The only thing that changed was Baxter and Kitty swapping places, or fighting over the remaining spot if I sat down.

And even if I did, sometimes Miss Kitty would just get up on the sofa with me, half on top of me.

Brandi, Lowell, and Landon got home about 2pm, excited and worn out after their fun weekend, so Jan and I headed home about 3. But after my Hot & Sour Soup meal last night, Jan wanted her bowl too, so we stopped off at King Food for an early dinner.

We each had a big bowl of the Hot & Sour Soup with Crispy Noodle Strips,

and an order of their delicious Crispy Chicken Wings with Garlic and Butter.

Really, really yummy.

Tomorrow it’s back to work.

The Headline of the Day:

Former Freemason, 51, found drunk and naked inside a huge pipe organ with a toy gun and a remote-controlled police car, says he got lost while trying to hand out cheeseburgers to the homeless.

Thought for the Day:

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