Monthly Archives: February 2024

A Very Big Disc . . .

CD’s and DVD’s seem to be fading away, with many new computers no longer even including a DVD drive. But researchers at the University of Shanghai are trying to resurrect it, but on a much larger scale.

Researchers have developed a Very Big Disc™ that can store up to 200 terabytes of data and may represent a return to optical media for long term storage

A team of scientists and researchers at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology have managed to exponentially increase the capacity of an optical disc by making use of a 3D planar recording architecture (via Techspot). Essentially, the process involves stacking hundreds of data-recording layers a mere one micrometer apart, all while keeping the overall thickness of the disc the same as a traditional DVD or Blu-ray.

This means that one of these V.B.D.’s could hold over 65,000 movies.

This much denser physical storage format makes use of 100 layers, which is said to result in a maximum data capacity of 1.6 petabits, or roughly 200 terabytes of storage. That’s a gigantic leap over even the most advanced quad-layer Blu-ray disks, that currently top out at around 128 GB of data.

Another associated benefit would be the minimisation of data migration. The discs are said to be highly stable, with an expected lifespan of 50 to 100 years. That’s a huge leap over current data centre HDD based storage systems, which generally move data over to new devices every five to 10 years to avoid data-loss from ageing drives.

Google says that about 500,000 movies have been made throughout history. So with approximately 8 of these V.B.D. could hold every movie ever made.

A lot of people seemed to be worried about A.I. taking over many jobs, it definitely has a ways to go.

When asked “Who most negatively impacted society, Elon Musk tweeting memes, or Adolf Hitler?”, Google’s Gemini’s A.I. said this –

“Wow, tough question. Too close to call.”

And here’s the A.I.’s rationalization.

Elon Musk vs Adolf Hitler

So far, I’m not worried too much.

Lunch today was the Yummy Yummy Chinese Buffet, and then HEB and gas.

Short, but Sweet!


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:

They call it a ‘selfie’ because ‘narcissistic’ is too hard to spell.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™


February 25, 2010

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum…

Today our friends, Al and Adrienne, took us to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on the western side of Tucson.

We had visited the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Carlsbad, NM in 2007, but this was our first time here.

The scenery was just spectacular. More kinds of cactus than we knew existed, and many birds we had never seen before.

DM1

Below is the top of a saguaro cactus. They do not know what causes it to develop like this.

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A very beautiful Barn Owl

DM4

DM5

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DM7

DM8

This is what a normal saguaro cactus looks like. Supposedly they don’t start branching out limbs until they’re about 75 years old.

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Another saguaro cactus with a strange top.

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These are saguaro cactus ‘bones’.  This is what is left after a saguaro dies.

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A Great Horned Owl during the Raptor Free Flight demo.

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A poisonous Gila Monster.

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A very well-fed prairie dog on guard.

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An endangered Mexican Gray Wolf.

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Coming back to Tucson in the late afternoon, we stopped at Silver Saddle Steak House for an early supper, hoping to beat the crowd from the rodeo going on here in Tucson.

The food was great!  Adrienne, Al, and I each had a rack of BBQ ribs, and Jan had a 1/2 BBQ chicken. We all agreed it was some of the best we’d had.

Al and Adrienne dropped us off at our rig about 5:30 pm and we agreed to meet them at their home around 7pm for coffee and dessert.

Adrienne made us a great flan and we watched pictures of their trip to Ecuador and The Galapagos Islands last year. The scenery and animals were really something.

We got back to the rig about 9:30, thoroughly pooped. But we had a great time.

Tomorrow they already had a prior engagement, so after we decided to stay another night, we’re going to get together again on Saturday for more sightseeing.


February 25, 2011

Blown Breakers and Bread Pudding . . .

We didn’t really do much today, but first off, I got a number of comments and emails thanking me for detailing how to weigh your coach at truck stop scales. Glad I could help.

One thing to note. Weighing this way will not be possible at all truck scales. I have seen many scales that either have railings alongside the scale platform, or the scale platform is elevated above the surrounding surface. I assume this is to prevent drivers from fudging their truck weights, but it makes it harder for us, too.

I was rudely awakened this morning by absolute silence…and “Sorry, Sorry, Sorry” from Jan up front in the kitchen. We have a white noise generator in our bedroom and when the power goes off, it gets very, very quiet.

Jan had gotten up about 15 minutes earlier, and forgetting that we only have 20 amps where we parked right now, she turned on the microwave without first turning off the electric floor heater.

That’s a no-no!

On 20 amps we can only use one heavy-draw appliance at a time. Which means the toaster oven, microwave, coffee maker, or the floor heater are all one at a time.

So having to get up to reset the breaker, I just decided I was up for the morning. I also made sure that Jan now knows where the breaker is outside, so when she blows it again (and she will) she can reset it herself.

And I can stay in bed.

But since I was up, I decided to stay up and went ahead and made us coffee for the morning. Then about 10:30 Jan and I headed out to WalMart, by way of the Post Office to mail a letter, and Wendy’s for a Spicy Chicken sandwich lunch.

About 5:00 Jan, and I headed over to Famous Dave’s BBQ, where we met Tom and Barb Westerfield for supper. As usual the food was great, and Jan and I couldn’t resist sharing a Bread Pudding with ice cream dessert.

We got home about 6:30 and that was it for today.


February 25, 2012

Project Day in Gila Bend . . .

The RV Park here in Gila Bend is one of my favorite places for getting projects done. They have a good hardware store, a good auto parts store, and not a lot of distractions.

After our morning coffee, my first project was to remove the door trim panel on our truck. When I replaced the power window system a month or so ago, I had problems getting the manual door lock working correctly, and the result was that when you locked the doors, the three passengers locked, and the alarm was set, but the driver’s door didn’t actually lock because of the drag of the manual locks.

Luckily it only took about 20 minutes to remove the panel, adjust the lock, and replace the trim panel. Now it all works fine.

Next up I wanted to mount an external 12 volt socket in one of my outside bays to supply power for my Winegard Carryout Automatic Satellite Antenna.

It only requires the 12 volts during the initial setup, and right now I just bring the cable inside the coach and plug it in on the dash. But I wanted to install a more convenient socket.

I figured I would see if I could find a source of 12 volts in the storage bay directly under my driver’s seat where the satellite wires are also attached. So I pulled the generator slide IN/OUT switch out of its housing and found the 12 volts I needed on the switch.

12 Volt Sat Power 1

My next problem was to figure out the best way to tap into the + and – wires. I decided to use a Suitcase Splice,

Suitcase Splice

but I didn’t have any that would handle the 12 gauge wires on the switch, so a trip into Gila Bend to the NAPA store was in order.

Since it was about lunchtime, I checked with Jan in the laundry room next door to see what she wanted to do. She was doing our heavy rugs in the big machines that she doesn’t like to do in our coach washer. We decided that I would just bring something back from the Subway across the parking lot from the park.

After lunch, I spliced the socket wires onto the 12 volt wires,

12 Volt Sat Power 2

and then mounted the socket to the IN/OUT switch panel.

12 Volt Sat Power 3

After checking the voltage to the socket, I declared the job done and got out of the sun. It was over 80 degrees here today, and the bay where I was working was right in the sun.

At this point I thought a nap was in order, and it was.

Around 6 pm, Jan and I drove back into town to have dinner once again at Sofia’s Mexican Food.

This time I decided to try Jan’s favorite Shrimp Burrito, but in my case I added a couple of their delicious enchiladas. It was as good as Jan had said.

Sofia's Shrimp Burrito

After a great last meal here in Gila Bend, we headed home for the night.

Tomorrow we’ll make the 120 mile trip over to Yuma for a rally.


February 25, 2013

Blowin’ in the Wind . . .

Jan and I headed over to Gina’s about 9:30 with a quick detour by Subway for breakfast sandwiches for everyone. And after getting Jan settled in, I headed back to the rig to get us ready to head out this afternoon.

A little after noon I drove back over to Gina’s to say our goodbyes to Gina and bring Jan back to the rig. Coming back into the park I stopped at the office to settle up for a week’s worth of electricity, which turned out to be $16.10.

We pulled out of our site, got hitched up, and hit the road a little before 2pm, later than we normally would leave, but we’re only going 68 miles so it shouldn’t be a problem.

But what did turn out to be a little bit of a problem was the wind. All the forecasts said it would be pretty windy last night, a little less this morning, and then drop off in the afternoon.

But instead, the wind just blew harder as the afternoon wore on, which made for some interesting driving. But since we were staying on state roads and seldom getting above 50mph, it wasn’t a real problem

We got into Boerne (bur nee) about 3:15 and made a stop at the Wal-Mart to pick up some supplies. I had already scouted out the location on Google Maps and Street View and knew I wouldn’t have any trouble getting in and out.

About an hour later we were back on the road heading for Lakehills, TX and the Medina Lake Thousand Trails Resort. But we did have a small bobble (well, maybe a little larger than small) along the way. Our GPS had us taking a shortcut on a rural back road, which although narrow and a little rough in a couple of places, was OK for the 10 miles we were going to be on it. What was the problem was that I missed a turn. Well, not really a turn, more like a curve, where I went straight instead.

So for only the 2nd time in 5 years we had to unhitch the truck so I could turn the rig around and get us back on track. Since we were only about 8 miles from the park, Jan just followed me the rest of the way.

We got into the park about 5:15, got checked in, and found us a nice space with a good satellite view. And as it turns out we’ve got good Verizon 3G also. So far it seems like a really nice park.


February 25, 2014

Apples and BBQ . . .

First up, a number of our blog readers are having trouble accessing this site while using the Safari browser on iPads, iPhones, and iMacs. This is a known problem, not just with this blog, but many other websites. Some people have trouble even with sites like Facebook and Google.

The problem is with the Safari browser and this link from Apple Support details the problem and a number of possible solutions.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4093878?tstart=0

Of course, if you have this problem on this site, you’ll never see this.

So, Never Mind.


On another software note, there is a new wave of email viruses on the loose. The latest appears to be a video email from WhatsApp. It looks like this.

image

When you click on the play button, it takes you to a website that will infect you. You can get more info here.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/whatsapp-new-voicemail-malware-emails.shtml

Finally, if you get ANY email from anyone, including someone you know, and that email has one of those shortened links like this one – http://bit.ly/OAM7r7, do not click on it. (BTW this one takes you right back to this site.)

So, let’s be careful out there.


About 1:30 Jan and I walked down the row to meet Ed and Debi Hurlburt. We have some mutual friends, and they read our blog, so we were looking forward to getting together. But our ‘getting to know each other’ visit turned into an all-afternooner and then later, dinner.

We all hit it off immediately and spent the rest of the afternoon talking about anything and everything, and were surprised to find out how much we have in common.

Finally about 4:30 we headed out for Peter’s BBQ a few miles up the road in Ellinger. Jan and I had eaten here years ago, and it was still just as good. Great BBQ and a buffet of sides, including desserts. Really good.


I had hoped to be able to start going through bins, sorting stuff to stay, go, or trash. But between the nasty weather, and making new friends, that didn’t happen.

But there’s always tomorrow.


February 25, 2015

Fish, and Shrimp, and Oysters, Oh My . . .

Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

We woke up to 38 degrees this morning, so after coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts’s Munchkins, I worked on client stuff for most of the morning. It was just too cold and windy to get anything done outside.

About 2pm Jan and I headed out for a bunch of errands and then dinner. After stopping for gas and the bank, our next stop was a client’s office in Clear Lake for a while to go over some website changes.

Then it was on up to the Almeda area to Johnson GT, a truck accessory company. I had picked up some new locking handles the other day for the lift window on our truck cap. But I ended up with two differently keyed locks, and keys to only fit one lock. So I went back up to get two new locks both keyed the same.

That accomplished, we headed back south on I-45 and stopped off at the Sam’s Club on El Dorado to pick up the prescriptions we dropped off yesterday, and a few other things as well.

Finally, with 5pm looming, and with our stomachs rumbling, we headed over to Kemah to have dinner under the Kemah Bridge at Outrigger’s, one of our favorite local seafood places located right on Clear Lake Channel

Outrigger's View 3

Outrigger's View 2

Outrigger's View 1

And lucky for us it was 50 cent raw oyster night, so we started off with a dozen. With lemon juice and horseradish for the cocktail sauce, it can’t be beat.

Outrigger's Oysters

I had the Fish Sandwich, with a big piece of Atlantic Cod. Eat your heart out, Filet-O-Fish.

Outrigger's Fish Sandwich

Jan had her usual two Grilled Shrimp Tacos, the real reason we come here.

Outrigger's Shrimp Tacos

It’s hard to tell from this photo, but it’s just solid shrimp underneath the fixin’s.

Getting home about 6:30, it was already down in the  40’s, with a low of 36 or so expected. But tomorrow’s supposed to be sunny and in the high 50’s so maybe I can get some things down outside. I’m running out of time before we leave on Sunday.

But we don’t have it as cold as our great-nieces and nephews do. At least not according to this photo and video.

Redneck Skiing

Nothing like a little ‘improvised’ skiing using plastic garbage can lids. Maybe the next Olympic sport.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1013910515289021

And of course, sledding behind a one-horse (well, maybe about 5) open golf cart.

Kids can really have a lot of winter fun up north.

Of course, by ‘up north’, I’m talking about north Alabama here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much snow there, at least not when I lived there.


February 25, 2016

Free is Not Always Free . . .

We didn’t walk this morning since I wanted to get an early start on finding parts to hook up my new FREE washer drain pump. Well, the pump was free, but I spent about $30 at Lowe’s this afternoon buying tubing, hoses, couplings, circle clamps, adapters, and angle iron to hopefully make all this work.

But it may be Saturday before I really have a chance to get started on it. Right now I think the only part I’m kind of unsure about is exactly how I’m going to mount it. But that’ll have to wait until I see where the pump ends up being positioned after I’ve got it hooked up.

About 4:30 we headed out to the Asian BBQ & Grill for dinner with Brett and Frankie O’Neal. Sherry and Clark Bennett introduced us to this last Friday, and we were really looking forward to trying it again.

Jan and I each had the same as last time, the Pork and Shrimp Spring Rolls,

Asian BBQ Spring Rolls_thumb[1]

and the Grilled Lemon Grass Chicken over Vermicelli.

Asian BBQ Lemon Grass Chicken_thumb[1]

but this time I added a bowl of Pho with Eye of Round Steak, Beef Brisket, and Beef Sirloin.

Asian Grill Pho_thumb[1]

And the big plate of fresh greens, with cilantro, basil, bean sprouts, and other stuff was delicious as well.

As before with Brett and Frankie, we spent longer talking than actually eating,

Brett & Frankie_thumb[1]

and didn’t leave the restaurant until after 7pm.

Our next stop was right down the road at the HEB for a few things, and then we topped off the evening by ‘accidentally’ stumbling across a Marble Slab Creamery. True be told, we stumbled across it while looking for a Dairy Queen, but we won’t talk about that

Tomorrow, Jan has one last appointment down in the Clear Lake area, then she wants to get a pedicure, and I need to see a client or two. Then after that, I don’t know.

We may get together with the kids, but our schedules may not match up.

So we’ll see.


February 25, 2017

Butter Smuggling . . .

Today was another ‘stay at home work through my checklist’ day. And I actually got a lot done for a change.

One thing I got done was to finally install the new wiper blades. I used the same Denso blades that came originally on the rig, but they no longer make blades that fit the mounting on our 1999 wiper arms. So there’s drilling, bending and filing required to make them work.

I’ve looked into replacing the pantograph arms, but any possible replacements seem to run in the $150/pair range, so I’ll keep drilling, bending and filing once a year until I find something cheaper.

I also purged the computer cables behind Jan’s chair and installed the new APC Uninterruptible Power Supply and got it wired up. I then zip-tied the cables and neatened it all up.

Tomorrow it’s back down to Clear Lake for a big family get-together at the local Cheddar’s. We’ll leave about 9:15 for our 11:30 meetup. Really looking forward to seeing everyone together.

Regular Big Bang Theory fans will remember the episode where the gang was writing an app that would solve an equation just by taking a photo of it. Well, you can now have that app, or one like on your own phone. It’s called Photomath, and it’s passed every test I’ve given it.

Here’s the link for the Android version – Photomath

Check it out.


Want to try a butter that’s so good that people are willing to smuggle it in just to get some?

Well, the butter is called KerryGold, a grass-fed butter that’s imported from Ireland. And if you live in Wisconsin you have to smuggle it into the state because it’s not allowed to be sold there.

Wisconsin, known as The Dairy State, has always gone out of its way to protect its dairy industry, even to the point of banning margarine outright for many years. And when they did finally allow it in the state, they required it to be dyed in odd colors like white, or even pink.

And this mindset is causing KerryGold’s problem. Wisconsin’s dairy laws required that any imported butter undergo a strict 32 point inspection process that takes weeks. And this is not just a one-time check, but is necessary for every single shipment that comes into the state.

And since KerryGold prides themselves in the freshness of their product, they refuse to sell it in Wisconsin. So Wisconsin KerryGold lovers regularly smuggle it back across the state lines to feed their butter addiction.

And you can buy it in the other 49 states with no problems, even at Wal-Mart. So we picked up a block of it on our last visit there. And its reputation is well deserved, and it leaves Land O Lakes in the dust. The rich, smooth, buttery taste really stands out, and makes it worth the slight extra cost.

Give it a try.


February 25, 2018

Home Again . . .

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,

Jan's Coworker Get-Together468

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 was 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

How Jan Spent The Weekend

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,

King Food Large Hot & Sour Soup

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

King Food Crispy Chicken Wings

Really, really yummy.

Tomorrow it’s back to work.


February 25, 2019

Bunny Tales . . .

This blog is one of those that some call a Potpourri. In my case it’s more of a hot mess consisting of some random thoughts and ramblings.

We’re now at 60 days and counting on our European Cruise, and Jan and I want to thank everyone for all their help and suggestions. It’s much appreciated. Especially since time will start passing much faster the closer our departure gets.

I’ve got my WiFi Thermostat up and working. It’s now paired with both my phone and tablet, and is displaying the temperature in the fridge using the attached probe.

C929 Thermostat Display

Based on the Hi and Lo temperature settings, it also turns a lamp on and off that’s plugged into the outlet on the front.

Now my problem is to connect it up to control the refrigerator. I’m trying to avoid hooking it directly since that would mean trying to thread the probe from the outside compartment through the rig wall and into the fridge.

Since the fridge is already controlled by a Smart Plug through Amazon Alexa, my best hope is to get the thermostat to control the fridge through Alexa’s Smart Plug. So I’m working on getting the two to communicate. I’ll keep you informed.

My blog yesterday about coffeeshops in Amsterdam and marijuana got a lot of comments, including some about drinking and smoking.

As far as Jan is concerned, growing up Mormon, she’s never smoked. I probably smoked less than two packs of cigarettes total in my life, and never bought a single pack. I just bummed a few from others. I did smoke a pipe for a while, but that’s about it.

I did have a few ‘vague’ weekends during my college days, but quickly found it more fun to have a few beers to get a buzz, and then sober up drinking sodas, and enjoy all the drunken antics of my friends. Too bad I didn’t have a cellphone camera back then. Some of the photos would be prime blackmail fodder.

I did lose a long weekend in New Orleans one time. Somewhere along the line, this happened.

PlayboyClub5

Things got a little fuzzy after that. I do remember we closed down the New Orleans Playboy Club, and as we were leaving, and trying to remember where we left my car, we took a shortcut behind the club and through their employee parking lot.

And bumped into ‘Bambi’, the girl in the photo. Turns out ‘Bambi’ was her ‘Hutch’ name, while Mary Anne was her real one. She lived nearby and was waiting for one of the bouncers to walk her home, since it wasn’t exactly a nice area.

But her bouncer friend was tied up with the police for an altercation with a rowdy patron, so I ‘volunteered’ to walk her home, giving my friends the keys to go find the car. Turns out that she had just moved out from Atlanta and didn’t really know anyone yet.

Things got a little ‘more fuzzy’ after that, and unfortunately the next thing I really remember was getting out of a cab at our motel. All I know is that this was stuffed in my jacket pocket.

Playboy Bunny Tail 1

And yes, it’s what you think it is. And yes, I still have it.

Jan said she was surprised to see how well it was made. I said, “Well, it had to stand up to a lot of fondling.

Playboy Bunny Tail 2

The problem is that I really don’t know what I did to get it. But I’m sure I had fun.


February 25, 2020

NYC Wasn’t Built In A Day . . .

Thanks to everyone for their ‘Get Well Thoughts’. I’m feeling a little better, with the coughing finally subsiding. Now I’m just at the point where my chest is so sore that when I do cough it feels like there’s a knife in my ribs. But at least I seem to be on the mend, so I’ll be going back into work tomorrow.

Our daughter Brandi got bored this past weekend and pulled out one of Landon’s Christmas gifts that he hadn’t had a chance to get to, mainly because, though the puzzle itself came from Amazon in just a few days, the special pair of tweezers had to come from China and took over a month.

NYC Skyline Puzzle

The reason you need tweezers is that 1480 pieces are all 1/8” or smaller.

So Brandi started working on it and ended up there.

NYC Skyline Puzzle 1

But then Landon came along and told Brandi, “You’re not doing it right”, and took it over.

NYC Skyline Puzzle 2

NYC Skyline Puzzle 3

NYC Skyline Puzzle 4

Looks like he’s got it well in hand.


February 25, 2021

They Had Me At PB&J . . .

Jan and I headed out about 1pm for Jan’s 2:45 doctor’s appointment, early because we wanted to have lunch first. And since it was right on our route, we decided to check out the new Eggcellence that just opened in the old Steak and Shake right on I-45, actually right next door to Twin Peaks.

They weren’t very busy, which I hope isn’t indicative of their long-term success. It’s a very visible location, but not exactly easy to get to with all the I-45 construction in that area.

Jan went with what she comes in for, the Greek Omelet.

Eggcellence Greek Omelet 20210225

She said it’s the best one she’s found in this area, and pretty much why we come here when Jan doesn’t want her Bravocado Toast from Snooze.

I got the Texas Sampler once again, with eggs over medium, bacon, ham, and sausage, and fruit instead of the normal hashbrowns and pancakes.

Eggcellence Texas Sampler 20210225

Then it was on to Jan’s appointment, which was right next door to Clear Lake Regional Medical Center where she used to work before we started RV’ing.

And since this appointment was just to go over some test results, Jan was in and out fairly quickly, and after a quick stop at the Clear Lake HEB for a couple of things, it was on down Hwy 3 to the WalMart on 646 for a few more things, before heading home, with a stop at the Santa Fe PO along the way.

And as we were coming along NASA Rd 1 heading over to Hwy 3, we noticed a new restaurant had opened across from the IHOP. Called Texas Huddle Grill, it looked intriguing, so when we got home this evening, I checked them out online.

Texas Huddle Grille

Looking over the menu, I found some of the usual suspects, salads, wings, pizzas, tacos, and burgers. And one particular burger caught my eye.

It was their PB&J Bacon Cheeseburger –

One or two sizzling all-beef patties covered with pepper jack cheese and bacon. Topped with creamy peanut butter and raspberry jelly, then sandwiched between a buttery brioche bun..

They had me at PB&J.

A Hidden Van Gogh

Regular readers know what big Vincent Van Gogh fans Jan and I are, having seen Van Gogh exhibits in Paris, London, New York City, and here in Houston.

Well, a lost painting by Vincent Van Gogh, hidden in a private collection and not seen in public for over a century, is going on the auction block next month in Paris and is expected to garner as much as $10 million.

Lost Van Gogh Painting

Entitled “Street Scene in Montmartre”, it was painted in 1887, about 3 years before Vah Gogh’s death.

Unfortunately it will only be exhibited in Amsterdam and Hong Kong before returning to Paris. Too bad it’s not coming through Houston.


February 25, 2022

Blew Out My Flip Flop . . .

Of course, now that we’re off the road, Jimmy Buffet gets into the resort RV park business, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville RV Parks

With 3 already open, one in Lake Lanier, GA, one in Pigeon Forge, TN, and one in Auburndale, FL, they expect to have 50 up and running in the next 5 years.

Margaritaville RV Park

With more than 30 successful albums under his belt, the self-proclaimed beach bum parlayed his laid-back vibe into one of the world’s most successful hospitality brands. What began with a few restaurants has transformed into hotels, casinos, resorts, retail stores, a cruise line, senior living communities, and a line of licensed products carrying the “Margaritaville” name.

Guests can bring a camper and rent a full-hookup site for about $70 a night. Camp Margaritaville RV Resort locations also offer “cabana” cabin rentals and premium motorhome sites with waterfront views and personal Tiki huts.

The existing locations offer resort-style amenities, such as luxurious pools, waterslides, Tiki bars, putting courses, entertainment stages, daily scheduled activities, playgrounds, and dog parks.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, the “Come Monday” singer is worth an estimated $600 million. He’s considered one of the world’s wealthiest musicians.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I kind of know Jimmy Buffet. He wrote in one of his books, how growing up in the Mobile, AL area, he and some friends would come over to the Alabama Point area near Gulf Shores to surf. And that there was usually a bunch of locals there too.

And I was one of the ‘locals’ that was surfing there, and remember the guys from Mobile.


Good, but kind of disappointing.

I blogged yesterday about Hot Mamba Peanut Butter that I’d ordered from Amazon.

Hot Mambo Peanut Butter

And as I suspected, it’s a really good peanut butter, but not very hot. It’s less hot than the salsa we had yesterday at El Palenque. Of course, in the world of peanut butter, it’s probably pretty spicy, but just not in my world.


February 25, 2023

Always Tip The Cook . . .

Jan and I were on our way over to the NTB tire center over on I-45 for two new front tires, getting there about noon for our appointment. And 60 minutes and $300 later we were on our way back down to the nearby Denny’s for lunch once again.

And once again, we got our usual Ultimate Omelets.

Denny's Ultimate Omelet 20221203

This is why I regularly tip Hugo the cook for our great omelets. Like the $10 I had Angie our server pass on to him today.

Always tip your cook. He has his hands in your food.

Afterwards, heading back toward the rig, we stopped off at HEB for our weekly HEB stuff and gas, before getting home about 3pm

Tomorrow we’re making a trip up to Conroe to meet up with Debi and Ed Hurlburt once again.

Really looking forward to it.

 

 

 

They’re Always Watching You . . .

Concerning the recent AT&T, Verizon, T- Mobile cellphone outage a few days ago, AT&T said it was caused by a glitch when they updated some software, and that it was not a ‘cyberattack.

AT&T told ABC News in a statement ABC News that the outage was not a cyberattack but caused by “the application and execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network.”

Two sources briefed on the situation told ABC News that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among other agencies, had been urgently investigating to determine whether the AT&T outage was the result of a cyberattack or a hack, or simply some sort of technical malfunction.

Of course that doesn’t explain Verizon or T-Mobile’s problem with the same thing.

Now there’s some thought that the outage might be caused by a Solar Flare.

The sun is bursting with activity at a level that hasn’t been seen in nearly a decade.

In less than 24 hours, the sun fired off three X-class solar flares, the highest magnitude on the scale used to measure the intensity of flares.

The third was the strongest of the bunch and was “the most powerful flare since the great solar storms of September 2017,” SpaceWeather.com explained.

But some authorities don’t agree.

Solar flares of this magnitude can temporarily disrupt high-frequency radio signals on Earth, but NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center debunked any speculation that the flares were related to the cellphone outages reported across the United States on Thursday.

“While solar flares can affect communication systems, radar and the Global Positioning System, based on the intensity of the eruption and associated phenomena, it is highly unlikely that these flares contributed to the widely reported cellular network outages,” the SWPC said in a statement Thursday.

Now I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that when you have multiple cellphone outages and “the most powerful flare since the great solar storms of September 2017,” you might want to take a further look at this ‘coincidence’.

They’re always watching you, even, apparently candy vending machines. Or at least M&M candy machines, anyway.

It seems when a student at the University of Waterloo, located near Ontario, Canada, went to buy a treat from a vending machine, he found this message –

First off, why is a candy machine running Windows? And even more so, why does a candy vending machine need a Facial Recognition app?

Students told CTV News that their confidence in the university’s administration was shaken by the controversy. Some students claimed on Reddit that they attempted to cover the vending machine cameras while waiting for the school to respond, using gum or Post-it notes. One student pondered whether “there are other places this technology could be being used” on campus.

And after some further hemming and hawing, they came up with this explanation.

Adaria Vending Services told MathNEWS that “what’s most important to understand is that the machines do not take or store any photos or images, and an individual person cannot be identified using the technology in the machines. The technology acts as a motion sensor that detects faces, so the machine knows when to activate the purchasing interface—never taking or storing images of customers.”

So whatever happened to ‘pick out your purchase through the glass and pull the lever or press the button? And if they wanted a ‘motion sensor’, why not just use an actual motion sensor?

It’s gotta be cheaper than a camera, a computer, and an App.

Or maybe there’s more than they’re telling us.

There’s been a number of cases recently of companies stealthily collecting facial recognition data to use or sell.

AI company harvested billions of Facebook photos for a facial recognition database it sold to police

Clearview AI aims to put almost every human in facial recognition database

Facial Recognition Software Is Everywhere, With Few Legal Limits

So, who’s watching you now?

Lunch today was at the Kelley’s Country Cookin’s up in League City, with Jan getting one of the Saturday daily specials, the Grilled Catfish with Green Beans, Carrots, and Fried Okra. A great deal for only $11.99/

I got the Chili and Eggs with Grits and Cornbread Muffin.

I only asked for one, but they brought out 3, so I had a couple to bring home for next week.

All delicious!

Then it was on up to the Wal-Mart on El Dorado, rather than our usual one down here in our area. Just wanted a change, I guess.

Tomorrow looks to be Yummy Yummy Chinese Buffet, and then HEB. But you never can tell.


Thought for the Day:

“One of the serious problems in planning against American doctrine is that the Americans do not read their manuals nor do they feel any obligations to follow their doctrine”

From a Russian warfare manual


“The reason that the American army does so well in wartime is that war is chaos, and the American army practices chaos on a daily basis.”

A WWII German General Officer

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™


February 24, 2010

On to Tucson…

We left Las Cruces a few minutes after 10am heading to Tucson for a few days to visit some friends we met in Alaska two years ago.

It got down to 24 last night so I’m glad I disconnected the water. There was ice on top of the truck this morning, but no snow at least.

About 15 miles out of Las Cruces, we passed through a Border Patrol inspection. Every vehicle was sniffed by dogs, I assume looking for drugs.

Or maybe brisket.

We stopped for lunch in Lordsburg NM at Kranberry’s Restaurant which advertised RV parking on their billboards coming into town. The food was good and we appreciated being able to park the rig without any problems.

One thing we noticed was all the snow-topped mountains as we got further west and crossed the Continental Divide at 4525 feet. And we really enjoyed the rocky landscape. Some of the rock formations we passed were really something.

We pulled in Voyager RV Resort here in Tucson about 4:15 and quickly got set up. According to the billboards coming into town, this park was voted the Best RV Park in the Country. And what we’ve seen of it looks really nice.

We met our friends, Al and Adrienne, about 5:30 at the park restaurant. and had a great time catching up. We hadn’t seen them since we parted company coming back from Alaska in Oct. 2008.  They workamped in Yellowstone National Park last year and will be in Washington State this summer.  We hope to be able to see them there if we get that far north this year.

After dinner we went over to their house and visited for a while longer. They have two dogs, Banjo and Sarah, that we had gotten to know in Alaska, and it was obvious they both remembered us. They were jumping around, barking, and leaping on us. Then when we sat down, they were at our feet or in our laps..

We got back to the rig about 9:30 after planning a full day of sightseeing tomorrow. We’re really looking forward to it.


February 24, 2011

Weigh Stations and Fairgrounds . . .

We got up about 9am and got our hearts pumping with a big pot of Texas Pecan Hazelnut coffee. And about 11:30 we pulled out of our site into the adjacent parking lot and onto the scales.

Scales 1

When you park on the scales, make sure your front and rear axles are on two different scale segments, indicated by the black stripes on the scale.

Scales 4

Remember how yesterday I said you needed a long stick? These photos show why. Even when you’re at the right level, it’s still over a 3 foot reach to press one of the call buttons (one of the two buttons on either side of the speaker at the bottom).

Scales 3

You press the button and when they answer, tell them you’re a private coach and want a weigh.

Scales 6

This weigh will give you a front axle/rear axle weight, as well as a total gross weight for the coach.

Next I pulled through and back around, reentering the scales, but off to the left side, being sure that my left side wheels were completely on the apron and not on the scales. This allows me to weigh only the right side of the coach. This time I had to get out of the coach (with my long stick) to press the button. I now told them I wanted a ‘reweigh’. This saves me $5.00.

Scales 5

A ‘weigh’ is $6.00, and a ‘reweigh’ is $1.00. If you tell them both times you want a ‘weigh’, it will cost you $12.00. A ‘weigh’ and a ‘reweigh’ is $7.00.

Go figure. Just another mystery of life.

After pulling off the scales, I parked the coach and then Jan and I drove over to the office and picked up my weigh tickets, one for each time.

The first ticket shows that at 32,340 lbs., I’m about 340 lbs. over gross vehicle weight. Not exactly good, but actually only a little over 1% overweight.

As far as the front and rear axles go, I’m 120 lbs. under the max on the front axle and 460 lbs. too heavy on the rear. Again only a little over 2% overweight.

Time to jettison some books. Or a cat…a black cat.

Scale Weigh Ticket 1

The reweigh ticket has some good news. The reason for weighing one side by itself is to see if your weight is balanced pretty equally on each corner.

The front axle is perfectly balanced. 11880 lbs. total front axle – 5940 lbs. right front equals 5940 lbs. on the left side.

Perfect.

Scale Weigh Ticket 2

As far as the rear axle, 20460 lbs. minus 10340 lbs. equals 10120 lbs.

A little mismatch, but only about 2% again.

After we picked up our weigh tickets, we drove into Gila Bend one last time so Jan could get a McDonald’s Fish sandwich and some fries for lunch.

And about 15 minutes after we got back, we hit the road to Yuma about 115 miles away.

After we got set up, about 5pm, we met up with some other RV’ers and all drove over to Chretin’s, a local Mexican restaurant we’ve enjoyed in the past. They were really busy by the time we left, but luckily we got there early enough to beat the crowd.

After a couple of hours of swapping stories, we decided that, yes we DID have room for Dairy Queen, so we all adjourned to the nearest DQ to continue the evening’s fun and frivolity.

Ok, well it was fun, anyway.

Finally getting back to the rigs, we said our goodnights and settled in for the evening.


February 24, 2012

It’s Alive !!!!

I was up about 6:30 this morning, for two reasons. One, it was a travel day and I wanted to start packing things away, and two, I wanted to call Winegard about the problem with my Carryout Satellite Antenna. Their hours started at 7:30 CST so they would be open now.

So after starting the coffee, I got on the phone with a young lady at Winegard who gave me a couple of more things to check on and then call her back after we got to Gila Bend this afternoon.

We pulled out of the Pima County Fairgrounds a little before 9:30 heading for Gila Bend about 135 miles away.

We pulled into Holt’s Shell RV Park a little before noon, found an empty site, and got parked. Then I walked over to the office and paid for two nights. We got here this early in the day because this time last year we had to wait for RV’s to pull out before we could get a site, but this we had plenty of sites to choose from.

After getting hooked up, I took the dome off the satellite antenna and started checking for 12 volts on the circuit board. And came up with zip . . . no 12v. So I started working my way back up the circuit, finally getting back to the power cable itself.

So I checked it again. And this time found no voltage on the cable.

Huh?  I had voltage on it last night. What happen?

Well, as it turned out, I apparently managed to hold the cable in the one position where it worked. A little experimentation showed that the problem was in the plug itself.

12 Volt Plug

This was good since I would be able to replace this myself. But in the meantime, I called Winegard to see about getting a replacement cable.

I was told I would have to fax them my sales receipt and they would send me a new cable, no charge. Since I didn’t want to wait that long, I drove into town and bought a new plug at the NAPA Auto Parts store.

Getting back to the park, I had the plug replaced and the antenna up and working in about 20 minutes.

It’s alive!!

Great! Now I’ll get to watch “Fringe” tonight.

Later, about 5:30 Jan and I headed into town to have dinner at Sofia’s Mexican Food.

A little hole-in-the-wall place, it has some of the best Mexican food around. We always eat here, and in fact, we’ll eat here again tomorrow night.

Sofia's

Jan loves their Shrimp Burrito. It’s jam-packed with large, tasty shrimp, and is a meal all by itself, although Jan usually gets an order of guacamole with it.

Sofia Shrimp Burrito

Back in Houston, it’s Go Texan Day, and everyone dresses up Western, even Landon.

Cowboy Landon 1

I think he looks like Woody, the cowboy in the Toy Story movies.

Woody-in-Toy-Story-3-001

Cowboy Landon 2

Woody_Toy_Story_2

Brandi said when she put the hat on him, he didn’t like it, until he saw himself in the mirror with it on. Then he didn’t want to take it off.


February 24, 2013

Movin’ On . . .

Today is our last full day here at Canyon Lake. Tomorrow we’ll make the 68 mile run to the Medina Lake Thousand Trails west of San Antonio.

Brandi, Lowell, and Landon came by the RV park a little after 10am to meet up with us for lunch. Jan was hoping that the deer would come out so Landon could see them, but no such luck. I guess by this time the deer had gone back into the woods to stay cool.

About 11am we all drove over to Milagro’s to have lunch. We were able to get a table out on the patio so we could watch Landon entertain himself in the play area.

Here he’s working on the pipes under the sink. He certainly seems to have the plumber pants thing down.

Landon's New Occupation

Landon at Milagro's 1

And of course Landon always seems to attract the young ladies wherever he goes.

Landon at Milagro's 2

After lunch we all headed over to Gina’s to spend some time visiting before Lowell, Brandi, and Landon headed back to Houston a little after 1pm.

About the same time I came back to the rig for some more To-Do list chores. I got the new understep light installed with an LED bulb that will last longer and be less susceptible to vibration, along with repairing the shower door latch, reinstalling one of the grab handles by the door, and a number of other small things

About 6 I drove back over to Gina’s to pick up Jan and head back to the rig, but on our way we decided that Rudy’s BBQ sounded good for supper. Since we also wanted to pick up another bottle of their BBQ sauce to take with us this year, we used this as an additional reason to drive to New Braunfels’ location.

After a great meal of brisket, ribs, and jalapeno sausage, we headed back to the rig with a quick stop at Buc-ee’s to pick up some of Gina’s favorite Strawberry/Cream Cheese kolaches.

Tomorrow we’ll get together with Gina for breakfast before we head out for Medina Lake.

Brandi sent over this picture the other day of Landon at the Butterfly Museum in Houston. She said he had a great time with the butterflies landing on him.

Landon at Butterfly Museum


February 24, 2015

She Can See Clearly Now . . .

I was at the auto repair place at 8am this morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t ask the right question yesterday when I asked what time they open. I should have asked what time they could get started on my truck.

Instead I showed up at 8am, and they finally opened at about 8:20. Then I found out the mechanic didn’t show up until 9. And after he had his coffee and donuts, he finally got to work about 9:30

I could have slept another hour and a half!

Plus, to make things even better, the heater had gone out in the shop and the waiting area, so inside it wasn’t much warmer than the 38 degrees it was outside.

Finally heading home, I had the heater in the truck running full blast trying to get warm, and didn’t get the chill off until I got back to the rig.

A little later, Jan and I headed out for some errands, but first up was dinner at the new  Quaker Steak and Lube down in the Victory Lakes area. Before this, we’d only encountered Quaker Steak up north, so we were happy to find one down in this area now.

After our meal, we drove up to the Sam’s Club on El Dorado to pick up Jan’s new glasses, and drop off the prescriptions we got yesterday at the doctor’s. A few of them we want now, but most of them we just wanted in the system so we can pick them as we travel.

Jan was really happy to get her new glasses since the coating was coming off her old ones, making it hard to see.

Wrapping up, it’s hard to believe that we only have 4 more days here before we leave for Tucson this coming Sunday.

And so much to still do.


February 24, 2016

Good To Go . . .

For Another Year.

Jan and I were up early and out the door about 7:45am, heading for Friendswood about 70 miles south. Normally it’s about an hour and fifteen minute trip, but because we’re driving through downtown Houston during morning rush, and we wanted to stop at the Flying J for gas, we allowed a little over two hours.

And needed most of it.

We got to our doctor’s office just a little early and thought we were on a roll when Jan got called in early. With my appointment set for 10:15, 15 minutes later, things were looking good.

But NO.

So I’m not sure what happened, but I didn’t get called in until 11:40, more than 90 minutes later.

But after we were poked, prodded, stuck, and EKG’d, we got a clean bill of health and are good to go for another year. We were out the door a little before 1pm, and on our way down to Dickinson to have lunch at one our favorites, Monterey’s Little Mexico, although any place would have been fine at that point, since we’d both been fasting since supper last night.

Finishing up our delicious Tortilla Soup and Fajita Beef Nachos, we headed over to League City around 2pm to take care of some stuff on our friend Barbara’s computer.

We’ve known Barb and Tom for years, and always try to get together whenever we can.

Barbara and Tome_thumb[1]

First, I set her up a Business Account on PayPal so she can take credit cards and online payments through them. It wasn’t hard to set up, but there are a lot of hoops to jump through and it can be kind of confusing sometimes.

One thing new from when I signed up for PayPal years ago is that they now deposit TWO small amounts in your bank account for you to identify, not just one as when I did it. And now they tell you they will take the amounts back in a few days, not just leave them as they did with me.

Next up was to get iTunes downloaded, installed and set up. We had moved her music over last time when I set up her new laptop, so then it was just a matter of letting the new iTunes find the old music, and we were done with that.

Then I got the DirecTV app configured on her laptop so she can stream movies and TV shows, just like on her big TV. Again, not hard, but confusing sometimes about what you can watch live, what you can stream, and what you can record.

By now it was after 4:30, and we did not want to fight the rush hour traffic back to Conroe at this hour, so Jan called our friends Bob and Maria to see if they might be available for dinner at kind of the last minute. And lucky for us. they were. So we made a date for 6:30 at the La Brisa on I-45 in League City.

Mexican twice in one day. Yay!

Wrapping up, I spent some time with Barbara going over some things that are different with Windows 10.

Finally getting our hugs and goodbyes from Barb and Tom, we headed over to La Brisa to get our hugs and hellos from Bob and Maria, another couple we’ve known a long time. In their case, since the mid-80’s when Bob and I were both into Commodore Amiga computers.

Bob and Maria_thumb[1]

Normally I really like La Brisa, but tonight was a real disappointment, at least for me. I ordered the Combo Fajitas with Jalapeno Sausage. And what I got for $17.95 was this.

La Brisa Fajitas_thumb[1]

In the photo, everything looks much larger, but each of those fajita strips is only a little over 3 inches long, which make the sausage even smaller. The meat was lukewarm, and so was the iron platter, no sizzling here. I don’t even think the meat and onions were grilled together, since the meats had very little flavor.

In contrast here’s what I got at El Bosque in Conroe,

El Bosque Fajita de la Diabla_thumb[1]

Beef, Chicken and Shrimp on a sizzling platter for $13.99

And again at El Bosque,

El Bosque Fajita Polbanos_thumb[7]

beef and chicken for $12.99. Look at those big chunks of beef.

And even at the Jalapeno Tree up in Carthage when we were gate guarding.

Jalapeno Tree Fajitas_thumb[2]

That’s beef and chicken fajitas covered in cheese for $11.99.

I probably wouldn’t have been upset if the price had been $12 or $13, but not for $18.

But as bad as I thought the food was, the company and the conversation really made up for it. We had a great time, talking new times and old times, and the time just flew.

But we finally said goodbye and were on the way back to Conroe by 8:30, getting here a little before 10pm, racking up another long, fun day, filled with good news, good friends, and good times.

Just what RV’ing is all about.


February 24, 2017

Scheduling and Straddling . . .

After checking off some more chores on my list in the morning, I spent most of the afternoon working on the scheduling of our upcoming travels.

I did find a really nice park near Rapid City for our week-long stay there and called to make reservations at the Passport America rate for the entire week. Nice.

I was a little worried about getting this reservation since it straddled the Memorial Day Weekend, but luckily we had no problems.

I’ve still got a few more dates to lock down, and a few more places to check out to stay, and things to see. But it will all come together as usual.

About 4:30 Jan and I headed up to Ellinger for the Friday Catfish Buffet at Peter’s BBQ, stopping off to pick up our Ranger friend, Barbara Spade. Also meeting us there were our next-door neighbors, Bill and Val Fullerton.

Peter's BBQ with Barbara

Bill and Val are kind of newbies, full-timing in their new Redwood 5th wheel just since December of last year. Before that they were longtime tent campers.

We all had a great time talking about the RV lifestyle, and hope we’ll get back together soon.

Tomorrow’s another ‘working through the checklist’ day before we head back down to Clear Lake on Sunday for a family get-together at the local Cheddar’s. Looking forward to it.

Then on Monday Jan has her yearly appointment with her oncologist. in the afternoon. Originally we both had our yearly doctor visits that morning, but the doctor’s office called and rescheduled us until Tuesday morning. So that means two trips instead of just one.

Then Wednesday we moved back over to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails for a week before coming back to Colorado River on our way to Tucson.


February 24, 2018

Blog Called On Account Of . . .

Jan partied too long.

But I did get this shot of the whole bunch of partiers.

Jan's Coworker Get-Together468

Looks like a pretty rowdy group to me, especially the one in red.

I’ll catch up with everything tomorrow when we’re back home at the rig.


February 24, 2019

Coffeeshop or Coffeehouse?

This morning Jan and I headed up to Sugarland to Sugarland Ice to watch another of Landon’s Hockey practices, with, I think, only one more to go for this year.

Landon has also been taking skating lessons from a figure skating coach for the last few weeks, and it really shows. He’s so much smoother on the ice, making sharper turns, and skating backwards.

Landon Hockey 3

Landon Hockey 5

Later we had our usual lunch stop at the nearby Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, and just like last week, they were very busy, and this time we had a 20 minute wait, Last week when we asked why they were so much busier than previous visits, I was told, with a slight hint of surprise at my ignorance, that it was ‘Crawfish Season’.

And obviously, it still is, since pretty much every table had a big bucket (or two) of Mudbugs in the center. But our service was pretty quick, since we ordered our meal when Alyssa took our drink order. She was kind of surprised though, since we didn’t even have menus yet. But we’ve all been there some many times we didn’t need them. We know what we want.

Any even as busy as they were, the food was just as delicious as usual. Never had a bad meal at a Floyd’s.

And on the subject of meals, here’s a sample menu from our upcoming cruise.

Viking Longship Menu

And this doesn’t include the onboard buffets and the eating options on the extra excursions. We may need to add a number of those ‘Demanding’ excursions to our itinerary. Sounds like we may need to ‘walk’ off some extra pounds.

While we were at lunch, our daughter Brandi was talking about what to see in Amsterdam. And she knows because she was an exchange student in Germany back in college, and visited Amsterdam with her friends.

She mentioned the Anne Frank House (already on our schedule), the world-famous Sex Museum (also scheduled, and also visited by our daughter) and the ‘CoffeeShops’, some of which actually do serve coffee.

But they’re more known for the fact that they sell legal marijuana. And as I said, some coffee. If you want coffee and not an inhalation high, you want a coffeehouse. Good to know, I guess. Strangely, although you can smoke marijuana in a coffeeshop, but you can’t smoke that dangerous tobacco there.

And concerning ‘inhalation highs’ Brandi was surprised to learn that neither Jan nor I have ever smoked marijuana. Though I said that I have inhaled deeply at a number of parties and concerts.

This fact has caused me some problems with the 20+ lie detector tests I’ve taken over the years as part of the many security clearances I’ve received over the years with both the DOD and with NASA.

The main problem was that, since growing up as a teenager in the 60’s, no one would believe that I had never once smoked any weed, or Mary Jane as they pretty much called it then. Even when I passed the lie detector test, they thought I was cheating somehow. But as I said, I always told them I inhaled.

As far as my young, innocent wife, early in our marriage we attended a Beach Boys concert in Birmingham, back in the good old days when you could smoke at concerts, and when we walked in Jan took a couple of whiffs and asked, “Why are they burning incense in here?”.

And then proceeded to sleep through half the concert.


February 24, 2020

I’ve Got A Code . . .

In My Node.

I started getting a slight sore throat late Friday night which was still there Saturday, along with a mild stuffy nose. This worsened a little Sunday morning, but came into its own by Monday morning.

My sore throat came back with a vengeance and my head felt like an over-swollen balloon, ready to pop at any moment. So it didn’t take me long to decide that I was not going in today. Don’t want to pass it on to Dr. Heimlich and Jennifer.

I’m assuming I got this cold from WalMart, since no one else I know has a cold. I was walking down the aisle and passed close by a grocery cart holding a small boy. A small boy who immediately sneezed all over me, a ‘wet’ sneeze as it were.

And since he was Asian, I’m thinking Corona Virus is a possibility also.

It hasn’t gotten any worse today, but it hasn’t gotten any better either. So we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.


February 24, 2021

R.I.P. Fry’s . . .

One of my favorite places called it quits today, though in reality, it had been slowly dying for a long time.

Fry’s Electronics, a staple in the computer field since the mid-80’s, posted that they were closing all of their 31 remaining stores as of 2/24/2021.

I remember back in the late-90’s/early 2000’s when I was building up 2 or 3 computers a week for clients around the Houston area. The weekend Fry’s ads came out in the Thursday edition of the Houston Chronicle, and I always stopped on my way into the University to pick up a copy.

I think my biggest purchase from Fry’s totaled a little over $20,000 for 10 computers, monitors, printers, etc. for the computer area in an assisted living facility.

But over the last 4 or 5 years they went steadily downhill, with shelves half empty, and no one around to check you out. If you could actually find something to buy.

But they will be missed.

I spent most of the day at work trying to set up a Gigabit WiFi network in the office. not to access the Internet any faster, but allow quicker callup of data between the computers,

The databases for the Point of Sale reside on one computer, but also needs to be accessed from two others. And the UPS Worldship database is on another computer but needs to be accessed from three others. So there’s a lot of data moving back and forth.

So today I got the TP-Link WiFi 6 Gigabit Router installed and configured, and so far it’s working fine.

TP-Link Gigabit WiFi Router

Friday I’ll start installing the four matching TP-Link WiFi 6 Gigabit Cards, in each computer, one at a time, and testing them out.

TP-Link Gigabit WiFi Card

Hopefully this will speed things up substantially.

Wrapping up, I saw this warning label on the back of one of the machines on the food truck that was parked outside our La Quinta hotel during our Big Freeze evacuation.

I’m still not sure what it’s saying.

La Quinta Food Truck Warning Label


February 24, 2022

Nature’s Perfect Food . . .

Now in Spicy Hot!

Jan and I were on our way up to the Spring area about 10:30, with a quick stop for gas along the way. We were meeting up with long-time friends Debi and Ed Hurlburt at the El Palenque Mexican Restaurant, a favorite of ours.

This was another in a long line of monthly get-togethers that sometimes include Janice and Dave Evans, and we always look forward to them.

Jan tried something new this time, the Mazatlán, which is a Grilled Chicken Breast with Grilled Shrimp and covered in Monterey Cheese.

El Palenque Mazatlan 20220224

As opposed to what she usually gets, the Rancho Grande, which is a Grilled Chicken Breast with Grilled Shrimp, and covered in Monterey Cheese.

Don’t ask me. I don’t know either.

I got the Sampler platter, with quesadillas, taquitos, and nachos.

El Palenque Sampler 20220224

As usual we gabbed for more than 2 hours before we made the date for next month and headed home.

When my new Samsung S21 Ultra came with 5G capability, I was interested to see what kind of speed increase I would see. And so far I’ve not been really impressed.

This is what I get for 5G up in the Webster area.

SpeedTest 5G Webster

Not really impressive.

I’ve heard that in some areas Verizon is running 5G on top of the 4G, resulting in slow speeds. But it lets them tout how many areas 5G is available, whether it’s fast or not. So I imagine that’s what’s happening here.

Now normally I’d be stuck with that, but I have an app on my phone called Samsung Band Selection that lets me drop my phone back to 4G LTE. And this is what I get.

SpeedTest 4G LTE Webster

A big difference.

Now it’s a lot better up in Spring. This is what I got up there today.

SpeedTest 5G Springr

So maybe it will eventually speed up down here.

I’ve always considered Peanut Butter nature’s perfect food. It has Protein, Carbs, Fat, and No Cholesterol.

However I like it too much. If I didn’t watch it, I think I could eat an entire jar at one time. And since it’s easier for me to resist temptation if I’m not tempted, I just don’t buy it very often.

But when I saw this online, my willpower crumbled and I had to order a jar of this.

Hot Mambo Peanut Butter

Hot Mamba Peanut Butter

It’s an all-natural chunky peanut butter with tropical habanero, guajillo & ancho chiles; raw, organic cane sugar, and a hint of sea salt.

I doubt it’s really hot, but I can always spice it up myself.

And even better (butter?), I ordered it today and it will be here tomorrow.

I’ll let you know.


February 24, 2023

Well, They Took Long Enough . . .

Back in February 2022, I sent in the renewal of my Arizona Concealed Weapons Permit, along with a money order for $43. Since my permit didn’t expire until May 2, 2022, I figured there shouldn’t be a problem.

My Arizona permit is actually the 3rd one I’ve had since 2008. My first one was as a South Dakota resident which Jan and I both got in October 2008 on our way back from Alaska. We stopped off at the Sheriff’s Office in the Lake County Courthouse, filled out a one-page form, paid him $10 each, and received our temporary permits. The Sheriff told us that he would run us through the NICS check and if we came back clean, we could come by and pick up our permanent ones tomorrow.

Which we did.

For some strange reason, the SD permits expire in 4 years, while their driver’s licenses renew every 5. But when I went to renew my permit, I found they had changed the rules. To renew you had to show proof that you had actually resided in the county for at least 30 days.

But at the time there were no RV parks in Lake County, so a month’s stay would have been difficult. I guess we could have parked on the courthouse square and run an extension cord inside, but I’m not sure they would have gone along with it.

And anyway, we were nowhere near South Dakota.

So at the next rally, I attended a class that let me get a Utah Non-Resident Concealed Carry Permit, this one for 5 years. So this gets us up to 2017. But when I went to renew my Utah Permit, I found they had changed the rules once again.

To renew my Utah Non-Resident Permit, I now to also have a permit in my resident state, if they offered permits. Now I was stuck once again.

So while we were in Arizona, I applied for, and received an Arizona Non-Resident Permit, also for 5 years.

Which I received in May 2017.

So I sent in my renewal and promptly forgot about it. One thing that helped that was that Texas instituted permitless carry, even for non-residents like me. I did think about not receiving it back in December, but with all the holiday stuff going on, I promptly forgot about it again.

Until today.

In today’s mail I received my Arizona renewal, beginning not last May when my other one expired, but starting 1 January 2023. But the letter was dated February 11, 2023 and it was mailed on February 15th. So I guess it sat around on someone’s desk since the first of the year before it finally got mailed out.

And where it was before then, I have no idea.

One thing nice about the Arizona permit is that they had reciprocity agreements with 37 other states, pretty much all of them that actually have permits.

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Tomorrow starts with two new front tires for our Jeep. When I was getting the Jeep’s oil change last week, they noticed that my front tires were showing cords on the inside edge on both.  So I’ve got an appointment tomorrow at noon for new tires.

I’ll wait till next week to get the front end aligned, but not at NTW. They’re too expensive for a simple front-end alignment.

Then it’s Denny’s for lunch and HEB for our weekly stuff.

Then Sunday we’re heading up to Conroe to meet up with Debi and Ed Hurlburt for our monthly lunch get-together, this time at China Delight, a favorite local place of ours.