Our RV Adventures

I finished up the Dell laptop repair/OS-reinstall last night, after getting the last of the Win10 updates downloaded. After replacing the hard drive, I had to first reinstall Win7 since that’s what was on the computer originally. Next using the Product Key on the bottom tag, I activated Win7 and downloaded 1.2 GB of updates. FWIW you can not install Win10 over a non-activated Win7, 8, or 8.1. It just won’t let you do it.

Next up, because the client wanted Win10, I installed it and then downloaded 500 Mb of Win10 updates, and that finally wrapped it up. I’ll drop it off while we’re down in Clear Lake tomorrow afternoon.

On the subject of Windows 10, for those of you still resisting Microsoft forcing it down your throat, or in your computer anyway,  just remember Windows 10 upgrades are essentially the date rape of the computer world. You wake up and realize what has happened when you were asleep.

Many people have reported stepping away from their computer for a few minutes only to come back to find it in the middle of a Win10 install.

If this happens to you, after it’s finished installing, it asks you to agree to the Terms and Conditions. If you click “don’t agree”, it undoes the install, putting everything back the way it was.

But if you want to put a stop to this before it all starts, here’s some help. Check out Never10.

It blocks any further attempts to install Win10, and if the files have already been download to your computer, it will delete them. And if you ever decide you do want to install Win10, just run the program again. So check it out. Never10

What’s up with the commercials when we’re streaming network TV shows?

Occasionally we will stream a network show that we missed for some reason, either bad weather knocking out the satellite, or we can only record two shows at a time, so couldn’t  record the third one, etc.

Last night we were catching on an episode of Once Upon A Time that we missed a while back. We have three later episodes on the DVR, so we needed to watch this one first to keep them in order. But as happened previously when we’ve streamed network shows, the commercials are unwatchable.

The show itself streams without a glitch, but when the commercial break starts it all grinds to a halt. First there’s 15-20 seconds of just black, then the ad starts, but usually stutters, starting and stopping, and usually freezing at some point. Then another 10-15 seconds of black, and it all starts over again. For 6 long commercials.

And 10 minutes later, it does it all over again. And again.

So if they can stream the show with no problems, why not the commercials?

Last night I finally remembered to bring my Garmin GPS in from the truck so I could update the maps and software to the latest versions. It seems like I always think about doing this when we’re in Conroe, but the speed and reliability of the 3G (or 4G, for that matter) there just isn’t up to downloading 2+ GB of data.

But with the 2.75 – 3.00 Mbps I’m getting on 3G  (and 25 Mbps on 4G) here at Colorado River, this is the time to do it.  So I got out my laptop, hooked up the GPS to it, and started the download. And eight hours later, at 3am when I went to bed, it had just finished up. So now I’m good for another year.

Recently while I looking for something on the Home Depot site I can across a post about a couple’s DIY paint job on their 1992 camper.

They started out with this:

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And ended up with this.

You can check it here at DIY Camper Paint Job. And if you keep scrolling down, they detail the interior upgrades they did. Nice.

Thought for the Day:

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” – H. L. Mencken

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Now we just have to figure out what to buy with it. A new rig, maybe?

Our son Chris brought our mail up to Brandi’s this past Sunday and last night I finally got a chance to go through it all. And here’s what I found.

A check as a settlement on a lawsuit. And a lawsuit that I didn’t know I was involved in. A check for a whole 16 cents!

What’s even funnier about this is that it says it’s a sales tax settlement refund for overcharges on an AT&T Mobility Data Plan. But we’ve never had an AT&T Data Plan, or even an AT&T phone of any kind. We’ve always been with Verizon.

So I don’t know now. I guess we should split our largese with the kids. It’ll be their inheirance.

After monitoring my Progressive 50 amp EMS (Electrical Management System) a lot more closely the last two days, I’ve got a good idea what the problem is. At first I was thinking I maybe had a bad or floating ground, But watching the L-1 and L-2 voltages on the Progressive display told me different.

The two voltages go in opposite directions under load. When L-1 is showing 105 volts, L-2 might be showing 128 volts. Way too wide a spread. And just inside the Hi/Lo cutoffs of the Progressive EMS.

And even with both AC’s off, and nothing else on except the TV/Sat and the computer, we were only seeing about 111 – 113 volts, way too low. Last week at Lake Conroe we were seeing 120 to 122 volts at the same time of day.

To protect the rig, the Progressive will cut off power to the rig if the voltage goes over 130 volts or below 103 volts. And it doesn’t have to be on both L-1 and L-2, but either one of them. So when one voltage is at 104 and the other one is running at 128, a momentary change on either end can cause the EMS to drop out. So now I’ve got a good handle on what’s happening, but what’s actually causing the problem?

I said earlier that at first I thought it might be an floating ground. But seeing the opposite voltage swings says a open or high resistance neutral. And because it’s happened at two different sites in this ring, I suspect it might be located at the main panel or thereabouts.

So now it’s up to Jeff, the park electrical guy, to follow up on this. As far as us, Jan says we’re never parking in this area again. It’s too much drama.

Wrapping up, I wanted to pass on a recipe for this delicious salad our daughter-in-law Linda brought to our son Chris’ birthday bash held at our daughter Brandi’s this year. Jan like it so much she asked for the recipe. Turns out to be from an old Krogers ad. Quick and Easy, and really Good.

Strawberry – Orange Tropical Salad

Thought for the Day:

You never realize how boring your life is until someone asks you what you like to do for fun.

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