Our RV Adventures

We’re still really enjoying our new SoundBar. It really takes care of our low volume problems, something that several of our blog readers have also had, on both DirecTV and Dish.

The only problem is that it only comes with one remote, where Jan and I both want our own. So not being able to buy an additional one online, I decided to buy one of these.

It’s a $7 Learning Remote that can learn any IR code just by pointing it at your original remote. Now we won’t have to fight over the only one.

Jan and I headed out about 2pm to have lunch, really breakfast, at the Victory Lakes Denny’s, but we detoured about 4 miles up Hwy. 6. Rather than make a special trip out in the RV somewhere to get propane before we leave, I thought it would just be easier to leave on our trip an hour or so early to take care of it.

A while back while we were driving up to Alvin I noticed a place called HOPS Propane. They have a large yard, but I wanted to be sure that I could get in and out, and that they could fuel up our rig.

They said there would be no problem, so we’ll try to be there a few minutes after they open at 9pm. Then I should be able to hook up the truck before we head out.

On the way up there, I dropped Jan off at the Dollar General, and then picked her up on the way back.

Like our last time at Denny’s, we both got breakfast again, and the same thing too. Jan got her Omelet  with Tomatoes, Onions, and Mushrooms, Fruit and a English Muffin.

I got the Two Eggs Over Medium, Four Strips of Bacon, Fruit, and an English Muffin.

Just as delicious as usual. I think breakfast is our favorite meal, or at least our favorite menu.

Next we stopped right next door so Jan could get a new pair of pink sneakers for our upcoming trip. Then after getting gas at WalMart for $2.66/gal., we headed home.

It’s the end of a era.

It was announced today that the Miss America Pageant  is no longer a ‘pageant. It’s now a ‘competition’. And in making these changes they’re losing a few things. Like the Swim Suit competition AND the Evening Gown competition.

So instead of the Swim Suit contest, there will be a ‘live, interactive session with the judges’. 

Now that’s going to be ‘Must See TV’.

And replacing the Evening Gown parade, the contestants are being told to wear whatever makes them comfortable, and discuss their chosen ‘social impact initiatives’ So sweats and a torn T-shirt?

Boy, this sounds just riveting, doesn’t it?

Jan says “Guys watch for the Swim Suits, and women watch for the Evening Gowns. Who’s going to watch now?â€

I give it 2 more years, max. Maybe only one.

Thought for the Day: 

fgsdfgf

I hit the ground running this morning at work, pretty normal for a Monday, catching up on a lot of catalog and website updates.

Then it was on to a repair job. On my way into work, I got a text that saying that my new printhead had been delivered. It was for our LP2844 thermal printer that we use to print out the shipping labels for our UPS and USPS packages.

Recently our printer started skipping lines and missing characters, so much so that both UPS and USPS were complaining about having problems reading the barcodes. My client was just going to buy a new one for $200-$300 or so. But I said let’s try a new printhead first. And it was only $41.

The black strip in the middle is actually the thermal printhead.

The replacement was pretty easy, and it helped that there was a YouTube video, but it wasn’t as much help as I had hoped. Mainly because the hardest part, actually getting the printhead loose, was pictured like this.

A lot of help that was.

I finally figured out that not only was the view obscured, but he left out a step in the audio too, that a retaining screw had to also be removed.

The replacement would have been a lot easier if they given a  little more slack in the two data cables.

There was no reason they couldn’t have. There was plenty of room for the extra length. But finally I got it back together and hooked up.

At first I thought I  had another problem because when I tested it, it was just spitting out labels willy-nilly. But at least they looked good with no missing lines. But after I ran the ‘re-gap’ setup, so it would know where the label started and stopped, it was fine.

At this point my client showed me another LP2844 that he said had the same problem. When it happened that time, he just bought a new one. So I got another printhead on order so now we’ll have a spare printer.

Now on to our new toy.

We’ve always had a problem with the volume levels when we play back TV shows recorded on our DirecTV DVR. Some levels are fine, but others are too low. And it can be different between two shows recorded right after each other, and on the same network.

I know it’s not our TV because it did it on our previous one too. DirecTV says they don’t know what the problem is, but did offer to replace our DVR. But then we’d lose all the shows and movies we have stored on it.

So I decided to order us a SoundBar like this.

It’s 25†long, perfect to fit underneath the TV and puts out 40 watts. It has 3 inputs, Audio, Optical, and Bluetooth, and comes with a remote. It had great reviews, and was a really good deal at only $75.

I could have hooked it optically directly to the DVR, but instead decided to connect it to the Optical Output on our 40†Samsung. That way it will work not only on the DVR, but also when we are using the TV with the computer.

And it works great. Now we have more that enough volume, no matter how low the source level is.

Tomorrow it’s back to sorting through stuff to go to the storage room.

Slowly but surely.

Thought for the Day: 

Thinking is hard work. And obviously some people are very lazy.

gsdfgsg