Holy Cow! Is February the longest month of the year or what? Sure seems like it down here. I also was going to kvetch about the weather, but since some of you dear readers are in the Northern Midwest and Snowmaggedon has descended upon you, prudence encourages me to avoid that subject.
But...I had to wear a sweater to Church this morning, it was 58o but the forecast is for more Texas Winter Weather this week. Highs are forecast in the 80's, I'll probably carry the sweater with me just in case I get the chills.
The saying is true. "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a minute, it'll change."
On a similar note, it sure does look like an awful lot of people have decided to make Texas home lately. Lots of out of state plates and a lot of those are expired.
AOOOOGGAAAA! Rant warning ahead!
Folks, you left that other state because you didn't like something about it. Fine, Welcome! Two things. First, Register your vehicle in your new state. Roads ain't free.
Second, Never, Ever, start a conversation with this opening line, "Well, Back in (insert old state name here), we did things this way."
WHOGAS? You left because you didn't like the way things were. Why do you think we didn't choose to live there?
That happens quite a bit more frequently than one would think. Enough that somebody is making a fortune selling this T-Shirt.
Ok, got that out of my system, feel much better now. Thank you.
On the Techie side of things, my good buddy, Elon, kinda let me down over the last few weeks. Man, it doesn't take long to get really, really used to ~100MBPS up/download rates. Then, much like crack cocaine (from what I've heard), the cold turkey part is really painful. Seems my StarLink Router went kerplunk. No lights, no power, no nothing. Yes, we've got a backup wireless access account, but 4 MBPS just ain't the same.
To make matters worse, filing a trouble ticket is done online. See a problem yet? So, we finally get the trouble ticket filled out and submitted. Then we wait, a week, 10 days...Resubmit the trouble ticket with a bit more trouble shooting info. (We actually stuck a voltage draw meter on the Router. It wasn't drawing any power at all. ) That was added to the ticket. Then we wait...another week...10 days. Finally, a very nice person named Maddie answers the ticket and asks me to photograph the router and power panel and attach the pics to the ticket.
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| Interestingly, the front cover is a map of the Earth, Moon and Mars (or so I was told). There are no lights on this face of the router. The only light on this entire router is underneath and is the size of a pinhole. Easily missed when it is not functioning. |
Believe me when I say, attaching multiple pictures to a trouble ticket from an old, soon to be replaced, iPhone, is very much my definition of "Fun".
With a NOT in front of it.
However, that round at least got an answer from them about solving the problem.
"The Router is Dead." November Sierra, Sherlock!
Sarge has tender ears, had to clean up what I meant to say.
In the e-mail, she said she'd be sending a replacement router and we should send the broke one back. All well and good, however, it's been another week and no presents in the mail...
UPDATE: Behold the power of the Chant! 
Sarge even has power over the Post Office! I know what I'm going to be doing for the next couple of days.
So, to switch subjects to the main attraction in our life, Miss B had a bit of a downturn since last we spoke. She's been primarily consuming formula and doing a pretty good job of taking it from a bottle rather than a feeding tube. All well and good.
However, over the last couple of weeks, she's been having some prodigious "spit ups". Initially, we thought it was just that she was overdoing the amount ingested. However, the episodes got more regular and more importantly, her weight was going down.
The latter is "muy no bueno". LJW brought the issue up with her local pediatrician who recommended a different baby formula. Apparently not available in our area, LJW had to drive half way to San Antonio to find some of that version. Little Juvat, managed to find some online (he's 14 hours ahead, so awake while we're sleeping) and get some delivered the next morning. Nice "Around the World" save!
Miss B seems to be doing better with the new stuff.
But as one can see, it's been a bit tense around here. I have managed to make it out into the wood shop a bit. Current project of interest is turning Pens. A while ago, I had seen a video of a guy that managed to put a Celtic Knot on a pen and made it look easy.
So...I thought I'd give it a try. I cut the blank and inserted the soda can aluminum strips in as instructed. Glued them up. Got it mounted on my lathe. Got to turning and burning with the tools, but the lathe seems to be turning a bit slow.
OK, juvat, time to cool the Fighter Pilot "kill 'em NOW" mentality and relearn that patience thing. So, I'm taking very small cuts and it's taking a while, but I'm making progress.
Looking pretty good if I do say so myself. Yes, Beans, my elbow is a bit sore from patting myself on the back.
Just as I'm thinking this isn't that difficult, I feel the lathe give a lurch and the gouge is now "hard to hang on to." I pull it off the tool rest and hit the power switch. The blank comes to a complete halt.
Several bad words were spoken over the next few minutes.
Well, the guy on the video did say "Don't skimp on the Glue". I think the problem was I had used two pieces of the soda can in each of the cuts because one strip was just too thin. I'm pretty sure that where it came apart was a section where I "skimped on the glue". Not intentionally, but I don't think the glue got sufficiently between the two pieces to adhere them securely to each other as well as to the blank.
Live and learn. So...I'm about to start Celtic Knot Pen V 2.0. It's going to be a Purpleheart Blank with the inserts being cut from remnants of the white wood blank from V1.0 of the Knot.
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| The inserts will go in where the X is to the left of the label. Each one will go in from the top left to the bottom right, one on each side. |
I figure this will solve two of the problems I had from V1.0. One, I can cut the inserts to fit in all three dimensions (L-W-D) rather than the two the can provided (effectively no depth to fill the slot). Second, I will use plenty of Glue. I think I'm going to use wood glue rather than CA glue, primarily because I'm using it on wood for both pieces and, also, I got real tired of having to use nail polish remover on my fingers to get them apart.
Oh, and why did the lathe seem to be turning slowly? Well, the cheat sheet I'd made and hung on the wall behind the lathe to facilitate my setting it up for the proper RPM was backwards. So the lathe was doing exactly what I'd told it to do.
See...who says Fighter Pilots can't learn from their mistakes? (In the rare instances that they make them of course.)
Peace out, y'all!
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| Can't we all just get along? |
Well, there's engineering for you, put a light that indicates a device is "working" somewhere that it can't be seen readily......?!? Prayers out for Miss B because of the two steps forward one step back development. The critters have the right idea in winter juvat.
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteYeah, I thought that pretty odd also. I also think it would have been way cool to have the dots on the front be the indicators of actions, circling the earth etc. Alas, twas not to be. Still haven't received the replacement though.
Schmedly (the cat) and Annie are my two "high maintenance" pets. The seem to think they rule the house. Mrs. J straightens them out on that idea though. They, however, ARE the rulers of the critter branch of the family. And they know it. It's interesting to watch, except at 3AM when approval for one of the "lesser" animals to leave the bed for a nocturnal stroll is disapproved. Then things get interesting.
Don't California My Texas - I like it.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely my "Go to HEB" shirt. I get a fairly balanced number of thumbs up and smiles as dirty looks, which I return with a smile also.
DeleteWe have "Don't New York My Florida" and "Don't Yankee My Florida" shirts down here. And a variety of shirts that basically say "Who Gives a Copulation about what You did in Your Loser State."
DeleteBeans,
DeleteWe have the latter here also. But there is a fine line between expressing my opinion and deliberately provoking someone. I agree with the message being sent, just not the verbiage.
That having been said, I think there are a lot of eyes being opened by people moving to places like ours expecting things to be just like what they left without the "bad stuff". My hope is they get educated quickly on the realities.
Or...They could go back home.
Juvat, glad to hear the formula change seems to have stemmed the “upchuck” response from Miss B! Now, on to recovering the lost weight.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, technology, while masquerading as the end all for society has all the characteristic charm of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Dr. Jekyll side is evidenced by Little Juvat being able to locate and have the suggested formula delivered. Then in almost the same time frame Mr. Hyde pops up and pulls a Star Link (or insert the technological wonder of your choice) equipment failure and/or a customer service no show.
Just as humanity was emerging from the technological dark ages I was living some 10 hours ahead of Central Standard time. The best we could do at that time, and thought it was a great leap, was to send a fax and wear a beeper.
The new potential curse, m.h.o., in the world of technology is the emergence of Chat GPT and other AI platforms. These “bots” can create a story from a human entering, in my case, a seven word sentence as the subject and then artificial intelligence takes over to create a fictitious story or narrative. This subject requires way more knowledge than I have to adequately discuss.
Juvat, good luck with the pen blanks. I’ve always been amazed at people who have the ability to transfer a block of wood, or similar material, into a work of art. For example, growing up I remember some the old folks carving a monkey out of a peach or avocado seed using only a pocket knife.
Cletus
Cletus,
DeleteStill a bit early to make that determination, but initial results are good, and we're hopeful. As to the ordering from HK, it was Saturday and Little J was a bit bored, so...win/win.
Re: Pen Blanks, Mrs. J is about to go assist with feeding, so I'll have an hour or so to myself. Looking forward to a better result, but Live and learn.
Thanks.
Neat pen turning project. Key phrase, "..made it look easy."
ReplyDeleteI remember doing some repair project for my wife that involved machining a complicated part. I insisted that she spend a little time at my elbow during the metalworking lathe work and she said, "Hmm. That isn't as easy as it looks."
I smiled at her and said, "That is how I feel when you play the piano."
I wonder if pen turners have done work in silver and turquoise?
Good news on the formula issues.
JiP,
DeleteThe pen turning itself is actually pretty easy with a little (adequate) prep. It's when you start getting fancy that it can up the skill ante. I don't know about Silver (haven't seen anything on youtube) but I believe turquoise is possible. I've seen a few vid's that use very small chips and embed them in epoxy/resin and turn that with the pen. Again not at that skill set, especially given the potential uptick in supply cost and risk. But....I'm making progress. The Rev was the recipient of my first pen I allowed out of the workshop. Nice piece of wood from the Holy Land, thought it was appropriate. We'll see how this project turns out, I did learn an awful lot of "what not to do's" recently, so have high hopes.
Great update. Two is one, one is none. If you are out in the sticks far enough to NEED Starlink, why don't they have an option to send you two routers? One for backup. The amount of those they make is prodigious. Their cost is minimal. It seems to be a no brainer to me. Especially with the lackadaisical trouble ticket queue.
ReplyDeleteRE Miss Bebe: Is it normal for there to be a rapid change of tolerance like that? Mom got some kind of fever when I was about nine months. She put me on cows milk. I didn't suffer that I know of. I sometimes wonder if she started me sooner, I'd be more accurate when I swat flies with my tail.
Speeds and feeds. Always room for error. That is an interesting concept. I bet it will look really neat when done.
STxAR
DeleteYeah the combination of not having a lot of options out in the boonies and a slow supply chain put a bit of a damper on the enthusiasm. Hopefully, the replacement will arrive shortly.
Re: Miss B. I don't know the answer, she had been doing well on the old formula, but she is growing and parts of her that weren't functioning at 100% are starting to, so who knows? She's also fussing a bit about the bottle, but settles down after a short time. We'll see.
Re: Pen Turning. Right now, my biggest problem is I've got a cheap SKIL Band Saw. The blade wanders all over the place. I'm using a carpenter square as a sled right now and that helps, but it's still not a straight line. as you can see in the first pen picture. Gonna try some folded sandpaper in the slot to see if that helps straighten it out. The videos on the Tube are depressing. Their bandsaws cut an absolutely straight line. Guess I better start saving my coke bottle money. ;-)
She had previously only been using the formula to fortify my milk (to get extra calories) she was drinking. The trouble started when we ran out of that stash and I was no longer able to pump / nurse enough to keep up. So it was just straight formula and water.
DeleteThe new formula has whey protein in it similar to milk, so it is easier on her stomach 😀 and she has officially regained all lost weight as of this morning!
Excellent news, LJW!
DeleteMy shirt says, “Don’t New York my Florida”. Lots of fun to wear this time of year.
ReplyDeleteD4,
DeleteYeah I read something similar on the internet this morning about South Carolina also. Seems to be a relatively common occurrence and as I said, they're more than welcome, just remember why you left and don't bring that fecal matter with you.
See? And once again, if I'd skim all the comments before making comments, well, then I wouldn't be Beans now, would I?
DeleteBeans,
DeleteWhat would be the fun in that? I for one was reading the comments from the bottom up when I came to this one. I wondered if perhaps you were on new medication or something. Fortunately, I elected to come back to this after scanning the rest of the comments.
Cheers
Those Californians sound like missionaries, vice the more acceptable refugees. It's probably a sliding scale, but if they leave because of the high cost of living, but not understand that their attitudes and votes were at least partially responsible for that high cost of living, they are the worst humans ever.
ReplyDeleteFor Miss B- consider chopping up a brisket to put in her formula and she'll probably love it!
Tuna,
DeleteExactly the analogy I use, "Missionary? Go home! Refugee? Welcome Friend!" Unfortunately, we seem to be reaching an equilibrium point between Pickup Trucks and Tesla's. The latter being the ones I usually see with expired out of state tags. Heck if they can afford that car, they can afford new plates.
Re: Brisket, it's unlikely any of it would survive the chopping process. As a responsible Parent, I feel I must try an large percentage of the meat, to insure it isn't tainted in any way or amount. But, that's just me...protecting my Granddaughter!
There's a whole Youtube channel about Teslas and their integrated cameras. Many of those videos show anti-Tesla people keying them, just because. They aren't due to any road-rage incident, usually in parking lots. Just hatred about EVs I guess.
DeleteTuna,
DeleteInteresting post linked on Instapundit today (https://abcnews.go.com/Business/broken-machines-long-waits-reality-charging-electric-vehicle/story?id=97389275). Talks about all the wonderful realities of electric cars. As I've mentioned, we now see a lot of them here. Haven't seen a charging station anywhere in town. I did talk to one owner about his car. He talked about "Free Energy" since he charged at home. RRRRIIIIGGGGHHHHTTTT!
I'll probably get an electric golf cart someday, Just to go and check the mail, about a 3 mile round trip. And the grandkids can drive! (after they can reach the pedals.)
There are companies that sell uplifted golf-carts. Kind of a hybrid between regular golf carts and those 4 wheeled ATVs with side-by-side seats. They look like fun. I pass by a dealer most every time I go to the supermarket.
DeleteAs to EVs, duh, nothing new, we knew this back in the 70's when they were pushing EVs for urban driving. No real range, no lasting power in bad or hot or cold weather, batteries are hideously expensive, yada yada. But it takes a functioning brain trained with science and logic (or a good load of common sense) to see all the flaws of an EV.
I'm seriously thinking about it. Doesn't make much sense to fire up the truck for a 3 mile trip. Other than in the cold, wind, rain or dust that is.
DeleteI'm not pro EV just so you know. Works for local driving, but not at all for any distance. Golf carts don't count. That infrastructure may not ever be sufficient seeing how gas powered, despite the woke crowd trying to kill it, will be here long after we realize how destructive the mining for materials, building and disposing of those batteries is. Just google cobalt mining.
DeleteJuvat - Hopefully the set back for Miss B is only temporary. Good catch by Little J - it is amazing you what can find on the InterWeb now (and how quickly it can get there).
ReplyDeleteThe Starlink thing - bad customer service will kill a good idea every time. A little surprised that this was not foreseen and already in place by Starlink. Uisdean Ruadh and I have talked about Starlink someday in the future at The Ranch, but this puts a little bit of a damper on that. Hopefully they can work that out.
Re: Californians moving into Texas (and others): Oddly enough, 40 years ago native Californians were making the same comments about out of staters moving to California. It seems to be more of a mindset of "make this like what I had before" rather than "adapt to where I am" - and really can seem to come from almost everywhere. I see that South Carolina is at least proposing an "out of state" fee, which I find an interesting idea (although I am pretty sure it will be struck down). This is an outcome of people relocating purely because of taxes and cost of living - which interestingly impacts the states they are coming from, as they lose the tax revenue as well. You would think they would be more aware of the true root of their problem.
Sir, what does your blogger name mean? And how is it pronounced?
DeleteTHBB,
DeleteI loved it! It was a bit harder to install than I expected, but even our previous wireless setup required professional help. This did also. But once set up it was working fine. Until it didn't. There is a website that allows you to see where Starlink is having issues. There satellite network is not complete yet. It also had some interesting thoughts expressed on it. One such, posited a theory that because of Elon's support of the Ukraine and tasking Starlink in support, the Russians expressed their discontent by interfering with the signal. I thought it interesting and technically feasible. Whether actual, well I think my Router crapping out if more likely.
Tuna, his blogger profile explains a lot.
Deletehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463
Juvat, the back and forth between Musk and the various governments for providing Starlink (essentially for free) and then not has been an interesting conversation to track and has ramifications about the "duty" of public companies to non-national emergencies.
DeleteBut yes, likely the router is out. That is my luck anyway.
Tuna - It is a combination of Old Irish Gaelic for the first part (Toirdhealbheach), which is a version of my actual name more or less, and the Scottish Gaelic word for "Booming or Roaring", as in a cannon. The pronunciation, as near as I can approximate it, is "Tore-yal-vach beykel". Or really, however you choose to say it.
DeleteTHBB,
DeleteI think there's a relatively high probability of accuracy. The capability, the desired result, and a lot of other factors, lead me to believe it's possible. We'll see what's what. Router installation is scheduled for tomorrow.
THBB,
DeleteI'm not sure I can even pronounce the translated version. Think I'll stick with THBB. If that's ok?
Juvat - Of course. As I tell fellow students in the dojo, you can call me Sempei or my real name or just "Hey you"!
DeleteThanks THBB!
DeleteGood progress all around, in that annoying two forward, one back mode.
ReplyDeletePurpleheart wood is interesting stuff, which I have never actually handled. But, as a woodworker, you need to go check out what can be done with purpleheart when building boats. Leo Sampson Goolden is a charming young Brit rebuilding a sailing yacht, the Tally Ho, basically replacing 99% of it, one piece at a time from the keel (made of purpleheart) up. He is doing this in Sequim, and now Port Townsend, Washington. He posts a new video every other Saturday, and is up to number 147 now, so about 3 years work has been done. First class workmanship all the way, very inspirational and enlightening on why boats are made in certain ways.
Enjoy! preferably from the start:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg-_lYeV8hBnDSay7nmphUA
John Blackshoe
JB.
DeleteThanks for the link, Glue's drying on the first cut, I think I'll take a look. (The first insert cut went quite well...thankfully). I like purpleheart. Beautiful color, could do with a bit more grain detail, not too hard or too soft (kinda Cinderella like). We'll see how it turns out. The contrast between the two wood is exactly what I wanted. So...Good Lord willin' and the crick don't rise...
Thanks for putting the video about pen-turning up. Now I know what you’re talking about. Another thing we share is to jump in to the fray at the highest level. When I started sourdough baking I tried to use the most complicated, experience heavy method there was. People laughed! Now they ask for the bread. 187 loaves later. Yes, I have kept a log of them all.
ReplyDeleteD4,
DeleteI don't suppose you'd like to share the recipe, would you? My Mom was a San Francisco native and passed on a love for sourdough to me. Unfortunately...I'm the cook in the family, but baking is outside my ken. Mrs. J, on the other hand, is an excellent baker.
A log file...Hmmmm, with pictures....Pens....
:-)
https://www.amazon.com/Tartine-Bread-Chad-Robertson-ebook/dp/B00F8H0FNW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14YCW001KDT0R&keywords=tartine+bread&qid=1677530294&sprefix=tartine%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-1
DeleteHard Back on order. Looking forward to seeing hers and yours efforts in the oven. Thanks
DeleteI sent you an email.
DeleteRegarding the formula issue, she might be developing a slight allergy to one of the ingredients in the original formula. Have the Pediatrician do a basic food allergy panel, or get an allergist suggested that can do said panel. They can do them from blood draws now from what I hear.
ReplyDeleteAs to Starlink, next time you converse over your phone with said Starlink personnel via email, ask them if there is an actual call number you can call as your phone does not do emails/texts/blah blah very well and you obviously can't use your Starlink. Duh.
It's the way all tech service seems to be going. I've got internet through Cox Cable and the only way for a while to get customer service was through internet, so needless to say, when the internet was down no customer service took place. For a while the local store was seeing me regularly because their in-face customer service, pathetic as it was, was the only way I could get any customer service, as the phone customer service query tree was stuck in an endless loop of doom, despair and returning to option A or just stuck. And on top of that, once I actually got to the official honest 100% customer service interface on the secret phone number that bypassed the phone tree that wasn't working, I could only get access to Tier 1 customer service, Tier 1 being the monkey-brained idiots that were allowed to actually communicate with customers, and who invariably entered the wrong information or entered no information into the service ticket that actually was sent to the Tier 2 customer service trolls that apparently weren't allowed to talk to the actual customers because that would allow the issues to be fixed within, for most problems, 20 seconds or so. The Tier 2 customer service trolls weren't even allowed to call back the customers because reasons beyond the comprehension of mere mortal men/women/whatever.
And, of course, all the above issues happened during the height of Covidiocracy where my leftist socialist county and city government decided to lock everything down, like actually closing doors down, and then when Gov DeSantis and his merry band of administrators whacked the peepees of said city and county government leaders, only went down to minimal people in store with separation and masks and such. Got to the point I'd get in there, toss the router or cable box on the desk, and said "Fix it or replace it now or I'm going to X service." And then repeat the statement over and over and over again until said store goblin just handed me a new piece.
Thing is, I worked customer service for a major battery manufacturer for years. And for a boat dealership for years. And government customer service for years. I know how to do customer service. It pisses me off to no end to not get even mediocre customer service.
It's why I love USAA insurance. Nothing is nicer than getting some sweet nice Southern lady who speaks clear Americanized English when you need customer service from one's insurance company. Ifn I already didn't have so many direct deposits and withdrawals from my current bank, I'd switch to USAA as a bank (yes, they do that, too) in 60 nanoseconds just because of friendly customer service.
Oh, look, I ranted. How unusual.
Allergy tests for food. Might be soy, that's a big one these days.
The online banking has worked for me for many years. Don’t miss the brick and mortar at all. They refund you ATM fees typically in a day or two. An yes, they do have niceSouther Ladies to talk to most of the time.
DeleteBeans,
ReplyDeleteLotta good ideas there. Thanks.
We've been with USAA since I was a kid. They've always been great. And you're right about their customer service reps.
You probably don't care since the router is broked, but the map on the front looks like Earth, the Sun and Mars, with a transfer orbit between the two planets.
ReplyDeleteBiC,
DeleteI think you're right, and that makes more sense. I may have misheard her or she may have misspoken, but you're right. I still wish it had a little bit "More" to it. Lights...Motion...Functioning. But...About an hour ago, the replacement arrived, so I've got that going for me.
Glad y'all were able to get the 'right' formula! And what others make 'easy', doesn't show their multiple failures during the learning curve... Just sayin...
ReplyDeleteOldNFO,
DeleteYep, We'll see how V2.0 turns out. Second glue-up is in the drying process. The contrast in colors is pretty awesome. I have high hopes.
Ah, memories of making props in a theatre shop. Matching glue to wood can be tricky.
ReplyDeleteGlad the new formula is working. In that time of life losing ounces can be critical.