| February 29th |
Vic took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park
to try and run some of the energy out of her. She failed, so came home again. While they were pottering
around in the garden, they spoke to Jim, next door, and he brought two of his daschunds, Ellie Mae and Alex,
over. Alex ran Tilly's legs off, so she was eventually tired out :o)
The gray water tank for the
van
still leaks, so I'll probably end up doing things a little differently. Oh well.
I got a crapload of interest in the
iPhone
from
Craigslist,
and I managed to get it sold. Sucker.
I've got another guy interested in the
KLX,
and we've spoken on the phone - who knows, maybe he'll come and actually buy the thing :o) |
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| February 28th |
I played with building the gray water tank for the
van
- I tried gluing bits together, but they leaked. I took it apart again,
and made it stick together further, and again, it leaked, so I glued
everything together to see if that works
any better. Here's hoping.
I'd been talking to some clown a discerning consumer who was looking for an
iPhone,
but he suddenly disappeared, so I've advertised it on
Craigslist. |
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|
| February 27th |
My
iPhone
arrived, so now I just need to find a sucker punter to unload it on sell
it to :o)
I was working away, as you do, when I got a phone call. It was a funny conversation:
Troy: Hello, this is Officer Fergusson from Roseville Animal Control
Me: Hi Troy
Troy: Do I know you?
Heh - when I told him I was the Dug at the
SPCA
he figured out who I was :o) Anyway, it seems that
Tilly
lost her tags at the
Bear dog park
on Monday, so he dropped them off with Victoria when he was at the SPCA.
In the evening, I made a start on building a gray water tank for the
van
- basically I'm trying to make something to store used water, as it seems a little anti-social to just drop
it on the ground. |
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|
| February 25th |
It finally stopped raining and being overcast enough that the
solar panel
setup generated some electricity - when it's raining, we don't even keep up with the house's usage, but when
it's sunny, we generate more than we use for most of the day. I think we generated about 10KWh today...
that's over $1's worth! The main thing is that we're over 700lbs of CO2 saved. You're welcome.
Vic took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park
while I toiled.
Things have gone quiet on the
KLX
front... typically. Still, with the miserable weather we've been having recently, I figure people aren't out
looking for bikes. I did get a guy offering to swap his
VFR750
for it, but I pointed out that I wanted fewer bikes, rather than different ones. I'd consider his VFR if he
takes the
Hawk
too though :o) |
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|
| February 24th |
The morning started the night before, thanks to
Tilly's
penchant for tennis balls. While I was fiddling with the computer, Norton's popped up to say there was an
update, so in my usual "whatever" state of mind, I allowed it to install the update. I had to reboot for it
to finish installing, then again when it had finished... this last time, it was the joyful "whatever the hell
you do, I'm going to reboot" window. It then proceeded to take forever to reboot. All this, and I believe
that there's only about a month left on the subscription. I finally called it quits and deleted the pile of
rancid lark's vomit. I'm looking forward to faster reboots, and a lot less aggravation. I'd already turned
off some of it's functionality because it interfered with
AVG Free.
After a brief sleep, I started work on de-converting the
KLX,
I figure this is the best way of ensuring that the bike that sells will be the
Hawk.
While I was doing that, George from
hang gliding
showed up and got Victoria's harness all adjusted to suit her. It's been raining for a few days, so no
flying, and he was in the area.
It's been cold, windy and wet for as long as I can remember now - if this is global warming, you can keep
it.
In the evening, I went and sat in the hot tub, as I was sore and achy. Victoria came and joined me after a
while, and Tilly eventually managed to get in. She misjudged the step off a seat and went under a few times,
but eventually wound up swimming in circles in the deep middle area, and having a great time.
She drank so much water that I then spent most of the night letting her out to pee.
I need a vacation. |
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|
| February 23rd |
Victoria was teaching a critter class at the
SPCA,
and the weather precluded
Tilly
going to the
Bear dog park.
She didn't want to go for a normal walk, either, so I went out without her. I picked up a bunch of parts
for a project I have in mind on the
van.
I also got a couple of light fittings for the house, then went to the SPCA and walked a couple of dogs. When
we got home, I set to work installing the new light fittings, then combining the guts of one of the ones I'd
taken down with another that didn't work consistently, and everything's just dandy.
I got another email from somebody interested in the
KLX,
so I think I should probably start thinking about de-converting it soon.
Tilly had spent the evening tearing apart and eating tennis balls, so she was sick shortly after we went to
bed. I got up, took her out, cleared everything up then couldn't sleep. Oh well... the blog needed updating
anyway :o) |
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| February 22nd |
Because of the weather, Vic couldn't take
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park,
so they traipsed around the house all day getting under my feet :o)
I got some good news - I've apparently won an 8gb
iPhone
in an internet competition (that I did enter). I was pretty sceptical about the whole thing, but they've sent
me a UPS tracking ID and everything, so we'll see. The thing is, I have to carry a cellphone for work, so the
last thing I want is to carry _2_ cellphones. Hmmm... do I sell it? Try and swap it for a 16Gb
iPod touch?
I did think about giving it to Victoria, but she's a bit of a luddite when it comes to phones, and the $60
minimum monthly charge for an iPhone seems like a lot for the 3 phone calls a month she makes. |
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| February 21st |
The weather's turned crappy again, with extended periods of pissy being forecast. I took
this opportunity to play a little
World of Warcraft,
and got my
hunter
to level 61. I'm playing in Outlands now, so it's suddenly a lot harder than it was :o) |
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| February 20th |
I had a couple of emails about the
KLX,
so it's possible that that'll get sold in the not too distant future. In the evening,
Tilly
and I went out to look at the
lunar eclipse
a couple of times. Well, I looked at the eclipse, she ran around the garden like a mad thing in the dark.
I did try looking through my telescope, but I couldn't get it to focus, so it's probably been knocked a little
hard since I last used it. I'll have to take a look at that some time. |
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| February 19th |
I've been thinking about getting shot of one of the bikes for a while, as I rarely ride -
most of the time I'm going somewhere I have a reason to take the
Subaru
or the
van.
I figured I'll advertise the
Hawk
and the
KLX
on
Craigslist
and keep whichever one doesn't sell - I can't decide which one I'd rather keep :o). |
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| February 18th |
It was President's Day, when Americans celebrate George Washington's birthday by going
shopping. As I now work for a company that doesn't seem to give as many holidays as the rest of the civilised
world, I got to work. Vic took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park,
while I stayed at home and chased after my last W2 form so I can finish my taxes. There's a lot of finger
pointing going on, but I'm hoping I should get it this week - legally it was supposed to be here by the
15th. |
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| February 17th |
We took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park
again, then Victoria spend the day reorganising the critters, while I ended up trying unsuccessfully to sleep
and to get the parts to make a gray water tank for the
van.
I did manage to make progress on the mount for the laptop screen for the carputer, I just need to drill some
holes and see if I can temper it after all the bending it's endured recently. |
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| February 16th |
We took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park
so she could play with her friends and get rid of some energy. Tilly and I entertained the crowds with our
"swinging the dog by the tennis ball" trick, and one of the fathers there started swinging his kids around.
I wanted to say it didn't count unless they were holding on by their teeth, but figured it was best to keep
my mouth shut. See? I'm all about tact.
In the afternoon we went
hang gliding.
Well, we went to the tow site, and watched
Larry
put together his brand new glider, and then watched them put together Alex's brand new glider. Eventually
it looked like everybody was ready to commit aviation, and Victoria lined up, only to not fly because
George wanted her to do turns, meaning she'd either land in the dry but downwind, or in the waterlogged
swamp. Still, Tilly got even more of a run, and she always likes seeing Tiger. |
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| February 14th |
Vic took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park,
and came home with some stuff from the pet store, including a rawhide bone. Tilly tried to bury it in the
garden, then she tried to hide it in the house until I took it away from her for safekeeping. Silly little
animal, doesn't she realise that nobody but her cares about this disgusting thing?
I've had ideas about replacing the
Subaru
with something more suited to what we want out of it... a bit more utilitarian for carrying stuff, plus the
plugging around in fields
hang gliding.
In the evening, we went and test drove a
Jeep Wrangler.
Oh dear. At first, it felt like I was beating the crap out of it, but I was driving it pretty much how I
drive the
van.
And then both of us thought it was gutless, even with the (wow, 190hp) 4 litre engine. I'll go back to the
drawing board on that one... |
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| February 11th |
Vic took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park
while I stayed at home to work and pay the bills. They also picked up two new toys, which Tilly's already
torn open. So we have stuffing all over the house - it's amazing how much they pack into a dog toy.
I read
this,
which makes it look like one day, hopefully soon, there'll be stem cell treatments for spinal cord injuries.
Of course, it'll be expensive :o( |
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| February 10th |
We took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park
and let her play with first the small, then the big, then the small again dogs. She had a great time, then
went home. Vic went to the
SPCA
to teach a critter care class, and I crashed out for a bit. I have no idea why I'm so tired, it must be
lack of sleep with Tilly walking all over me at night :o) |
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| February 9th |
I wasted the day tidying the house, cutting the grass, clearing the gutters, chopping lumps off the trees and so on. |
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| February 8th |
I spent a little time in
World of Warcraft,
and got my
hunter
up to level 60. Vic took
Tilly
to the
Bear dog park
and wore her out, before we went down to Lodi for a parachute clinic for the
hang gliding. |
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|
| February 7th |
A guy showed up from the old wireless internet provider to take their box off the roof.
2 years after I cancelled the service. And I took the box off the roof, as I was sick of looking at it.
I told him it had sat on the porch for a couple of months waiting for them, and to not bother me about it
again... jeez, some people. |
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| February 6th |
I had to laugh when I read
this,
as it appears that people are spending less time outdoors, and more time watching TV and on the computer.
Of course, the only way to see this would be on your TV, or with your computer :o) |
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| February 5th |
Roseville Electric sent out a guy to replace my meter, now I have the
solar panel
system. It's cool - as opposed to a stupid little wheel spinning around, there's a digital display. I was
without power for 5 minutes or so, but when it came on, it registered 0 KWh, and slowly turned backwards to
99996 or so. This was cool - of course, I got a little concerned when I was generating nearly 2KW, and it
didn't move that much, but we have to remember that I'm using some 600W in the house. Duh. |
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| February 4th |
I did a bit of work on the bracket for the screen for the carputer in the
van.
The bad news is that I'm going to need to cut away more than I thought I was going to, to make it work. I
just hope it's strong enough when it's finished. My battery powered
Dremel
has given up the ghost, and the nasty little Chinese "rotary tool" that I'm using now was worth the $7.49 it
cost, but barely :o) |
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| February 3rd |
The weather's sucking too much to go
hang gliding,
so I repaired some of the damage in the garden from
Tilly's
digging. It was
Superbowl Sunday,
so we watched the
puppy bowl.
Tilly was entranced :o) |
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| February 2nd |
We keep talking about jacking it all in and living in an RV while driving around the
country, so we went and looked at a few at a local dealer's. We seem to like a 29' Winnebago, rather than
the huge 37' ones that people seem to go for these days. Still, it'll be a while, and it would be nice to
take a test drive in one of them before getting too excited.
In the evening we went to Fred and Marsha's for dinner and to play cards - I also dropped off Fred's PC
which I'd fixed by doing nothing to, other than taking it apart and putting it back together. |
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| February 1st |
We went out to dinner with Scott and Becky - we haven't seen them since New Year's,
mostly because everybody's lost the will to live due to the weather. They came over afterwards, to see
how
Tilly's
grown, and she promptly peed on the floor the second she got out of her crate. Oh well.
Scott's taken the carputer away to do the soldering to extend the video cable (hopefully), so that's
something off my list of things to do :o) |
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