Finally got the new office / ham shack pretty much finished, cleaned up and took a few pics..
More to come later on.
Pics of the new office/shack
There’s always one troublemaker.
We had a drywall guy come by about a week or so ago and do some patching and cosmetic work. We had a couple spots of old water damage, some corners needed attention, the new skylight needed finishing off and the patch job I did when we remodeled the downstairs bathroom was less than perfect. I managed to get most of the spots painted OK, though I don’t think there was a spot other than my office where I picked the right paint color on the first try. The damn bathroom, though, has been a real pain in the ass. For whatever reason we don’t have any left over paint, and so far I think we’ve tried four different shades of tan/khaki. All of them are close, but none are right on the money. I’m hoping the latest is good to go, but quite frankly I’m not expecting it to be. I won’t be the least bit surprised if I end up re-painting the entire room by the time I’m finished.
Nice what someone with actual skill can do.
We’ve got a drywall guy here doing some repair work on a few spots that need it. One of them was a patch I did, and it was pretty obvious where it was. This guy’s been doing drywall for 27 years, he says… and it shows. He’s done a better job in a few hours than I am able to do in a few days.
I don’t mind, though. There’s stuff I have been doing for 27 years that would mystify the average drywall guy, too. It all evens out. I’m just glad we found a place that could send out a guy to do good quality work at a rate we can afford.
It’s been a busy week
Well, it was a busy weekend and week here, and it’s not done yet. We’ve now got a spare fridge in the kitchen that needs to be moved this weekend, and the new TV is in the family room. I still need to re-connect all the stereo gear downstairs, not to mention finishing the cleanup there. It’s a lot better looking than it has been in the past, but I’m hoping to give Lisa back her sewing area by the beginning of next week.
Somewhere in there I need to do a little Christmas shopping, too…
My Christmas list
Just in case anyone needs to know…. here’s my Christmas wish list. The Harley is about as blinged-out as I think we’re likely to get it, but of course H-D has all kinds of stuff that would be nice as well. A lot of it’s shamefully overpriced, though. I suppose the fairing mount mirrors (91945-98B) would still be good to have.
- Book Proposals That Sell: 21 SECRETS TO SPEED YOUR SUCCESS (W. Terry Whalin )
- Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 2010
- Air brush — single action, bottom feed. (like a Badger 250 or Paasche H series)
- Vespa cover – ScootRS.com, SKU 100188
- Headset with microphone for use with Skype… wireless or Bluetooth wouldn’t be bad.
- Hornady 22 Cal .224 55gr SP or SP SX bullets (SKU 2260, 2265 or 2266). These are just the bullets, not loaded ammunition. They are available in boxes of 100 or 250.
- As always… flight time with instructor or a gift certificate from Hangar One would be nice.
- Pair of black leather XXL gloves, Thinsulate and/or fur lined would be nice. Or, Cabela’s has some nice non-leather ones, the Whitetail Extreme look OK.
- Long johns. My 1970s vintage Army issue woolies are getting a little stretched out. Under Armour or some similar synthetic, light weight but warm ones.
- King or Sporty’s Recreation or Private pilot course – DVD would be best
- Range time at the Bullet Hole won’t go to waste…
If anyone happens to hit the lottery, a JVC Everio GZ-MG670 camcorder or a Barnes & Noble Nook would be great. 🙂
Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 2010
Damn cameras, anyway…
I’ve been looking at camcorders. We haven’t used one in years, not since the days of the VHS-C vs. 8mm tape battle. With the coming grandbaby, the occasional step-granddaughter and/or grand-niece running around, it might come in handy for that. We’re planning trips for the coming year, probably including one or two on the motorcycle. After seeing some of the video Kim & Stu shot on their trip, I’d like to be able to do the same.
Of more immediate concern, though, is getting some videos of my kits and the new keyer shot, edited and up on the HamGadgets web site, Youtube or both (or more). So, I’ve been looking at a lot of different camcorders to see which one will be the best for our needs. What a tar baby. Of course the job is made tougher by the fact that, even if you do find a particular model at a local store, or several different models you want to compare, you have no way to view the actual video shot with each on a TV or computer. All you can do is to compare specs, reviews and how the LCD screens look.
Right now the front runner is a Canon, but I’ve decided to do a lot more reading of reviews on line. The lower end JVC Everios are not getting very good reviews, but the somewhat-nicer GZ-MG670 is supposed to be better than the Canon I’ve been looking at.
So far the only ones to really impress me are the $800 and up HD camcorders. Of course. But I’m not spending that much on technology that’s getting significant bumps every year or so.
Captcha added
I added Captcha to the comment posting page. That’s the little thing that asks you to type in some obscured characters to prove you’re a human and not a robot script. Since starting this blog there have been four real comments posted. I have also had to delete several hundred comments that were nothing more than links to illegal drug sites, porn sites, or web pages that would load you up with the latest Windows virus or worm. Or a combination. None of them were ever visible, since I have to approve every post, but it was a pain in the ass. Maybe this will help to stem the flow of spam.
I need a vacation… from me.
So here I sit, 10:30 in the morning, still in a bathrobe and slippers. I would be dressed, but in addition to work I’ve been getting two keyers ready to ship. I have half a dozen orders that need to get packed and mailed, email to be answered, and still need ot make a complete run through of the new keyer firmware to make sure all the debugging and diagnostic stuff is pulled and all the features work. On top of that I have 50 boards that need to be prepped for assembly… in less than 2 weeks the magazine ad will hit peoples’ mailboxes, which means I need to do some serious assembly work by then. I’m still trying to get the basement de-junked so Lisa can use what should be her sewing area. The new antenna still isn’t up, need to order the support line and insulators. I’ve got a piece of desk that needs finishing. Haven’t been to the gym in two weeks, again, and that’s not good. The list goes on, and on, and on.
This has been a pattern for – well, as long as I can remember. I must have a damn short attention span or something, seems like everything gets about half done. On the bright side, I think I have every Friday off from now to the end of the year, courtesy of my new employer’s crappy PTO carryover policy. Maybe I can get enough stuff finished to get to a more or less normal life again.
A long weekend
As I sit here Monday morning, I have little twinges to remind me of the weekend. I almost feel like we got some things accomplished. Kim & Stu called yesterday morning to invite us along on a motorcycle ride, but we decided to stay home and get some much needed work done in the yard instead. It was perfect weather for either, and we really needed to get ready for winter. The roads will still be there next time it’s a beautiful day. We did see them Friday evening, went over for wine and cheese and some great conversation. We really need to do that more often.
My shoulders and arms are feeling a little used from the leaf raking, as well as from pullig the cord in futile attempts to re-start the leaf blower that I’m afraid I killed. Rob had filled the 2-stroke gas can, and I forgot that he’d done that and I had not not yet put the oil in it. As a result, the leaf blower ran at full throttle with no oil until it croaked. Twice. Now it has no compression to speak of and won’t start. Crap. The rest of the leaves got raked the old fashioned way, and of course the back yard is already covered again. Got the lawn mowed, Lisa did the front and side flower beds, Rob cut the spirea bushes out back down to the ground. We have 14 or 15 bags of yard waste now.
With Rob’s help I got the work shop more or less cleaned up, at least the half with the work bench. I can see the top of the bench now, and have it cleared off so I can assemble keyers again. There is a lot more work to be done, of course, but it’s looking a lot better.
Pete was home for a few hours, and we got the new tires mounted on the Cougar so he can get around this winter. Sent him back to Hastings with a load of food, of course. The new tail light is on the Vespa, and I got to take it out for an extended ride around the neighborhood. It’s running great now, started on the first kick once and doesn’t take more than a few any time. All I need to do now is get the plate and I can ride it outside of the neighborhood without worrying about the gendarmerie. I think, though, that I may be re-wiring the little guy this winter. I suspect I may not have things quite right yet.
All in all it was a long, but very productive weekend.
We need a new TV.
So last night I decided to try out the new whiz-bang Linux box running MythTV, connect it to the big screen in the family room to watch a couple of movies. As it happens, though the PC has DVI and HDMI outputs and optical sound output, it’s just not going to play. The TV’s available screen resolutions and interlace modes just don’t match up with what the computer tried to shove at it. Though it was sold as “HD ready” at 1080i (or maybe 1080p, I don’t remember) there are severe limits on what it will do.
So, I finally gave up. Disappointing, but I know all the new LCD panels will handle whatever mode I can throw at them… and use the HDMI interface for the sound as well, making it a one-cable proposition. I like that. Maybe two, if we use S/PDIF for the sound. Of course everything needs to go if we make the switch. The receiver (aside from a dead remote receiver) has no HDMI switching, only component or S-video. The DVD/VHS combo won’t read CDs, and has been a little finicky with some DVDs as well. Maybe Santa will drop a nice new Samsung LED flat panel down the chimney this year.