March 16th, 2010
Today’s Activities
- Shower. DONE.
- Cat duty. DONE.
- Pay all (2) pending bills.
- Schedule appointment for Mom with the retina specialists in Johnstown for sometime in April, 2010. DEFERRED. I’ll pass this to Mom to do.
Log
08:30 AM: I’m up. My weight stayed the same as yesterday, at 175.0 Lbs. See here for a summary of the progress on this goal so far in 2010.
11:15 AM: Read more of the Team of Rivals book.
01:10 PM: Finished the Call of the Wild book by Jack London.
Received Mail and Shipments
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March 16th, 2010
Today, I consumed the following items:
- Peppermint tea and diet caffeine-free Pepsi throughout the day. 0 calories.
- 11:20 AM: 2 cups V8 juice. 100 calories.
- 01:00 PM: 8 sugar-free, high-fiber vanilla wafers. 260 calories.
- 01:00 PM: Candy. 180 calories.
Total calories: 540.
Tom
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March 15th, 2010
Today’s Activities
- Shower. DONE.
- Cat duty. DONE.
- Pay all (2) pending bills.
- Schedule appointment for Mom with the retina specialists in Johnstown for sometime in April, 2010.
Log
08:10 AM: I’m up. My weight stayed the same as yesterday, at 175.0 Lbs. See here for a summary of the progress on this goal so far in 2010.
09:45 AM: Added a Projects Page to this blog, moved the lists of completed, current, and deferred projects from the main page side bar to this page. Then, I added a link to this page on each page mentioned in these lists.
10:00 AM: Read more of the Call of the Wild book throughout the night and during down moments this morning.
01:45 PM: Worked the Emmy’s New Cable Service project; helped [Emmy] set up and use her new email and digital television.
03:25 PM: Posted the Beam Box FM Antenna piece.
04:30 PM: Worked the Storm Cleanup: 2010-03-13 project.
05:00 PM: Nap time. The switch to daylight savings time over the weekend has me off schedule a little.
06:30 PM: I’m up again.
08:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of The Young and the Restless on the DVR.
09:15 PM: Converted my list of 2009 audio journal episodes into a list of search links, that will be posted on the upcoming Audio Journal Information Page.
10:30 PM: Talked with [Emmy].
11:30 PM: Posted an Audio Journal Information Page, where I can keep track of all the audio journal episodes I’ve recorded.
12:35 AM: Created audio journal episode: AJE-2010-03-16-00-03, where I talked about feeling a lot of stress over the past 12 hours. It’s my way of venting and de-stressing. 
01:10 AM: Read more of the Call of the Wild book throughout the day.
01:12 AM: Bed once again. Catch you tomorrow. So long.
Received Mail and Shipments
- Flyer from FEMA, explaining the importance of having flood insurance. We already have it.
- 25% off coupon from Sherwin-Williams.
- Another notice of termination of my dental insurance; how many times do the need to tel me?
- Promo Only’s Urban Radio series; the 2010-04 issue.
- Promo Only’s EADFF series; the 2010-03-02 issue.
- Offer for free personal checking from First Commonwealth bank. No thanks. Both Mom and I already have this at our respective banks.
- Misc. banking info.
- Final phone bills, both Mom’s and mine, from Verizon.
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March 15th, 2010
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March 15th, 2010
This past weekend (March 13th and 14th, 2010) brought lots of rain, wind, and melting snow runoff unfortunately, that’s left our yard and house significantly worse for the wear; broken gutters, snapped tree limbs, scattered gravel and rubbish throughout the yard, and mud galore. The cleanup will take several days at least and comprises many tasks. So I’ll keep track of all the work involved in the redding up in the wake of this storm, in the comments below.
Tom Hesley
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March 15th, 2010
Dear [Mentat],
Yep, I remember that Beam Box you owned throughout the late 1970s and well into the 1980s, although I played with it very little. However, I know just from experimenting with antennas in ham radio, that when you tune an aerial to the desired frequency, and the antenna has a very high Q, you get amazingly good performance.
Unfortunately, antennas like this for the FM band are hard to come by (with the exception of the Beam Box). Because of how wide the FM band is (20 Mhz.), you really do need a tunable antenna to optimize reception for individual stations throughout the band. A simple broadband antenna (like the whips on “rabbit ears” or the old dangling wire behind the receiver) just don’t cut it, although they admittedly work reasonably well when you have no better alternatives. Yep, the Beam Box was great. I wonder if anyone makes something like that spectacular antenna today?
Tom Hesley
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March 15th, 2010
08:43 AM: [Emmy] called just now to say good morning. This will be the last time we talk on her Verizon land line telephone service; this morning, she’s switching to Comcast phone service.
For just a few dollars more a month, she’ll get a four-times faster Internet connect (12 mbps down), and lots more channels on her television. She’ll lose Verizon’s Call Intercept service however. But that’s okay because she’s been considering getting rid of that for some months now anyway. She’ll also lose her WiFi capability, a feature that’s built into Verizon’s Westel DSL modem, that Verizon will probably want back. But I have an extra access point that I’ll loan her.
The quoted prices for this Comcast service are good for one year. Hopefully by the time they expire, Verizon will have FiOS in her area, that offers a faster-still Internet connection, and even more television channels. In the meantime however, Comcast appears to be the most economical product for her.
…
01:00 PM: [Emmy] now has her new Comcast phone, television, and Internet service. Only problem was that the installer did not wish to help her configure her email, even though we were assured when we ordered the new service that the technician would assure that [Emmy's] email was configured. Nor did he take the time to show her how to use the universal remote control. She had no idea how to turn her TV on much less change the channels.
So once the instaler left, we called Comcast for assistance. The fellow we spoke with was most helpful, and he talked [Emmy] through setting up the email initially. He also provided me a link to the users guide for the remote that accompanied [Emmy's] new digital cable service. Between the two of us, [Emmy] and I gained access to the remote and I described to her how to find the remote’s essential buttons. It has many buttons that she’ll probably never use since she did not opt for a a DVR.
Tom Hesley
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March 15th, 2010
Today, I consumed the following items:
- Green tea (1 cup only) and diet caffeine-free Pepsi throughout the day. 0 calories.
- 10:00 AM: 4 sugar-free vanilla wafers. 130 calories.
- 02:00 PM: 2 cups V8 juice. 100 calories.
- 03:45 PM: 1 banana. 125 calories.
- 07:30 PM: Pork roast and vegetables leftovers. 900 calories.
- 07:30 PM: Candy. 60 calories.
- 08:00 PM: Multivitamin. 0 calories.
Total calories: 1315.
Tom
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