Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Cat duty. DONE.
• Dispense Mom’s meds. DONE.
• Shower. DONE.
• Pay all pending bills.

Log

07:30 AM: I’m up. My weight dropped a pound from yesterday.  It’s now 174.0 Lbs.

08:05 AM: Worked the   WPSBC Alumni Association Web Site Revamp     project.  The wpsbc-alumni.org domain now points at the new, blog style web site.

08:15 AM: A few inches of snow fell overnight.  I’ll get out there to shovel it a little later this morning.

09:30 AM: Listened to KYW News Radio via the Internet, on the iPod Touch.  Not sure why I enjoy hearing them; especially with all the school closings they’re reading right now from the storm.  I suppose I listen for nostalgic reasons; I liked Philly for the most part when I lived there, and I suppose that KYW helps me feel a little closer to that wonderful city.  I enjoy hearing what’s going on there, though none of this has any practical value to me these days since I’m here in Altoona now.  It’s all emotional.

10:05 AM: Heading out to shovel.  I’ll be back in a little while.

10:35 AM: I’m back.  Windy out there, and the snow from overnight is quite lite.  So the wind will probably blow it back on top of the walkways soon.  But I’ll just shovel it again if need be.

10:45 AM: Headed to Wal Mart with Debbie to pick up some meds for Mom and do a little   shopping   before the worst of the storm arrives later today.

01:00 PM: We’re back home again from our wintery   shopping trip.  The roads were pretty snowy, even with the plows flitting about.

02:45 PM: Just put the groceries away, chatted with Mom and Debbie, and shoveled again.  A few more inches covered the walkways since last shoveling.  But I’m not sure if this was actually new-fallen snow, or if the wind had blown the snow back onto the paths that I’d previously shoveled away.  At any rate, no snow is falling at present, but it’s still windy.

03:25 PM: I packed up the defective computer power supply, the replacement for which I received today.  However, it must be shipped UPS so I cam claim the free-shipping benefit.  Unfortunately, since I don’t normally encounter UPS trucks that I could just hand to the driver, I may have order a pick-up.  Last time I did this, it cost $10.  Grrrrrrr!

05:40 PM: Posted the   Electric Blankets And Weight Loss   piece.

06:00 PM: Posted the   iPod Touch Volume Adjustments   piece.

06:55 PM: I’m back in from another shoveling session.  This time, it’s snowing very hard, those very big and thick flakes, and the ramp had 3.5 inches on it.  At this rate, I’ll have to head out again in an hour or so and do it all again.  And who ever said that there’s no such thing as winter exercise? 

09:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.

09:30 PM: Ordered   [Emmy]  some   forever stamps on    the USPS website.  Aaaaah, the convenience of the Internet.

10:30 PM: Caught the tail-end of the Penguins game with   [Emmy]   on the phone tonight.  The Pens won.

10:50 PM: Shoveled one more time.  The snow has stopped so that now it’s just that pesky blowing snow that repeatedly covers my shoveled surfaces.

11:45 PM: Posted the   IRIS WebRadio WiFi Problems   piece.

12:00 AM: Puttered around on facebook at various times throughout  the day.  I’m up to 13 friends now. 

12:25 AM: Well, I’m weary from all the shoveling.  So, I’m off to bed.  Good night.  Take care, and see you later on.

Received Mail and Shipments

• (1) replacement computer power supply for the one that burned out last fall.  Now, I have to send back the defective one in order to get a refund for this one that just arrived.
• Valentine’s Day offer to join Google’s AdWords program.  Not at this time, but perhaps later, once I get more content up.
• Offer for auto insurance from Travelers.  No thanks.
• Verizon telephone bill.  Wow, it was high this month; that call I made about the IRIS WebRadio cost over $37 for an eleven-minute call. 

Tom

Related Posts

• Diary Revisions: 2010-02-10
• Electric Blankets And Weight Loss
• iPod Touch Volume Adjustments
• IRIS WebRadio WiFi Problems
• Mom’s Status: 2010-02-10
• Shopping Trip: 2010-02-10
• Today’s Diet: 2010-02-10
• WPSBC Alumni Association Web Site Revamp

Please note that the following comments about the IRIS WiFi WebRadio pertain to the radio’s firmware version: SOLRAD V2.1.464, and NutOS version: V3.9.7.1

I sent the followup letter to representatives of Solutions Radio; the vendor from whom I purchased the IRIS WiFi WebRadio. I never did get a response to my letter on Friday, January 22nd, 2010.  So I sent that to them again today.  Hopefully, they’ll answer this time around.

——-

Do you have any suggestions for resolving the issues I’ve raised below?  The WiFi connection on this radio appears to be highly erratic and unreliable.  Often, it does not connect when turned on and to get it to work, I must power down the radio, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on.  Even then, it sometimes fails.  Sometimes, I must power-cycle it several times before it connects, and that’s when I’m in the same room as my access point. 

Tom Hesley

—–Original Message—–
From:Thomas J. Hesley
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 10:47 PM
To:W Haan Solutions Radio BV
Subject:RE: iris webradio

Yes, your colleagues were most helpful, and with their assistance, I was able to get the WebRadio to connect to my WiFi network.  However, I’m still experiencing a few issues:

DHCP Issue

I could not get the WebRadio to connect to my network via WiFi, with DHCP set to active.  My network indeed supports DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol), and it does work with other network devices that get their IP addresses from my NetGear router.  Indeed, the WebRadio correctly connects with DHCP through the Ethernet port.  But when I try with WiFi, the WebRadio never gets past the   Connecting…   screen unless I disable DHCP. 

So, to get around this, I disabled DHCP on the WebRadio, and then configured my router to reserve an IP address for my WebRadio.  Then, I programmed that address (192.168.0.5 in my case) into the radio.

WPA Authentication Protocol Did Not Work

Originally, my Bountiful WiFi access point was set for WPA PSK Personal.  But the WebRadio refused to connect with this configuration.  I found however, that I could get the radio to connect if I changed this to  WPA / WPA2 PSK Personal. 

Sporadic Connecting

Now that I’ve got the WebRadio working through WiFi, I noticed that it does not reliably connect to the network upon power up.  More often than not, it fails and the error light blinks.  But, if I power it off and back on one to three more times, it does connect eventually. 

So at least I can get it to work, but not as easily as I’d hoped.

Thoughts? 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• IRIS Internet Radio Received
• IRIS WebRadio Firmware Upgrades
• IRIS WebRadio WiFi Setup
• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2010-02-10
• Today’s Business: 2010-02-11
• Wrong IRIS WebRadio?

Today, I either added or modified the following posts in  the   Tom’s Diary   blog for improved brevity, clarity, categorization, decreased spelling errors, appearance,  and search-ability:

Tom

Well, there are at least two (and often three) ways to adjust the volume on the iPod Touch:

1. The ear bud set has an inline microphone on the cord of one bud.  Shaped like a rectangle, this surprisingly good-sounding mc has a button at each end that can be pressed; the one closest to the bud raises the volume, and pressing the other one lowers it.
2. The iPod Touch has two buttons on the left side edge of the unit, near the top, which is the opposite end from the docking and ear bud connectors.  Pressing the one closest to the top raises the volume, and pressing the button closer to the connectors lowers it.
3. Finally, if you’re running apps that support this, such as the SHOUTcast, Pandora, and AOL Radio apps among others, a screen-based volume control appears when displaying the Now Playing screen.  Simply slide your finger across the screen over top of this control to move it.

I guess that Apple figured out that if you want to make something very easy to work, then offer more than one way to change settings on it.  Hmmm.  I wonder if they did this to make the Touch easier to operate?

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-02-10

Lately, someone got some hits on this blog with the following search:

“electric blanket working for lose weight and inches”

So this inspired me to write this piece…

Question: Can one lose real weight by sleeping under an electric blanket?

The short answer: NO!

The longer answer: While you might lose some water weight through sweating if you get under an electric blanket set to high heat, in actual truth the heat of the blanket neither burns calories nor reduces fat.  True weight loss is the reduction of the amount of fat in the body, and the only way to accomplish that, is to burn off more calories than you take in. Neither sweating in a sauna nor roasting under an electric blanket does this.  In fact, you are depleting your body of necessary nutrients and electrolytes when you sweat a lot, not to mention needlessly soiling your bedding with all that perspiration.  So no.  while electric blankets are great on a cold winter’s night, they cannot induce significant weight loss. The only legitimate way to do that is to eat wisely and make exercise part of your daily routine.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-02-10

Debbie and I decided to head out for a little shopping trip this morning, before the weather got too bad.

First stop: Wal Mart, where I purchased the following items:

• CM Case Mate iPod Touch case
• Sugar-free gelatin (for Mom)
• Sugar-free pudding (for Mom)
• 1 bunch bananas
• Blueberries (24 Oz.)
• Minute Maid pulp-free orange juice (1/2 gallon) (for Mom)
• Tyson pork roast kit (1)
• Sargento mozzarella cheese (2 bags)
• Arm & Hammer cat litter (1 large box)

Total cost: $81.22

Then, we picked up Mom’s pending meds.

Total cost: $120.52

Lastly, we went to Hoss’s steak house for lunch, and I bought the soup, salad, and bread bar for myself, and a take-out version for Mom. 

Total cost: $14.00 

Grand total: $215.74

Tom

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-02-10
• Today’s Business: 2010-02-11

Today, I consumed the following items:

• Peppermint tea and diet caffeine-free Pepsi throughout the day.  0 calories.
• 01:00 PM: 1 pickled egg.  100 calories.
• 01:00 PM: Salad with assorted vegetables.  100 calories.
• 01:00 PM: Caesar dressing.  200 calories.
• 01:00 PM: 1 bowl of cheese soup.  400 calories
• 01:00 PM: Garlic bread.  400 calories.
• 01:00 PM: Soft serve ice cream with hot fudge.  400 calories.
• 05:15 PM: Multivitamin.  0 calories.
• 08:00 PM: 1.5 cups of skim milk.  120 calories.
• 08:00 PM: 1 dozen sugar-free vanilla wafers.  390 calories.
• 11:00 PM: 1 dozen sugar-free vanilla wafers.  390 calories.

Total calories: 2500.

Tom

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-02-10
• Weight Loss: 2010

Pending Appointments And Issues

1. Pick up order for all pending prescriptions this week.  DONE.
2. 2010-02-19 @ 11:00 AM:  Friday: Appointment with her eye doctor to check the progress of the clearing up of the blood in her right eye.
3. 2010-03-12 @ 1:15 PM: Friday: PCP appointment to see if the edema has gone down. 
4. 2010-04-14 @ 11:10 AM: Wednesday: Appointment with orthopedist for the next quarterly checkup on the progress of healing of her charcot foot. 

Log

09:55 AM: Blood sugar: 217.  Covered with 17 units of log insulin.

10:00 AM: Dispensed Mom’s morning meds, including the once-again-increased dose (now 45 units) of N insulin.

01:00 PM: Picked up more N insulin and furosemide for Mom just now.  Total cost: $120.52, and this just her copay!

02:00 PM: Covered her lunch of salad and coconut shrimp with 15 units of log insulin.

02:00 PM: Dispensed Mom’s lunch-time meds.

05:15 PM: Blood sugar: 109.  Great!

05:15 PM: Dispensed Mom’s evening meds.

10:00 Dispensed Mom’s night-time meds.

10:05 Blood sugar: 148.  Covered this and a night snack with 15 units of log insulin.

Tom

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-02-10