Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  Sister Jojo is performing this until I return home.

Log

07:00 AM: I’m up.  [Emmy] got a nasty cold yesterday, and now my big concern is that I’ll contract it and give it to Mom during my hospital visits.  Hopefully, since I just got over a cold back in March, I’m still strong enough to fight off this one. 

08:15 AM: Heading in to the hospital to visit Mom.  Back later.

12:05 PM: On the way back to [Emmy's] from the hospital, I visited Dunkin’ Donuts for my usual decaffeinated coffee with hazelnut flavoring.  Total cost: $2.09.

12:45 PM: I’m back at [Emmy's].

03:10 PM: Just received word that doctors are discharging Mom from UPMC this afternoon.  So I’m on my way to her room there to catch a ride in the ambulance back to Altoona with her. 

03:45 PM: I’m at the hospital for my second and last visit for not only today, but hopefully for the foreseeable future as well. 

06:00 PM: The ambulance is all packed, and we’re leaving now for Altoona.

08:20 PM: We just arrived at the nursing facility in the Altoona area where Mom will convalesce for at least the next month. 

09:30 PM: Sister Christine and husband Richard met me at Mom’s new location.  They helped get her all settled in, and we hung out in the 1st floor lounge, catching up.

10:00 PM: Christine and Rich brought me back here to the home office. I found however that my WiFi system is not working.  Investigating…

10:20 PM: Looks like a failed power supply was the cause of the WiFi outage.  I replaced it and all is well once more. 

01:00 AM: Watched the 2010-07-18 edition of NBC’s   Meet The Press    news show while unpacking. 

02:15 AM: Watched the 2010-08-27 episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.

02:25 AM: Heading to bed, in my   own   bed.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts

• Mom’s Status: 2010-08-27
• Today’s Diet: 2010-08-27
• Weight Loss: 2010

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  Sister Jojo performing this until I return home.

Log

06:30 AM: I’m up. 

07:45 AM: Leaving now for [Emmy's] nerve test appointment and after that, to visit Mom.  Back later. 

10:00 AM: [Emmy's] nerve test is done.  Now, we’re headed to Mom’s room.

10:15 AM: I’m listening to Internet radio here in Mom’s room at the hospital on my iPod Touch.  It’s cool that they offer free WiFi Internet here.  The signal is strong and the available bandwidth is quite high. 

10:45 AM: Mom’s been sleeping the past half-hour.  So we’re headed to lunch at McDonald’s. 

11:40 AM: We each bought two quarter-pounders at the Oakland McDonald’s.  Total cost: $16.53

01:15 PM: We’re home again.  [Emmy's] nerve tests revealed that she’s still suffering from moderate carpel tunnel in her right hand; though there was some improvement in the readings since the last time she had this test, which was just prior to her surgery in August of 2007.  Her left hand is also still showing mild carpel tunnel which is the same level of severity as before.  This is to be expected, since she’s not had her left hand treated for this yet. 

01:30 PM: Nap time.  Back later.

05:00 PM: We’re back up again, and we’ll head back to the hospital in an hour. 

06:30 PM: Watched some news and are now heading back to the hospital.  See you later.

09:40 PM: We’re back home.  Mom’s doing a little better this evening.

10:00 PM: Now, we’re watching   CNN’s AC 360   news show.

10:15 PM: We tried making a bag of popcorn in  [Emmy's]  new microwave oven.  We cooked it on high power for two minutes.  But it came out a little scorched.  So we’ll try a minute ad forty-five seconds the next time.  Her oven uses 1250 watts of heating power, which must be a bit stronger than the one at my place; which requires two minutes and forty-five seconds to make a bag without scorching.  Interesting how the coot times can be so variable depending on which brand and size of oven you use.  The industry might consider standardizing ovens more across brands to reduce this variability some.  But hey, I don’t mind a little trial and error with a new oven.  It’s a good thing we don’t have to buy new ones too often these days. 

11:00 PM: Bed time.  We’re bushed after two walks to the hospital on this particularly warm day.  More tomorrow.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts

• Mom’s Status: 2010-08-11
• Today’s Diet: 2010-08-11
• Weight Loss: 2010

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

10:00 AM: I’m up. Fully sunny and warm so far.

10:15 AM: Sister Jojo called, offering to take [Emmy] and I to the park.  However, since I’ve just gotten up, and [Emmy] is still sleeping, I had to decline, as we could not be ready by the time she wanted to depart.  Oh well.  Perhaps we’ll go tomorrow with one of the lions, when he drives there to work Bingo. 

11:00 AM: Posted the    Dear Susan Jacks   piece to the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.

02:00 PM: Heading to DelGrosso park to spend the afternoon sitting in the lounge chairs at the water park.  We’ll also stroll over to the main concourse and ride the merry-go-round perhaps.

02:10 PM: We’re at the park and just paid $25.90 for admission for the two of us.  Not bad for a whole day’s worth of fun. 

03:00 PM: I took a little note pad and jotted some notes while people-watching.  Well, to perfectly honest, I was girl-watching.    I’ll write about the experience at some point, should inspiration to do so encourage me. 

04:30 PM: Okay, we’ve spent two hours at the water park, enjoying our iPods and the music through the park PA systems.  Now we’re headed across East Pleasant Valley Boulevard to where the rides are. 

05:45 PM: Let’s see, we did indeed ride the merry-go-round, the Crazy Mouse, and the little train.  Now, we’re grabbing a little supper at the outdoor restaurant close to game land. 

065:00 PM: We enjoyed a couple of steak sandwiches at Murf’s Kitchen.  Unfortunately however, I couldn’t get their free outdoor WiFi to work with my iPod Touch.  I was able to connect to it, but could not access any of my favorite Internet radio stations.  Something must be wrong with their Internet connection.

06:20 PM: We then met sister Jojo near the park’s main office for our ride home.  She had come to pick up her daughter, who had come to the park with a friend for the day, and her younger son, who was working as a life guard at the park. 

06:30 PM: We’re home again.

06:45 PM: After enjoying some cream cheese jello, we’re taking a nap.  Being out in that bright sun this afternoon has really played me out. 

08:45 PM: While dozing, we listened to  the 2010-05-27 episode of   KDKA’s local news at 5:00 PM   on the DVR.

09:50 PM: Watched last night’s and tonight’s episodes of   NBC’s Nightly News   on the DVR.

12:35 AM: Watched the 2010-05-28 episode of   Dr. Phil,  and the 2010-05-23 episode of   NBC’s Nightly News; both from the DVR.

12:40 AM: Going to bed now.  Good night, take care, and see you tomorrow. 

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• The 2010-05 issue of  Consumer Reports   magazine.
• Notice that plastic and paper recycling is coming to our area.
• TigerDirect catalog.
• Invitation to nephew Trey’s graduation party.  We’re going.
• Balance transfer offer from Capital One bank.  No thanks.

Related Posts

• Diary Revisions: 2010-05-29
• Quest Revisions: 2010-05-29
• Site Stats: 2010-05-29
• Today’s Diet: 2010-05-29
• Tom’s Love Quest –> Dear Susan Jacks
• Weekly Backups: 2010-05-29
• Weight Loss: 2010

I’ve tested another strategy for getting a stronger, more reliable WiFi feed at my pavilion that’s easy to implement in this particular environment.  I’ve found during the past week, that moving the WiFi Access Point (WAP) just 20 feet closer to the pavilion with a more line-of-sight setup, removed nearly all dropped-connection problems.  They still happen; but only once or twice an hour.  Now I can swing as high as I like on the porch swings there, with iPod Touch in hand, without losing Internet radio stations much at all.

Specifically, I repositioned the WAP from the office (in the center of the house) to the pavilion-facing window in the attic; on the east side of our dwelling.  Not only did this get the WAP ten percent closer (the pavilion is approximately 200 feet away), but it also eliminated two walls from the signal path (one drywall and one roof) through which the signal must pass to reach the pavilion.  While this did not raise the number of signal strength bars reported by the iPod Touch at the pavilion (I still get just one bar down there), the reliability of the connections rose a great deal, still. 

I’m concerned however that the attic climate extremes might not be good for this particular WAP, which is a Bountiful WiFi BWRG1000) that was intended for indoor use only.  So investing in a “beefier” WAP that has a sealed enclosure, or building such a box for the one I have might be prudent.  While our attic is technically considered “indoors,” dampness and large temperature swings typically intrude; it can go from below freezing at dawn to nearly a hundred degrees in the afternoon, and that’s even with the exhaust fan running.  Further, since our house has aluminum siding, the WAP must be located near the only attic window on the pavilion side of the house, for maximum WiFi signal at the pavilion.  Metal attenuates the signal significantly.  So getting all metal out of the signal path is paramount.  But the sun shines there on clear mornings, and falls on the WAP, heating it up perhaps too much.  Indeed, I have noticed since relocating the WAP to the attic that it requires more reboots.  If this proves to be a trend, an outdoor WAP will be necessary.

Though the enhanced coverage area doesn’t extend very far past the pavilion on the east side toward the river, the bubble of useable WiFi now nonetheless completely envelops the pavilion.  Ideally though, it’d be nice to have that bubble encompass our whole yard, so I can listen while mowing the grass without having to stop to reset the iPod Touch so often when entering those fringe signal areas.  That may be possible by either putting a high-gain dish-style antenna outside the attic window and aiming it at the pavilion, or installing an outdoor access point at the pavilion itself.  I’ll post more on that later.   

The antenna route would be the cheapest (around a hundred dollars), as it requires no additional access point.  However, there is a row of tall green spruce trees between the house and the back yard where the pavilion is, that may reduce the signal to unusable levels in the part of the yard on the opposite side of the pavilion from the house.  This can’t be determined for certain unless I get an antenna, mount it outside the attic, and test it.  It probably wouldn’t be an issue though, because even with small omni directional antennas that come with the BWRG1000, the signal is still pretty good at the pavilion, despite their low amount of gain.  The dish antenna I have in mind though, offers 24 DBi gain which, on the S-unit scale at least, is enough to increase the signal strength from S-1 to S-10+ (almost no signal to full-scale signal).   Of course, the effective gain of this antenna wouldn’t quite reach 24 DBi because of the couple of DB signal loss in the coaxial cable and connectors that would be required to attach the WAP to it.  But still though, we’d have roughly 20 DBi of gain. 

This would probably be enough to eliminate all fringe signal areas in and immediately around the pavilion.  But the questions remain: How much would the dish antenna lengthen the strong-signal bubble toward the river?  Would it in fact, cover the entire yard with dropout-free WiFi reception?  I’m not sure.  The pavilion is midway down the yard between the house and the river, and the edge of current bubble just barely covers the pavilion.  This still leaves the lower half of the yard unusable on the Touch.   While I’m sure there would be SOME signal enhancements with the dish, it’s not clear if these would be enough to reach the river (the river is about 500 Ft. from the house).

Also, the dish would blast practically all the WiFi signal toward the river.  So I’m wondering if there’d be enough back-side signals radiated to still provide good coverage in and around the house here. This is also a requirement.  If yes, then we’ll be done.  If not, then I may go the route of installing a second WAP at the pavilion.  Clearly though, further experimentation is necessary to get these answers, and I will do that as time and available money permits.  J  So stay tuned, and take care.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi #1
• Improving Pavilion WiFi #2
• Today’s Business: 2010-04-11

Well, friends, I’m sorry to report that unless you’re an engineering genius or are willing to take apart your iPod Touch to connect an external WiFi antenna (they do not provide an externally accessible port for this), there’s not much you can do at the iPod end to significantly improve its WiFi performance without negatively impacting the portability and usability of the iPod Touch.  In fact, you can get far better results by modifying your WiFi network as follows:

Keep In Line Of Sight

What you can do with relative ease though, and what I have done in fact, is to assure that the iPod Touch is always in line-of-sight of the WiFi access point (WAP).  It works most flawlessly when you’ve got it in the same room as your WAP.  But if you’re using the Touch outside, then ideally, you’d want to place your WAP outside as well, or at least, to put an antenna out there that’s connected to the WAP.  Avoid trees in the line between the WAP and the iPod Touch if possible.  But don’t worry if you can’t; the signal still gets through the trees, though they will weaken it somewhat depending on their density.  So, trees will reduce how far away from the WAP you can go without losing the WiFi signal.    

Use Directional Antennas

Still though, even with a full-power (1 watt) WAP, you’ll do well if you get continuous WiFi connectivity beyond 300 Ft. with omni directional antennas on your WAP.  Now you could buy directional, high-gain parabolic or yagi antennas and point these in the direction you’d like the best WiFi service.  I haven’t actually tried this yet due to the cost of the devices, lightening arresters, and cables.  But research indicates that such antennas can dramatically increase the strength and range of the signal in the direction you point them.    

Keep Antenna Cables As Short As Possible

Should you decide to employ external antennas of any type, it’s imperative at WiFi frequencies (2.4 Ghz.) to use no more antenna cable between the access point and the antenna than you have to.  At these frequencies, antenna cables reduce the signal that reaches the antenna by a ghastly amount if more than a few meters long.

Make a Repeater

Or you could purchase another WAP and configure it as a WiFi repeater, and place it where you want good service.  As long as the repeater gets a reliable signal from the original (root) WAP, it will repeat well.  I got some great success with this technique (discussed   here).  Keep in mind though that the presence of a repeater on your WiFinetwork will effectively halve the network’s effective bandwidth capability.  So, employ this solution only if 27 mega bits per second (half of the wireless-G bandwidth of 54 mbps) still meets your network requirements.  For most Internet radio listening or web browsing, this is sufficient. If you have a spare WAP you can use for this but it’s firmware does not support the repeater function, you might be able to install the dd-wrt firmware on the WAP.  This program has repeater options built in.

Make Another WiFi Network

Or, if you’re put off by the repeater solution as I was, but you’d still like to employ your extra access point, then put it near where you’ll most likely connect to the Internet with your Touch, and configure it as a different SSID (a different WiFi network).  Of course, you’ll need to get the Internet from your primary Internet router to the WAP.  You can run Ethernet cable if possible. If not, you can utilize your power lines to carry the Ethernet signals from your house to wherever you place the WAP outside.  However, these are somewhat costly. 

Put The WAP Close By

Whether you go the repeater or second-network roots described above, locate the access point serving the desired area as close to that area as possible.   Devices with internal antennas (such as the iPod Touch) prefer very strong WiFi signals to eliminate connection drops, especially if you wish to move around with them like me, say, on a riding lawn tractor or swinging with them in a pavilion.  A WAP within a hundred feet will do much to ensure against unwanted pauses in audio and video streams playing over the network on these devices. 

Summary

In short, you can most effectively extend the operational WiFi range of your iPod Touch.  But your best bet is to do so by manipulating the network equipment surrounding the iPod, and not the iPod itself.  They may come out at some point with WiFirange boosters for the Touch, such as what you can buy for cell phones. But until them, the above suggestions can help significantly.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi #1
• Improving Pavilion WiFi #2 
• iPod Touch Has Weak Wifi
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-29

In the ongoing effort to get stronger WiFi signal at my pavilion so that my wireless devices like the iPod Touch function more reliably down there, I thought that today, I’d do the reverse of   what was done yesterday.  At that time, I configured my high power access point (the Bountiful WiFi BWRG1000) as a repeater of the root access point, which was my lower power AP (the Linksys WRT300N).  However, I could not get the BWRG1000 to repeat the WRT300N V1s signals after several hours of reading, trial, and error.

So, later yesterday and today, I investigated configuring the WRT300N V1 as the repeater instead.  Unfortunately, the stock firmware from Linksys that ships with this AP does not support repeater or repeater bridge functionality.  But a Google search revealed a neat firmware system, called dd-wrt.  This package is open software (so it is free), and it contains the additional functionality I need for repeating. Check out its web site at  http://www.dd-wrt.com/, for more information.

After locating the correct firmware for the WRT300N V1 (not a trivial task, mind you), I downloaded it and installed.  I may post details about this experience in another piece if I can remember everything I did.  It took a couple hours to read the site, locate the software, then read some more in order to convince myself that I did in fact, select the correct version.    

Anyway, as it turns out, I chose correctly, because I experienced no dead (or bricked) router problems, and after more trial and error into the wee hours of this morning, I finally got WRT3000N V1 to repeat here in the office!  More details on that effort later.

Then, an hour ago, I took the WRT300N V1 down to the pavilion (it’s cold and rainy outside today, but I was determined.).  It worked like a champ.  In fact, I was amazed at the enhanced reliability and range of it. 

There are still a few kinks to work out – could not get DHCP to work through this router when configured as a repeater bridge.  So I program a static IP address for the iPod Touch to use when it connects to this particular (repeater) SID.  But I’ll tinker with that more this afternoon and hopefully will discover a solution; I avoid hard-coding of IP addresses where possible. 

After playing around and changing parameters, I resolved the DHCP problems by configuring the WRT300N V1 as a   repeater; not a repeater bridge.  This means that all clients on the WiFi side of the router as well as those plugged into the LAN ports on that same router, get their dynamic IP address from the DHCP server in that router (the WRT300N V1).  Additionally, the WRT300N V1 also acts as a client on my BWRG1000 AP, which gives the WRT300N V1 its IP address via the BWRG1000 DHCP server. Funny that this server grants dynamic IP addresses to the WRT300N V1, but I couldn’t get it to grant to the clients on that router.  People talked on the dd-wrt forums about the software not forwarding DHCP broadcast packets to the Ethernet side of the router. If that’s true than nothing less than a firmware update will fix it. 

The repeater solution, after a day’s work to get it going, works well when repeating an open system (no wireless security turned on), although it does cut the effective throughput of the entire WIFi network in half.  This is not a problem for me listening to Internet radio and surfing, because the bandwidth is still around 27 megabits per second.  Since even the best stations only require 128 kilobits per second, there’s still plenty of capacity available. 

So once everything was working in open-system mode, I attempted to turn on security.  I tried WEP, WPA Peraonal, and WPA2 Personal between the two routers.  However, all of these broke the repeater; while turned on, the repeater router would not repeat.  In fact, it would not connect correctly to the primary (BWRG1000) router at all.  So it appears that I’d have to keep my security on the BWRG1000 turned off; not an acceptable solution.

Also, I noticed decreased stability on my WRT300N V1 after applying the dd-wrt firmware.  Specifically, when you change various parameters, oftentimes they do not take effect, even when you save them, apply them, and finally, reboot the router.  Sometimes, you must set them two to four times before they actually modify system behavior as they should.  I’m not sure why this is so.  It could be that the dd-wrt firmware has bugs.  So I suppose I could try earlier versions and see if they’re any better.  But I’ve already got way too much time in this. This firmware works well when operating the WRT300N V1 as a straight access point (no repeating or bridging).  Thus it might be wise to investigate how to use it to solve the pavilion WiFi weakness problem in this basic mode. 

Just for purposes of experimentation and edification, it would be nice to devise a solution that does not impact available network bandwidth so much, and that would also solve my security problems.  Further, the WRT300N V1 router is only designed for indoor use.  However, I’d like to get an outdoor unit that could be permanently mounted in the pavilion, to save me from having to cart the router down there to listen to the radio, and then bring it back up to the house when I’m done.  Hmmm.  Time to set up some saved searches on eBay for cheap outdoor WiFi equipment.  I’ll look into this and write more about those possibilities in other pieces later.    

So again, stay tuned.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi Attempt #1
• Improving Pavilion WiFi Attempt #3
• iPod Touch Has Weak WiFi
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-23

So, in early 2008, I purchased a Linksys WRT300N V1 WiFi access point (AP) and router to ease myself into the WiFi world cheaply.  However, this unit appears to utilize a very low-power transmitter – the signal strength falls rapidly as you increase your distance from this AP.  I lose one bar even when just one room away on a laptop.  Still though, at the pavilion, I get one bar from it and can reliably connect.  Its signal seems reliable and strong enough to be a good input to a repeater AP.

Nonetheless, I still wished to further improve signal strength down there and throughout the house up here.  So in later 2008, I purchased a full-power (1 watt or 30 DBm) system: The Bountiful WiFi  BWRG1000 AP and router.  This vastly improved WiFi reception everywhere, including my favorite hang-out spot here on the property; the pavilion, which is 210 feet from the house. Laptops with WiFi now get three to four bars out of five down there, and they reliably play my favorite Internet radio stations.

My passion for Internet radio has grown over the past year.  So I decided to purchase a 64 GB iPod Touch with WiFi, hoping to spend some long days at the pavilion listening to stations on it.  Unfortunately, while the WiFi signal strength is very useable, it’s still quite weak on the iPod; the touch does not receive as well as the laptops, and so, requires a stronger WiFi signal to establish comparable reception.  Further, as I swing with the iPod Touch, apps such as AOL Radio and ShoutCAST often cut out apparently due to the dead spots encountered at the fringes of the “WiFi bubble”.  It will work.  But once you find a place where the signal is strong, you must keep the iPod Touch quite still to avoid these drop-outs.

This will not do though, because I love to sit on the pavilion swings, and get them really moving as I’m jamming.  So for me, it’s no fun sitting still, when listening to the sorts of dance and classic rock music that I so enjoy.  Thus, I’ve got to be able to move around without fear of losing the signal.  So, I’m seeking a way to get a strong WiFi signal in and around the pavilion, so that my iPod Touch will function flawlessly.

To that end, I attempted to configure my BWRG1000 as a WiFi repeater, and take it to the pavilion while I had the WRT300N V1 up here configured as my root access point.  If it worked, I’d have an extremely strong signal on the Touch, as the BWRG1000 would only be a few feet from me.  However, I could not make the BWRG1000 repeat the signals from the WRT300N V1, even when I positioned it very close to the WRT300N V1.  I tried the following steps without luck:

• Enabled WDS mode on the BWRG1000.  No repeating occurred.
• Configured the SID and MAC Ids of the WRT300N V1 as my root access point on the BWRG1000.  Still, no repeating.
• Set the encryption format on the WRT300N V1 to WEP.  It says on the Bountiful WiFi web site that the BRWG1000, in repeater mode, does not support any encryption except WEP.  Aaaaah, I thought.  This explains the no-signal situation.  Alas however, I still had no signal from the BRWG1000 after this change, even I verified that I could connect to the WRT300N V1 with the iPod Touch using WEP.
• Made sure that the WRT300N V1 was configured for Wireless G mode only.

I also read that often, when the make of the repeater-mode access point (Bountiful WiFi in this scenario) differs from that of the root access point (Linksys here), repeater operation may not work.  It could be that this difference is preventing the BWRG1000 from repeating. 

Unfortunately, this experiment of employing the BWRG1000 as a repeater for a WRT300N V1 AP has failed, barring any new information that readers provide.  I wonder if the repeater solution might work the other way around?  That is: What if I configure the BRWG1000 as the root AP and the WRT300N V1 AP as the repeater?  That might work.  However, I’d probably have to switch to different firmware than the stock software, as the stock software does not allow the user to configure this AP for repeater operation.  Still though, I might give that a try.  

The Next Day

In fact, I did try this out.  Click   here   for details.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Improving Pavilion WiFi #2 
• Improving Pavilion WiFi #3
• iPod Touch Has Weak WiFi
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-22 

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty. DONE.
• Pay all (1) pending bills.
• Schedule appointment for Mom with the retina specialists in Johnstown for sometime in April, 2010. 

Log

09:30 AM: I’m up. My weight dropped a half-pound from yesterday, to   176.5 Lbs.    

10:30 PM: Read more of the book   To Kill A Mockingbird.

11:15 AM: [Emmy] called to say good morning.

12:00 PM: Worked the   Pink’s PC Problems: 2010-03-10   project.  I must confer with her about how to proceed, before proceeding. 

02:30 PM: Finished the book   To Kill A Mockingbird.  Excellent and informative reading!

02:33 PM: Warmest day this year; the temperature on the back porch here is 62 degrees and climbing.  The sun is shining as well on a mostly clear afternoon. 

03:35 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.

04:05 PM; Further, on this warmest day so far, I took the opportunity to replace a burned-out halogen flood light in the east carport.  Looks like the fixture won’t last much longer.  In fact, sometimes I wonder why they make the bulbs replaceable in these.  I changed thsi holder the last time the bulb failed a few years ago, and this fixture shows the same signs of deterioration; rusted face clips and weakened contact springs.  It must be the heat from the 300 watt lamp that’s so hard on these things.  Oh well.  I’m toying with replacing these with LED dusk-to-dawn lamps later this year.  That would solve the heat problem at least.

04:20 PM: Downloaded the following talking books from the BARD site:

• Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• Adventures of Pinocchio
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Call Of The Wild
• Canterbury Tales

05:00 PM: With the weather being so warm, it’s safe to classify this day as the first pavilion day of 2010, and to honor this very special time, I took the iPod touch down there, through the muddy grass.  Internet radio works pretty well at the pavilion.  But it does cut out frequently if you don’t hold the touch properly.  So I might look into how to improve the WiFi reception; either by moving my access point to the attic and then putting a directional antenna on the roof, or putting a weatherproof access point in the pavilion.  I’ll have to mull it over to see which solution would be the cheapest.   

06:00 PM: Sister Christine called to check in.  Nice to hear that she’s recovering from her facial paralysis.  She has this week off from teaching to get better.

06:15 Nap time.

07:30 PM: I’m up again.  Working the   Pink’s PC Problems: 2010-03-10   project.  Restoring the Vista operating system from the recovery image on the hard drive.. 

10:00 PM: Listened to the third and overtime periods of the Penguins hockey game with [Emmy] on the phone.  They lost however, 4 to 3. 

10:30 PM: Sister Joann called to arrange our shopping trip for tomorrow.  We’re going early (at 7:45 AM) because Jojo is taking Mom to the doctor’s tomorrow afternoon.  So we’ll get our activities out of the way in the morning. 

11:30 PM: Went back to reading the   Team of Rivals   book.

11:50 PM: Okay, going to bed.  Good night and take care.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Offer for Verizon DSL high speed Internet.  No thanks.
• Notice of new premium rates from my ex dental insurance company.
• Offer for AT&T cell phone service.  No thanks.
• Mom’s 2010-02 banking statement.
• 2010-03 issue of Analog Science Fiction magazine.

Related Posts

• Book: Team of Rivals
• Book: To Kill A Mockingbird
• Pink’s PC Problems: 2010-03-10
• Today’s Diet: 2010-03-11

Today’s Activities

• Cat duty. DONE.
• Dispense Mom’s meds.  DONE.
• Shower. DONE.
• Schedule appointment for Mom with the retina specialists in Johnstown for sometime in April, 2010. 
• Get together all papers and figures for Mom’s 2009 taxes.  IN PROGRESS. 
• Do all of Mom’s pending laundry (5 loads).  DONE.
• Vacuum bedroom.  DONE.
• Pack for Pittsburgh trip.  DONE.
• Make train trip to Pittsburgh to visit   [Emmy].  DONE.

Log

08:00 AM: I’m up. My weight is the same as yesterday; 174.0 Lbs.

09:30 AM: Finished up all Mom’s laundry.

10:45 AM: Sister Jojo came by.  I showed her all about Mom’s meds, where to find them, how much of each medication to give and when, and what to do in case Mom experiences low blood sugar.

12:00 PM: Packing for the trip continues, and I’m currently backing up this computer.  I’ve also backed up my Victor Reader Stream just in case I would lose it on the trip. 

01:55 PM: Backups of this computer and the Victor Reader Stream are complete, and I just finished watching the 2010-01-10 and 2010-01-17 episodes of NBC’s   Meet The Press   news show.  I’ll check on the train at around 3:30 PM: to make sure it’s running on time before heading to the station. 

03:20 PM: Watched the 2010-02-19 and 2010-02-20 episodes of NBC’s   Nightly News    news show on the DVR.

03:25 PM: The train’s on time.  So nephew Garrett will pick me up before too long. 

03:40 PM: Okay I’m leaving in a little while.  So I’m locking up this computer for now, and I’ll post more here, once I get to Pittsburgh.  Until then…   Take care. 

06:15 PM: Purchased a couple cans of Diet Pepsi.  This crowded train car is a bit warm.

08:15 PM: Arrived at Pittsburgh just now; it’s roughly a 2 and 1/2 hour ride from Altoona on the train.

08:45 PM: I caught a cab to   [Emmy's], and arrived about five minutes ago.  No problem securing a cab this time. in fact, the driver was right outside when I emerged from the station, into the car port. 

09:15 PM: We set up the two new power strips I brought with me, to solve [Emmy's] shortage of outlets problem.  They work great.

09:20 PM: Talked with Mom.  So far they’ve managed her meds well.  Sister Jojo gave her the evening meds, and left the night dosage for Mom to take at the appropriate time.  Mom doesn’t like how quiet the house is without me.  She never really cared for being by herself.  But she’ll have company each weekend, sister Jojo will visiter her at least once each day in the morning, and probably in the evenings as well.  Plus, Debbie will stay with Mom on each of the next two weekends while I’m away.  Then too, she has her telephone to chat with friends if she so desires.  So she’ll be alright.  Funny though how people are different.  When she’s gone from the house and I’m there by myself, I just love the quiet. 

10:00 PM: We configured the IRIS WiFi Internet WebRadio, and it worked much better than it did at my place, on my Bountiful WiFi access point. Not sure why. There may be some undocumented incompatibilities between the WebRadio and my access point at home.  However, here at [Emmy's], unlike at home, I did not have to apply any special configuration to her router to make the radio work.  In fact, the DHCP problem I noted at home, does not occur here; DHCP works great with [Emmy's] Westel router.  We’ll try the Ethernet connection tomorrow.

12:00 AM: Filled   [Emmy's]   shampoo and conditioner bottles; she has gallon jugs of both of these, and when I come out periodically, I pour some of each into smaller bottles that she uses daily.  So she should be good on these potions for the next few months now anyhow.  I do the same with her stevia and her laundry detergent as well.

12:30 AM: Replaced   [Emmy's]  Pur water filter with a new one of the same brand.  The old one began leaking; water would drip out of the filtered holes even when the filter cylinder was in the down (non filtered) position.  This is her second failed Pur filter since early 2007.  These things really don’t last that long, do they?  We’ll have to see how long this third new filter lasts. 

12:45 PM: Okay, good night to all from Pittsburgh.  Catch you out here again, in less than twelve hours.  So long until then. 

Received Mail and Shipments

• No deliveries today.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Diary Revisions: 2010-02-21
• Mom’s Status: 2010-02-21
• Shopping Trip: 2010-02-21
• Today’s Diet: 2010-02-21

Today’s Activities

• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Dispense Mom’s meds. DONE.
• Shower. DONE.
• Fill two weeks worth of Mom’s med trays for when I go on vacation.  DONE.
• Order my train ticket for the upcoming visit to   [Emmy].  DONE.

Log

09:00 AM: I’m up. My weight is the same as yesterday; 74.0 Lbs.

10:00 AM: Watched the 2010-01-28 episode of   Dr. Phil   on the DVR, about a couple who provided gestational surrogate child-birthing services for another couple, and then decided to keep the resulting baby twins because they learned things about the receiving couple that made them concerned about the welfare of the newborns.  Good episode, though I think I’d avoid the whole surrogacy business altogether.  There’s just too much risk that people will change their minds mid-cycle, as was the case here.

10:55 AM: Posted the   IRIS WiFi WebRadio?  Not Quite!   piece.

12:50 PM: Watched the 2010-02-02 episode of   Dr. Phil   on the DVR.  In this very touching show, he helps a  victim of bullying find peace and comfort in her past by suggestion that she has bullied herself way more than the bullies did it to her.  He also featured some of the cast of the TV Land show, High School Reunion, and brings another victim and a bully together to hash out their historical pains.  Excellent episode.

01:50 PM: Watched the 2010-02-03 episode of   Dr. Phil   on the DVR, where he advises two couples in which the husbands are overly controlling and obsessive; another great episode.

01:55 PM: Mom just returned home from the store.  She’s hosting a family dinner here at 4:00 PM.  So far, sister Jojo and her kids are coming.

02:00 PM: I’ve made my Pittsburgh vacation trip reservations.  I’m heading out there a week from today.  I’m anxious to see if this IRIS WiFi Internet WebRadio works any better with   [Emmy]‘s   access point than it has with mine.  Just in case we have similar problems, I’ll assemble a 50-foot long Ethernet cable, and we’ll connect the radio through that, to her router; it does work much better through Ethernet.

03:25 PM: Filled the med boxes with a two-week supply of Mom’s meds that my substitute caregivers can draw from while I’m on vacation.

03:40 PM: Worked the   Christmas Lighting: 2009   project.   Took down and put away some of the indoor decorations.   After all, it’s Valentine’s day.  It’s time.

05:00 PM: One of sister Christine’s little puppies almost died overnight.  Apparently this runt of the litter got lost (too far away from the mother) and almost passed away on the cold concrete floor of her garage. It found an opening in the insulating blankets laid for the pups, and got underneath it, next to the floor.  Its ears looked purple and took a few hours to warm up again.    But at the moment, the little creature seems much more responsive, and hopefully will suffer no long-term ill-effects of this experience.

06:05 PM:  [Emmy]   is a member on facebook now, and I’ve made her one of my friends there.

06:10 PM: Sister Jojo’s family and sister Diane stopped in for a Valentine’s day dinner.  We had pork roast, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, salad, and some sort of Oreo cookie dessert, which I’m proud to say, I avoided; didn’t even crave it at all.

06:50 PM: Watched the 2010-02-04 & 2010-02-05 episodes of the   Dr. Phil   show.  These were two parts of the same episode that exposed the potential inaccuracies of eyewitness testimony and how it so often and so easily can result in mistaken identity and thus, wrongful convictions.  They talked with a woman who had been severely raped and brutalized at fifteen years of age, and the man whom she identified as the rapist.  The justice system convicted this fellow, and locked him up for fourteen years, until DNA evidence exonerated him.  The show focused on the two of them, getting past both their pains.  Quite the tear-jerker episode; an excellent show actually.

08:00 PM: Watched the 2010-02-09 episode of the   Dr. Phil   show from the DVR, where he helps another drug-addicted young person to find the way back to sobriety.  He brought a now-sober man that he’d helped several years ago to get away from black tar heroin, and this man encouraged the current patient to take the help that was offered.  She eventually agreed to go into an intensive rehabilitation program, that could take months.  But Dr. Phil has had success with this treatment system.  So this new female patient will probably do okay.  Not a bad show, but I liked the previous three of four episodes better.

09:10 PM: Watched tonight’s episode of   CBS’s 60 Minutes   news show from the DVR.

10:20 PM: Talked with   [Emmy].  We were planning my vacation visit to her place.  We plan on shopping and eating lots of Indian food from this quaint restaurant a few blocks away, and we’ll take in lots of Dr. Phil, The Young and the Restless, NBC’s Nightly News, and CBS’sEvening News.  Can you tell that we’re quite the news junkies?  If not, then let me tell you definitively: We are.    I’m also anxious to let her play with the accessibility features on my new iPod Touch, and show her the IRIS Internet WebRadio.  I’ll also take some of her Christmas gifts out to her as well.

11:15 PM: I’ve played KYW News Radio here on the computer through Winamp and it’s played non stop for well over four hours now; much more reliably than it did on the iPod Touch.  This appears to be the same stream URL that I had so much trouble with the other day on the iPod Touch through WiFi.  So this tells me that I probably have a good feed into the house here and ou of my firewall / router.  Now, the stability of the same stream through WiFi should be checked.  I’ll set up one of my laptops that has wireless capability and play KYW on it and see if it works as well as it does on this Ethernet-wired PC.

11:30 PM: Studied the rammification of creating a limited liability company (LLC) for my writing business.  Their prices seem much more reasonable than what I was going to pay an attorney to file the articls of incorporation  for me.  It turns out that my hosting provider offers incorporation services to web-based businesses and most of the information can be filled out electronically.  Nice.  I’ll definitely do this, once more revenue comes in.

11:42 PM: Time for bed; this has been a very full day.  So good night and take care.  I’ll catch you here again tomorrow.

Received Mail and Shipments

• No mail today.

Tom

Related Posts

• Christmas Lighting: 2009
• Diary Revisions: 2010-02-14
• iPod Battery Test #1
• IRIS WiFi WebRadio?  Not Quite!
• Mom’s Status: 2010-02-14
• Today’s Diet: 2010-02-14