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Category: computing

Thur. July 20, 2023 – lots of driving today

Hot and humid again and still. Well over 100F in my driveway yesterday but I missed the peak. It was still 99F in the shade at 7pm. Today will likely be similar. Which should be miserable.

Didn’t do much yesterday. Got my trash and debris from the BOL disposed of. Took D1 to an appointment. Mostly caught up on auctions. Several things I need are in this week’s sales. Hope I get a few.

Today will mostly be eaten by picking up a trailer, heading to San Antonio, picking up a load of stuff there, and heading home. Should be about 7 hours round trip, once I have the trailer. I’ll be driving the Expedition as it has more towing capacity. It’s more comfortable, but drinks more gas. At least I’ll have the Jim Butcher audio book to listen to. Should be pretty close to the end by the time I get home.

I ordered a set of the first 4 books in the series since I’m liking this one so much. I’ve read them, some more than once, but I’m laughing at the humor and turn of phrase. There is a lot of detail in the books, and knowing where the story goes, it’s easy to see where some of the arcs start. One inconvenient thing is that the set is MP3 audio on CDs. I’ll have to convert and rip to regular CDs to listen in my Ranger, it doesn’t play mp3. I think it’s about 10 hours per book, so it will take me a while to get through the first ones, after I finish the current one. The MP3 sets are MUCH cheaper than standard 10 disc CD sets. 4 disks vs 40 is a dramatic reduction.

It might be easier to move them to my phone and play through an FM modulator. That’s how I have my XM radio attached in the Ranger. Or move them to a different phone… android really doesn’t handle concurrent audio from different sources very well. I’ll lose the turn by turn navigation, or the audio stream. Or I could swap out the older factory radio for something more capable. I’ve got the upgraded radio, that will play mp3s, on the shelf as a backup. Nothing is ever as easy or straightforward as it should be though, and I’ve got more projects than I can get to already.

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All the chattering aside, the work on the BOL will be eating up the majority of my time for a while. Somehow I’ll have to fit in the changeover to new tenants and all that entails at the rental house too. Got to keep that income stream flowing. That’s a backup too. And doing all the stuff around the house here, and the vehicle maintenance, and getting the kids started in the new school year…

Yeah. Don’t weaken. Don’t falter. Get ready. Stack.

nick

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Wed. July 19, 2023 – home sweet home

Where it is hot and humid. Because Texas. Hoping we don’t cross 100F again, but not betting against it. It was certainly that hot at the BOL yesterday.

Did some stuff before heading home, details are in yesterday’s comments. Mostly little short tasks that weren’t critical. It was too hot to do much.

Today I’ve got to get caught up here at home, make arrangements for a pickup in San Antonio, and get rid of all the trash and debris I brought home with me. It would also be nice to take a load to my auctioneer… but I’m not counting on that.

And I need to take a look at the current auctions. There is still stuff I need for the BOL and even some things for home.

I may even break down a buy some stuff directly, mainly sprinkler stuff. I need pipe, connectors, and sprinkler heads. I’ll give the auctions a chance, and even cruise ‘the bins’ once before paying retail though.

There is always something needed, and something missing. And usually something that needs replacing or updating. So get to it, stack some things.

nick

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Sun. July 2, 2023 – turning money into smoke and noise, God Bless America!

Hot and humid, likely to be just like yesterday. Too hot to be in the sun, but ok in the shade. High 90s, low 100s and sweaty like a sex worker in the non-denominational house of worship of your choice…

Took a bit of a break yesterday. I was fried. So I slept (mostly) for 10 hours and felt better. Still easily frustrated and fighting with life which is not my normal state. Once I got on the machines I was better.

Built the stairs I should have built the day before. They’ll do just fine for a while, up to a year if needed. Now I have to build a set for the other patio door too.

Spent 5 hours breaking concrete. Dumpster is pretty near full so I’m glad I ordered one for Monday. Still got plenty to remove.

Then we had the community Independence Day celebration. A couple of the neighbors pool their money and put on a 3/4 sized professional fireworks show. They also have a party with food and a live band, and they ask for donations to the local volunteer fire department. The show lasted for 40 minutes and had all the stuff a big pro show would, just slightly smaller, and they don’t go as high. Still freaking awesome. And we watched from just across the cove, about 100-200 ft away.

After the fireworks the band played another set. We could hear them just fine, and it wasn’t too loud.

The guys organize this every year and our little subdivision takes part. This is “community”. This is what we are very aware that we are joining. We are joining with an existing group. I think a lot of people don’t consider this, or give it enough weight when looking for a BOL or a retirement place. Especially in rural areas, you are joining THEM. Act accordingly.

You need to work on fitting in, and starting to take your place in the web of favors, obligations, service, and support. You probably don’t have the family ties the locals do, so you will have to work harder. You need to be ‘known’ to them and be well thought of.

And in this mostly working class community, I think I just ratcheted up my cred by running the machines and doing the work myself. That is an unexpected bonus for something that was driven by necessity. Being known as a hard worker, and someone who can run a machine all day carries a lot more weight than a degree with a lot of the guys in the area. Don’t know if it will pay off, but it can’t hurt.

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Today I’ll probably start with fixing the drain for the washing machine. That is nice and quiet and the area should be in shade in the morning. Later, I’ll start back in on busting up concrete. SO MUCH CONCRETE.

Join a community. Ham radio, some service org, school volunteer, or whatever you are interested in. Get out of the house and DO something. You need to be a part of your local community, if for no other reason, so that you can recognize when things are normal and when they are not. Trouble or help is most likely to come from those nearest to you. Get to know who they are.

Stack up some community.
nick

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Sat. June 17, 2023 – poetry circle time…

Hot and humid.   Next 5 days too.   Very hot yesterday.  I was careful working, but still got a touch of sunburn and felt a little “off”.

Did a quick pickup yesterday morning, then headed to my client’s house to finish up the open items.  Stopped at my local electronics/networking/installer stuff store and grabbed a ubiquiti access point.   Didn’t realize I was grabbing the heavy duty “long range” mack daddy version.   That thing will light your hair on fire…

I was careful to alternate indoor and outdoor tasks throughout the afternoon and evening.   The late start gave me some good shade to work in, and I work a big straw hat and my cool vest.  Even so I fell behind in my hydration.   When the sweat stops dripping off my nose and eyelids, it’s time to drink some more.

Got most of the work done.  Took longer than it should have.  Automagic is great, when it works, and if it works.   Sometimes it takes a lot of messing around and multiple tries before the magic does its thing.   That can be very frustrating.   I fought with adding cameras to the NVR and with adding the WAP to the existing network.

Upsold the client on three more cams, so I’ll still have money coming in next month.

Today is my non-prepping hobby meeting.  It got moved a week due to a conflict with the venue.   After that, I’ll do a couple of small pickups, and hit my secondary location to load up some stuff for the BOL.  Then it’s home to do yard work so I can get out of town for a while and work at the BOL.

In the interest of ‘improving’ myself, I will occasionally do something I don’t normally do.   Reading poetry is one of those  things.   I do enjoy Kipling, and many of the people I read online make sure to mention his poems from time to time.

A week or two or a few ago I picked up a book at the goodwill ‘bins’ store it was vintage, but not particularly valuable.   It was poetry  by Robert L. Service and a couple bits I read were funny or engaging so I got it for me, even though it wasn’t worth enough to re-sell.   Imagine my surprise when I was reading along in the smallest room in the house, and I found I recognized something…   I’ll close today with the last stanza.   The whole thing is available here.

It Is Later Than You Think

…
Lastly, you who read; aye, you
Who this very line may scan:
Think of all you planned to do …
Have you done the best you can?
See! the tavern lights are low;
Black’s the night, and how you shrink!
God! and is it time to go?
Ah! the clock is always slow;
It is later than you think;
Sadly later than you think;
Far, far later than you think.

emphasis added.

Stack it up.

nick

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Sat. May 20, 2023 – finally a day without obligations… so I get to do my own

Cooler but warming later.  Some chance of rain.   Maybe clear later.   Yesterday was nice and hot, sunny too.   D1 had a good time at the beach.

I was looking for a safety monitor to watch out for me in the attic at my client’s place.   It was REALLY hot in the attic.   Fortunately I did all the hard and sweaty crawling around last time.  All I had to do was enter, and connect cabling.  Still, last time I measured the attic temps in summer, I got 142F iirc.   I might take a thermometer back with me on Monday or Tues. just to see.   In any case it was dangerously hot.

I didn’t get any one thing done over there either.   Got the camera rebooted.   Tried adding the new cam, but firmware and OS on the NVR were too old.   I’m replacing it all next week anyway so I didn’t update anything.   Did some maintenance on the ubiquiti Cloud Key appliance that works as a manager and dashboard for the system.   Didn’t update any firmware in the system either, as I didn’t have time to recover if anything broke.  Did get new hardware added.

Got the NanoStation 5AC loco added, and configured as an access point.  I confirmed there is signal at the gate opener and keypad.   If I have to, I can add the other one, a switch at the gate, and config it all as a wire replacement.   More gear, more time, more effort, so I’m hoping that I’ve done enough with wifi coverage.  I couldn’t quite finish, as I needed to locate a PoE injector in the attic, and I didn’t have what I needed with me to plug everything in.  I’ll bring that back next week and finish that.

And I got the control gear installed, the piece I had to wait most of a year to find on ebay as normal channels are dry.   It’s configured but not complete as the controls programmer hasn’t done his part yet.  He wants me there when he connects and sets it up.  I’ll need to test it in any case.

So a lot got done, but nothing got done.

Today I should be doing more cleaning, and taking stuff out of the house and to storage.  It’s piling up while waiting for an auctioneer, but it needs to be out of the foyer and living room.  I’ve been doing other stuff, and making the piles higher as I organized.   If it isn’t raining, today is the day that organizing will bear fruit as the stuff goes away.

Oh, all the normal weekly domestic bliss needs to happen too.   Joy.

It’s a great life, if you don’t falter.

Stack something, even if it’s a small stack.

nick

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Sun. Apr. 2, 2023 – hoping the weather holds…

It might be warm and damp.  Might not, but I’m betting on warm and damp.   Yesterday cleared to a beautiful afternoon and early evening, but got overcast and cooled a bit later.   There were even some spotty drops from the sky depending on where you were in town.   Nothing real at my house though.

I’ll have to move fixing the sprinklers up the list if it stays dry much longer.

Spent yesterday afternoon doing auction things.   Picked up at two houses, mostly stuff for the BOL and home.  One item was a needful thing that has been in short supply for a while.  Price was reasonable too.  Went by the GW outlet, and picked up a couple of handy things and a couple of things for resale.

Came home and looked as some of the stuff I got at the hobby estate.   I’ve still got some books and some more tools to go through, but I’m happy so far.

I also sorted some auction stuff.   I’ll do more of that today.

It would be nice to get a freezer delivered to make room in  my storage unit…   but I’ll settle for sorting more auction stuff, and maybe doing home maintenance.   I’ve got to stick close to home to get the child from her GS trip.  I should break down and vac seal some meat too.  Just my normal domestic bliss…

For the first time in a couple of years I was able to add to the stack of one certain thing in a meaningful way.   Look around, supply might be opening up a tad.

Stack whatever you can find.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 24, 2023 – in which our hero discovers another week has flown by…

Warm and humid.  No rain in the forecast but maybe some more overcast.   Yesterday was mostly overcast, but we didn’t get any rain in the places I visited.   I’ve got stuff in the back of my truck that I don’t really want to get wet before I can get it put away…

Did get pickups done.   Last pickup for the one auctioneer, who is calling it quits.   We may be at the same stage of returns and overstock reselling as house flipping was just before that collapsed.   New players with no experience are paying too much to buy in, thinking it’s easy money, while more experienced players are finding it hard to stay in the game, or no longer profitable.   A crash and consolidation seem to be headed this way for this nascent but quite large market activity.

It is actually a new version of an old business.   There have been resellers, wholesalers, surplus outlets, auctions, and fire sales for a long time.  Probably since the first failed product in the market.  But the old business model of insiders and somewhat disguised markets (Ross Dress for Less did pretty well selling the stock other retailers couldn’t move, ditto for Marshalls and the “outlet store” fiction) expanded and shifted and combined with online auctions, cottage industry, and the idea of the side hustle to spawn a whole new crop of reseller businesses.   There has been a huge increase in the size and scope of the market, as new sellers pop up and buyers become aware of what’s available.

Shakeout and consolidation is probably inevitable.

One consideration is that it has broken the traditional retail model, and opened people up to the idea that goods don’t have to come from a store (or a big company  — I mean selling platform– like Amazon).   As the general economy worsens, there will be an increase in bargain hunters, of necessity.  That means more person to person selling, more non-traditional venues (like swapmeets, black and grey markets, permanent yard sales, etc.)   If it happens it means I was right to advocate learning about this way to shop before it became a necessity 😛

Anyway, consider your own habits and routines for getting the stuff you need and use.   What if those options are not available, or not available at a price you can afford?   It’s always easier to learn a new skill while you still have the backup option of doing things the old way.

Get out there and start learning about the secondary economy, or the “informal” economy.   Use the practice to increase your stacks, and kill two birds with one stone.

 

nick

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Thurs. Feb. 23, 2023 – 02232023 – wouldn’t be prudent…

Warm.  Damp.   Warm and damp.   Felt like we missed Spring and went right into Summer yesterday.   Once the rain stopped anyway.  Today is supposed to be similar but clear.   I hope so.

I’ve got stuff to pickup today and rain won’t help that.   It’s stuff I couldn’t pick up yesterday because of the morning ‘moisture from the sky.’

I was able to drop off a small bin of mostly Pokemon stuff at my auctioneer, and pick up a check for my profit on the last several auctions.    My big score was an antique book that brought $400.  The most I paid for it was 50c…  that’s good return on investment.  If I bought it on a day with more books, it might have been 33c…    There were some other good sellers too, with high multiples for ROI.    I need to focus on those type of items.    FWIW, they tend to be vintage, and unusual or even unique.

Books that have some local interest, a Texas subject, and are at least 75-100 years old do well for me at the local auction.  “Smalls” or small collectible items did very well in the last auction as well.   Bigger items, sports cards, and household things didn’t do well.   Old toys, even in bad condition, usually do well, and sometimes do VERY well.   It’s always  a crapshoot, and sometimes things I thought were a slam dunk barely sell at all.  The trick is to be there every time with a variety of stuff.  And don’t pay very much for your stock.

I’ve got some other running around to do today, and some maintenance stuff at home.   The wifi needs attention, as signal levels are very low in places.  My wife has moved dealing with that to the top of my list.  I’m going to add  two Asus nighthawk access points at opposite ends of the house.   That will probably be overkill, but we have a lot more wifi devices now than we did when I set everything up originally.   Getting the wifi off the att fiber router will allow me to specify my own DNS and use openDNS initially,  and set up a pi-hole later.   I’ve got a stack of wifi routers from the goodwill, some from client sites, and some from estates or yardsales.   I’ll use the asus at home for now, and save the ubiquiti for the BOL.   That’s the current plan…   Or I could just add a couple of ubiquiti UAC access points here and be done with it… I haven’t made a choice yet, which is why it hasn’t been DONE yet.

SWMBO has spoken though so I will be making a choice today.

External deadlines.  I needs ’em.

Other than DVDs ripped to my server, I haven’t done much stacking this week.   We’ll see what I can do later to improve my situation.

I will say that stacking food and money  probably isn’t a bad idea.  You should give it a try.

 

nick

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Thur. Nov. 3, 2022 – amateur dramatics, family fun night!

Cool and wet again, or maybe better described as ‘very damp’.  Hopefully staying dry all day.  I’ve got things to do.   Which didn’t get done yesterday.

I mostly ended up cleaning house and doing some auction stuff.  Which is really nothing to write home about.  But I do anyway!

And more of that is on the agenda for today too.  I’ll take down a few more decorations.   I’ll move a few more things around in the stacks.  And I’ll bait the danged possum trap again.  SOMETHING knocked a bunch of stuff off my shelves again.  I don’t know if it is the same possum, or if I’m on the Grand Tour somehow.   At least they are greedy or dumb enough to keep going into the trap.  Rats wouldn’t be fooled twice.  Rats are too smart.

It is time to re-bait the poison boxes for the rats though.  And to spray the outside of the house with bug spray.  It’s always time for something.

I’ve got bait and extra bait boxes.   Ordered them from amazon, and won some in an auction.  That’s a prep, for sure.  The collapse of the economy will be accompanied by a rise in vermin.  2, 4, 6 and 8 legged vermin.   Get some stuff stacked to deal with them.  Otherwise, when you need it, it might not be there.

That is the nature of prepping in a nutshell, to have what you need when you need it, no matter what is going on around you.

Stack it up, so you have it when you need it.

nick

 

(D1 and D2 have their school play tonight, so that will occupy my evening.   I won’t forget my earplugs this time.)

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Sun. Oct. 2, 2022 – 10022022 – really just more of the same…

Cool and crisp.  Warming later.   Sun.   Beautiful weather.

I didn’t get to the BOL on Saturday.   Too many things to do, some of which went long, and some of which just popped up…   Sold my forklift.   Lost about $400, after having it for 3+ years.   Like boats, unless it is earning you money, rent, don’t buy.  Getting it started after a couple months sitting, after 3 years not moving, took a bit longer than I had budgeted, and the guy was an hour later than I hoped.   Still, not only did he come by, he bought it. A  Craigslist transaction that didn’t suck, yahoo!

But the delays started to pressure my schedule to do a pickup on the way to the lake.   Heading home, I chanced upon a yard sale… and really scored.  Not preps, but stuff for my workshop.  20 large, heavy duty, mostly made in USA C clamps for $50 was like STEALING.  A live animal trap, some extension cords, hitch stuff, stapler and staples, and some long reach welding visegrips, brought the total to $100.   Score.  But, that ate some time too.   When I finally looked at the google map, my drive time was one hour, not 45 minutes!   And all my slack was gone.   The straw the broke the dromedary’s hump was an ebay sale just as I was getting ready to leave.   No way I could pack the sale, get my food and clothes together, and make the hard deadline for the pickup (two roll around AC units and some romex.)    I just jumped in the truck and sped on my way.  I made the pickup with less than a minute to spare.  The guy was pulling through the gate to lock it and leave.   He was not thrilled, but I was there before 6…

So today I’ll pack and head out at a more leisurely pace.  There was stuff I could have done Sunday morning, but it will wait until Sunday afternoon, or during the week while the foundation guys work.

There is always more to be done.  Like stacking, you just have to keep after it.

n

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