The Orville

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I just finished watching The Orville, a spin-off of Star Trek (that isn’t really actually Star Trek).  They made three seasons.  I hope they eventually resurrect it and create more.

I got the impression from reading about it that it would be a goofy spoof, full of slap-stick and fart jokes.  Not so.  Sure, it has a bit of that, but mixed in was suspense, plot twists, intrigue, humanism, social commentary, and drama, along with great acting.  Hell, even Dolly Parton made a cameo!

Then again, I think they made a mistake by cancelling Enterprise, so what do I know?

ongoing renos

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I’ve taken a day off working at 520.  I’m back at it tomorrow.  You can read about its progress here.  Being my first purchased house outright, I want it to be my own.  No shortcuts.  I’m scoring paint off beautiful hardwood and colour-match staining and polyurethaning, undoing renovations and restoring pieces to their original shape, and repairing broken, cut, or rotten structural joists, beams, king studs, and frames.  I know I won’t live there, but just the same…

engine light, cups, snow

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I’m at Northside Dodge (now called Gary Moe) having the Chrysler Town and Country diagnosed.  The engine light came on a few days ago.  So now I have some downtime in the ‘service lounge’.  What to do?  I should have brought receipts to do finances.  At least I have a cup of coffee.

I went to Starbucks today for a Pike Place coffee and brought my own cup.  The server poured coffee into a paper cup and then threw the paper cup in the garbage can.  I called him on it; he said it was to measure the right amount of coffee.  What is the point of bringing my own cup?

It’s snowing again.  It started yesterday afternoon while we were working.

spring 2023

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Spring has sprung.

The deer are eating the tulips for the third year in a row.  So this year, before planting a bunch of new bulbs, Floyd and I put up a 6-foot (2m) fence of plastic bird netting.  I found some long 1x2s in the garage, pulled the nails out, sharpened the ends with Father’s band saw, and hammered them into the ground.  Unfortunately, nightfall had already begun.  (I wonder what passers-by would think.)

I went to Peavey Mart to get some gardening supplies.  While looking around, I was surprised to see a cat just laying about.   Was he protecting the store from mice?  After all, he was sitting on a stack of feed, likely a mouse’s dream come true (except for the cat).

Along with spring comes spring cleaning.  I’ve finally phased out the old computer and brought in the new.  Along with that is also an old sound system I have had for about 15 years, replaced with a very small sound bar.

Bramble webinar

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I just got an email from Bramble inviting me to a webinar about how to use their services.  The webinar’s host apparently has a thousand hours of tutoring through Bramble.  So I looked at mine.  I have 1091.27 hours of tutoring through Bramble.  This doesn’t include through my own server’s whiteboard or Microsoft Whiteboard.  I think I’ll skip the seminar.

new server

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After many months years, the new server is finally up and running.  It’s not ideal yet (pictures missing, databases not yet pieced together), but it is working.

You can see the old one under the desk next to the shredder.  The new one?  It is the HP Omen laptop.  Yes, a server on a laptop.  Not only that, but it is running on Windows.  What’s more, it isn’t XAMPP but, rather, Microsoft IIS 10!  We’ll see how it runs.

hidden power

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I was in the kitchen straightening the curtains by the kitchen table when I saw this outlet (the top one).

Why is that surprising?

About 7 or 8 years ago I was miffed that the house didn’t come with an outlet on that wall. I bought a box, an outlet, and some wiring and tapped power from the outlet in the storage room on the opposite side of the wall. I installed the outlet in the picture (bottom). I could then plug in a laptop to read the news over morning breakfast. This is also a convenient place for a CO detector. Gotta be safe.

So today, while straightening the curtains, I saw the top outlet. “Floyd,” I said, “has this always been here?”

After more than 10 years of living here, no one knew there was an outlet there. We had a good laugh.