RichC | November 30, 2013
My friend Jeff and I had a chance to get today Friday afternoon and catch up on life. We enjoyed our semi-regular Mexican lunch and talked about work, church, family and our mutual amateur radio hobby. He’s been a Ham (N4XKJ) since we went to our first HamCation back when he was living in Orlando […]
RichC | November 29, 2013
Every once in a while we surprise ourselves with a “duh” moment. One where our eyes are opened to something we “should have” known about. A few weeks ago while doing some electronics calculations in my Amateur Radio studies, I needed to use a scientific calculator. Using the advanced mathematical functions on any calculator is […]
RichC | November 28, 2013
As with many of our holidays, one wonders how much of our tradition is accurate? Very little is known about the first Thanksgiving in 1621 Plymouth, as the references are few. Hopefully all who live in this country can still come together in thanksgiving for our abundance and that “as a nation” give thanks to […]
RichC | November 27, 2013
It’s almost time to call it a day and begin the long Thanksgiving weekend … well at least for some of us. I’m taking both Thursday and Friday off in order to stretch out the weekend even though Brenda will be working (such is life in medical and retail). We will both be enjoying time […]
RichC | November 26, 2013
Short on time for today’s post although I did add an Amateur Radio HF Propagation widget to my WordPress sidebar. I’m not sure cluttering up the screen with more data is a wise thing, but for now it helps to know which HF bands are open. Continuing with the radio theme, I applied for a […]
RichC | November 25, 2013
For those with a “tool background,” what is this for? The little hook grips on a clockwise twist of the fancy t-handle and the handle has what looks like a straight bladed screwdriver on the end?
RichC | November 24, 2013
It has been a semi-busy and semi-cold weekend for yard chores, but I’m tackling them just the same since waiting for a dry “warm” Saturday and Sunday doesn’t look promising. I started Saturday early and started to tick off the simple indoor items on my chores list thinking that it might warm up, but I […]
RichC | November 22, 2013
I was too young to remember much about the assignation of President Kennedy, but the seismic event in our nation’s history has been engrained in our modern history. I heard a bit of audio this morning that I thought would be a “fair” tribute to a beloved president. (also wanted to try see how well […]
RichC | November 22, 2013
In keeping with my previous views, Intel ($INTC) has once again disappointed shareholders with the same share price channel we’ve seen since 2001. I’m still not seeing management concerned in giving shareholders a reason to hold share long term. After disappointing “flat sales” company news, “shares of chip giant and Dow industrials component Intel Corp. […]
RichC | November 21, 2013
Partisanship and opinions aside a moment, I took a serious look at the Affordable Care Act and exchange pricing just to see what it might cost IF one was to retire early and purchase heath care on the exchanges. As a resident of Ohio (or Florida), which both have federally run exchanges, the monthly outlay […]
RichC | November 20, 2013
I listened to an older NPR story forwarded to me after a book conversation with a friend after we discussed leadership qualities companies value. The book Quiet: the Power of the Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain offered an interesting perspective and set up an analysis regarding where on the […]
RichC | November 19, 2013
It is about time Volkswagen diesel vehicles demonstrate what is in store for their new TDIs. (European story) Frugal hatchback travels 995 miles from Nantes to Copenhagen without refuelling On a 995-mile test run supervised by German inspection company DEKRA, the Golf TDI BlueMotion has returned an incredible 97mpg. The feat was achieved on a […]
RichC | November 18, 2013
My son Taylor checked in with me during the Bengals win over the Browns for another “battle of Ohio” NFL game this weekend. He is ‘im‘patiently waiting for his new big screen TV to arrive and complains that his little TV is not satisfactory for watching football — in the day of HD it is […]
RichC | November 17, 2013
My schedule had me driving back and forth from Mercy Anderson Hospital late this afternoon and evening. The drive south earlier was so-so, but the drive home at 6:30 was a little more tedious — mostly wind and rain although heard tornadoes were spotted earlier in Indiana? My mother-in-law (reason for hospital visit) is doing […]
RichC | November 16, 2013
This morning was spent working on the leaves again, but I took a break this afternoon to be part of the Butler Country Amateur Radio Association’s (BCARA) emergency communications network (W8WRK). One of my “senior” contacts in the amateur radio club asked if I could do some volunteer community service and represent the Middletown area […]
RichC | November 15, 2013
The U.S. stock market powered forward again today with the expectation that Janet Yellen will continue the easy money policies as head of the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart above) has investors cheering even as recent bumps attempted to derail the anemic jobless recovery. I doubt the party can continue forever, but […]
RichC | November 15, 2013
I found out my small 28HP diesel “sailboat duty” jump starter had a bad battery last week (my starter and deep cycle battery bank is another story). Yes it was frustrating, but since Encore was still hanging in the travellift slings it wasn’t panic time either. Nevertheless it is time to find a new battery. […]
RichC | November 14, 2013
Nice Jeep project with a Volkswagen TDI diesel for someone with the time and money. It’s not cheap, but well designed and something most VW TDI advocates have thought about. Check out COTYbuilt and their step 1,2,3 components … I particularly like their 2010 SEMA project (video).
RichC | November 13, 2013
Busy day back at work, but noticed some pretty impressive Sprint LTE data service driving on rural I-71 near Wilmington, Ohio (between Cincinnati and Columbus). The LTE light has been popping on once in a while lately (previous posts), but this is about the fastest ping, down and up speeds I’ve seen. As the Mazda […]
RichC | November 12, 2013
The excuse I made for putting the boat in the water this week was that I would purchase a new refrigerator and have it installed in the Howard family condo before our snowbird tenants arrive in January. Sounds like a simple enough plan, right? Not so this week. The buying was easy enough as I […]
RichC | November 11, 2013
The bank of three deep cycle AGM marine 105AH were not new when I got the boat and since they were installed in 2006 are considered to be running on borrowed time. Add to it the lousy care I’ve been giving them AND the fact that a non-AGM wet cell was added to the mix […]
RichC | November 10, 2013
I spend most of today in the “spacious engine room” (that’s a joke BTW) working on basic diesel auxiliary maintenance. The aging 27 year old diesel has worked hard most of it’s life pushing our Westerly Corsair II around the world bit by bit. Just as with most older gals, Encore no longer measures beauty […]
RichC | November 9, 2013
The day was windy for the launch but we opted to sling Encore up and plunk her in the water before her roots took hold of the ground any more. She has been out for quite a while after a few unanticipated repairs and personal events this past year. I “had” thought there was enough […]
RichC | November 8, 2013
Our sailboat has been out of the water far too long considering the hurricane season was a bust this year. I think we would have been better in the water. The hurricane forecast models aside, it has been far too long since Encore had her keel wet even with all we’ve had going on. (Katelyn […]
RichC | November 7, 2013
Can you spare a few dollars so I can buy this little island — Melody Key in the Florida Keys is for sale.
RichC | November 6, 2013
I had a somewhat frustrating day dealing with insurance policies and realized that we’ve been overpaying for a very long time … unless I’m missing something? It started with a simple phone call to verify that a 15 year term life insurance policy was indeed expired. A call to the Select Quote people confirmed I […]
RichC | November 5, 2013
Keeping track of the ever-changing and growing complexity of passwords got the best of me back in 2010 and I finally committed to Lastpass for “most” of my online log ins and passwords. I’ve been satisfied with the “free” version, but over time I’ve found value and a level of comfort (misplaced?) in cloud-based secure […]
RichC | November 4, 2013
Frequent guest and St. Louis Federal Reserve President Jim Bullard discussed making “decisions by the numbers” on CNBC’s Squawkbox this morning. He offered an opinion that current low inflation and a sluggish economy is keeping the Fed’s “loose money policy” in place and that conditions are not signaling a need to taper. I’m probably not […]
RichC | November 3, 2013
RichC | November 2, 2013
Although video chatting isn’t for everybody, I do appreciate seeing a face and a smile when catching up with my son in North Dakota and daughter in Columbus. Skype was once my preferred method (when “Skype to phone” was free), but now between iPads, iPhones and iMacs it is easier to jump on Facetime. Katelyn […]
RichC | November 2, 2013
RichC | November 1, 2013
There are 3rd party options which redirect long strings for URLs, but most users prefer grabbing the official personalized ones when they are available. Facebook offered user names a couple years ago and Google is slowly getting it together by including real names. You should probably claim your name now if you want a custom […]