Tired of playing games with media subscriptions services

| January 31, 2014

It’s depressing to be back from a few days of sun (and rain), after a long drive from Florida yesterday, but also good to be home. It has been a morning clearing a few bills and accumulated mail off my desk and a light work day before Superbowl XLVIII weekend. One piece of mail, a […]

Enjoyed working on the boat and time with Mark and Dar

| January 30, 2014

So much for my Postie WordPress plugin … “no postie” would be more appropriate. Anyway just wanted to include a photo of my liveaboard boating friends Mark and Dar in front of their sailboat Zola. The news is that after Dar’s surgery and stroke that left her vision impaired, they will have to put their […]

Blah, blah, blah. President Obama and the SOTU 2014

| January 29, 2014

President Obama addressed the nation with his State of the Union rhetoric on Tuesday night and his blabbering leaves many of us wondering if he really knows how to rejuvenate the economy? Focus, Mr. Obama, focus. I have my doubts he even cares, let alone understands how jobs are created. Once again an Obama speech […]

Freedompop, a Skype connection and new boat batteries

| January 28, 2014

While using my Freedompop hotspot on the boat on Monday night for a Skype video call with my son on his XBox, I wondered just how much data I was burning through. I wasn’t too worried since I’ve been paying $3.99/month to accumulate some data, I still I knew video would chew through data pretty […]

The final days of the ferry Ostend Spirit (MS Pride of Calais)

| January 26, 2014

What do you do with a ship when it is time to retire it? Cut it into piece so it can be salvaged for scrap … or sink it as an artificial reef. In the case of this 27,000 gross ton ferry, they’re going to beach it first, so you better get out of the […]

Prepping for an Electromagnetic Pulse — EMP strike

| January 25, 2014

No … not what you think. I have not gone down the Doomsday rabbit hole … just yet, but for years I’ve been interesting in self-sufficient living and do my share of reading. I enjoy reading both fictional thrillers about EMPs (ie. One Second After) and books oriented towards self-sufficiency. I’ve spent a few hours […]

Wall Street traders and investors are deciding it is time to sell

| January 24, 2014

Investors and Wall Street traders are growing nervous that 2013 gains were too much, too fast as selling dominated the last two trading days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is having its worst day since April 15th of last year and looks like it will close at the low of the day. (DJIA at 15,935 […]

Tech Friday: Optical Character recognition improvements

| January 24, 2014

It has been a few year since I’ve needed to scan a pile of papers and convert them to text, but a project crossed my desk this week which had me firing up and updating my free copy of ABBYY Finereader (it came with my scanner). The last real project was when I was still […]

Understanding How the Economic Machine Works – Ray Dalio

| January 23, 2014

Would you like to have an “aha moment” in understanding why and how we attempt to manage our economy? Then watch this 30 minute YouTube video by Ray Dalio, founder of the largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater Associates. If you prefer reading, visit economicprinciples.org and download the research paper … the light bulb […]

Five-fold increase in trading volume for Hyperdynamics $HDY

| January 22, 2014

Although I’m pretty conservative when it comes to investing and stocks, I do pay attention to the occasion stock tip when it comes from business people I respect. One fellow I know who attends shareholder meetings and get to know the interworking of companies has taken a substantial position in Hyperdynamics Corporation. I’ve added a […]

Adsense update with disappointing results

| January 22, 2014

This past weekend was “blog cleanup” as I am in the process of optimizing WordPress on my site and updating the plugin that manages Google’s Adsense — at one time I thought they were non-intrusive, but recently have become obnoxious. Unfortunately after tweaking the size and types of ads they seem even worse that before. […]

Nissan pickup trucks and diesel engines for 2014

| January 21, 2014

It is well into car show season, but I have not been paying all that much attention. There have been a few high profile concepts (that will never get built) and smattering of diesel teases that have peaked my interests. Here’s one from Nissan reported on in the Detroit News and elsewhere regarding the introduction […]

Scheduling appointments for service

| January 20, 2014

Ignore this if you aren’t in the mood for ranting about scheduling practices by many service companies.  Why is it that companies who handle home services can’t do a better job of scheduling their appointments? Last Thursday the garage door spring broke on the overhead garage door and realizing it was not something I was […]

Porsche 911 Targa 4 Eye Candy

| January 20, 2014

I haven’t heard the term for a while, but “eye candy” came to mind when clicking a recent email newsletter from Porsche. The 911 Targa 4 models are beautiful … wouldn’t mind having one in my garage someday. If you want to see a few more photos, check out the site or download the PDF.

Obamacare, Target, Neiman Marcus, etc and Identity Theft

| January 19, 2014

The much publicized Obamacare, Target and Neiman Marcus security issues are an in-your-face reminder (receive my email from Target last week) that individuals need to be wary and take precautions with their financial, medical and personal identity information. Having been through the nightmare of ID theft back in the 1990s, before companies or banks were […]

Why amateur radio operators say “73”

| January 18, 2014

Those who spend any amount of time listening to amateur radio hear operators closing their exchanges with a polite and concise “73” … meaning “best regards” … but where did it come from? From what I’ve read, it goes back to a convention in 1859 where telegraph operators discussed saving “line time” by devising a […]

Tech Friday: Revisiting Soluto after switching to an SSD

| January 17, 2014

A Tech Friday reminder to consider Soluto if you have a slow booting computer and revisit it after upgrading hardware … especially if you are  for trying to stretch the “use by date” of an aging computer. Everyone I know love a fast booting computer, although I doubt a Windows machine is ever going to […]

Sodastream and flavors first impressions

| January 16, 2014

Completing the thank you circle to my kids for their thoughtful Christmas gifts this year, I’ll post a thank you to Katelyn and Drew for their gift of a Sodasteam machine. The thought is that it might be a solution for soft drinks on the boat. Super idea! The small and simple device reduces the […]

Obit: My cousin Michael Lee Corbett passed away at 61

| January 15, 2014

My oldest Corbett cousin Michael passed away on Sunday and although we have not stayed in touch over the years, his “too young” passing is a telling sign that we are all vulnerable when it comes to our health. My dad who talks to his brother (my Uncle Sonny, Mike’s father) mentioned to me during […]

My old Gateway Notebook has a new lease on life

| January 14, 2014

{adinserter 2} My aging 2007 Gateway NX570XL notebook computer is now running like it did when it was a new computer thanks to replacing the harddrive this past weekend. I replaced my “previously replaced” 320GB 7200RPM drive when installing Windows 7, but the porky speed was beginning to become an issue. This time I opted […]

A frozen Lake Erie from space and rising water temps

| January 13, 2014

Here’s a beautiful satellite photo from NASA showing the ice formation on Lake Erie from  January 9, 2014 and a link to an interesting Discovery Magazine blog post discussing ice on the Great Lakes. Since I grew up on the south shore of Lake Erie and a lot of time “recreating” in all seasons on several […]

Refinishing the Navman instrument board for Encore

| January 13, 2014

The previous spar varnish on the teak instrument mounting board deteriorated under the sun and weather when in storage last year. This time I’m going to use a product I’ve used on previous boats and while doing some other brightwork on Encore. Hopefully with enough coats and yearly maintenance the finish will hold up a […]

Archive: Canadiano wooden one-cup coffee brewer

| January 12, 2014

After receiving a nice percolator coffee pot from my son for Christmas to use on the boat with the propane stove, I saw a neat wooden one-cup brewer  on the Core77 industrial design blog. I wanted to replace the cheap plastic filter holder I use to make a single cup of Joe with a “pot […]

Tracking Sharks with Ocearch.org iPhone app

| January 11, 2014

It’s been interesting watching the track of Katharine, (a GPS tagged 14’2” immature 2300 pound Great White Shark) this week along the north and central coast of Florida using the global shark tracker iPhone app from Ocearch.org. In previous posts watching Mary Lee (a 16 foot 3456 pound Great White) we saw her well south […]

The VW TDI Jetta "Value Edition" gets a lower price

| January 10, 2014

If you are thinking about a new 2014 Volkswagen Jetta TDI this year the entry point just got a few dollars cheaper … thank you Chevrolet Cruze diesel for the competition — $22,115.  For an economy special, the Jetta TDI Value Edition actually includes quite a bit of kit, like heated cloth seats, satellite radio, […]

Our cup, plate and bowl inventory doubled this week

| January 10, 2014

Besides getting together for a visit with family this past weekend, another reason we traveled up to western New York was to continue the clearing out of the old farmhouse. One of the more functional home items that we came back from my mother-in-law’s kitchen were additional matching everyday cups, plates and bowls. Surprisingly we […]

Extending the life of my notebook computer with a 240GB SSD

| January 9, 2014

Don’t ask me why, but I’m going to update my old early 2007 Gateway NX570XL notebook computer with “another” new drive (I replace the drive once before with a larger HD when installing Windows 7 in 2010). This time I’ll go with a Kingston 240GB SSD. I’ve been watching the SSD drives since Cyber Monday […]

The worst of our record cold has passed … at least for now

| January 8, 2014

According to Ohio River watchers, the “formation of river ice is rare” and has happened in only 14 winters of the last 140 years of record keeping in Cincinnati. For some the recent cold temperatures has triggered memories from 1977 and 1978. Photos from the past and stories of the river freezing over due to […]

Xantrex 815-2012 Sine Wave Inverter/Charger

| January 7, 2014

Back in November I started Encore’s electrical diagnosis after struggling to charge my old battery  bank. After putting a tester on the 7 year old AGMs, I declared them dead. What I didn’t know was that the charger on my Heart Freedom Inverter / Charger unit wasn’t working either – the inverter had already giving […]

Enjoyed a long weekend with family in western NY

| January 5, 2014

Amazingly 28 in our family were able to make it back to Western NY for a late holiday family get together at the Howard farmhouse and dinner at Peak n Peek. Some stayed at the house and some of us in the resort or hotels and all of us realized that this could be the […]

Archive: Marine wire and electrical supplies

| January 4, 2014

Since I haven’t received an order yet, I can’t vouch for Genuinedealz.com, but as online specialty stores goes, this one is top notch. Sure they could improve their site with a few more value added links and how-to’s, but the selection of Marine Wire, Electrical Supplies, Cables and Connectors is excellent … and it is […]

Windtraveler.net: My pick for best sailing blog of 2013

| January 3, 2014

Those who enjoy cruising, but aren’t on the water as often as they’d like, still enjoy armchair sailing — reading about those who are liveaboard cruising. One of the most inspirational sailing and cruising blogs is Windtraveler.net by Brittany and Scott Meyers. Their story over the past few years of sailing from Chicago to the […]

Wall Street starts the year with a frown – DOW down 135.31

| January 2, 2014

For the past four years the stock market has started the year on a positive note, but today the sellers outweighed the buyers sending the indices down across the board. The S&P500 was down nearly 1% followed by .80% moves down in both the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A downgrade of […]

Collaborative teambuilding with reduced conflict in business

| January 2, 2014

What better way to start keeping my resolutions for the New Year than to start with a post about teamwork and conflict (self and tolerance).  Liane Davey in the Harvard Business Review shared five tips over the holidays in here article called Conflict Strategies for Nice People. She states that although it can be uncomfortable […]

New Year’s Resolution for 2014 – Less self, more tolerance

| January 1, 2014

Happy New Year 2014! The end of the year is a time many of us make a New Year’s Resolution, often about how we can improve in the coming year. As I started this post, I thought my resolution was to be more tolerant of others and of their views. Over the years, and as […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog