Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby, Stills and Nash from 1969
RichC | December 31, 2015
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Separately stored automated server backups or snapshots?
RichC | December 30, 2015
Digital Ocean’s cloud based servers have me debating which is best for the MyDesultoryBlog.com in a worse case scenario? Do I continue with the $1/mo automated backups 4 times per month or go with the no-charge manual “Snapshops?” The $12/yr charge in the short term is probably reasonable but would have preferred a daily image […]
Brightness settings on iMac with a second display
RichC | December 29, 2015
How do you control the brightness on Thunderbolt connected secondary monitor without any physical controls? This took me a few minutes to figure out … so its worth archiving as a tidbit. When your display desktop is at a premium, or you are running virtual operating systems, having a second monitor is a real plus. I added a secondhand 27″ Mac Thunderbolt […]
The garage shop woodstove project is complete and working
RichC | December 29, 2015
Posting a few photos after completing the woodstove project that I’ve been working on this past month or so. It is working great as we used it to dry a bit after the rainy and wet Knockerball fun when the kids were home for Christmas. After spending a few hours cleaning the old stove and […]
Losing Mozilla Firefox add-on data for FireFTP after upgrade
RichC | December 28, 2015
After making the Microsoft update from Windows 7 to Windows 10, there were a few items lost in the mostly automatic update (BTW, it is as painless an upgrade Microsoft has ever done). One of the add-ons for the Mozilla’s Firefox browser that I find hard to live without is FireFTP (simple FTP client). Much […]
Quantum computer is 100 million times faster than normal PC
RichC | December 28, 2015
Google and NASA engineers announced that tests with the D-WAVE 2X, the quantum computer developed by them, showed that it’s 100 million times faster than an ordinary computer. The impressive record was achieved in a test in which the D-WAVE 2X ran an optimization problem and found a solution much faster than a conventional computer, […]
Winding down the family Christmas time together
RichC | December 27, 2015
Katelyn and Drew headed back home to Wayzata, MN this Sunday morning after monitoring the wave of nasty weather pushing north later today. It looks as if they will be in the clear by the time they get to Chicago; the ice, snow and rain should be south of Wisconsin and Minnesota … at least […]
Christmas 2015 – a family time
RichC | December 26, 2015
We had a wonderful family time on Christmas day. Taylor came after work on Christmas Eve day and Katelyn and Drew drove from Minneapolis after a half day of work (long day for them), so we were all home for Christmas morning. After our morning gift exchange, which was wonderful, although too much … we went outside and enjoyed […]
Twas the Night before Christmas … and to all a Good-Night!
RichC | December 24, 2015
Nearly 200 years ago, Clement Clarke Moore “wrote” (still debated) a Christmas poem for his children, not realizing it would later be published and become the classic we all know and love — “Twas the Night Before Christmas” (A Visit from St. Nicholas). Many still do not realize that today’s image of Santa Claus […]
Imagine this happening to a Senator Obama rather than Cruz
RichC | December 23, 2015
Imagine this editorial cartoon being published by a right-leaning newspaper during a previous presidential campaign … let’s say to a “then” Senator Obama rather than a “now” Senator Cruz? Something tells me Democrats on the political left would have settled for nothing less than a full apology from the publisher and possible firing of those […]
The obligatory family Christmas tree photo for 2015
RichC | December 23, 2015
It is time to post the annual Christmas tree photo on the blog. I’m trying an evening pic with the iPhone … as steady as I can? The tree is full, but not quite as tall as our usual trees. I’m sure the kids will be disappointed that it isn’t bigger, but then Taylor always […]
New cars to admire – the 2016 BMW 7 series sedan
RichC | December 22, 2015
While the up and coming generation ogles the impressive all-electric Teslas, I’m still attracted to gasoline and oil burners (aka: diesels) … especially the latest refined performance and luxury sedans coming from BMW. The 2016 BMW 7 series is particularly impressive, with its sleek lines and twin turbo V-8 engine cranking out 445-horsepower and 480 […]
Tinkering with Blogsy and chimney chase home repairs
RichC | December 21, 2015
Another excuse to try to get Blogsy, the blog posting app on my iPad, to include photos without posting them to Flickr or Google (the two options besides “normal WordPress media” built into Blogsy). Unfortunately the suggestion from the programmer was to use a separate sFTP client — very cumbersome and not the way to […]
Cincinnati is not going to see a White Christmas for 2015
RichC | December 20, 2015
A little earbud knot tying humor
RichC | December 20, 2015
This well done graphic has probably be around for a while since the Apple earbud looks to be the older type … but I thought the knot tying humor was pretty funny.
Dry Stack brick and leftover airplane aluminum for the stove
RichC | December 19, 2015
It’s wasn’t as painless as envisioned during the planning stage, but the dry-stack brick heat-shield for my garage shop is ready for the old woodstove. After spending a few evenings this week fitting, bending and riveting the 6061 aluminum, I think it is ready for the catalytic woodstove to be connected to the new chimney […]
Updating TWC Internet and the iMac virtual to Windows 10
RichC | December 18, 2015
A couple improvement to our Internet connectivity at the house this past week as I quarreled with Time Warner Cable yet again about our service and our bill. Of course they once again wanted to schedule a tech to come out and look at things to determine why our paid for turbo speed was only […]
When was the last time diesel fuel was $1.90/gal?
RichC | December 17, 2015
I detoured to stop my dad’s house in Sidney Ohio on my way back from NE Ohio on Thursday night while driving the ’82 Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel and was shocked to fill up for only $1.90/gallon. When was the last time diesel fuel was priced at these levels? Amazing … but can’t imagine it can stay this […]
Archive the “Lock the downwind pole in place” advice
RichC | December 17, 2015
I regularly read the updates from the Canadian couple and TV series host of the sailing program Distant Shores and wanted to archive their post and illustration on using the downwind spinnaker pole on passages.
Uncertainty, regulation and taxes taint the year for investors
RichC | December 16, 2015
The relatively flat year for stocks reflects the sentiment of many Americans who instinctively know the long and slow economic recovery has been unnecessarily hindered by politicians. The United States is certainly capable of stronger grow overall and in my opinion the blame lands heavily on the burdensome regulation, high corporate taxes and bloated government […]
Target is not Amazon when it comes to delivering the goods
RichC | December 16, 2015
When you begin to depend on prompt order fulfillment and reasonable delivery times from online retail stores, it feels like we’ve gone back a decade or two? On Cyber Monday, November 30th, I placed an order with Target thinking there was plenty of time before last minute Christmas ordering. I entered both my email address […]
A close call for this California BMW X5 SUV driver
RichC | December 15, 2015
No this is not our BMW X5 35d … but it is my wife’s biggest fear. She has had several items fall off trucks or get kicked up from the road in front of her over the years. Usually it’s a cracked windshield or “thunk-thunk” as she bounces over lumber or whatever (alignment issues perhaps?) […]
Working on the chimney chase with stone veneer
RichC | December 15, 2015
One of the issues we found when replacing our roof last month was a wobbly chimney chase for the fireplace in the house. The original fireplace has a stainless steel chimney that extends from the first floor through the second floor, the trusses and then the “chimney chase” on the roof. The builder must not […]
Merry Christmas 2015 — Wow, 33 yrs of Corbett Christmas Letters
RichC | December 14, 2015
“Tis the season” that many of us are franticly shopping, decorating, cooking and finalizing all the trimmings associated with December and weeks leading up to Christmas. Perhaps we should be a little be more focused on the reason we celebrate rather than all the trimmings — Christ’s birth! It is easy to get lost in all the preparations than […]
What a view! Happy Birthday to my son-in-law Drew
RichC | December 13, 2015
Looking at this sunrise photo at the Grand Canyon on a small screen does not do it justice, so click so it’s full-size; that’s a great photo from Drew’s new Nexus 6 smartphone. Perhaps its not just the amazing view or stunning sunrise photo … but the fact that my “crazy daughter” (as Drew titled his email) […]
The warm weather has fooled this Lilac branch
RichC | December 12, 2015
As I was getting the paper this morning … in a tee-shirt in December … I noticed one branch of our struggling Lilac was confused as to the season. Hard to believe we’re getting ready for Christmas when temperatures are in the 60s.
A little progress on the shop woodstove
RichC | December 12, 2015
Well I really am working on getting ready for Christmas this weekend, but wanted to post an updated photo as the dry-stack brick project in the poolhouse/ garage. As mentioned previously, the floor leveling was the biggest pain in order to level the top of the “walls.” I used an aluminum angle to hold a […]
The stock market drops again as oil prices remains weak
RichC | December 11, 2015
Stocks have been in decline as investors wait for the Fed to either “move” or get off the pot this month. Adding to the misery for those who are thinking they are in long “safe” dividend paying stocks, like those in energy, they are nervous too. While the economy is not particularly bad, the deflationary […]
Digital Ocean switch notes to self – all good as of 12/10/2015
Admin | December 10, 2015
I move my WordPress blog to Digital Ocean‘s smallest cloud based Linux server and the move is now complete, I think. Everything seems to be working as it should, although I’ve experienced a couple snags. All posts have been consolidated (except this one) under the RichC user_id and I’ve updated to WordPress to 4.4. The Linux “swap” as been set […]
Great to see my kids enjoying their 20s …
RichC | December 10, 2015
20s?? Well for Drew (photo) … for only a few more days! Katelyn and Drew are in Arizona celebrating Drew’s 30th birthday with his family this week and they sent me a couple photos from the desert and in a hot air balloon flight — beautiful! It is great to see all three kids (Taylor […]
Are you looking forward to a 2016 winter?
RichC | December 9, 2015
For the most part this is really all about testing the latest updates to the new Digital Ocean micro cloud server while attempting to run WordPress 4.4. I’m also using an alternate server for image hosting so that I can continue to post with the long in the tooth and no longer updated Microsoft LiveWriter […]
Crude oil falls below $37 per barrel – a 7 year low
RichC | December 8, 2015
Warmer forecasts, no production cut by OPEC and inventory surplus is keeping energy prices low and crude oil has moved to seven year lows. The impact is being felt by small leveraged U.S. oil companies who are on the brink of bankrupcy and even creating waves throughout the economy. As I tweeted… Oil prices fell […]
Dry-stack brickwork for woodstove continues
RichC | December 7, 2015
After fastening aluminum angle to the floor and leveling the corner with sand, I packed and filled the base with brick to continue adding our old catalytic woodstove to the shop. Then it was time to start the dry-stack walls … until I ran out of spare brick. Thankfully the brick is available so should be […]
Lights, wreath, candles up. Still need a tree!
RichC | December 6, 2015
Actually needed a photo to test the new server running WordPress.
My WordPress blog is still not back to normal
RichC | December 6, 2015
Slowly but surely I'm rebuilding the archives and associated linked images from my old back ups for MyDesultoryBlog. There may be a reason to keep things in multiple locations BUT it does make upgrading servers a bit more difficult. The long story is that through Consolidated Printing and Publishing, I have worked with the same […]
Test with an iPhone self-timer photo from Thanksgiving 2015
RichC | December 5, 2015
Testing the LiveWriter access to Digital Ocean with sFTP. FAILED … I’ll keep the photo and update with a “what’s going on” post tomorrow.
Ready holiday music? Not me, but Joni Mitchell maybe?
RichC | December 4, 2015
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Quick update after lost post — see http://fb.com/richc.us
RichC | December 3, 2015
I’m not going to repost the lost message from Thanksgiving in Wayzata, MN this year, but some of the personal photos are on Facebook (I don’t post there too often, but in case you want to connect click here).
Websites that make you smarter
RichC | December 2, 2015
Thought these were great links: Here are 30 of the best sites where you can learn as an individual or connect your team to professional and personal development: 1. TED Talks: Ted is all about ideas worth spreading TED’s tagline is “ideas worth spreading.” usually A video collection of sin the form of short, powerful […]
Testing a new post after the move
RichC | December 1, 2015
This is a new post for after the move … no photo, just text … now edit with an image.
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.