Posted By RichC on December 1, 2018
During the last trip to the condo, we enjoyed the fruits of our 2018 labor – our recent kitchen and bath updates. As is the norm for us, we discussed future projects, like updating the master bathroom too, since it looks stodgy compared to the guest bathroom. So IF we don’t find a buyer for the condo this winter while our renters are there, I may give bathroom number two a facelift next year.
It is a small space with currently only a single sink in a large vanity. With a little creative ‘space-finding,’ that I can custom build a couple of corner vanities, replumb and rewire the electrical and upgrade the tile. Brenda can do some painting and come up with a mirror and lights that satisfy her. She liked the "vessel" sink in the guest bathroom well enough to want to do a couple small sinks in the master bathroom so we’ve started the sizing and searching. I’ve sketched out the idea and made a full size template in order to visualize the perceived space gain and see if it will work. It is still tight, and will likely offend those who love to spread their bathroom accessories out, but will work. Besides, I’m not fond of seeing the clutter in our home master bathroom let alone a mess in even a smaller space. We’ll see if the idea is still with me in the spring; for now, I’m just archiving ideas and thinking.
Category: Archive, Ideas, Misc, Personal, Woodworking |
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Tags: archive, bathroom, condo1718, delray beach, ideas, master, projects, sink, update, vessel
Posted By RichC on November 30, 2018
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Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos |
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Tags: annalyn, christmas, cute, family, katelyn, stickers, tree
Posted By RichC on November 29, 2018
The weather has turned this week with temperatures in the 20s and our second snow in Cincinnati for winter 2018-19 (here’s first). My automated Raspberry Pi cam regularly tweets out a photo with this one still looking like an autumn sky … or perhaps winter since the sun looks pretty low in the southern sky? Anyway, I still enjoyed seeing the backyard switch from green to white, even if I’m not ready for winter.
Category: Photos, Raspberry Pi, Weather |
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Tags: backyard, Cam, photo, raspberry pi, snow, twitter, weather, winter
Posted By RichC on November 28, 2018
The Dow closed up 618 points on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell indicated that "interest rates are just below the neutral level that neither aids or hinders economic growth." 
Investors looking for something positive as they wait hoping for some good news during the G-20 meeting between President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping. on U.S. trade with China.
The S&P 500, a broader index, closed up 2.3% and the tech heavier and hard hit Nasdaq closed up 2.95% which was a relief to investor who have seen 2018 gains disappear in the last several weeks. As most Americans know, the US economy is good, but markets are forward looking; they perceive slower growth ahead with plenty of obstacles to deal with … most out of their control.
A struggling world economy makes the U.S. a bit safer, but we do sell and trade overseas too. One big aggressive foe, China, has most of us concerned as tariffs and trade dominate the headlines. Another is the new Democrat controlled House of Representatives, which is seemingly bent on steering the US in an opposing direction Republicans have moved us. Hopefully these empowered DEMs will keep their frustration with President Trump in check and focus on with legislating some sort of compromises with so much unsettled business. I hope they are careful with the economy, taxes and spending in particular as we all lose if the economy slumps again.
Category: Financial, News, Politics |
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Tags: congress, federal reserve, financials, government, interest, investing, markets, powell, rates, stocks, trump
Posted By RichC on November 27, 2018
This may be the end for Freedompop, the low cost wireless "backup" hotspot service I’ve been using for years — at least it probably is for me (started with the Photon back in 2010). For the most part their hotspot service 
has been a decent value for me while traveling and giving me LTE connectivity to all my devices, but I can no longer endorse or recommend it. The free service of 500MB per month is not really enough data making their $3.99/mo rollover option a better choice. I have also encouraged a few other users to add service which increases the amount of free monthly data added to my account each month (now have a decent reserve that will expire if the rollover option is canceled).
In October, the company implemented a service charge of .98 cents on top of the $3.99 monthly (tolerable), but this month they have upped that to a $2.99 "Administrative Fee. Since most phone plans now offer a data plan addition, it is not as critical to opt for the Freedompop service and definitely not worth paying a higher monthly fee for the same rollover (Virgin Mobile is $10/mo). I inquired with Freedompop’s "weak" customer service department just to be sure before canceling my Freedompop LTE device … or at least switching to their free 500MB per month service. Will probably do that later this month. This is too bad … as I doubt I am alone an question whether Freedompop will survive?
From Freedompop Customer Service:
We understand your concerns and will work towards your satisfaction. Upon account review, I do see that the charge is for:
(more…)
Category: Advice, Cellphone, Computer, Productivity, Tablet, Technology |
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Tags: administrative, Computer, customer service, fees, freedompop, hotspot, mifi, rollover, sprint, virgin mobile
Posted By RichC on November 26, 2018
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Category: Advice, Alexa, Business, Memories, Music, Personal, Photos |
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Tags: Alexa, amazon, Business, cpp, echo, faces, father/son, lyrics, memories, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, ooh la la, song, thanksgiving
Posted By RichC on November 25, 2018
After an uncomfortable win against Maryland where Ohio State’s defense failed to show up … this week in the big 10th ranked OSU vs 4th ranked Michigan rivalry, both the defense and offense performed for the 
Buckeyes and their 
fans at the Shoe. Besides a few mistakes and penalties costing the Buckeyes points (fortunately they could afford), Ohio State definitely dominated the Wolverines the entire day. That was good news for Katelyn and Drew who headed to Columbus. Besides being damp and cold, it was a perfect day to end Buckeye season.
Final: Ohio State 62 – Michigan 39
Category: Personal, Sports |
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Tags: big ten, buckeyes, college, columbus, drew, family, football, katelyn, michigan, ohio state, wolverines
Posted By RichC on November 24, 2018
This really should have been yesterday’s Tech Friday post, but between the holiday with turkey, family and football watching on Thursday and another market drop and oil plunge of another 7.7% to $50.42 on Friday my focus was elsewhere.
As for a tech tip, a viral tweet last week caught hold when it really shouldn’t have been anything new. The iPhone text editing tip suggests that instead of "fat fingering" the cursor to a text location, that holding a finger down on the spacebar and dragging the cursor to a new location makes the task easier. Hm, this something users have been doing for years … and BTW, it is not only the spacebar, but click/hold any place on the virtual keyboard to move the cursor to a new location works too.
A three-year-old iPhone function which was apparently largely unknown to many has gone viral on social media – and it could change the way you text.
Despite being available on iPhones for the last three years, the keyboard feature has recently been discovered by thousands of Apple users – after Krissy Brierre-Davis shared her ‘discovery’ on Twitter.
LINK
Category: Apple, Cellphone, Social Media, Technology, Tidbits |
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Tags: apple, cursor, editting, iphone, tech friday, techfriday, text, tips, twitter, viral
Posted By RichC on November 23, 2018
Even as someone who watches markets and oil, the precipitous drop in price over the past month has been shocking. Most observers expected the increased inventory to cause the price per barrel to drop a bit, just as it has in the past when oil is stored in surplus, but a $20/barrel collapse in 1 month is either too much (likely if producers like OPEC & US shale companies restrain production) … or a predictor that a bigger global economic slowdown is in our future. If looking at this from a "glass half full" perspective, optimistically maybe "just a little" of both, but palatable?
Thoughts from a NYTimes article after President Trump decided to reimpose sanctions on Iran, one of the biggest producers of oil:
..
Over the summer, the Saudis and other producers, who had been restraining output since 2017, opened up the taps, aiming to ease consumers’ worries and placate Mr. Trump. They may have been overly proactive. Traders have shifted their focus from Iran to other factors, like whether Mr. Trump’s trade battles with China and rising interest rates might dampen global economic growth and demand for oil.
At the same time, production in the United States has been rising faster than expected. Output has also risen in Libya, despite continuing warfare, and it has held up better than expected in another troubled country, Venezuela. Volumes of oil held in storage tanks around the world are beginning to build again, raising fears of a renewed glut, analysts say.
..
Category: Business, Energy, Financial, News |
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Tags: crude, energy, Financial, nytimes, oil
Posted By RichC on November 22, 2018
This was probably not a Thanksgiving meal with my late mom and dad, but it was in the fall of 1987 and is a perfect #TBT memory.
My daughter Katelyn was pretty close to her daughter Annalyn’s age and my brother Ron and Claire just engaged to be married. It seems like yesterday, but was obviously a lifetime ago.
Thanksgiving this year will be with a smaller turkey and fewer to eat it, but I am so thankful for our family and the many time we were together each year.
Category: Holiday, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT |
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Tags: brenda, claire, dadc, family, Holiday, katelyn, momc, ron, TBT, thanksgiving
During the last trip to the condo, we enjoyed the fruits of our 2018 labor – our recent kitchen and bath updates. As is the norm for us, we discussed future projects, like updating the master bathroom too, since it looks stodgy compared to the guest bathroom. So IF we don’t find a buyer for the condo this winter while our renters are there, I may give bathroom number two a facelift next year. 
