My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on May 9, 2017

Rarely do I endorse many establishments on the blog, but Spinning Fork in Fairfield, Ohio is not a problem for me. The casual family owned Italian restaurant has been our favorite since 1995, although it was in a different location a bit further north on Dixie Highway/ Route 4. Besides the excellent food, the friendly employees (and owners) always make us feel welcome and appreciated. The food is excellent, atmosphere comfortable and prices moderate.What’s not to like?

I suspect our "bond" began when my son was in grade school and one of their elderly family members from Italy took to him and called him Mr. Taylor. We enjoyed her for several years until she went back to Italy … but the others have been just as friendly ask about the family even with months between visits. Of course I really didn’t need an opening to pull out the latest photo of Annalyn.
 

If you enjoy homemade Italian food in a VERY friendly setting, you cannot go wrong having lunch or dinner at Spinning Fork.

Category: Business, Misc | No Comments »
Tags: fairfield, favorites, fork, ohio, Restaurant, spinning

Posted By RichC on May 8, 2017

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Category: Music, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, family, james taylor, monday, mp3, Music, musicmonday, song

Posted By RichC on May 7, 2017

Taylor and I joined in with a group from the Mercedes Benz Club of Cincinnati on a visit to the American Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday. The tour group was lead by an informative lecture from a long time Packard historian and lasted most of the afternoon. Surprisingly I never visited the museum with my Dad, although I knew he had visited a few years back with my mom. I wish I could have gone with him (post on the History Channel about Packard).

We learned quite a bit about the well known luxury car manufacturer that began in the beginning of the 19th century and was building some of the best and most expensive cars by the Great Depression in the 1930s. They struggled like all automotive manufacturers and even moved toward a mid-priced “ordinary” car model called the Packard One-Twenty with unique features such as hydraulic brakes and independent suspension.  In World War 2 Packard joined the war effort and supplied their excellent engine building to power everything from PT mosquito boats to fighter aircraft.

Production after the war return to their cars, but the market no longer grew for their luxury cars and their 40’s and 50’s style saw more and more competition. Financially troubled, the company merged with the smaller Studebaker who eventually stopped building Packard in the late 1950s and the last mostly a Studebaker Golden Hawk with a few Packard badges and custom body panels … my dad’s, now my Packard Hawk.

Above is a slideshow from our afternoon at the Packard Museum. Below is a short video (before the battery in my camera died) of a “one-of-a-kind” convertible 1958 Packard Hawk that is either an aftermarket customer modification OR a factory concept car (rumor). All in all, a great day topped off by my son taking me out to dinner for my birthday. Thanks for coming along Taylor and thanks for my birthday dinner!

Category: Automotive, Mercedes, Packard | 2 Comments »
Tags: benz, club, mercedes, museum, packard, taylor

Posted By RichC on May 6, 2017

Our kitchen update is nearly finished and we only have a few touch up items, the correct under the counter LED lights and a freezer door replacement to go. The mounted TV is now working with everything self contained on the sliding mount and everything works off of a single power plug. I’m still having MOCA connection issues and will need to try and reroute a networking cable to try and centrally local in hopes of a stronger connection.

All in all the new pot filler over the gas range is a great addition and am loving the full slab granite work island and counter height eating area. Perhaps the most appreciated change are the three pendant lights over the eating area. This has been a great update and upgrade.

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: 4k TV, construction, granite, kitchen, project, remodel, upgrade

Posted By RichC on May 5, 2017

Ever since the switch from Time Warner to Cincinnati Bell Fioptics, the Raspberry Pi2 and Pi3 that I’ve been using for testbed Linux servers have been out of commission. I’m struggling to come up with a way to bypass the Port 80 block that CB and many ISPs put in place to protect users equipment (that is the theory). About the only option that might work semi-well is to use a different port and services from a company like no-ip.org. Currently the Raspberry Pi 3 is running on port 8080 so it looks as if it might work? (Still looking for self directed options tho)

Port 80 Redirect: This option needs to be used if your ISP blocks port 80 like most commonly do.  It enables you to reach your server without having to type the port after the hostname.

Example: Without Port 80 redirect you would have to type in the following into your browser: yourhost.no-ip.org:8080.

Category: Raspberry Pi, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: apache, blocking, isp, port 80, raspberry pi, server

Posted By RichC on May 4, 2017

The contractor that dented our Samsung refrigerator ask me to get a replacement freezer door so I called J & J International  at 800-627-4368 and had to log a case #149782 and give them our model and serial number before they could research and price the part. Hopefully if I order it they will continue to honor my reimbursement?

Perhaps I’ll hold back the amount on my final payment as they are closing in on finishing up. Today they are grouting the backsplash subway tile, adding the final trim, staining the floors, touching up paint and installing the cooktop. We are nearly done after being under kitchen construction for 2 months.

 
Backsplash tile going in and the hanging of our crystal “birdcage” lights (don’t call them that around Brenda or I’ll have to replace them!!!)

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: birdcage, construction, dent, door, freezer, kitchen, refrigerator, remodel, subway, tile

Posted By RichC on May 3, 2017

A lightning strike looked as if it had taken out my Epson Workforce 545 multifunction fax/scanner/printer/copier … which of all the office devices is probably the one I could most afford to lose. I suspect the "jolt" or whatever caused catastrophic failure came over the phone line, since devices plugged into the wall, APC unit or surge strips are fine … although my iMac did have an immediate shutdown requiring an SMC reset.

After talking with Epson support, I opted to pick up a refurbished Epson Workforce GT-1500 scanner since a fax machine is no longer really necessary. I’ll miss the quick copies, but can still scan and print when necessary I suppose?

After having all-in-one units for years now it seems unusual to go back to only a scanner? I can still remember my first $1500 which was hardly capable of a quality usable in offset printing. We use to enlarge images on the process camera in the darkroom (stats) and "then" scan them in oversize so as to have more pixels to use in "Desk Top Publishing" of catalogs and newsletter for clients. Oh the good ol’ days!

Epson WorkForce GT-1500 Color Document Scanner – Refurbished

Get superior image quality and enhanced productivity from the WorkForce GT-1500 color document imaging scanner. This easy-to-use scanner offers the versatility you need to create PDFs, electronically archive important documents or share records with your workgroup. Use the high-capacity Automatic Document Feeder to quickly scan a variety of sizes up to 8.5×14. And, it not only offers greater productivity, it ensures more efficient operation. With innovative ReadyScan™ LED technology, there’s no warmup time required. It’s all right at your fingertips with the WorkForce GT-1500, a powerful performer available at an amazing value.

• Achieve superior clarity and detail with remarkable 1200 x 2400 dpi resolution
• Take on any project with easy, one-touch scanning to PDF, email and more
• Enjoy greater productivity with scans up to 20 ppm
• Quickly scan stacks of documents with the high-capacity
• Automatic Document Feeder — holds up to 40 pages at one time, for quick and efficient scanning
• Organize scanned documents with the easy-to-use document management software included
• Scan originals in a variety of sizes- from 5.9 x 5.9 to 8.5 x 14
• Enjoy more efficient operation with exclusive ReadyScan LED technology — no warmup time and fast scanning speeds
• Rest easy with earth-friendly LED technology — no mercury included and lower power consumption

Category: Computer, Shopping, Technology, Weather | 1 Comment »
Tags: copier, epson, gt-1500, lightning, multifunction, office, scanner, workforce

Posted By RichC on May 2, 2017

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Category: Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, babysitting, brenda, drew, family, katelyn, lagoon, lake erie, ohio, panarama, slideshow, toledo

Posted By RichC on May 1, 2017

The rate of U.S. inflation for March was slower than expected just one month after hitting a five-year peak. The number reflects lower gasoline and consumer goods prices, including automobiles. Thiis could ease pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, even though central banks have telegraphed increases this year. The U.S. economy is still growing steadily, the stock market is at a record high, unemployment is 4.5% which is low and wages are on the rise along with a growing shortage of skilled workers. All in all, the economy is set for growth especially if the two big legislative items get done this year: 1) reforming Obamacare and 2) tax reform — especially lowering corporate tax rates and the repatriation of billions of overseas dollars.

Category: Financial, News | No Comments »
Tags: economy, finance, health care, inflation, obamacare, reform, taxes

Posted By RichC on April 30, 2017

The BMW X5 35d is still without a new battery as the replacement batch is still not available to ship. I’m hoping the new mid-May date for delivery will not be postponed again.

Last week just as I was running out the door for the airport, the car would not start again. Seemed to have happened out of the blue and a quick check of the battery voltage read 10.76 volts … not enough to start the car even with the jumper pack. I added the charger and could not get it to a starting voltage before needed to leave, so left it on the charger for a few days and took the "old reliable" 1982 Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel. It seems amazing that I have more confidence in that old diesel than the newer 2010 BMW … but there is obviously something wrong. Saturday I tinkered a bit to see if I could spot a big enough phantom leak in the system to take a fully charged battery down to 10.76 volts over night, or if there is truly a bad cell in the new AGM battery. Every reading I pulled on the battery indicated "BAD" so still assume that the battery is at fault. BUT … I’ve been monitoring the drain on the battery and at its fully shutdown "low" drain mode, it is still pulling about 1.26 amps (that is not enough to drain the battery IMHO and part of that drain is the small red "close the rear hatch" light that stays on even after disconnecting the normal courtesy hatch open lights).

Category: Automotive, BMW, Diesel, Mercedes | 2 Comments »
Tags: 300d, automotive, battery, BMW, diesel, mercedes, x5 35d