My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 2, 2012

Maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to play with the panorama feature on my new iPhone 5, but decided to take a photo before digging to find the lid of the septic tank. The photo above is current October 2012 and the photo below was as we built the house in 1995 and put the septic system in (as usual, click for larger images).

Wow … 1995 … has it really been that long?

While on the subject of septic tanks, we’ve had a tank and leech bed system most of our lives. This will be the second time I can recall having our system pumped. The first was of necessity in the middle of winter – ugh, but eventually became a requirement since our township was annexed by a city. Our current 17 year old system is being done before my daughter’s wedding … as a preventative measure. Personally I don’t think it needs to be pumped, but would rather not face my wife IF the inevitable happens with a house full of people (chalk that last bit of wisdom up to  30 years of marriage).

There are a couple schools of thought as to regular pumping or to allowing solids to naturally degrade. At one time I added additional bacteria to the tanks, but really don’t think that is necessary if you can restrict how much paper (and kind of TP) as well as kitchen scraps that go down the drain. I also lecture (usually ignored) on how much Clorox to use in the laundry in order to keep the bacteria actively breaking down waste. Hopefully now that the kids are away and there are only two of use in the house, we will never have to pump our tank again.

Category: Personal, Photography, Photos | 2 Comments »
Tags: house, landscaping, plumbing, septic

Posted By RichC on October 1, 2012

A “Hypermiling” friend of mine posted a graph to his forum after driving a 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI with a 6-speed and the realistic above 50mpg results being returned by this mid-sized car are impressive.

I sure wish VW had a TDI 4motion wagon!

Click for larger graph

Temps were 57 – 59 degrees F with no wind. The readings were taken in southern IL on I-57 before and after midnight with a minimum distance traveled of 18 miles and a maximum 33 miles. Elevation at the time of initial aFCD reset and final tabulation was within +/- 5 ft ASL.

I applied a 1.0158% offset (Displayed * 1.0158) to make up for both the mileage and aFCD display to actual.

I did not apply a temperature compensation of 2.5% to the above to match up to 70 degrees F but even without, the speed FE results are spectacular! Add the temperature compensation or drive in 70 degree temps and you are darn near 50 mpg at 70 mph in a midsize sedan!

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, passat, tdi, volkswagen

Posted By RichC on September 30, 2012

My weekend was filled with more wedding stuff and with three of the most important women in my life. On Saturday I chauffeured Brenda and Katelyn to and from a few more wedding planning functions as well as participated in more cake tasting. This time the final cake arrangements were made. My wife and daughter also finalized wedding invitations … without my expertise I might add — so I won’t get credit or blame. The rest of the day the girls went shopping for a mother-of-the-bride dress and came home empty handed, while I enjoyed the nice weather doing yard work. We all relaxed to a Netflix streamed movie Saturday night — Super 8 … recommended if you enjoy memories of the 1970s.

Sunday afternoon we heading to Sidney and visited with my mom for her birthday (a day late) at Dorothy Love. She is tolerating the meds well and comfortable so as long as she doesn’t bend her back. It is tough to see her bedridden and unable to care for herself … still we are thankful that her pain is controlled and that she can talk with a clear head.

Category: Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, family, katelyn, momc, planning, wedding

Posted By RichC on September 29, 2012

How do packers of lettuce tie up a head? I can never get the wrap open without tearing or cutting.

Category: Misc | No Comments »
Tags: lettuce, photo, wrap

Posted By RichC on September 28, 2012

A friend of mine is contemplating a computer upgrade and wants to look at an Apple Macbook Pro or Macbook Air this year, but the $2000 price tag is something to think seriously about. He asked me for my opinion since I have a pile of old Macintosh computers and hears that most users are pretty satisfied. My advice, is to wait a few months.

I also pointed him to the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide page which compiles a “best guess” from the rumor mill as to when to “hold off” and what the upgrade cycle looks like.

For those pondering the same “when should I buy” question, check the MacRumors site once in a while and plan your upgrade accordingly.

Category: Apple, Computer, Shopping, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: apple, Computer, macintosh, rumors

Posted By RichC on September 27, 2012

After three rounds of Federal Reserve quantitative easing and the pumping money into the system, the economy remains depressed and there is growing concern over eventual inflation. The buying power of the U.S. dollar is noticeably weaker for those with stagnate earnings — most of middle-class America. Who knows when government inaction on trade, deficits, debt and the “loose money” Federal Reserve policies will be reflected in the government measured indexes, but there is not much doubt that all Americans are starting to feeling the pinch when it comes to everyday necessities. Sure the “Arab Spring” and “drought conditions” will offer short term excuse for $4.00 gasoline and higher prices at the grocery store, but the reality of printing billions of dollars is going to raise the eyebrows of every armchair economist.

I probably don’t agree with everything doom and gloomers and gold bugs say, but in the reality of what is happening (or “not” happening") at the Federal level is fueling their case. Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management had a few thoughts on the subject this week on CNBC (mp3).

Category: Audio, Financial, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: cnbc, dollar, eric sprott, gold, inflation, mp3, qe3, sprott

Posted By RichC on September 26, 2012

The Internet was down for a while yesterday (might have been my network issue) and realized I could no longer tether to my Palm Pre. Now that I have the iPhone 5, I’ve lost the emergency wifi connection that had come in so handy. Hmm, next best thing was to connect my Kensington bluetooth keyboard from the iPad to the iPhone … it took all of 30 seconds. So for the balance of the day I was at least able to send out a few email replies and even found myself even using it while sending text messages!

I feel like my computer life has gone full circle — I started with just a tiny green screen on a portable Compaq and then a small blue screen Mac SE, eventually adding portrait sized displays and eventually multiple monitors covering an entire work-surface. Then a decade ago something happened, I switched back to laptops and notebooks, and now travel with an iPad instead of a notebook. What’s next, am I really going to work on a 4 inch phone necessitating glasses the size of Coke bottle bottoms … or maybe Google Goggles?

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Photography, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: bluetooth, iphone 5, kensington, keyboard

Posted By RichC on September 25, 2012

Category: Politics | No Comments »
Tags: election, Politics, truths

Posted By RichC on September 25, 2012

We can’t blame the Seahawks or the Packers, but with all the money associated with the National Football League, there needs to be a better way to officiate than what we’ve been seeing in 2012 … and most notably in the Monday night game. Shameful. (slo-mo video below)