Tech Friday: Finally improved the Internet at the Condo

| December 1, 2023

After a long and steady battle with the Internet connections at the condo over our Thanksgiving vacation in Florida, the fight is finally over. The pain of returning the hardware Xfinity sent was enough to make me scream (long wait JUST to return something) … but after tossing the Netgear R7000 router and replacing with […]

Test photo after a server update and personal family posts

| November 29, 2023

Since this week’s weeks MyDesultoryBlog.com posts include a couple end of the month personal and private family posts, it seemed like a good time add test post filler … especially after backing up and updating the Linux server Wednesday evening. Here’s a photo from the condo kitchen update that I sent to Taylor in a […]

Beach vacations are restful and a necessary recharge for me

| October 18, 2023

Although a new iPhone14 or 15 would make the quality of photos a little better, my old iPhone7plus is still chugging along. I haven’t taken a panoramic for a while, so rather than go the selfie route (Brenda veto-ed the photo we took) for today’s vacation blog post. So I’ll post a Delray Beach pano […]

Florida homeowners hit hard by insurance premiums

| August 8, 2023

Archiving an article from last week’s Barron Magazine which highlighted what I’ve been noticing with homeowner insurance rates on our condo in Florida. When I called the agent about the increase last year, she commented that I should be thankful for the increase as it was on the lower side compared to most. Yikes .. […]

Woodworking: Restarted the Octagon Side Table project

| June 17, 2023

Since the Cornhole game project for Taylor’s birthday is finished … and because we had a little bit of rain … I decided to restart work on the Octagon side table. The challenging eight-sided top was finished a couple months ago, but not the legs.  The legs need to be sturdy enough to hold the […]

Leftover Florida rain, condo window & banana trees photos

| April 26, 2023

It was impressive to watch weather moving across the ocean and while wrapping up our “new condo windows” trip, we saw a bit of impressive rain and “interesting” spring weather in Florida. The photo above captured nature’s impressive power and the 40 knots winds if caught out in this squall on a small boat would […]

Archive: Catch-up photos from April 2023 trip to Florida

| April 23, 2023

A trip to Florida would not be compete without at least one timeline marking photo of us … so this catch-up post with a few leftover photos from our “condo window installation” trip will start with a Brenda and Rich beach photo.  Between a few rain and heavy wind days, we had some sunny and […]

Archive: The new condo windows have finally been installed

| April 22, 2023

We have had our share of rain in Florida this April while in Delray Beach, but have finally finished the upgrade of new windows in the condo. I should have done it back in 2018 as I would have save a few thousand dollars, but as the saying goes … “better late than never” (they […]

Archive: Leftover family and condo photos from the past week

| February 26, 2023

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Archiving: Saving woodworking condo side table idea

| February 19, 2023

While at the condo in Florida this past week, Brenda was  searching for a side table and lamp to replace the very ugly and cheap one between the couch and chair (photo right). She found one online that was way overpriced for "particle board or manufactured wood." I’m not a fan and mentioned that it […]

Our shrinking kitchen counter space in the Florida condo

| February 16, 2023

Nothing like a big game, a bag of frozen Costco chicken wings and a desire to make them crispier than in a normal oven to talk us into a splurge buy! At home in Cincinnati, we enjoy our Breville convection toaster oven at home so much that really wanted one down at the Delray Beach […]

A few more family homebuilding photos and using rehab as an excuse to take a winter trip to Florida

| February 15, 2023

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Tech Friday: A big screen TV deal and Christmas light flashback

| December 2, 2022

It is hard to believe that watching sports and movies on a 37" television just isn’t satisfactory enough these days? So when I saw a Walmart pre-Black Friday deal on a 65" TCL Roku TV for $228, I could not pass up the deal. It is very impressive for the money and a perfect upgrade […]

What would October be without our fall trip to Florida?

| October 9, 2022

Brenda and I have been fortunate to almost always taken an autumn trip to Florida. Years ago it was often to visit my parents who would go to Panama City Beach or take a trip with the kids. After Katelyn and Taylor were in college, it was often to visit Brenda’s parents and then to […]

Cleaning stainless steel cookware, mostly Wirecutter advice

| May 12, 2022

Who else hates cleaning up stainless steel cookware, especially stainless steel frying pans? We opted to upgrade the mishmash pots and pans at the Delray Beach condo back in 2018 with a full set of IKEA stainless steel cookware. Unfortunately whenever it comes to using them, we opt for the cheap and ugly red “semi” […]

Enjoyed a Mother’s Day beach week of R & R in Florida

| May 10, 2022

Depressing as it may be, our vacation in Delray Beach is over, but it was a perfect and needed rest and relaxation trip. Our old 2002 Honda Odyssey is still surviving … although I did pondering a new Florida vehicle after having to jumpstart and fidget with the flakey AC. Yet it still didn’t convince […]

Happy Mother’s Day to a couple of wonderful moms

| May 8, 2022

It is difficult not to recognize what great moms both MomC and MomH were to me … but since they are no longer here, I want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to a couple of great moms — my wife Brenda and daughter Katelyn. They both have risen to the most important role of […]

Archive: Enjoyable condo cleaning and NFL playoff football

| January 26, 2022

Brenda and I stretched out a cooler than expected weekend in Florida to get the condo ready for our Canadian renters. It worked out nicely since we had enough sun to start in order to go to the beach and plenty of time over the weekend to clean things up AND watch some excellent NFL […]

A quick trip to Florida so as not to waste an expiring ticket

| November 20, 2021

Brenda and I flew to Florida with a “use it or lose it” expiring Southwest Airline ticket …and hopefully as a way to earn a future companion-pass ticket (we’ll see how that goes). We were there for a long weekend and to enjoy a couple days at the condo and the beach. Unfortunately I wasted […]

The WorkerB Power Pack for the Sailrite LSZ-1 sewing machine

| October 31, 2021

A new upgraded motor is now offered by Sailrite for their line of portable sewing machines (called the WorkerB Power Pack). The lack of slow speed control has been one of the only issues that we have had sewing with the LSZ1. A few years ago I upgraded the Balance Wheel when working on the […]

Our October 2021 vacation with KDAE to Delray Beach, Florida

| October 30, 2021

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Halloween gremlins creep in to finish off our Florida vacation

| October 26, 2021

Let’s start with "we had a great time in Florida" this past week" (more to come) … but the cleanup weekend ended with a couple gremlins. I blame it on the "uncarved" pumpkins left by the granddaughters. HA! Actually there were no unexpected problem while they were in Delray Beach with us, but after they […]

Archive: Weekend catch-up with a few family photos

| September 23, 2021

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It was good to get away to sunny Florida for a restful beach week

| May 2, 2021

Although I know much of the country has lived locked down for much of the year, Brenda and I have probably done a little more than most. She has worked in the pharmacy without much of a break and since the COVID19 vaccinations have started, has been very busy. We had planned a trip to […]

Struggling with Lenovo laptop, router and Internet connections

| May 1, 2021

Either the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router at our condo is glitchy, Xfinity is not giving my any upload speed or my Lenovo laptop is struggling to stay connected. No time to diagnosis, but I may end up chucking the router and switch to the cheaper mesh router sooner than I wanted. It is frustrating. Half […]

Tech Friday: A now rare Internet connectivity issue & speedtest

| April 2, 2021

We have not had many Internet connectivity issues since switching to Cincinnati Bell Fioptic fiber and then added a mesh network instead of traditional router (although the Netgear Nighthawk was pretty good – we move it to the condo). Perhaps a lot has to do with companies building out the infrastructure with fewer buggy devices […]

The pitfalls of Zoom meetings: “I am not a cat” #humor

| February 12, 2021

It was the Zoom video that nearly broke the Internet this past week and it made me smile enough to save the mp4 video to my blog. Very funny. 😊  

A Toyota 4Runner window sticker and missing a photo #TBT

| January 14, 2021

While shuffling through a bunch of old scans and photos and uploading stuff to my Miami University .EDU Google Drive account for free cloud storage after downgrading my subscription to OneDrive (they refused to renew the 1TB of space at my previous 4-years of discounted service), I ran across the window sticker from my black […]

Archive: A couple family photos from this past week

| October 17, 2020

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Archive: Flying down and driving back from hurricane prep

| June 28, 2020

Flew on the airlines for the first time since COVID19 to Florida via Baltimore (photo BWI terminal above) last week and thankfully the flights and negotiating the airport was uneventful. Besides a computer glitch which backed up lines on check in, everything else went smoothly. It is yet to be seen if the rise in […]

Why Delray Beach? – “Doors open, doors close” opportunities

| November 9, 2019

When chatting about our recent vacation to Florida with a long time customer (friend) in Akron, Ohio, he asked why we picked Delray Beach, Florida as an area to buy a condo (I detected he is beginning to think about retiring). Although I realized that I really haven’t given much thought to how we ended […]

Vacation Part 3: A few left over photos and video from the beach

| October 27, 2019

There were a few extra photos and some video of Brenda swimming on my iPhone from our Delray Beach, Florida vacation last week, so I’ll archive them and make a Vacation Part 3 post (Part 1 and Part 2). Nothing spectacular … but viewing the video and listening to the water and wave below is […]

Vacation Part 2: Beach time with family after Legoland

| October 26, 2019

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Vacation Part 1: Finished upholstery, master bath and cleaning

| October 23, 2019

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Personal week full of project posts – Condo upholstery photos

| September 26, 2019

For those who follow or check on MyDesultoryBlog.com regularly, you know my daily musings are split between posts on a variety of newsy and topical interest items … and personal goings-on and project updates. This week has been pretty much all personal with a recent trip to check on Encore and work on Condo1718 updates. […]

Notes on a few more master bathroom and upholstery updates

| September 25, 2019

Following up on my weekend post and a few of the projects that I’m trying to complete (or get started) during my few days in Florida is the “somewhat new to me” upholstery project. It has bogged down my to-do list schedule, but I was able to get the master bathroom corner mirrors and glass […]

Working on the mirror bases for the condo master bathroom

| September 1, 2019

Well they don’t look like much yet, but I’ve been working on the corner mirrors for the Condo1718 master bathroom update. The mirror will be 15” by 38” and will have a 1/2” beveled edge – Brenda’s request ($$). The planned framing will be 3/4” Mosaic tiles that my wife will be trying for the […]

Our new home Internet Mesh network is up and running

| August 14, 2019

Our current NetGear Nighthawk R7000 router has been exceptionally stable considering the issues I’ve had with cheaper routers and networked devices in the past. I’m pretty happy with it, but in order to get solid coverage, had to add a WiFi Range Extender to cover the detached garage and poolhouse (and yet still have weak […]

Archive: Condo1718 electrical updates and mirror thoughts

| July 18, 2019

I’m archiving the last few photos from my iPhone from this past weekend updates to Condo master bathroom. I finished what I was able to do without an extra set of hands and will do the rest the next time Brenda is in Florida with me (it is hard to set a toilet with a […]

The condo master bathroom is slowly coming together

| July 17, 2019

Finished up the vanities in the master bathroom at the condo this past weekend and all went well in putting in 5 new valves and 2 drains. I shocked even myself in that all “went as planned.” Unfortunately the struggle began when mounting the polymer rather than wood molding across the back to top off […]

Why not just stick with American Standard, Delta or Moen?

| July 15, 2019

My wife does not appreciate the common everyday American branded sinks, vanities or faucets … and wanted something a little more unique for the Condo master bathroom (sort of like the other bathroom update last year – see photo at bottom of post). I really didn’t think that much about it until realizing that not […]

Archive: Remodeling of the condo master bathroom continues

| May 19, 2019

Working on remodeling projects away from home a few days at a time really seems to stretch a project out (photo – flying home from Fort Lauderdale FLL last night – I was checking out the FULL anchorage at Lake Sylvia from the plane). Thankfully both Brenda and I have always enjoyed the hands-on projects. […]

Simple SunrisePro kitchen knife sharpener mini review

| May 11, 2019

Although I regularly sharpen our "home" kitchen knives in my workshop and maintain the edge with a "steel" (love to try ceramic rod) … but that was not possible last week in Florida. I noticed when cleaning up the condo and starting the master bathroom update after the winter lease ended, that the new kitchen […]

Another year, another project … and another bathroom update

| May 10, 2019

Last year’s Condo1718 update to the kitchen and guest bathroom was a bit more ambitious than this year, but so far it doesn’t seem like it. Mentally I had my timetable worked out and figured the demolition wouldn’t take all that much. Well really it didn’t, but after finding a few things not where I […]

Remembering Easter break with a couple #TBT photos from 1997

| April 18, 2019

It is Thursday before Easter  and besides thinking about a Throwback Thursday post, it is also Maundy Thursday – the day in which Christian’s commemorate the Last Supper. It also reminds me of the times we would get together with our families on or around Easter. Sometimes it was with my parents and other times […]

Is Amazon is getting lax in their vendor quality control?

| March 23, 2019

Although I’m fond of shopping online for convenience, selection and to compare prices … I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with accuracy in fulfillment of merchandise being shipped by “prime” but from an third party vendor. In a recent order, I not only received the wrong product, but also an obvious opened and returned product (the correct […]

Condo1718 Master Bathroom update project for 2019

| February 19, 2019

After working on both the condo guest bathroom and kitchen last year in Delray Beach, Florida, I’m hoping to work on the master bathroom when we vacation this year. Our renters have emailed just how pleased they are with the new updates and suspect they will rent again in 2020? At one time I planned […]

Thinking about and planning another sewing project for 2019

| December 8, 2018

Read up a little bit more on upholstery last weekend while in Florida while thinking about a couple possible projects. I’m not sure about tackling something as big as a couch and loveseat (slideshow below), but perhaps a couple chair pillows and condo dining room chair cushions are do-able? My projects in the past have […]

Archive: Just a little condo rental prep and Encore upkeep

| December 3, 2018

Only one little piggy had a bad day down in Florida. It was unusual for me, but decided to wear the Sperry watershoes rather than leather boat shoes while working on Encore … basically just cleaning and getting her back to pre-hurricane prep form. Unfortunately we have not been sailing enough to justify even owning […]

Archive: Making templates and planning for future projects

| 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 […]

A couple last minute condo update improvements

| October 28, 2018

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Enjoyed a great week in Florida with Katelyn, Drew and Annalyn

| October 27, 2018

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Set up the Wyze Cam Pan temporarily but have motion issues

| October 8, 2018

The new low cost Wyze Cam Pan that I bought to put in the Delray Beach Condo arrived this past weekend and so opted to set it up temporarily at home. So far so good with the image and impressive panning control with even motion tracking (less impressive though). The reason I chose the Wyze […]

Final touches and cleaning after condo kitchen remodeling

| September 25, 2018

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Distracted driving and a step closer to finishing the condo update

| August 11, 2018

Likely I’m not the best driver when it comes to not glancing at my phone in the car, but I am improving and in recent years am trying not to "read" or "text anything." Unfortunately we still have drivers who are "comfortable" (leg up???) with multi-tasking while driving. Ugh. I spent a few more days […]

Tech Friday: The inexpensive Wyze Cam now supports Alexa

| July 20, 2018

I’ve been using the Wyze Cam to keep an eye on our Florida condo for a couple of months now … and besides an issue with a low-cost router overheating, it has been excellent. I’ve been thinking about adding a second one with the adjustable viewing angle, but it is not on the high priority […]

Our granddaughter is growing too fast and a shopping list

| July 17, 2018

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Stretched out another weekend to work on the condo kitchen

| July 5, 2018

Well finishing the kitchen upgrade at the condo was my goal, but since Brenda was with me, more than the condo kitchen was worked on! The guest bathroom’s minor vanity update grew into a MUCH larger project. One thing lead to another and before I knew it, my wife had me doing more tile than […]

Archive: Project idea to replace rusting in-wall medicine chest

| June 8, 2018

We have a disliked old style medicine chest in the Florida condo and after the kitchen project is finished, Brenda and I wouldn’t mind updating the bathroom. We have picked out some floor tile (while looking at kitchen backsplash tiles) and intend to us a credit with IKEA for the new sink and cabinet. (BTW […]

Archive: Last day of condo kitchen photos for a while, I promise

| May 31, 2018

Since the Quartz countertops were finished early and I was still available for the install, it was time to move on it now. Better to have them installed than stored somewhere until my next trip to Florida (a few more photos for the Condo1718 archive below).

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.
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