I got to the DMV before it opened this morning and was home with my new license by 8 AM.
I rented Saw V to watch tonight.
I haven't had White Castle in forever and I have been craving them so I swung by there for lunch.
Went to Meijer to get some fun Super Bowl food. I ended up with a 10 inch frozen Home Run Inn pizza, fixings for chili, and a two pound hunk of Jennie O turkey ham that was on sale for $2 per pound.
On the way home from Meijer I was going to stop by the carwash to get the thick layer of salt from the car, but there were at least 10 cars in line so I will try some other time. Maybe I will see if it is open 24 hours and go back late tonight.
When I got home I threw together the chili and put it in a crock pot on low.
I drove 24 city miles today and averaged 31 MPG.
I'm going to take some laundry from the dryer and move another load from the washer and then settle in with the movie and hope I don't get too freaked out.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
This is where I think I will leave my ScanGauge II for now.
It is sitting inside a little compartment with a fold-down door. I have most of the cable tucked in behind the ScanGauge, and you can see the cable that leads to the OBDII connector coming out of the left side. It is snaked up over the steering wheel column and then down to the connector.
There is a little punch-out in the back of the compartment. Once it warms up I am going to take remove the punch-out and run the cable through the back of the compartment and to the connector so you won't be able to see the cable at all.
I have improved my gas mileage by almost 25% since I've started using the ScanGauge.
Tomorrow morning (Saturday) I plan on leaving the house at 7 AM to get my drivers license renewed. I hope getting there first thing in the morning will let me miss standing in a long line.
I have started my federal tax return and have only entered my W2, my mortgage interest and property tax and I owe/am owed right around zero, which is fine by me. I don't think the rest of what I still have to enter will make much of a material difference.
It is sitting inside a little compartment with a fold-down door. I have most of the cable tucked in behind the ScanGauge, and you can see the cable that leads to the OBDII connector coming out of the left side. It is snaked up over the steering wheel column and then down to the connector.
There is a little punch-out in the back of the compartment. Once it warms up I am going to take remove the punch-out and run the cable through the back of the compartment and to the connector so you won't be able to see the cable at all.
I have improved my gas mileage by almost 25% since I've started using the ScanGauge.
Tomorrow morning (Saturday) I plan on leaving the house at 7 AM to get my drivers license renewed. I hope getting there first thing in the morning will let me miss standing in a long line.
I have started my federal tax return and have only entered my W2, my mortgage interest and property tax and I owe/am owed right around zero, which is fine by me. I don't think the rest of what I still have to enter will make much of a material difference.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Just a quick update post.
This morning, Saturday, an appraiser came out to do an appraisal on the house because I am refinancing. It will drop my rate by 1.125%.
Before the appraiser showed up Mitch threw up. A chunk of Nylabone with sharp edges came out, so I think that is what was irritating his stomach. It brought back memories of Goliath who seemed to throw up about every month or two and always first thing in the morning, and usually when I was still more asleep than awake. A nice way to start the day.
Today I also FINALLY got around to cancelling my traditional land line phone and ordering VoIP from my cable company. That will also save me a bunch of money. I am also upgrading from traditional analog cable to digital cable and got a bunch of extra channels that I have been wanting, and I will still be paying less per month than I was paying with cable and a land line separately. Some of the channels I am looking forward to are:
Biography Channel
Science Channel
National Geographic Channel
Two Sundance film channels
Seven Starz movie channels
Seven Encore movie channels
BBC America
49 music channels
There are also a bunch of supposedly free on-demand channels, but I don't know too much about those yet. They say there is a library of thousands of movies and most of them are free, but they don't say what kind of movies or how old. I'll let you know.
My ScanGauge and tire pressure gauge arrived today. I used it a little bit when I ran some errands tonight. It updates much more quickly than the fuel mileage display in my van did. The van's display refreshed maybe every 1 to 1.5 seconds. The ScanGauge seems to update almost continually. As a result you get much more feedback on how your throttle control affects fuel mileage. The air pressure gauge is the best I have used. It makes a very good leak-free seal and beeps when it has a reading. It has a built-in flashlight right under where the valve stem goes in. That will be very handy when I am checking the pressure in the garage at night.
Amy stopped over this afternoon after visiting a patient and we watched Astronaut Farmer. The movie was just OK. Entertaining but not great.
I went to the library tonight to return a couple DVDs, Meijer to get a few groceries, and Office Max to get a copy of TurboTax. It is $15 cheaper at Amazon (not counting shipping) so I guess I will order it from them.
I checked out the audiobook version of Thunderstruck by Erik Larson from the library and ripped it to my Zune. Now I have to figure out when and where to listen to it all. It is 10 CD's worth.
This morning, Saturday, an appraiser came out to do an appraisal on the house because I am refinancing. It will drop my rate by 1.125%.
Before the appraiser showed up Mitch threw up. A chunk of Nylabone with sharp edges came out, so I think that is what was irritating his stomach. It brought back memories of Goliath who seemed to throw up about every month or two and always first thing in the morning, and usually when I was still more asleep than awake. A nice way to start the day.
Today I also FINALLY got around to cancelling my traditional land line phone and ordering VoIP from my cable company. That will also save me a bunch of money. I am also upgrading from traditional analog cable to digital cable and got a bunch of extra channels that I have been wanting, and I will still be paying less per month than I was paying with cable and a land line separately. Some of the channels I am looking forward to are:
Biography Channel
Science Channel
National Geographic Channel
Two Sundance film channels
Seven Starz movie channels
Seven Encore movie channels
BBC America
49 music channels
There are also a bunch of supposedly free on-demand channels, but I don't know too much about those yet. They say there is a library of thousands of movies and most of them are free, but they don't say what kind of movies or how old. I'll let you know.
My ScanGauge and tire pressure gauge arrived today. I used it a little bit when I ran some errands tonight. It updates much more quickly than the fuel mileage display in my van did. The van's display refreshed maybe every 1 to 1.5 seconds. The ScanGauge seems to update almost continually. As a result you get much more feedback on how your throttle control affects fuel mileage. The air pressure gauge is the best I have used. It makes a very good leak-free seal and beeps when it has a reading. It has a built-in flashlight right under where the valve stem goes in. That will be very handy when I am checking the pressure in the garage at night.
Amy stopped over this afternoon after visiting a patient and we watched Astronaut Farmer. The movie was just OK. Entertaining but not great.
I went to the library tonight to return a couple DVDs, Meijer to get a few groceries, and Office Max to get a copy of TurboTax. It is $15 cheaper at Amazon (not counting shipping) so I guess I will order it from them.
I checked out the audiobook version of Thunderstruck by Erik Larson from the library and ripped it to my Zune. Now I have to figure out when and where to listen to it all. It is 10 CD's worth.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
This might be the Macintosh that brings me back to Apple!
Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Fun stuff. Anyone that knows me (I measure Mitch's daily dog food ration to the gram) won't be surprised to hear that when I found a digital tire pressure gauge with resolution to the tenth of a pound rather than the standard half a pound I ordered it. Other places have it for over $30, but amazon.com has it for $16.
I also ordered the ScanGauge II. It plugs into the OBDII port on your car and gives you real-time readings of dozens of values from your car's onboard computer. It can also read error codes and reset the dreaded "Check Engine Soon" light.
I think I will mount it like this.
These are the values it can display:
Maximum Speed
Average Speed
Maximum Coolant Temperature
Maximum RPM
Driving Time
Driving Distance
Fuel Used
Trip Fuel Economy
Distance to Empty
Time to Empty
Fuel to Empty
Fuel Economy
Fuel Rate
Battery Voltage
Coolant Temperature
Intake Air Temperature
Engine Speed (RPM)
Vehicle speed (MPH)
Manifold Pressure (not available on some vehicles)
Engine Load
Throttle Position
Ignition Timing
Open/Closed Loop
A friend at work got a coffee roaster for his birthday. I have not tried any coffee he has roasted yet, but if I like what I taste when he brings me some I think I am going to buy a roaster and start roasting my own. Green coffee beans cost a little less than half of quality roasted coffee, and green coffee will keep for two years. I think I could cover the price of the roaster after about 15 pounds of coffee. This is the roaster my friend has. This website also has a really nice selection of beans.
The batch of beer I bottled on the first of the year turned out really good. It is an APA with all Northern Brewer hops. I think this will be the last of the single-hopped batches I make. Now that I have a feel for what different types of hops contribute and what I like, I will start customizing recipes to suit my own tastes. I also think the APA style, hopped to the higher end of the scale, is going to be my signature beer and what I brew most. When I am in the mood for an IPA I will pick up some at the store or visit Tim-In-Law and drink his homebrew. To get the bitterness (IBU's) just right you have to add the right amount of hops at the right time in the boil. An amazing tool for that is BeerSmith. I used it on this last batch of beer and worked out perfectly.
My standard recipe going forward will be six pounds of light dry malt extract, a pound of crushed crystal malt, and a blend of American hops (Cascade, Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial, etc.) that bring the IBU's to between 40 and 50.
I also ordered the ScanGauge II. It plugs into the OBDII port on your car and gives you real-time readings of dozens of values from your car's onboard computer. It can also read error codes and reset the dreaded "Check Engine Soon" light.
I think I will mount it like this.
These are the values it can display:
Maximum Speed
Average Speed
Maximum Coolant Temperature
Maximum RPM
Driving Time
Driving Distance
Fuel Used
Trip Fuel Economy
Distance to Empty
Time to Empty
Fuel to Empty
Fuel Economy
Fuel Rate
Battery Voltage
Coolant Temperature
Intake Air Temperature
Engine Speed (RPM)
Vehicle speed (MPH)
Manifold Pressure (not available on some vehicles)
Engine Load
Throttle Position
Ignition Timing
Open/Closed Loop
A friend at work got a coffee roaster for his birthday. I have not tried any coffee he has roasted yet, but if I like what I taste when he brings me some I think I am going to buy a roaster and start roasting my own. Green coffee beans cost a little less than half of quality roasted coffee, and green coffee will keep for two years. I think I could cover the price of the roaster after about 15 pounds of coffee. This is the roaster my friend has. This website also has a really nice selection of beans.
The batch of beer I bottled on the first of the year turned out really good. It is an APA with all Northern Brewer hops. I think this will be the last of the single-hopped batches I make. Now that I have a feel for what different types of hops contribute and what I like, I will start customizing recipes to suit my own tastes. I also think the APA style, hopped to the higher end of the scale, is going to be my signature beer and what I brew most. When I am in the mood for an IPA I will pick up some at the store or visit Tim-In-Law and drink his homebrew. To get the bitterness (IBU's) just right you have to add the right amount of hops at the right time in the boil. An amazing tool for that is BeerSmith. I used it on this last batch of beer and worked out perfectly.
My standard recipe going forward will be six pounds of light dry malt extract, a pound of crushed crystal malt, and a blend of American hops (Cascade, Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial, etc.) that bring the IBU's to between 40 and 50.