First we start off with my friends at Elite Training doing what they do. Here is a qual course of fire for armed security at someplace that has a bad habit of cars moving at high speeds and taking a left turn:
Then to my friend at the range that split an order of magazines with me.
Thanks! I always say it is not the arrow most times it is the Indian. It DOES help if you have a good arrow though!
Then back to amazingly domestic. Hey Nancy! Am I doing this right?
One of my Blog Mothers went to Grissom Air Museum and posted a lot of great pics of old hardware. She had a picture of the B-58 Hustler, one of the Strategic Air Commands aircraft designed to drop nukes on the commies during the height of the Cold War. There is another one of those at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It was Wright Patterson Air Force base back in the day.
I had to dig a photo out from 1976 of an XB-70 Valkyrie there.
Sorry for the photo quality, the Kodak 110 Instamatic did the best it could.
So I also have to present this. The visitor map for Seymour Johnson AFB from the mid seventies. It was a SAC base. Back then it was pretty straightforward. KC-135 Stratotanker's, F-4 fighters, and B-52 bombers.
It looked like this:
Oh, thanks to her for pointing out the Douglas X-3 Stiletto behind this handsome dude!
Because I have a deep loathing for large monopolistic entities I have decided to switch from one to the other. TWC/Comcast has my primary phone service here at stately manor with a VOIP modem. 50 bucks American a month.
AT&T at&t sent me a letter offering this:
What is it? A Cell phone disguised as home phone service. At 20 bucks American a month I thought I would give it a try. The hardware has shipped, lets see if porting the number over from TWC goes as smooth. I'm thinking not. at&t did not ask for third party verification for the port.
As with all such matters if all goes by the book, its swell. Any deviation and I stand a good chance of loosing service for a bit of time.
The repair in and of itself was not difficult. Getting to it was. The safe uses an automotive trunk unlatching solenoid for activation. After you figure out how to get into the thing, all gets better.
Solder the wire back onto the power switch. OK! I have come this far (protip for tech people it's already broke, you might as well go for it).
So after receiving the proceeds of my interest free loan to .gov over the past year I decide to upgrade my TV. I'm giving the old one to Mr. Curmudgeon for the man cave to help insure domestic tranquility there for him and Mrs. Curmudgeon.
So I have to really see what the new one can do. I received this today.
After throwing away ST1 and ST5 I load of course the favorite of almost any fan, STII The Wrath of Khan.
I am greeted with this display on the A/V receiver:
Ok, I have been around the block with consumer electronics for some time. I sold Nakamichi cassette decks back in the day and they were equipped with Dolby "B" and "C" noise reduction. Then came the video stuff. Dolby 2.1, 5.1, 7.2, etc.
I have never observed this display on the receiver before. Protip, set your PS3 or anything else to "Bitstream" to send to the amp. Let it figure out what you are sending to it and decode.
The audio rocks. The picture is quite frankly impressive.
Although most of my age only remember Ricardo Montalbán as a dude selling some leather on a Chrysler or as the ice cream uniform from Fantasy Island, he had a storied career as an accomplished actor. He owned this movie. ILM did the effects and for the day they kept up with Mr. Montalban.
Had a short conversation with someone at work today. He really does not know me nor how long I have been there. He said he was 54 and thought I was much older and getting ready for retirement. The FIRST thing I though of was this:
No I did not whip out a phaser, and I am younger than him! Sadder for him I did not even know his name. Sadder for me he knew mine.
So I'm at a loss as to what caused the PC here to take a really big dump on the floor yesterday. Either the NVIDIA video card or the 19" CRT monitor had a failure and took each other out, or the software video drivers got corrupted.
Sigh....
Run out and get a happy shiny new LCD monitor. Remove the video card and go back to the integrated video hardware. HELLO ACER! Your manual sucks and if I had to go to Google to figure out where THE POWER SWITCH is on the monitor? You are doing it wrong!
Go find the Intel motherboard drivers for the video. Yes, Intel is getting out of the MB biz and I get that. I will say this though. I was able to get the drivers from the Intel site for a Model DG31PR board. They did try to take care of the customers.
SO, Abby something indeed. This thing is a old desktop PC. Some are saying the desktop is over. We shall see, but I think corporate drones are not going to give up on them anytime soon.
So after the visit and fantastic paint job of the bathrooms by Mr. Curmudgeon I'm at a loss. I had previously installed these dead bolts on the closet doors.
The color is called "hand rubbed bronze". Make a great name for a metal band or p0rn film in my opinion but whatever.
So after looking at the paint job and looking at the light switches I thought a free paint job of this magnitude deserved some new light switches, cover plates and new towel rods and such.
So, I wander off to the yuppie Lowes home improvement store, not the one near stately manor. I found these switches.
I threw this one in the room with the toilet in the master bathroom. I have never grounded a wall plate before, but its metal. The switch also has a little indicator light when off to show you where it is.
That's not overpowering and I like it!
So before I commit to all of this as well what say you?
Oh, why is this stuff SO expensive?! I brefily considered going to the supply house and getting some rigid conduit for towel rods and toilet paper holder. I know how that works!
That's the adjustable leg on my reloading bench. About 2 bucks if I remember correctly. Unfortunately I do entertain occasionally and I still await someone more interested in whats in the safe than decor, but still. I do need to make it aesthetically pleasing in case I need to sell in the future!
So a network bridge card went Tango Uniform Memorial Day weekend at work. That killed the communications between two operator workstations to a Programmable Logic Controller. Not just any controller, the one that runs our waste treatment process. So I deftly replace that card with a spare. Its brand spanking new! What could go wrong? Factory sealed. Since 1995.
I ran into the "Bathtub Failure Curve". Here it is:
The "New" card fell out. I ran into the Early "Infant Mortality" Failure. Card is now made of unobtanium.
I work at a chemical plant and the beaker people up front are really good at making oil and water stick together. This thing tries to undo the work they did before we discharge to the public sewer system. So now its like getting into a perfectly functional car but there is no dashboard and no ignition switch.
So, with little options left we went old school.
Drag a PC out to it with the programming software on it. Direct connection to the processor and force or enter variables to run the thing. Some logic is in the operator workstations so its the equivalent of having a Lobotomy to a degree. It will run for a while without the higher logic but its running. That's the main thing.
The Smithsonian called and wants the Reliance Electric AutoMax DCS when we are done with it though. So there is that, LOL! I hate it though. This thing has been so reliable over the years. I doubt whatever I put in next will hold up 20 years.
And that is why Blogging has been light. I hope to get to the range and provide more shooty goodness posts soon. I think however I will be busy with ripping this stuff out soon!
I love the lady that comes and cleans my house. Married and Mother of two young children and I hate to say it but one of such exuberance I can only tolerate it in small doses. She's "perky" to the roof.
Oh yeah, back to living in the South. If you come into humble abode there is nothing to scream "gunnie" in the common areas most guests of short acquaintance would note.
I have a "no live ammunition" rule for classroom instruction. This creates a problem for me as I am constantly getting ammo out of the range bag or stuffing it back in. So instead of sticking the ammo in a secure area like so:
I end up sticking it on a bedroom dresser of late. I also have to clear my carry handguns as well.
Yes, that is stuffed "Nipper and Chipper" mascots for the RCA company well, back when they were RCA.
Oh yeah, back to my point. When my cleaning lady is confronted with this kind of stuff she simply picks it up and dusts the dresser. I love it!
For years I have run a Kitchen Aid Coffee maker. My old one throws out an error code and dies last year after many years of service. After a bit of time with the replacement I have come to some conclusions. I must have gotten the box that did not have the sticker on it that said "Be the life of the party, unit equipped with dribble carafe".
I don't know how many paper towels I used to clean up after this hot mess of a coffee maker. Getting the "CLEAN" indicator off of the screen was just as problematic. I had well enough and searched for a replacement. I came up with this.
It is sitting next to a old burr Kitchen Aid grinder. The grinder is awesome. How sad that Kitchen Aid is crap now.
What were the selling points for the new coffee maker? A momentary toggle and rotary switches for all of the important stuff. A LCD clock that did not light up and overwhelm. How many clocks do you need in the kitchen anyway? The range, microwave, and alarm keypad all have them.
Now back to some other tasks. Can anyone guess what this tool does?
Give ya a hint. It will be used to put something in this pile of stuff on a 1966 Mustang.
To make it more difficult the pile of stuff contains parts for a '66, 71, '94, and 2013 Mustang.
So after what appears to be a total fuel system contamination on the 1966 Mustang for the first time in over 20 years she was moved not under her own power today for some therapy.
A friend made a rare visit and wanted to ride in the 2013 Mustang. I obliged and since I took the cover off of the new one it was most expedient to put her in the empty spot in the garage next to the 1971 Mustang (the car, not the friend). When I wandered by the garage door from the kitchen I think I overheard this:
1971 (Mary): Who the H**L are you and where is my sister? 2013 (Alice): My name is Alice and I am a new member of the Family. Your older sister is at the doctors and our driver thought it would be ok for me to sleep with you tonight. We did have company tonight you know.
Mary: Yes I know. She always checks on me when she comes by.I don't know about you here!PFFFT, kids these days with the anti lock brakes, traction control, fuel injection, cruise control. Your rims are bigger than my tires! You don't even have a spare tire!
Alice: Oh come on. Let me stay here tonight. Your sister will be back soon, but I'm your sister too. See the family resemblance? I have a honeycomb frontgrill just like you, see?
Alice: And I have a Pony up there just like you!
Mary: Yours is so big it is almost trashy you floozey!
Alice: 1971's that were not Mach I's had one almost as big as mine. So there.
Mary: Well, if our driver says so. I await your stories. Where you have gone, who has been with you. I guarantee that my stories are much more interesting. I have been up and down the east coast. I have had small children sleep in the floorboard and use the seat as a pillow. I have been full of young people at a drive-in and experinced the gymnastics of the passion of youth. I have been to the brink of the laws of physics many times. I have brought people together and I have always got them home safely. I will entertain young stories for a while.
You have won the lotteryjoining this family. You take care of him he will take care of you. Both of uswere pronounced dead and he brought us back. Besides, I will still turn more heads on the road than you!
So after being sucked into the Sirius satellite radio thing after a trial subscription on the new ride I thought I could leverage it by shoving it from online PC to the PS3. No joy. It seems that the tech people at Sirius do not want you to do this and broke third party apps written to do so.
So I get one of these as it might have some value if I can move it between autos. It has more if I can jack it into my home system. Initial testing worked like this:
I was impressed that I could put the magnetic antenna on the Invisible Glass wipes canister and still get a signal from inside the house. I live in "rural" land. No terrestrial repeaters here. Oh yeah, the 12VDC power supply is an old friend. I built it oh, 30 years ago. Good enough to see if all the new fangled stuff works as I intend it to.
So I have no remote, it works but I am not stuffing the magnetic antenna on any of the old rides. Perhaps I can leave it on the dash. No matter, I listen to the old rides song provided by themselves!
Remember this fun from late November? It now looks like this:
Oh and yesterday's post about the evil switch? I had a comment from someone that I did not even see before here with part of the problem identified. Today I was greeted with this:
That is from one network segment to another one. I can't get cocky yet though. We are running out of time on the restart and I fear that a variant of this scenario is playing out: KIRK: Time?
SAAVIK: Three minutes, thirty seconds.
KIRK: Distance from Reliant.
CHEKOV: Four hundred kilometres.
SULU: We're not going to make it, are we?
So tomorrow we are off to work instead of the range.
After Yesterday's funwe get to removing the old equipment.
Equipment removed from the backplane. We have a new one ready to go.
Like I said, this is easy. Reconnecting field wiring will be a bit more challenging.
One BIG thing that worked out for us today is that we were able to remove the terminal strips from the I/O modules. Even if we were to lose wire numbers on the wires themselves we still have the actual terminal designations to go by.
Tomorrow? Install new backplane and terminate the last Fiber segment that goes to here.
I know. I have no life. I will try to keep posting on our progress!
It was a mercy killing though. Oddly enough about this time of year in 1991 this Reliance Electric PLC was being commissioned.
So now my direct reports, subordinates, human resources,my crew and I are under a 3 week schedule for replacing it. I admit a tinge of sadness when the power was cut about 9:45 this morning. The thing worked 24/7 with only two big time failures. In 20+ years.
You KNOW you work with geeks when my lead tech is standing at the breaker on the UPS feed and says: "I am a Reliance Electric Automate 30E. My teacher taught me a song, would you like to hear it ?" I said "sure HAL" and the breaker was cut.
In the mean time I get a call and someone says the bulk tank readings "don't look right".
Big honking red light is NOT good on the front of this thing. It went from "plays well with others to kicking and screaming at everyone".
It has decided to not talk to these anymore.
Not only these but uh 10 other devices as well. What do these do? Shoot an ultrasonic pulse from the top of storage tanks holding liquid and report out the volume in them in gallons. We have over 100 storage tanks and its a big deal if people cannot see what was consumed or what is in them in real time.
Sigh....
Blogging will probably be light over the next several weeks!
