I ended up playing with the iobridge yesterday (iobridge.com). I can now read the temperature and turn a light off/on in the shop from anywhere in the world. Boy, that’s got to come in handy sometime or another. Hi.

Actually, it wouldn’t take much to be able to switch between heating and cooling on the shop’s thermostat (or I could just buy a smarter AC controller). The small iobridge microcontroller is setup totally across the internet, i.e. no computer-language programming required. I have another board that does require low-level programming to scratch that itch I get from time to time. The iobridge will talk to the other board by serial connection and allow the passing of commands and the collection of data. The iobridge will also control X10 wall-plug devices directly (that’s how I turn the light off/on).

The computer I’m using in the shop I just bought from bestbuy for about $200.

Jeanne needed a computer in the bedroom for a little solitude while writing; so I went looking. Bought her an Acer R1600. It runs XP, drives a large monitor, and runs really cool to the touch (uses very little power). Liked it so much I went back and bought me one for the shop. Added a USB WiFi device to each to keep from running Cat5 cable. They hit the Belkin router in the living room just fine.

Break

About this blog going dormant, I figured it out: I was no longer focused enough on the yard to generate discussions and my ongoing activities mostly fell under the theme of my other blog, i.e. recumbent bike riding. But now that I have my part of the shop appointed with work benches and tools I’ve started piddling with electronics/web control/embedded computing again. I use to do that kind of think at work. I’ll drop the “yard” part of yard.piddling.info and shift this blog to piddling of all kinds not recumbent.

Back in April we went to Inverness Florida to ride in a recumbent gathering. We rode the Withlachoochee rails-to-trail bike and recreational path, riding south on one day and north on the next. We also went to a neat flea market in a nearby town. Maybe I’ll tell more and show photos over on bentrider.info. In any case, that is not all we did.

We were only about 30 minutes from Bill and Lucy (Jeanne’s sister) so spent one evening with them, joining them first at a really good BBQ restaurant and then after dinner spending the evening at their place. It was just as neat and spiffy as always, and they were warm hosts as always. Bill and Lucy really enjoy living in the Villages. Lucy loves the social activities; the gathering of Easter stuff on her counter evidence of something coming up. Bill plays a lot of golf and really likes living right on a golf course, and having many others to choose from. It was great seeing them in such good spirits and they seem to be having as much fun in their retirement as we are in our’s.

We’ve been very active this year; I’ve had my longest bike ride, 122 miles, and we’ve been on two biking vacations, one to Georgia and one to Florida. Jeanne has a new two-wheel, orange recumbent and I have a new three, i.e. a trike. Tomorrow, we plan on riding the bikes shown in the first photo for 32 miles, if it does not rain. Jeanne is training for a 50 mile ride during the upcoming “Birthday Ride” where you ride your age, in miles or kilometers. 50 miles is about 80 kilometers. She is obviously not that old but the 25 mile turnaround gets us to a nice restaurant for lunch. You can read about some of this over on bentrider.info as it unfolds.

Of course, we’re not just riding bikes, nor just going on biking vacations. Later this month we will be going to the Neshoba County Fair for 3 days. This fair has been described as the Republican Woodstock. You’ll be able to read about that here … or not.

Just enjoyed a wrong number call: After hearing my voice

She said “I must have a wrong number”.

I said “That’s perfectly alright”.

She said “Oh, you can meet the nicest people that way”.

I said “That’s true, but you really can’t tell with just one phone call”.

And then we had a nice long laugh together.

However, my focus on recumbents does not mean there is nothing going on in the yard. There is! Major stuff, such as building a 1040 square foot shop in the back with A/C, hot/cold water, phone, TV, network, etc. And a new fence. And … But I’m getting ahead of myself. Besides, I’ve written about that over … yonder. Why over yonder, on the bent blog? Because the shop started smaller and with the name “Bike Barn”. It then grew into something much bigger. Much of the new functionality is not bike related and, really, more appropriate here.

And who is doing all this construction for me. That would be Jimmy Burke on the ladder above, my contractor.

However, this is how I normally see him, conducting his mysterious magic. By the way, not a staged photo; the grin is because I caught him on two phones at the same time.

I’ve missed yard.piddling and reporting my activities here. I’ll see if I can wear two blogger hats for awhile.

I went to Office Depot to get printer ink for me and price tags for Jeanne. Since it is next to Circuit City I decided to run by there also. I told myself that while there I could check on … well you’ll see.

I walked into Circuit City and before I got to anything interesting one of their techies approached and asked if he could help me. I replied something like “I guess not, I’ve already forgotten the excuse I made up to come by here.” I couldn’t understand his reply over the laughter and just walked on. Didn’t buy anything, so, I guess it wasn’t important.

Me and Mike this summer.

On the way back from our Xenia, Ohio trip this summer we stopped off in Jasper, Alabama and visited my brother Mike and his wife Mary. It had been a while since I’d seen him and he has been on my mind since. Today I ran across a story from him and thought I would share it. I don’t remember when he sent the email but it was a long time ago. It was when he still had a computer store which he no longer has. My loss! Well, it was nice having a brother with his own computer store. Of course it is nicer just having a brother.

He wrote:

“Hi Brother,
I drove up to the Arby’s drive up window. I had ordered their special - 5 roast beef’s for 5.95. Pretty good deal. I was counting my money when the fellow came to the window with a sack in his hand. I looked at him and told him I wanted some ketchup, regular sauce and horsey sauce. He just stood there with a silly grin on his face. I figured he didn’t hear me so I repeated myself. He never moved. A**h***.

The thought flashed through my mind to just get out and snatch his a** out through the window and then ask him if he put my sauces in the bag. It is 2AM and I’m still working at the store so maybe I’m not in the best of moods. I’m civilized so naturally I didn’t do it. It was a nice thought for a couple of seconds. Anyway, I said to h*** with it…I’ll pay the S** and use the ketchup I have at the store.

I almost broke a knuckle when I reached out to pay him. After I got the window down, I paid the S**. He was still grinning like a j***a** eating briers when I drove off. D***. Double D***.

Mike”

Mike and Mary

You gotta love him. How could you not? Gary (I may have shared this story before but even so I was in the mood to share it again.)

Wordless Wednesday

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13 September, 2008