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WEEK 32 2015

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Saturday 8 August 2015

Saturday - Hot again.

I watched a couple of YouTube video's on fixing lawnmower carburetors after figuring out the make and model of mine. The general consensus on the symptoms was a gummed up jet, so that's what I tried to fix first. Modern carbs are very, very simple. On mine the carb bowl is held on by a single central screw that also has the jet built in. I unscrewed it and lo-and-behold: the jet was plugged. So a little acetone and compressed air and it was clear. I put it back in and things were fine, the mower started and ran perfectly.

In theory the bowl should have come off too, for cleaning, but I didn't want to force it, so...

So I mowed the back yard, then knocked off. It was pretty darn hot by noon.

Dinner was burgers with friends, down at the newish "The Habit" in Palmdale. I've been to the one in Ventura, and this was just as good, but a bit nicer inside.

Friday 7 August 2015

Friday - Hot again.

Yesterday I'd tried to mow the back lawn, but the mower wouldn't start. After priming it would run for a second or two, then die. This usually means a gummed up carburetor, and it has been running rough. I filled the gas tank with new gas and let it sit overnight...to no avail. It still won't start. I'll have to work on it tomorrow.

Today was just a couple small chores, cleaning, and bringing some stuff back to the library. I also meant to pick up Freeman Dyson's latest book, but I waited too long, and they sent it back...yesterday. Sigh. Oh well, I just had them reorder.

Other than that, just app work. The to-do list seems as long as ever, but I guess we're getting there.

S called from the conference, said it was small this year, a third the usual size. Apparently they held it in an unused high school last year, a terrible venue, and both speech therapists and their vendors were thoroughly ticked off about it, and it showed in this years attendance, at the big Pasadena conference center.

She said she'd handed out a few things, but the crowd really wasn't right for it.

Thursday 6 August 2015

Thursday - Hot again, but dry, the swamp cooler worked well. We had lots of clouds, but they were high, no chance of moisture passing down through the 100F air to us down here grubbing for a living on the ground.

I dropped off the iPad with the prototype at S's office and (with their parents present) watched one of her clients try it out. Interesting. You definitely need a therapist/aide there because the kids just want to punch buttons and go-go-go, but the kid understood how to use the app, and what the symbols were, but the concept we are aiming at was definitely on target, something they had issues with. S called a bit later after working with some other kids, and said that for one at least, it worked amazingly.

After this I did some shopping, dropped off books at the library, then went home and napped.

After which it was more app work. We already have some ideas for improvements from watching the kids, and there's a lot of stuff I haven't implemented in this version yet. All the ad-hoc changes make it had to get simple clean code, but I guess that can come later (famous last words).

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Wednesday - Warm. But dry, the a/c is working well.

I did some chores in the morning, I'd let things slide Sunday, so I did a deep cleaning of the turtle tank. It was pretty bad.

Worked on the app until very late.

Sheryl sent me new stuff for the little demonstration image on the Settings page in the app. So I had to generate a whole bunch of new logic and overlays, which took forever.

Since S leaves tomorrow for Pasadena I stayed up until midnight getting things going. Even fixed a couple of bugs from the previous version. I was able to put it on her iPad and will deliver it to her tomorrow before she goes.

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Tuesday - Hot. Did some minor chores and laundry.

I got out early-ish, 7:30, and took the long walk, 8.5 miles. It wasn't as hot, and I kept to the shade where possible, and wasn't in distress like last week when I finished. Still darn hot and sweaty though.

Working away on the app for about 8 or 9 hours.

Monday 3 August 2015

Monday - Hot.

Not much to say. I spent some time talking with S about the app, and then started making changes and updates. This went on until early evening.

Sunday 2 August 2015

Sunday - Hot.

Unfortunately my hands were hurting - too much typing, so I couldn't program or do much in the way of chores. Mostly just read and watched TV.

S is going to a professional conference, so there's a good reason to get a Beta version out now! She might hand out flyers and business cards to the interested, and it'd be nice if the newer version was running on her iPad to show people.

Picture of the Week

Mt. Baden Powell, Roger

The trail at Mt. Baden-Powell, nice and shady.

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