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WEEK 46 2012

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First Post, 17 March 2002

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Seven Years Ago, this week, 2005

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Three Years Ago, This Week, 2009

Two Years Ago, This Week, 2010

One Year Ago,
This Week,
2011

Saturday 16 November 2012

Saturday - not much going on. Nice weather.

Friday 16 November 2012

Friday - Sprinkling, off and on.

As I mentioned, the medicine for the cat is working. I was fiddling with the fireplace, and one of the things I disturbed while working was the collection of cat toys in front. At nearly 13 Riley hasn't been much interested in toys for a while. Guess who wanted to play, to chase a string with a pipe cleaner on the end, all day? Yep. If I stop he sits on it for a while, then comes over and paws me. Generally he does this for food or to go outdoors, but instead he will lead me over to the toy.

Maybe I'll get batteries for the laser pointer, and really give him a workout.

I thought the fireplace was designed for gas because, well, there was a gas line coming in. However a search on the internet found replacement parts for the refractory sides, and indicates that models 3870 and 3880 are wood burning:

Interesting. Probably dual use, since it was plumbed for gas. A refractory kit, by the way, is $500+. I had no idea these fireplace setups were so expensive.

Thursday 15 November 2012

Thursday - Cold and rainy. The cat, after a couple of short scouts, decided to stay indoors, warm and dry, without complaining.

The dampness inspired me to take another look at my fireplace. I spend most evenings in the den, so if it was working (and reasonably cheap to operate) I could turn down the central heat earlier than I normally do. It has a gas insert hearth, but without any kind of manual I've always been leery of using it. But with the mighty power of the Internet at my disposal I looked for some documentation.

It's a Superior FR 3870, which is apparently similar to the FC 3880 (probably just the facade or sheet metal bits are different). Superior was bought by Lennox back in the early 1990's, and has a bunch of their manuals on line. Except for mine. I looked and looked, and all I can find is replacement glass and firebrick parts. No installation or user manuals for either of the above units. But looking at some of the other manuals gives me an idea of how things work. The firebrick panels are removable, and the forced air fan is probably underneath the base. That mystery switch on the adjacent garage wall is probably the on/off. I don't have burners - just the grate and fake logs I bought a while back - the previous owners apparently took that stuff with them, and maybe there is no blower either.

Looking around it'd probably be just as cheap to buy a whole new set of logs/grate/burners at HD or Lowe's. The interior dimensions of the hearth insert are small, so the 18" kit for $150 would be adequate. But, as this is a vented unit (unvented are illegal in California I think), I'll have to check the chimney for obstructions and make sure the blower exists and works. Right now the candidate switch does nothing.

Given the cheapness of the central heat making this effort to save money is probably silly. Still, it'd be nice to see it working.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Wednesday - Very cold, in the mid 20's at night. The cat was in and out all morning, disliking the cold but confused by the bright sunlight...

Making some real progress on the iOS stuff finally. I may actually have a working alpha version of the app in a few days.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Tuesday - Working away on the iOS stuff. It'd be quicker and easier to just hit myself in the head with a hammer, but it does pass the time.

Book #80 is iOs Application Development, by Rick Wentk. Aimed at the beginning iOS programmer it is well written and illustrated, and covers the basics reasonably well. As I said, I'd seen a lot of the material before, but this helped tie things together.

So, with the above we can update the table for this year ro the following:

#1 His Majesty's Dragon: Temeraire #1 #2 Throne of Jade: Temeraire #2 #3 Black Powder War: Temeraire #3 #4 Hitch-22 #5 The Wave: In Pursuit of the ... of the Ocean	#6 Empire of Ivory, Temeraire Book #4 #7 Victory of Eagles, Temeraire #5 #8 Tongues of Serpents: Temeraire #6 #9 Return to Dakistee #10 Villains Inc, Episode Four: Endgame
#11 The Innocence of Father Brown #12 How Firm a Foundation #13 Death on an Autumn River #14 Westerly Gales #15 The Cruise of the Albatros	#16 A Larger Universe #17 Neptune's Inferno #18 The Man Who Knew Too Much #19 Sweet Silver Blues #20 Bitter Gold Hearts
#21 Cold Copper Tears #22 Old Tin Sorrows #23 Dread Brass Shadows #24 The Hunger Games #25 Catching Fire	#26 Deadly Quicksilver Lies #27 Red Iron Nights #28 Petty Pewter Gods #29 Whispering Nickel Idols #30 Angry Lead Skies
#31 Gilded Latten Bones #32 Scholar #33 Programming in Objective-C #34 Temeraire: Crucible of Gold #35 Into the Hinterlands	#36 Pandora's Legions #37 Shadows in Flight #38 A Rising Thunder #39 Beginning IOS Game Development #40 Timeless
#41 Surrender to the Will of the Night #42 A Path to Coldness of Heart #43 The Wisdom of Father Brown #44 Star Carrier: Earth Strike: Book 1 #45 Center of Gravity: Earth Strike: Book 2	#46 In The Lion's Mouth #47 Singularity: Star Carrier: Book Three #48 The Chequer Board #49 Tricked (The Iron Druid Chronicles Book 4) #50 A Fire Upon the Deep
#51 The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible #52 The Black Opera #53 Poison Flower #54 Hammerhead #55 Princeps	#56 Caliban's War #57 Double Share #58 Quick Fixes - tales of Repairman Jack #59 The Girls from Alcyone #60 Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
#61 Blue Remembered Earth #62 Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas #63 The Day the World Discovered the Sun #64 In The Beginning Was the Command Line #65 The Domino Pattern	#66 Judgment at Proteus #67 Unbroken, #68 The Cruel Sea, #69 The Golden Age #70 was The Phoenix Exultant
#71 was The Golden Transcendence #72 was The Metal Monster #73 was Seven Footprints to Satan #74 was Return to the Sea #75 was Very Willing Griffin	#76 Whispers Under Ground #77 Fate of Worlds #78 Hegemony #79 The Galactic Mage #80 iOs Application Development,

Monday 12 November 2012

Monday - Working my way through another iOS book. This is really geared at the entry level programmer, but is very well done. I've learned a lot of stuff that is in it before this, but it ties it all together nicely and reassures me that I'm on the right track and not an idiot.

I gave Riley his droppers worth of vitamins this morning, and tried a very small drop of it myself. OMG, it is the most vile thing I ever tasted. No wonder he hates it. Still, he's like a new cat, energetic and interested in life again, so he's going to keep getting it.

I had to reinstall Mint because Fedora wouldn't boot, and I really needed a second monitor to bring documentation up on while programming. I'll just be very careful about plugging/unplugging USB devices in. It takes about an hour to install from CD, then about two hours of online updates. I suppose I should make a copy of the completed fresh install and use that for reinstall in case of problems.

Sunday 11 November 2012

Sunday -Veterans Day. I put the flag out. I was a bit disappointed that many of my neighbors did not bother, but later, taking a walk, saw a number of flags displayed and felt better about the whole thing.

The weather is cooling down, frosts at night. I was going to cover the tomato's, but it's a pain to deal with tarps and the local winds, and futile - because the frost always wins in the end. And there's been nothing but small cherry tomato's for a month. So I didn't, and feel a little bad about it...

Picture of the Week

Photo Notes: Channel Islands Sunrise, 2010.

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