I installed more software on Libbie's new computer. This time it was MS Office and McAfee antivirus. Worked on installing the electric fence around the grow boxes. I chose not to put in a Williamsburg type garden with the thought that it would be like a trailer park garden. In the evening we went to the Carying place benefit auction for wine and nice dinner with heavy hors'doeuvres. We bid on several silent auctions and ended up spending $260 which was more than I wanted to.

Planted an eggplant in the grow boxes and worked on the other gardens a little. Libbie's PC arrived this afternoon - it was only ordered on Monday. I worked on the build and had a little trouble getting the new XP install CD to boot. I ended up unplugging the CD drive, botting from CD then hot plugging the drive back in. The thing installed OK by itself including formatting the hard drive. Dinner was the Indian veggie mix with chicken on it. The red head Allison was eliminated tonight. She sang like Janis Joplin with a raspy voice.

It rained last night which was good but we had severe weather this afternoon. Tornados were reported in several areas, the closest being on the Cary Parkway by Route 1. Dinner was Trader Joe pasta. Little Kim was eliminated tonight on Dancing with the stars.

Workedon the Media center a little after ordering Libbie's new PC fron NewEgg. Went to TigerDirect at noon to get a remote for the Media Center. Got one for $32 with tax which was for Vista but I found a driver on the web that worked for XP MCE. I really like the control I now have over moview and pictures. Still need something better for music. Tried mowing the grass but the mower started smoking. I think it has too much oil in it.

I got up surprisingly early. I was getting the paper at the gas station at 6:45 AM. Wow. After the paper I played with the PIO some more. Finally got the thing to output onto a PIO pin. Did some more gardening. Planted the flower seeds, the remaining tomato and hooked up the electric fence again. Dinner was Libbie's excellent pizza. We took a walk around Seagrove Farm. The pool is finished and lot 67 is sold.

Tried watering everything. Spent lot of time on theAVR32 getting the tool chain to compile and run. There's lots I don't understand. Dinner was ribs from Sams, Trader Joe siraz and rice and beans. Also started working on getting my MCE PC updated so it could be a media center.

First Friday. We went to Sams for dishwashing powder and $209 of other items. I wasreluctant to leave the gardening. I planted the grow boxes and the flower beds. Dinner was salmon and sweet potato with shiraz.

We left at 8:15 for Williamsburg, arrived at the Woodlands at 11:55 AM. Met Judy and Adrienne in the parking lot. We stopped at a Dunkin donuts on I-95 on the way for coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. The hotel has a lot of compromises. After the hotel tour we had a business meeting in the Seasons restaurant in Market Square. I had a turkey and bacon sandwich with a Blue Moon beer. It was yummy. Got home at around 7 PM. It was an easy drive with the bypass giving us interstate driving all the way. Dinner for me was just fruit and a piece of bread since I had such a big lunch.

Did some gardening today. I almost hate to leave here tomorrow for Williamsburg but it's a one day trip so it will be easy. We had pasta for dinner.

Went to the Dr office with Libbie for her colonoscopy. Waited outside while they did the procedure. She was done round 11:45 from her 11:00 appt. Came home and had a chicken rice vegetable soup for lunch. Took a walk up the hill - it's a beautiful dy. They were string trimming and running a brush hog in the pond. Fired up the EVK1101 board and installed the USB driver. The USB powers the thing. Did some more reading about the GPIO reads/writes. Dinner was pasta from Trader Joes and then chocolate yogurt.

Southwest has an airfare sale on Bay area airports. I'm thinking of the Maker Faire again. Can't believe it. Spent some more time on the LCD again. Found the EVK1101 but can't find the NGW100. Libbie was incapacitated getting ready for her colonoscopy tomorrow so i went to Krogers and picked up a Szechuan Lean cuisine. Aunt Helens doctor called today about a blood clot they found. They're going to install a filter to stop it from migrating. I was pretty tired this evening - fell asleep out cold during Dancing with the stars.

No shower because I'll do that later after working in the yard. Went out before 7 and got the newspaper. Looked at the AVR32 some more. I think I'll code it up to interface the Sony display then go all out and configure it for the Sparkfun higher resolution TFT LCD. The Sony is adequate, the Sparkfun is awesome. I would be adopting the CCI Design contest winner code but on an AVR32 instead of an 8515. Worked in the backyard moving dirt around the oak tree roots to make it easier to mow. I finished leveling the brick sidewalk. While I was at it, Libbie and I leveled the birdbath. It was leaning to the left (downhill). Libbie mde her wonderful pizza for dinner. After dinner we wrote thank yous for all promo donations in between phone calls from Sue.

Did some more LCD research. Loaded the trial version of Eagle PCB onto my PC so I could look at the schematics of an improvement to the CCI design contest TFT LCD. I ordered two LCD's last night from Electronic Goldmine. I will use an 8515 AVR to act as a display controller for the thing. Went to Home Depot this morning and bought sand. The parking lot was pretty crowded - it is Saturday after all. Ripped up some bricks, removed another root and then used the sand for a new bed. This time I put down felt paper which gives a smoother surface to lay the bricks on. Put down quite a few bricks but I wanted to listen to Gotterdammerung at 12:00 from the Met.
After Gotterdammerung we did a grocery run foraging for food at Trader Joes. Picked up Shiraz, ribs and sweet potatoes as well as a variety of frozen fish and veggies. Dinner was a wonderful plate of ribs and sweet potato with Shiraz. I started looking at the AVR32 for a display controller. The AP7000 is on a BGA which requires an 8 layer board, however the UC3A and UC3B are in conventional packages. The clss I took gave us an EVk1001 with aa UC3B chip on board. This is the version with USB but without Ethernet.

Looked some more at LCD displays in the morning. Went outside and took apart the brick sidewalk on the side where roots pushed the bricks up. Also mowed the front grass along the street and did a little tree branch pickup. When Libbie came home we went out to Duke Gardens and spent the afternoon. Stopped at the CU on the way home then mailed the postcards to Brenda. Dinner this evening is Curry chicken.

I spent a lot of today researching LCD's and how to drive them. Found the index for Circuit Cellar and did some looking at back issues. I also researched how to write SD cards using an AVR and also took a look at intercepting the picture frame to SD communications so I can transparently write the card while it is in the frame. Heard from Rich Follett, he now wants to be entertainment chair. I don't know about this. Dinner was bean burger with vidalia onion.

It's warm today but a little windy. Did some reading on LCD displays. My laptop internet connection is a little flakey this morning. Got the wireless weather station from JC Penney working on the network. Hung the outdoor sensor on the front porch column to get outdoor temperatures. Libbie added chicken to the Indian veggie mix for dinner. It was quite good.

We got in at 2 AM this morning from Reno. I was forced to get up early instead of sleeping in because of an 8:30 dentist appointment. All went well at the checkup. I spent most of the day catching up on bills, email and putting stuff away. Did the grocery run, dinner was pasta from Trader Joes. I fell asleep during Dancing with the Stars this evening. Edita wss eliminated. I'll miss her.

Got up early and went down to Starbucks for coffee. Libbie packed
our stuff while I drank the coffee and did some offline computer
work. We left the hotel at noon and had lunch at Wendy's around the corner from the hotel. Afterwards we looked for a drugstore for Libbie so she could take Sudafed for her ears before flying. Our flight from Reno was ontime which was too bad because I enjoyed the free WiFi in the terminal. Changed planes in Las Vegas where we had a Cinnabon. Landed at RDU at half past midnnight. Our chuttle to the EasyPark was right there at shuttle station 9. We picked up a free water in the parking lot then paid our bill which was $45 for the 10 days which included a coupon I had for a free day.

My face hurts from the sunburn this morning. After showering I
used the towel to carefully blot it instead of rubbing it
normally to dry it. We don't have internet access so I'm working
offline. After breakfast at Rosie's where I had French toast we
got in the car and headed for Carson City with our checks from
the promotional table auction. I asked for an envelope at the
front desk of our hotel. The nice lady gave me two business
envelopes into which I put all the signed MAAVS checks along
with a $700 check Libbie made out to AVSA 2010 for our cash. We
mailed it at the post office in Carson City. On the way to
Carson City I stopped for a Starbucks while Libbie went into
Krogers and got sandwich bags for her plants and aloe for our
sunburned faces. We drove up to Tahoe then went around the lake.
It was beautiful. We bought a lunch sandwich and some chips at a
deli on the other side of the lake and stopped at emerald Bay to
have lunch. It was spectacular. Leaving Emeral Bay the road is
on a ridge that drops hundreds of feet on both sides. We drove
it twice to take photos. What a sight!!! When we got back we
tried to scope out a pizza place for dinner later but the GPS
led us to a non existant business again. When I got back to our
room I purchased a one hour internet access. Found out that
Richard quit the vice chair job which was good because I was
wondering how to get rid of him in the first place. He hasn't
done a thing. Others were expressing the same opinion to me.

There were 6 of us for breakfast. The Nicholas's, the
Deutsche's, Tatiana and Vladimir and us. It was a very relaxing
breakfast. We left there at 9 and went to the bus pickup for our
10 o'clock trip to Tahoe. We brought jackets but didn't need
them. The lake was very beautiful. Many people were in Bikinis
although it was a little cold for that kind of attire. I was
comfortable in a flannel shirt but put on a jacket out on the
water. My face got badly sunburned. After we got back Libbie
talked to Jennifer before we got in the car and drove to
downtown Reno for food. We found river walk and walked around
before finding the silver peak grill which was a brewery. I had
the blonde ale and a black bean chili which came with an
outstanding jalapeno corn muffin. I loved watching the ultra
ultra short skirts on several young girls. We cruised the strip in
our Prius. It was entertaining to see how that thing kept turning it's
engine on and off.

Breakfast at Rosies. I had the Pancakes this time. We met Anne
and Richard and talked about the applications for AVSA Board
members. In the afternoon I filled out and submitted an
application. We closed the auctions at 2:30 and collected all
the money. Almost everyone showed up. At 3:15 we had the general
meeting. I welcomed everyone and Libbie described the tours. We
had a very nice prime rib dinner for the installation banquet. I
invited everyone again and Richard did his skit with three
"SaintPaulia" girls. After dinner we went to bed instead of
going to the showroom to beg for plants.

We started with breakfast in the hotel restaurant Rosie's. I had
the French Toast again. Kent Stork joined us for breakfast.
Afterwards we worked on setting up our Raleigh table again from
boxes in the storage room. Bill Price donated many bags of
cuttings to our cause. I attended the Bill Price trailer talk
which was verygood. While Libbie worked at the auction lunch I
went to JC Penneys and bought some pants and shirts which I
later returned with Libbie and got different sizes. We also
picked up a new large suitcase. On the way back from Penneys I
stopped at Wendy's for lunch. Richard donated some leaves for us
to use in the silent auctions. Our table is growing in size. I
took a picture of our promo tables for the web site. Inn the
evening we went out with a large bunch to Washoe's in Reno. I
had the best steak ever but didn't care for the fries. The bill
was one of our highest ever at $115 with tip and only one glass
of wine. There were 12 of us including the Carters, Davidsons
and Nicholas's.

This morning we went to the commercial sales meeting in the
sales room. The group was friendly and interested when I presented
why they should come to Raleigh for the convention.
I enjoyed guarding the door at 12:30 before the sales room opened
at 1. I took photos of the winner of the early entry person, Laurel
Goretsky along with all the commercial vendors lined up greeting her
to the sales room. After that we started the photography. Because
the show was small we finished early. We walked the Casino looking for
a dinner idea. A lot of the restaurants were closed but we waited for
a table at the Oyster Bar. It was excellent and wonderful. I had the Ciappino
while Libbie had a Crab Chowder. They both were in large bowls. We got a
bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon with dinner. Have to stop eating like this.

We had breakfast in the train diner - I had the French toast.
After breakfast we stayed in the sky car watching the last of
the scenery and taking a few pictures. We stopped at Sparks and
saw our hotel. Got off in Reno and took a cab back to the
Nugget. We were able to check in right away at 11 AM. The hotel
is very nice but the casino and lobby is very smokey. Brenda had
a lot of our table set up. I made two boxes for raffle tickets
for the two raffles we will have. Libbie and I went to the Reno
airport to get a rental car. The only sedan they had available
was a Prius. We didn't know how to operate it so Libie looked up
things in the manual while I waited. We stopped at Office Depot
and made some copies of our promo sheet. For dinner we went over
to the Mexican place across the street with Michelle who is
doing entries for MAAVS in Raleigh. She's a nice girl, I enjoyed
our dinner conversation. It snowed on and off all day today and
was pretty cold.

We woke pretty early, before the alarm since our bodies are
still on East Coast time. Got a bagle across the street in a
little coffee shop. The elevator quit part way down so I had to
carry our suitcases from the second floor down. The train was
waiting at the station when we checked our bags. Got on and then
settled into a spot in the lounge car before taking a number for
breakfast. I had scrambled eggs with bacon, OJ and coffee. It
was quite good. For lunch I had a burger which I didn't care
for. We sat with two students from England who were crossing the
country by rail. Our dinner companions were a retired couple
from MD who lived in Colorado skiing for the winter where they
have an RV. They were going to Reno for gambling, etc. For
dinner I had the Flat steak with Cabernet. IT was very very
good. I slept well at night, rarely waking till it was light
outside. We put the chairs back up at daybreak.