Paid the last of the Visa bill, this time with checking account money. It was difficult since I used Scottrade money, Schwab money and then checking to pay off $3100 which included $500 for Sarasota trip expenses, $550 for Lonestar plane tickets, $500 for Touchstone 3D and the $830 Washing Machine. We can't do this every time but hopefully this was an exception. I used Fandango bucks I purchased last night to buy opera tix to Don Carlo and Don Pasquale. Using the Visa signature card it was a 20% savings. I still have $8 on the card. Went to the greenhouse at noon and pulled the shade off the front two houses with Libbie. Thank goodness it's 80 out today. Later we went to BJ's to get Salmon but they didn't have any so we got tuna steaks and dishwashing stuff. I also picked up a pair of jeans, one size too small as an incentive to lose weight. Dinner was tuna steak with peas and mushrooms (Steamfresh). Water to drink.

This morning I ordered a small Sata drive from Newegg for the Atom PC. I'll see if this thing speeds it up. Amazon sent me a tracking/shipping link for the Sirius boombox. I was pretty happy to see it was out for delivery via UPS which means it should arrive today. Orcad layout files can be converted to libraries according to the info I found via Google.
The boombox arrived and I hooked it up immediately. I love it, except the signal with the antenna out the window the A/C is in is not good. Probably too many trees. Tried tuning to various channels and then listened to an opera. It's dropping in and out. Sirius main display only shows 2 bars most of the time, one bar others. Dinner tonight was a bean burger we had on the back porch. Afterwards we listened to the WCPE opera house.

Today I worked on the schematic and layout for Kahlo. Updated the schematic and now I want to extract the buzzer from a QYX Orcad MAX layout file. I don't have the QYX libraries but I need to figure out how to get those parts into a library I can use. Will Google this later. Enjoyed some Sirius operas today. I got the Atom processor working and receiving Sirius. Using the Compact Flash makes the thing pretty slow. I researched small cheap SATA drives to put into this thing.

The Sirius receiver arrived via USPS from an eBay dealer in Chicago. I have enjoyed some operas today using the online version. When the boombox gets here I'll see if this thing works in the house. We listened to Hoffman today live from the Met at 8 PM on Sirius. Dinner was a beanburger with Lima Beans.

Got up slightly later although I woke earlier in the morning around 4. Fell asleep again and got up at 6. Went out after breakfast for groceries. Around 8 Libbie called from Piscataway, she was lost for 20 minutes trying to find her way out. I don't know why whe didn't use GPS. She called again around 12 that she arrived at Sue's and was going to come all the way home today. I went out into the yard and moved the rest of the tree trunk off the lawn and also blew off the driveway, something I was planning to do. I also want to mow the lawn but I was too tired at 2 so I came in. Worked on the buzzer on the microwave. Got an external buzzer working but when I tried to get the internal buzzer to work the DC to Dc converter started smoking. At that moment Libbie arrived on her long drive back from the Northeast. For dinner we went out to La Cocina which killed my diet since in addition to the La Cocina Quesadilla I also had chips and a Margarita.

Didn't get up till 7 today. I really slept well last night. Was happy to see the scale at 231 this morning after flat lining for a few days. I will be even be happier if I see it go below 230. Loaded up the compressor and nail gun and went to the greenhouse. Put all the battens down. The gun performed flawlessly. I used the Northern Framing nailer with 2 1/2 " nails that look like they would be 8 penny. I didn't have much faith in this thing but it did not jam once. Picked up all the old batten scraps and put them in our trash can for tomorrow. I noticed the inflation was still not at 100% so I cleaned the intake screen with a brush. Did not check to see how it did. I had a disaster with Tom Yum soup. It was frozen so in the attempt to get it out of the package it flew forward and landed on the floor shattering into lots of little frozen cubes on the floor. Picked htem up and cooked them in the microwave. Did not care for the soup. afterwards I had a Mahi Mahi burger with tomato on a bun it was delicious. Turned on Sirius tonight and listened to Rheingold again, broadcast live from the Met. Nice.

I was up pretty early and fetched the paper at 7 am. It was supposed to rain but it never happened, in fact the sun came out. Took the old battery to Walmart and bought a replacement for the Onan. Drove straight to the greenhouse and installed it. I also put a few strips of tape in a few places under the cool cells to hold it until I get it nailed down tomorrow. Went home and worked on the backyard tree. Got cleaned up from that and made a trip to the Triangle Outlet Mall looking for pillow shams. The place is practically closed down. All the stores are gone, there seems to be only about 5 or 6 of them open. Wow, what a change. Came home and refueled the chain saw, adjusted the chain and went at the crown again. Libbie said Jennifer wants the wood from the trunk. Finished removing the crown. Now there is only the trunk remaining, the hard stuff. My willpower diet is going great. Although my weight has flatlined at 232, I'm happy with my belly going down and also the fact that I've been getting by on less than 1300 calories per day. The calculators I've used online suggest a calorie intake of 2500 to 3000 for my height and weight. Based on a consumption rate of 1300, a 1500 calorie deficit is about 1/2 pound a day real loss. Today is day 7 so this is a 3 1/2 pound week.

Cole and Emily come over today to fetch their wedding pics. I plan to show them the DVD slide show. After that I want to pick up a new Onan battery at Walmart. Did not have any OJ this morning. I'm thinking of suspending this temporarily to pick up an extra 100 calories a day. I'll think about it. The Calcium and other nutrients are important. It may be that I'll wait until grocery day to replenish the OJ.
Cole and Emily came over around 1. I showed them the DVD slide show and gave them a copy of the pictures. I also told them I could build an album for them if they want. After that I went outside and worked on the downed tree for a while, dragging branches to the pile. Next order of business was to drive over to the greenhouse and look everything over. The top is mostly inflated. All the plastic of the divider wall is OK. I need to cut two clips and bring them over. Had a couple of Gorditos for dinner. The calorie count is very high - 350 each!!!!! Good thing there was no OJ today.

Stopped by Lowes and got battens and a PVC 1x4 for the greenhouse. Went to the greenhouse and isntalled the 1x4 and then went outside to staple to it, repairing the roof on house 1. Hopefully it will inflate. Jack helped me do this. He remarked that he is 75 now. Jennifer was cutting horses for her football team. Had to go to both Lowes and Home Depot looking for more plastic for the divider wall. Bought a roll of 8x100 4 mil thick stuff because that's all I could find. Put the wall up and now we're ready for cooler weather tonight. Back home I started cutting up the downed Maple in the backyard but then went inside, got cleaned up and tried the washer for the first time in the new pan. All seems to work as normal, after I turned the water back on of course. I had initially turned it off when I moved it for the pan. Dinner was a broccoli salad prelude flollowed by a bean burger. I love those things with a slice of tomato and an onion. I finished the Watson DVD slide show this evening and then tried it on the TV. It looks pretty good. We did some excellent photography.

Went over to the greenhouse and started putting up the plastic wall. The Onan generator battery is toast. I'll need to replace it. The thing ran dry over the summer and the trickle charger kept putting a charge into it until it died for good. At least it didn't explode like the one at home. This one needs a battery tender hooked up. Stopped the wall because we don't have enough plastic to finish. Dinner was a bean burger with onion and tomato. Went through the pictures from Cole and Emilys wedding. They really came out well. The new camera plus our experience really shows. There's not a bad shot in the bunch. I have to admit that all the people posed pictures are pretty boring.

Woke to rain this morning. Ended up turning down the volume on the alarm to have a few more minutes of silence but eventually got out and into the shower. Checked the specials on Wednesday but didn't bite. Jennifer called that house 1 top shutter was stuck and the charger is making ticking noises. Went over in the rain after lunch and found the battery is totally dead, as in shorted. Need to replace. Freed the stuck shutter. I need to really take it down and rebuild the motor. I also took a look at the torn plastic top. It looks like it was barely holding on to the wood edge and just pulled away. I'll put a PVC 1x4 in there and staple it from the outside. Came back and made some more broccoli salad but this time using fat free mayo which only has 10 calories per tbsp. I put too much vinegar into it. Dinner was a Chile Rejeno. Diet discipline has been excellent, my food log shows less than 1500 calories a day. Will listen to Rigoletto tonight from the Met live over Sirius. Need another book to read. I guess I have a new Carl Hiaasen which came from Amazon.

Nice day today. The sun is out and it's a little cooler. Turned the A/C off and turned the house fan on. Spent the day reading first about the mbed.org processor and then the Nicholas Sparks book. Took out a Sirius trial subscription and listened to Hoffman tonight. Libbie called during the first act. I absolutely have fallen in love with this opera. When the opera was done I stayed up and finished the Nicholas Sparks book. It was a tear jerker at the end since Lexie dies in childbirth. Wow, good story. Dinner was a bean-burger and broccoli salad. Pretty good stuff for a total of 1400 calories. I'm determined to lose a lot weight fast this first two weeks of detox inspired by Drew Carey.

Didn't get up till 6:10 today. After breakfast went to the greenhouse with the other invoices, topped off the batteries in both the controller and the generator. Will see if the generator starts tomorrow. Went to the CU with a BB check and withdrew some hobby money then registered the Prius and the Trailer at the DMV in South Hills. It's raining pretty good today and in addition, it's dark and dreary outside. Figured out a repair methodology for the greenhouse covering using a PVC 1x4. I'll bow it with string, hold it up with conduit sections and staple to it from the outside. Libbie called at 2:30 announcing she safely made it to RI after a 5 hour drive in the rain.
Tonight is opening night at the Met. I may purchase a trial subscription.
Bought a Met Player subscription but didn't need it since the website broadcast is free. Dinner was bean-burger with onion and tomato. Very nice. Rheingold was wonderful as I got transported to Valhalla. Loved it!!!!

Up and out of bed at 5 this morning. I went for the paper at 6:15 and watched GMA where Marysol is leaving then I watched CBS's Sunday morning. Not very interesting except for the story about a top designer who was a playboy centerfold in September 1994. Kelly Wearstler is her name, formerly Kelly Gallagher. The TIVO decided to update during the last story throwing itself off the air. Today I started getting serious about my diet and cut back significantly. When I went to a google docs spreadsheet to count my daily eating log, it was still up at 1400 calories. I need to do better. Part of the problem was 2 slices of bread loaded with butter which counted for 500 of my calories today, or nearly half of my intake. I went into the woods and watched the sump drain from Longos. It looks like it's pumping every 15 minutes even though it hasn't rained it 6 weeks. I heard from Libbie today as she makes her way to Arlene's house from Sue's. I then tried building a dam with 4 wheelbarrows of dirt from the Glembocki quarry. Came inside and took a shower and then went to reading Nicholas Sparks. Love the book, "At First Sight".

Worked out in the yard diverting the water from Longo's sump pump. I don't understand the pump - it hasn't rained in a month but when I was there it cycled and poured several gallons of water out the 4 inch corrugated pipe. I had a beanburger for dinner with onion and tomato. I need to lose weight but I bought chips and ice cream today. Uggh. Started reading the Nicholas Sparks novel in earnest. I like it. Also spent a lot of time browsing BP. Went to Home Depot and bought a washing machine floor pan for the new washer. I need to put a drain in the floor which is going to be challenging but not impossible. The biggest challenge will be getting the new machine into the pan. Today after I dug in the mud in the woods I was covered with mud so I took a shower and also ran my dirty clothes through the new machine. Libbie talked to me over the phone and she wasn't happy about this. Not sure what else I could have done.

Libbie left this morning for Sue's house. She called every hour of her journey with a stop first at Holly's for lunch. Spent most of the day on the internet. My new contest kit from CCI came today. It's a NXP arm processor from mbed.org and has usb and ethernet built in as well as port drivers, SPI and other stuff. Good chip. I need to play with it. Dinner was Margherita pizza, the whole thing. This is bad news!!!!! I want to lose weight.

Did a lot of catching up and organizing of pictures, files, etc from my trip. In the evening Libbie and I went to Chili's for Ribs and used the rest of the $50 gift card. We had Cabernet wine, half rack of ribs and loaded mashed potatoes. For desert we had Skinny Minty I picked up in Krogers today. When we first sat down in Chili's there were some very unruly kids behind us. they were fighting and screaming and very loud. We asked to be moved to the other side of the restaurant.

Got out of bed naturally at 3:52 this morning and started packing the car. I was on the road at 4:32 AM. It was pretty dark and I had trouble seeing the thermos for pouring coffee. Stopped up I-95 somewhere above Daytona Beach for an Egg McMuffin from Mickey Dees. When I got to Jax at 7:21 all lanes were stopped. We crept for miles until 8:21 when I reached the scene of the accident. An ambulance crossed the median and flipped closing all lanes. This was a minor setback and put me back an hour. Stopped at St Mary's in Georgia for a tank of gas, stopped at exit 181 between Florence and Dillon for a gas top off and continued. Got home around 4:30 without further incident. Libbie and I went out for dinner at 6:30 to La Cocina to celebrate my homecoming with Margaritas and dinner.

Took a trip to Tampa this morning over by the stadium and Steinbrenner field. Very nice but I won't go back. the stadium is on Dale Mabry. Packed my stuff for the drive. Dinner was fire grilled frozen pizza, two individual round pies. Not very good. I scrubbed some stains on the tile floor, cleaned the sink. I wish I had Scooby here.

This morning I went to Sears and purchased the new washing machine. It was off sale but they gave me the sale price because they still had the sign up. Had some trouble with the Schwab card because it was refused. Called Schwab and got them to do an authorization over the phone for $805, the price of the machine including tax and delivery. I get the delivery charge back in the form of a rebate which is going to be a Mastercard debit card. Oh well. Took a bike ride around Stoneybrook and stopped in to talk to the realtor about rentals. I wanted their take on a new refrigerator without water and ice on the door. they thought it was OK.

Picked up the paper late and read it while having a Publix donut and coffee. I also ran out of cereal so I picked up some for tomorrow. For dinner today I ordered a Cuban with onion petals from the clubhouse. It was very good. I spent some time working on the final part of my Disney story based on feedback. Studied BP some more and also called Hortense about the name of her dog. She could hardly hear me, but I could hear her quite well. Libbie called later and told me the washing machine totally quit. She went to Sears and inquired about a washer but they wouldn't take my credit card over the phone. We have to decide what else to do. I could terminate my trip and come home but that's not likely.

Started out by spackling the holes in the wall next to the light. I put down 2 coats of spackle and think the hole is now invisible. Disconnected the light and suspended it by a string for now. I also had to shop vac behind the mirror since their was a lot of crud there. I taped all the edges and it's ready for painting. I was going to do this today but ended up taking a 5 1/2 hour bike ride all the way to Venice and then on the Venice Waterway trail. I was tired and hungry when I got back. I also seem to be sunburned, especially on my forehead and arms. I went running around looking at Shams. I visited Target, Penneys and Bed Bath and Beyond. They don't seem to make the larger size shams. What I did find was incredibly expensive. For dinner I didn't feel like eating much but I stopped at Subway and got a teriyaki chicken sub. It was not bad but I think I will stick to turkey in the future.

Pumped up the bike tires to 40 from the 20 they were at. Went to Leather Express and got a quote for a sofa and love seat. $2500 will fix me up with top quality. Bought a Logitech headset at Best Buy. Tried using Google Voice to call Libbie and I was pretty happy with our conversation. It was very clear and rarely missed a syllable. Good stuff. I had the rest of the ribs for dinner. Still a lot of food.

This was an easy day, so easy that I took a nap this afternoon after a trip to Nokomis. Returned the Waterpik to Lowes in Nokomis because it was made of plastic. I don't think it will hold up in the shower, especially if it gets dropped on the hard tiles. Took a nap after lunch and my Nokomis trip. Woke in time to go to the clubhouse to order ribs, baked potato and veggies. Very good but I wasn't that hungry. Found brushpicks at Walgreens in Palmer Ranch. the one in Osprey didn't have them. These are important after something like ribs. Picked up some frozen yogurt which really made my tummy stuffed. Replaced the bathroom fill valve today which I purchased in Lowes last night. The toilet flushes very nicely. Now I need to do something about the refrigerator.

My target to leave was 6:45. I actually left at 6:55 but skipped breakfast. I didn't make it to Florence, mile marker 164. I had to stop at marker 181 because the gas light came on. Filled the tank and got an egg McMuffin. It was an OK stop. Gas was 2.46. As always, I then stopped just before the Florida border and filled up at 2.55. Easy traveling through Orlando at 3:45 and arriving in Sarasota around 5:30. Was not hungry tonight so I went to Nokomis Lowes for a new fill valve and stopped at Mickey Ds for a southern chicken sandwich. It was OK, will not order again. The reason for the fill valve was because the master bath toilet would not fill. I reasoned it would fill after I turned the water on, went outside when done to turn on the water and the fill valve did nothing, even after I took the lid off and tried moving the ball up and down manually.

Finished up the Pittman article then hosted Violet club today. This went on forever. I needed the time to get ready for Florida. Dinner was pasta I picked up in Krogers when I did the groceries. Spent the late evening hours packing everything in the car. I hope I don't forget anything. Went to bed around 11 PM.