Worked on the Kahlo stuff a little. All 4 PC boards seem to be working. I also spent some time juggling funds and bought some Double Eagle in the IRA and RGNC in the individual account. Logged in to make a payment to GE Credit for the Havertys furniture. They finally seem to have their act together. I got a statement with account number which means I;m on my way. The brass rods and the power supplies came today. Power supply connector is wrong. Brass rods seem perfect. Need to build a batch for the microwave. Need at least 5. Dinner was a Chile Relano.

After breakfast I worked outside on the fence posts around the azalea patch in the backyard. Came back inside, got cleaned up and left at 11:30 for Lucia at North Hills. Loved the performance. The music is the best, the chorus and staging are a treat. Some folks on Opera L don't like Natalie Dessay but I think she's the best. Libbie called afterward. She was listening to it on her computer in RI. Dinner was Krogers fried chicken and an Edwards single serving pie. I'm not very proud of this. Need to get back on track. Maybe a hunger diet is what I need.

My heart and heartburn is remarkably better this morning. I think yesterday was an anomoly self caused by the tablet I should not have taken Wednesday for my trip to Old Wake Forest Rd Raleigh.
Fired up each of the 4 cards for Kahlo. All programmed OK. I appear to have a problem with one LCD and at least one card has a heartbeat problem. I need to add a buzzer test routine somehow to the software to also test that function. There is so much more I would rather do now that it's Spring and nice outside. Dinner was a bean burger on thin sandwich round.

I had a rough night. Woke several times with severe heartburn. I'm worried cause I didn't have spicy foods. Thoughts of Mario 10 years ago who had artery blockage. He said the symptom was heartburn. I'll monitor it closely. Dinner and Lunch was the leftover tuna sandwiches from the TAVS meeting. I also had a nice serving of bean salad.

It turned out to be a nice day. I took a shower after breakfast to wash my hair then went to the CU to deposit the rent check from Prudential and stopped by Krogers to cruise the Great Clips store. They weren't busy so I got a haircut. Pretty nice. Went home and took another shower to hose off the hair clippings then lined up the PCB's and their respective parts for Nicaragua. Took a trip to Wake Forest Rd, there was an accident at the beltline. Took a trip North then turned around at the Homestead parking lot. Didn't even know this facility was there, right next to the Hilton where we had the convention.
Came home and had a leftover eggsalad sandwich, some beans and chips and an orange. I'm feeling tired.

I made the bean salad for the meeting and also made the tuna sandwiches. Libbie made the egg salad sandwiches yesterday. Everybody came around 12:30. We had a well organized meeting making lollipops and covering what we had to do for the show. The meeting was over about 3 PM. We went to the airport at 5 PM. Traffic on the Cary Parkway was heavy in the other direction. Got to the airport at 5:35 for Libbie's 6:30 flight. On the way home I stopped at Krogers for OJ and cereal. I noticed gas was 3.44 with the 10 cent discount. Dinner was leftover sandwiches from this afternoon with a side of beans. Desert was the lemon squares. Earlier in the day I logged into Colts and got the mortgage payment money back that they always take out on the 15th. I give them Libbie's FICA check at the end of the month. I listened to all of Queen of Spades live tonight on Sirius. It was wonderful but didn't end until midnight.

This was a busy day. I blew off the driveway, cut up the cardboard box from the oven for the recycling pickup tomorrow. I managed to get it all in the green rolling bucket. Cleaned out the garage with the blower and also the vacuum then changed the oil in the car. The oil change was 800 miles overdue. When Libbie came home she vacuumed the house and mopped floors while I went to the grocery store for rolls and ingredients for tomorrow's violet meeting lunch. All in all it was a busy day. Dinner was Pasta from Trader joes. Libbie made lemon squares in the new oven. It didn't smell as bad this time since all the oils are burned off in the upper oven. We still need to fire up the lower oven to burn off manufacturing oils.

I did not get a newspaper this morning. I'm still interested in getting the website done this weekend then I have to do taxes and the Nicaragua project. Libbie had some problems with the new oven - mostly user error. She thought she turned the lower oven on but the control was in between broil and highest temp so no heat. Instead we played with the electronice control on the upper oven. The highest it would go was 500. We watched the temp climb. When it got to 500 it beeped. The oven smelled terrible but Libbie cooked the pizza anyway. It was very good but the kitchen did not smell like pizza due to the manufacturing oils coating the oven.

I worked on the computer managing finances and organizing files, doing backups, etc. At noon today we listened to Boris Godunov on the Met sat afternoon broadcasts. A nice musical opera but not a favorite. For dinner we had leftover ribs with steamfresh veggies and Shiraz wine. We had all the dinner fixings in the house so no grocery store trips needed. I continued to work on the Bluebird website adding the new pictures to the database and changing some plastics prices.

Worked on the violet catalog today, getting everything into the database. It's a cold day but I didn't do anything else. Researched stainless hoods but won't do that until I finish Bluebird and the Nicaragua project. Dinner was leftover rotisserie chicken with steamfresh peas.

Disappointing new this morning. TCB-A fell 1.41 yesterday to 25.77. It may be recalled in May for $25. It will be break even for me. I paid 27.75 a year ago, call date isn;t supposed to be until 2013 but they received permission to call this for a "financial event". They floated a new common which is to be used to pay of the preferred. The fish look healthy, ammonia levels are down a little but not great. I added some more pond clarifier to the pond. This is bacteria that's supposed to charge the biofilter.
The Oven arrived as planned. The new oven was bigger by 3/8 inch all around so I had to cut the cabinet with my jigsaw all the way around which was a messy and hard job. I did not want to chip the laminate and the jigsaw had to be held straight for a long time so as not to get wavy cuts. Ran out to HD for cable clamps which the original hookup did not have. Put it all together then used the hydraulic jack to lift the oven to the correct height and slid it in. Evey thing worked. Dinner was rotisserie chicken with Steamfresh mixed veggies.

We cleaned up the house this morning. Our Feb tenant was a disappointment. They stained the brand new bath mat, broke the coffee carafe, burned the brand new ironing board cover and took all the outdoor mats and threw them in the water heater closet. We got going at 8:28 am. While taking things to the car I talked a long time with Noney and Vern we met from Michigan and also Joe from upstairs. We filled up last night in Venice at 3.59. Stopped at first exit off I-4 for biscuits then first gas stop was exit 29 in Georgia for 3.45. Florence gas was 3.35. On the way we also had half of the leftover sandwich half from last night. It was a texas BBQ beef on flat bun with onion, peppers and cheese. Yummy. We also had half each of one banana and half each of an Orange. Got home at 7 PM in a nice rain bathing the car starting on the Raleigh beltline. We went out to dinner at La Cocina and had a Quesadilla and Margarita with tortilla chips and salsa. Home Depot called on our journey home, delivery will be between 9:30 and 1:30 tomorrow of our new stainless double oven.

Picked up a 2x4 this morning in HD as well as a box of nails and 2 hooks. They were nice enough to cut 2 feet off the thing. Mounted the 2x4 in the shed, screwed the hooks in and hung up Libbie's bike. Next stop was to Walmart for a lock and a bike carrier. My credit card was declined at Walmart. Had to use another card then called the credit card company when I got home. They had a hold on my card because I was charging stuff out of town. Fixed that then spent quite a bit of time assembling a bike carrier with many parts and only a limited amount of instructions, no text whatsoever. We finally got it all hooked up and drove to the Venice Rail Station. Had quite a time finding the place, eventually we stumbled upon it. Rode to the end of the Venetian Waterpark. My pedal broke down there. With extra effort I was able to bike with only one peddle. Picked up a new peddle on the way home at Walmart but I was unable to get it mounted cause the threads are stripped in the crank too badly. I'll bring a tap with me next time to fix this. We went out to dinner at the Club. I had a Texas beef BBQ sandwich with onion and cheese. We also had 2 glasses of Shiraz and Libbie had a Key Lime Pie while I had coffee. A very satisfying evening. We ate on the high top tables and while eating we were able to see Bingo going on in the Dining Room. They had quite a crowd.

We took a ride to the Amish Village by Yoder since they had an article in the paper. It wasn't much. On the way home we stopped at the clubhouse for lunch. I had a BLT with a Yuengling draft. It was yummy. For the party tonight we picked up some crackers, cheese and wine. Took a bike ride down the trail to the Oscar Scherer park. We got cleaned up and then went to the pool party at 4:30. Anita and Joe hosted the party. We brought our wine and cheese and met a lot of nice people, mostly from Ohio and Michigan. I was able to dispose of the huge Rubbermaid tub that we emptied, Mike downstairs took it. Somebody made nice hamburger and beans that were a little spicy on a hard bran cracker. They were a big hit. Earlier we stopped by Peter and Christa's and admired their nice double oven with smooth cooktop by LG. It truly makes their condo look great. Dinner was the rest of the BLT plus all the appetizers we ate at the party.

I finished up the pictures for Bluebird then went out to the machine on Honore and bought a newspaper. When CBS Sunday Morning was finished we got on our bikes and went North on the Legacy Trail and back on McIntosh. It's about a 5 mile trip. We left at 12:15 for the 1:30 performance of I Lombardi. I didn't have time for lunch. Picked up our ticks at Will Call. We had perfect seats in row H seats 112,113 in the center of the theater. What a spectacular opera. Lots of choruses, trios, duets and Verdi music. It was over the top musically and the Sarasota Opera pulled it off with 12 scene changes. This was an achievement in itself. After the Opera we went across the street and had dinner at the American Cafe. I had the special which was fish stuffed ravioli and little clams surrounding the ravioli. We had a glass of house Cabernet with dinner. Maestro Rienzi came in while we were waiting for dinner. The food was excellent. When we got back we watched 60 minutes then the movie Forest Gump. It was fun seeing it again.

This was a nice day. We had a leisurely breakfast and coffee while watching the news. Then we headed to Venice for the Art Festival which opened at 10. It was pretty crowded but enjoyable. Libbie found a violet colored leather butt pack for $48 which we bought. I really liked the art of two watercolor artists. Very nice stuff, especially the rendering of Palm Trees, my favorite. I colelcted their websites and visited when we got back. Worked on cropping and labeling photos on the website before we went over to dinner. There was a wedding with very pretty women in slinky short dresses. What a sexy show. We waited 30 minutes for a table in the grill, then service was very slow but we didn't mind. We had 2 Shiraz's and I had the salmon with Louisiana spices. Libbie had the Tilapia fish basket. We got back to the condo at 8:30 pleasantly fed an inebriated.

A nice early wakeup today then breakfast while we watched GMA. I spent some computer time juggling money to pay the $3600 credit card bill. Fish ponds, Road Scholar, Florida trip and Stoneybrook club bill pushed the cc bill over the top. I sent $1300 from checking yesterday but have to scramble to get the other funds. There were two dividends this morning which helped - HLMp and AEP enriched me with about $800 to help fund the payment. We had leftover dinner from yesterday. I had the Prime rib with baked potato. We got dressed and left at 6:15 for the 7:30 Don Giovanni. There was no parking on Pineapple around the church so we used the new Palm Ave parking deck. This was very nice and convenient. We ended up on level 3. The Opera singing was fantastic. They do a nice job. We had very good seats in row K on the aisle, orchestra right. I really liked this Opera!!!! We got home at 11 PM pleasantly exhausted.

Slept a little late today. Didn't get up till 6:50 am. Bought some Fandango Bucks online then bought Comte d'Ory tickets. There is a problem with one of my Fandango Bucks, it didn't arrive.
After GMA we went to Target next to Publix and looked at a bike for Libbie. They had a weird green and white one. I suggested additional stores. Next stop was Selby where we thoroughly enjoyed the tropical gardens and the beautiful day. We shared a cranberry bread turkey and cream cheese sandwich. I had a birch beer soda and Libbie had an iced strawberry green tea with lunch. Next stop was Whole Foods where we got our GG Bran bread. Drove to Tzrget on Fruitville. It was not a Super Target but they had a 7 speed bike which seemed perfect for Libbie with 7 speeds and both front and rear handbrakes but no fenders. We also bought a 36 inch bungee cord to hold the trunk lid down. It worked perfectly. When we got home we went for a test ride of about 3 miles around Stoneybrook and through some of the streets with homes. Very nice but windy day. Before our big adventure today we called the Dining Room for a 7:15 dinner reservation. Life is Good.
Our table was ready at the clubhouse when we got there at 7:10. We had a predinner Shiraz then another with dinner. I had the Prime Rib with salad, veggies and baked potato. The warm rolls were especially good. I took half of the prime rib home but still it was a lot of food.

Thanks to Libbie we decided not to lie in bed anymore and jumped up at 5 am with a goal of hitting the road by 6. We were out the door at 6:12 am which was excellent. Traffic was incredibly light. Gas is very expensive, we paid 3.39 in Florence and 3.49 in Kingsland, GA. Arrived in Sarasota at 5 pm. I told Libbie that the Sarasota Opera was having an open house at 6 and if we could leave at 5:30 we would make it. We were out the door at 5:30 and found a parking spot in front of the Methodist Church on Pineapple. The Open House was wonderful. They gave us a cloth shopping bag when we arrived, we went to the backstage area for the tour. The backstage area was excellent. Compared to the Met it was sparse but more than adequate. They were serving garlic shrimp appetizers on trays. We listened to the apprentices in the courtyard. I really enjoyed the duet from Lakme by a Soprana and a Mezzo. One of the girls was an opera babe, the other was a Mother of a small child who was in the courtyard. We bought buy one get one free tickets for Don Giovanni at the box office. The bottom line was $100 for Friday evening at 7:30. We already had I Lombardi tickets for Sunday afternoon. Our last stop was a very nice concert in the Opera house. My favorite of this grouping was the trio from I Lombardi as well as the Soprano who did Muzettas waltz. Next we drove to Bangkok Thai on the corner of Swift and Proctor. We had a glass of Shiraz before dinner. I order chicken Pad Thai and brought half of it home. IT was the end of a perfect day and I wasn't even tired by the end of it all.

Checked the status of my promo photobook on Ritz and they said it was done. Went to Walmart for fish food and oil then stopped inot Ritz. It wasn't done. They said 15 more minutes. I left and went to Krogers for some groceries for the trip to Sarasota tomorrow. Bought some Lily of the Valley bulbs in Krogers on impulse.
Went back to Ritz and picked up my photo book. Only two errors - I didn't want a cover cutout and the label on the last pic is missing but not a bad book for $5. I'm not sure if I'll use their service again (unless the price is right). Dinner was Curry chicken. Spent the rest of the evening packing a suitcase for our trip to Sarasota tomorrow.

I went over to Home Depot with my 12 months no interest coupon. I ordered the GE Oven and got it for $200 less thanks to a price match. I had to hang around a while waiting for a manager to approve what they call a competitive price match. When I got home I started disassembling the old oven and sliding it out. I ended up putting a speaker in front of the oven and sliding it out onto the old speaker cabinet. We got some pretty good rain tonight which we so desperately need. Lib and I took a walk around the back. There's a baby swing in our backyard now thanks to Bonnie and Oliver. We also met the Realtor that worked with Joe on lot 67. There are a lot of house starts going on, a lot of them are sold which is surprising. There are houses standing there that weren't there a few weeks ago. Dinner was chicken pad Thai which came out of a package we picked up in Whole Foods a few weeks ago.

We slept until 7 this morning, a little late. I got right up and started working on the article. I had to take the photos of the Phobos and the system photos, then modify the schematic and create a schematic for the relay. I updated the documents and finished writing the complete documentation. We had mushroom soup then I got ready for the play. We left at 2:15 and got there with enough time to walk through the rose garden. since this is February, there wasn't much in bloom except the daffodils and a cherry tree. The play, "The Man Who Came to Dinner" was quite funny. About a grouch who fakes his recovery after falling on ice Christmas 1939. We kept laughing throughout it was so good. Got out at 6 and home by 6:15 after dropping a squirrel off at Krogers that was below the feed in the trap when we got home. Changed back to jeans and finished up the contest entry. Finally, at around 7:00 I submitted the entry to Circuit Cellar. Done!!!! Libbie managed to pull off a wonderful pizza despite the fact that we got home after 6. Now I can relax and watch the Oscars. The Red Carpet so far seems to be conservative. Stayed up until the end at 11:30. It wasn't a bad Oscars. Anne Hathaway was a co-host, she's pretty, but there was no controversy and no surprises.

I wrote a few more paragraphs before we had to leave for the Opera at 11:15. Libbie talked to Jim Fatata and he agreed to buy our one Lucia ticket that we won't use because Libbie is going to PVD. The Opera seemed to be sparsely attended and short. Both Placido and Susan Graham had colds, Peter Gelb came out before the opera to ask our indulgence. The Gluck music was fantastic. We could tell Susan had a cold. The performance was magnificent. We stopped at BJ's and picked up ribs. Lib got a swimsuit. Next stop was Trader Joes for Shiraz. Dinner was Ribs, peas, Shiraz and a salad. After dinner I continued writing even though we finished a bottle of wine.

I kept at the mbed web server today. Studied some other server implementations and did a one for one compare of the classes on the working versions and my version. I didn't uncover any appreciable differences. I had a breakthrough when I discovered that the webserver needed to be constantly polled. The other routines I put in a ticker poll which is sort of like an interrupt. The web now works but not that great. It seems to hang up now and then and freeze. I picked up a new Ethernet driver from the mbed guys but that didn't help much. After a BBQ sandwich we left for the NC symphony at 6:45. Sat in on a pre concert lecture which was pretty good. We enjoyed the symphony, especially the guest conductor from Mexico. He was animated, crisp and lively. Program consisted of Argentinian contemporary piece, Copland Billy the kid and Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances. This was our first time in Meymandi Hall. The hall is lovely, the symphony sounds great. What a treat. We left Meymandi at 10 but had to stop by Krogers for milk on the way home. Lots of people at the self checkout at night! Unbelievable. Once home I continued to work on the article part of the mbed project.

Still trying to get the mbed running. I went out to Lowes in the afternoon and bought a floor lamp for the Family Room using a $10 off coupon. I'm not sure I like it but I'm giving it a fair trial. The fish pond third drain is now painted and ready to go on. I did an experiment where I blocked 1 of the 2 drains and the water didn't go too high, still within the container. I'll work on the mbed till complete before messing with the fish pond anymore. Dinner was stuffed flounder with broccoli. I got an eMail in the afternoon with a 2 for one offer from the Symphony. Looked around at Ticketmaster tickets but decided to call the box office. The nice young lady sold me the 2 for 1 tickets over the phone. We just watched a Meymandi Hall story on the WRAL news. It's the 10th anniversary of the hall and we've never been there.