We scrambled this morning getting the porch and house cleaned for Violet Club. We turned the A/C on for the first time this season. I put out a buffet of broccoli salad which I made, potato salad, chicken salad and tuna salad on buns with chips. I also made iced tea by dipping 5 tea bags in 8 cups of water. It went over well. The meeting was excellent, Libbie did a grow to show demo. We had one new member, Catherine, and Felicia also showed up. She is going to contact hotels in Durham for MAAVS. Dinner was some of the leftover salads with slices of the rotisserie chicken.

Libbie did a few more of the orders which I did click and ship for. I did some catch up on the accounting and also messed around on eBay looking at Arduino stuff. I placed an order for some Chinese Arduinos, a mega or two, an ethernet shield. I also went to Adafruit and ordered a USB microscope as well as another RTC and some LCD stuff. I waited till we were back before ordering this stuff. I did a major grocery run and visited both Trader Joes and Krogers. Dinner was lobster ravioli from Trader joes.

Did a lot of click n ship for the 45 orders that were backed up. Went to the CU to sign for my new cashback Visa card. Dismayed to see even more monitors on the walls. Finished the Chicgo photo book and submitted it to Shutterfly. I really don't like shutterfly. Dinner was a roast chicken from Krogers with steamfresh pasta.

This was unpacking and settling day. Had to deal with sorting and backing up all our photos and also did some garden maintenance. Sprayed Malathion, dusted eggplants and weeded. Dinner was Libbie's great pizza.

Bonnie had cereal and coffee for us in the morning. We got going at 8 am. Traffic was easy. Stopped up the road for coffee and McDonalds. In Indiana we got some gas at a Krogers just before Cincinnatti. Stopped at Beckley for dinner at McDonalds and gas for 3.57. Made it into NC right around dark at 9 PM. Around 11 I was stopped on US 64 in Siler City for going 70 in a 55 zone. He let me go because his printer was jammed. Lucky. No speeding for me the rest of the way home. Home at 11:30.

This morning after breakfast we checked out and put our suitcases in our car down the street at 111 E Wacker in the parking garage. Got our parking voucher validated at the hotel so it was $120 instead of $190. We toured the Chicago History Museum which was pretty interesting. Lots of Chicago history on view. Lunch was a Chicago Hot Dog with all the trimmings. After the bus brought us back we navigated the parking garage and got out on Michigan to go to Congress for the start of Andrea's instructions. Followed them at 1 PM as we made our way through stop and go traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway. Picked up a bottle of Merlot in Downtown Downers Grove then to Andrea's house. We enjoyed our time but wow, was it ever smokey for our tastes. We got the tour of her addition, a lovely BBQ of riba, steak, salad, corn, Margarita's and Key Lime Pie. We really enjoyed her cute little dog named Ruby. Leftn there very tired and crashed at Bonnie's house. Bonnie is a widow and Andrea's Mothers friend.

After breakfast we got on the school bus and went to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Illinois Building and then to the Fox and Obel cafe in a high end grocery store. My sandwich was one of the best ever. The bread was to die for. We then walked around the corner to the boat dock for the Architectural Tour by boat. That was fantastic. We saw all the buildings from the water and got a narrated tour. When we got back I didn't care to wait for the elevator so I ran up 12 flights of stairs. It wasn't bad although I was winded. It gave me energy to go out with Libbie to the popcorn store next to the theater on Randolph. What a treat. The popcorn was yummy. We picked up some for Andrea and our host. Dinner tonight was at the Elephant and Castle, a pub on N Wabash on the turn of the el. Nice buffet but crowded room for the size of our group. Dinner was fish n chips with slaw and green beans. Desert was bread pudding and cookie with coffee.

After breakfast today we went to the Field Museum. The guides weren't very good at the Field so we wandered on our own then went to lunch where I had a veggie sandwich which was cheese and tomato. Did not care for this museum but afterward had a lovely walk through the park to the Art museum. We sat outside and did some people watching in the garden courtyard before going inside using Andrea's member pass. Used the bathrooms then went upstairs to the impressionists. We met Joe our guide from yesterday inside the museum. He seemed to have a small class he was lecturing. We stayed around for two Monet paintings then started doing rooms of paintings on our own. I thoroughly enjoyed the museum. This is the treat and highlight of the tour. We were incredibly tired when it was only 4 PM so we took a bus home and rested before going out for dinner. We had Giordano deep dish mushroom pizza and Sam Adams beer. It hit the spot perfectly. Came home very tired and went straight to bed.

After the hotel continental breakfast we .got on a school bus and went to the Federal Reserve. We got a lecture from a very good economist. i thought he ha a good command of facts, figures and numbers but others said he didn't answer the questions. We then saw a movie of what the Fed does then visited the Fed museum. Next stop was Willis tower. Went to the top and had my picture taken with Miss Illinois. Walked out on the glass shelves above the street, it was fun. We had personal deep dish pizza for lunch. I had the spinach. Libbie had the cheese then we tasted each others. I liked the Spinach better. Next stop was the Art Museum. Joe led us on a discussion of the Rainy Paris Street then a few other keynote works including American Gothic and some Modern pieces by Picasso and others. It was highly enjoyable. Dinner was at the Bacio in the hotel. they had a very tasty buffet set up for us. Our only problem was they ran out of desert.

Up early, actually a few minutes too early for breakfast. The clock in our room is fast. We will fix that! Nice continental cold breakfast, nothing special. The bagels are good. The coffee is also. Did a bus tour of the amazing Chicago architecture. This was very impressive. our guie, Joe, is also amazing. We had a delicious lunch in Greektown complete with Baklava desert. On the bus again with stops at a Univ of Ill chapel, the Chicago skyline and Buckingham fountain. After the tour, Libbie and I rested up hen walked up to Heaven on Seventh for dinner. I had a wonderful BBQ salmon with gumbo as an appetizer and veggies consisting of trinity mix and Tasso. This was yummy and accompanied by a Ragin Rita which is the house specialty on Monday Margarita night. After dinner we got on a #3 bus and went down to a rock concert at Millenium Park under the Gehry designed concert shell. We next went through a garden and walked to the Buckingham Fountain. Saw the fountain shoot off at 9 with coordinated music, lights and water. It was lovely. Hauled ourselves back up to Michigan and waited 15 minutes for the #6 bus to take us back to Wacker. It was a fun evening.

The food court was closed this morning. Packed the car up and stopped at an iHop on the way to the Laundromat. The sign on the door said this is a pistol free zone. Our Senior omelet was very good - lots of bacon and cheese. Too much food. Next the Harbourtown laundry was the nicest we have seen. It was very clean, had parking in front and WiFi. What a surprise. When we got going we found the ramps on I94 were all closed. Drove many miles through very run down areas with burned out and abandoned houses. It looked like a combat zone. Many other homes were torn down but many still remain that need tearing down. This is a disaster. Found the Interstate and drove to Chicago. It was $5.60 in tolls. When we got to Chicago we immediately were in a traffic jam. Got off 90 and took city streets for the last few miles. Put the car in a parking garage and rolled our suitcases down the street for checkin. The hotel is great. It's old and the rooms are small but nice. Dinner at McCormick and Schmick, a very nice upscale seafood restaurant.

After the traditional McDonalds breakfast we went to a "Last task of Judging" seminar. It was dry and boring. Tried for lunch at PotBelly's but they were closed. So were the other sandwich shops but we went to Subway and split a foot long turkey which was fine. I really enjoyed the David Thompson lecture on Streps. He was quite informative. I took lots of notes. David can do a great job talking about his Streps. Afterwards I collected the sales tax and went to the room to count it. Wrote the total on an envelope along with the amounts of the 3 checks and gave the whole thing to Kathy Lahti. Richard Nicholas made a haul of Streps from David Thompson. He was nice enough to share with us. We bought his duplicates, 6 of them for $25. We went over to dinner tonight at the Italian restaurant along the river in frornt of GM. It was OK but dinner was $121 with tip. Ouch.

Breakfast at McDonalds this morning then upstairs to the show. Did some more photography of the designs. We went late to a Basics class then visited a beneficials lecture about predatory bugs. We had an Adiamos pizza for lunch which was pretty good. We got on the cruise this evening which was interesting. Several High Schools were having their prom. The ladies were dressed in very poofy and colorful "princess" dresses with glitter and bright tropicsl hot colors. Most of the dresses had no sleeves, the poor girls kept pulling the tops back up since they seemed to be quite insecure. Funny. Dinner was very good. It was a buffet with Salmon, potato salad, cole slaw, noodles and tortellini. We purchased wine with dinner for $5 per glass.

went to breakfast in the foodcourt and sat with some of the Texas gang including Bill Foster. Later Brenda came in with Mahlen. We had the commercial meeting at 9, I passed out the sales tax envelopes. Next stop was the beginners forms then we picked up a lunch sandwich of turkey in a pita Took this up to Anne's room on the 60th floor where we had the library meeting. Andrea passed out her cupcakes at the meeting. Almost right after this meeting we started the Library Photography and finished up quickly since there were only about 500 entries. The showroom is huge for a small show.
For dinner tonight we went across the street to Tom's Seafood. I had parmesan crusted tilapia with veggies and rice and a dark local brew beer. It was nice. After dinner we rode the little train around the loop of burned out and vacant buildings. It's so sad to see how bad things are in Detroit. We were panhandled out in front of the GM building when we got back.

We woke to a light rain outside. Had the Comfort Inn breakfast then got going by 8 am after gas at Beckley for 3.57. Traffic was light. We took i-77 straight up to I80 which is the Ohio Turnpike and costed us 7.50 to Toledo. Got off onto 280 to I75 in Toledo and stopped for gas at 3,46 and McDonalds lunch. This finished up my $100 Dishnetwork rebate Visa card which was good. Registered for the convention and saw most of the usual gang - Jenny, Amy, Anne-Marie. Got the lay of the land before we went for a takeout sandwich at the Pot Belly sandwich shop. Had a quick sandwich and then went to the Nancy Hayes opening night slide show. Nancy does a great job presenting the slides from last year. I left after this while Libbie stayed for the grower forum. I was tired.

This is a comfortable morning at home. The garbage was collected this morning, we rolled the cans back to the home and left at 2:15. Made it to Beckley, WV by 6:30 in a very leisurely drive. Visited the Tamrack craft center which is about a half mile from our hotel then parked the car at the hotel and walked to Pasquales Italian restaurant next door. The food and the service was outstanding. We both had Shiraz with salad, Italian dressing and a delicious eggplant parmesan Pasta el Forna. It was quite good.

This was a busy day. Besides the normal click n ship I programmed the violet towers for watering and also got a watering cycle of every 4 days programmed into the Flower Timer. This took more than I expected since I had lots of errors. It was because I defined the DateTime variable inside an if/else loop which it wasn't happy about. It's fixed now. Dinner tonight was Briyani. Spoke with Joe this afternoon. He picked up another support job for a company that builds light towers on factory floors.

Finished hooking up the timers and testing them. The grow boxes will come on for one minute every day. There are now two solenoids running the 6 boxes, 3 grow boxes for each one. The veggies really look good. I had to spray Orthene on the Mints since one of them had mealy bugs. Interestingly while I was working on my computer I heard the waterers come on outside. I looked and we did the 15 second test cycle of the greenhouse and the outdoor flower garden. The cycle was still programmed from previous testing only now all the wiring is hooked up. Dinner was Libbie's homemade pizza. We took pictures this afternoon of a dozen or so violets that were in bloom but missing on the website. Now I need to process the pictures. Late at night I gathered all the website comments I have collected and forwarded them to the board with my comments.

I hit the road running today. Changed the ballast in two of the flourescent fixtures, tied the tomatoes and peppers and updated the Bluebird website. The website was a challege because I had to delete some menu items which are major changes to the software. Dinner was ribs with shiraz and Olanthe corn from Kroger.

This is First Friday but we chose not to go out today. Instead we dined on Tilapia with Baked beans with chipotle and salad and a very nice bottle Rodney Strong Cabernet that came from Walmart today. I finished debugging the timer. We went to Walmart because Libbie broke her Mouse. We had more rain this evening. It has rained a little up to a half inch each day this week.

I finished the flower timer software this morning and worked on packaging it up. Mounted the timer on the wall along with a box to contain the power warts. Worked outside on the water hoses for the grow boxes. We currently have a small pepper, a small cuke and a small tomato. Looking good. Wired up the two new solenoids in the greenhouse for a pretty full day. Dinner was grilled chicken with beets and potatoes. Very nice.

The tropical storm Beryl remnants are passing through this morning. The rain gauge shows we got 3/4 inch of rain. The sun came out in the afternoon. When the sun arrived we went to the Farmers Market. It was a good time to go there. Dinner was grilled tilapia with Thomas's sauce. It's better with cajun rub. We had this with the first local corn of the season.

Set the timer up for a violet tower watering. Shelf 204 doesn't seem to have watered. Don't know what's wrong. Will diagnose this later. Dinner was BBQ chicken with potatoes and beets. Yesterday was memorial day so today Libbie is shipping. Lots of click and ship labels to produce. Rebuilt one flourescent light upstairs that did not come on anymore. Put the garbage out this afternoon for morning pickup instead of yesterday because pickup has slipped a day due to Memorial Day.

During the morning shows I worked on the Flower Timer software. It's coming along pretty good. I'm impressed with the LCD backpack module. It significantly cuts down on the LCD wiring. There's a lot of software involved with the timer. Dinner was salad with LA pepper dressing and curry chicken over whole grain pasta.

In the morning I installed Fedora 16 Linux on the Zotac Atom processor. I also got Xampp installed and running. Autostart is a challenge. I'm also having trouble getting a fixed IP on the device.
Today I mounted the Flower Timer and the LCD inn the plastic case. Had t solder connectors on the LCD backpack and the LCD module then hook the I2C lines up to the relay 4 board. All this went pretty well. We had a nice surprise this afternoon as the skies opened up and th rain came down in buckets. This was a welcome sight for the flower garden. Dinner was Libbie's super pizza.