Journal

All posts tagged Journal

Weekend Ramblings

Posted by broo2 on 2013/01/20
Posted in: Personal. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

I think I will start a journal of notable events that occur; for starters, I will highlight some events of this weekend:

Prelulde:

On Friday I couldn’t connect to my WiFi thermostat and it indicated ‘replace batteries’ when I retuned home.  I replaced and it seemed to be working Ok.  Tracy came home later and tried to turn on the heater as it was a bit chilly- and nothing happened.  I spent about an hour and couldn’t get the WiFi thermostat to reset or connect to the network so I assumed it had died and decided to replace.

Saturday:

  • Arrived at Lowe’s at 8:30 to purchase a Nest thermostat.  The new Nest is $50 more than the original, so I opted for the less expensive one.  The Next is kept in a cage in the front of Lowes and the ladies there had trouble finding it.  15m later it was discovered in a box labeled ‘hold for black Friday’ that was hidden behind another box.
  • Removed and replaced the thermostat with the Next.  The included cover plate does a great job of covering over the holes I have made in the sheetrock with the last 3 thermostats… ;)
  • Flipped the breaker to return power and… nothing.  Broke out the VOM and I was not getting 24v over the thermostat wires.  Checked the breakers- looked good but flipped and reset manually.  Went into the attic and verified the 3A fuse is still good in the air handler.  Took a reading on the high side of the transformer and I was showing no AC voltage.  Traced back to the inputs and verified there was no AC voltage coming into the unit.  Started tracing the Romex wire back over the rafters and found it runs into a box with a light switch in-line…. <facepalm>.
  • Flipped the lights witch on and the Nest booted up.  After setting up WiFi it downloaded 2 or 3 updates, finished configuring and good.
  • Talked roommate’s parents through starting up ShowMyPC so I can access their computer.  Turnes out they couldn’t understand my printed instructions and had swapped out the PC and I was remote controlling the PC I had already setup with remote access- not their old PC that I was going to backup their data from.  Ended up getting the old PC shipped to me (due here on Wed or Thurs) so I can backup to another USB drive and send back.
  • Bought tickets for Django Unchained at Phipps Plaza in Buckhead; 20m to make it there and get a set.
  • Used Waze, but it neglected to note that one lane of the exit from I-85 to Buckhead was closed.
  • Made it to the theater at 11:40; still showing the trailers.
  • The seats are awesome; full electric controlled recliners.  The concession area is arranged in a sprawling format as they have food, candy, drinks and such at different stations.  There is also a bar for those that like those types of things… ;)
  • Went up to Alpharetta with Jamey to meet James and his wife for lunch at Smashburgher.
  • Looked at the Nexus 4 at T-Mobile; I am not really impressed as I am using a Galaxy S III running FrostyJB ROM.  4.2 looks cool, but the 4.1.2 ROM I have has many more extras.
  • Stopped at a gaming store that sells bars, pool tables, pinball games, shuffleboard tables- all kind of cool stuf.  A bit expensive for me and no place in my house for such items.
  • Lunch at SmashBurger
  • Wandered around Fry’s for a bit; picked up a ‘Basic Arduino’ kit for $60.  After reviewing the book online, I may return- this is very similar to the Parallax Basic Stamp kit I picked up 6 months ago.
  • Playing ‘Blockheads’ on the iPad; this app can eat up some battery power.
  • Restarted my MineCraft server and played for a bit; went back into the nether and found a good stack of glowstone dust (should have brought my Feather Touch pick!) and soulsand.
  • Updated FrostyJB to a newer version that supports management of the apps in the quick menu when a headphone is plugged in: added Audible, Akimbo Player, Player Pro, BeyondPod and Spotify.
  • Sleep

Sunday

  • Installed Ubuntu on my Chomebook C7 via instructions at ARS Technica.
  • Worked out with trainer.  Used DigiGit on iOS with ANT+ module & Garmin chest strap to record heart rate.  Max:162, Average: 122
  • Created a temp SquareSpace account- it cannot import directly from LiveJournal.
  • Created a WordPress account- imported LiveJournal account, two Blogger accounts.
  • Setup Falcon’s game to record for roommate via DirecTV webpage to her DVR; interface has greatly improved.  Added Tron Upgrising, Big Bang Theory and Simpsons to record on my DVR.
  • SMS chatted with Kristen; she is working at 4pm at TK
  • Need to finish up Winter’s Heart (book 9 of Wheel of Time); 6 chapters left.  May drive out to Fry’s in Duluth and listen to Audiobook while driving…