Archives May 2018

As the roof project has been progressing I have been trying to get my drone in the air after each day to see the progress from above.  Last night after work I did my final fly over of the completed project.  I am happy about the overall outcome and I am looking forward to reflecting tons of heat in the future compared to the heat absorbing dark shingles the house used to have.  It should make a BIG difference based on my experimentation in the chicken coop with a light roof versus dark.

Besides the new roof, the video also depicts just how dry and arid our property is right now.  Despite using the sprinklers regularly the grass is just dying everywhere.  It’s amazing that within three months the same property will look like a pond in spots from all the rain.

Last night Cindy surprised me with a project she has been working on in secrecy, a custom made Zima t-shirt.  At first glance you would think she found the Zima logo online, blew it up and ironed it on the shirt.   Well you would be mistaken.  She actually used a logo as a visual aid but she created this piece by piece, using various geometric shapes to create the visually impactful shirt.   I was quite surprised by the gift and appreciated the latest example of her creativity and thoughtfulness.  I wasted little time before posting the picture of the shirt on the #zimapermanent group on FB.

This weekend I have a pretty healthy list of things I’d like to get done.  One of the things I want to do is clean the flashing on the roof overhang before gutters get installed in a month.  They are gray and dingy.  My plan, at least initially, is to hit it with some good old elbow grease using a brush, soap and rags.  We’ll see how long that plan lasts.  I also need to figure out if I broke my pool light or not with my failed WeMo switch implementation.

So they finished up installing the metal roof yesterday, applying the panels to the front of the house and capping off all of the seams.  I feel less stress about the panel inconsistency I saw on the west side as after a day the contrast already seems to be lessening, making me think it was just some panels being directly exposed to the elements while others weren’t for three weeks.

I did not see the same variation in the panels across the front of the house which was good.  I think everything will be fine.  I am looking forward to the first decent rain to get a sense of how it will sound in the house.  I expect it to be a sound I will enjoy.

I had a long day of work yesterday, having to do some work down at our Marco Island office after business hours.  If things went well I would have been done in 15 minutes.  It took me 90 minutes so you can draw your own conclusions.

So as high tech as our chicken coop is a couple days ago I ordered something to make it even more cutting edge.  The chickens are early risers.  Usually when we get up in the morning we see the hens bunched up in the corner looking at the house for any movement.  They want to be let out of the run and into their fenced area.

The other day I got an idea in my head that I floated past Cindy.  When we built the coop we incorporated an automatic door to the coop itself, allowing the chickens to escape in the morning while closing automatically at night to keep them safe.  My idea was to buy a SECOND unit and build it into the fenced in run, allowing the chickens to go out into the yard as early as they want without any interaction from us.  Ditto for securing them at night.  It could allow us to not require as much help if we are away as the chickens could have secured access in and out of the coop without us lifting a finger.

The unit should arrive early next week, I look forward to the next step in building the most futuristic chicken coop in southwest Florida.

Yesterday I left work early to meet up with a rep from the company that did my neighbor’s gutters to get an estimate to have ours redone.  I had the roofers rip off the 4 inch gutters that I installed myself, poorly, a long, long time ago.  The replacement gutters will be the bigger 6 inch variety and seamless which will be a welcome change as the joints in my install were a constant source of leaks as they aged.

I was surprised the amount of downspouts I need are about half of what I have currently.  The guy said with 6 inch gutters you only need one downspout for every roughly 40 feet of gutter.  The price quote was good, a little less than I was braced for.  Their lead time is 4-5 weeks which isn’t horrible and should have gutters back on the house before rainy season arrives in force.

The work on the metal roof continued yesterday.  It looks like it is about 75% done at this point.  I have somewhat mixed feelings about the result so far.  It seems like the shingles that the house came with covered up a lot of warts with the decking below it. With the smooth metal panels on there you see every bump and undulation in the surface.  I also noticed last night when I was back a distance looking at the west side of the house the metal finish looked inconsistent.  It almost looked like three different types of metal were being used.

I sent a picture and a text message to the project manager, expressing my concern.  He said that all of the panels come from the same run of metal.  I couldn’t get him to acknowledge the mismatch on the phone but I plan to follow up again today.  I am dropping a lot of money on a new roof, I’m not going to be very agreeable to letting things slide although I realize it could possibly be a big undertaking to replace mismatched metal. The other issue is the silver metal is not a great match with the existing house color, which we already knew.  I can definitely see a house repaint down the road that is more complimentary to the metal roof but that won’t be happening this calendar year.

As I was typing this entry I came up with a possible reason for the apparent difference in the panels currently.  The metal has been sitting in multiple stacks in my front yard for over three weeks.  My theory is the panels that were on the top of the stacks are more dull in appearance due to exposure to the elements where as the panels below are untouched.  If that’s the case, I would hope natural weathering would even out the appearance rather quickly.

So I eat my lunch at my desk everyday.  That lunch is always the same, which Cindy lovingly packs for me each morning.  Part of that lunch is a pint of almond milk which I pour into a plastic cup. I normally pour the milk into the cup and sit it on the top portion of my stand up desk.

Another cog in lunch is my cottage cheese mix which has a foil lid. Yesterday after pouring my milk I turned my attention to taking the lid off the cottage cheese.  The adhesive was being a bit stubborn so I had to apply extra force to remove it.  As my strength finally overcame the glue the foil tore off suddenly, leaving the remaining force to send my hand flying towards the desk, and the full cup of milk.

I have very quick hands, perhaps a byproduct of juggling.  Without thinking I quickly grabbed at the cup to hopefully avoid disaster.  Unfortunately my hand grabbed low on the cup, the weight of the tipping milk had already set the disaster in motion.  I had a tsunami of almond milk spill all over my desk as well as my keyboard and phone which got knocked down in the flurry of movement. I also had milk soaked pants and shoes.

I sat there stunned for a few moments at the mess before I quickly started moving things out of the way of the almond milk waterfall.  I was most worried about the phone and keyboard as you can imagine.  As I tipped the keyboard upside down a steady stream of milk flowed out of it.  Clean up of the area consumed at least a half roll of paper towels, first to absorb the milk, then a second set soaked with water to do a preliminary cleaning, and then a final round, using Windex to make sure the residue was gone.

The keyboard also got blown out with compressed air as further remediation.  Surprisingly it still appears to work although the keys definitely have a bit more resistance in their feel than normal.  Rest assured I will be much more careful with my milk placement from here on out.

This morning walking up the steps to the back door of the office I had another case of the dropsies.  As I was fiddling with the key to the door somehow my lunch box fell out of my left hand and proceeded to roll down 5 stairs, losing it’s lid in the process.  Luckily all of the food and almond milk managed to stay sealed and intact.  Sure the spoon got ejected into the mulch but I picked it up before 5 seconds expired, meaning it is good to go.

Last night I finally successfully printed a phone case out of flexible filament, something I had been trying to do since very early in my 3D printing hobby.  The print turned out well.  I need to test fit it on my phone although I don’t plan to use it full time.  I paid a lot of money for the Mous case I have on my Iphone 6 and it does a great job.  However I still want to verify that what I printed actually works as I hope.

A buddy of mine from high school posted a picture of some farmland with real estate signs lined up in front of it.  Evidently the farm has been sold to a developer for houses.  When I looked at the picture further it looked very familiar.  Then it clicked, this was the farm on Hampshire Road, the road I grew up on.

I immediately felt a sense of remorse and nostalgia sweep over me.  This farm was something I rode my bike past countless times as a child during my endless rides to Gouglersville and Colonial Hills bowling alley.  It always looked old and somewhat dilapidated but there were always animals in the fenced in field.  Seeing that property destined to become another victim of suburban sprawl is sad but not unexpected.  The road I grew up on has transformed incredibly over the last four decades but I guess that can be said of just about anywhere. Still, it makes me sad to see this staple of my childhood fade away.

The metal started getting affixed to the roof yesterday.  Unlike the rip off which had more than dozen people involved, installing the metal is a much smaller crew of only a handful of guys.  They got maybe a third of the roof covered which I documented with a drone flight after work last night.  I am hoping to see a lot more covered tonight.

So Friday evening I hung out with Shugs and the dogs at Ali’s place for a few hours.  We drank a couple beers, ate pizza, and watched some baseball on the big 73 inch DLP tv that just had a new lamp installed into it by Shugs.  It really brightened up the pic on the set.  It was nice to just chill and shoot the shit.

Running the next morning was a challenge after drinking a few beers the night before.  I wore my new (to me) Forerunner 301 GPS that I bought off Ebay.  It has the same bulky form factor as my prior Forerunners but with updated electronics.  The GPS seems more accurate and as a result it confirmed I am slower than my old Forerunner said I was.  It’s ok.

So Cindy was over on the east coast participating in what was up until this point a secret activity.  She was competing in a bikini/fitness competition in Boca Raton.  She agreed to do it after encouragement from her friend who had done her first competition in November.  She has been working hard for a couple months training, dieting, and doing all of the other unfun stuff required for such an endeavor.

Of course she was apprehensive about getting on a stage to be judged wearing next to nothing but I was confident she would do well as her fitness level is great and her personality shines through.  When she sent me a picture after her heavy spray tan was applied and her make up was done it was a pretty shocking transformation, she looked great.

The actual judging occurred Saturday morning but the “show” in front of an audience was not until Saturday night.  During the show is when you actually find out how you did.  Later in the night I received a text from Cindy with a pic of her holding three trophies.  She placed in three different categories which is amazing for a first time participant.  I told her I was very proud of her.  She couldn’t believe it.

I tried to stay up until she came home.  I was up playing WoW until 1:30 AM.  She rolled in the door a little after 2 AM.  I awoke and gave her sleepy congrats.  Of course she was beyond excited, even with being exhausted. It was quite the accomplishment.

Despite going to bed so late my body awoke about 7:15 Sunday morning.  I closed the curtains to let Cindy sleep as I went out and tended to the chickens and a few other to do’s.  She slept until after nine which is unheard of in Cindy’s world.  One of the things I did was undo a smart switch install I did on the pool light.  I NEVER use the pool light, I thought if I installed a smart Wemo switch I could put it on a schedule so we get cool pool lighting in the evening for an hour or two.

Well when I wired the switch in I didn’t read the instructions. The old switch had a black wire, a white wire, and a green ground wire.  The Wemo had a green, a white and TWO black wires.  I made an on the fly decision to simply connect the two black wires to the black house wire and match up the other colors.  The switch appeared to have power and I was even able to configure it through the app.  I assumed the pool light was working but it was hard to confirm in daylight.  After the sun had set I hit the switch and was disappointed to see the pool was dark.

I did some digging and evidently for proper operation the switch needs a second black wire which is how most normal switch circuits are configured.  I am not sure why the pool light deviated from this.  I read online about people with similar set ups getting around it by wiring the white neutral wire directly to ground which evidently is a big no no.  It may get the switch working but it also has ther potential to cause other safety issues elsewhere.  So anyway the end result was me putting the old switch back in.  Imagine my thrill when I went to test it last night and it still didn’t work…

So for a few weeks I have been gathering intel regarding when Zima was going to be released for another limited production run.  They brought back my favorite alcoholic beverage last year over the summer and it sold out very quickly.  Evidently I am not alone in my love of this great tasting beverage with a 5% alcohol content, which makes it go down very easily.  Anyway, I found out that they were releasing it again this year with an official launch date of today, May 7th.

I am part of Facebook group called Zima Permanent.  As the name implies, the desire of the group is to bring back Zima as a full time offering instead of seasonally.  I would think the sales would dictate that.  On this group I saw that some locations were getting their Zima shipments early.  I used a site called brickseek.com to search local Walmarts for Zima.  I found ONE location that supposedly had 114 units.  It was in Cape Coral, almost an hour drive away but I didn’t care.  Cindy was down to take the dogs on a Zima treasure hunting trip.

So after the hour drive I entered the store with a short grocery list in hand that Cindy made which was in addition to Zima.  She stayed put with the dogs in the Prius.  I grabbed a cart and walked towards the beer and wine aisle with great expectation.  As I made my first pass down the refrigerated aisle I saw no Zima.  I didn’t panic, it must be on an endcap or perhaps stacked in one of the main aisles.  I slowly circled around seeing other alcoholic items on display but no Zima.  I went back to the refrigerated aisle, three times, hoping I just didn’t see the distinctive packaging, somehow.  Nope, no Zima….

I was dejected as I went around the store and grabbed the handful of other non-Zima items on the list.  After doing so I made one more return run towards the beer, but from a different side.  I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks.  There it was, a full five shelves of Zima 6 packs, in an aisle three our four away from the beer aisle.  Why it was there I don’t know but I didn’t care, I had found it.

Now I have seen pictures of people doing ridiculous hoarding of Zima, one guy had 10 CASES in the back of his truck.  I was much more conservative, grabbing 12 six packs or three cases.  Yes it was a lot, especially when you factor in that each six pack was just under 10 bucks.  But again I didn’t care, I found my quest item.

I was a little self conscious as I pushed my shopping cart full of Zima towards check out.  The clerk that assisted me in self check out said she used to drink Zima when she lived in New Jersey 20 years ago.  She had no idea they brought it back.  I told her she better get some while she can.

I returned to the Prius triumphantly.  I took up a good portion of normal dog laying real estate in the back as well as putting a couple six packs on the floor.  I drove with extra caution on the way home, conscious of the value of the cargo I was carrying.  Once we made it home I scattered my Zima around the house making sure I had various sources to pull from.  I am hoping three cases is enough to get me through this calendar year as I normally only drink them occasionally.  Cindy is a fan as well.  I look forward to many good Zima times during the rest of 2018.

On Sunday I had my first ever successful 3D print with TPU which is rubber like, flexible filament.  I have tried printing the stuff multiple times on several printers with little to no success.  This time I tried on the Ender 2 which has a very short Bowden tube which I thought may work great with TPU.  My hunch was right as I printed a flexible cap for the charging port of my EUC.  I later printed a flexible Benchy boat which came out very well.  I am now thinking about what sort of projects would benefit from being able to print in this new flexible material.

Our roof is supposed to start having the metal installed today which should take a total of no more than three days.  Cindy and I are both looking forward to it all being completed.  I have one more related task to be contracted out, new gutters all the way around.  I hopefully have an estimate for that being done tomorrow.

Last night I shot a video illustrating the EUC stand part that I modeled and created from scratch.  It allows you to assemble a stand without using the stainless steel screws and nuts that I normally use.  Instead the part I made is a press fit which keeps the sides of the stand in place.  It’s easier to demonstrate.

Originally our metal roof was supposed to begin phase two yesterday, where the metal is actually attached to the prepared surface.  There was some sort of work they had to complete elsewhere so that start date has been moved to today.  Supposedly it will take two to three days to complete.  By this time next week Cindy and I should be residing under a durable, hurricane resistant and highly heat reflective roof.

Cindy is over on the east coast tonight and tomorrow for an event she is participating in.  We both decided it would logistically make more sense for me to stay home on dog duty.  It just so happens that Ali is also out of town this weekend as well.  I suggested to Ali’s boyfriend that we hang out a drink a few beers as part of my Sadie pick up trip.  I planned to grab Elsa from home first so she isn’t left alone.

It is a bit of an unusual situation where you like your ex-wife’s significant other enough to want to hang out.  It should be a different sort of Friday night and just a weird set of circumstances where both females in the picture are out of town at the same time.  Cindy has been putting a ton of time, energy and effort into this event.  Regardless of the outcome I’m proud of her.

I plan to do my normal thing this weekend, work, play, and whatever else comes to mind.

I just got fantastic news yesterday.  They are re-releasing Zima on May 7th for ANOTHER limited production release.  They did the same thing last summer.  The release last year was a huge success and they sold out of product very quickly, leaving Zima addicts craving more.

Despite the running joke that Zima became over it’s initial lifespan, it is my favorite alcoholic beverage of all time.  The taste is great and the alcohol content is pretty high at 5% so it makes for a potent combination.

I wasted no time to track down potential sources for Zima, calling Total Wine last night at 9:30 to see if they planned on carrying it again this year.  The clerk on the phone was unable to confirm if they were or not which was a bummer but I have Cindy doing more reconnaissance for me this week.  I will make better provisions for stockpiling this year.  Last time we bought by the six pack, this time it will be by the case.