Well, I was wrong

All this winter I had been thinking, up until now,  how mild it had been and thought maybe we would have one of the milder winters of the past. Well I was wrong. I know people in the north eastern US would not have agreed with that premise at all, here in the midwest it has been fairly nice for the most part. All that changed within the last week or so.

Lexington, KY (2-17-2015)

Temperatures have dropped to the below zero category with a forecast of minus 10 tonight. Snow has blanketed the area but I suppose we here in Seymour were a bit better off than a lot of places in the Kentuckiana area. I'm guessing we got maybe 4 inches or so, but my sister (Melody McKinney) in Lexington, KY sent me this picture which shows a bit more snow than that. You and Jim stay warm sis.


While the snow is bad, the real story is the frigid temperatures. I know people with arthritis understand how cold, cold weather affects them, but the thing I don't really understand is how your body knows how cold it is outside. I've been in my home for the duration of this latest snow and cold snap, but still my arthritis is acting up just as though I were out in the cold. In fact, it started before the storm and cold even got here, as if it knew it was coming. Very strange.

Fortunately on the arthritis front, I am now scheduled to see a specialist in Indianapolis on the 13th of next month. Hopefully that will lead to some more effective treatment because I really don't like being trapped here in my bedroom. Even the few steps to my attached bathroom is very painful and difficult.

Even though I have a couple of projects waiting for me in my workshop/spare bedroom, I have been unable to get to those for the last couple of weeks. One is a GE (model P-975D) AM/FM transistor radio of late 60's, early '70's vintage. The radio is complete, but had badly rusted battery contacts. After soaking in CLR and some wire brushing, I was able to put the batteries in to make contact and the radio appears to work very well considering it's age. I still need to clean up the case and controls, but I think there is nothing major wrong with this set.

Project number two is of slightly older vintage, around 1949 to be exact. It's a GE (model 150) 5 tube AC/DC battery portable AM radio. As seen in the picture, the speaker grille is missing some pieces, but I hope to have another case on the way soon. Also one of the tubes (1R5) was missing, but I managed to find one on eBay and that has been shipped here as well. Once I get to feeling better, I hope to to give the ol' girl a try.

I guess that is all I have for now, hope to write more soon...

Where the heck have I been?

Have no fear, I am back. Never really went anywhere, just got out of the habit of posting here. Can't promise I will post here regularly once more, but I'm posting now, so that is something at least.

I've had a lot of arthritis problems as of late and they have kept me from typing at the keyboard for the most part. Oh I could press a key or two with a couple of fingers, but nothing like I am doing now, which is touch typing.

I've also been busy with other projects, such as building an electronic repair bench and then videoing me working on various things there. You can view those on my YouTube channel and looking at the Electronics playlist.

I've done a little work on my Buick, I replaced the passenger side floor that was rusted out. Had the help of my granddaughters Lexi and Kylie for that, plus my brother-in-law Jim came up from Lexington, Kentucky to weld the new panel in. The next project I hope to accomplish on the car is painting the roof. I plan to use a roller and Rustoleum paint. Should be interesting.

Speaking of Lexi and Kylie, they have been learning to cook here on Wednesday evenings. I pick the girls up after school each day and their father usually picks them up after he gets off. But on Wednesday, he works late and Kylie has youth group, so it was decided that they would take turns cooking dinner here that evening. It has been interesting, but mostly good. I'm happy they are learning this valuable skill.

My favorite recent photo

I'm sure most of you already know this, but I became a great grandpa for the second time since last we spoke. My oldest granddaughter, Jordan, gave birth to little Lainee Rene' Eaton on September 30th of 2014. She was Born at 4:22pm, weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 21inches long. 

As a bonus, Jordan and her brother Billy moved into the place across the street from me. How nice is that? Sure is nice to have family living close by. Both of them are pharmacy techs at the CVS in Columbus, Indiana. My daughter Autumn, or Mimi as she is known now that she has a grand child, does most of the babysitting while Jordan is at work. 

So you can see, I have been fairly busy, not so much doing anything in particular, but just living life each day. BTW, it is 2:47 AM here and I'm mostly typing this because I can't sleep. I have a lot of those nights lately, but considering I went to bed about 9:30 the night before and didn't get up until 9 this morning, well, that does cause one not to sleep at a normal time I would think.

Hope to be more regular here if possible. Thanks for listening...

Windows phone users who hate Bing, rejoice!

Yes, for those of you who actually use a Windows phone, but hate when you press the search home button and Bing pops up, I've found a way to make Google come up instead. Mine is a Nokia Lumia 920, but I know this trick works on other brands as well.

The trick is to set your set your browser search language in settings. I thought this was a joke at first, but it works!

To get started, access your phones settings. From the main screen you can swipe to the right for the app menu and go down to Settings. Once in Settings, swipe down and choose the language+region settings. At the bottom of this option is the setting for Browser and search language. From the list which comes up, choose and select Bashkir (Russia). Press the center home button to return to the main screen and then power off your phone.

Power on your phone once it has completely shut down and hit the hourglass button on the right bottom. To your amazement, the Google search screen will appear!

I've heard from some that this messes up YouTube as it appears in Russian, but that was not the case for me. YouTube works the same as it always has on my phone.

To see a demo of this fix, you can watch this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWwViHOtzpc

BTW, it shows in the video choosing plain russian, but I knew from reading other posts on the subject that the one I recommended works. This may be the reason why my YouTube didn't change to russian, which is a good thing.

Grocery shopping

I've always known that Walmart was the cheapest place to shop for some time now. This comparison makes my point very well, even though it ranks Aldi the cheapest. I don't even consider Aldi though, as they don't offer many name brands and are limited in sizes, etc. For me, this was/is all about comparing Kroger and Walmart strictly on a lowest price basis.

I buy my groceries one month at a time and have always been able to get more for my money at Walmart. This was even after using a Kroger card for additional savings. I pity the fool who shops at Kroger without one of those, they are paying through the nose for items!

Because my food needs are very basic, as well as the fact that I only eat twice a day, I can usually eat what I consider well for $100 or less a month. On months that I need to use my money to pay a bill or some unexpected expense comes up, I can survive on much less actually.

I do this by eating a lot of single items like chili for example. I always get the Armour Star chili with beans for $1.14 a can and buy 30 cans of it for $34.20. That is supper for a month for me if need be. A couple of boxes of the store brand crackers and this is a very good meal for me!

If I want variety, I substitute Banquet frozen dinners and pot pies. At $1.00 each for the dinners and only 80 cents each for the pot pies, I can save even more!  At these prices I can even afford to buy the occasional treat like beef stew and bean soup.

For my breakfast meal, I sometimes purchase the El Monterey brand family packs of burritos for which I can get a full months supply for about $13. Put one of these on a napkin and pop in the microwave for a minute, and instant breakfast! That and a bottle of water to take my pills with is all I need to last until supper time.


Naturally I spice things up from time to time and add a few more items to the list, such as Great Value pancake mix or maybe a box of cereal and bananas to top it with. And I also buy other items for the supper meal too from time to time, like frozen pizza or maybe even hamburger helper.

The point is, I can eat cheap if I need to. Some might find my way of doing things bland or boring, but it satisfies me and that is all I need. And yes I do include veggies in my diet from time to time as well. I might even make a meat loaf if the mood strikes me.

I have not really mentioned what I drink with my meals, but that is simply water. I used to buy the discount diet soda, but I've found that I like water even better when I eat. Bland yes, but better for you in the long run.

To those who say this diet not healthy, I can say that while I was working, my primary single daily meal consisted of deep fried chicken tenders and taters after work. Considering this, I look like a health food nut now!

They are at it again.

As one of my many news sources, I sometimes click on Yahoo and read their news feed. Imagine my shock when I saw these two headlines on the same newsfeed page:

'Duck Dynasty,' 'American Idol' Suffer Big Ratings Drops in Return

‘Duck Dynasty’ Season Premiere Gets Ratings Boost Following Controversy

Both stories appeared within an hour of one another and both were sourced to the Yahoo TV news site. So what is a person supposed to think? If you click the links and read both stories, you will see that the actual facts are pretty much the same. 

The difference, as usual, is a question of the writer's  or editor's point of view. In the news game, and it is a game, it never hurts to talk out of both sides of your mouth. Covering both the pro Duck Dynasty crowd as well as it's detractors, it's easy to see what the goal of these two articles were. And that is to get the maximum number of people to read the article. After all, ad rates are based on how many people view/read a story and with headlines like this, you get both the pro and con sides reading basically the same story.

Where Yahoo messed up was to post both stories within site of one another. Of course that makes a person want to find out both sides of the story, but imagine the disappointment when they found out the story was basically the same. Perhaps others don't care at all, but I tend to read the Yahoo newsfeed with a jaundiced eye. Too many things don't add up there for me.

TWIT TV fumbles again

I used to think Leo Laporte was a smart man. His Twit TV network seemed to be doing well. But lately, my viewing has tapered off a bit and now, with his latest decision, I probably won't watch at all.

What decision is that? You ask, well I'm talking about the failure to renew Tom Merritt's contract in favor of Mike Elgan,  (Mr. Personality as I call him). Tom may have moved to LA, but I thought his TNT show didn't miss a beat when he started doing the hosting remotely.

As with all such decisions, I'm sure there is more to the story than is being told. At one point, Leo had mentioned handing over more of his duties to Tom, but the handwriting had been on the wall for some time now.

First thing I noticed was Tom's absence on Leo's Triangulation program. I believe Leo passed that off as Tom not wanting to do the show any longer, who knows for sure what happened there. I realize in the business of show, personalities sometimes clash and no doubt Leo would get his way in any such debacle.

And just to be clear, what Leo and his gang do is considered show business. It may all be about tech related stuff, but when it comes to getting in front of a camera, the only thing that matters is how well you pull it off. And Tom Merritt did a great job, he was witty, personable and seemed to be at ease in front of the camera.

Mike Elgan, while I'm sure he is a good tech news journalist, has none of the qualities it takes to be an on-air personality. Maybe Leo thinks he can bring him around and loosen him up a bit, who knows. I have to admit that Fr. Robert Ballecer is doing a much better job than I thought he would do. So maybe Leo can work his magic with Mike as well.

It will be an interesting experiment to be sure, but one I probably won't catch. I feel sorry for Leo, his decision will affect Twit TV much more than it will Tom Merritt. Tom will land on his feet and I believe come out of this even stronger. Best wishes to Tom and his wife Eileen Rivera as they continue their new Twit-less life in LA.

And to Leo, I was with you from the start, watched all of the shows you were involved in, good and bad. But I've grown tired of your ways of late and will probably not watch Twit so much anymore. Good luck to you with the new setup, may you be happy and secure in the knowledge that you have managed to alienate yet another viewer. Maybe that is your goal in life, who knows...

Google doesn't get it

There is a sizable number of YouTube users who are fed up with Google's recent push to have all YouTube accounts added to Google Plus. It's funny, the largest of any of the so-called social media sites must resort to trickery and deceit to recruit new members.

If Google Plus is so great, how come Google has to resort to using it's clout to force the YouTubers into it's fold? Facebook and Twitter never did that and they seem to be just fine. I guess Google wasn't secure enough in it's product to do it the old fashioned way.

I like (and use) a lot of Google products (including this blog), but I want to pick and choose which ones I use, not have it dictated to me by Google! Maybe Google is copying Apple as they have forced their desires onto their users since the beginning of time. Apple knows best, now Google too?

Most YouTubers will go along with the changes, but I can totally guarantee that most a) will not like it and b) will not ever use Google Plus. You can't force people to do something they don't want to do Google, get that through your thick corporate head!

And while I'm on the subject of Google bashing, this push to get everyone using their real name for all Google accounts is bullshit. Pardon my language, but it upsets me to no end for companies like Google to allow people to use their internet handle or nom de plume as the French might say, to set up their accounts and then have the gall to come along and want you to change it to your real name.

I set up my internet moniker a long, long time ago and I am known by that name (mosslack), in all of the sites I visit and use regularly. Now I'm just suppose to change all of a sudden b/c Google has some vision of world peace through people worldwide using their real name? Get real Google, this is real people you are dealing with. We like our anonymity on the internet. We don't care to have our real identities known by every internet scam artist who comes along. Stop living in a dream world!