Running Bear's March 2025 Coffee Shop

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santafewillie said:
Swal - The only one that I have had issues with is walking into a room and forgetting why I'm there. Happens occasionally.
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Willie I definitely have problems with miss placing my reading glasses. I buy 2 more pair every time I'm in the dollar store. I must have 12 pair now and still can't find a pair to wear. I think if I get to 20 pairs, I'll be good.
Swal
 
Good afternoon at 12:03pm Wisconsin time!

We are back from the brief 15 minute checkup that was a clusterf…

Doctor was running late, 1st 20, then 30 and finally on the board 60 minutes late. They took Terry in at 66 minutes after her scheduled time. 15 minutes later we were on our way. Never saw the eye surgeon but saw his resident. The surgeon had knee surgery 2 weeks ago and after Terry’s procedure yesterday he tweaked his knee again. So he was there but barely moving

Stopped for breakfast afterwards because we both had pills we needed to take with food! Then the Casey’s gas station where my $2.10 per gallon HyVee grocery store card discount was declined 3 times and then frozen. Terry already called DesMoines, Iowa and HyVee says they see nothing wrong with the card. The discount is still there. ButtI won’t need gas for a few weeks

Terry is resting and I heading down to the layout

Be well
 


NorthBrit said:
I am of the school of eating what I like when I like. Drink tea and coffee when I like. I have got through life this way and no doctor or dietician is going to change it. I do not exercise the way they want me to. I get up and down the stairs without any challenges and more times than most people.
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David, I normally follow the doctors orders and requests. I drew the line at drinking water, I won't do it!

I'm staying hydrated my way. Today's blood pressure 114/67! 😁
 
TLOC said:
Good afternoon at 12:03pm Wisconsin time!

We are back from the brief 15 minute checkup that was a clusterf…

Doctor was running late, 1st 20, then 30 and finally on the board 60 minutes late. They took Terry in at 66 minutes after her scheduled time. 15 minutes later we were on our way. Never saw the eye surgeon but saw his resident. The surgeon had knee surgery 2 weeks ago and after Terry’s procedure yesterday he tweaked his knee again. So he was there but barely moving

Stopped for breakfast afterwards because we both had pills we needed to take with food! Then the Casey’s gas station where my $2.10 per gallon HyVee grocery store card discount was declined 3 times and then frozen. Terry already called DesMoines, Iowa and HyVee says they see nothing wrong with the card. The discount is still there. ButtI won’t need gas for a few weeks

Terry is resting and I heading down to the layout

Be well
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I have always wondered, what taking pills with food required, do you:
Eat and then take the pills, or
Take the pills and then eat, or
Take the pills while eating.
Inquiring minds want to know.
 
JimKrol said:
I have always wondered, what taking pills with food required, do you:
Eat and then take the pills, or
Take the pills and then eat, or
Take the pills while eating.
Inquiring minds want to know.
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What works best for Terry is eat and 1/2 through the meal take her pills then finish her meal.

For me. I eat, finish my meal than take any pills.

For both of us, these particular pills wreak havoc on our stomachs if we don’t take with food.

My thyroid replacement meds must be taken on an empty stomach upon morning wake-up and at least 1/2 hour before eating any food and at least an hour before I take any sort of calcium
 
Bruette said:
David, I normally follow the doctors orders and requests. I drew the line at drinking water, I won't do it!

I'm staying hydrated my way. Today's blood pressure 114/67! 😁
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I've been adding MIO flavor to my water. No caffeine, but sweeteners and flavor. Today I'm drinking Orange/Tangerine. I also like the strawberry/watermellon flavor. Avoid the "energy" variety. I think they've got caffeine.
 
I not sure why there's s hallo on the screen but I filled 16 bags of leaves and sticks in the back yard a few days ago and 18 in the front today that will be picked up by the town on Friday. I just have to bring them out to the road. The one good thing we get for our taxes.
Swal

Yard_Clean_Up.jpg
 


santafewillie said:
Chad - That's one hell of an electronic setup for one simple loop.;)
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You are 100% correct. I'm testing different functionalities and capabilities to learn about them and since I already had it all installed on the board from my previous test layout it was just as easy or easier to hook the loop up to it. Not all the modules are in use. There are two "hubs" for Loconet and S88 and also a turnout decoder/controller not currently in use... But I'll be hooking up more stuff coming up as well :)

I did get it running this morning. There was a setting that had been reset and so the two internal modules for the LAN and the WiFi couldn't agree to the protocol to be using, so my Z21 apps were not able to connect. A quick question on the appropriate Groups.IO list and the original firmware author, who left Digikeijs and eventually created a new company, gave me a trick to get them in sync again. And it worked.

So now I am starting to figure out how my app worked so I can re-start it and convert it to newer tech for app architecture. The stuff I am trying to learn. It turns out, looking at the dates inside the app, I did most of the work in 2020, with some updates in 2022. Need to catch up...
 
So, I mentioned last night that a lt had been going on. I've decided it's time to explain what's been going on.

First with the house. We had our first "final inspection" for a temporary occupancy permit, on Jan 28. I think I mentioned it before but it didn't pass. But after some back and forth and the boss inspector coming out, there were just a few things we needed to get fixed. There was more time trying to get on the same page then actual work that needed to be done. We took care of it and on 2/11 I think it was we passed the inspection. I think we slept in the house the first time on 2/12. There was something about the grading and drainage that needed to be taken care of but it was a different department from the normal inspectors office. The inspectors thought we didn't need to worry about final grading and drainage until the final occupancy in 6 months but that afternoon he called me and told me we needed to pass that as well. I called and talked to engineering and the guy came out and identified what we needed to do. It was not an easy thing and we negotiated and he gave us 90 days to get the changes done so we slept in the house that night. But then on the 13th we got the actual temporary occupancy certificate that was listed as being valid from 2/13, so we probably were a day early. But the initial inspection report had listed 2/11 as the date it passed so that's why we moved in on the 12th. No harm no foul.

so we have 6 months to do things like finish the stairs (now they are code compliant versions of the construction stairs), install one shower door (two showers are done), install window aprons, door handles (some are done), cabinet handles, and all sorts of small stuff. We have another 2 months to finish the drainage grading as well. Our city changed their city code a few years ago to be much more strict about actual compliance with any drainage and grading shown on the plan. Previously they just really cared about 10-12' of slope away from the house, but now the whole lot needs to the approved plans. The 90 days was to get it compliant on the N and S. The backyard we can do later this summer. The south side is basically, mostly, ok and done but it had snow on it when the guy inspected so he may not have seen it. We'll emphasize the "swale" for him. The north side however needs a lot of work and I am not sure what we'll do. Wd have some piles of dirt and sand and being on the upside of the slope and the need to get the water to flow to the street, we'll have to figure it out.

However, the biggest thing that has happened is that my job went away. I had a meeting on jan 27 with the upper boss and HR. A total of 4 of use were laid off, effective February 28. (So we had another month to work). They have an OK severance, plus some lump sums to help with health insurance, and we got paid the 2024 bonus that is paid in Feb. Our team had been split between N America and India and had been that way for years. About 1.5 - 2 years ago my boss resigned, and our group was moved from under the higher level director (in Indiana) to a different upper director level guy (a guy in California from India, who was over the server side groups including in India) and a new manager in India was placed over our group and the server groups we worked with. Eventually a lower level manager was put in place over us at the same level my manager had been at. Anyway, it seems to be this guy in India is a kingdom builder. Though we had successfully launched a new app in multiple versions with a split between India office and the N American office, this guy thought it was too hard to coordinate so he set about to get rid of the N American team as much as possible and shift all the efforts to the India office. (This is not offshoring in that it was not an external team -- it was the internal India office team we had been working with for years, but being expanded).

So 4 of us were let go, 3 of us senior level and one junior who had been there a few years. The rest of the N American team, mid level except for one senior guy in Canada, have been moved to a "sustainment" team instead of the prime development engineering team. My understanding is that they will be the N American arm of the team to provide live same time zone help to the customer support and escalations teams since all the customers are in N America. They need to have people available during the business hours to provide technical engineering support. I'm betting most of these guys move on within a year or three since it's really not that interesting of a job. But we'll see. I think the team in India will not meet their goals since most of them don't have the experience and background in the apps and will struggle -- especially with all the new hires. Not that they aren't capable -- they are. But the depth of experience with the apps and also big picture engineering is lacking and they'll end up getting themselves in trouble. We'll see.

Anyway, so I've been needing to find a new job so we can afford to pay for the house. It's really a tight and hard labor market right now in software. I spent February making some applications and polishing resumes etc and I am still working on new resume skills, interviewing skills, etc as it's all changed since I last had to look 9 years ago. But we were also moving and the move itself was awful (as they always are) and I still have a ton of small things like handles, and shelves, and stuff that needs to be done. The company is paying for 4 months of outplacements services including help with resumes, polishing interviewing skills, etc. So I am doing that and looking nd applying for various positions.

That's why I am getting my old DCC throttle app out. A lot of the iOS engineering positions are wanting experience with a technology called SwifrtUI and Combine. I had done a small amount of it last year but am really not at all comfortable with it. So I am going to convert my throttle app I had started to be structured using this new tech. It is a way to learn and polish the skill and if I can quickly get the basic app into the App Store have a portfolio app to show using the tech.

That's what's been happening around here.

Oh, we also got the heat pump finally working a week ago. The horizontal piping outside had been done in December and in Kate January or early February the guy came and did most all the internal piping of the unit to the radiant system in the basement and a week or two ago he and his brother came and purged the system and filled it with water/methanol [anti-freeze] and got the pumps hooked up etc. Last week I did the last few bits of wiring to hook the controller to the pump and we got it working. So the house has been heated through the heat pump this last week. Only once did the gas boiler also run (it's wired as a backup and was the prime source since the heat pump had not been active so the backup was prime). The first day we had it on we ad turned up the temperature so it used both gas and the heat pump to get a more quick rise in tank temperature (holding tank that feeds the radiant). I still have one zone, two runs that are hanging in the basement to hook into the manifold -- they are from the porch room that was not done when we did the original piping. And I have not yet installed all the individual thermostats, slab sensors, and manifold actuators so the whole house is being run off one thermostat still. But I can do that later.

the boiler is actually there to run the snow melt radiant in the driveway, and to act as a backup for the house. But the piping in the driveway is not hooked up to the manifold. The pipes are there but not hooked up yet. And the snow melt controller box is not yet wired in in the garage. But luckily this winter was mild and we never really needed it. I'll take care of it later this spring.
 
chadbag said:
Lot's has been happening and I'll make a full report soon.

However, I set up a small loop of track today. When I took down my previous "test track", which was a double tracked large loop on an 4x8 board with a spur and also a splitting of the tracks for a station platform, I did not take apart all the DCC stuff. I just unhooked the track wires.

I had been testing various bits so I still had my DR5000 command station, to DR5088RC RailCom block detection units, a DR5003 booster (one RailCom detector on each of the command station and booster), as well as a switch controller, a Digitrax LNWI WiThrottle unit hooked to the command station over LocoNet, and some other stuff... That's all still hooked together on a single board so I set up two blocks on my small oval and have one block hooked to the DR5000 and one to the DR5033 booster through the two DR5088RC detection units, etc.

I have the DR5000 in Z21 mode but for some reason I cannot get my Z21 apps to control anything. It doesn't respond. But if I run WiThrottle Lite app through the LNWI, I can control a train (across both blocks so I know it's working :) ), and I can use the DR5000 control utility on my PC connected by USB to control stuff as well. So I am still debugging why the Z21 mode is not working.

The whole purpose for this is I want to get back to working on my throttle app I started back in 2020--2022. I'm wanting to convert it from its existing Swift / UIKit / RxSwift base to the Apple reactive framework Combine / SwiftUI. I did a little development using SwiftUI / Combine last summer at work but not enough to have any sort of confidence in it, and I want to get really proficient. What better project to do it with than my throttle app and converting it (and releasing it! as a portfolio type app). Better than just useless mindless tutorials. I'll do those but then I will apply it to my own app.

These were the first trains in a long while I've had running...

View attachment 213908View attachment 213907View attachment 213906
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Looking at all the electronics and then looking at one simple loop of track reminds me of a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy pulling a little red wagon. 😄😄
 
I'm pretty sure I have not posted this.

OI found a short cover of the following on FB and thought it was interesting. So I went and found the full length version of the cover on YT and that's when I realized it was a cover, so I found the original, which is here. This sort of "singing" I find amazing. The wife says the lyrics are Japanese tongue twisters. How they can do it so flawlessly I find amazing.

It kind of reminds me of Barenaked Ladies 'One Week'.

 
Good afternoon to all.............

I'm still trying to catch up with that extra hour we lost going to daylight savings time.

USPS still acting as a state tour guide on several of my packages. One went from Kansas City Kansas to St Louis Mo. This must be the extended, out of state package tour. However I did receive a couple of E-bay items today. They must have just slipped past those hillbillies at Ft Worth mail distribution center....Ha Ha Ha.

More work on the layout putting down track, wiring feeders, drilling holes for feeders, attaching feeders to main bus, drilling holes for wire to come through for turnout control, gluing down track (spell check says glueing is incorrect) and keeping track straight without "waves" in the rails. If all this sounds a bit tedious, trust me, it is. Plus while some would say I'm slow, I prefer to say I'm methodical because I hate doing things twice.

Weather is great here in west Texas, sunny and in the upper 70s. But I'm on a quest getting all the track down on the upper level of my layout so I'll be inside.

Everyone have a great day and evening..........John
 
CambriaArea51 said:
Ever try newspaper stripes and joint compound.
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I have not, but I have watched several videos on making your own home brew sculptamold.

I should take another look at it. Back when I did the mountains on my N scale layout, you could buy 50 pounds for under $100.00. Now the best price I can find is $120.00 for 25 pounds. I'm probably going to need at least a 50 pound box for just this section I'm working on.

I tried blending the first couple of castings with Easy-set30. Not sure I like the outcome as much as the sculptamold.
 


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