Now I Need Help Rubbing And Roasting It...Anyone Interested?
OK...Not Really.
I've actually already brined it and rubbed it and now it's laying out on the grill over a pan of water cooking in indirect heat.
MY (Boston) BUTT...that is...
If you want to know how to brine and rub YOUR BUTT...go over HERE to my other blog--"The Redneck Gourmet" and see how many times I can write the word "Butt" in a single recipe.
Time to go check on my Butt now I guess...
Heh
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Another "Working" Weekend
The Fruits Of Procrastination And Poor Planning...
Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I had a building full of people here for part of the day at the Turbopup Compound a.k.a. my company's International Headquarters.
And as a result I was up at 4 AM finishing presentation materials and sprucing things up---putting away the Turbo Pup toys and cleaning out the kitchen sink (because you can see it from thedining room conference room table.
The good news is that my ideas were well received, and with any luck after a little polishing I'll have a portable version of my new prototype panel in the hands of my sales partner company by the end of this month.
In the mean time I have three more pneumatic valves to get out the door this week and of course the never ending PLC project is wrapping up and going into a cardboard box before we head out on the road to spend a long weekend in the Pittsburgh, PA area for a wedding celebration.
I walked outside just now and found the weather to be refreshingly cooler this morning, and looking at the NOAA weather website it looks like we have a real nice pool weekend coming up so Pat and Missy the Turbo Pup will have something to do while I have my head stuck in the shop and in front of the computer screen.
I hope Y'all have a LOVELY (and productive if need be) weekend also...
Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I had a building full of people here for part of the day at the Turbopup Compound a.k.a. my company's International Headquarters.
And as a result I was up at 4 AM finishing presentation materials and sprucing things up---putting away the Turbo Pup toys and cleaning out the kitchen sink (because you can see it from the
The good news is that my ideas were well received, and with any luck after a little polishing I'll have a portable version of my new prototype panel in the hands of my sales partner company by the end of this month.
In the mean time I have three more pneumatic valves to get out the door this week and of course the never ending PLC project is wrapping up and going into a cardboard box before we head out on the road to spend a long weekend in the Pittsburgh, PA area for a wedding celebration.
I walked outside just now and found the weather to be refreshingly cooler this morning, and looking at the NOAA weather website it looks like we have a real nice pool weekend coming up so Pat and Missy the Turbo Pup will have something to do while I have my head stuck in the shop and in front of the computer screen.
I hope Y'all have a LOVELY (and productive if need be) weekend also...
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Too Tired To Complain (Much)
Mental Funk Continues...
It's a rare event when I can't figure out how to do something.
OK...
Open heart surgery, building a manned spacecraft...
I don't do much of that kind of stuff these days, but still.
I've got a few little bitty details to work out still on the latest PLC panel and just like every engineering project, it seems that the last 5% of any given project takes 95% of the time and effort to complete.
That rule is certainly true in my basement these days.
There's plenty of crap going on out there in the news and in the world that makes my ever greying, ever balding head spin (at near orbital rotational velocity), but in an effort to stay focused I've declined to comment.
Let's face it, ladies and gentlemen. We live in a society of people today many of which have lost track of what it means to be an American.
At least an American in the sense of the America I grew up in in the 1960's and 1970's.
If President Kennedy were alive today and he made a speech challenging America to build a spacecraft from scratch and fly to the moon by the end of the decade, you know what?
I don't believe that we could do it.
Again.
Not because we lack the academic acumen to do the work, but because we lack the resolve and political climate to accomplish the task again.
And that's sad.
Very SAD.
It's a rare event when I can't figure out how to do something.
OK...
Open heart surgery, building a manned spacecraft...
I don't do much of that kind of stuff these days, but still.
I've got a few little bitty details to work out still on the latest PLC panel and just like every engineering project, it seems that the last 5% of any given project takes 95% of the time and effort to complete.
That rule is certainly true in my basement these days.
There's plenty of crap going on out there in the news and in the world that makes my ever greying, ever balding head spin (at near orbital rotational velocity), but in an effort to stay focused I've declined to comment.
Let's face it, ladies and gentlemen. We live in a society of people today many of which have lost track of what it means to be an American.
At least an American in the sense of the America I grew up in in the 1960's and 1970's.
If President Kennedy were alive today and he made a speech challenging America to build a spacecraft from scratch and fly to the moon by the end of the decade, you know what?
I don't believe that we could do it.
Again.
Not because we lack the academic acumen to do the work, but because we lack the resolve and political climate to accomplish the task again.
And that's sad.
Very SAD.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Eat My Dust
YOUR Government Has Lost It's Mind...
Crap like this just makes me crazy.
Did you know that the Imperial Federal Government of the United By-God States of 'Merica, via the Environmental Protection Agency, is considering regulating "Farm Dust" ?
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering a crackdown on farm dust, so senators have signed a letter addressing their concerns on the possible regulations.
The letter dated July 23 to the EPA states, "If approved, would establish the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation's history." It further states, "We respect efforts for a clean and healthy environment, but not at the expense of common sense. These identified levels will be extremely burdensome for farmers and livestock producers to attain. Whether its livestock kicking up dust, soybeans being combined on a dry day in the fall, or driving a car down the gravel road, dust is a naturally occurring event."
It's not like that these idiots that can't run a letter delivery system and make a profit (US Postal Service)don't have plenty of important things to worry about.
Things that matter like Radon Gas in your basement or the Ozone Hole or leaking oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, but these stupid wild eyed suckers are spending time out running around looking for NEW STUFF to regulate.
But Farm Dust?
FARM DUST?
I guess they can add that to the list of crap the sniveling, booger eating, tie died, patchouli stinking hippies have to protest and worry about along with cows belching and farting and odors coming from chicken shit stored on chicken farms.
I swear to God People, if you go out in November and vote to put most of our elected idiots back in office (or worse yet you don't vote at all) you deserve to get a ticket for driving down a dirt road kicking up a dust trail in the process.
I have to go now because my head hurts just thinking about this idocy.
Crap like this just makes me crazy.
Did you know that the Imperial Federal Government of the United By-God States of 'Merica, via the Environmental Protection Agency, is considering regulating "Farm Dust" ?
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering a crackdown on farm dust, so senators have signed a letter addressing their concerns on the possible regulations.
The letter dated July 23 to the EPA states, "If approved, would establish the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation's history." It further states, "We respect efforts for a clean and healthy environment, but not at the expense of common sense. These identified levels will be extremely burdensome for farmers and livestock producers to attain. Whether its livestock kicking up dust, soybeans being combined on a dry day in the fall, or driving a car down the gravel road, dust is a naturally occurring event."
It's not like that these idiots that can't run a letter delivery system and make a profit (US Postal Service)don't have plenty of important things to worry about.
Things that matter like Radon Gas in your basement or the Ozone Hole or leaking oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, but these stupid wild eyed suckers are spending time out running around looking for NEW STUFF to regulate.
But Farm Dust?
FARM DUST?
I guess they can add that to the list of crap the sniveling, booger eating, tie died, patchouli stinking hippies have to protest and worry about along with cows belching and farting and odors coming from chicken shit stored on chicken farms.
I swear to God People, if you go out in November and vote to put most of our elected idiots back in office (or worse yet you don't vote at all) you deserve to get a ticket for driving down a dirt road kicking up a dust trail in the process.
I have to go now because my head hurts just thinking about this idocy.
Dead In The Water
Paralyzed With Indecision...
Dang it...I can't seem to getcrap anything useful accomplished the past few days.
OK, I've got some paper work done and put together some pricing on a new product I'm developing, but tangible, paying, work production has been limited.
And I'm going to get my tail in a crack shortly if I don't get this PLC panel out the door this week, but my head just isn't into the process right now for some reason.
Every thing's installed and working...sort of...but the fine tuning process is tedious and I still have to finish up the users' manual and working on stuff like this solo just further complicates things.
Owning the business, I can pretty much do whatever I want to do without having to deal with a "committee"...it's just figuring out what exactly to do that's the problem sometimes.
For instance, I suggest that you don't do anything like this...
That's hilarious, and I think I'll go do some laundry now...
Dang it...I can't seem to get
OK, I've got some paper work done and put together some pricing on a new product I'm developing, but tangible, paying, work production has been limited.
And I'm going to get my tail in a crack shortly if I don't get this PLC panel out the door this week, but my head just isn't into the process right now for some reason.
Every thing's installed and working...sort of...but the fine tuning process is tedious and I still have to finish up the users' manual and working on stuff like this solo just further complicates things.
Owning the business, I can pretty much do whatever I want to do without having to deal with a "committee"...it's just figuring out what exactly to do that's the problem sometimes.
For instance, I suggest that you don't do anything like this...
That's hilarious, and I think I'll go do some laundry now...
Monday, August 02, 2010
I'm Your Huckleberry...Part Deaux
The Latest "Cone Of Death" Approaches...
...And the sniveling tie died patchouli stinking booger eaters rejoice...
I TOLD YOU SO...
(and you're welcome)
...And the sniveling tie died patchouli stinking booger eaters rejoice...
I TOLD YOU SO...
(and you're welcome)
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Let The Cape Verde Hurricane Season Begin...
My Head Already Hurts
So it's August 1st, and the "Cape Verde" part of the 2010 Hurricane season will be getting into full swing in the next couple of weeks.
Look forward to the Atlantic Trade winds, as they have for the past zillion years, delivering the waves of moisture which come off of the African Continent across the Atlantic and with some miraculous combination of upper level highs and low pressure systems we here in the Southeastern US and the Central American region will get to enjoy the results of the atmosphere redistributing the heat and moisture in the process.
And the sniveling tree hugging booger eater global warming fanatics will sit around in their tie died shirts stinking of Patchouli and chanting "Death to Bush and Cheney" and the talking weather heads will tell you that we're all doomed and in the mean time I'm here to tell you...
It's AUGUST people...
On and near the US Gulf Coast...
And the wind is going to blow and the rain is going to fall just like it has pretty much every F**king year for the last million years since the Good Lord created the planet.
So get over it...
...Dammit...
So it's August 1st, and the "Cape Verde" part of the 2010 Hurricane season will be getting into full swing in the next couple of weeks.
Look forward to the Atlantic Trade winds, as they have for the past zillion years, delivering the waves of moisture which come off of the African Continent across the Atlantic and with some miraculous combination of upper level highs and low pressure systems we here in the Southeastern US and the Central American region will get to enjoy the results of the atmosphere redistributing the heat and moisture in the process.
And the sniveling tree hugging booger eater global warming fanatics will sit around in their tie died shirts stinking of Patchouli and chanting "Death to Bush and Cheney" and the talking weather heads will tell you that we're all doomed and in the mean time I'm here to tell you...
It's AUGUST people...
On and near the US Gulf Coast...
And the wind is going to blow and the rain is going to fall just like it has pretty much every F**king year for the last million years since the Good Lord created the planet.
So get over it...
...Dammit...
Saturday, July 31, 2010
I'm Your Huckleberry
Rambling Commentary On World Events
Oh...where to start this morning?
I'm sort of wild eyed and a little grumpy because I'm going to work through the weekend getting things done I couldn't or didn't manage to do last week, so...
Should I write about the hilarious antics of theNiggras Negros Blacks African Americans members of the Congressional Black Caucus up in DC getting their sorry race baiting demagogue butts into ethics hearings?
Waters and Rangel should have been tossed out on their stupid black rear ends 20 years ago but because of their color no one was willing to call them on their illegal deeds without risking being called "racist".
As the old saying goes..."give an idiot enough rope and they will eventually hang themselves with it"...
Or maybe I'll write about General Motors...aka "Government Motors" getting all the Obamamaniacs astir with the introduction of a $41,000 electric car--the "Volt"--with the interior room to accommodate four midgets and a capability of going 40 MILES before having to fire up the gasoline engine and burn only premium gasoline for the next 300 plus miles.
And then of course since it's summer and it hasn't rained in LA since February, it's big news that most of southern California has burst into flame and is chasing people out of their homes and businesses while the idiot reporters in the newspapers and on the TV act like it's never ever happened before.
Or maybe I'll predict that in the next two weeks that 2 or 3 decent sized tropical events will occur in the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico and every single person working at ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/MSNBC and the ASSociated press will lose their minds and proclaim doom and gloom and death and destruction because of the Bush Tax Cuts causing Global Warming...and the storms will disproportionately affect minorities and women.
But then again, I'm busy and don't have time to tell you what I really think.
Y'all have a LOVELY Saturday.
Oh...where to start this morning?
I'm sort of wild eyed and a little grumpy because I'm going to work through the weekend getting things done I couldn't or didn't manage to do last week, so...
Should I write about the hilarious antics of the
Waters and Rangel should have been tossed out on their stupid black rear ends 20 years ago but because of their color no one was willing to call them on their illegal deeds without risking being called "racist".
As the old saying goes..."give an idiot enough rope and they will eventually hang themselves with it"...
Or maybe I'll write about General Motors...aka "Government Motors" getting all the Obamamaniacs astir with the introduction of a $41,000 electric car--the "Volt"--with the interior room to accommodate four midgets and a capability of going 40 MILES before having to fire up the gasoline engine and burn only premium gasoline for the next 300 plus miles.
And then of course since it's summer and it hasn't rained in LA since February, it's big news that most of southern California has burst into flame and is chasing people out of their homes and businesses while the idiot reporters in the newspapers and on the TV act like it's never ever happened before.
Or maybe I'll predict that in the next two weeks that 2 or 3 decent sized tropical events will occur in the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico and every single person working at ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/MSNBC and the ASSociated press will lose their minds and proclaim doom and gloom and death and destruction because of the Bush Tax Cuts causing Global Warming...and the storms will disproportionately affect minorities and women.
But then again, I'm busy and don't have time to tell you what I really think.
Y'all have a LOVELY Saturday.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Blogging For Blogging's Sake
Words Tumbling Out Onto The Keyboard...
I've got so much stuff going on around here these days I've missed my mid morning nap three of the past four days.
Today looks like it will be day five based on what I see looking at my "to-do" list.
I managed to get four more pneumatic valves out the door yesterday bringing this week's total to eight, and I have three more "master rebuilds" to do next week once the piston shafts come back from the chrome shop and are re-ground to tolerance.
And of course the new PLC panel is still snorting and banging around in the shop waiting on the final software revisions and...
you get my drift...
So I'm going to go now and finish reading the news and getting ready for another eight or ten hour day of beating my head against a computer screen.
Regards Y'all...
I've got so much stuff going on around here these days I've missed my mid morning nap three of the past four days.
Today looks like it will be day five based on what I see looking at my "to-do" list.
I managed to get four more pneumatic valves out the door yesterday bringing this week's total to eight, and I have three more "master rebuilds" to do next week once the piston shafts come back from the chrome shop and are re-ground to tolerance.
And of course the new PLC panel is still snorting and banging around in the shop waiting on the final software revisions and...
you get my drift...
So I'm going to go now and finish reading the news and getting ready for another eight or ten hour day of beating my head against a computer screen.
Regards Y'all...
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Ummmmmmmm...
Errrrrrrrrrr....
Sorry Ladies and Gentlemens, but I'm REAL busy.
Blog more later.
(If anyone knows about Photovoltaic Cells give me a ring.)
Sorry Ladies and Gentlemens, but I'm REAL busy.
Blog more later.
(If anyone knows about Photovoltaic Cells give me a ring.)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Eighty Eight Thousand...Eight Hundred And Eighty Eight Hits
Thanks For Reading
Click on the image for photographic evidence...
Click on the image for photographic evidence...
An International Dispute In My Basement?
15 Hour Days = No Blogging
Sorry for missing a day of blogging yesterday, but I have a good excuse involving "professional obligations." (and the people that know me in real life are laughing their rear ends off right now when I include "professional" in the same sentence with reference to myself.)
Any way, for some reason I went out in June and sold this touch screen PLC based sensor system which has to measure the temperature of a product on a production line moving past at a rate of as fast as 22,000 units per hour.
Yes, you heard me right ...TWENTY TWO THOUSAND PER HOUR.
Doing the math for those of you that went to FSU and UGA, that's a little over 6 times per SECOND that something comes flying past my two non-contact infrared temperature sensors. (Non contact IR Sensors are expensive...and that's all you need to know if you're not an injuneer.)
I'm using "non-contact" type sensors because obviously you can't actually touch something moving that fast to determine it's temperature because either you or it would get hurt in the process.
Got it?
Then to complicate things further, the customer's existing process is smart and can throttle it's speed downward by about 50% if things start backing up in packaging or somewhere else on the line, and this makes it hard to tell where the bad product my temperature sensors have detected is located afterward because my system is supposed to "kick" the offending product off the line before it gets mixed in with all of the other good product.
You might think that's a hard standard, but believe me it's even HARDER than you think at these speeds...particularly since you can't just guess how fast it's moving.
You have to KNOW...
Exactly.
Then, as my title suggests, I'm having trouble getting all of the sensors to get along because they're from different manufacturers.
But hey...all three are all built in Germany, and I thought that by default that they'd all speak the same language and all I needed was a good translator so that I could understand what they were saying and things would be good.
But NooooooOOOOOOO...
I'm not sure what it is...maybe the guys that designed my proximity sensors are fans of a different Rugby or Soccer team from the ones designing my IR sensors or something.
And my PLC was made here in the good old United By-God States of 'Merica (by non-union employees...I've been to the factory) and everyone knows how most Germans feel about Americans.
And with the switches and warning lights made in China and Taiwan and some of the other stuff made in Costa Rica, it almost seems like that for the past month I've had a regular United Nations Security Council sub-committee meeting going on in my shop inside a 16" x 20" x 8" steel box.
And apparently up until now, everybody gets to vote but ME.
I just spent about 22 hours over the past two days trying to "sprint to the finish line" on this project and late yesterday I think I had my final breakthrough on getting everyone to agree to work together and not pass any resolutions against the US and more specifically, anyone living here at the Turbo Pup Compound.
In the interest of diversity the Council demanded I get some woman's involvement into the process, so Pat looked at everything and was impressed and said it looked "cool".
And little Missy the Turbo Pup's a girl puppy, so I'm gonna hold her up to the front of the cabinet today and let her put a good puppy "snoogh" right in the middle of the touch screen.
Unfortunately I was unable to comply with the racial diversity part of their request because I don't know any African Americans here in Knoxtown with PLC programming skills.
I told them that the Chief plant electrician at my customer's facility is a very competent Black guy so the Chinese talked the Germans into letting me off the hook on that one.
So now, Ladies and Gentlemen, having explained where I've been for the past 48 hours, I'm going to collapse back into a coma for another two or three hours before getting back downstairs to make sure one group of parts hasn't started another war with the other groups.
Regards Y'all...
Sorry for missing a day of blogging yesterday, but I have a good excuse involving "professional obligations." (and the people that know me in real life are laughing their rear ends off right now when I include "professional" in the same sentence with reference to myself.)
Any way, for some reason I went out in June and sold this touch screen PLC based sensor system which has to measure the temperature of a product on a production line moving past at a rate of as fast as 22,000 units per hour.
Yes, you heard me right ...TWENTY TWO THOUSAND PER HOUR.
Doing the math for those of you that went to FSU and UGA, that's a little over 6 times per SECOND that something comes flying past my two non-contact infrared temperature sensors. (Non contact IR Sensors are expensive...and that's all you need to know if you're not an injuneer.)
I'm using "non-contact" type sensors because obviously you can't actually touch something moving that fast to determine it's temperature because either you or it would get hurt in the process.
Got it?
Then to complicate things further, the customer's existing process is smart and can throttle it's speed downward by about 50% if things start backing up in packaging or somewhere else on the line, and this makes it hard to tell where the bad product my temperature sensors have detected is located afterward because my system is supposed to "kick" the offending product off the line before it gets mixed in with all of the other good product.
You might think that's a hard standard, but believe me it's even HARDER than you think at these speeds...particularly since you can't just guess how fast it's moving.
You have to KNOW...
Exactly.
Then, as my title suggests, I'm having trouble getting all of the sensors to get along because they're from different manufacturers.
But hey...all three are all built in Germany, and I thought that by default that they'd all speak the same language and all I needed was a good translator so that I could understand what they were saying and things would be good.
But NooooooOOOOOOO...
I'm not sure what it is...maybe the guys that designed my proximity sensors are fans of a different Rugby or Soccer team from the ones designing my IR sensors or something.
And my PLC was made here in the good old United By-God States of 'Merica (by non-union employees...I've been to the factory) and everyone knows how most Germans feel about Americans.
And with the switches and warning lights made in China and Taiwan and some of the other stuff made in Costa Rica, it almost seems like that for the past month I've had a regular United Nations Security Council sub-committee meeting going on in my shop inside a 16" x 20" x 8" steel box.
And apparently up until now, everybody gets to vote but ME.
I just spent about 22 hours over the past two days trying to "sprint to the finish line" on this project and late yesterday I think I had my final breakthrough on getting everyone to agree to work together and not pass any resolutions against the US and more specifically, anyone living here at the Turbo Pup Compound.
In the interest of diversity the Council demanded I get some woman's involvement into the process, so Pat looked at everything and was impressed and said it looked "cool".
And little Missy the Turbo Pup's a girl puppy, so I'm gonna hold her up to the front of the cabinet today and let her put a good puppy "snoogh" right in the middle of the touch screen.
Unfortunately I was unable to comply with the racial diversity part of their request because I don't know any African Americans here in Knoxtown with PLC programming skills.
I told them that the Chief plant electrician at my customer's facility is a very competent Black guy so the Chinese talked the Germans into letting me off the hook on that one.
So now, Ladies and Gentlemen, having explained where I've been for the past 48 hours, I'm going to collapse back into a coma for another two or three hours before getting back downstairs to make sure one group of parts hasn't started another war with the other groups.
Regards Y'all...
Monday, July 26, 2010
"Above Average" Hurricane Season?
Sniveling Global Warming Weenies Weep In Their Tofu...
I want to remind everyone that after eight weeks on the Hurricane calendar we've only had TWO named storms this season.
And here's the current forcast map:
Probably going to be an exciting August and September based on the law of averages, but still...
I want to remind everyone that after eight weeks on the Hurricane calendar we've only had TWO named storms this season.
And here's the current forcast map:
Probably going to be an exciting August and September based on the law of averages, but still...
Sunday, July 25, 2010
I Need An "Electronics Exorcist"
My Shop Is Haunted...
So I cooked bar-B-que ribs and fresh corn on the cob and new potatoes for dinner last night after basking on the deck like a lizard for most of the afternoon.
Smoked my last cigar andsweated on the newspaper did most of the crossword in the process, and I vaguely recall some Vodka in the form of "Seabreezes" crossing my lips once or twice...OK...maybe four or five times.
Then I collapsed into bed before dark but then by 3 AM I was half awake and puzzling over the final details of this stupid PLC programming exercise I'm going through.
I finally gave up sleeping any longer and stumbled down into the basement and by 5AM I had managed to go backwards to about where I was last Thursday.
For some reason the Laptop computer and the PLC got together and decided to barf up every time I tried to download my revised code saying there were errors in instructions I hadn't changed in over a week.
So I had to go back to Wednesday's version of the program and then reconstruct all of the code and screen edits I had done, and now at 8 AM I'm back to slightly ahead of where I started at 3 AM.
If you're not a programmer you can just think I'm sloppy or crazy, but the people out there that live working on the inner thought processes of all of the machines which we take for granted today know that many if not most are like spoiled "mentally challenged" children.
They don't know how to do anything and they spend most of their time unable to understand else just plain ignoring instructions on how to do whatever it is you're trying to get them to do.
I spend half my time ready to throw everything out in the yard and the other half celebrating some small victory which many times is only short lived.
Any way...my brain is fried for the time being...
...so I think it's time to go out while the temperature is still under 100 degrees and fire up the weed eater and wake up the neighbors early on a Sunday morning.
Regards Y'all...
So I cooked bar-B-que ribs and fresh corn on the cob and new potatoes for dinner last night after basking on the deck like a lizard for most of the afternoon.
Smoked my last cigar and
Then I collapsed into bed before dark but then by 3 AM I was half awake and puzzling over the final details of this stupid PLC programming exercise I'm going through.
I finally gave up sleeping any longer and stumbled down into the basement and by 5AM I had managed to go backwards to about where I was last Thursday.
For some reason the Laptop computer and the PLC got together and decided to barf up every time I tried to download my revised code saying there were errors in instructions I hadn't changed in over a week.
So I had to go back to Wednesday's version of the program and then reconstruct all of the code and screen edits I had done, and now at 8 AM I'm back to slightly ahead of where I started at 3 AM.
If you're not a programmer you can just think I'm sloppy or crazy, but the people out there that live working on the inner thought processes of all of the machines which we take for granted today know that many if not most are like spoiled "mentally challenged" children.
They don't know how to do anything and they spend most of their time unable to understand else just plain ignoring instructions on how to do whatever it is you're trying to get them to do.
I spend half my time ready to throw everything out in the yard and the other half celebrating some small victory which many times is only short lived.
Any way...my brain is fried for the time being...
...so I think it's time to go out while the temperature is still under 100 degrees and fire up the weed eater and wake up the neighbors early on a Sunday morning.
Regards Y'all...
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Ashes To Ashes...Dust To Dust...
You Drink Good Beer Vodka...Your Pipes Won't Rust...
It's "Pool Time" this afternoon here at the Turbo Pup Compound.
It's too dang hot to do anything else except possibly sit inside in the AC, but I've been up since 3 AM working, then made a run to Staples and WalMart, dumped a bunch of cardboard and newspapers off at the recycling center, and cooked brunch.
All before 11:30 AM.
On a Saturday.
I pretty much treat every day on the calendar like it's Saturday AND a work day and then just get whatever I can done along the way.
The only difference between a real Saturday and a work day is that I can't find anyone to talk to on the telephone because all of the 9 to 5 working stiffs are at home hiding from the telephone and business concerns.
I can't and don't operate like that for some un-Godly reason.
It started out intentional but now it's so ingraned into my soul and spirit that I can't do things any other way.
I have an owner's/operations manual to finish writing and some programming tidbits to finish up and there's still a stack of pneumatic valves to finish up, but right now I want to go smoke the last cigar I have in the Humidor and read today's paper while baking on the deck.
Y'all have a LOVELY weekend...
It's "Pool Time" this afternoon here at the Turbo Pup Compound.
It's too dang hot to do anything else except possibly sit inside in the AC, but I've been up since 3 AM working, then made a run to Staples and WalMart, dumped a bunch of cardboard and newspapers off at the recycling center, and cooked brunch.
All before 11:30 AM.
On a Saturday.
I pretty much treat every day on the calendar like it's Saturday AND a work day and then just get whatever I can done along the way.
The only difference between a real Saturday and a work day is that I can't find anyone to talk to on the telephone because all of the 9 to 5 working stiffs are at home hiding from the telephone and business concerns.
I can't and don't operate like that for some un-Godly reason.
It started out intentional but now it's so ingraned into my soul and spirit that I can't do things any other way.
I have an owner's/operations manual to finish writing and some programming tidbits to finish up and there's still a stack of pneumatic valves to finish up, but right now I want to go smoke the last cigar I have in the Humidor and read today's paper while baking on the deck.
Y'all have a LOVELY weekend...
Friday, July 23, 2010
I'm Half Way Making A Living...
Or Is it Making Half A Living?
Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm pleased to report that things have settled down a little this week finally here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River.
We have the calendar schedule for the next couple of months pretty much worked out as of today, and between me pounding on the new PLC panel trying to teach it how to read three expensive non-contact sensors and time spent throwing pneumatic valve parts into a solvent bath I have a nice reasonable work load for most of the next week or so.
But then just when I get my Karma straightened out I have to wander into the dining room and sit at the table and screw around with tax forms for the State of Tennessee and the Imperial Federal Government of the United By-God States of 'Merica.
That's right, I have to close the books on the second quarter of 2010 and make sure I don't do anything wrong or fail to file some piece of paper which would cause the bureaucrats to come after me and my wallet.
It's a total bitch having to waste perfectly good time where I could be sleeping or goofing around doing nothing--or better yet making money--screwing around with government paperwork.
And you just wait until 2012 when one of the new hidden provisions of the "Obamacare" health care legislation kicks in and business start having to provide a 1099 Form to every single supplier that they spend over $600 in a calendar year.
I was just doing the math here and right now I'd have to write no less than a dozen forms and my company is only nine months old and we have no real employees (we have me and my partner as slaves) and we haven't billed $100K yet this year.
It's really unfortunate that we've gotten to the point where the stupid shitheads in the government treat most of the population as "subjects" and the higher earners as "income sources" these days.
People fall into two broad categories and generally vote "D" or "R" accordingly.
Either you are on the dole getting welfare and/or food stamps and/or WIC and/or Medicade and "earned income" credits--spending your life having kids you can't afford while living a lifestyle you can't support, else you're a member of the EVIL rich class of citizens who's job it is, according to the politicians and "social wellfare experts" to work their ass off and then send 30% to 39% of their largess to the government to fund their idiocy and vote buying "social programs."
For some strange reason--it's either genetic or just simple insanity--I keep aspiring to earn the sort of income which will put me in the government gun sights as a member of the "EVIL RICH."
I'd go have my head examined to see why I suffer from this affliction but I'd probably just break the Cat Scanner or MRI and then they'd send me a bill for that also.
So I just stay home and thrash around and write here on this blog...
Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm pleased to report that things have settled down a little this week finally here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River.
We have the calendar schedule for the next couple of months pretty much worked out as of today, and between me pounding on the new PLC panel trying to teach it how to read three expensive non-contact sensors and time spent throwing pneumatic valve parts into a solvent bath I have a nice reasonable work load for most of the next week or so.
But then just when I get my Karma straightened out I have to wander into the dining room and sit at the table and screw around with tax forms for the State of Tennessee and the Imperial Federal Government of the United By-God States of 'Merica.
That's right, I have to close the books on the second quarter of 2010 and make sure I don't do anything wrong or fail to file some piece of paper which would cause the bureaucrats to come after me and my wallet.
It's a total bitch having to waste perfectly good time where I could be sleeping or goofing around doing nothing--or better yet making money--screwing around with government paperwork.
And you just wait until 2012 when one of the new hidden provisions of the "Obamacare" health care legislation kicks in and business start having to provide a 1099 Form to every single supplier that they spend over $600 in a calendar year.
I was just doing the math here and right now I'd have to write no less than a dozen forms and my company is only nine months old and we have no real employees (we have me and my partner as slaves) and we haven't billed $100K yet this year.
It's really unfortunate that we've gotten to the point where the stupid shitheads in the government treat most of the population as "subjects" and the higher earners as "income sources" these days.
People fall into two broad categories and generally vote "D" or "R" accordingly.
Either you are on the dole getting welfare and/or food stamps and/or WIC and/or Medicade and "earned income" credits--spending your life having kids you can't afford while living a lifestyle you can't support, else you're a member of the EVIL rich class of citizens who's job it is, according to the politicians and "social wellfare experts" to work their ass off and then send 30% to 39% of their largess to the government to fund their idiocy and vote buying "social programs."
For some strange reason--it's either genetic or just simple insanity--I keep aspiring to earn the sort of income which will put me in the government gun sights as a member of the "EVIL RICH."
I'd go have my head examined to see why I suffer from this affliction but I'd probably just break the Cat Scanner or MRI and then they'd send me a bill for that also.
So I just stay home and thrash around and write here on this blog...
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Uncle Virgil's Protege
Driving A Firebird Rather Than A Camaro....
Here's some video of a friend/former college roomate's son doing the weekend drag racing thing over in North Carolina.
Here's some video of a friend/former college roomate's son doing the weekend drag racing thing over in North Carolina.
I'm Over Run With Vegetables
"Garden Takes Over Knoxville Man's Property..."
I have to admit that, while I grew up visiting my Grandfather's farm every summer back in the 1960's and early 1970's, that doesn't make me a farmer any more that having attended a bunch of Atlanta Braves games makes me a professional Baseball Player.
I present this season's garden as evidence of my inability.
It's not that I'm not getting fruit and vegetables out of the dirt as a result of my efforts...
It's that the garden has literally taken over my back yard, and the areas where the garden isn't growing I've let the weeds get out of control so the whole thing looks like some sort of scene out of a Star Trek movie.
You know, the one where Mr. Spock dies and Kirk launches his body and this "Genesis Device" down to a barren planet and the planet grows into a lush rain forest and Mr. Spock comes back to life in the process.
I wish Mr. Spock (or Dr. Spock or Old McDonald) would show up here with a Weed Eater and a Hoe and help me get things under control.
I harvested a dozen tomatoes yesterday and a couple of cucumbers, so now I have about four dozen tomatoes laying around and a couple of dozen cucumbers waiting to be processed.
I eat tomatoes on cereal and peanut butter sandwiches these days to get rid of them and I've got funky jars of vinegar and spices I keep slicing cucumbers into to make quick pickles and I still can't keep up with the process.
My neighbors lock their doors and pull their curtains when they see me coming with a Kroger bag bulging with stuff.
All of this from about ten tomato plants and two cucumber vines.
And now my Japanese Eggplant and Squash are starting to come in and I'm actually afraid to walk out in the back yard because instead of just sitting around smoking a cigar and reading the paper I have to WORK when I get out there.
I was going to run the weed eater yesterday and try to knock some stuff down around the plants and a rain storm snuck up on me and it sprinkled on and off for most of the afternoon and by then it was too wet to work outside.
The Herb garden is also rocking and rolling and my Pumpkin and Watermelon vines are crawling all over the place and my pitiful little bell and sweet pepper plants are even starting to have near edible stuff on them and...
...you get my drift.
There's worse things to happen I guess than to have more stuff than you can freeze and eat...all from an ameteur farmer.
(Oh, by the way, the PLC panel is alive now and absorbing electricity and new software but still belching and farting a little yet, so it's time to go back to work I guess.)
I have to admit that, while I grew up visiting my Grandfather's farm every summer back in the 1960's and early 1970's, that doesn't make me a farmer any more that having attended a bunch of Atlanta Braves games makes me a professional Baseball Player.
I present this season's garden as evidence of my inability.
It's not that I'm not getting fruit and vegetables out of the dirt as a result of my efforts...
It's that the garden has literally taken over my back yard, and the areas where the garden isn't growing I've let the weeds get out of control so the whole thing looks like some sort of scene out of a Star Trek movie.
You know, the one where Mr. Spock dies and Kirk launches his body and this "Genesis Device" down to a barren planet and the planet grows into a lush rain forest and Mr. Spock comes back to life in the process.
I wish Mr. Spock (or Dr. Spock or Old McDonald) would show up here with a Weed Eater and a Hoe and help me get things under control.
I harvested a dozen tomatoes yesterday and a couple of cucumbers, so now I have about four dozen tomatoes laying around and a couple of dozen cucumbers waiting to be processed.
I eat tomatoes on cereal and peanut butter sandwiches these days to get rid of them and I've got funky jars of vinegar and spices I keep slicing cucumbers into to make quick pickles and I still can't keep up with the process.
My neighbors lock their doors and pull their curtains when they see me coming with a Kroger bag bulging with stuff.
All of this from about ten tomato plants and two cucumber vines.
And now my Japanese Eggplant and Squash are starting to come in and I'm actually afraid to walk out in the back yard because instead of just sitting around smoking a cigar and reading the paper I have to WORK when I get out there.
I was going to run the weed eater yesterday and try to knock some stuff down around the plants and a rain storm snuck up on me and it sprinkled on and off for most of the afternoon and by then it was too wet to work outside.
The Herb garden is also rocking and rolling and my Pumpkin and Watermelon vines are crawling all over the place and my pitiful little bell and sweet pepper plants are even starting to have near edible stuff on them and...
...you get my drift.
There's worse things to happen I guess than to have more stuff than you can freeze and eat...all from an ameteur farmer.
(Oh, by the way, the PLC panel is alive now and absorbing electricity and new software but still belching and farting a little yet, so it's time to go back to work I guess.)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
My Brain Is Fried
Killing Me Softly...
So as my regularlurkers readers know, I've got this project going on in my basement laboratory which is kicking my butt right now.
It's not that it's so difficult building a single PLC panel, it's that I'm having to build the panel in a manner such that I can reproduce it again--EXACTLY-- in a couple of months.
Instead of just throwing a power supply and a surge suppression system and an uninterruptable battery back up system into a box with a touch screen PLC and a bunch or wires and DIN rail and terminal strips, I'm trying to in the process develop a whole new product line around the design making room for future options and as yet unknown variations.
I'm basically thinking six months to a year down the road on the calendar and the expandability and future uses are more work than the metal box of wire I'm spending twelve to fourteen hours a day looking at on my workbench.
A lot of people that are not an engineers think that we're all like "The Professor" on the TV show "Gilligan's Island" and that we know everything about anything by the time we finish four years (or in my case ten years full and part time) of college.
Not so.
I seem to forget that fact myself sometimes when I go out and write a proposal and then manage to get a purchase order for some monstrosity a customer wants to buy.
Thus yet again this morning I'm too mentally tired and lazy to write much of anything beyond what you see here.
Time for a nap I guess before getting up and doing it all over again I guess...
So as my regular
It's not that it's so difficult building a single PLC panel, it's that I'm having to build the panel in a manner such that I can reproduce it again--EXACTLY-- in a couple of months.
Instead of just throwing a power supply and a surge suppression system and an uninterruptable battery back up system into a box with a touch screen PLC and a bunch or wires and DIN rail and terminal strips, I'm trying to in the process develop a whole new product line around the design making room for future options and as yet unknown variations.
I'm basically thinking six months to a year down the road on the calendar and the expandability and future uses are more work than the metal box of wire I'm spending twelve to fourteen hours a day looking at on my workbench.
A lot of people that are not an engineers think that we're all like "The Professor" on the TV show "Gilligan's Island" and that we know everything about anything by the time we finish four years (or in my case ten years full and part time) of college.
Not so.
I seem to forget that fact myself sometimes when I go out and write a proposal and then manage to get a purchase order for some monstrosity a customer wants to buy.
Thus yet again this morning I'm too mentally tired and lazy to write much of anything beyond what you see here.
Time for a nap I guess before getting up and doing it all over again I guess...
