December 27th

It was a grubby day, so we wasted it playing Warcraft.  In the evening, we watched "Divergent: Insurgent".  Interestingly it looks like it's not the series ender that it looked like.

I also managed to get CHDK working on the new camera that I bought to replace the one I gave Mum - before I realised how few cameras actually support CHDK :)  The problem was the formatting of the MicroSD card - oh, and Windows won't format an SD card larger than 32Gb as FAT32, so I had to find an application to do that.

December 26th

Another day playing Warcraft, and I put together an order for stuff to build a replacement home theatre PC - the current one is having issues, and it's about 9 years old, so I figure it's time.  I think the problem is that the power supply can't handle the new graphics card, so it ends up freezing solid.  I don't think it's worth investing any more time or money into hacking this thing to work any longer.

In the evening we watched "Guardians of the Galaxy".

December 25th

We cooked, and Vince came over and ate.

December 24th

I had the day off, so I wasted it playing Warcraft.  In the evening we watched "Trainwreck" on Blu-ray.  We'd rented it when the DVD version was all out, and I had to spend hours getting the software to play it all sorted out when I found out that the Totalmedia software we had been using doesn't work any more - it looks like the company that wrote it no longer exists.

December 22nd

I went down to the office for a visit and to pick up mince pies.  The traffic's getting worse, and that means a lot of people are driving like total pricks, which is making the traffic worse.  There were a couple of cops waving their arms about ineffectually, but they're not actually doing anything to help with the traffic flow.

December 19th

We watched "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation".  Not bad :o)

December 17th

After clearing a bunch of the leaves from the front garden, I went and did almost an hour in the plane.  Of course it wasn't as cold as it'll be in January, but still, practice.

December 16th

We met Jen for lunch.  She's talking about getting the license plate "VW LIED" for her diesel Golf :o)

December 15th

My practical flight test was shifted from 08:00 to 11:00, and eventually we met up at 09:30.  Due to the stupid wind, I just did the oral part - that was fraught, as there were a few things where I didn't understand what he was looking for, but it all worked out right in the end.  We did the pre-flight in the plane, and issued a discontinuance due to the 30mph winds.  I have 60 days to do the flying part of the test, but it'll probably be next year before we can get together and sort that out.  Stupid Christmas.

In the evening, I went and helped Vic get her stuff set up for a presentation about critters to the kids' club thing at the SPCA.

December 14th

I'm topping out my vacation time at work, so I've taken the week off to burn some off.  I did some preparation stuff for the practical flight test, and went over and saw Vince for the first time in months - he's lost a bunch of weight.

December 13th

I pretty much spent the day playing Warcraft and readying stuff for a practical flight test.

December 12th

We went to the airfield so I could play with the compass on the plane - I've come to the conclusion that the problem isn't so much the environment it lives in as it is the angle of the instrument panel - I did some reading, and at around 18 degrees, it'll stop working.  Well, I think the panel's pretty close to that.  I have a couple of compasses now, so I zip tied them in interesting places and went out to test them :o)  After spending about 20 minutes getting them all roughly adjusted, and taxying up and down as the flying monkeys kept changing the runway they were using, I threw in a couple of circuits.  They panel compass seems OK.

In the evening, we went to the EAA Christmas party, where Danny and friends provided the entertainment.

December 11th

John was in the area, so we went out to dinner together.  It's been a while, but he had an early morning flight out, so we let him go early.  Ish.

December 10th

At lunchtime I went and picked up a student pilot's license, and started explaining the nightmare process to the designated pilot examiner.  Heh, we'll see how it goes now :o)

December 9th

I'm getting close to the point where I stop accruing vacation time, so I took the day off to play Warcraft and talk on the phone with the guy about my pilot's practical test.  Seems I need a student pilot's license to take the test, as my FAA medical expired at the end of November (the FAA told me to let it expire, as otherwise I'd need a medical flight test with them, and they didn't want to do it).

December 6th

It rained, so we didn't do anything interesting.  Tilly was a lot less upset with me :o)

December 5th

I took Tilly to the vet for her annual.  She passed, but was pissed off at me for the rest of the day - I think the vaccination she had in her shoulder was sore.

I went over to the airfield and tinkered with the plane for a bit before going for a flight.  It was nice out, if a little cold :o)

December 4th

The little man came out and replaced the water heater.  Hopefully the new one will last over 20 years, too.

December 3rd

We went to the Placer SPCA Xmas open house / party thingy.

December 2nd

I went to the EAA board meeting.  It looks like we'll be involved in the Lincoln Airfest in June next year.

December 1st

A new month, so here are the solar stats:

Power billed

Power generated

November 30th

Early in my work day, I realised I was cold, and that the central heating wasn't working.  Turning it on and off at the thermostat didn't change anything, but flipping the circuit breaker off and on again fixed it.  I think I'll look at cleaning up the contacts on the breaker box when it's warmer.  A lot warmer.  Apparently November has been ~2F colder than average.  Oh, and there's been less rain, too, despite El Nino.

I'd bought a Nest thermostat, as part of my "if it has an IP address, I want one" binge, and it arrived, so I installed it.  It's not markedly better than the old thermostat it replaces, but I can play with the temperature without getting out of my chair.

November 29th

We just pottered around the house, as it's still cold out.  I went out and switched the spiffy JVC stereo (that doesn't work any more) for the old Sony stereo in the Jeep.  We had thought about getting another spiffy stereo, but that's unnecessary really.

In the evening, we watched "Fifty Shades of Grey", and it was disappointing, even for Twilight fan fiction.

November 28th

I put the wheels back on the van and made up a new spare wheel carrier (so I carry the wheel face out, and don't scratch the crap out of the face putting it back on).  Turning the van around, I noticed that there's water coming from the water heater.  Still, I reckon it's over 20 years old so I've had my money's worth out of it.  I don't see where it's leaking from, and it's not under pressure, so I'm not unduly worried - it'll just need replacing.

We went over to Sandra and Cindy's for a meet and greet.  It wasn't terrible getting there - Galt always sounds so far away, but it's out in the sticks, which has Vic thinking about moving out into the sticks again.  It seemed warmer down there, too, which is stupid - it's really not that far.

November 27th

Today was Black Friday, when American who were thankful for what they had yesterday go out and trample each other for more stuff.  I went out and bought some dog food, as Tilly's dog food container was getting low.  Other than that, it was too cold and windy to do anything.