11-03-11

Finally uploaded my local web sever content to WordPress. Its HERE as a page called Local Websever.

11-01-11

Keeping all the links, but making shorter posts to keep up to date.

Blog format 2011

It has been a long time since I updated this blog. I am making some changes to the format, it will be less business related, and more personal interest with much shorter posts. I won’t post things that are twitter-like short, but I will try to post more often. Thanks for checking in.

Lemonade 2010

It all started with the economic downturn and jobs and work being spotty at best. This in combination with some family members in similar situations, started to grow into an experiment all its own. We have all heard the phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” This project is exactly that, with economic lemons. I started to wonder how to reduce costs, improve efficiency, simplify and reduce drag as we move forward. Early efforts were simply measures to use green technology and skills to reduce household costing. Gaining momentum, we determined that just using CFL bulbs was not enough. Walking instead of driving, eliminating costly activities, reducing or eliminating purchases and many other plans were underway. Fitness, healthy eating, and building skills by doing maintenance and chores took the place of driving and buying things. Locating things no longer needed were sold on Craigslist, and uncompleted projects were finished or scrapped. The experience was empowering and relieving. You felt less like a victim of circumstances and more like you have some control of your future again. This was the major reason for the title of the project. When purchases were needed, quality would always trump quantity, and sustainability was a major focus of item selection. As money only seemed to trickle in, months went by, and in the last month of the year, we are combining 3 complete households into one, sharing skills, using space more efficiently, doing more work for ourselves instead of hiring people to do work for us. Aside from the obvious advantages of splitting costs between more people, we can now purchase food and supplies in large quantities, use heat and electricity far more effectively, and share transportation more regularly. All very useful in saving money. The sale of duplicate items produced a large influx of cash, making life more comfortable for everyone and reducing financial stresses even further.

What started out as “going green”, became a lifestyle revolution and an education in social engineering that has been incredibly beneficial for everyone. Rethinking your own life footprint and living density may reveal some obvious advantages to making some changes.

 

19 Tips on the Living the Frugal “Open Source Life”

1. Share. Let others benefit from what you have, and hopefully they return the favor.
2. Always look for free ways to solve problems before buying something.
3. Simplicity. Not owning something means it’s not in your way when you aren’t using it, and you don’t have to find somewhere to put it.
4. Barter for goods and services instead of simply “buy”.
5. Educate yourself to make better decisions. Use the internet to improve your life, not just for information, entertainment and buying things.
6. Repair instead of replace. You may learn something in the process, and that’s more valuable anyway.
7. Find hobbies and pastimes that are free.
8. Use your library; you are paying for it anyway.
9. Eliminate waste in every way. Resources, energy, spending, food, etc.
10. Resist the urge to be trendy and have the newest stuff. Stick with things that are durable, functional and paid for.
11. Be marketing resistant. The less marketing you fall for, the less you are likely to spend.
12. Seek advice and knowledge. Learn from others mistakes to avoid your own.
13. Invest in yourself. Education is always valuable, even in ways different than intended.
14. In the classic sense of the term, using Open Source software instead of “paid-for” applications.
15. Don’t make things more complicated than they need to be.
16. If something does not benefit you, you should not own it.
17. When you must buy something, make sure it is useful, durable, needed, appropriate and high quality. Then make sure you take care of it so you don’t buy it over again.
18. Share-cycling – When something useful is no longer needed, give it to someone who can use it.
19. Stay fit; your attitude will be better, your health will be better and healthcare costs stay low.

Be ready for driving in a Midwest winter (DIY tips)

Finished my vehicle maintenance routine for the fall, and realized many people do not put in the effort needed to ensure a reliable, long-lasting car or truck. My basic walk-around list for the hands-on DIY person:

Check your coolant to make sure it is full and mixed correctly for thermal protection to -36 degrees.

Inflate your tires. Inside the driver’s door jamb is information from the factory on what pressure to set your tires to. If you do not mind a firmer ride, inflate the tires to what is recommended on the tire sidewall. Most likely it will be significantly higher, and this will return much better fuel mileage. Make sure to use an accurate gauge, and check the tire pressure COLD. Remember to always check the air in the spare, carrying around a flat spare is useless.

Another tip for tires and inflation: ALWAYS USE METAL VALVE STEM CAPS. I have been surprised how many “slow leaks” go away with decent caps. Metal caps might be $4.00 not $ .60 for a set, but it is worth every cent, many times over.

Grease all lube fittings on your vehicle well: Become familiar with the underside of your vehicle, and keep an accurate count of how many places you have fittings. This is also another good time to consult your service manual. Grease not only keeps the fitting lubricated, but keeps out dirt and water. Doing this regularly will maximize the life of costly front-end parts

For FWD and 4WD: locate the CV boots near the center of the front wheels and spray them with silicone based lubricant. This will keep the rubber soft and pliable to reduce the chances of holes and tears. Once the hole in the boot is there, it will lose the contained grease, and begin to collect dirt and water. That is the most common failure of CV shafts (axle shafts) Keeping the rubber soft during the winter is key to make sure they do not become brittle in the cold.

Lubricate all door hinges and lock and latch mechanisms. Road salt and water will get into these places and stay, causing rust and washing out grease or oil. Doing this will keep your doors quiet for years to come.

Invest in a good set of wiper blades. Visibility is the leading cause of accidents in poor weather. A blade with no mechanism to freeze up is the best any time of the year, the mono-blade style that has an arch to it is your best bet. Some high-end wipers have silicone wiper strips or graphite impregnated rubber making the movement smoother and less chatter prone. I use Bosch ICON blades, at $50.00/pr. They aren’t cheap, but mine work flawlessly and are going on 2 years of use.

Mix your own windshield washer fluid. Distilled water and Isopropyl alcohol is all you need. Don’t use tap water because it has calcium and lime in it that produces the scale you see from hard water, and will eventually cause the pump to fail. Mixing 16 oz. of 99% alcohol to one gallon of distilled water cleans great and has never frozen for me down to zero degrees.

Have your battery tested. Finding out your battery cannot put out the cold cranking amps (CCA) to start your engine on a cold morning is frustrating to say the least.

Keeping your vehicle stocked with emergency supplies is important, especially if you regularly go to remote areas. Much less is required if you stay in primarily urban/suburban areas, just use common sense.

Driving in snow is a unique challenge not everyone is ready for. If you find yourself having to drive in deep snow, lowering the pressure in your tires can go a long way to improving traction, but remember to re-inflate when conditions improve. Above all else, drive slower and keep your distance.

Driving in salted wet roads will quickly put a chalky white residue on your windshield as well as your headlights. You can clean your windshield but not usually your headlights when driving, so clean them off every chance you get, the difference is amazing.

September 2010 Update

Link to Business Card profile on Card.ly

Nothing major to note here, business as usual. just thought I would check in to let everyone know we are still here working hard, just minimal time to update blog content. In the coming months we will be working on projects that are more research related. All engineering services will not be interrupted.

For a look at my new StumbleUpon favorites that are growing daily. Link

Thanks for checking in, check back soon!

August 2010

Current and active project: Ubuntu Linux x64 computer for developing with Java, PHP, Python, etc. Started as a dual-boot project with my current workstation running 32 bit Windows XP. I still needed the XP machine for iTunes to sync my iPhone, and for some critical older software already installed. Re-partitioning that drive was not really an option. I know it is much more reliable than it used to be, but the cost of simply adding a new, higher performance disk was so low, that is the direction I went. A Seagate 7200.12 drive 1.0TB of storage and a 32MB cache, serial ATA at 3.0 Gbps for $75.00 from Newegg was an easy choice. Once installed, setup was easy, and setting up the dual-boot configuration with GRUB was easy having done it several times before. I am still working out some bugs with graphics drivers and Flash support, but running 2 processor cores and 4GB of RAM, the performance is amazing, in most cases. Google Earth performance is horrible, but I see that improving after the graphics driver issues are worked out. On the new drive, I gave Ubuntu x64 a 200GB partition, and formatted the remainder in NTFS, and used that space as a redundant backup for my server. All common applications installed fine and run great with the exception of Adobe Flash and Adobe AIR (Including applications that run on AIR.) Now I will be addressing the drivers and creating my development environment and IDE. (Comparing Eclipse and NetBeans for a starting point) More to come..

Automotive Consulting

Does your vehicle do what you need it to?

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What oil to use, how often to change it.

We can help with all of those questions and thousands more. Years of experience with research and vehicle alterations and technical expertise make us the ultimate source for your automotive needs. Whatever your goals are, we can help make driving a much more rewarding experience. There is no need to worry about what might go wrong next, we can help you cover all the bases, plan and prepare, so there are not any of those expensive surprises. Request a quote today!

New research project:

Synopsis: While reading What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig, I took many of the teachings to heart and realized that life is a series of opportunities. Most people see them as problems and avoid them, as is human nature. To be truly successful, you address them head on, solve them, and move on. This requires you to move outside of your comfort zone, and challenge the common mentality. Doing this makes you more adaptable and able to take on larger challenges and obstacles seeing each one as an opportunity to find a solution, and learn from every attempt that is not successful.

First activity to create personal change and create true growth: Select one daily activity every day that you repeatedly do, and do the opposite and observe changes in daily results.

Next, seek out problems of others you can solve, or attempt to solve. Learn from every action and apply to future opportunities.