Thursday, 29Mar01: .86" more rain, yes! I've been familiarizing myself with a new
toy at work. Then I get the promised manual for reviewing. I'm gonna be busy for the next two weeks. I'll post
less frequently, but i'll be back. The tomatos have sprouted, well at least 2 show leaves and 4 more are emerging.
Monday, 26Mar01: Civilization is a bootstrap operation - Andy Rooney [we have to work at being civil - using foul language
does not help] If all the tomato seeds I planted
yesterday make plants I'll need 1500 sq feet of garden. They're in clear plastic trays donuts came in, sitting
on the stove.
Sunday, 25Mar01: .22" rain. Labels! Do you trust the labels on the cans in your
pantry? What is the difference between OilDri and cat litter? Is a person a Republican or a Democrat? Do you put
labels on people? I believe it is what is on the inside that counts. Had to work outside again yesterday. I might
begin to hate spring and nice weather.
Saturday, 24Mar01: Ecuador? A third world country. A friend visits a plant there and the plant supplies armed guards
from plane debarking to embarking. With all our problems in the US, we still enjoy a quality of life unappreciated,
envied, and abused. Another friend will be going to Sri Lanka on a consulting project [unCivil war going on there].
My concern and prayers go with them.
Friday, 23Mar01: Monday 2.05" rain. Tuesday working on graphics for Eric. Wednesday Failure Analysis.
Thursday.still working on Eric's welding stuff. How do 'they' do fonts? I mean characters are so smooth and sharp
while working in graphics programs angled lines are jagged, curves are jagged.
Saturday, 17Mar01: My son is home today. He is also working for a master blacksmith. Tom and Smokey are great playmates [Tom is our kitten, Smokey is Eric's dog]. They play chase a lot
and some hide and seek. Then they wrestle and eat each other's food. Strange family we are. Had to work outside
again - honeydos... Washing machine needed some maintenance. Way out here I'm on a well. Good water but has some
iron. after a while it settles and clogs things up. colors clothes. the little screens in the water hoses were
nearly totally closed up. A little clorox, new rubber washers, cleaning, rinsing, tightening up leaking fittings
[hours after I thought I was through] and all is well. You'd think that being involved with water treatment for
decades, I'd at least have my water supply perfect. Had a good day with my son, catching up on what
he's been doing.
Friday, 16Mar01: I spent my time watching my two favorite TV shows: West Wing and Law
& Order.
Thursday, 15Mar01: .56" more rain in the last 24 hours. The Ides of March. At least
Mr. Thompson can view some stars now.
Wednesday, 14Mar01: I think
people who are insecure are the hardest to love. It's easy to love your friends, 'enemies' are difficult. But it
is precisely those that we are admonished to love. No matter, some really make the job almost impossible.
Tuesday, 13Mar01: Lovely
springlike day. Enjoyed. Kinda like Tom did. Not my cat, but Syroid. My cat, Tom still plays with the laser pointer.
Had a mystery occur. Controller quit working then start working?
Monday, 12Mar01: I
hope Bruce is following Tom's forays and path finding as eagerly as I. 2.25" more rain in the last 24 hours. More
to come this week. The Florida aquifer needs recharging also. When Dr. Pournell shines his illuminating intelligence
on nanoscience, you know it is time to take notice. How could RBT allow the loss
of a SETI gang member?
Sunday, 11Mar01: Now the Azealas
are starting to blossom. Does it look like Spring? Not until the Scuppernong vine greens up! No sign yet - means
at least another week of winter left.
Saturday, 10Mar01: Forced labor. Had to trim hedges. Ugh! Work outside in yard when Dasimre needed me to clean up files. Managed to slip in and got both done.
Friday, 9Mar01: After a couple of years after the 4" check valve froze and busted,
I finally convinced someone in charge to fix the replacement so that the arm works. We opened it up and saw that
the two set screws couldn't fit into the poorly prepared slot. Now that irritation is behind us. Hope you get an
irritation behind you!
Thursday, 8Mar01: I got thru another day. With help from above. I managed. I adapted.
I responded to the opportunities. Hope you faired as well.
Wednesday, 7Mar01: Mild day.
Onions have done real good. Cold symptoms almost gone. I use Netscape 4.72 and rarely have any problems. I just
don't understand the rant of RBT. I've tried IE and don't like it. Netscape does what I want it to and is easy
for me to use and is comfortable. I will change over when Linux gets fixed up so a newbie like me can use it. I
will not upgrade from W98SE period. I do agree that Microsoft has shot themselves in the foot. and us too.
Tuesday, 6Mar01: [RBT is going to get clobbered by this storm. Bruce
Edwards will likely get snowed in also.]
I'm glad I was wrong like all the pro weathermen. Still, it is good to be prepared 'cause it did look probable.
The acid came in. This reminds me about the level sensor
mystery. I might have an answer as of this morning. When I leave at 1730 I record the level.
When I come in at 0700 I record the level. Many times the level is not lower, sometimes even higher. The sensor
is an ultrasonic device. The temperature does dip during the night but not enough to affect the density of the
acid which should increase lowering
the level anyway. What I believe happens is: The density of the intervening air increases thereby increasing the
propagation speed of the ultrasound resulting in a reading higher than the previous 14 hours.
What do you think?
Monday, 5Mar01: An article in Small Flows Quarterly [sponsored
by the USEPA, West Virginia University] about the Licensing Programs of the various States kinda 'splains why there
might not be much interest in my Lab manual. Of the 50 States only 17 or 18 have any kind of licensing or certification
requirements for operators (not specifically about lab technicians). I hope this does not imply water quality is
less in those states with less operator training requirements.
Sunday, 4Mar01: Frogs, frogs,
I hear frogs in the night. Really! First time in a long, long time. Received
3.55 inches more rain in the last 24 hours. RBT is going to get clobbered by this storm.
Bruce Edwards will likely get snowed in also.
Drought deficit definitely decreasing.
Seti is hooked up again. I run 3 distributed programs: Seti, Primes and DistributedNet just
to keep Dasimre
[my Dell P3/500] busy while I'm somewhere else. But I'm glad seti is running again, it's reassuring to have that
screensaver rainbowing.
I work M-F 7 to 5:30, so I play as much
as I can with Dasimre
(rhymes with gossamer) during
Sat/Sun. But I sneak in an hour or so every workday when my helpmate, Sandy isn't looking.
Saturday, 3Mar01: Received 1.6 inches rain last 24 hours. A few more weeks of this and the drought
might be over. Pollen everywhere. Fighting allergy. 3 days coming 3 days here 3 days going. Eating ½ raw
onion like an apple - works for me - cheap too. I've had a laser pointer
for 2 weeks now and Tom, my cat [a 5 month old kitten], has not tired of it yet. It's the greatest cat toy ever
invented (the operator has fun too!). This daynoting could be addicting.
Friday, 2Mar01: Requested 3000 gallons H2SO4 for Sunday.
Thursday, 1Mar01: Another 10½ hour day operating pretreatment. Roof edging strip loose
- screwed to soffit. need more screws [nails just don't cut it].
Wednesday, 28Fe01: Now sulfuric acid pump quit working altogether. Turns out that the
brushes on the DC mtr. had stuck and the whole motor had to be replaced. All cell phone transmissions [world wide] are recorded and analyzed.
Tuesday, 27Fe01: 1st entry of this journal. Repaired pipe on sulfuric acid pump. Calculated pyramidal section
of DAF discharge tank.