Scattered Thoughts . . .

I decided to test the newly wired grade crossing signals for our small garden railroad here on our living room coffee table.  This way, if I happened to encounter a problem, I could figure out what is wrong without all the variables of installing it outdoors.  Doing this test in a controlled environment is the best option. I have a few circuit boards in this configuration that I should explain... First, the power is sourced from four AA rechargeable batteries in the black case pictured at right.   From there, the power goes to a voltage regulator.  I need the voltage to be a steady 3.0 volts for the new LED bulbs in the grade crossing signals.  This voltage regulator can be set to a wide range of output voltages but I need 3.0 volts so that is what I set it to.  The output terminals on the regulator circuit board run to a large momentary push button switch.  The kids can easily access this big button and hold it down to keep the grade crossing si...

T he Harlem Globetrotters came to town a few weeks ago so we brought Lukey, Kenzie and Will up to Burlington to see them at the University of Vermont.  Everyone had a great time! Here are a few photos from the evening and there is a short video at the bottom of the page... Below, you'll find a short video of our time at the show.  I screwed up recording video.  I had one setting set incorrectly in the camera which resulted in not having any audio so I had to add a soundtrack.  The good news is that I thought the camera was broken when I first realized I had no audio.  It turns out, after some research, I found that it was user error.  So, I simply added "Sweet Georgia Brown" as the background track since that is the song that has traditionally been used by The Harlem Globetrotters.  

I had already posted about this television commercial on my Facebook newsfeed about a month or so ago but thought I should probably share it here too since this is where I write about my illness and living life with a chronic illness.   In that Facebook post, I had mentioned that I had never seen a commercial about my primary illness before seeing this commercial.  I've had this illness for more than two decades and very few people know anything about this illness including many medical professionals so we've always been hoping for some awareness.  I've always felt that if there was more awareness, then there would be more understanding.  If there was more awareness among the medical professionals, then I wouldn't have to educate medical staff in emergency departments every time I land in their hospital.  There is so little understanding and familiarity of this illness even among medical professionals that both Sheila and I must carry around an emergency c...

I always have a tough time choosing only a select few photos after visiting Carillon Park and this last visit with Lukey and Kenzie was no different.  Nevertheless, I managed to compile a small collection of photos from our most recent visit. Actually, I also need to sort through all the photos that Lukey captured too!  This blog entry has only my photos though.  I'll publish another blog entry later with some of Lukey's photos.  In the meantime, here are some of my photos. Here is a photo of the carillon from the parking lot of Carillon Park... There is some spectacular art throughout this historic park... There is a whole room or two filled with NCR (National Cash Register) cash registers from the first to the most recent.  Many of them are quite elaborate and beautiful pieces of machinery unlike today's characterless point-of-sale "systems"... Below is an early Cadillac which was manufactured in Dayton... After we arrived back home and we were talking about ...