Falcon's Log 25
December 18, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

We might be getting a break on the rough weather going through here this morning. It looks like a break in the line of storms
and heavy rain is heading right over us, which could mean this area will be free and clear of tornado threat and heavy winds
very soon. It's only 8:45 AM and that would be a good thing.

All day I have been working on the computer. The motherboard I just got from Tiger Direct is junk. It won't even light up the
BIOS. Not a beep or a peep. Just the fans running. I completely installed it once, then put the old board back to make sure I
hadn't pooched the processor - no - then tried the new board once more, with several adjustments, including trying it with the
hard drive I'm using right now - no dice. So, I re-installed my old board AGAIN and tried the new Linux on the Sata Drive with
the new Sata DVD drive that windows can't see. It finally occurred to me that one of the "Windows Security Updates" I
allowed to go through a few days ago was actually a sabotage from Microsoft to ruin my Windows XP so I'd have to buy a
new copy of Windows 7. Those guys suck. I'll be working my thing with the plain vanilla XP and Ubuntu in the front. Ringht
now, I'm wore out. It's after 7 PM and Time for me to take a break.
December 19, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

It has taken some Olympic caliber gymnastics, but I now have a completely redone computer, although it still contains the
same old motherboard. There have been too many ins and outs to relate or bore you to death with, but I THINK I now have a
clean and crisp system running and all my hardware operates properly. It'll take a bit more time to know for sure, but I thought
I'd take this opportunity to jump on line and post an update. I can't say the cold and windy weather here is bad because it's
apparently worse everywhere else in the country, but I do have to say I was not suffering while being inside all day. I may be
back later.
December 20, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

The computer is coming along fine, though this motherboard still likes to play a little fast and loose with the time and date
area. Still, I'm presently satisfied with the system and performance. I have eliminated Bit Defender as it turns out IT was the
program that deliberately blocked the drivers for my DVD drives, meaning I couldn't back up anything or input anything
through them. Since Bit Defender is 100% a Microsoft product, I think it may have been a move by Microsoft to force me to
buy Windows 7. I know the push is on for that, and since Microsoft is about the most underhanded  and dirty business on the
planet, rivalled only by drug cartels, big oil, drug companies, banks and insurance companies, I find no reason to doubt my
logic. I formatted a 250 gig hard drive and loaded XP and service pack 2 and bang! Everything works just fine. My USB 2 is
working again, the DVD drives are working fine, the system is fast and quick to boot, and I'm only partially considering
replacing the bad motherboard.

I went to Home Depot and Lowe's with Don and Barb to look around at stuff and get out of the boat for a while. It looks like
Donny and I will take the trip to Miami on Tuesday and I'll get the Solar Panels and get squared away with them about the
poor condition of the Outback controller.

I also ordered a 1 TB external hard drive from Tiger Direct, and a USB to serial adapter to convert the Garmin GPS cable if
and when I get a new motherboard - I will eventually - and another 30 700MB CD's - to bump the total over $100 to get the
free shipping. The adapter and CD's came to $21, but saved me $15 in shipping, so they really only cost $6. Fair enough.

Tomorrow I have to mail out two forms. One to St Brendan's Isle and one to Tallahassee. I also have to ship back the bad
motherboard and ship a bunch of stuff up to Espin. Busy day at the Post Office.
December 21, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

It's chilly here for Florida. Of course, nothing compared to the bad weather up the Eastern Seaboard, but the fact that there
are Glaciers in other places doesn't make it warmer here. It's cold and I'm no fan of the cold.

I'm working on a lot of things now. A lot of computer work, which is time consuming, tedious and boring, but it does get a lot
done that I've been putting off for way too long. Also, getting those things ready to mail and trying to get through to Sun
Electronics in Miami. It would suck to drive all the way over there tomorrow only to discover they don't have in stock what I'm
looking for.  . . . . . . .   I just got through to Sun Electronics and someone told me that I had to come to the office first and pay
for the panels, then drive to the warehouse ten blocks away to pick them up. Naturally, my first thought is, 'What if the only
ones you have left in stock are damaged pieces of crap?' It's a fair question, based on what I've already seen from this
company. Still, I'm willing to go to Miami and fight it out with them to get the solar panels and be done with it. It is true that I
COULD just go to another distributer and start over there, but that would mean a giant tussle getting my money back from
Sun Electronics and paying about $700 MORE for the exact same components somewhere else. $700 that I don't have.

Donny just came by to tell me that he couldn't go on the trip to Miami tomorrow because Barb has him all scheduled for flat
out work from now until after Christmas, but he said I could use the car for the trip. Well, okay. At least I can get the panels. . .
. . . . . . . .  Not ten minutes later he came back and told me that he couldn't let me use the car because Barb had that
scheduled for work as well. The schedule apparently extended to any time that I might think I want to use it. I guess I'll have to
find another way. I'm thinking.

So, it's much later and I thought and thought and didn't come up with any ideas as to how I could possibly get those solar
panels from Miami to here. Depressing. A little. No matter what, I would have found a way somehow. Then Tom Blackshear
stopped over to ask about Sandy and Eddie. Tom is the guy who bought the truck. We chatted for a while and I brought him
up to speed with Sandy and her surgery and recovery, and the problem I'm struggling with in getting the solar panels. Then
he said, "Where in Miami? I'm doing a job over there for a couple of days this week and I can stop in and pick them up for
you. Are they all paid for?"

So I said, "They will be if you say you can pick them up, and I'll give you $100 for bringing them back here." He thought about
it for a few seconds and said he would. I think he was struggling with wanting to say he'd do it for nothing, but he's at least as
tight for money as I am, and while it's a good thing to allow others to help you if they offer, it's a better thing to give them fair
pay if you can afford it. The shipping would have cost me $230, and the trip with Donny would have cost me $100 for fuel and
food, plus a LOOOONG day of driving. If Tom can do this, he'll let me know by tomorrow or so and I'll buy them over the
phone and get the address for Tom to stop by and pick them up. That'll work just fine.
December 22, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

For some reason I had difficulty sleeping last night. Maybe it was the big cup of hot chocolate I had. Yum. Anyway, I didn't
wake up until 8 AM and then I got started on the computer - adjusting the time/date thing (AGAIN! Back to that!) and removing
the boot search for a floppy drive - then I went to the showers and ran into Paul, who had mail for me. After some chat and my
recognition that the mail was the long-awaited expansion to Oblivion, I returned to the boat and loaded the original game and
started playing around with it. No sooner had I started than Eddie came over and rousted me out to chat on the dock. Not
long into that, Tom came over and announced that he would be heading to Miami this morning, so I got his phone number
and went back below to order the solar panels while Tom talked to Eddie about Sandy's condition and the whole process.

When I came back outside, I told Tom I'd call him with the invoice number after Carlos called me back and gave it to me, then
Tom hit the road. For the next few hours Tom and I relayed messages and I kept in touch with Sun Electronics until we
realized that Tom would never get there in time, so I called Sun and told them so. I also told them that Tom would be stopping
by Sun at 9 AM tomorrow to get the panels. Tom also told me he would call me in the morning, I suppose after he'd gotten
them and was heading back. I went back out on the dock and met up with Eddie and Sandy and bummed a ride to the bank
tomorrow morning with Eddie so I could have the money to hand Tom cash when he arrives here tomorrow afternoon with the
panels.

I also made another pot of beans and rice. I believe I'm getting better at it. Less is more. It is easier to judge the cook times of
two items than four or six. And it's quicker. My belly is full.

We've had beautiful sunsets for the past ytwo days and I've missed pictures both times. I'll do better tomorrow.
December 23, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

The panels should be showing up today, and to tell the truth, I'd love to know when the bladder will be coming for the water
tank. I should write them an email. Of course, it IS December 23rd and most of the world is wrapped up in Christmas and/or
blizzards, including Europe, so I shouldn't be too awful surprised if my priorities aren't at the very top of some folks' lists. I'm
still going to have plenty to do around here now that it's warming up again. I HAVE finally fallen through one of the open
hatches in the cabin sole, now that I have the rest of the sole down, so hatches would seem to be a priority. I'll do them today.
I should also be making a grocery list and a West Marine list.

Okay, I did that. I also took a ride with Eddie and got Tom's money from the bank and spoke with Tom several times during
his navigation through the Sun labyrinth in Miami. At last contact, just a few minutes ago, he was at the warehouse with the
invoice waiting for the crew to show up and open it, and the crew arrived and went inside and he signed off.

It's warming up nicely outside - it's 10 AM now - and I'll be heading out to work on the floor hatches and the companionway
ladder today. The computer has already started acting like it did before as far as the floppy seek showing up and the
time/date resetting to April 19, 2007. It's a pain, but I have a direction concerning this and will just deal with it until the time
comes to address it seriously. I am not running any spyware or anti-virus protection to see what happens - the ISP should be
able to cover the major threats - and later on I'll be loading Linux and using it as my primary Internet operator and only
running Windows XP as a sideline OS.

It is 6:30 PM and Tom is still not here. I called him once and he didn't pick up, then about half an hour later he called and said
he'd stopped to do some shopping and would be here by 6:30. Ask me why I HATE depending on other people sometime. I
much prefer to do things myself, alone and undisturbed. Dealing with others is purely annoying and I take no pleasure in it.
He should have been here 4 hours ago, so for all this time I am left to watch the clock and the parking lot and not do anything
or go anywhere but wait for him. . . . . . . Okay, just as I get my 'whine gene' into full spin and call him, he is driving into the
parking lot. I got the panels and they are triple mega awesome. I paid Tom straight away and he carried one of the panels to
my boat for me, then we tied the panels to a piling and talked for half an hour.
I got the three sole hatches for the cabin made today and
have them in place. After longer than I care to remember,
I have a floor to walk on. Of course, when the bladder
gets here the entire floor comes up and I have to install
that water tank and leak-test it. THEN the floor can
actually be installed, faired and fiberglassed into the boat.

The panels are something like 38 inches by 65 inches
and I REALLY need to find the right tubing to mount them
in a hurry so they are securely mounted and ready to
connect up. I'm a little freaked out to have them tied to a
piling on the dock. At the very least they should be on
the boat somewhere. I might do that before I turn in.

Donny said that he needed some stuff from the new
metal place in Sarasota and that we could take a drive
down on Monday, so that might be the final solution as to
where to get the metal stock for mounting the panels.
December 24, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Hey! Look what day it is! Yeah, well, just another day in paradise for me. I got the companionway ladder finished and
installed. Picture to follow. I like it. It isn't as heavy as I was worried about so I'm happy about that. Now I only have the two
extremely odd-shaped openings on either side of the ladder to figure out how to cover with something light, tight and fire
resistant. I will also have to cut ventilation holes from the engine room into each fuel tank hold and build Dorade boxes with
air scoops on each side of the main Bimini mounts. This will ventilate the engine room and holds and provide adequate air
intake to feed the engine. I am not sealing the battery selector box cover, which also connects to the engine room by not
having any bottom, so there would always be air intake through there.
The ladder looks good, even though the excessive amount of white
non-skid looks like beach sand. The thing is, if it begins to annoy
me, I'll just use some of that black non-skid material that's made for
skateboards and cut pieces to perfectly fit each step completely and
that will eliminate the beach sand look.

The freakin' solar panels look GIANT! Well, if I want the power I
have to carry the surface area somewhere. Hopefully, not too far
down the road, the Mars Rover solar panel technology will hit the market and much more powerful and efficient panels will be
made available. Until that time, these will have to do for me. They will provide somewhere between 150 and 175 amp-hours
per day - depending on how you do the math - and I will adjust my usage to allow for that, minimizing the time per week that I
am required to run the engine to charge the batteries. It will be very interesting to chart the individual devices and their draw
over the period of a month at a time and see what adjustments I can make in my lifestyle aboard to operate within the
confines of renewable energy. It's not like I won't be able to supplement with the 130 amp alternator and a little diesel fuel
from time to time, but I'm looking forward to the future.
December 26, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Yesterday was Christmas and I worked on the computer all day. At 4:30 PM I went to Donny and Barb's boat and had a great
Christmas dinner, then came back here and watched some TV before falling asleep. Matt called from Sue and Steve's house
in Merrimac, Massachusetts, very close to the New Hampshire border. Sue is my ex's sister and she and Steve have been
married forever. Ben and Mia were over there as well and I got to talk to Matt, Ben and Steve.

I have been sorting through almost a full terabyte of files to eliminate duplications and unneeded files, etc. It is a daunting
task and one that has been waiting to get done for a long, long time. I just got a new 1 TB external hard drive and I'm trying to
assemble a single master file of essential back-ups so I can grab a single hard drive and hit the dinghy in the event of a
catastrophic holing and Falcon sinks. I am about ready to wade into some serious revisions on the writing to finalize these
novels and losing them now would be a bummer. This past week I fried a 500 Gig drive - rainwater got on the external units
power supply and when I turned it on, it went up in smoke, both the power supply AND the hard drive - and almost lost a
second unit, a 250 Gig that refused to start until I hooked it up internally with a direct Eide cable inside the computer. It had
the flu apparently, and came out of it.

I changed the battery on the old motherboard and all the problems have seemed to go away. It occurred to me that most of
the boot problems were happening on cold mornings, and that's when weak batteries fall on their faces. I can't be absolutely
sure yet, but it looks like it might be fixed.
December 28, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

I now have about 30 hours in three days invested in sorting out the spectacular mess that is my 'duffel bag' system of
backups. After losing two hard drives in as many months, one with a vast amount of completely unrecoverable information on
it, I am determined to establish a proper and condensed triple layer system with a reasonable update process. The triple
layers will be two identical hard drives - which is what saved me when I recently fried the second unit - and a library of data
DVD's stored in a special pocketed folder with my important papers in a briefcase. The newest 1 TB hard drive will also be
stored in the briefcase with it's associated cables and power supply.

I might feel lax about missing two days of posts, except that I just didn't do a thing but sit here and sort through hundred of
billions of jumbled files. There simply isn't any way to talk about it without babbling like a drunk.

Today Donny and I are supposed to be headed off to Sarasota to get aluminum stock and, oh yes, the computer battery
seems to have put the fix on the BIOS reset problem. I also discovered yesterday that one of my 1 Gig RAM chips hadn't
seated properly in the motherboard, so I had to dive in there and fix it. It works now. Turns out the shortage of ram was
affecting the speed of transfer of the large files I've been working with. I still have some serious work to do as far as designing
the solar panel mounting system, but I think I'm up to the job.

Donny and I went to Alro and got our respective materials. His was $14, mine was $73. We stopped at Sam's and Home
Depot and got other stuff, then came back here and I hunkered down out of the cold front sweeping over us and watched a
movie.

The Firefox web browser I've been using is beginning to repeatedly crash and close. I'm going to remove it and download a
new copy and re-install it, just for good measure.
December 29, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

It's a nice, crisp 40 degrees outside this morning, just a little too cold for me to want to head out onto the dock and struggle
with the wind. I DO have some mailing out I should get done today, including sending off that bad motherboard.

I scanned and emailed some forms for Espin yesterday. The first try was to put all three forms, scanned at 'high quality',
which made for some fairly big files - over 1 meg each - in one email to Rick Schumacher, Captain of Naked Lady. That email
never got through. Maybe AOL can't deal with large attachments. Next, I sent three separate emails to Espin. They all went
through and he has the forms. Now he has to go over to Rick's and either forward the three emails or have Rick connect his
printer to Espin's laptop and print them out.

The new version of Firefox is not crashing. Apparently, the program is a bit unstable and can get itself tied up in knots. No
problem - it's free and does not report to Microsoft, so the microsoft/government spyware can't play on it. At least, I don't think
so.

I've been having sneezing fits yesterday and this morning. That usually is followed my one of the headaches, but we'll see. I'm
slowly adjusting to a healthier diet and hope the change will make me less vulnerable to allergens. It's possible. I got a nice
big bag of fresh garlic yesterday at Sam's. I can't wait to try it out in something.

I still have some work to do on the computer, including installing Dragon Naturally Speaking, which is a program that types
out whatever you say into a microphone. So much for the monkeys with typewriters theory! Let's see a monkey write a novel
now! That's right! That's what I'm talking about! I also want to get the Ubuntu up and running and a 'serial port to USB'
adapter installed. Meanwhile, I still have a few billion bytes of jumbled files to untangle and sort out. I have all the hard drives
running this morning to help warm up the cabin.
December 30, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

It's supposed to be warming up today, but not much and not for long. The cold weather drags on. No big deal. The truth is, If I
was on the hook in Marathon, I might be a lot more uncomfortable than I am here. Here, I have heat, TV and unlimited
electricity. Hard to beat.

Randy called yesterday and got the last items I'll need from West Marine for a while. Being frugal has stretched the money I
got for the truck to it's limit and I am pleased with the results. I got the two solar panels and their delivery, the Outback charge
controller, the new bladder for the damaged water tank and $30 in new stainless hardware to secure the floors, the aluminum
to mount the panels and the rivet tool, drills and rivets, plus the paint, the new DVD drive and external 1 TB hard drive, the
serial to USB adapter, 30 CD discs, Ubuntu 9.10 plus the 7 disc repository, 2 more rolls of aluminum insulation tape, and a
Partridge in a pear tree. Not bad for only $1800. Maybe a little more. Okay, a little more.
December 31, 2009 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

This is the very last day of 2009. Can you imagine? I can't. The thing is, I don't wear a watch and the only time I know what
time it is, is when I'm sitting at the computer and the time is printed right on the screen. I don't use calenders and the only time
the date matters to me is when I'm beginning these logs - and when the rent is due. Other than that, I truly never know what
day or what time it is. I haven't throughout my entire life and this has resulted in endless embarrassing moments and at least
one arrest. I missed a court date for a speeding ticket and a warrant was issued and I was arrested. Ordinary people find it
impossible that something so essential and simple should so completely elude me, but it does. Naturally, I never know how
many days there are in the months, so I didn't know THIS day would be here - instead of January 1st - until I got up and the
news said that tonight would be New Years Eve. Of course, I will do absolutely nothing to celebrate, including staying up late.
The one thing I will do, either today or tomorrow, will be to wrap up my various 2009 archive files and stow them away.

Once again, I was unsuccessful in getting Ubuntu properly loaded, so I'll probably delete it and try again. I do have to admit
that I like the new way I tried yesterday that allows you to install it INSIDE Windows as a separate folder. Now, what I need to
do is to increase the size of that folder to accommodate the 9.10 Repository to make it easy for me to try out some of the
hundreds of programs and modules available. I also need to become intimately conversant with how in the double-barrelled
hellfire of hidden mysteries a person is supposed to do something as simple as connect a perfectly good cellular Internet
modem up and get on line. I did it with Ubuntu 9.04, but so far have not had any luck with 9.10. Must be because 9.10 is such
a big IMPROVEMENT over 9.04. Someday I'm going to stick cockleburrs in a Linux programmers hair. They've got it coming.
The one thing you can be sure of, however, if you follow this log and know the whole history here, is that the likelihood of my
'giving up' is not very good. Someday I'll get it done. Meanwhile, the next computer task is to FINALLY get a whole new
archive library burned onto DVD's and stowed in a CD pocket album. Backups, backups, the only real safety in a sinking is in
backups. And life jackets.
January 1, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

I hung the jib again yesterday because it suddenly occurred to me that my long-time scheme of mounting the solar panels
between the clusters of shrouds might result in an unacceptable interference problem between the jib sheet and the solar
panels. Sure enough, there was no reasonable option available except to abandon the (hideous anyway) mounting plan and
find another way. So, there goes the fabric Bimini. I will make a hardtop type Bimini and have the solar panels permanently
mounted over the cockpit where they can bump and cut and otherwise injure me constantly. At least it won't be so very ugly.
By removing the lower rigging block and tacking the jib
straight to the bowsprit, I can still use the double purchase
halyard and minimize the lift on the deck mounted turning
block while maximizing the jib area. The huge size of the main
boom and resulting mainsail area dictate that balance will
require plenty of jib out front. Magnolia, the big Schooner that
is here now, has a huge weather helm problem that the
owner is going to try to mitigate by extending the bowsprit. He
is an accomplished sailor with a circumnavigation under his
belt and two years experience sailing that particular ship, so it
must be allowed that he has given the subject considerable
educated thought and knows what he's doing. All I know for
sure is that I have designed Falcon from the ground up and it
is my dearest desire not to have to cut off the spars and
make it a motorboat because it sails so poorly. I don't mind
her being slow. There are those who would say I'm a little
slow myself, but I want her to be comfortable and pleasing to
sail. And just plain gorgeous to watch sail by. Damned ugly
TV antenna. It's like a goiter, a wart on a witches nose, a
giant zit on a prom queen's forehead. I've GOT to do
something about it.

It's 8:00 PM and all I have done all day is transfer huge files
(duplicating a complete hard drive on the same remote drive -
very slow) while I watch New Years Day football games and
other stuff. It has continued to get colder and colder all day
and now the wind is howling. The weather forecast is that we
will have this weather, including nighttime temperatures in the
thirties every night, for the next week, solid, with no near rise
in temperature. It sucks. It really does.
It's hard to believe that by moving to Tampa Bay in Florida, I've moved too far north to do boat work in the winter. I KNEW I
should have gone to Cuba. Nah, they keep getting hurricanes and other bad visitors. We are just not prepared to work in this
weather. There are no 'indoor' areas to move to when the weather goes bad, and even though there have been no
hurricanes this year, it has been a phenomenally bad weather year with hardly a dozen days near the seasonal 'averages'.
We are either way above or way below normal. The rain is either record low or way above flood situations. There is nothing
to offer even the slightest confidence in the weather forecasters and there has never been a year like this on record. It's the
same all over the country and the world, so it's not like this is breaking news, but it does make you wonder why some people
are still denying that it's actually happening.

The more I think about the Bimini hardtop the better I like it. I'll have to get a bit more of the special stuff to attach the old
Bimini cloth to the edges, but it's not expensive and easy to use. It's a plastic or aluminum bolt rope track that rivets onto the
edges of the solar panels and makes a watertight seal with the cloth once a bolt rope is sewn into the edges. I will make the
new hardtop a bit wider and more solid than before, and be exceedingly grateful not to have the massively ugly midships
installations on the boat.
January 3, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

I would be posting more if there was anything good happening, if the Earth's poles hadn't shifted and the new Ice Age hadn't
begun, but there's really not much of anything to say.  I'm still working on dividing up the huge files I'm NOW trying to get onto
DVD's as secure backup. I've lost too much recently not to have a fresh set. My old set of CD and DVD backups are years old
and have proven to be less than effective after the recent hard drive suicides. Yesterday I completed a complete set of
folders - each a division of the selected files, gauged to fit on individual double layer DVD's. That was a lot of work. As I tried
to burn the first one, I discovered that even though the DVD's clearly have "8.5 Gigabytes" printed on their faces, what they
really mean isn't "8.5 Gigabytes". What they mean is "8,500,000,000 bytes". 8.5 Gigs is 9,149,718,805 bytes. What they
REALLY mean is 7.896 Gigs. I'm only telling you this because there are polar bears outside and Eskimo's hunting seals and
there's really nothing else going on. So, I've spent all this morning and part of last evening starting over and again dividing the
backup files into folders that will - hopefully, this time, fit on the DVD's. There are now 43 DVD's, or 365.5 Gigs of backup. I
don't know how long it will take to burn each disc, but I've moved the folders to the internal SATA drive to make it as quick as
possible. I'm about to start right now. Be back later.

I've had a stack of DVD's for a while and have decided to use them up first for the backups. There are 4.7 Gig and double
density 8.5 Gig. Since I have to do 43 8.5's for the big backup, there was no way I was going to make it 86 discs by using the
4.7's. I also have a brand new stack of 50 8.5's. I started burning the first 8.5 and was surprised to see that it was going to
take 38 minutes to burn each disc. A little quick math and I'm thinking, "29 hours of burning?" The older discs burn at 2.4x
speed, but I only have 21 of them, so I might as well use them up. I managed to get 9 done today and only one turned to junk.
I burnt 10 and 9 are good. 11 more slow ones, then I'll be using the 8x speed newer ones. I'm going to have to check the
suppliers and see if there aren't 16x discs available now. The slow burn kinda gives me the slow burn. Ha ha ha ha - I crack
me up.
January 4, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

The temperature this morning is 36 degrees. It's pretty cold, for Florida, but very little wind and walking around was not
unpleasant. I do have sweat pants on under my jeans and plenty of warm clothes, including a VERY warm 1st Down goose
down windbreaker jacket, so I'm fine. I'm planning on continuing the backup work as well as sorting out the design options for
the new hardtop Bimini. Yesterdays search for grooved awning tracks revealed extremely high prices for components that am
neither confident in or satisfied with the appearance. I have come up with another idea for the gap between the panels.

By cutting the center of the two huge bows out and slipping the new aluminum tubing over the cut ends, I will end up with two
straight and rigid sections of aluminum tubing 84 inches long that I can easily adjust to be exactly 65 inches apart, the length
of the panels. As they sit, that happens to be just about the exact dimension of the bows right now. By mounting the panels
right at the outer edge of the aluminum, there will be a 9 inch gap in the center. Not much, but just enough to limit the shading
of the panels by the boom itself. Eventually I'll be making a new 'cradle' type sail cover for the main, but for a while I will have
to make do with an old style wrapper type. Still, I'm hoping to minimize the shading. I will use one of several 'trick' methods of
closing the gap. Maybe Plexiglass, or a section of the striped Bimini - I'll be using the edge pieces exactly where they are now
- or something else. Not figured out yet.

Well, time to get back to the backup.

My brand new Sata DVD drive is having considerable trouble with the brand new 8x double layer DVD discs. I only had 1
problem disc with the old, slow discs, but the first two new discs have had problems. One of them is DOA. I did, however, get
12 done successfully. I'll let this go for now and try again in the morning when the drive is cool. Once I get the compatibility
issues iron out, I think it'll be okay.

I went outside and got the cloth off the Bimini and some of the structure down. It's still a little cool outside and I came back in
to keep going on the huge backup project.
January 5, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

I'm adjusting to completing the backup with the older 4.7 Gig discs that I have a large supply of, then I'll deal with the new
large disc problem later. Meanwhile, I reloaded Ubuntu 9.10 INSIDE windows just now and it went in perfectly. It took me 2
tries to get connected to the internet - you REALLY have to have the exact right name of the service you're using - and
configuring my dual monitors only took a minute. I'm serious, a stopwatch-timed freakin' MINUTE! After spending FULL DAYS
unsuccessfully banging away at it with the last (9.04) version. Much better. I'm totally encouraged about going forward with
Linux now. Well, you know, NOW. As in, we'll see how I feel after trying to get everything else up and running, most notably,
this website.

It's warm and balmy here today. Forty degrees or so. Apparently, Global warming doesn't mean warmer winters, it means
shorter, more violent, and much colder winters, but when averaged out over a year, the temperature has actually risen a
degree or two. One of my two little 5K heaters has died. I wasn't using it before this, but tried out using both of them this
morning, only to discover that one has gone the way of the Telegraph and the Pony Express. It has run it's course, met it's
end, bought the farm, screwed the pooch. In short, it is now an ex-heater, a has-been furnace, a vague memory of warmth
gone by. It is crap and will soon rest among fellow crappers in the last dumpster.

Time to get back to the endless backup.

The endless backup is done. I managed to use 3 more of the new 8.5 DVD's, but basically did most of the finishing with the
reliable 4.7's. As long as I have the backup. I'm happy.

I called Ahoy Captain today to see what the status is on my tank bladder. Apparently, it is scheduled to arrive in a container
from France sometime in the middle of February. Obviously, that means A LOT of work has to be held up while I wait to finish
the cabin sole. I obviously can't close it up without the bladder installed. I'll work around it. It's just another pain in the ass.

Awesome. I just realized that I somehow deleted the very first line of this Log. Now I have to try to remember what I said. Or
not.  . . . . . .  Okay, done. Also, the new Wedding Chapel is here, tied up on the other side of the Seafood Shack. I'll get over
there with the camera tomorrow and post a couple of pictures of it.
January 6, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Setting new record lows here this morning and a serious threat to the citrus crop is now posed. I guess the last time it was
this bad was in 1993 when a huge portion of the crop was lost. Got some pictures of the Wedding Chapel this morning and
spent a little time jawing with Donny. He and Barb have a full day of running around scheduled, so I asked him if he'd check
in Walmart, one of the stops, for one of those cheap electric space heaters for me. On the way back to the boat I stopped in
and visited with Sandy and Eddie for a while and they loaned me an extra little heater they had aboard. They are heading
back to the house today and won't be using it again until next Tuesday or Wednesday. Here are a few shots of the Chapel. It
looks like it was snapped together as a huge plastic kit like the little building you used to be able to get for an HO train set.
The attraction with this thing is the cruising as you get married
aspect. Who knows how much use it gets, but it looks pretty
and very non-denominational. I probably won't be getting a lot
of inside pictures as I'm about over it.

Both important issues in the Ubuntu program that went in so
slickly yesterday were pooched today. The dual monitors was
working, but just barely and wouldn't allow free movement of
open windows. The internet connection was DOA completely
and nothing I did helped at all. Linux is just too damned fragile
to be considered a genuine OS yet. I'll keep plugging away at it
for a while, but don't hold out a lot of hope. I simply can't find
myself using a hammer who's head falls off several times a day.

I spoke with my daughter for a long time today and got all
caught up. And my son Matt is on the phone right now. We're
comparing weather anomalies.
January 7, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Donny and I just got back from our 'missions' trip to St Petersburg. I got a gold star from the doctor and nurse because my
blood pressure is so good, my viral load is around 800K and was even lower last year, and my cholesterol is 149, down from
almost 240 for the past 2 years, and done without medication. Twice they tried to get me on medication and both times I
refused, wanting another shot to lower the number with diet. Well, it has worked and I am as happy as a clam. I am continuing
to improve my health situation over the past few years and got a few more good tips today. I also managed to mail off the
motherboard, the documents to St Brendan's Isle and the sale of vehicle papers to Tallahassee.

I also improved the Ubuntu this morning and made an important discovery concerning the internet connection. It works best to
boot up the computer and let it sort itself out, THEN plug the Aircard into the USB. It works fine then. Also, discovered that
the Yahoo Web Hosting pages do not load to a Linux computer. Only the home pages and news pages. Web Hosting, Site
Builder and all site building tools are strictly 'Windows Only' stuff. I really only had a short while to go over this stuff this
morning, so there will be more to discover coming up. Right now, I'm hungry and tired and want to eat and relax a bit.
January 8, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Pretty darn 'crisp' out this morning, but not as nippy as it is predicted to be over the weekend. However, there is light at the
end of tunnel as Monday and Tuesday promise a warm-up into the 70 degree range. Toasty. Anyway, on Tuesday I'll fix the
broken dock - as quickly as possible - then get busy on the Hardtop and start some serious blasting away at projects inside
the boat. As a matter of convenience, I may stay here until the Plastimo bladder from Ahoy Captain arrives and I am able to
install, test it - and the entire water system - and finalize the cabin sole. Even if I end up working the cabin sole as I head to
Marathon, I will still need to have a completed water system.
Above is a picture of Moorea from Tahiti. Wish I was there. They are predicting the possibility of snow here overnight. Snow.
In Tampa. Not for nothin', I really did come here to get away from that. Oh, well, what are ya gonna do? It's just unbelievable
how many different things seem to be able to conspire to keep me here. Unbelievable. One thing after another. But the
weather can't suck forever - unless you live in Maine - and sooner or later I'll get the last things done and be off the dock for
good. Or not. You know, I could hit the lottery and want a Chalet in Colorado or something. Don't hold your breath on that one.
January 9, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Ditto. You know, about the cold and wind and rain. More of the same. They say we might get up into the 40's today, but it
doesn't matter because it's raining anyway. Microsoft Outlook seems to be the root of the spyware. It continually tries to force
you to set it up and initialize it and regenerates instantly if you try to delete any part of it. If you're like me and want no part of
it at all, it just gets more and more insistent, refusing to allow you to remove the sign-up screen. There is not an option to
close the window that does not instantly regenerate the sign-up window. Microsoft sucks. If I can't get Linux where I want it, I
WILL go to Mac.
January 10, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

So, first thing I discover this morning is that, while working with a brand new database, or spreadsheet - whatever -
yesterday, I was inadvertently initiating Outlook about 60 times behind the spreadsheet. One right over the next. So, Outlook
was not trying to insist upon anything, except notifying me that I am, in fact, a moron. I already knew that, thank you very
much. It's cold here and that's why. Or not. No one cares. There is a Penguin hunt today and then a 'catch the greased
Penguin' event in the afternoon. We are now informed that Tuesday's warm-up has been rescheduled for Sunday, unless it
doesn't happen then, either. It's 30 degrees here this morning and 28 degrees just a few miles inland. The warm Gulf is what
keeps it so toasty near the coast. I may go to the beach and sunbathe.
January 11, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

The temperature dropped to 25 degrees here this morning and I mean to tell you, it's COLD for Florida. Canadian visitors are
wandering around in a daze, stymied by the situation and complete lack of preparation by Floridians. Well, dudes, it
DOESN'T DO this here. Once again, all kinds of broken records, but the biggest one is the two-week duration of this cold
spell.

The mouse is so cold it makes my fingers hurt. It'll warm up soon, I'm sure. Once again, I would not mind this if I were in New
England - it's expected there and I could ski. Or snowmobile. Or build a fire in the fireplace and complain about the cold,
threaten to move to Florida, and drink hot chocolate. Hey! I have hot chocolate! Okay, later.

Eddie and Sandy have gone back to the house to do laundry and live in a warm place. Yesterday he told me they would
probably move aboard in the middle of February and put the house up for sale. Shortly after that, they might begin cruising.

FYI, I sleep at night without heat of any kind. I always have, even in Boston. I am NEVER cold at night. I know how to dress
and how many blankets to use. I also use hooded sweat shirts and knit caps if needed. The only problem is getting up into a
boat that is about the same temperature as outside. The little 1500(?) watt ceramic heat I have works good, but is not much
against this kind of cold. If I had 2, which I usually do carry, it would be much more effective, but Murphy's Law says the
minute I buy a second I will never need them again, forever, until they are broken.

It's supposed to be warming up outside. I suppose I should go outside and see if it is. I just spent some time talking with Leslie
on the phone. She has been off skiing and it sounds like the skiing up there is great. It's about the same temps there as it was
here this morning. It has warmed up some outside, but I just felt it and it's not a bit warm - just not as cold as it was. I also
heard from Becky Pate at Central plains publishing and from Ken Keenahan, both answers to emails I sent. I hope it warms
up enough to get some work done pretty quickly here. I just don't think Florida will do well having a real 'winter'. That really
SCREAMS for opening Cuba so people can go somewhere that it's warm enough to swim.
January 12, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Ditto. As in, more cold, more waiting, more boredom. On the lighter side, I am making headway with Ubuntu and the
computer, plus, I'm fairly committed to Yahoo and the Windows SiteBuilder software at this point, but I will have to adjust the
way I construct some of the site because it doesn't display correctly on Linux and I'm afraid that might also be true for Mac
OSX, which I think is Linux-based. I will have to convert some of the text based graphics blocks to Jpeg's so they display
consistently in all browsers on all operating systems. It's SO HARD to please you guys!

I am also watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy to pass the time. Boy oh boy oh boy - when they make movies out of my
books, I'll buy a much bigger boat, or a chalet in the French Alps. Or something. It's already warming up here. They say it's
near 35. Call me when it's 70, dude.

I struggled with Ubuntu for a few hours and it got worse and worse. First, the available music players couldn't cope with MP3
files - go figure . . . who the hell writes these programs? It's like buying a freaking car that doesn't have wheels or windows.
Even all dash stereos have MP3 capability now, and have had for about five years - so I used the direct Ubuntu software
library and added an MP3 capability to the supplied music player. Boom. No sound any more and there was NOTHING I
could do to get the sound back. Meanwhile, the single password I installed for administration security stopped working for the
AT&T Aircard and I lost the Internet capability. Also, in order to use dual monitors, for three days now I've had to open the
monitor manager, install 'mirrored' monitors, then uninstall them and go to dual monitors. I formatted the disc back to Windows
and removed all evidence possible of the Linux trial. Again, the OS proves to be fragile, unstable, borderline unusable, and a
complete waste of time and energy. Linux is still crap. The sad thing is that Ubuntu is holding the reputation of being the
'BEST' Linux offering out there. It is poop.
January 13, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

It's warmer today and I am finally out of the sweat pants and sweat shirt 'long johns' that have kept me warm for the past cold
spell. The sun felt good today. It is 5:56 PM and I am just getting a fresh version of this site builder program up and running.
When I tried to boot up the computer about 12 hours ago, I discovered that the missing Ubuntu had taken with it the specially
built "Fork in the Road" where you choose if you want Ubuntu or XP. It's an important bridge across a cyber chasm and many
clever attempts on my part failed to get me to the other side. So I did a quick Hard Drive swap, replacing the "C" drive with the
newly formatted Linux drive and just started over. It's about all set for now and I'm happy. Now it's past time to get back to
boat work.

One of the first things I'm going to have to do is fix the wonky dock (OMG - the spell checker in this program that DOES NOT
have about half of the common English language, just slid right over 'wonky' like it was 'dog' - who programs this stuff - oh,
that's right, the originators of the word 'wonky') Anyway, I have to fix the wonky dock and then do a bit of sewing for RJ. He
needs to have the sacrificial strip on his roller-furling jib re-stitched before he bends it on. See that? I talked salty dog and
said 'bends it on'. That's right. I'm a little salty.

It's a good thing it was cold for a while. It gave me enough time to let some interesting ideas waddle around in my head about
the hardtop. It's going to have to be willing to take an awful beating sometimes. High wind and water loads during storms are
the norm at sea and a close look at the existing structures that are out there reveals where experience comes to rest. Flimsy
overhead structures must stay in port on blustery days or they risk going swimming, involuntarily.
January 14, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

The temps are due to improve again today and life should get back to normal. I'm cooking black-eyed peas because why not.
Eddie and Sandy are back and the docks are once again getting busy. I got a lot more done on the computer this morning
and it's almost right where I want it. There's something just a little wrong with having this much experience and proficiency
with a device that is supposed to serve ME, instead of the other way around. The truth is, though, that computers still suck.
They need to be made much less complicated and vulnerable.

Check this out: One of the European electric cars - maybe a Porsche - uses a Lithium Ion battery that weighs 880 pounds
and has a capacity of 45,000 amp hours. Okay? 45,000 amp hours. Lets put this in perspective. The six batteries aboard
Falcon weigh a total of almost exactly 910 pounds, and have a peak capacity of about 1440 amp hours. I shudder to think of
the cost of the Lithium Ion cell, but imagine this: instead of 900 pounds of conventional batteries and 7700 pounds of lead (for
ballast), I had 8 of those batteries mounted in a specially designed keel that would serve as ballast and provide 360,000 amp
hours of capacity. I could have an electric motor with an output equivalent to 60 diesel horsepower, tankless hot water and
anything else I wanted (electrically) on board. Of course, I'd also want more solar panels, but once the technology for the
Mars Rover panels are released (4 times the power output of the present panels), then 4 panels the same size as the two I
have now would produce 3280 watts, or almost 1400 amp hours per day. Who needs sails? I wonder if we'll see it in my
lifetime. Free, non-polluting renewable energy on a truly massive scale. My bet is we won't see it until ALL the oil is gone.
January 15, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida

Halfway through January and not much real work done for the past two weeks. I got some cleaning up done outside
yesterday, on the dock and in the cockpit. I have to get everything prepared for the new hardtop project. It's going to be a little
tricky, all in all, and the last thing I need is to be stumbling over stuff. The sooner I can get the hardtop done and the solar
panels secured, the sooner I can get back to the cook top, the reefer, and the holding tank. Oh, yeah, and the sails.

I shaved off my hair again last night. It gets too long and begins to annoy me. I wanted to cut it off before the cold snap, but
once the temps dropped, was afraid to because of the cold. If that isn't a ridiculous notion from a man who's hair is so thin he
gets the top of his head sunburned. Well, what are you going to do? One of the great comforts of old age is the ease with
which denial slips into our daily lives. Stay away from mirrors and you can feel much younger for a long, long time.
I did go outside last evening to get a shot
or two of the sunset, but actually missed
it and had to settle for an after-shot. It's a
little blurry because I was shivering. Not
quite as warm as we'd like it to be yet.

Once again, I opted for the AVG free
anti-virus software. I had to do
something for peace of mind. I do intend
to carefully stow the 1 TB and 500GB
external backup drives in a safe and
secure fashion, then use the internal
500GB SATA drive as my "D" drive,
which it is now, the 250GB EIDE drive as
my "C" drive, which it is, and reformat the
external 250GB drive that was to old "C"
drive and use it for the writing and other
files I don't wish to expose to the
Internet. That drive will remain off while
I'm on line. That is also why I have to
have virus protection software - so I can
check to be sure I'm not infected before
turning it on.
There are few things that I dislike more than pictures
of myself because they make me look old, ugly, and
like a refugee from the lunatic fringe. In short, they
tell more truth than I'm entirely comfortable with. Still,
it's only fair that you get to see me once in a while to
scrub that 'Tom Cruise' image of me out of your head.

The recent delays in getting going have been a little
bit disappointing, but not too much. I suppose I'm
used to it. The amount of comfort and versatility I
want in the boat demands a lot of work and
resources and it just takes time to do. I think I'm
getting a lot closer though, and I'm actually grateful it
hasn't been too much too soon. I've done a lot of
'mellowing out' in the past few years and I think it will
go a long ways toward keeping me out of trouble as I
cruise. Though I have to admit, I'm a little short of
patience for political hate mail, corporate greed and
religious hypocrisy. I need more work in those areas.