Challenges of Dual Monitors

I truly love having dual monitors but there is a lot of stress in coming up with just the perfect wallpaper to suit my mood......I think I found one that fits the requirements :)

Mom, Dad and the Grad

Proud parents with Mackenzie on her big night!

Congratulations to Littlest Princess

The Littlest Princess graduated high school tonight and was pretty excited about the whole thing :)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Proud mother yesterday at MTSU!!!

The fun never ends

Guess want started leaking in the basement last night......

Fun with digital cameras

Once a DIY starts thinking "let me get my digital camera" then many things get a whole lot easier.  In this case I was wondering about the wiring and removal of a gauge on the Time and Tide.  It was an aftermarket fix due to the company that made the hardware/software for reading the tankage levels went out of business.  Fortunately there are some modern fixes that will allow the tweeb in the photo to get it all working again once he finds out where all the wiring goes.

(The bastards glued it in!)

Living Life Like a Song

Doing a little Spring Cleaning inside the Time and Tide this weekend in preparation of another sailing season.  I replaced on of our standard fare nautical-type prints with a present from last Christmas.  Not sure which song yet but I think I'm begining to hear the "Middle 8" :)

Thank you again Miss B and Madison

Special Event

Something big is happening at MTSU on the 11th this month :D

dwc

Test

dwc

Member of a Rarified Club

The Littlest Princess, who scored some impressive bling during this year's Honors Banquet at Dyersburg High School (Golden Honor roll, ACT 30+ Club, Trojan Scholar), is shown top and center on the ACT 30+ Club member list.  An impressive acomplishment that saves her parents plenty of $ in college costs :)

Tracking the First Mate of the Time and Tide

Powering up the radar...... 

An American and a Ghanaian chat about Statistical Analysis

My new Ghanaian friend, Ernest Boateng-Okrah, and I are talking about how to use our operational data in Minitab---a software "stat pack".  The use of this software tool can help show where to focus our efforts and if these efforts are improving the processes.  Most of my time is spent on site supporting the teams in ways such as this and the great thing is that not only is it measurable in the results but personally rewarding as well :)

Igor gets introduced to anaglyphs

I made a couple of anaglyphs and shared with Igor one of him at the power plant.  He thought it was rather cool....even the glasses.

Shopping Trip

A Yankee, a Russian, and a Pole walk into a Muslim convenience store with 20 Euros.  Who got the best deal?

Hint: It wasn't the Yankee or Russian......

Sub-Saharan Setset in Two Viewpoints

The is sets visibly here in the desert.  Here is a shot looking over the mine at 1x.

Seconds later (9 sec) a second photo at the same area though at 12x

A Russian, a Mauritanian and a Yankee walk onto a construction site.....

My friend Igor and a project foreman are pictured in front of the new 20MW power plant being built at the mine site.  The plant is a virtual twin to the one at Kupol.  Inside and out, there are hundreds of folks putting it all together for a mid-year start-up.

Low Tech Solution

Flies are an on again/off again problem here in the desert.  Recently the problem is on again though the flypaper seems to be doing the trick.  Hopefully they don't start weighing too much and pull down the ceiling grid :)

Cha-Cha-ing the Santa Catalina

Seems everyone thought the Santa Catalina was nice in 2-D....awesome in 3-D with the funny glasses.

My ride over to the mainland today

~2hrs to Africa and a 45min hop to the site in a turboprop.

Introducing the Hotel Santa Catalina

View of the front of the hotel where I stay while on the island......taking one for the team before heading out for the site.  About a 2km/~1 mile leisurely walk to the office.

Going Out on Top!!!

We all know that the Littlest Princess knows how to SING and DANCE but it looks like some of her classmates do too!

Way to go Class of 2013!

Duck Squeezers-R-Us (not really but it's good PR)

On the recent weekend on the Time and Tide, one of the many small 12vdc overhead lamps burned out.  I bought an inexpensive replacement but also investigated direct replacement LED lamps as well in anticipation of being away from the dock for extended periods....like months :)

This past weekend the First Mate and I spent some time aboard preparing for spring (fire the woodchuck please).  I brought a stash of the new LED lamps for replacing some of the existing incandescent lamps.  Each new LED lamp arrived in its own anti-static mylar bag--I bought a mix of warm and cool white.

Here is one of the little light fixtures spread throughout the cabins.  We have nearly thirty of these little guys all over the place.

Inside of the lens and bezel...a bit dusty after a decade of life aboard.

Here is the original incandescent lamp without the lens--10 watts of energy and it gets very warm (like in don't touch it or you'll leave your fingerprints burned in the glass).

Lamp off and cooling before replacement.

Here is the comparison between the two lamps.  The LED disk is a tight fit but is made for this type of replacement in marine and RVs.

Fairly simple breadboarding on the backside of the LED lamp.

Here is the cool white LED lamp sans lens---pretty intense.

LED lamp with lens in place.  Very cool burning and only ~3 watts in all for a 70% reduction in energy use.  I must say that the warm white lamps are about the same in lumen output and accent the woodwork nicely.  The cool white lamps I placed over areas for task lighting were much nicer for seeing things in detail.