Blog

  • Wire it up! : 79/100

    Today was small projects day. We made a run over to my parents house in Durango and picked up a small fridge from them. Then we got paint at the Benjamin Moore store, and finally got a pickup order from Home Depot.

    The big small project of the day was wiring up my shed with some electricity. It was one of those things that, when we were getting the solar setup for the cabin, we just ran out of time to do. I really wanted to get it done so I would have a light and a couple outlets for charging my batteries with.

    A few years ago we replaced the 120v outlets in the trailer with Dual USB In Wall Outlets. They replace your regular electrical outlets and give you 2 USB outlets without having to use any adapters. Its great for charging our phones, mifi’s, and bike lights. I added 2 of them to the shed. One at the entrance with the light switch and another at my workbench.

    The most challenging part of the job was running the wire through the conduit. It took me a few tries, but I finally got it after vacuuming a string through, tying that to the wire, taping the end up, and spreading grease over the first 6 feet of wire.

    Naturally it started raining in the middle of the conduit operation. Once that passed I dug the 18 inch deep trench between the cabin and the shed to bury the conduit in. I added a 20 amp breaker to the panel and tied that end off. I started by turning off the main breaker, and also the inverter and the battery breaker to be extra safe. I was even sure to test the panel with my amp meter before getting started.

    On the outside of the shed I added an external GFCI outlet to add some extra protection. If there is ever a ground fault, of 0.005 amps or more, at any of the outlets or light switch in the shed the GFCI breaker will trip and prevent anyone from being electrocuted. They are required in bathrooms and kitchens by code and are good things to have around.

    Wiring a GFCI or USB outlet are pretty similar. Both outlets are much larger than a standard outlet and require wiring proficiency if you want things to sit nicely in the wall. Since I have a 20 amp breaker on this circuit I ran 12 gauge wire and it isn’t very forgiving. I probably need to revisit the first USB outlet in the shed tomorrow morning.

    In the meantime: let there be light!

  • Same old thing : 78/100

    We are now 6 months into the COVID-19 Pandemic and it feels like we are back in month 1. We still cannot get tests, we need to isolate, and we need to listen to the scientists. Unfortunately people are not listening or are forgetting or are defiant to the health professionals trying to save our lives. My experience is based on the US’s response and my hopes get dashed on a daily basis that this is going to end soon.

    One of the reasons I enjoy reading about history is that it gives us so many lessons. A couple months ago I listened to the audiobook of The Great Influenza, which I cannot recommend enough. The book is a historical account of the 1918 Flu Pandemic. It is very well done and offers amazing insights into what happened at various levels: political, scientific, economically, and more.

    Yesterday the Governor of Colorado, the state I am in, ordered mandatory masks to be worn in all public indoor places, yesterday. Orders like these were given during the 1918 pandemic as well to help protect each other. Back then as now there were people upset about these orders and protested them. In San Francisco an Anti Mask league was created and worked to have the mask order removed. I won’t be surprised to see those happen here too.

    What’s old is new and what’s new is old. History repeats itself again and again. People never learn.

    We hear these lines again and again, yet things keep repeating themselves anyway. Why is this? Can we learn from our mistakes and then pass those to the next generations?

  • Watching over you : 77/100

    Got my repaired/replaced apple watch back a few days ago. If you read my last post about it breaking you know that I have misgivings about this device now. Do we need technology to be so personal? Do we need more immediate and constant distractions? I am working these questions out. Hang tight!

    Since I have spent a week without my watch I noticed a few specific times that I miss having the watch on:

    • Adjusting the volume or skip/stop a teack on any Bluetooth speaker or headset. This is something I do a lot apparently. There were at least three times when I reached for my wrist to
    • Setting a timer for gardening, cooking, etc. the timer on the watch has preset values and the ability to set custom times. Siri is actually useful here: “hey siri start a timer for 23 minutes”
    • Tracking workouts: “hey Siri start an outdoor bike ride”
    • Getting texts and phone call notifications without having to grab my phone.
    • Checking the time

    Other than these types of interactions I wasn’t missing much. Knowing when other people had worked-out wasn’t that important. Being reminded to stand each hour wasn’t missed at all.

    When I got my new watch I went to restore from backup. The problem is that the backup was from 2 years ago. How worthless is that? How did it not create a backup in the last 2 years? My web hosting backs itself up everyday!

    So I went with a new install, which I prefer to do with my laptop every few years. Wipe the preferences and options clean. Then I went through every option in the Watch app on my iPhone. I turned off most notifications. I removed the activity rings from all of my faces. I added Favorites for my wife and my mom. Now I’m just a tap away from talking to either of them.

    So far so good. I called my mom this morning to test it out and had a great call with her. I didn’t get distracted by any activity notifications. I’m enjoying the watch again.

    Will I buy a new one or “repair” this one again? I’m still not sure. There are some nice to haves but nothing my phone doesn’t already supply.

    The watch does make a number of tasks easier and faster. I use Alfred and other utilities on my laptop the same way. Does it make me better at work? Probably not directly, but if it helps me get non-work tasks finished it seems it would help me be better focused at work.

    I will say that over the last few years of wearing the watch I have become more consistent with my workouts and exercise. I’m in some of the best shape of my life. A lot of that is due to the activity rings and tracking built into the app. The only issue I have with the activity rings is the lack of rest and recovery. Its all go go go which isn’t the best way to exercise. The apple watch is great for recording workouts but needs a lot of work for planning.

  • Woodworking : 76/100

    I am not a woodworker in the sense that I have ever built much worth keeping around. I have done construction work over the years and am not the most worthless person to have around. However I don’t have a great grasp of the fundamentals and therefore lack confidence. The last proper instruction I had was 7th grade shop class and I built a nice holder for my Super NES and a few games.

    Since we have been on the land I have picked up tools for various jobs. Now I have a circular saw, impact driver, drill, jig saw, and a variety of hand tools. So far this has all been used for getting the structures up. Now its time to build furniture to use inside and outside the structures.

    Kate’s dad, Bill, is an expert carpenter and general excellent craftsman. While he was visiting us he helped with a ton of projects and got me interested in doing more woodworking. Now I am looking for good places to start with relatively basic projects. This should help me gain some confidence and understanding of fundamentals. Plus I will get some furniture out of the deal!

    To start with I want an outdoor bench to place somewhere on my trails. I like the look of this Field Bench. It is pretty straight forward but looks like a nice place to sit and watch the sunset. One tool that these plans use and that I am seeing all over various woodworking Youtube channels is a Kreg pocket hole jig. They allow you to create pocket holes which look great and are apparently a better way to build furniture.

    I am going to do this project this weekend and report back on how it went.

  • Its sales all the way down : 75/100

    My colleague posted about his work history today and how it lead to where he is now. Its a great post about finding what you want to do with your life and then doing it. Some people are lucky and find their career path straight outta high school or college. Jon and I did not have that path.

    Jon and I both found our footing in sales. For him it was selling pumps and for me it was office supplies. If there is one job I recommend that everyone give a try it is sales. You don’t even have to be good at sales to gain a plethora of knowledge about business. I haven’t been in a sales position for over 2 years but I use sales techniques all day long.

    Sales teaches you to be bold, persistent, and confident of your position and product. Sales teaches you humility and never counting a sale till the money is in your hand. Sales teaches you the power of percentages and how just a little more effort can generate a massive increase in profit. Sales teaches you when to shut your mouth and let things happen. Sales teaches you to listen and reply with useful information. Sales teaches you to hustle and never take a moment for granted.

    All of my school life I was terrified of sales. I got pulled into an MLM my senior year of college and that soured me on sales for a while. I was so terrified of talking with customers to the point that I worked as a cook instead of waiting tables. I got into websites and the Internet cause it didn’t involve the awkwardness of face to face communication.

    I was adrift after graduating University and bounced around a number of jobs. I worked at the newspaper handling production. I ran a local pizza delivery store making pizzas and yelling at drivers. Then I was the webmaster for a small recruiter doing well until the dot com bust happened. Then I thought I would be a chef and worked a few cook jobs. Even spent 5 months as a sushi chef. Learned a lot about knife skills on that one. My last retail gig was as a front desk agent at a high end hotel. After a few months of that I realized I needed to go into sales and start making some money.

    My first sales job was selling office supplies as an independent salesperson for Quill.com. They gave me a bag with catalogs and an area of Phoenix and set me on my way. I spent about 8 months learning to just walk into a business and start talking about office supplies. I could look at a laser printer and tell you how much you were paying for toner and what I could save you.

    I started in Spring and worked through the summer in Phoenix, AZ. I got yelled at, chased by dogs, and kept doing it day in and day out. It took me a while to realize how bad the job actually was but I made friends and learned how to sell, a little. The one thing I did get out of that job was the confidence to sell anything to anyone at anytime. I wasn’t a sales machine but I could get into doors that required a buzzer from the inside. I learned to listen and never assume the sale. I learned to take 50 no’s in a row and then do it again. Cause when you get that 1 yes it makes the no’s disappear like the wind.

    Not everyone is in Sales but we are all in sales. At the end of the day we only have jobs because someone is buying the companies product. Find a way to add to the bottom line and you should have a job forever. Thinking like a salesperson means you are thinking about how to make the company money. It can come in the form of closing a sale or saving a sale. It can come from a fast reply or a new feature added to the product. It can come from convincing the product team to change directions and take a risk on something new.

    When I was selling office supplies I ended up in an older businessman’s office one day. We talked about office supplies and business and sales. He told me something I have never forgotten: “Learn how to sell and you’ll never go hungry.” I don’t think we have to all be used car salespeople and try to take advantage of each other. I think that learning how to sell helps all of us work better together. Once you have a sales job and understand how easy it is to be a total jerk as a customer you learn to be nicer.

    Workout detail

    The temperatures have cooled but I am still in a walking mood. Kate and I walked the fenceline trail and talked about the house design. Things are coming together well. We are agreeing a lot which is nice.

  • Monsoon season : 74/100

    Monsoon season : 74/100

    This last weekend we had a heat wave pass through the area. Temperatures were above 90F for at least 5 days straight. Yesterday was by far the warmest day of the heat wave. Then, just as the sun was setting, we had a few small rainstorms roll in.

    Today was cloudy and a little stormy all day. It was glorious. The air cooled and the sun was obscured by the clouds. The Monsoon season has begun, and it could not have come at a better time for the area.

    Its been a hot dry summer this year, and the snowfall wasn’t great last winter. Southern Colorado and 73% of the western states of the US are in Drought conditions. Here is a drought map of Colorado with Mancos. Most people in Colorado haven’t had Air Conditioning in their homes in the past. That is changing with more homes adding AC to handle the warm summers. Rather than change our habits to deal with climate change we are just doubling down on what causes it. Grrrrrr.

    Hey, at least we aren’t in Phoenix anymore!

    Workout detail

    After work ended Kate mentioned going for a bike ride and I was game. There were storm clouds all around but it still felt like we weren’t gonna get poured on. We got a good 45 minute ride in and then I rode fenceline backwards for the first time. It is also a lot of fun!

  • Entertaining in a Pandemic : 73/100

    Entertaining in a Pandemic : 73/100

    The pandemic sure is making this a strange summer. Generally we are going to music festivals a few times a month. Then the local bands that play at the various bars and restaurants during the week are happening. We listen to great music, meet lots of people, and see old friends. Live music was one of the major aspects of this area that

    This year its been a little different, as you may imagine. There hasn’t been much live music with all of the social distancing. A few weeks ago we heard that a local bluegrass band, the Stillhouse Junkies, were letting people sign up for a 30 minute show. For donations only they will drive to your house and play in your yard. Apparently they were restless and also knew people needed live music now more than ever.

    Naturally Kate signed us up. Last Monday the band let us know they would be coming over on Sunday at 4pm. Since we have a good size yard it seemed appropriate to have a few friends over. We setup a canopy for the band to play under. We marked out sitting areas that were all well spaced apart. We wore masks.

    The band showed up and played their 30 minute set and it was great. Live music is so beneficial for happiness and joy. The interaction between the band and audience, even a small audience, is something a recording will never be able to simulate.

    We also got to see friends we haven’t seen in a while. It was nice to catch up, and we all agreed that people need to start taking this pandemic seriously.

  • Adapt : 72/100

    The pandemic is causing a lot of change to happen. Even here in the US there are people taking this seriously and following the directions of medical professionals. Masks are becoming normalized. Social distancing is a thing.

    Is it convenient? Not at all but it is necessary. As with anything new and different we need to adapt. If it’s cold out you put on a jacket. It it’s hot you move to shade. If there’s an airborne pandemic you wear masks, socially distance, and avoid public indoor spaces. The more we learn about this thing called COVID-19 the more I know I don’t want to get it.

    The number of cases are very low in the area I’m in. Part of this is due to our remoteness, but also due to a lack of testing. We border Arizona which now has the fastest growing outbreak of any country in the world. I see Texas and California license plates all the time. I’m scared and nervous and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. The best I can do is follow the guidelines and hope everyone else does too.

    Until now I’ve avoided talking about the Pandemic as I was trying to stay positive. The reality is that silence about this isn’t going to make it better. There is a lot of misinformation going on right now and the best thing I can do is talk about what I have learned, this far.

    I had an electrician come over the other day and COVID-19 came up. He made a few comments that were dismissive of the virus. I mentioned the new studies about brain damage in patients. He mentioned that he hadn’t heard about that. From the few conversations he and I have had this summer I get the sense that he is listening to conservative news for all of his news. I will admit that I do not get much news from conservative news media. However I am aware of some of what they are saying, and for the most part it does not seem helpful.

    It seems like we need to talk about the Pandemic for at least 2 reasons: 1) to educate others and 2) to educate ourselves. Science isn’t perfection. Science is progress and progress requires an open mind. I guarantee that my biases are causing me to miss some detail about the Pandemic. One of the worst things I can do is be confident that I am right: Beware of Being “Right” | Psychology Today

    Never judge an interaction in a … relationship merely by who’s right. Instead, ask yourself how compassionate and kind you are in the interaction. Spend less effort trying to control [the other person’s] thinking and more trying to understand and appreciate differences in your perspectives

    The article there is referring more to romantic relationships, but it feels like this should be applied to everyone I interact with. We aren’t going to get through this Pandemic by winning an argument. We are going to get through it by showing compassion to each other and taking care of each other.

    Oh and by wearing masks. Please wear a mask.

    Workout detail

    Kate and I rode around town for a few hours today. The family left this morning headed back to the east cost. It was great having them here but it is also nice having the place back to ourselves. It hit 92F today which is pretty warm for us. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.

  • Solar Charge Controller : 71/100

    The Roger bikes solar series comes to its 5th part today: the solar charge controller. So far we have covered grid-tie vs off-grid, AC vs DC, Batteries, and Solar Panels. In the cabin we are building our solar system will be 100% off grid, it will have a mixture of AC and DC power, there will be 832amp hours/10kW of battery power, and 1.3kW of solar panels.

    Once you collect energy from the sun it needs to pass through a solar charge controller before going to the batteries. This is done for 2 purposes:

    1. The solar charge controller regulates the voltage coming from the panels. Since the sun rises and sets, and there are clouds the energy produced from it varies. Electronics however do not like variety in their power source. Once the power is regulated to a consistent voltage it is sent to the batteries.
    2. Charging a battery requires controlling the voltage based on how much energy is in the battery. Once the State Of Charge (SOC) reaches 80% in a lead acid battery the voltage is lowered to prevent damaging the lead plates. This process is handled by the solar charge controller. We will program in the type of batteries we have to the solar charge controller and it will then adjust how it charges to ensure the batteries last as long as possible.

    Now that we have the need for the solar charge controller established we need to consider the types and sizes. There are 2 types of solar charge controllers from what I have learned: Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and not-MPPT. Basically an MPPT solar charge controller is the latest and greatest and ensures you are getting the most out of your panels. It also helps your batteries last longer. MPPT controllers are more expensive than not-MPPT but the price is worth it.

    Sizing the controller is a little more involved. First of all you want to make sure the controller works with your battery voltage. We are putting 2 6volt batteries in series to create a 12v battery, so we need the controller to be able to handle 12v, which is pretty much all of them.

    The next sizing consideration is based on how much energy your solar panels produce in Volts. You want to have a controller that can handle the voltage your panels produce. If it cannot then you are wasting energy produced by the panels, and overheating your controller.

    The final sizing consideration is the output current in Amps. As the controller converts the power from the panels into consistent and usable energy you want to make sure it is all getting converted and sent to the batteries.

    For our cabin we have 4 325Watt solar panels for 1300Watts of energy. If we look at the Victron MPPT calculator and enter all the values of our panels they recommend a 150 volt / 85 Amp controller. Currently that controller lists for $680. For $100 more you can get a 150/100 controller and have some overhead if we ever want to expand the system with more panels.

    Also when you look at the solar kits at Arizona Sun and Solar that is the charge controller they recommend for the 1300 watt kit.

    Workout detail

    Got up and walked around on my trails for about 2 hours listening to Botany of Desire by Michael Pollen. Its a fun book about plants and how we have co-adapted with them. He covers the apple, tulip, cannabis, and the potato. So far I am through the apple and tulip and have enjoyed them both. At some point I will write a review but don’t hold your breath, just get the book.

  • Apple Trees : 70/100

    Apple Trees : 70/100

    We planted 2 apple trees last week. Kate wanted apple trees so we went to the nursery and picked a Honey Crisp and a McIntosh. Apparently you want to pick 2 different varieties of apple trees that pollinate at the same time. Then they cross pollinate and produce their fruit.

    • McIntosh
    • Honey Crisp

    Neither Kate nor I are gardeners. I spent a summer a few years ago working on a vegetable farm and mainly learned that I don’t want to be a farmer. However, it is nice to plant something and help it grow.

    Naturally one of the trees is already showing some orange spots on the leaves. This can be indicative of cedar rust, or possibly just stress from the transplanting process. I am going to talk with the nursery about that tomorrow.

    Cedar Rust?

    We have deer in the area so that is why each tree is wrapped in a 6 foot tall circle of fencing. Those deer aren’t gonna get my apple trees!

    Now I need to figure out a drip system for them and keep them alive!

    Workout Details

    Rode with Kate, her dad, and sister to the town of Dolores about 12 miles away this morning before work. It was a beautiful day for a ride and we saw a lot of wildlife. Including a baby deer that couldn’t jump over the fence that its mother could. So the mom came back and they figured out a way to get around the fence.