What did you do today?

Recovering from both Extended and Close family visits.
 
Bill said:
Enjoyed the 40-85mph conga line on I81 today. I need a beer.
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Stop and go interstate traffic has to be the best use case for self-driving cars. My pain point is the Mass Pike when going to visit family in Boston...sometimes it's 95 mph, sometimes is 2 mph, and sometimes those things happen quick enough to provide a good brake test.
 
Bill said:
Absolutely! Adaptive cruise control was so nice, set my distance to the car in front, and let it do it’s thing!
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We've had four, I think, vehicles with adaptive cruise. I don't think I'll ever buy another daily driver without it.

The worst execution goes to Toyota on the Highlander. It works OK on the highway and will both accelerate (somewhat sluggishly; it's a Toyota) and brake, but SHUTS OF when you hit 20 MPH. So it's braking, then just lets go and dings at you. Stupid.

The best so far, I think, was probably the '18 Volvo. Hands-off in city or highway traffic, decent acceleration. The F150 is OK on the highway, but in stop-and-go traffic it acts like a 90 year old woman driving a Toyota Avalon. You know the type. The '07 Mercedes was great where it actually worked, but it was such an early system it didn't handle stop-and-go well and had a tendency to occasionally panic brake for no reason. Both were due to interference from newer cars with blind-spot monitor radar, there's no fix for it. The Merc had the BEST display though - it put a little bug on the speedo for your set point, so you could clearly see when you were slowing down behind someone and by how much.
 
I shoveled the ~2" snow that fell overhight. While cold out out (17 F), it wasn't breezy and the snow was light and fluffy.

Yes, we had a white Christmas in the Boston MA area.
 
We're having our typical Yuletide cold snap. Currently 75F, but the windchill makes it feel like 72F.

Took my wife and daughter out to breakfast this morning. I plan to spend this afternoon enjoying a couple of Pop-Tarts while watching the GT-BYU game.
 
Every year around the holidays, SWMBO watches for the grocery stores to put their roasts on sale. Just before Thanksgiving she got a nice standing rib roast that we sliced into ribeye steaks. Then last week Publix had a BOGO on their rib roasts, so she picked up two. We'll save the smaller one to fix as a roast, and this morning I cut the ribs off the other one and sliced it into a nice stack of ribeye steaks. She also got a strip loin on sale (no BOGO, darn it) and it's now sliced into a bunch of NY Strip steaks.

So, after a little amateur butchering this morning (and I still have all my fingers), we now have a freezer stuffed with steaks and beef ribs, and all for a lot less money than we would have paid for individual cuts.
 
Changed the oil in the Seneca. My left engine still seems to be leaking a bit. Need to change a few more rocker cover gaskets and see if that fixes it.
 
Got a couple approaches in actual. Discovered autopilot would not work upon departing. Got to hand fly them. Peed a little.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Nothing airplane-y. Got my radio back on the air and made a whopping one contact after something like 15 years inactive. First use of my new call sign too.
 
Half Fast said:
What’s your call?

73 de AJ4CM.
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Now K0DLB.

It was an FT8 contact, so honestly I’m not even going to count it. I was just seeing if anyone could hear 5W from a low 70’ wire surrounded by hills. I’ll try some CW tomorrow so I can feel like an actual ham again.
 
DaleB said:
Now K0DLB.

It was an FT8 contact, so honestly I’m not even going to count it. I was just seeing if anyone could hear 5W from a low 70’ wire surrounded by hills. I’ll try some CW tomorrow so I can feel like an actual ham again.
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digital modes count! I haven't done much with it lately, but played around with PSK 31 in the past, and it's handy stuff. That was one of the best modes for NVIS on 80 meters, which we used for communications around the county to get over the hills. Lots of blind spots for the VHF repeaters. No blind spots for NVIS.
 
Found a broken v-band clamp on my turbo while preflighting.



Had to rob one off the parts truck.

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Half Fast said:
Every year around the holidays, SWMBO watches for the grocery stores to put their roasts on sale. Just before Thanksgiving she got a nice standing rib roast that we sliced into ribeye steaks. Then last week Publix had a BOGO on their rib roasts, so she picked up two. We'll save the smaller one to fix as a roast, and this morning I cut the ribs off the other one and sliced it into a nice stack of ribeye steaks. She also got a strip loin on sale (no BOGO, darn it) and it's now sliced into a bunch of NY Strip steaks.

So, after a little amateur butchering this morning (and I still have all my fingers), we now have a freezer stuffed with steaks and beef ribs, and all for a lot less money than we would have paid for individual cuts.
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Short of buying a side of beef, that’s about the best way to do it.
 
Albany Tom said:
digital modes count! I haven't done much with it lately, but played around with PSK 31 in the past, and it's handy stuff. That was one of the best modes for NVIS on 80 meters, which we used for communications around the county to get over the hills. Lots of blind spots for the VHF repeaters. No blind spots for NVIS.
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Half Fast said:
I made many contacts on PSK31. Like CW, it’s very power efficient.
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Oh, I know they "count", and I used to love PSK31. PSK31 let you actually interact with the ham on the other end of the contact. I liked ragchews on CW and PSK when I was last active. FT8 is soulless. Click a mouse, log a contact. I've noticed that I hear an occasional CW signal, a swarm of FT8, and essentially nothing else on the lower end of the bands. Of course I just got a usable antenna up a few days ago, so I'll keep looking around. I may have to resort to finding a microphone.
 
crash7 said:
Got a couple approaches in actual. Discovered autopilot would not work upon departing. Got to hand fly them. Peed a little.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Yup, it’s a rare December when it’s IFR and not icy up here. Got my six and a hold in this weekend, kicking the can all the way to June.
GoFly said:
Changed oil in the plane
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Ditto.

This was a great aviation weekend for me. Nice way to close things out for the new years.

And now, whipping up some bigos stew for SNF tonight.
 
Jim K said:
Saturday Night Fever?
Sun N Fun?
Skilled Nursing Facility?
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Alas, Sunday night football, and the whole nation (of nfl viewers) will get to revel in the chaos that is called Chicago Bears. Perhaps they will run up it up the gut for 8 yards a piece, or 2. Or the QB will practice his aim chucking it out of bounds or maybe to a wide open receiver.
 
masloki said:
Alas, Sunday night football, and the whole nation (of nfl viewers) will get to revel in the chaos that is called Chicago Bears. Perhaps they will run up it up the gut for 8 yards a piece, or 2. Or the QB will practice his aim chucking it out of bounds or maybe to a wide open receiver.
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Half the team has the flu. Or maybe too much partying after clinching the division for the first time in years.
 
DaleB said:
Now K0DLB.

It was an FT8 contact, so honestly I’m not even going to count it. I was just seeing if anyone could hear 5W from a low 70’ wire surrounded by hills. I’ll try some CW tomorrow so I can feel like an actual ham again.
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Count them all. You can do amazing things with the various wsjt modes and low power.

73
 
Been plowing snow all afternoon. At one point, I misjudged the location of the driveway's edge, dropped a tire, and the truck got sucked in. I lifted the blade, applied more power, and used my momentum to perform half a lazy eight on the the adjacent septic mount, blasting myself back up the driveway embankment and onto the right-of-way. This flight training is finally paying off.
 
63mi bicycle ride, then football, then St. Louis cut smoked ribs for dinner, then more football.
 
Cooked a hearty breakfast then spent the day watching football with friends.
 
masloki said:
Alas, Sunday night football, and the whole nation (of nfl viewers) will get to revel in the chaos that is called Chicago Bears. Perhaps they will run up it up the gut for 8 yards a piece, or 2. Or the QB will practice his aim chucking it out of bounds or maybe to a wide open receiver.
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Ahh. Of course. Can you watch it from your window? :biggrin:
 
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