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I did plan to sleep in late, but I had trouble sleeping and awoke with a headache. This usually means I am having asthma attacks while sleeping. The dreams are horrible and sleep limited. I was up at 6:00AM.

It did not help that I am reading horror stories by Clark Ashton Smith. He is not as scary but often and wordy as H.P. Lovecraft. Still reading horror stories on a late Saturday night will not bring you calm dreams!

I started to read him after supporting a Kickstart here in Portland to finish a film-short of one of his stories: The Last Incantation. I have read, somehow, much of H.P. Lovecraft dense prose on horror. I write horror adventures for the roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu and even run my own stuff at gaming conventions. I read a lot of horror and adventure books from the 1920s for ideas and sources.

This reminds me I received yesterday a book of radio schematics for the radios from 1926 to 1938 reprinted from a 1941 publication. It was on special from the Antique Electronic Supply. I figured they needed some business. They supply products to rebuild tube radios and old guitar amplifiers, including the lost plans and books on tube circuits. I buy ruined tube radios and use their cases for new electronics. One I have rebuilt to use a digital radio device. I do not believe in using antiquated technology, but it is interesting to know how it works and how to service it. I repurpose it or recreate it in technology. I also use some as props for roleplaying.

(Yes, a Czech tube from the cold war and books and catalog where you can buy tubes now–JJ is the new name for Tesla. They let some American buy the name).

Which suggests a song: Mexico Radio.

I was tech-support for Rev. Anne Weld-Martin today for her worship service. I was not much help as someone was trying to connect using Windows 7. That is a bit out-of-date for Zoom.

I spent much of the morning assembling more of my new American Civil War (ACW) army. I have 25 infantry done for the Union. I will start on an equal number of Confederates. I have to paint them, mount them, and store them once I get this done. I have always wanted a tabletop ACW experience. These are from Perry Miniatures.

I ordered lunch, I was the only one up, from Gyro House again. It was perfect and extra spicy. I keep supporting our local food places and delivery drivers.

Susie got going, and we used Zoom to attend a worship service at 2PM. The sermon was made available last night: Sermon FUMC Beaverton 28March2020.

I made grilled ham and swiss for dinner.

We got out the game Killer Bunnies and Corwin, Susie, and I played for a few hours. Susie won again–she usually wins. It took a bit to remember how to play. We need to get it out more often. I forgot how much fun it is to play. It is one of the few games that has its own website!

A quiet day. I never left the house.

It was reported that over two hundred sixty folks lost their lives to the virus today in the USA. This is a significant drop from yesterday, but this may be a reporting issue. We will see if the trend continues.

The hymn is Simple Gifts for today and also for hope for Monday.

 

A quiet day. Slept in late.

Rev. Ann Weld-martin called this morning, and we practiced more Zoom. I have agreed to be on Sunday at 10:30 AM to be tech-support for her first worship service by Zoom. My church meeting is with Joan Goldhammer at 2PM on Sunday, also on Zoom.

I managed to charge and light up my practice circuit with my supercapacitors. My more expensive and higher voltage supercapacitors (going from ten bucks to twenty bucks) worked better–no surprise (generic China make-up versus German made). I did notice some instability as the voltage went down. I then added a decoupling and a smoothing capacitor (for those who know what that means) from my general supply to smooth out the output power to the light. The light then just slowly went out instead of blinking on and off.

I should point out that I decided a few years ago to create my own supply of components and equipment for building low power circuits. I purchased not one capacitor but all of them in kits–it is cheaper to buy them all than just the ones you need. I have sets of transistors, diodes, resistors, wires, and LEDs and even displays. I have proto-typing PC boards and plenty of breadboards ready to use. I purchased rolling tool drawers units and filled them full of parts. I have my own “Radio Shack” in my garage.

Returning to the story, so yesterday, I built a resistor and bar LED into some jumper wires so I would be able to visibly watch the supercapacitor discharge. This was from my supplies.

I am trying to build a mini-sub to run in a fish aquarium. I want it to carry a spy camera so we can see inside the tank. The main issue is power and the safety of the power source. Currently, my microcontrollers all use LIPO batteries, which would explode spectacularly in water.  I also want to do the same thing in a rocket and again the batteries would not be something I would want to fly (the batteries explode if shorted or overheated).

So supercapacitors seem more reasonable. But as capacitors, they drop voltage fast. That would play havoc with a DC circuit and a microcontroller. I was hoping the adjustable boost regulator from Pololu would be stable, but it is not working.

I have ordered new parts with a set voltage, 3.3V, and 5V. Pololu is still shipping and struggling to operate in the current locked-down world. I have marked the order as non-critical and they will ship it when they can.

I have ordered smaller supercapacitors that I might string together from Mouser. Again, the order is not rushed.

The song for the day is something we are trying not to cause: Smoke on the Water.

I made Michigan Chili for dinner, again. I also made cornbread muffins to go with it. Never used the Women’s Bean Project cornbread before. Susie thought the muffins tasted like Frito Corn Chips. She liked it.

The Women’s Bean Project was the only place I could order bean soup kits on the Internet. Bob’s Red Mill and all the others were sold out. Safeway had none. It is not just toilet paper that folks are hoarding! I have now learned more about the organization and now enjoy the cornbread even more. Order from them and create jobs for people.

(this is the soup package and my electronics behind it)

Corwin and his friend are here and we played Architects of the West Kingdoms board game. I taught the game and it was a learning game. They did catch on. It was a close game.

I also joined a Kickstarter to upgrade the game parts: Meeples Kickstarter.

I also did the laundry. The towels and whatnot are stacked in a chair. I will fold it later. Everything else is hung-up and put away.

So that is about all. I am feeling a bit better today and not as tired. I think I will sleep in one more day.

It was reported that more than five hundred people died today in the USA from the virus.

A hymn for today to remember all the people who died today: This is my Father’s World.

I decided yesterday to have a three-day weekend. I wanted to do some of the project I have not been able to do in the last few months.

I watched the House of Representatives pass the stimulus bill.

I started with finishing my game of The Architect of the West Kingdom. I was re-learning this game and also wanted to get the hang of the one-person game using the automatic play. There is also a two-person with the automatic player that looked interesting to try. I very much enjoyed playing by myself–unusual for me. The number of choices makes the game fun to play, and the automatic play was pretty good.

I then finished my charger circuit for supercapacitors. I built this from specifications I on the Internet from Instructables. This has been an area of interest to me. Capacitors are safe, generally don’t start having problems charging like batteries, and are well understood. Supercapacitors are a newish idea that allows low voltage but very high storage without the chemistry of batteries (i.e. supercapacitors don’t wear out and/or explode when shorted). The small car starters you see for sale are actually banks of supercapacitors with a charger built-in. I am looking for a power system that is safe and small and reasonably long-lasting and quick to recharge. This may be the answer.

Here is my board I built, and the big black thing is a 2.7V 400F supercapacitor you can buy on Amazon.

Of course, it did not work. I got out the schematics of the circuit I was supposed to build. My university did not have an engineering department or college but instead was famous as a teacher’s college. Instead of engineering, we had shop classes. Very very hands-on electronics and lab. Actually, 100% lab. I took all the courses on electronics and still fear no electrical shocks. I can build almost anything in low power electronics.

I found my bag of parts and noticed that all the 240-ohm resistors were still in the bag, oops forgot to put that in. Yes, there is a 240-ohm in the schematics that is not in the circuit. Solder that in. Now it works perfectly. I use silicone-coated wires now. More attractive colors and they take the heat of soldering better. Actually, I like the colors and the feel. After years of working with plastic-coated wires, it seems so modern to be using something like silicone wires.

That takes us to today’s song: Shock the Monkey.

I stop and talk to Peter Keller from SAP today. We have a group for the America SAP User Group (ASUG) on testing and test data. We do a little planning. Peter, he lives in Denver, tells me that they are too locked down.

I get the mail and a strange letter presents. My old Buick is being held in Astoria, and there is a lean against it for about $200. I traded it in years ago. This is the car I moved from Maryland in 1996. It is four cars ago!

(Loading up The Buick to ship to Oregon in September 1996)

I call the folks who have it. It was found abandoned on a farm field, striped, and left to rot for years. Nobody re-registered it. OMG, I still own it.

I remember that I had signed the power-of-attorney to have it re-registered and saw the payoff of the loan come in the mail when I traded it in for “The Volvo.” It seems that the car was stolen or lost or illicitly used for years until abandoned in Astoria, Oregon. I gave the car to the salvage company who recovered it. They will crush it soon and recycle it.

I was first sad; it was a beautiful car and it drove so fine I drove through New York City one-handed. Snow and ice were not a problem for this car. I called it, “The Buick.” Its hood was so long you could not see if you would hit anything when parking it. Apparently, after it left me, it entered an exciting life of crime. I choose to imagine it finished up crashed like in a Vin Diesel movie. Goodbye, “The Buick!”, Cuban Car Crash.

Lunch was also a challenge. Red Robin sent the wrong burgers. I called them, and they said it would require them to have me call in a new order to have it delivered. They would credit me the cost of the food. I was by then talking to the manager. I told them to keep the money, and we would eat what they sent. I told them they need the money, and I can manage a mushroom burger. It was great, actually. There is a chicken BBQ left still. I will likely have that on Saturday. The manager was grateful.

I have managed to charge some more supercapacitors. I have also added in an adjustable boost regulator to discharge a charged supercapacitor like a battery. Supercapacitors discharge by lowering the voltage. This change is at a much higher rate of collapse than a battery and will make a hash out of a DC circuit. The adjustable boost regulator can stabilize the voltage for a while and the DC circuit will work. A supercapacitor flashlight would be burning bright and then be dim for hours. The additional electronics evens out the light and would turn off the light when the supercapacitor can no longer support it. And I managed to get a flashlight circuit going. Small victories are how we progress.

I have not watched much of the news. Last time I saw the stock market was down a few percent. That is more normal. Liquidity is still improving, but some companies are starting to fail; energy industry supporting companies are headed to bankruptcy according to some news reports. They cannot get new loans to keep going. The Fed and other banks are already picking winner and losers. Bail-out always create winner and losers.

Over four-hundred people passed away from the virus today in the United States.

Today I picked something to remember all of these folks, not a hymn but close to a hymn: Over the Rainbow (Hawaiian version).

 

Today I started a bit later. I slept in a bit and got going at 7AM; I need a bit more sleep. We still have donuts left from yesterday and bananas. So that was a good start.

Work was more video meetings and emails. The good news is that our part of the critical project was able to complete its first tests.  Again, I still had a few blood pressure spiking meetings. I slipped in the laundry and making cupcakes during the sessions.

I then again slipped out and took a long walk as I am very stiff from days of sitting and working on computers. It helped.

I took off Friday. That will help more, I think.

My gaming friends are playing Russian Railroad on GameArena. I have had enough of computer screens today; I passed.

Today was supposed to be the start of Gamestorm 2019. I was supposed to teach Scythe today. I planned to host four games today. The convention is rescheduled to 2020. I am a bit sad about not having Gamestorm today.

I also learned that SAP Sapphire 2020 in Orlando for May was canceled. I was also going to speak there.

So let us go with this song for the missed opportunities for games and travel: One Night in Bangkok.

Lunch was Beef Pho. Delivered by bike. We continue to support local restaurants by ordering lunch.

Dinner was grilled New York Strip steaks, green beans, and macaroni and cheese–the $3.79 Kraft Deluxe version. Corwin made dinner. He likes mac and cheese. It was excellent.

It appears that liquidity is becoming less stressed. It also appears that some of The Fed actions will allow the investment in junk bonds by experts who can pick the winner from the losers. Sadly, we have new junk bonds (i.e. Ford, Cheese Cake Factory, etc.). It appears the worst of the crashing is over and the market went up again. The market chart looks a lot like 2018 and not 1929. I have for years told folks that the nastiest risk is event risk–we have experienced a new example.

I listened to the New York City doctor at Cornell’s video and how he suggests dealing with the virus. It is 50+ mins long; try this link: Doctor

It was reported that more than two-hundred and sixty people passed away today in the USA from the virus. It was also reported for the world more than two-thousand seven-hundred people passed away from the virus just today.

Here is a favorite hymn done very well by our Morman friends here in the West in Utah: Holy Holy Holy.

Today a short set of stories.

First, I had Krispy Kreme donuts delivered at 8:15 this morning. I even got a thank you on the box.

Work was a lot of video meetings and discussions that are spiking other folks’ blood pressure. The project is moving, and this means that problems and issues must now be resolved. The time for diagrams is over, and we need to actually do the work.

Stopped by the pharmacy to get one of Susie’s pills replaced. This is an over-the-counter product, and I could not find it. While keeping our distance, the Rite Aid staff who knows me, I am there a lot, helped me look for it. At first, we gave up and then I heard my name called and I could not find the gal. The shelves are tall. She called out “Marco” and then I would get closer and say “Polo” from me. After a few “Marco Polo” I found her and she had the pills for me. Excellent!

I then went by the paper products. They had paper towel rolls on the shelf. I resisted the urge to just buy them. Still no toilet paper. At the check-out, the clerked whispered to me, knowingly that “there is toilet paper.” I told the clerk they had already sold out. She was shocked and said, “I am so sorry.”

(just paper towels on the shelf)

Music from Monty Python seems right for this: Monty Python Theme.

I ordered lunch from La Provence. It was brunch still, so I had their corned beef hash, and Corwin had salmon hash. Susie was still sleeping, and nothing on the menu was her favorite, so instead, I ordered her dessert. When she got going, she was happy with the choice. Start with dessert; life is short!

I made dinner and watched the Senate vote on the 2 trillion dollar stimulus package.

The stock market went up again. The liquidity issue is improving, but there is an explosion of junk debt now. Ford’s debt is now valued as junk. The US dollar is losing value meaning the flight (panic) to cash is passing.

It was reported that more than two-hundred forty people passed away today in the USA from the virus. It was reported that it was terrible in Spain today.

The hymn for today: Precious Lord Take My Hand (Elvis).