Category: Projects

January 17, 2022 – Science on Monday

January 17, 2022 /

Today is Martin Luther King Jr day and technically, I have the day off. This is the first time I have had this as a holiday since I was in college. Nevertheless, the show must go on at AltF4.co.

We have had some cold weather recently. Not cold like upper mid-west, but colder than normal weather as in significantly below freezing at night. I have a refrigerator in the (detached) garage that barely hangs on through the cold of winter and the heat of summer. I will use it as long as it continues to run. This was the first time I have ever seen canned drinks freeze and distort the can.

So, what actually happens? Eventually the outside temperature gets colder than the inside temperature of the refrigerator (and freezer). The unit has no capacity to warm itself and therefore the entire becomes the temperature as ambient. So, expect your refrigerator to freeze and your freezer to thaw.

Now, most compounds when frozen actually shrink in volume. Not water which is 99% of what is in this can. That is the miracle of life. Without the fact that water actually expands when frozen allow life to exist on the planet. It is how the Arctic and Antarctic have ice over the ocean but liquid beneath.

Carbonation is the act of dissolving carbon dioxide into a liquid. Dissolved doesn’t mean that it disappears, it is dispersed throughout the solution. The freezing point of water is significantly higher than carbon dioxide and freezing turns the individual atoms into a crystal structure. What happened here is that the water formed ice and the majority of the carbon dioxide left the liquid and blew out the can.

Impressively, the can didn’t burst, but it expanded everywhere it was possible. When the ice melted, the volume contracted again and the can folded inward. There were some other cans of Sunkist in the refrigerator that showed no signs of damage at all. What happened there?

Something you may know is that antifreeze is significantly comprised of ethylene or propylene glycol. Well, chemically those are alcohols. Sugar is also classified as an alcohol. It is also why they say animals are attracted to antifreeze because it is sweet. This is my theory anyway, there is enough sugar in the Sunkist that prevented it from freezing.

There were some ‘Mexican’ Coca-Cola’s in the freezer that completely iced up and spilled over. The bottle didn’t break, that I can see. The weak point seems to be the bottlecap. I suspect that as the bottle iced up, it put enough pressure on the cap to create a gap and release unfrozen liquid and the carbon dioxide.

Why did the Cokes freeze but the Sunkist not? Good question, Is it because one uses corn syrup and one uses sugar? I think likely. I suspect that on a weight by weight volume, significantly more corn syrup is used in place of sugar. Lastly, there were two bottles of prepared margarita drink. Those appeared to not freeze either.

End Your Programming Routine: I opened the water and it was flat. That means that the waters are done, the cokes were done and I have a mess to clean in the refrigerator. Fortunately, it was only a few things and not stocked full. Although it is possible that if the refrigerator was full, this may not have happened because of having enough thermal mass to keep the internal temperature from getting so cold. My advice is to watch the weather and take appropriate actions to protect items from seasonal damage. I don’t know if I will have do anything different but it is a data point to watch in the future.

January 12, 2022 – Up Your Complexity and Cost with Electric Bikes

January 12, 2022 /

My son is at the age where he is too young to drive and doesn’t want to walk. He has been an avid bike rider to school since he started middle school, about five years ago. Last semester we rewarded his straight A’s with an electric bike.

Now me… I am old fashioned. I don’t want any additional complexity on a bicycle. That is the point. My son want’s to electrify his 1969 Cougar. Maybe the new generation of car people will find originally restored not appealing or valuable? I think it is a mistake, nevertheless I told him it is his car.

This bike is heavy, it is almost 60 pounds. It is also designed to used with electric assist. That being said, it is very difficult to pedal without the motor working. Last week, it stopped working at least consistently. What I know, which is not much is that replacement parts are difficult to find, bicycle shops are out of sorts with this technology and anything on the drivetrain is proprietary and expensive. This leads to the odds of getting help as low. We are going to have to figure this one out ourselves.

We bought the bike used, so we do not know the origins or the complete history. Apparently, it is only sold on Amazon which makes getting help more difficult. I was able to reach out to the broker, but they are primarily interested in a warranty resolution, which I think we are beyond at this point. Here is what I think I know to date.

  • The charger is working
  • The battery seems to put out the right voltage
  • The switch sometimes works and sometimes does not.

Ultimately, I was hoping to find a bad solder joint or something loose. The switch is mounted to the board on the bottom with the two red wires. I cant see anything obvious from this angle and to get to it, I will need to entirely disassemble the battery. I am pretty sure that the problem is with the switch in that it works intermittently.

Here is my logic. A new battery unit is $250 which would integrate a switch and battery. However, I can cut the wires and bypass the built in switch with a new switch and mitigate the problem for $5. The worst case scenario is that it doesn’t work and I am out $5 plus the time. But, I would lay odds on the problem being the integrated switch. Further, The chances of me getting a replacement switch (or board) that works in the OEM configuration are extremely low. So, I don’t think I want to tear the battery apart for low probability fix.

I am going to give the manufacturer some of these details and we will see if they come through with any technical help. I am not holding my breath.

End Your Programming Routine: There are sometimes problems in life that we are going to have a difficult time handing over to someone else to solve. This happens to be one of them. I suppose I could just buy the new battery unit and solve the problem with money, but then I could just buy a new bike too. Truth be told, the battery could be rebuilt as well by identifying the bad cell and replacing it in the pack. Today I am point out the proper solution is to isolate the problem and then target a specific fix. This will likely be a video coming up.

January 10, 2022 – The AM Antenna Video Anyway

January 10, 2022 /

I was thinking that I spent a bunch of time taking video about the process and that maybe I would get some feedback on how to make it better if I posted it.  So, that is what I did.

Not having done this a ton, I am always surprised at how much work creating videos are.   Whether it is holding the phone the wrong orientation or trimming beginning and end of clips to make good transitions, this five minute video took a couple of hours to edit (and that is with very little actual editing).

I suppose that if I am going to do more of this, I should invest in a few items to produce better quality.  I need a tripod so I can get action shots as there is only so much you can do one handed.  I may need another camera for better angles as well, like a GoPro for head mountability, I don’t know.  Part of my hesitation is that is I am not terribly interested in creating a lot of video.  What I do, I want to do well.  

I was thinking about my interest in antennas and old tech and I started thinking about radios.  I think I could get into amateur radio.  I like approachable tech, science and DIY that seems tailor made.  Plus, at least traditionally these were the ‘good guys’ in disasters like Hurricane Katrina.  That seems right up my ally as well.

I don’t know yet, I need to do more research.  I certainly don’t need another expensive or gear and time intensive hobby.  I think preferably where I would start is a secondhand CB and a DIY antenna project.  

End Your Programming Routine:  I am keeping it short today.  The whole point of spending time on the video was to use it.  Since this video has been up a couple of days, I have already gotten some tips, so there may be another version in the works.  I can probably reuse many of the components making this faster yet to do.

December 17, 2021 – An Nearly Free AM Antenna

December 17, 2021 /

This one has been a long time coming. I actually planned on building this last year at this time.  In fact, I took the materials to the Boy Scout Christmas tree stand last year to work on in the down time.  I will explain my foibles below.

The only real cost to this project was the wire.  I bought an entire spool at Habitat for Humanity for $3 because one of the real ends on the spool was broken.  The reason this was a problem was because when unwinding the wire, it became a rats nest of wire.  It took me hours to unwind and straighten.   That is what stopped my progress last year.  This year it got some priority because of my basement clean-up efforts.

Before I get too far down the road, the design and plans for this go to Dave Pederson at Trans World Radio which is a 501C ministry to connect the message of Christianity throughout the world.  The reason it is cheap is so it can be built worldwide with salvage materials.  Dave claims that this can be built in thirty minutes.   I would say that it took me a couple of years (just kidding a couple of hours).

My original plan today was to build this antenna and embed the YouTube video.  Right now, I have built the antenna and the video needs to be edited and assembled.  Part of why I am dragging my feet a little bit is that I don’t see any improvement with the antenna.  So, I don’t want to post a video that is marginal or potentially useless.  Or said another way, I am spending some time testing it first.

Getting into antennas is kind of a vortex of science namely physics.  I am positive that there is a lot to know that I don’t, but I do at least understand some of the basics.  Did you know that every AM antenna is is a big coil of wire situated inside the radio?  For that reason, the quality of AM reception is always directional or how the radio is sitting. 

Building an exterior antenna without connections to the radio and in theory get better reception does it by in some ways concentrating the signal.  My goal is to ultimately connect it to my receiver without a bunch of monkeying around with the antenna each time I want to change the signal frequency.  So, I am not going to be real happy if it turns out that I need to adjust the location of this antenna frequently.

It turns out that AM radio stations turn down their ‘power’ at night.  In my quick research, it seems like the amount of environmental electromagnetic interference is reduced.  This would cause some stations to stomp on other stations because of the lack of interference, hence reducing broadcast power to keep them separate.  This plays an additional problem with reception as marginal stations usually are even worse at night.  Ironically, some stations can be found from long distances at night due to signal bounce.  I have heard stations from San Francisco and Calgary Canada at night.

Simple interference itself, is a subject that has lots of gotchas.  The best way I would describe it as a Gaussian Field (take a look at that math).  Ignoring most of the technical information, wires carrying electricity, fluorescent ballasts, LED transformers and all other powered devices emit interference in a bell shaped pattern.  Non-shielded cables (like antennas) are subject high degradation when the lights are on.  It is not a lot of fun to sit in the dark listening to the radio, especially when the benefit of radio is that ability to do things concurrently.  Grounding itself is not as simple as attaching another wire to ground as it can create a loop causing additional interference.

My CCrane radio is marketed at least as the best AM reception available in a radio.  I do admit it is pretty good, it is still subject to the electromagnetic interference from power usage.  I can get stations on that radio that I cant get anywhere else. Testing this new antenna on a lessor quality device is probably worth doing.  I did try it on the receiver loop as well without effect.  So, my tests will be ongoing before I declare this thing done.

End Your Programming Routine:  The truth is, I got better reception by splitting the signal from the dipole antenna (for FM).  That may have to do with the coax cable being outside and shielded rather than the shape of things.   There is more to come on this subject as I haven’t finished my testing yet.  There are other designs that use more expensive electrical components, or maybe the loop isn’t big enough or maybe I just don’t know how to use it?  I am not sure yet but the quest goes on.

December 14, 2021 – I Have Just Declared December 10 as AltF4.co’s Birthday

December 14, 2021 /

Stubbing out this week’s content, I was looking back at the previous years. My first deliberate post was December 10, 2019. That means that I just passed two years this last Friday. Now that I know that, I will pay more attention in the future.  I have talked about it, but today I will talk about the origin story.

If you look back in the archives, there are two posts from 2016.  For those of you that do not know, you can create a free WordPress site.  There are definitely some limitations but that is where I worked in the first year (2019).  But I am going to go deeper today.  

It all started back in 2014.  I was coming off of a blistering travel schedule.  My company was working on the biggest project that we had ever won and I was one of the key players in the project’s success.  The owner’s of my company had decided that they had reached the pinnacle of what they could do alone and decided to try and get the company positioned as a larger company.  Our 30 person operation suddenly became a 200 person company.

As a result of the new company operations, they decided to shuffle people around and consequently, I got put on another project that was in bad shape.  It was described to me that they needed a ‘strong person to re-energize and change the course of the project’.  That was the beginning of the end for me.  Maybe I will talk about this period some more later but to keep a looong story short, I was miserable.

Because it is ultimately germane, I will add a little more.  The problem with my new project was not the people working on the project, it was the owners and management of the new company.  The project was undersold to win the job.  Then, they kept insisting that I recover the money to which the customer kept saying no.  I looked like an ass on the project and the management kept insisting that I keep sending change orders.  This caused major conflict on multiple sides.

After working for three different companies, I realized that my best chance on happiness was going to be working for myself.  I needed the ability to run things the way that I wanted to do it.  I have mentioned this before but I have listened to ‘The Survival Podcast’ since 2008.  It was probably the first podcast that I subscribed to.  In the early days, it was all about hard skills and items.  Over the years, it has morphed into more of a lifestyle podcast.

One of the lifestyle items was career and income.  The host, Jack Spirko made the transition himself into podcast host from a career in a technical industry.  He was heavily influenced by Gary Vanderchuck’s 1000 true fans model.  The summary of that model is that you need 1000 people that believe in your work to the point where they would give you one day’s wages to support it.  If you have that, then you have enough to survive.

I started the site on WordPress in 2016 as an attempt to get started.  Things got better in late 2015 but I knew in my heart of hearts I was kind of dead inside from the whole experience of 2014.  My hope was that I was going to grow an entity to the point where I would simply be able to leave my job.  What I didn’t count on was that I was mentally checked out and shortly after starting the site I abandoned it.

After I quit my job in 2019, I needed six months of downtime before I could think about the future.  I started my job search and I figured I could parallelly develop my content business since I was on the computer anyway.  I started writing daily to build discipline in priority and also to see if I would actually like doing it as a career.  Quickly, I prioritized writing over the job search and I started doing it daily.

After writing on WordPress for nearly a year, I knew that I would have to take the next step with a proper domain and site.  First of all, when I picked my blog name, I misspelled Resurrection.  My original idea was that it would related to my career change.  I thought about keeping it but then I didn’t want to repeat how to spell the actual site name all of the time, specifically on podcasts.  Plus, I didn’t want to answer why it was spelled that way, which was a hasty mistake.

I took a major step in late 2020 with the transition to AltF4.co.  I now had the freedom to make this what I wanted to be.  I could build ecommerce, I could directly embed content without going through a third party like YouTube, I could collect mailing list data and all the things that are necessary for a content business.  The down side to all of that was that at the same time, I started working again.   All that free time I had for a year and half was gone without me really turning it into a business.

End Your Programming Routine: From time to time, I bring up the Toolbox Fallacy.  I clearly have the desire and the discipline to post but I haven’t actually made it to a business.  As much as I enjoy this part of it, I don’t know if I will have the drive to actually convert.  I don’t exactly know why.  I am going to investigate podcasting into the new year.  That comes with it’s own set of challenges but it is time to take the next step.

November 23, 2021 – Repairing a Turntable

November 23, 2021 /

It has been a while since I produced a YouTube video. I find it strange that my channel has gained subscribers and views with so little activity. The YouTube channel was always to support this blog endeavor.  With that, I have been busy enough that I find it difficult to spend a lot of time building multi-media, see my problems with getting podcasting going.

It’s not that it is completely out of sight, out of mind.  Often, I think when I am almost done with something that I should have videoed it.  Sometimes when I wasn’t working, I would go back and redo things to get pictures or videos to post.  There is also some things that never made it onto a published video because I didn’t deem the quality good enough and I didn’t want to redo it.

As long as I am blathering about unrelated things to today’s topic, I found a workaround to my editing problem.  I downloaded a plugin to use an alternate editor than the default WordPress editor.  It works on all devices, but it has more limited functionality and is a little more difficult to use.  The default one has imbed capability for YouTube and gallery layout for photos, but at least this one works. 

I am posting using my iPad this week.  I purchased a Bluetooth keyboard to be able to type better and it is OK.  At least I don’t have to tote around multiple laptops.  For now, I am happier with how things are working.

This turntable was purchased second hand. It is possible that we overpaid at $30 but I don’t think so. It needed a new belt and a new stylus. Of course, I really didn’t know that but I speculated that it was just some maintenance to get things working.

Since getting it to spin, I have been pretty busy so I haven’t played around with it much.  I do see a huge difference between the chintzy, suit-case style that we tried out a year ago and this one.  The sound is much richer and base heavy, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Additionally, a couple of the records that we bought were used and the good songs really didn’t play well.  I suppose that was due to wear.  I am now happy to say that they play nicely on this turntable.  I do hear a slight sound level difference when the song changes to the worn spots in the record, but it still sounds good.

All in all, I would call this a success.  I still have some challenges with a CD carousel.  In fact, I bought a second one but it neither are working properly.  Maybe I will make another video about repairing that piece of equipment if I can figure out what is exactly wrong.   Right now, it would be a video about a failed attempt, not super helpful. 

End Your Programming Routine:  I am looking forward to getting my table built so I can move all of this audio gear into my office.   There is nothing like rocking out while you are working or changing the sound as your mood changes.  The computer speakers are a distant second to quality audio sound; they work but are un-inspiring.

November 9, 2021 – Troubleshooting a Failing Bath Fan

November 9, 2021 /

We have lived in this house over sixteen years. Since the week we first moved in, I thought that a bearing was bad in the fan unit since it made a vibrating sound. I was even going to replace it one time about three or four years ago but the shelving stock was out. I looked for several months thereafter but then forgot about it.

Instead of just being noisy, it started getting to the point of not actually working. You could hear the power applied but the fan wasn’t moving always. Sometimes, flipping the switch a couple of times would get the fan going, sometimes not. I decided that now was the time to finally do this.

I checked the availability at the box store and it was in-stock. My experience over the years has taught me to visually inspect the unit before doing anything. I wanted to make sure that I was replacing the unit as quickly and painlessly as possible. You could say a like for like swap is what I was looking for.

Much to my surprise, the fan was not a 50 CFM unit but a 70 CFM unit even though the bathroom is only 3×5′. So I started looking a little closer at my ordering options because I was not going to be able to go to the store for several days. When I looked on Amazon, I realized that I would not have to tear the entire housing out like I had done with the two others I replaced but I could swap the motor/fan assembly out only saving tons of effort.

Then, I went to the local hardware store and bought a replacement motor/fan unit. When I took the unit apart to replace the motor, I think I identified multiple issues.

If you see how dusty the outside is, you can imagine that there is 30 years of dust caked on the motor and fan. I suspect that the dust on the outside of the motor housing was causing the motor to overheat. I didn’t bother cleaning it and putting it back since I thought there was also a worn bearing causing noise.

My wife really wanted a new fan since the outside bezel was yellowed from age but I convinced her that I could just spray paint the old one and it would look much better. Before I started painting, I stuck the screw back in the housing so it wouldn’t get lost in the process. The screw was not what originally was part of the unit and when I turned on the fan, it was vibrating and making a ruckus while it was not holding the bezel tight. In the end, I decided that the noise I heard all those years was the screw vibrating and not a bad bearing.

When I put it back together, I put several wraps of teflon pipe tape to give some extra dimension to the screw and hopefully act as some padding. The fan is still loud because it is oversized for the room but works like a champ. I cannot say how much less effort the replacement motor is over a whole new unit. However, it is more expensive – imagine that but the cost was worth it.

Over time, these units do suck up dust and it ends up coating the electrical components. The one in the master bath I have cleaned several times because I can see dust on the outside, but never this one. Periodic maintenance would be recommended for long life.

End Your Programming Routine: The lesson that I would like to push today is look and understand the failure. It is highly possible that there was nothing wrong to begin with other than the dust needed clearing. This is at least the fifth fan that I have replaced but I never knew that a replacement unit could slip into the existing housing. So, I suppose $40 was a good investment in education.

October 20, 2021 – I Am Such a Sucker for Techno-junk

October 20, 2021 /

Over a year ago, I was browsing at a second hand store and I ran across a Technics direct drive turn table. They wanted $120 for it. From what I could see, it was missing a stylus but I was unsure if it was really worth the price. After doing some quick research, it looked like they were going for a couple hundred dollars in working order. I went back two days later and it was gone.

Every since then, I have been looking for that diamond in the rough that I could get for cheap. My wife got this suitcase record player for Mother’s two years ago. We bought some records and I was severely disappointed. The best songs on the used records were ‘worn out’. They look in good condition, so I am hoping that by upgrading the player, I can get better sound out of them.

The other thing that bothered me about the suitcase record player was that it had a pre-amp built in. To plug it into my receiver, I had to use the non-phono jack and that bugged me. Also, it sounded distorted, to high end and not enough low end. I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile. But, I want to really hear what the buzz is about going back to vinyl. From my memory as a child, the sound was always as good as the radio, with more bass and a deeper and richer sound. I should still have some records at my parents house as well. But, as time and technology moved on and so did the record player so I don’t really have a comparison.

My family was shopping at Goodwill on Saturday and my son sent me a text of this turntable. They wanted $40. From what he could see, it seemed like it needed a belt replacement as the platter was not spinning. But the motor was turning. I again did some quick research and saw one was selling on eBay for $200 so I said go ahead. Knowing very little about this, I looked at it the next day and found that it was also missing the stylus.

Belts are cheap $5-10 but replacing a stylus is quite a bit more complicated (and expensive). First of all, the stylus needs to match the cartridge. Having no idea if this is original or not, I am strictly guessing. I looked at the manual and got the specs and ordered what I hope is a match. Otherwise, I am into it probably another $60-100 for a new headshell (that is the stylus, cartridge and carrier) plus I don know what I am doing when it comes to alignment.

I ordered two belts, one stylus and one ground cable. This will probably end up as a video as I get this going. I saw one video on the Toshiba SR230, it was just showing all the features. So, at least I have something to show me how it is supposed to work.

I am not done with the search for more techno-junk. I have always wanted to add a subwoofer to the surround sound setup. I am also on the lookout for a second set of speakers, to put closer to my bench in the basement. If I saw a receiver upgrade or possibly a smaller set of surround sound speakers I wouldn’t pass up if it was the right deal. Since I haven’t quite figured out my final setup, things are still up in the air. However, I doubt that I would pay $40 and another $50 in repair parts like this project but you never know.

End Your Programming Routine: I am looking forward to this, to a point. I like the feeling of taking something that isn’t working, figuring out why and getting it going again. I don’t necessarily need to be spending my time on this as I have lots of more important things to do. But, sometimes you have to prioritize something that you want to do over things that were started first or have a greater impact. It is that irrationalness that makes us human.

October 8, 2021 – Still Piecing Together My Office

October 8, 2021 /

One of the ways of working that I have discovered is that I cant afford to spend my entire working day in the office. Between kids that need to get out the door and animals that need to be in and out to answering the door, I need to take my computer out of the office for parts of the day. For that reason, I don’t want to plug in 5 or 6 cables several times a day.

Because of that, I bought one docking station to try out. You can see it under my monitor on the upper left. It is meant to have the laptop sit on edge on top of the docking station. If you look closely, you can see that I have two (work) laptops and so I have tried both with the new docking station, so I am looking to get one more.

A word about docking stations. Five years ago, docks were a proprietary device that mated with specific brands and models of computer. These days, there is less of that but beware when looking at them as they are not all the same. For instance, most of them are termed USB-C port extenders and do not power the laptop at all defeating the purpose of one connection. Also, many of them support only one monitor, so if you are using a multiple monitor setup as I am, then you need to verify that will work with the docking station you are looking at.

To me, the power of docking stations gives you the flexibility to unplug and move the location you are working and then come back and pickup. If you do not work in that manner and your computer mostly stays put, then you probably don’t even need a docking station. Also, note the power requirements for your machine. I found several that didn’t output enough watts to adequately charge the battery. It is OK if is putting out more power, but not less. One last thing, if your computer is a consumer grade machine it may not be able to power through USB-C and you can get most of the features with a port extender.

To then use these optimally, I am in the market for a KVM switch. That is an acronym that stands for Keyboard, Video and Mouse switch which allows me to use the same keyboard and video setup to switch between the two computers with the click of a button. Once I have those two additional items, I can go about cleaning up all of the cable mess and my desk will be finally setup.

That doesn’t mean that my office is done. I had a couch that I was going to put in but I found out that my baseboard heater didn’t allow for the couch to be put in (so, I guess it is to the dump with that). But, my wife wanted me to take the loveseat that was in the kitchen area. Which I did and Leo thought it was a good decision.

That means that I had to take the stereo receiver out. I have made the measurements and I can build a table that will fit behind the couch and provide the optimum space to bring that back in. The downside is that with everything going on, it will be a while before I get to that project (hopefully this winter).

I still have stuff to hang up and really make it personal and I think that will help with the sound as well. But, overall it is getting close to finishing. Like everything, just money and time to get everything the way that I want it.

End Your Programming Routine: Like every project, there are the ‘wish that you would have known’ things. I wish that I would have anticipated the space the heater consumed I might have sacrificed my re-use principle to something that uses less space. I also wish I would have known how warm just the electronics would get and possibly add a window for ventilation. Those two things aside, I am still very happy with how it came out.

August 23, 2021 – Moving at a Snail’s Pace

August 23, 2021 /

This is going to be quick, I hope. Part of my haste is that I have been separated from my computer while I am trying to reconfigure my office. I have worked in it about a week and have already decided to make some changes. I suppose that it is a good thing that I only partially moved in anyway.

First problem, I didn’t like the transition between the carpet and the hard floor. It took some lifting effort to get my chair on a different surface. It seems to roll fine when I am on the carpet, so I want to move the carpet completely under the desk.

That leads me to my second problem. I didn’t like my chair completely in front of the door. It was fine and I could get out, but also see problem one. I needed to tear everything down so I could move the carpet from under the door and other furniture in my office.

The third problem is a little more difficult problem but it relates to problem two as well. I have discovered that with the door closed, the temperature starts to climb up into the eighties. I guess that I got the insulation right, but it means that I crack the door periodically to get a little cooling. For the long term test, we will see what winter temperatures feel like. For now, it is very manageable.

Knowing that I wanted to make these changes has kept me from fully moving in. Not to say that I have had a lot of extra time as I had to work all weekend as well as being a ‘single’ parent.

Not everything is a problem. I have enjoyed having my stereo receiver in the room with quality speakers and good sound playing while I am working all day long. I like the dedicated space and having what I need where I need it. I was able to setup two monitors and use a dedicated keyboard which is really nice. I am looking forward to my final vision of surround sound and adding a couch just for fun.

One month at a time, I plan on adding Thunderbolt 3 docking stations for my two primary work laptops. Then I can add a KVM switch and I can then do all the wire management and clean up all the wires that that are strung all over the place.

End Your Programming Routine: There is no substitution for experience. I am not saying that I foresaw these issues, I just plain wasn’t able to anticipate the problems. Now that I have the foundations set, I am able to finally start moving everything in. Overall first impressions is that I am really happy.