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August 14, 2009, a Friday
Wasilla (D&RA), Alaska, USA
— Got the RV chassis AC repaired
I awoke shortly before the alarm. Finally heard back from the eBay seller of the Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III to arrange special 2-day FedEx shipping because he hadn't offered that though the auction. Had my normal breakfast. I had to open up a new 2.2-lb bag of LavAzza whole bean Gran Filtro Dark Roast coffee. After filling the hopper on the coffee grinder, the remaining beans fit perfectly in the two 1.3-qt Lock & Lock containers we got recently. :) Prepped the RV to move. We left at 9:04 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We arrived at Fishhook Tire & Auto and I went in to get the paperwork started for them to fix our chassis AC. I got a kick out of their labor rate that was posted on the wall: $83.79/hr. Why not just make it $85 even? We left in the Jeep.
We got to the Wasilla Public Library around 9:25 and learned that they don't open until 10:00, so we left and went ...
To the nearby Carrs grocery store to pick up a few things, mainly stuff to make my trail mix.
We returned to the Wasilla Public Library at 9:54 and waited in the Jeep for it to open. We went inside after they opened and looked for a convenient place to set up shop. On our initial walk around, we didn't see any audio CDs, so we just set up shop at a table in the center of the main floor which had outlets in the floor nearby so we could power our laptops. The outlet covers were partially locked so that only one receptacle could be accessed, so J sat on one side of the table and used one outlet and I sat on the other side of the table and used another outlet. We were doing a good job of blocking the main traffic pattern through the library. :) I started to work on a blog entry, and J did some more recognizance and found some audio CDs. As I was working on the blog entry, I decided to modify the site so that I can enter non-breaking spaces in a blog entry and have the search function handle it just like a regular space. After getting that all worked out, I looked at CF (compact flash) cards to see if just buying more cards might be a better way to handle my image storage requirements while in Denali. SanDisk is running their progressive rebates again (a bigger rebate the more you buy), so that might work. We left at 12:41.
We were going to go to Quizno's for lunch, but we went right by the Hacienda and J really wanted to go there instead.
We got to the Hacienda restaurant around 12:53. We both had the pick-two lunch special. J had a beef and a cheese enchilada, and I had two beef enchiladas. We dove right into the chips that were provided, and quickly went though the "hot" salsa that wasn't very hot. We got reloads on the salsa and chips. The enchiladas with rice and runny refried beans weren't anything special, and J didn't like the taste of the enchilada sauce. We left at 1:30.
We went to Fred Meyers next door so J could get a solar shower to use while we're camping in Denali.
We returned to the Wasilla Public Library around 1:50. One of the librarians gave me a look of fear when she saw us walk back in and start to set up shop at the central table again. She came over and asked if we could move the table over to the side and if we could use just the one outlet if she "unlocked" the other receptacle, and we said sure. It was actually nicer to be over to the side instead of having people crawl over us to get around in the library. :) Maybe I'll have to start carrying a large slotted screwdriver around with me so I can "unlock" floor-mounted outlets in the future. I continued looking at CF cards for additional image storage. Rob Galbraith has a very useful photography website, and he provides speed tests of cameras and card readers for various storage cards. SanDisk has updated their Extreme III cards to operate at 30MB/s, and in the Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III, they can store data practically as fast as the Extreme IV CF cards. However, extracting the data from the new Extreme III CF cards with the SanDisk FireWire reader is about 1.3 times slower than from the Extreme IV CF cards. Three 16GB Extreme III CF cards, with the SanDisk rebate might be a good way to go though. I got notified by email that FedEx delivered a package for me at D&RA's, and Tootie signed for it. :) J wasn't feeling very good after eating so many chips at lunch. We left around 4:00.
We went to Fishhook Tire & Auto to pick up the RV. I left in the RV to go dump and J left in the Jeep to head "home."
I went to the Holiday gas station in Wasilla to use their free dump station.
I returned to D&RAs around 4:55. Leveled the RV and hooked up the electricity. RA brought out a FedEx package for me which is a Kirk L-bracket for a Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III. Processed images for a stock submission. (You may read more about stock submissions on August 7, 2009.) J had popcorn for dinner, and I had my usual lunch stuff for dinner. I made a batch of trail mix. My "recipe" calls for a 1-lb jar of unsalted dry roasted peanuts, a 24-oz box/can of raisins, and a 21.3-oz bag of peanut M&Ms. The large bag of peanut M&Ms was only about 19 oz today, so I got two (2) 11- or 12-oz bags instead. I open up three quart-sized Zip-Lock bags and pour about 1/3 of each ingredient in each bag. Then I close the bags leaving as much air in them as possible, then I tumble and turn each bag until the contents are mixed. Then I open each bag and squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing them up again for storage. Because I had more M&Ms than I required, J and I had some as a snack when I was done.
We arrived at Fishhook Tire & Auto and I went in to get the paperwork started for them to fix our chassis AC. I got a kick out of their labor rate that was posted on the wall: $83.79/hr. Why not just make it $85 even? We left in the Jeep.
We got to the Wasilla Public Library around 9:25 and learned that they don't open until 10:00, so we left and went ...
To the nearby Carrs grocery store to pick up a few things, mainly stuff to make my trail mix.
We returned to the Wasilla Public Library at 9:54 and waited in the Jeep for it to open. We went inside after they opened and looked for a convenient place to set up shop. On our initial walk around, we didn't see any audio CDs, so we just set up shop at a table in the center of the main floor which had outlets in the floor nearby so we could power our laptops. The outlet covers were partially locked so that only one receptacle could be accessed, so J sat on one side of the table and used one outlet and I sat on the other side of the table and used another outlet. We were doing a good job of blocking the main traffic pattern through the library. :) I started to work on a blog entry, and J did some more recognizance and found some audio CDs. As I was working on the blog entry, I decided to modify the site so that I can enter non-breaking spaces in a blog entry and have the search function handle it just like a regular space. After getting that all worked out, I looked at CF (compact flash) cards to see if just buying more cards might be a better way to handle my image storage requirements while in Denali. SanDisk is running their progressive rebates again (a bigger rebate the more you buy), so that might work. We left at 12:41.
We were going to go to Quizno's for lunch, but we went right by the Hacienda and J really wanted to go there instead.
We got to the Hacienda restaurant around 12:53. We both had the pick-two lunch special. J had a beef and a cheese enchilada, and I had two beef enchiladas. We dove right into the chips that were provided, and quickly went though the "hot" salsa that wasn't very hot. We got reloads on the salsa and chips. The enchiladas with rice and runny refried beans weren't anything special, and J didn't like the taste of the enchilada sauce. We left at 1:30.
We went to Fred Meyers next door so J could get a solar shower to use while we're camping in Denali.
We returned to the Wasilla Public Library around 1:50. One of the librarians gave me a look of fear when she saw us walk back in and start to set up shop at the central table again. She came over and asked if we could move the table over to the side and if we could use just the one outlet if she "unlocked" the other receptacle, and we said sure. It was actually nicer to be over to the side instead of having people crawl over us to get around in the library. :) Maybe I'll have to start carrying a large slotted screwdriver around with me so I can "unlock" floor-mounted outlets in the future. I continued looking at CF cards for additional image storage. Rob Galbraith has a very useful photography website, and he provides speed tests of cameras and card readers for various storage cards. SanDisk has updated their Extreme III cards to operate at 30MB/s, and in the Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III, they can store data practically as fast as the Extreme IV CF cards. However, extracting the data from the new Extreme III CF cards with the SanDisk FireWire reader is about 1.3 times slower than from the Extreme IV CF cards. Three 16GB Extreme III CF cards, with the SanDisk rebate might be a good way to go though. I got notified by email that FedEx delivered a package for me at D&RA's, and Tootie signed for it. :) J wasn't feeling very good after eating so many chips at lunch. We left around 4:00.
We went to Fishhook Tire & Auto to pick up the RV. I left in the RV to go dump and J left in the Jeep to head "home."
I went to the Holiday gas station in Wasilla to use their free dump station.
I returned to D&RAs around 4:55. Leveled the RV and hooked up the electricity. RA brought out a FedEx package for me which is a Kirk L-bracket for a Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III. Processed images for a stock submission. (You may read more about stock submissions on August 7, 2009.) J had popcorn for dinner, and I had my usual lunch stuff for dinner. I made a batch of trail mix. My "recipe" calls for a 1-lb jar of unsalted dry roasted peanuts, a 24-oz box/can of raisins, and a 21.3-oz bag of peanut M&Ms. The large bag of peanut M&Ms was only about 19 oz today, so I got two (2) 11- or 12-oz bags instead. I open up three quart-sized Zip-Lock bags and pour about 1/3 of each ingredient in each bag. Then I close the bags leaving as much air in them as possible, then I tumble and turn each bag until the contents are mixed. Then I open each bag and squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing them up again for storage. Because I had more M&Ms than I required, J and I had some as a snack when I was done.