J opened up our new Lasko 5367 Ceramic Heater that we picked up at WalMart yesterday. J has wanted a second electric space heater for the RV so we can have one in the office in addition to the one up in the main living area. I had been resisting, but we've been going through a lot of propane lately and we'll be plugged into electricity a lot this winter, so I relented. The new Lasko heater is a lot quieter than our older Honeywell HZ-338 Ceramic Heater and it puts out more heat to boot. :) One of the reasons I had been resisting a second electric heater is that the RV isn't really wired for one. We have a dedicated shore-power-only outlet in the front of the RV that I installed specifically to power an electric heater. That way, if we loose shore power, like a plow runs over our electrical cord (it's happened twice), then the inverter won't have to try to power the electric heater from our house batteries. So for now, we're just using the electric heater in the office when one of us is in the RV so we can quickly shut it off if there's a power problem.

I had my normal breakfast then did some computer work. I left around 9:55 by myself in the Jeep to run some errands.

I went to a bank, got the Jeep washed, bought some Christmas cards, then got my hair cut.

I returned to the RV around 11:30 and wrote out the Christmas cards.

Had lunch around 12:20 and did some computer work. I left around 2:25 by myself in the Jeep.

I went to the Post Office to mail the Christmas cards and some Priority Mail Flat-Rate Envelopes. I used the self-serve automated postage machine, and it took a while because there were lots people in the Post Office.

I went to Home Depot to get a vent for the power converter compartment and some supplies to install a new dedicated outlet in the office for the new electric heater.

I returned to the RV around 4:15 and J left around 4:20 to run some errands of her own. I tested the PT-04TM wireless transmitter/receiver with the Sunpak 383 flash because it was handy. Without any AAs in the flash (it was being powered by a Quantum Turbo 2x2 Battery), the receiver only triggered the flash when the flash was connected to the receiver by a PC cord — the built-in flash shoe didn't trigger it. So, I wonder how the Canon Speedlites will work. I did some computer work. I lost the auction for the second set of two Bogen 3372 light stands. J returned around 6:25 and said she wasn't hungry for dinner. I left at 6:40 in the Jeep by myself.

I went to India's Kitchen in Parker for dinner. J's not big on Indian food, so this was a great opportunity to try out the new restaurant for dinner. (You may read about my first visit to India's Kitchen for their lunch buffet on the blog entry for October 31, 2009.) I ordered Rogan Josh and Garlic Naan — my standard order. I got a Flying Horse (beer) because they didn't have Kingfisher. I received a papadom with a side of some very tasty mint chutney and "brown sauce," and I passed on the yoghurt-based sauce. The Rogan Josh had a nice kick to it — my nose was on the verge of running and my mouth was happy. :) The service was also good, so I'll definitely go back.

I went to the Parker Payless Liquor store to pick up some supplies. They didn't have any Asbach Uralt like I was hoping to get, but they did have some O.P. Anderson Aquavit that I picked up. The O.P. Anderson Aquavit has a delicate caraway, fennel, and anis flavor.

I returned to the RV around 7:55. I did some computer work, then started to install our new Inteli-Power PD9160A power converter. (You might recall that it had been a floor display model at an RV dealer, and we recently purchased it on eBay.) I took out our old power converter without too much difficulty, then partially installed the new converter. Before I finished installing it, I tested it just to make sure it worked. It didn't. It wasn't putting out any VDC at all! I examined the 12VDC fuses, and discovered that one of the three was loose, so I tightened the sockets. When I tried testing the unit again, we flipped the GFI circuit on the outlet where we're plugged in. :( I quickly shut down the electric heater in the office that was being powered by the inverter and our house batteries — exactly why I want it to be on its own shore-power-only circuit! I went out and reset the GFI switch. J's computer and external hard drives weren't effected by the switch from shore power to inverter power and back like they sometimes are, but just to be safe I stopped working on the power converter because J was in the middle of a major backup.