Carbon Monoxide Scare

Momoko had smelled something like gas in our carport. Kit Kat narrowed the source down to a PVC pipe on our patio. Kit Kat thought it was the dryer exhaust vent. Momoko and I determined it was the furnace exhaust vent. We scheduled a technician to check it out. Little Kat manned the house. The technician came and same carbon monoxide was being emitted and was dangerous. Some cracks in the furnace were the source. He shut the thing off.


Time to replace the furnace and A/C. I checked the top 10 picks for HVAC professionals in the are per Yelp. Some of them did not answer their phone. Others did not have insurance for our area. I had two firms come out to look at the setup and give me an estimate. One of those companies seemed to want to wait until after Christmas to deliver the quote. Come on man. The family is freezing. I decided to go with the other company. They were cheaper too.


The kids picked up an extra space heater. We did not want them to use the dangerous one with exposed flame. It was still cold overall in the house. I had my brother write a check for the deposit on the work, plus another one for the balance. Kit Kat manned the house while the company came and removed the old equipment.


Now the company plans to return in 2 days to install the new system. I was happy I found this company. Their pricing was very reasonable. They also are providing exactly what I want, and not upselling my anything more. The lesson learned here is to not delay getting old systems replaced. Next up - our roof has reached the end and I must research options from local contractors.

Water Trouble

I went downstairs to start my next load of laundry. Stepped into a puddle of water in the utility room. Traced the source to the pipe leading out of the furnace to the drain in the floor. I lifted the drain cover. The water was high and not draining properly. I tried to move the pipe to the side, but it snapped near the furnace.

I tried to use a plunger to deal with the stuck drain. No help. I could not get good suction at the mouth of the drain. It is not a uniform lip around the opening. Also tried using a coat hanger. The drain is deep and the hanger would not bend at the J-trap.

Soaked up all the water with some towels I was washing anyway. Used some duct tape to perform a makeshift repair on the broken pipe coming out of the furnace. Made good use of the many towels I bought for the kids' bathroom water troubles. Got to get a plumber in here ASAP.

Tough End to a Semester

Today was the day for the final exam in my college class. I discovered a problem at work. Asked another team to help get us back on track. They said they needed all kind of management approval for that to happen. I called my boss and tried to get him to intervene. He wanted to deal with it this afternoon. Turns out my boss was extra busy. I kept pinging him to meet and get this done. I had a final to attend. He got free at the last minute and I kept him on task, and figured out what we needed to do.

Then I bolted out of the house and headed for school. I figured there was still time to drop by the school cafeteria and pick up a sandwich. When I got to school, the front door to the cafeteria was half closed. WTF? There were no employees serving pizza or sandwiches. I asked a cashier what was up. She said they stopped serving food at 2pm today due to finals. Oh snap.

I went to the building that my class is in. Tried to calm down by reading my book I always bring to class. This is the latest fiction novel I am reading. At first it got my mind off food, until I smelled something delicious in the waiting lounge. Eventually I headed up to class. As usual, the teacher was late. When I booted up the PC I normally use, I found that I could not remember my school password. Oh boy.

Tried a lot of combinations for my password. Was getting confused with other passwords I use for my job. I decided to try and reset my password. I had trouble remembering the security question for my favorite book. Eventually I reset my password and took my final exam. There were 50 questions. A lot of them were very familiar (the instructor gave us a big bank of questions to study). I answered all questions correctly except the last one. I had no clue on that one. My good grade on the final did not affect my grade at all it seems. Same grade as I had going into the exam. Finis.

Reinstated to Community College

Today Little Kat went to his college. He asked to speak with a reinstatement counselor. Luckily he got to speak with one, and got his school suspension lifted. He is still on probation and capped at 8 credits maximum per semester. If he fails again or his GPA gets too low, he is out.

While at college, Little Kat signed up for 3 courses for next semester: ethics, 1st year college experience, and film. Two are online. One is a night class. It is time for Little Kat to get serious about school. There is no other option other than dropping out.

I bought all of Little Kat's textbooks for next semester so he can start reading them now and get a head start. I actually bought a copy of all his textbooks myself so I can read along. Come on Little Kat. Learn from what rapper Nelly sings about:

If hard work pays off then easy work is worthless
My work habit ain't no habit man, I do it on purpose
I push myself to the limit so my talent will surface...

College Goals

Tonight I met with Little Kat and Momoko. Reviewed some goals I have given Little Kat. He needs to get health insurance by the time he is 26. It would be best if his employer provided it. Therefore, he needs a full time job/career. Easy way to make that happen is get a degree.

At this point, Little Kat may only earn an associates degree. For some fields that is enough. Little Kat needs to sign up for next semester. He did not want to take classes that have high fees. He also did not want a class that is only offered onsite at the main campus.

We reviewed Little Kat's transcript. It was bad, but not as bad as I had feared. He needs to get some good grades next semester to come out of probation. Currently he can only take 2 classes per semester (perhaps for his own good). Can't fail another class or he will be put into the dog house at school.

Little Kat and I filled out the community college work sheets to understand the cost of different courses (1, 2, and 3 credit courses). The more credits, the more tuition they charge you. Some classes have really high fees thought such as art and anything culinary. Time to get Little Kat's college career restarted.

Working Vacation

The family was scheduled to take Thanksgiving vacation out visiting grandma and grandpa. Little Kat left first. I drove him to the airport early one morning. It was so early he did not go to bed the night before. He was happy to find coffee in the airport. I then proceeded to drive to work at the office. Traffic was slow on the highway due to 2 lanes being close.


Kit Kat drove Momoko and I to the airport the next day. Kit Kat packed her car as she was spending the weekend over at her friend's house. Our initial gate had a plane that was broken. We got redirected to another gate but had to wait as a delayed plane with our stewardesses arrived. I rented a white Chevy Tahoe to haul the family around.


Spent a good deal of time working at Momoko's dad's house. Used a hedge trimer to chop down trees and shrubs on the fence blocking his irrigation system. Cleaned out a small shed. Hardest part was preventing us having to hang onto items so other family could check whether they wanted it. Took a full Chevy Tahoe to the local dump a few times.

Little Kat School Woes

Little Kat has previously been on probation at college for poor grades. It culminated in him being suspended this semester. That means he cannot take any classes. He was told he could try to come back the following semester. I told him as long as he did go back to school, nothing would change about his status in the household.

As the time for registering for next semester got close, I asked Little Kat if he knew about the deadlines. He did not. I gave him the dates and expected that he would register for the next semester. The registration at the college opened up. But Little Kat did not register.

I asked Little Kat why he did not register. He said he forgot or did not get around to doing it. I told him to figure out his classes and register. Turns out he could not register. He needs to get taken off from suspension. So I told him he had to go to the college and make that happen.

Little Kat went with Kit Kat to his college. They told him they don't start work on taking students off suspension until December. I gave Little Kat explicit instructions to arrive at the college the first work day in December and get this taken care of.

Little Kat seems to be in a rut. What he needs to do is start to get serious about college. He is going to have to get back into school next semester. There is no way he is going to sit around and miss any deadlines, not on my watch at least. I think he is at a crossroads. This is the last chance to get back on the college horse.

Repairing a Safety Issue

I noticed the bracket on the handrail at the top of the stair had broken. The thing snapped in half. This is dangerous at most of us hang on to the handrail tightly. Kit Kat has already cut her hand a few times on the sharp edges. The top of the handrail is no longer stable.

Was going to let the handyman fix this. But he takes a while to come. So I decided to do it myself. Tried to unscrew the base from the wall. The screws had a weird star pattern. I had some screwdrivers with this type of head. They were too small. Luckily Little Kat had a bit that matched the size.

Momoko drove me to Lowes. I went straight to hardware. A company rep took me directly to where these brackets were. It cost a couple bucks. Luckily these new screws had a Phillips screwdriver head. They were also shorter than the old ones (much easier to screw into the wall).

Momoko held the handrail in the air while I screwed in the base. Then I screwed the clamp into the handrail, connecting the top piece of the bracket to the handrail. Safety issue mitigated. No need for any rework. This thing feels secure now.

Camping Weekend Rained Out

I took an hour off work to leave early for camping. Momoko and the kids packed our second car. We were off on time. I rode with Kit Kat. She started talking about the campfires. We realized we forgot the kindling. So we turned around. I filled two 30 gallon black trash bags with dry kindling to start out fires.

We got to the camp site fast enough. Had to wait in line to check into the front gate. The camp rep came and said we needed to park both cars in the driveway. We pitched a new canopy over the picnic bench. Dinner that night was hot dogs. Had trouble lighting the fire with their wood. Little Kat used charcoal to get the fire started.

That night, the rain was leaking into our seven man tent. My feet were damp. Momoko got dripped on her face. My only pair of pants got soaked in the tent as water ran down to my sleeping bag. By the early AM, the top of my sleeping bag was wet. Momoko cooked us some breakfast. Again had to resort to charcoal to get the fire started. I had some dry toast, hot ham, and scrambled eggs.

Kit Kat was sick. The kids had water in their sleeping bags too. We decided to pack everything up a day early and returned home. Kit Kat and I stopped by Sonic to get a snack for the family. Then we went home and unpacked everything. Momoko and I had Chinese food for lunch. Dinner was Chipotle. Another camping trip cut short.

Camping Prep

Our upcoming camping trip is upon us. Time to plan everything out. I got Kit Kat a new tent (the old 4-person tent had holes in it). Kit Kat got a new sleeping bag and air mattress. She also bought some more folding chair. I checked that my 2 folding chairs were still good.

We are going to try to pack one car early. Our cars now are smaller than before. Momoko used to have a larger SUV. And I used to have a truck. Now we have two small SUVs. Kit Kat said she needed to test pitching her tent before we go.

Initially Little Kat proposed we eat hot dogs all the time. However Kit Kat volunteered to cook some other foods in the pan, such as eggs for breakfast. Last time we camped, we had to evacuate due to very cold weather. This time around, it might rain on us.

Little Kat Passes Bitcoin/Blockchain

I had told Little Kat that I wanted him to take a Udemy course. This was to test out the theory that he could be successful with online classes. I was doubtful. I let him choose the topic. He chose Bitcoin and Blockchains. I gave him about a month to go through the course. Then I would test his knowledge.

If Little Kat was unable to learn online, then I figured it was time to teach him how to study and get all As in class. I took the same course as Little Kat to know what was being taught. Took copious notes and studied them. By the time I was done, I had 13 topics that I wanted to ask Little Kat about. If there was any doubt, I had deeper questions for each of those topics.

Surprisingly, Little Kat was able to answer 11 of the 13 questions well. He had an educated guess for 1 other one. There was only 1 question he did not know. The good thing is that even though Little Kat may have forgotten a term or two, he actually understood the material. So he could talk through it. If this were a class, he would have got a solid B on the test.

I thought we would need to try one more Udemy online course to make sure the first one was not a fluke. However Little Kat performed so well that I don't think there is any need for that. Only thing left for him to do is sign up for some courses next semester at college and put in the same due diligence he did with this Bitcoin course.

Little Kat Returns to Biking

Little Kat is going on a health kick. Part of that involves more exercising. He does not want to go to the gym. We no longer have exercise equipment in the house. And we had disposed of our bicycles. Little Kat asked me if I would fund the purchase of a new bike. I told him if the cost were low, I would be down.

He found a bike on Amazon for a bit over $100. Not a bad price as shipping was free. Tough part was assembly. Little Kat said he was game to assemble it. Amazon estimated that it might take up to 2 weeks to ship. Arrived in a few days.

We also tossed the bike helmets when we got rid of the bikes. Little Kat asked me to buy him a new one. Momoko was worried an Amazon purchase would not fit. So Little Kat and I drove to Target today to pick one up. The adult sized one is adjustable and fits. Therefore I bought one.

It was raining this afternoon. Little Kat will have to wait for it to dry off before taking the bike out for an extended spin. He used to ride around a lot with the old bike, going to the pool a few miles away often. He explored a lot of the local area on bike as well.

Possible New Job

I decided recently to make another effort to locate a new job. Got a time deadline until my a certain credential of mine expires. Previously I had applied at a lot of companies. Usually I think my salary requirements was an issue. This time around, I am targeting some niche jobs that I think pay a lot more.

I started by using one recruiter who has a lot of clients who need my specific credential. Started out having phone interviews with human resources. I then was getting to the next level speaking with people higher up on the chain.

Just went to a face to face interview. Human resources set it up. They said they would invite a tech guy to come talk with me. He grilled me a bit. I wrote a bunch of computer code for him. He was satisfied with it. When he asked me verbal technical questions, I knocked them out with ease.

That company ended up making a generous job offer to me. The thing is that the offer is loaded with a bunch of contingencies. They direct customer has to like me. The end customer needs to like me. My pay rate has to match the customer budget. My credentials need to transfer over. And so on. If all of these requirements are met, I can join the company.

We will see what happens. I continue to interview. Don't think I will find a better paying job. Might find something more interesting. Who knows? I just want to get this credential transferred and active before it runs out. And I want to get off my current dysfunctional project. It might be happening in a few months.

Independent Gamer Festival

I had a goal at work to join some organization and meet other people. Well today I made some progress. After lunch, I followed my GPS and ended up going in a circle. So I got myself a large Coke at McDonalds, then pressed on. The GPS then took me on the highway. Lots of traffic. That was strange seeing as how it is the weekend.

Got down into a city south of me. There was a lot of construction with multiple lanes closed. Downtown was crowded with people and slow moving cars. I tried to find the public library where a game developers demo was going on. Passed the library at least once. Then I circled around and got into a parking garage. The garage was full on many levels. I did find a space. Luckily it was free parking on the weekend.

I knew I was at the right place when I heard a live band playing in the hall (they said there would be live music). The library was on the third floor of a high rise building. There were tables and lots of kids playing video games. I made a beeline to a guy standing in the corner. He was a developer. His game was like Guitar Hero on the PC. At first I was confused, as the keys I pressed did not seem to affect the spaceship above. Apparently I had to concentrate on the symbol on the bottom of the screen.

Next I headed to the center of the room. A lone board game developer was there. He and I played his board game. There were cards for my people. I got some money and food to start. The basic mechanics of the game were like Uno. The most interesting part of the game was when you played one card from your hand, you would temporarily draw for a special deck and ask you opponent the question on it. The opponent got to earn points for that. The questions were geared toward teaching you conflict resolution in life.

After playing a long board game, I checked the other stations. Still a lot of kids playing video games. I decided to hit the road and return home to work on building my trash bin enclosure.

Secure Trash Solution

I have given our patio trash problem some thought. The pesky critters are opening up my trash cans and chewing through the bags to find treasures. This just causes a mess. I thought I could put the trash cans inside the carport shed. Just not a lot of room in there.

We do have a lot of room in the back yard on or around the patio. So I just ordered some bins to enclosed the trash cans. They are not too big. Therefore I will only put my 32 gallons trash cans in there. Also, there is no floor. There is also a gap around the bottom of the bins. So I will need to secure that with some wood (any maybe paint it black to match).

I am hoping this does the trick. I plan to secure the door shut with a lock perhaps. Might also have to ensure the top (which opens) stays shut at all times. Just need to make this secure enough that the animals give up and go to the next house.

Creatures Getting into our Trash

Rain was scheduled to come in today. So yesterday I cut the grass for the whole yard. Bagged up the grass ready for the county to pick up. I placed the tall bags between two filled trash cans on my patio. Covered everything with a tarp. Added some firewood on top to hold down the tarp.

Today is was indeed raining. As I went outside to head out to the movies, I saw a trash can lid on the ground. What the heck? There was also trash on the patio. Someone or something had pulled off the firewood, pulled back the tarp, and got into the trash can. I had to run to the movies, but would investigate later.

Turns out something did open the trash can, get inside, and chew through both trash bags. This is disturbing because I double bag my trash bags. Seems the subway food wrapper and some chicken leg bones were too tempting to avoid.

Now I need to put some type of solution in place so this does not happen again. This is the second time this month an animal has opened up a trash can, jumped in, and went to town. I am thinking maybe a plastic shed just for the trash cans.

Learning the Blockchain

Little Kat is currently not attending colleges courses this semester. His college banned him from classes for a least this semester for poor performance. Little Kat's plan is to take online courses once he is allowed back into the school. I thought we had better figure out whether that will help. And I want to figure it out now.

Therefore Little Kat is enrolling in a Udemy online course. He chose a few. I told him to take his Blockchain/Bitcoin courses first. The total lecture time is only 3 hours. I figure he will need another 3 hours to study the material. Plus a final 3 hours to research the answers to questions.

Little Kat works 3 days a week. If he spends an hour a day (for every day he does not go to work), he should be done with this course in 3 weeks. Done means have a mastery of the subject matter. That's only spending an hour a day when he has not work. Very doable. Let's see if Little Kat rises to the occasion.

Dead Lawn Mowers

A few years ago, I started having trouble starting my lawn mower. Otherwise the mower was a good one. I tried to buy the same model. But I could not find it. Instead I got another model from the same manufacturer. This second model was not as good as the first. The handle to push the mower would not stay in place.

Recently the second lawn mower started conking out while I cut the grass. It came to a halt yesterday. Almost could not complete cutting the lawn. This is no way to live. Now I think it is time to junk both of these mowers. My brother has a battery powered one that can suffice for now. Only trouble with it is that does not have enough charge to cut the whole lawn at once.

I think I might go for a self-propelled lawn mower this time. When the weather is good, I can cut the whole lawn. But on really hot days, I struggle. Too bad I don't have a flat yard. Then I could get a sit down mower. The best self propelled mower runs a good $700. That's way too expensive. I think I might get the same brand but with less features. That one runs around $400.

New TV

Today a TV by Element went on sale at Target. It was a 50 inch set. Was a 4k UHD TV, whatever that means. The price was right. I called our local store. They were sold out. Called the next closest store. Bounced around until I finally got in touch with the electronics department. They had it in stock.

Drove Momoko's car up to Target. The parking lot was crowded. There were around 30 people standing in front of the store. I made a beeline to the electronics department. Found the guy I talked to earlier. He took a long time bringing the TV from the warehouse. Many other employees asked if we needed to be helped.

I asked if I could use the cart the TV was on to take it to the car. We needed a store escort. When one showed up, I informed him we were parked far away. I asked if he needed us to drive the car up close. He said we could do what I wanted. I asked him to roll the TV out to the car. Then he changed his mind, and asked us to drive up.

The car fit fine in the back of Momoko's car with the seats folded down. Afterwards, we drove by Qdoba Mexican Grill for a queso and chips snack before dinner. My brother and I moved the old TV out of the way. We moved the TV stand out. Little Kat got the new TV ready. He told me the legs of the TV were too wide for the TV stand.

My brother and I created a makeshift platform for the TV using some plywood. We laid it on top of the TV stand. Does not look good. But it fit like a champ (I had measured thee required footprint). Little Kat was disturbed by the tinny sound coming from the TV. He had some trouble getting the cable inputs set up. I think this TV will server us well for years to come.

Seeing Strangers on Campus

I made sure I left extra early to attend my first school night of the semester. Went to the student union. Purchased two slices of pepperoni pizza. Had to wait for it to be cooked. It came out piping hot. Got a 32 ounce cup full of Fanta orange. Then I sat down and reviewed my notes from reading the textbook.

There were two guys hanging out at the table next to mine. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then another guy who knew one of them approached. He was wearing a suit, but no tie. He had a party style suit on underneath. The striking thing about him was his fedora on his head. He also wore some stylish dress shoes.

I think this guy was dressing up to impress the ladies. From a visual perspective, he was on point. He had a high pitched voice with a Northeastern access. That came across as a weakness. He seemed animated as he talked with his friends. The guy had a lot of confidence. He introduced himself to another person who came to that table.

Lot of people were flowing in and out of the eatery. There were tables to eat just outside of the place. I thought I saw someone who looked just like Little Kat. The buzz cut plus glasses plus unshaven face did the trick. It was obviously not Little Kat, who was at home cooking the family dinner. I did imagine that this was what Little Kat looked like on campus though.

Back to School

On Monday, I head back to school for the fall semester. I had thought that I ordered my textbook online. But that was last semester. So today I decided to visit my school to take care of business. My trip started out bad. I somehow flipped my RC soda can entirely over in my car. Luckily I had already drank more than half of it. The other half went into my cup holders.

At school, I found all the sidewalks closed. They were sealing the joints with some gray putty. Had to walk on the grass. That was a real fail for people with kids strollers. I could not find my textbook in the bookstore. An employee helped me find it. He apologized that they only had new textbooks. I told him that was fine, as I prefer new.

I decided to visit the school cafeteria for the first time. I was not impressed. There was nobody at the grill station. A guy was at the pizza place. But he was busy baking pizzas. I eventually got some pizza slices warmed up for me. The bottled sodas in the fridge were warm. I had to go ask around to find a cashier to check me out. Not good.

This semester is the last in a few years worth of studying cyber security. After all that study, I might not be able to find a project/job to take advantage of those skills. Oh well.

New Wireless Network

Previously I had paid for the Internet access in our house. Got a great introductory rate from Verizon. After that promotion ended, the price more than doubled. Fair enough. Then the price increased mysteriously again. My brother had since got us Comcast Internet. So I wanted to cancel the Verizon service. One problem - my main printer was on the Verizon network.

Finally I decided to do something about this. I wanted to remotely log into the printer, switch it to the Comcast network, and be done with this Verizon service. Used my browser to log in. I was able to specify the new network. But I did not find any place to put the network password. That seemed strange. How could the printer log into our locked down Comcast network?

Then it dawned on me. I did not reconfigure the printer. I reconfigured the Verizon wireless router. Now both the Comcast and Verizon wireless routers were broadcasting with the same network name. Had an emergency family meeting to let everyone know what was going on. Restored the Verizon network name. Then I moved the printer to the other network.

Tried to call up Verizon to cancel. Apparently their office is closed. I had to jump through many hoops in the automated Verizon phone tree. Now I recall another reason why I should cancel Verizon. Their customer service stinks.

Lunch Travels

Momoko has been going to the pool early every morning. Afterwards she gets McDonald's. She brings me breakfast. By the end of the week, it was time for me to return the favor. I was to buy her lunch. We decided to go out. Since I was buying and driving, I got to choose the place.

I decided to go to my favorite burger place. Unfortunately it is across town. On a good day, I might be able to make it there in 30 minutes. We went via the highway to try to get there fast. Unfortunately there was some traffic that slowed me down. We made it though. The place had a lot of people.

We found some burger deals. The burgers were only a quarter of a pound. They were good though. I eat them with a lot of pickles from the fixings bar. Also comes with a side of fries. I add cheddar cheese and jalapenos, which also come from the fixings bars.

There was traffic on the freeway. So we took the back roads home. Things were fine until we got a couple towns away from our house. The two lane highway came to a stop. No cars were coming from the other side. Eventually we found the problem. Somebody hit a telephone pole and cracked it. Took a while to get home. Glad it wasn't us.

Authors Need Side Jobs

I am a fan of the Reddit relationships subreddit. It is a board where you can post questions about relationships. One girl graduated from college and posted there. She lives with her boyfriend who also graduated from college. The problem is that her boyfriend thinks he is a professional book author. He is still working on his first book.

Doh! It is okay to have a hobby like writing books. It is not okay if you only work on your hobby and do not make any money. Time for this guy to get a job or get out. The economics of book writing are not too good, at least for authors. Even successful ones usually have some other way to make money.

I was surprised that Beth Revis commented on this post. Beth is a professional author. She spent 10 years teaching while writing books on the side. One of her books actually took 10 years before she was able to get it published. I know Beth has written follow on stories for the Stars Wars genre. I think she is most famous for her Across The Universe trilogy. I plan to buy book one in that series.

Intense Outdoor Heat

Things are really hot outside. Last week I cut the grass in the front yard. I bundled up the yard clipping with some tree/bush clippings. It was treacherous. I was outside maybe an hour and a half. I could not stand at the end of the ordeal.

Okay. This week I finished up the work. Ran the weed wacker around the edges until my batteries died out. Cut the grass in the back yard. Altogether spent about one hour outside. I thought I was going to die. It was not just the heat. All my strength was zapped.

Now I got some tough bushes to trim. Yikes.

Finally Coming Home

Today was our last day at Momoko's dad's house. We returned home finally, after spending over a month visiting. First we headed for the hospital to see Momoko's mom. En route, we saw a motorcyclist on the ground. He was far from his bike. The accident must have just happened.

Grandma was awake. She was also talkative, but could only communicate by moving her lips. No sounds came out. Spent around twenty minutes talking with her. Had to wash out hands before and after the visit. Wore a gown plus gloves in her room.

Then we put gas into the rental Cadillac XTS. I dropped Momoko off in front of the airline terminal. I then proceeded to the rental car rental center. Took a while for someone to check my car. Almost forgot my book in the back seat. Just missed the shuttle going to the airport.

We tried to eat at Cinnabon. They did not have breakfast sandwiches available, contrary to their posted menu. Instead we went to Moe's. Got sausage breakfast burritos which were spicy. Filled up on soft drinks at the Schlotzsky's dispenser. Our plane arrived on time.

All seats on the flight had be sold. However we somehow got lucky and there was an empty seat between Momoko and I. This was the last day for SouthWest Airlines to serve peanuts on their flights. Little Kat was waiting for us when we touched down. Stopped at McDonald's for a snack.

Short Trip to Neighboring Big City

Momoko and I decided to take a short trip this weekend. We headed two hours northeast of her dad's house. Momoko booked us a room at a hotel for one night. There was a long turnpike that led us there. After checking into the hotel, we headed out for some lunch.


I wanted to go to Fatty's pub. It was across the street from FatBurger. Momoko did not want to go. Then I thought we could go to this Mongolian BBQ. Momoko did not want that either. We ended up going to some Italian place. Yelp told me to order the pepperoni bread. So we did. I also skipped the fries and got a salad with bacon and boiled egg as my side.


That night we caught an early evening showing of Skyscraper, the latest movie starring Dwayne Johnson. The next day we got a continental breakfast and decided to drive downtown. Many of the street were blocked and had detours. There were a number of homeless people. Not much to see really. Therefore we headed home.


On the way home, there was a Nissan Titan overfilled with belongings behind me. I decided I had to stay in front of that disaster waiting to happen. The car went down to half a tank of gas. Stopped at the plaza in the middle of the highway. All the non-diesel pumps were jam packed with people. So I decided to head back to Momoko's dad's house and fill up there.

The Art of Medical Ventilation

We visited grandma on the weekend. There was a new nurse there. She looked at the ventilator and exclaimed that the reading was 55, so grandma was doing good. I quizzed her on what 55 meant. Did not get much info. I talked to the respiratory therapist. She had a lot to say. But I still could not grasp what 55 meant in the big scheme of things.


So I decided to do some research. The ventilator we are talking about is a medical ventilator. In the old days, it was called a respirator. It blows air with extra oxygen into the patient. The air is heated and humidified as well. The ventilator also monitors things such as the air pressure, volume, and rate of flow into the patient.


An invasive use of the ventilator requires a breathing tube to be inserted in the patient. The tube inserted into the patient is called a trach tube during a process called intubation. The tube goes ito the patient's windpipe. The tube can have a cuff, making it a cuffed tube. The cuff holds the tube in place and prevent leaks. Non-invasive use of a ventilator means air is blown into the nose/mouth.


The ventilator is a life critical system. The goal is to wean the patient off the ventilator. A respiratory therapist tunes the settings of the ventilator. There are some risks to using a ventilator such as pneumonia and/or damage to the vocal chords. The ventilator also makes it hard to cough.


There are different techniques a ventilator can control the flow of air into a patient. It can keep up a certain pressure of air. It can also ensure a specific volume of air enters the patient. It could also concentrate on delivering air at certain time periods. Or it can use a combination of pressure, volume, and timing.


There are different modes that a ventilator can be set to run under. AC mode is when the ventilator kicks in to assist each time a patient breathes. SIMV will also kick in when the patient breathes, but only do so for a certain amount of breathes per minutes (the extra breaths are unassisted). The PSV mode is when the ventilator ensures a certain amount of pressure is present when the patient breathes. And finally the ARPV mode provides a constant pressure of air.


There are many readings on the ventilator to control its usage. The respirator rate is how many breathes per minute are delivered. The tidal volume is how much air is sent in per breath. The flow is how fast the air gets delivered to the lungs. The waveform is how the amount of pressure varies over the duration of one breath. And finally there is the oxygen concentration, which I discuss below.


Oxygen concentration is also known as FiO2, or fraction of inspired oxygen. It is expressed as a percentage. It tells you how much oxygen is in the air delivered to the patient. Oxygen in the tank is 100% oxygen. Air is 21% oxygen, but mostly consists of nitrogen. The ventilator artificially adds more oxygen to the air given to the patient.


Patients might initially be given 100% oxygen for a very short amount of time. They will be getting more than 21% oxygen if they are using a ventilator. The percentage could be lower than 40% for some patients. Above 60% oxygen for sustained periods is considered toxic. If you are on 60+% oxygen for more than 12 to 24 hours, you risk damage to the patient. Most of the time, the oxygen concentration will be set to below 50% to prevent toxicity/damage to the patient.

Princess Mononoke Revisited

Momoko and I decided to go see a special feature at the movie theater. They were bringing back Princess Mononoke. This is an animation from 20 years ago. Miyazaki directed it. Studio Ghibli did the animation. Momoko thought she saw it before. However it had been a long time.


While driving up to the theater, we found the parking lot to be full. I went behind the theater. Also full. I drove around the main lot a couple times. Eventually somebody came out and left. We took their space.


I had eaten lunch. So I opted out of popcorn and soft drink. Before the show started the Front & Center pre-show was just some music. A dude in the second row started dancing and then left the theater after a couple minutes.


During the second action sequence in the movie, I realized that I too had seen this movie before. But I forgot almost everything about it. Half way through the show I got hungry. I thought it would be okay as Momoko only eats half her popcorn at each show. This time she got hungry and finished the bag.


On the way out, I got a popcorn for the road. Grandma pre-purchased around 75 medium popcorns for the year. So I got it for no further charge. Sprinkled some cheddar cheese flavoring on it and I was good to go.

Taking a Trip

I wanted to take a day trip with Momoko. She thought we could head to the Northeast. I said we should go South. Turns out Momoko used to like two hours south of her dad's house. So off we went. Momoko thought one day was not enough time. Therefore she rented us a room.


It was strange to see so little civilization as we travelled south. Just a bunch of wide open space and a lot of farm land. I did see that we passed some big government base. However we did not see much until we descended upon our destination.


We got lunch at a pub. It was strangely similar to the one we ate at during our last visit to her parents' house. Checked into the hotel. It has a large full kitchen. I took a nap. Then we went out to see Momoko's middle school. Also found where her mom previously worked.


Tried to eat dinner at this grill. But they place was packed. Could hardly get a parking spot. We instead went to an all you can eat Chinese buffet by our hotel. The next morning we started out with the hotel continental breakfast. Then we were off.


I gassed the car up. Momoko went into the store and got a Sprite. Time to "go home" to Momoko's dad's house.

Getting Greek Food Abroad

Momoko and I have been going out to eat frequently. She asked if we should visit some new café the other day. I thought we should go somewhere else. Her sister had previously recommended a local Greek place for take out.


We got to the Greek place. There seemed to be nobody there except for one employee. I liked that there was a $5.99 special posted on the door. Gyro, fries, and drink for $5.99. When I tried to order it, the employee with a raspy voice said there were two gyro specials. I said I wanted the one that was on the door for $5.99.


The drinks were in cans and were warm. We were provided cups with ice. Some weird children's television show was playing far in the back on an old style TV. We got out meals. The gyro seemed to be lacking the sauce. However, once I got deeper in the pita, I found plenty of sauce.


Momoko got a more expensive salad version of the gyro. I finished up her diet Coke and we took off. A couple other people wandered in after us. The place had a lot of room, contrary to what Momoko's sister said about the establishment. We may return with Little Kat to let him try the special too.

Rental Upgrade

I had rented a Jaguar F-Pace vehicle at the airport. It seemed like a normal SUV. Not a luxury vehicle. To make matter worse, it had some weird gas saving feature. The engine would abruptly cut off every time I came to a stop. This must have been a design failure.


I tried twice to return to the rental car place. But they had no other luxury cars to trade. Finally I asked when they would get some new cars in. The attendant recommended that I come back as soon as they open on the weekend.


When I returned, they once again had a bunch of luxury cars to rent. The attendant recommended a Cadillac XTS sedan. It is not as luxurious as a BMW 760 or a Mercedes S550. But it would do. Guess what? The engine does not cut off when it stops.


Perhaps I shall return in a week to see if I can upgrade to a Mercedes Benz. For now, I am satisfied.

Luxury Rental Double Cross

I am traveling with Momoko to see her mom. Am going to spend over a month at Momoko's dad's house. Decided to get a rental car to drive around in. Last time I got upgraded to a luxury vehicle. It was a BMW 740i. That was sweet. So I reserved a luxury car this time around.


When I got to the rental car place, they had 4 choices of luxury cars. There was a Cadillac sedan, and three SUVs. No Mercedes or BMW 740i. I settled for a Jaguar F-Pace. But it was just not worth the luxury car price.


I spoke with the attendant. She said they get new cars in all the time. I could come back tomorrow to exchange the vehicle for a one that I liked. I will call first to ensure they have something worthwhile.

Fence Panels to the Rescue

A prior storm blew down a portion of my yard fence. The fence was old and rotted. It was already wobbly. I chopped up the fence that fell. My brother and I hauled it to the dump.

I had planned to reuse the fence that got taken down when we put in the new driveway to replace the fence that fell. Today I went out to make measurements on those fence pieces to plan where to dig post holes.

Unfortunately I found that half of the repurposed fence was falling apart. No reason to install a broke down fence. So I got help from my brother again. We went to the home improvement store with his truck.

I purchased three fence panels. They were 6 feet high and 8 feet long. Also bought 6 posts. Now I just need to dig the holes and set the posts. While I am at it, I will take the dirt from the holes and level out the dip in the yard that used to be a pond or hot tub.

Household Clutter

I had to put away some old newspapers in our big shed today. There I saw a strange propane tank on the work table. It seemed to be empty of gas. While I was gathering my newspapers, I saw a broke down footstool in our library.

There was also a cardboard box of assorted good in our library. These items reminded me that some washcloths were on the floor in the laundry room for a while. This fail was getting out of hand. I had to call a family meeting even though my brother and Momoko were still at work. Could not wait until after hours, as Little Kat works this afternoon.

I questioned the kids to find out what all these items were. Some were trash. Others needed to be given away. And still others needed further tracking to determine the owner. Things are getting out of control. Time to nip this in the bud.

Best Prices for Lawn and Garden

I needed some supplies for my yard work. Luckily I got a coupon in the mail from Lowe's. Spend $50 and get $10 off. Not bad.

The device that rolls up the hose in the front yard broke. Tough now to do any watering. Lowe's had a bunch of choices. I wanted one with a tall handle. They ran for $40 to $50. But I found one for $30 that was skinny. It said it would handle 175 feet of hose. Sold.

Next I needed some more weed and feed to prepare for summer. The smaller bags ran $20 to $30. One of the bags that normally was $20 got marked down to $15. Works for me. Sold.

Then I headed to the bug spray aisle. The pricing was confusing. Sometimes the price was just missing from the items. I got two jugs which seems to be priced $8 each. At checkout, the price came up to $11+ each.

I complained and they found that $8 was for the refill. I had the bottles with the sprayer. So I went back and got rid of those. Found a small sprayer bottle with a better sprayer for $4. Then I purchased one of the refill jugs for $8.

It took a bit longer. But shopping around and sticking to my guns helped me get the very best deal. Very happy now. Got some yard work to do.

Getting Sick

Kit Kat was the first to get sick this time around. I think she might have taken a little time off work. She seems to be doing much better now. Then Little Kat got sick. He went to the doctor. He also is taking a few days off work.

Now it seems the illness is coming to me. I slept in yesterday morning. I tried to do some stuff during the day. But I was knock out. By night, I was severely feverish. I was delirious. I stayed in bed and tried to keep drinking fluids. Most of the time I felt freezing. I was better when I was under the covers.

I am going to continue to drink a lot of fluids. Luckily I have a few days off my work project. I have got to get better.

Little Kat Suspended

I saw that Little Kat got a letter in the mail from his community college. That was strange. I go to the same school. I did not receive any letter. Tonight Little Kat told me what is was about. He got suspended from school.

The reason for suspension was that he was previously on probation due to poor grades. This past semester he only passed one of the two classes he signed up for. That is insufficient for someone on probation. So he is now suspended for one semester.

Little Kat will be able to go back to school after missing on semester (the fall semester). He plans to change up how he takes classes. He will take one class online instead of the in-person classes he has taken so far. He will also take another class at a different campus that is closer to our house.

Little Kat also said he would try to enroll in a different community college for the fall semester this year. That way he is not totally without any progress towards his degree. We shall see how that goes. The important factor is whether these alternate plans for taking classes will affect his grades next year. If not, it might be time for trade school for him

Ty Cobb Strikes Out

I have been spying on this salad that Momoko and Kit Kat order at the local bar. It is loaded with goodies like bacon, cucumber, diced tomato, and chicken. Apparently it is a somewhat healthy meal (compared to the delicious appetizers sold by the bar). I have been wanting to try this salad myself.

Momoko and I went to a Mediterranean restaurant this weekend to eat gyros. So by Sunday, we decided to go somewhere close. We went to the bar. Sat in the bar area. I finally ordered a Ty Cobb salad. I told them to hold the avocado. Topped it off with a ranch dressing. It was expensive. But based on the looks, I was hoping it would be worth it.

Turns out it was nothing special. I think it was missing the crucial ingredients such as hard boiled egg and croutons. In the end, I felt like it was just a rip off. Should have gone with some of the other choices I know are good. Come on Ty Cobb. Represent.

Smelly Shoes

Previously I had climbed up on the ladder and cleaned out the rain gutters. This was required since the water was not flowing down the spouts. It was spilling over the sides of the gutter. Not sure the exact cause, but the sitting water smelled really bad in the gutter.

After I was done, I smelled too. So I took a shower. Ran my clothes through the washer. Hand washed my work gloves. Then I just dried my soaked shoes. It took a couple days. Eventually the shoes were dry. But they smelled bad.

I am always careful to wear fresh socks on my feet when I wear my shoes. This allows my shoes to smell nice even after lots of use. So I think after this rain gutter business, the rancid water transferred something nasty into my shoes.

I tried washing my shoes in a bucket with some laundry detergent by hand. It helped some. But there was still an underlying scent of nastiness. Time to take it to another level. I broke out a box of tea bags. Lined my shoes with about 50 tea bags each. Held the tea bags against the shoes tightly by stuffing balled up newspaper in there.

Let's hope this does the trick. I really like these shoes. They are extra wide for added comfort. They have Velcro straps for quick securing.

Flat Tire for Little Kat

Little Kat had to borrow my car to get to work last week He had a flat tire. I had a meeting to figure out how he was going to resolve the situation. We needed to know if he had to borrow a car to get the tire fixed.

Little Kat said he would put the spare tire on his car. Then he would drive the car to the tire store, with the flat in the trunk. That was a great plan. But his spare tire was flat too. He woke up his sister. They drove to the tire store in Kit Kat's car.

The tire got patched and the car is operational. Little Kat said he could not figure out how to put air in the spare tire. It is a doughnut. I told him to take it to the tire store. He was going to do that today. However he said he discovered the valve stem in the spare.

Now Little Kat was to take that spare to the air pump. He delayed a bit because he wanted to wait until all tires were cool so he could top off the air in each of them. I know I have to keep a watch on this work. Otherwise slacking might ensue.

Rain Gutter Overflow

I decided to eat lunch at Jerry's Subs today. Got a pepper jack cheesesteak. It was delicious. Filled up my car with gas on the way home. It was raining heavily. When I got home, I noticed rain flowing over the side of the gutter into the carport. Not good.

I got my stepladder. Found that dropping from trees had clogged the gutter. So I removed the droppings. It helped some. But the gutter was still overflowing. Turns out there was a lot of dirt in the rain gutters impeding the flow of water.

Grabbed the hose and sprayed down the gutters. Had to move my ladder several times. When I moved it close to the downspout, half of the ladder was on dirt. The other half was on concrete. The ladder almost tipped over. But I got the job done.

Just when I was ready to head into the house, I noticed water overflowing from the second story rain gutters in the front of the house. Damn. Had to fetch the big ladder from the back yard. Luckily my handyman used it last week to fix the shingles on the roof. So the length was set correctly on the ladder. Similar problems on the top level as above the carport. Double damn.

Lawn Mower Accident

I had some free time Friday afternoon. So I cut the grass. I was worried rain was coming this weekend. I finished the front and back lawns. I was tired. I thought I would do one more cut behind the back fence. There were some daffodils growing that got in the way when I went down to the creek.

So I started cutting the flowers with the lawn mower. These flowers were born from us digging up bulbs in the front yard and tossing them over the fence. It was tricky to cut them with the mower because of the trees around them. I found that they were wet. When I walked on top of them it was slippery.

I had to cut some flowers on a steep hill. I went to the top of the hill and walked down with the mower. My left leg slipped on the wet flowers and I fell down. Luckily the lawn mower shut off. I was worried that I had hurt my knee based on the way I fell. The fall was intense as my had and hearing protection flew off my head when I hit the ground.

I stayed on the ground for a while. I thought about asking for some help. But nobody was around. I had a tough time pulling the lawn mower up the hill. Turns out my leg really hurt where it meets the rest of my body (torso). It was hard to move or walk. Somehow I got the lawn mower emptied and stored in the shed.

It was painful collecting the rest of the yard tools. I took a quick shower somehow and passed out. Later I planned to get dinner with my brother. I had trouble walking from his car to the Chinese food place. I knew I could not make it back to his car. This was a bad time to be moving around.

Click Clone Cash Scam

A friend of mine told me about this "money making opportunity". He actually thought it was a scam. I checked it out. There was an hour long video. The guy on there said he got rich. And you can too. He helps you install a program on your computer. It allegedly goes out on the Internet, finds profitable web businesses, and clones them for you.

The claim is that this will earn you $100k a month guaranteed. I had to spend about an hour going through the video. Then at the end I found the trick. They just need you to pay $89. And you will start earning money immediately.

I searched around to find out what this thing was really about. Turns out the dude in the video is just as actor. So are the people giving testimonials. What this scam is about is that they try to get you to sign up for some expensive web hosting. The minimum cost is $89 for six months. They make money by referring you to this expensive hosting.

The hosting just gives you a presence on the Internet. There is no money to be made. At least no money for you. They are making money for the referral. The web hosting company is making money off your hosting fees. And you are scammed.

There was never any chance of me falling for this scam. All the signs were there: the guy saying he was rich, saying you can make a fortune with no work, and they just need you to pay a small fee. I had to rely on Google to help me figure out what this was really about. Come on people. Don't fall for this nonsense.

Hot Day to Cut the Grass

I had some free time. So I moved my car away from the edge of the driveway. Decided to cut the lawn. I knew I was in trouble when I started feeling hot in the front yard. I struggled to cut the grass in the back yard. By the time I was trimming, I was ready to pass out.

Somehow I made it inside, took a shower, and passed out. Later I realized that it was late and I had not eaten lunch yet. I went outside and realized I never put my car back after cutting the grass. Now the temperature may have been in the mid-90s. But the humidity was high. Winds were non-existent.

I hope this is not a precursor for the summer. The grass was not even that high yet. I might have to follow the pattern my buddy follows. He usually only cuts the front or back yard at a time. Hardly ever both because it takes a while and is hard.

Dishwasher Duty

We had our dishwasher serviced six months ago. The technician recommended I use a dishwasher cleaner every six months. So it was time. I checked on the state of the dishwasher. It seems like it had just been run. But the kitchen sink was almost full with dirty dishes.

So I quizzed Little Kat. He was supposed to run the dishes in the middle of the day, plus a second time at dinner. Initially he said he ran the dishes twice. That just did not compute given the amount of dishes in the sink.

Then Little Kat explained that the first time around, when he was unloading the prior night's dishes, they were greasy. So he pretty much reran those dishes. It is a bit suspicious. Now I know to ask better questions. I need details. Otherwise Little Kat will report as if all is okay. It is not.

Birthday Shopping Failure

I asked Little Kat to cook dinner for my birthday this year. I asked him to grill up some steaks. Before he went grocery shopping, I reminded him to pick up the meat. I told him to let me know if there were any problems with the purchase.

Little Kat did not say anything when he came home from grocery shopping. So I presumed everything was okay. Luckily I quizzed him today. Found out he did not find any steaks. WTF? I guess he was going to wait until my birthday dinner to lay that surprise on me.

I researched online how to buy steaks. Then I checked the rating for the local meat market. Not too good. Found an ad online for a grocery store close to us. They had New York Strip on sale. Momoko gave us a budget for the meat. I drove her new car to the store with Little Kat.

At first, Little Kat said everything in the store was just too expensive. I dug deeper and found some chuck meat for really cheap. They did not have a lot of it. But it was enough to feed the family. It helps that Kit Kat does not like steak. So we did not buy any for her.

Dishwasher Disturbia

Today I we ate late. I also playing some games late at night. Momoko watched a movie and then some K-dramas. I went upstairs to put my glass in the sink and found the sink full. Momoko cooked tonight. So she was responsible for doing the dishes. She said that Little Kat had not been doing his dishes recently. Therefore he was supposed to do the dishes for her. I called for Little Kat. He did not respond. I found him asleep. It was already the next day around 12:30 am.

I asked Momoko what the story was. We determined that in the last two days, Little Kat was supposed to run the dishes 3 times: twice for mid day dishes and once for dinner dishes yesterday. I told Momoko we needed an emergency family meeting to sort this out. She went up and woke up Little Kat.

Little Kat said he actually did do the dishes all 3 times he was supposed to. He also said that Momoko told him to do her dishes, but he fell asleep after coming home from work late and going out to get some dinner. Momoko said she sent Kit Kat to tell Little Kat to do her dishes. Apparently that produced no results. It only made this look all the more suspicious.

Momoko and Little Kat's stories about the dishes contradicted each other. Momoko thought that inspecting the current sink and dishwasher dishes would shed light on what happened. It was inconclusive. Time to schedule up another emergency family meeting to make sure these dishes get done. I don't like wasting my time checking up and making people do their jobs. I have my own work to attend to.

Welcoming a Mublerry Colored Car

Momoko's car starting making weird idle noises when her air conditioning was on. The car is pushing 10 years old. So she decided it was time for a new car. She wanted the new model from Honda that she has been keeping an eye on: the HRV. It is a smaller version of her CRV.


My brother and I went with her to the dealership. Neither of us could fit in the back seat. We could only fit in the front seat if the car had no moon roof. That pretty much dictated which trim level Momoko would get. She wanted one in Mulberry Metallic color. It is allegedly a purple shade.


This morning Momoko's old car would not start. My brother jump started with his battery cables. Momoko traded her old car in just in time. Now she has a brand new 2018 model. It is a step down in size and luxury appointments. But we hope it will last another 10 years like the old one.

Cleaning up an oily situation

Every once in a while, Little Kat comes up with some new idea. He wants to play with some gadget. Most of the time he asks me to purchase such toys. Since Little Kat is essentially a good guy, and he does not work/earn much, I usually indulge him.


Some time in the last year I got him a deep fryer. He fried up a few items. Said they tasted really good. Then I guess he got bored with it. The cooking oil was stinking up the house. So I told Little Kat to relocate the oil bin outside on the patio.


Well the bin has been out here untouched for a long time. Leaves and rain have fallen into it. Today I decided to clean the thing up. I poured a little of the oil into a pickle jar. The rest I drained into a two-liter soda container.


I used a lot of newspaper to catch the oil. Also used the newspaper to clean out the container. I wrapped everything up in more newspaper and a lot of plastic grocery bags. Don't want an oily mess before this stuff goes to the dump.

Starting early and working late

Since I was on vacation last week, I have a lot of catching up to do at work. I normally have to do some after hours monitoring of our production systems. It is a pain. But we share the responsibility amongst many people on the project. So I usually only do it once a week.


Last week I had a shift while I was on vacation. I asked a guy on the project to cover for me. In return, I would cover for him this week while he went on vacation. That means I am doing double shifts this week. Had to work the late shift last night, and the early one today.


The only good news is that my direct customer limits the amount of hours I can bill them per week. Once I hit that mark, I am done for the week. Guess what? I am done. It is the weekend for me. Now my company does not want me chilling on the weekdays. So I am officially opting for "self-directed training". Fun.

Last Day of Vacation

Momoko and I had a busy last day of vacation. We got up early to ensure we could see Momoko's mom in the hospital before we left. To my surprise, the temperature dropped and the car was iced up. The little ice scraper I borrowed from Momoko's dad could not cut through the ice. I had to warm up the car to melt most of the ice.

We were lucky that Momoko's mom was up early today. So we said goodbye. Then I went to fill up the gas in the rental car. Momoko wanted to go to some random gas stations on the way to the airport. I said we should stick to the plan we had made the day before. We did a test drive and found a gas station to use.

On the way to the predetermined gas station, we saw a pickup truck on the side of the road. It was upside down. The vehicle must have flipped recently. People were getting out to help. We proceeded to the airport. I had a little excitement going through security. A guy asked me to step aside and inquired if I had any sharp object in my carryon. Just a pen. Turns out he was interested in my GPS car holder, which is in the shape of an alligator head.

The airline reps said we had a full flight. Momoko and I had good positions with our A-group boarding passes. We chose the second to last row in the plane as usual. The stewardess kept telling people that the back rows were full. This resulted in us have an empty seat between us. Guess one guy missed his flight.

Vacation was fun. But it is good to be home.