Arrival of the Mini PC

I ordered a new mini PC from Walmart. It was actually being sold by a third party. The thing is 4 inches by 4 inches. Truly tiny. It did not have an old VGA monitor connection. So, I bought a new 27 inch HDMI monitor as well.

I needed to remove the old PC from our library desk. There was a lot of junk and dust under the desk. We had Little Kat bring up a card table from his room. I laid out all the on the desk in front of the old family PC monitor. Plus everything I found under the desk. Momoko and Little Kat sorted through it.

Setup of the mini PC took a while. Windows downloaded updates as part of the first boot up. The new monitor I got had the thing tilting way too far forward. I had to stick a piece of lumber under the base to keep it straight. I realized the family PC has a great sound system. I want it.

I eventually installed TurboTax, now that we have a Windows 11 desktop computer. I am almost ready to file. But one of my brokers does not have my tax documents ready. Step up your game bro.

Taxes Ain't Easy

It is that time of year again. Momoko bought TurboTax last year. My turn now. I had it on my list of things to buy it. There does not seem to be any option to get it on DVD. You must download the software online. I pulled the trigger and bought a copy on Amazon.

I attempted to install it on our family computer. Failed. TurboTax now requires Windows 11. Our family computer is stuck on Windows 10. It struggles with Windows 10. Probably no chance we could upgrade to Windows 11 and have it work.

I got a laptop with Windows 11. Momoko uses Mac. But I want this thing installed on our family computer. Time for a new computer. Prices seem to have jumped. I found a tiny form factor computer (4 inches by 4 inches) for under $250. The catch is that it does not have a VGA monitor output. Only HDMI.

My only other option was a standard desktop computer for around $350. It was going to take a lot longer to get it delivered. I decided to go with the tiny one that comes tomorrow. I also purchased a 27 inch HDMI monitor to go with it.

Snowfall

The snow came to our area. Snowed for 24 hours. Then ice topped it off. As soon as it stopped snowing the family shoveled out our driveway. We had parked all cars at the end of the driveway. That way, we only had to shovel the active part of it.

I was surprised when a pickup truck with a snow plow came to our cul de sac. The guy did a mid job. But there was a single lane down the street. To get to it, I had to shovel from our driveway to the place where the plow made it. This let our car get out. We tried a lunch run. It was good until some GMC came from the opposite direction, almost getting us stuck.

The trash guys came a couple days late. I put out my trash on time. Kept adding more bags and cans. I saw the mail truck in the neighborhood. It took me two days to dig out our mailbox. I saw the mailman on our street. But half way down, he pulled into a driveway, turned around, and left. Slacked.

Snow Prep

This weekend, they say a large snowstorm is headed our way. We really started preparing today. Due to anticipated ice, and possible power outages, we wanted to make sure Kit Kat was safe in her apartment. We filled two bags with firewood logs. And another bag with kindling. We drove it up to Kit Kat's house.

Then we brought a good amount of firewood from the piles at the edge of our property into our carport shed for easy access. I had just purchased a new round trash can. We filled that up with kindling from my huge supply in the back yard. Brought that to the carport too.

Momoko tested one back area of our driveway. She sprinkled rock salt to see if it would melt any falling snow. Little Kat filled up his car with gas, as he is now the only one with all wheel drive. The main thing we had to do was bring the snow shovels from the big shed in the back yard to the carport shed. 

We parked the cars strategically. Two of my cars went on top of the old driveway that is hard to shovel snow off of. We also parked most cars closer to the street. That way we won't have to shovel off the full three lane driveway.

Storing Firewood

A few years back, I bought some firewood and had it delivered. I did not want the wood to get wet. So, I built a makeshift container out of lumber to store the firewood. I put a tarp on top. This worked for a few years. But the thing was not built well. It started falling apart. I decided to buy a replacement.

I went to Lowes. They previously advertised firewood holders with custom covers. They no longer had those in stock. They did sell holders. Cover were sold separately. The custom covers were expensive. I decided to take the advice of the Lowes associates, and just buy a tarp again to cover it.

I bought there holders. They were easy to assemble. I set up a temporary spot to place the wood while I swapped holders. Just some 2x4s on the ground to keep the wood elevated. Then I disassembled the old holders. Picked up all the leaves. Used some of the old holders to act as a platform. Then I put the three new holders in place.

I was going to stack the wood this weekend. But rain is coming. So, I stacked the wood. It just about hit. I made sure the center had the most of the wood. This should allows the rain to flow away from the pile.

Setting Boundaries

I had spent the day with Momoko's brother in law. We took a day trip and visited many stores. In the late afternoon, I returned to Momoko's dad's house. I told him I had a lot of training to do for work. He said he needed help figuring something out.

I heard that Momoko's dad wanted to see if the legs on two of his beds were interchangeable with each other. His proposal was to measure the height of the legs. Then cut a 2x4 piece of wood to prop one edge of the bed up as I tried interchanging the legs

I told Momoko's dad that I only had time for this one task. It took a long time to cut the 2x4, as he wanted to use a professional grade saw. While we were in the workshop, he asked about a piece of plywood there. Then he asked about a lot of other wood on the other side of the shop.

Since I was on a time crunch, I told him we did not need any other wood to figure out the bed legs. He said he wanted me to gather information on a project to repair his shed door. I told him there was no time for that as I was already behind schedule. He tried to argue with me. I shut it down. I told him this was a hard boundary for me. If I say I have budget for only 1 task, then do not ask for any more favors.

The real crime was after I checked the bed legs, Momoko's dad wanted me to change batteries in a portable air machine and charge up the battery that was dead. I did not have time to set the guy right at the moment, but I mentally scheduled a long talk for the next day. 

Supercar Show

I was scheduled to travel 2 hours north to see a super car show today with Momoko's BIL. He said he would pick me up at 7:30am. I woke up at 6:30am and tried to eat SONIC. It was closed. I went to McDonald's and got a $5 number two.

We headed north. Went on the turnpike. When we got to the town, we saw no super cars. Apparently, we were a day early. Instead we went to Eskimo Joe's. We called ahead for a lunch reservation. When we arrived, it was still an hour until we could be seated. Decided to eat immediately at the bar. Had burgers. Plus friend mushroom appetizer.

I had a QuickTime cherry smoothie. It lasted all day. On the way home, we passed an interesting yard sale. Found a lot of artwork I liked. But I was far away from home. So, I left it all there. I did pick up a gift for Momoko.

Cataract Surgery

Papa Kat needed to have eye surgery today. He wanted me to park at the front door and wheel him into the building, I told him it was a no parking zone. I could stop and stand. But not park. He tried to tell me it was okay. But I ended up dropping him off with a wheel chair and finding parking.

I found a parking space on the second floor. I had to walk to the opposite end of the garage to get the stairs. I wheeled Papa Kat to check in. They did some eye tests. Then I took him up to surgery. We waited in his room for a long time. The nurse kept coming in and doing stuff. We met a lot of doctors. Eventually it was time.

I went to the visitor room. I called an old Egyptian buddy for work, I thought he retired last year. Could not speak with him since he left for Egypt right after retiring. Today I found out he quit because he got a new insufferable boss. Also found out the boss got reassigned. So, even thought my old friend quit, and he is old, he might come back.

After Papa Kat's surgery, they signed him up for a follow up. We tried to get transportation for him. They were too busy on the day of follow up. We went to have the appointment rescheduled. The eye people could not even see the appointment. We went back up to surgery. They said go to the eye people. WTF? Eventually a doctor gave us the name of the main scheduler in the eye department. We rescheduled the visit, and got transportation for the new date.

Go West Young Man

I had scheduled a trip to visit Papa Kat again in the new year. Little Kat took a half day at work to take me to the train station. I packed a backpack and tiny carry on. It did not hold much clothing.

At the airport, I asked the info desk whether I could enter the security to a different terminal than my plane. She said yes. Once through, I visited another info desk. Got a map of all the food offered in that terminal.  I thought I would eat some Chinese. Then I figured that was a sit down place. Instead, I got a chili dog and potato salad.

The flight was less than half full. I had the last three rows to myself. Attendants were plenty and not busy. I got two servings of cranberry juice. It was dark when we landed. Felt like the put on the heavy air brakes. The seat beat kept me in my seat.

Papa Kat's house has mice. He captured one on the third night here. I put it in the trash bag and carried it out to the big toter in the carport. Have not gone to my favorite tex-mex restaurant here yet.

Lost Wallet

I drove my new KIA Soul vehicle to H-Mart. Momoko was looking for tuna Gimbap. She did find it in stock. However each serving was $5. At Costco, it is 10 servings for $18. Momoko loaded up a bunch of Gimbap. Through either luck or her H-Mart rewards card, the price per serving was lowered to $4.

We did not need to go to a second larger H-Mart, as we found what we needed. Instead, I proceeded to SONIC for slushes. Momoko got a lemonade one, which came with a surcharge. The line was slow. Then we walked into Arbys. They had no specials. The sandwiches were too expensive. Instead we picked up lunch at Qdoba.

When I got home to eat, I found that my wallet was missing. It was not in the house. It was not in the car. It was lost. I called up all my credit card companies to cancel my cards. I was worried about my ATM card. Now I have nothing to pay electronically with. I made an appointment at the DMV to get a replacement license.

The KIA Soul

I had been seeing some nice KIA Soul cars on the road. Figured it would be a car as fun as my 2006 Scion xB. Started looking around at them. Knew I wanted keyless remote, power windows, and Apple CarPlay. I thought I needed to move up the Soul S trim to get CarPlay. Nope. It comes standard in the base LX trim.

I found two new Black 2025 KIA Soul LX cars online. One was at the local KIA dealer in my city. It was more expensive, due to a smaller dealer discount, and an extra tech package. Then there was another one at a KIA dealer an hour away from me.

Today Momoko and I visited the KIA dealer an hour away. Luckily there were no tolls roads. The guy I talked to on the phone was the manager. He handed me off to a salesman. We test drove the car around the block. Then I asked to see if the out the door price to buy it matched what the manager previously estimated. It did.

I entered an online application to run my credit through a credit score agency. Then I went to the finance dude and wrote them a check. There was a $750 rebate from KIA. And another $2000 dealer discount. Only thing I did not qualify for was a $500 military rebate. I feel like the walk out was maybe $2k more than what I can sell my 2024 GMC Terrain for.

I drove my Soul home with temp tags. Could not get in touch with my insurance agent. They took the day off. Tomorrow I asked Little Kat to help me sell my GMC Terrain at CarMAX.