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.