Author archives: timd

Tuesday, 31st December 2019 - 20:31:05

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A mate of mine brought me up a can of First Tracks Stout from Capital Brewing in Fyshwick (ACT). It tastes fantastic.

Monday, 16th December 2019 - 19:45:29

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I found one of these awesome Companion Safari camp stoves on Gumtree. It's freestanding so it's going to work better for my purposes. The current 3 burner stove takes up all the table space. These older units seem to last forever.

Sunday, 1st December 2019 - 20:08:10

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These fiber optic stars have been going for approx 12 years. Originally purchased on clearance at Tandy more than a decade ago. I have removed the supplied power brick and both strings of Christmas lights are controlled with a "smart" power supply. The power supply has an ESP8266 on it and is able to be turned on and off via MQTT messages from home assitant on a schedule.

Saturday, 16th November 2019 - 12:30:53

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The kid's seeds have just about all sprouted in their veggie planters.

Friday, 15th November 2019 - 04:34:56

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Not what I pictured myself doing at 04:30 on a Friday morning! Emergency provisioning hypervisors.

Thursday, 31st October 2019 - 21:08:08

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Yet another steak. Delicious. Baby spinach and pine nuts with cream sauce. Some pesto pasta salad leftover from a BBQ.

Wednesday, 30th October 2019 - 11:54:38

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Lenovo notebook BIOS sucks. You cannot upgrade your wifi module unless it has been whitelisted by Lenovo in that particular BIOS.

Sunday, 27th October 2019 - 20:32:44

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Today I put together some pasties for tea with leftover roast lamb and bbq chicken. I didn't even need to add extra veggies as there were plenty of roast potatoes and pumpkin to put in.

Saturday, 26th October 2019 - 16:04:43

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More power rail testing. I wrote an expect script to step through each outlet and power cycle it. You can watch as this happens to verify that the relay clicks and indicator lights are lit / extinguished. This gives you a reasonable idea whether everyhing is functioning correctly.

Friday, 18th October 2019 - 14:59:03

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Got a few APC power rails to test, so today I threw together a quick 20A test fixture. It allows you to connect a 20A appliance into a 10A power socket. You can't run the rails at 20A of course, but it's enough to fire up the rail and validate that all the switching and control works correctly.

Wednesday, 2nd October 2019 - 18:33:23

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Scored a new 10G switch today. A Juniper EX4500. 28 10 gigabit ports.

Saturday, 14th September 2019 - 19:46:18

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Porterhouse Steak with Mushroom, Pine Nuts and Baby Spinach. Nom nom... and of course some Tooheys Old.

Thursday, 22nd August 2019 - 21:44:40

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Came across some interesting stuff in the bottom of my drawer. This is how Tandy / Radioshack electronic components used to be sold; individual hang-sell packages.

Saturday, 10th August 2019 - 19:29:03

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Nachos! This time seasoning from scratch. Ground cumin seesds, coriander, cayenne pepper, oregano, smoked paprika and granulated garlic. Yum.

Tuesday, 16th July 2019 - 20:31:06

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Slow cooked some beef ribs on the bbq. Easy to do, just need to keep them moist. They were placed on cooling trays with a tray of water underneath.

Monday, 15th July 2019 - 11:44:12

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Recently acquired a three burner companion camping stove. Tried it out for the first time today. It just needed a new hose.

Sunday, 14th July 2019 - 20:03:12

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Cauliflower Gratin is fantastic. You need this. Easy to make. A white sauce roux with some cheese. Bake it in a dish. Done.

Monday, 8th July 2019 - 22:15:43

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Threw together a chicken and veggie pie with leftover roast. Delicious. Just make a roux and some gravy... Chuck it all in. Let if cool. Line the pie tin with pastry and dump it in.

Sunday, 7th July 2019 - 23:17:36

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Today I got fed up with the coffee machine as it was not turning on when it should. I stripped the controller board except for the LED and the buttons so that it could be reused. I then added a Sonoff to it so that it could be turned on and off via MQTT or with the button.

Saturday, 18th May 2019 - 12:52:08

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The starter motor in the Barina died, so I had to replace it. Very difficult to reach! It's on the backside of the engine under the intake.