December 2015 – Bus Driver Jim

Scwelch Help

Here’s the help screen I just whipped up for the folks in the RadioReference forum who have been wondering about my new app Scwelch, which you can’t access unless you pay RR for the privilege. That’s alright faithful followers, I know most of you don’t use my code, much less check it out, so it’s no big deal. You are forgiven, Happy New Year!

Meanwhile, we’re just trying to stay warm. It was -22° when I picked up my Tetonia client this morning. The heaters are humming now, Piper’s on Steph’s bed, Steph’s watching Netflix in the family room, and I’m getting ready to welcome the new mark here in my office. Don’t know what will go down, bongos and Alexa may be involved…

My Toys

The company asked me to stay down in Rexburg after the morning intercity run today, to fill in for another driver. As I was coming into Newdale a large smile began to spread over my face and a shiver went down my spine.

You see, I decided to bring my toys along today and one of the technologies was untested. I grabbed my big old Garmin nüvi 2797LMT GPS from the truck along with my top of the line Uniden BCD436HP scanner and then slipped the new BC-GPSK GPS receiver into my bag of tricks.

The premise behind the receiver is that you can plug it into your scanner and it will find the local frequencies automatically as you drive. I listen to the police and EMS action and knowing what’s going on around me is cool, and practical. I’ve got the Teton Valley frequencies dialed in, but I turned them off this morning, plugged in the little GPS receiver, and took off with my Garmin guiding the way.

I’ve done a lot of research lately on how to set this thing up, it’s not simply plug and play as advertised. As I left Teton County a whole new set of police, EMS and dispatch voices suddenly appeared. I knew instantly that my effort had paid off and that I ruled my tools. I drove around all day listening to the Madison and Jefferson county action, only to have the familiar voices of Teton county return when I arrived back home.

Frozen Fog

Driving the dry farms in winter is challenging enough, but when the fog hits, the mirrors turn to ice. There’s nothing more fun than rolling down your window in sub-zero weather where the wind is blowing at the 65 mph your traveling, to scrape off some ice. Fortunately, they’re melted off completely by Sugar City.

Shouldn’t we call these the wet farms in winter?

Snow Rise

The company asked me to run the inter-city morning route this week, which entails picking up a client in Tetonia, driving her to Rexburg and then head back here to the valley. I pulled up to her house this morning and took this shot from their driveway before they brought her out. The temperature was -15°!

Seahawks Boppy

Steph’s latest craft project is a Seattle Seahawks baby boppy for a new grand-daughter in Seattle. I didn’t know what a boppy was until today so it proves you can still learn something, even though you’re old as dirt. I told her she should consider mass marketing these things in Seattle, but she’s too busy pushing propane…

Bird House

I suppose no bird in it’s right mind, assuming they have minds, which I would interpret as a state of consciousness, would want to live in this little house now. Or maybe I’m the one out of my mind for trudging through snow up to my knees just to take this shot…

Finally

Well here it is, xmas eve, finally! The big day, Santas birthday, is tomorrow. I really hope he gets that Samsung 4K flatscreen he’s been hankering for! I think we should start a gofundme to buy the old fat boy a birthday present. The money could go straight into an Amazon gift card with his email address.

Sarcastic facetiousness, still dripping, one mark at a time…

Wheres My Hole

We got snow hammered today and I opened the deck door to take some shots when Piper decided to venture outside. Checking her hole is a ritual for the old girl, it is her safe spot after all, but she can’t find it in winter. The last time she saw it was here.

Click the photo below to see her little adventure…

In case you’re wondering why the title has no apostrophe, that damn little character is considered a quote in the code world, so I just skip them completely, to keep all of my other blog code happy :-)

Alta

Sometimes photos don’t need words attached to them…

Window View

This is my view from the kitchen window tonight. Icicles, snow ready to crash from the roof to the deck, and blowing snow all around. Must be winter…

Pink Puff

In between coding convulsions while creating my new app Scwelch, I got a little sewing time in today. I was inspired by Steph’s previous cool puff quilt thing so I whipped my pink chops into a frenzy, and puffed up this:

Ok, maybe I didn’t create it, but I shot it…

Powder Deck

If you think this is bad you should see the driveway this morning…

Here’s a couple more shots as the day progressed:

Xmas Shopping

I’ve got my xmas shopping all done. Yesterday I walked into ACE and bought a device that allows short people to pick up things that are out of reach. Steph loves it. Today Steph picked up a gift card for Barrels and Bins that I’m giving to my niece Lizzie as my participation in the family secret santa event on xmas day at my sisters house.

There you go… Grabber thing: $25, gift card: $50, done deal. How’s your xmas shopping going? Here’s the note I included with my nieces card:

Dear neice,


I've known you for a long time but I have to admit, I don't really know you...
I wanted to get you some cool tech gadget to go with your computer or your phone but I have no idea what you own. I don't know if you're an Apple girl, a PC person, or an Android user.
So, I heard you like Barrels and Bins and I got you a gift card instead.
Hopefully you can take a moment this Xmas and show me how you tech?

Uncle Jim

2004

I’ve been dealing with a vehicle computer display issue for weeks now, that my employer seems unable to resolve. The cell towers up here have been reconfigured, I know what the issue is and I’ve offered my assistance to them, but they choose to not take advantage of my knowledge.

I was the point man for the first MDT (mobile data terminal) system installed in the U.S. I was employed by ATC out of Kent, WA as the lead supervisor and worked on the initial install for King County Metro. I drove the Metro bigshots out on the first test of the system, and it worked great.

Note the display in the photo below, it was the first! As the job evolved I had a terminal in my supervisor van that monitored every vehicle in the fleet, but that’s another story…

Hatches Corner

This is my new morning pause spot: Hatches Corner, halfway between Driggs and Tetonia on Hwy 33. If I’m running a little hot on the way to my first pickup down the road, I pull over here. Once I make that pickup I double back here and wait for a couple of Com school kids, and then head back down south to Driggs and Victor. This was the view from my vehicle seat at 0730 as I pondered my day for a moment…

Here’s a Map.