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Blog Archive 2013 Jan

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Tue 1/1, 2013 = HAPPY NEW YEAR! Today, with the help of my Aunt Laura in Colorado Springs, I collected most of my cousin's email addresses on my mother's side. Also I went to LA Fitness for my slow, heavy legs workout.

Wed 1/2 = Finished sorting and stowing all my statements for 2011 from various accounts and made a New Year's Resolution - to vocalize and do voice exercises every day for a month to strengthen my voice and, hopefully, get it back close to where it was before the questionable voice surgery 10 years ago, Dec 10, 2002.
- Little did I know that getting liftgate shocks for my van from Auto Zone would lead to four days of frustration, as they would have to order them from one of their other stores and no one ever seemed to know what was going on. I would have preferred to buy the shocks from the O'Reilly Auto Parts where I usually buy my things, who had the shocks in stock, but I had no choice, having received a lovely Auto Zone gift card for Christmas.

Thu 1/3 = My new challenge: complete a day's logging in 10 minutes, instead of the usual 20 to 60 minutes. The 10 minutes will not include proof reading and spell checking, which may double the time. At the end of the time I will STOP, even if not finished. Here goes for today: Ready, Set, GO!
- First thing this morning I took my van in to Auto Tune to have the brakes done. It cost a little over $600 for new front pads, rear drum turning, cylinders and self-adjusting kits installed. Around home, without the van, among other things, I straightened a garage shelf and customized the pockets (for my electronics) on two pair of pants.
- Today's big trip started by picking up my van at Auto Tune, then Fabric Depot for my special-order new van foam, Fry's Marketplace to grind some fresh peanut butter, Joan's for thread to match and elastic for modifying swim trunks, and LA Fitness for a slow, heavy legs workout. Before bedtime, online, I recorded my Duet volunteer hours for Nov and Dec and caught up on my email. - (finished blog in 8:30 minutes).

Fri 1/4 = Due to some pain, during the night and this morning I iced my right ankle and right hamstring. Today's trip started after an early lunch, to LA Fitness for a light, fast legs workout; to Dr Travis Lam for a full-body dermatological check and the biopsy of a possible pyogenic granuloma on the back of my left upper arm; to Summer winds Nursery to buy five new myoporums and related stuff; to Frank's Hobby House to check on
heli
Heli-Max AXE 100FP micro RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and no flybar
parts (link not in, but I did buy landing skids and ordered a screw set, since one of 'em is missing on my heli), to Safeway for cottage cheese and three, four-color Bic pens and, finally, to Auto Zone for liftgate shocks - been trying to get them for three frustrating days and they still do not have them in.
- After dark I used two gallons of copper fungicide (at one ounce per gallon) on my front-yard dead myoporum sites #2,3,4,5 & 6 in preparation for planting the new ones. That is in case there is fungus in the soil from my previous myoporum plantings. I applied one gallon to the still-living #1 myoporum.
- To bed with my new 1" firm van foam on the new mattress, under the cushy bed pad in my master bedroom to determine if I want to get a similar queen-sized foam pad for the bed. (10 minutes for today's blog and for the last three days, 16 minutes to proofread and 6.5 minutes to spell check).

Sat 1/5 = This morning I got caught up in The Shallows, which means doing little ditty things before getting around to the important things that need to be done, according to a good book I am reading, Get Lucky. I did get my library bed sheets, some T shirts and guest towels put in the washing machine; tried to install Firefox Mobile and Opera Mobile onto my Archos 7.0 Internet Tablet; took care of my emails; got onto Facebook for the first time in about a year; ordered links and screws for my
heli
Heli-Max AXE 100FP micro RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and no flybar
 from waldorfrc.com; re-did the phone pocket on a new pair of pants and arranged to take my Aunt Jana and her husband, Cy, to my Aunt Vendla's funeral in Tucson.
- Today's trip started about 4:30 this afternoon to Auto Zone for a pair of van lift-gate shocks (after four frustrating days); to Fitness 1 for a light, fast arms workout; to Three Pitts Again for our weekly Hamfeast; then Savers thrift store. You never know what you will come home with. I found a fancy, warm, puffy Coleman sleeping bag for $5. I can use it in case I need such and, also, it will give me something softer than my old one when laying out in the sun.

Sun 1/6 = This morning I tried, unsuccessfully, to load web browsers, Chrome, Firefox and Opera onto my Archos 70 Internet Tablet, then this evening I updated the operating system and tried, unsuccessfully, to get it to play all the videos (it only plays some of them) I have loaded onto it. Between those two tries I printed out my check register (a complicated job, considering I have no printer software for my old DOS-based checking spreadsheet), organized garden hoses, watered the five myoporums that are sitting on my porch, installed the new liftgate shocks onto my van's back hatch (big job, involving support poles, chasing after a large, 3" torx driver, which was part of a 36-piece, $10 kit) and a light torso workout and shower at LA Fitness.
- This evening I cleaned the biopsy site on my left upper arm because it got wet in LAF's hot tub, and dressed it with an occlusive bandage, which I should be able to leave on until the site completely heals. I went to bed, icing my right ankle joint and right hamstring tendon, as I have been doing for the last several nights.

Mon 1/7 = I turned out spinning my wheels, pouring over my printouts to find why my check register was $44.20 low starting the middle of November last year. At least I gave it a good try.
- Around noon I called into the Clark Howard Show, my favorite, and got on the air - this time about sharpening electric razors. Calling in typically takes several days and an hour or two, considering it is a national show and thousands of people try to get in.
- This afternoon I reprogrammed my smart, Honeywell house thermostat to turn up the heat every morning at 8 for 45 minutes, so I can concentrate on my morning routine. Also, in the tech department, I am getting better at balancing on my high-tech, tiny bathroom scale, being able to get my weight in as little as two seconds. When I first got the scale, it took 20-30 seconds to stabilize and get my weight. Also I added epoxy reinforcement fairings to the new landing skids on my
heli
Heli-Max AXE 100FP micro RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and no flybar
- Just before supper I spent about 20 minutes running and switching my LGB trains. I decoupled the 20-unit, 2-engine train into two trains of 14 and 6 units, leaving the longer train on the siding facing the north and the shorter train on the diagonal facing southwest. That way the mainline oval is free for either train in case I get an uncontrollable railroading urge sometime.
- I took the van's new firm foam off my master bedroom queen bed and put it on my van bed. I'll spend a couple nights on the queen (don't misread that, now) without the firm foam and see how well I sleep. I closed out the evening by doing today's blog and buying 23 VT ETF shares.

Tue 1/8 = I slept quite well without the 1" foam last night. I'm still trying to load Adobe Flash Player onto my Archos 70 Internet Tablet so it will play all my videos as well as videos from the Internet.
- This morning I went to Fitness 1 for a heavy, slow, arms workout. I tried to fly my
heli
Heli-Max AXE 100FP micro RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and no flybar
 there with one rotor link missing after making some adjustments, but the cyclic control did not work well and a battery only lasted about 20 seconds. I think the main rotor may be binding. More adjustments! Good news, the yaw (rudder) was under full control.
- This afternoon I took down my Christmas lights and checked all their hanging nails, fixing them up as necessary. I organized the Christmas and winter shelves in my garage and finally located the 35° thermostat to use in freeze-protecting my natal plum plants with incandescent strings of Christmas lights.
- This evening I did my monthly blog rollover in 30 minutes, and completed today's blog in 12 minutes, not including proofreading and spell check.

Wed 1/9 = This morning I planned out the timeline and all the driving for picking up my Aunt Janna and her husband in Mesa for the trip to Oro Valley (near Tucson) for my Aunt Vendla's memorial service on the 25th. I got the five new myoporum plants transplanted. I went all out, using root stimulator and a bag of Planting Mix that contains aged and processed softwood bark and sawdust, mushroom compost, redwood compost, chicken manure, rice hulls, blood meal, bone meal and feather meal with dolomite lime added as a PH adjuster. Also I made the holes for the plants about twice as big as usual, and increased the size of each of their basins. I hope they get started well in the 2.5 months before I leave on my next long kiteboarding trip.
- It looks like I have skin cancer. I got a call this morning from my dermatologist's office, saying the biopsy of the growth they took off the back of my left arm showed squamous cell carcinoma (not life threatening, thank goodness), so we set up an appointment for the middle of next month for Mohs Surgery for the cancer. As you might expect, I started researching all about it, and in a couple of hours knew, probably more than I wanted or needed to know.
- This evening's trip was to LA Fitness for a light, fast torso workout, to Winco foods for a few grocery items and then to Fitness 1 to fly my
new heli
little Heli-Max AXE 100FP RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and no flybar
, which still is not working right, with the missing link. Bad news, my Silver Sneakers card fell out of my pants pocket somewhere between home and Fitness 1 - probably in a dark parking lot somewhere when I was getting out my car keys.
- I spent the night in my van with the ceramic electric heater with the new firm foam on top of my bed and under the comforter to determine if I want to make the firm foam a permanent part of the bed.

Thu 1/10 = I slept pretty well in my van, testing out the new firm foam. I further tested the foam on today's trip by sitting on the van's couch (end of the bed) for the better part of an hour working on stuff in the parking lot of LA Fitness before my heavy, slow torso workout. The van bed conclusion: the foam was a little firmer than ideal for sleeping, but just right for sitting. The old foam was the same thickness (1") but too soft for sitting and working on things without getting a numb butt. Bottom line: install the firm foam.
    - One of my van projects while in the LA Fitness parking lot was phoning AT&T and sharing with Heidi,in the Escalations office of the president, the four months of hell I went through because of AT&T's incompetence. She seemed to appreciate my suggestions. They were:
  1. Prorate a customer's final bill rather than taking out a full month's charges for eight days of service. This is particularly important when customers, lake me, are using AutoPay.
  2. On the web, allow AT&T customer logon by their phone number OR their account number. This would allow customers, like me, who had ported their phone numbers to another carrier to access their account information online, rather than spending, sometimes, hours on the phone with customer service representatives from all over the world.
  3. Have sending account credit refunds to the same account from which the money was originally taken, as sending a paper check to the account address is useless for people who travel as I do.
  4. AT&T's emails should say, ...dial 611 on your AT&T wireless phone..., because customers, like me, get their new carrier, not AT&T.
  5. Have the capability for a temporary address for a customer during extended travels, so their permanent mailing address would not be changed to some place where they were going to be for only a short time, resulting in, like me, important AT&T mailings being sent to the wrong address across the country.
- Today I paid off my single credit card balance (as always) and did extensive reading and research on Mohs Surgery for skin cancer removal.
- This evening I attended an interesting meeting with our Phoenix City Council representative, Jim Waring, along with others, including Representative and former senator, Nancy Barto

Fri 1/11 = Today was mostly organizing things. In the finance department, I reorganized and updated my credit card accounts information, auto payments strategy (debiting to credit cards), the RC helicopter section of my ToBuy file, found that NO ONE has the parts I need for my
new heli
Heli-Max AXE 100FP micro RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and no flybar
 added to my emergency fund in an online bank and downloaded my DSFCU statement, set up online access to my BankAmericard VISA since they bought out the previous account owner, dropped paper statements from Canyon State CU to avoid their new $2/month fee and did a little more research on Mohs Surgery for my skin cancer.
- Back to parts for my new heli, I phoned WaldorfRC.com about the parts I ordered six days ago. He found my order, unfilled, on his desk and informed me that the parts were out of stock and appologized that they were shown as in stock on their website. He refunded the money to my Master Card. Still no parts!
- I didn't make it to the gym tonight. Instead, I spent about three hours stringing extension cords to thermostatically controlled incandescent Christmas lights in my four Natal Plums and around my six myoporums so they won't freeze tonight. Freeze warnings have been posted for the next five nights! After measuring the temperature at 26 degrees at 11:30 pm in my front yard and of the Myoporum mound #5 , I decided I should cover the plants in addition to the lights. At midnight, with the Christmas lights on and the coverings, the temperature of mound #5 was up to 38 degrees. Altogether all the light strings are pulling 412 Watts according to my Kill-a-Watt meter. Of course after all that work, I had to take digital photos of my handywork. Some of the shrubs looked like big internally-lighted marshmallows. I experimented handheld and with a tripod with the camera set for fireworks, candlelight, and
HDR
high dynamic range
.
- It's fun to experiment like this, but I'll pay for it tomorrow, as I am getting to bed after 1:30 tomorrow morning!

Sat 1/12 = The biggest thing was catching up on four days of my blog. I have not been successful in my goal of doing each day's blogging in only 10 minutes. It seems there are so many things I want to say. Around noon I sunned 20 minutes, having put it off a day or two due to my skin cancer. I still want to keep enough tan so I am not prone to burning on my kiteboarding trips. I did some more RC Helicopter research and am probably bogged down with option overload in that department. I didn't get my plants covered until about 10pm when it was about 20°, but I think I got them in time before anything got frost bitten or frozen. I am spending quite a bit of time monitoring the temperatures on my front porch, at the thermostat located in my front yard west of the porch at the end of and extension cord, the new myoporums and the shrubs, both covered and uncovered, with the Christmas lights on and with them off.

Sun 1/13 = Studied RC helis more today, did a fast and light torso workout at LA Fitness and phoned some hobby stores in search of RC helicopter groups. I came across a new store, Duncan's RC, here in Phoenix. They seem to be strong in RC helicopters with a variety of brands, lots of parts and knowledgeable people. Today I spoke with Mike and Byron, the owner. I'll have to drive the 16 miles and check both of their stores out.
- Last thing I did was to plan my routes for tomorrow's big trip.

- This evening I printed out 160 business cards. Next time you see me, ask for one.

Tue 1/15 = I went to my Cardiologist's office just before noon for a nuclear treadmill stress test. after spending most of the morning fixing lunch and getting ready. They have, among other things, a special nuclear waiting room and even a nuclear restroom. It is interesting how they handle Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) with a half life of 6 hours, a quickly decaying radioactive isotope. It comes from the nuclear pharmaceutical lab at a specific strength so it will decay to the correct strength by the time of the test. They use a special two-gamma ray camera contraption for the imaging. As a baseline they took one series of images at rest, and then another series after exercise on the treadmill.
- Late afternoon I did a heavy, slow arms workout at Fitness 1 and flew my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
long enough to determine that the yaw was still uncontrolled after about a minute of flight. I went out to my van where I had my table, my toolbox, some special tools - and a new spare tail assembly with tail motor. It took about 40 minutes of tedious work to install the new assembly. Then back in to the aerobics room where the heli seemed to fly well.

Wed 1/16 = I ate breakfast on the way west to the east
Heli Field
dirt field south of 19th Ave and Bell Rd where guys fly electric RC helicopters and airplanes
where I met John, Ken, Mike and Charlie - good guys flying fixed wing RC aircraft but gave me a chance to fly my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
. After 1.5 batteries worth the yaw control was lost, so I quit and watched them. Ken seemed to be the one helping the others develop their skills.
- Then to LA Fitness for a slow heavy torso workout while my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
batteries charged up in my van and then on to Fitness 1 to fly down four batteries, as the helicopter tail seemed to be behaving; jogged over to Dollar Tree for AA & 2032 batteries.
- This afternoon I phoned my dermatologist's office regarding the upcoming Mohs surgery to remove the squamous cell carcinoma on my left upper arm. Eva ("eh vah") was unbelievable patient and helpful as she tried to answer all the questions I had.
- This evening I went to our HOA annual meeting. We had a short meeting, as only one other person was there. However the election was held as a quorum was represented by the mail-in ballots.
- Before bed I caught up on this blog and epoxied a broken strut on my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
. landing gear and reinforced it in other places. I'm going to bed for the first time in days, not covering my frost-sensitive plants, just letting the incandescent Christmas lights do their warming, as it is expected to get down ouly to 32 degrees, and that at 7:00 am tomorrow morning.

Thu 1/17 = After exercycle and breakfast I drove about 5.5 miles west to the west
Heli Field
dirt field south of 19th Ave and Bell Rd where guys fly electric RC helicopters and airplanes
and visited some with Luke (Oriental looking) who was flying his 500-sized (big by my standards) Trex RC helicopter that has a single rotor, a flybar and a belt-drive tail rotor. He says it is his favorite. He flew loops, rolls, sustained inverted, hammer heads etc. Then back to the east side to hook up with Ken and Tim. We took turns flying our aircraft - them various Styrofoam airplanes and me, my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
. One of the landing struts broke so we attempted to repair it with Tim's neat portable, battery-operated, hot-melt glue gun. (I finally got it fixed just before bedtime with a glob of hot-melt glue from my high-powered glue gun at home).
- Shopping on the way home included buying a 12.5" inflatable balance disk at Big 5 Sports, Glucosamine Chondroitin at Walmart to see if taking it for 40 days restores my flexibility and my semi-monthly grocery shopping at Winco Foods.
- Then, this afternoon, I flew my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
. (without crashing) in the Fitness 1 aerobics room and went to LA Fitness for a light, fast legs workout. It seems that evening comes each day and I have not gotten around to some of the things I really want to get done so...
    Today I came up with new challenges and new rewards.
    The CHALLENGES:
  1. Switch my kite safety line to red and replace the bad no-sag bungee
  2. Customize new swim trunks
  3. Finish the re-do of my van bed, including new foam and cover
    The REWARDS, totaling $430:
  1. Spektrum DX7s RC Controller, $230
  2. Blade Nano CPX RC micro helicopter with collective & tail motor, $150
  3. 2 extra batteries, $10
  4. Thunder Power RC TP103CQ-ACDC battery charger, $40
- This evening I read information I received from my dermatologist today in the mail about the Mohs cancer surgery for which I am scheduled the 15th of Feb.

Fri 1/18 = This morning no one was out at the
Heli Field
dirt field south of 19th Ave and Bell Rd where guys fly electric RC helicopters and airplanes
but me, so I had the whole area to myself, flying all four batteries down with my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
with quite a bit of uncontrolled tail spinning at the last - to a gym and Bashas on the way home, where I researched and ordered 4 boxes of 12 Nature's Bakery fig bars of various flavors.
- Working on my challenge included stretching out and measuring my kite safety line and bungees, starting a strategy sheet for the modification and researching the 3mm braided, hollow-core Spectra I'll need. I put this project first because I'll have to wait for the mail-order spectra before I can continue.
- Also this evening I researched new kitchen ranges for
Dahlia
my rental house located on Dahlia Drive
and caught up on some emails.
- To bed tonight on my new bed, cuz I picked up the queen-sized medium-firm foam I had special ordered from Fabric Depot on Monday. (Saturday morning: my back did not feet real good after spending the night on the reconfigured bed, leading me to believe that the problem might be with my back, not the bed. Time for more experimentation.

Sat 1/19 = There were about a dozen guys at the
Heli Field
dirt field south of 19th Ave and Bell Rd where guys fly electric RC helicopters and airplanes
, in east, north and west areas flying. It is the first time I saw a Trex 700-sized RC helicopter fly. 700 means each main rotor blade is 700 mm long, giving a diameter of 1.4 meters, or about 4.59 feet. Boy were those guys good! They were doing flips, rolls, funnels (both tail in and tail out) and all sorts of inverted maneuvers. One guy was taking lessons with his Align Trex 520. His and his instructor's controllers were connected with a phone wire so the instructor could take over if needed. I flew my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
four batteries worth in the west area, between flights of the bigger birds, and then recharged my batteries while I visited around.
- On the way home I stopped by LA Fitness, flew my second heli, four batteries worth in a handball court, sat in the jacuzzi, took a shower and did a light, fast torso workout.
- Before driving to the Heli Field I had phoned Real Kiteboarding on Hatteras Island and spoke with Matt, one of the owners about getting 32 feet of red 7/64 hollow braided Spectra for my new safety line. They are out, but he is going to check with Tommy who does the ordering, so, at this time, my Challenge #1 is on hold until I hear back from Matt.
- Researching and downloading instructions for the Spektrum DX7s RC Controller took what was left of the afternoon, as this morning, most of the helli guys recommended it over the DX6i.
- This evening I went back to 19th Ave and Bell Rd, only this time to the Comedy Lounge at Bill Johnson's Big Apple and found that Reggie Campbell had only the headliners on for the evening, so I came back home and caught up on some things. I spent the night on the van bed in my van, to see if it made any difference in my back. (Sunday morning my back felt pretty fair).

Sun 1/20 = I did some things this morning like updating my website before driving west to the
Heli Field
dirt field south of 19th Ave and Bell Rd where guys fly electric RC helicopters and airplanes
. By the time I got there, the only activity was the east area and it was all helis. We took turns flying our various machines and I met Lou and Jamie.
- On the way home I stopped by Winco, LA Fitness, Goodwill and Fitness 1 (to fly my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
). The tail had a tendency to spin, especially toward the last of all my flights today. I figured something new to do, theorizing that the heli loses tail control due to lack of tail motor power or performance. At Fitness 1 I flew without becoming airborne, just scooting around on the smooth aerobics floor. By generating less torque, the tail rotor would stay under control better, which it did. I got some good practice coordinating yaw and roll control in banked turns - without worrying about altitude or crashing into the floor because the heli was already on the floor.
- This evening I re-glued the landing strut that broke again on my second heli, worked on customizing swim trunks, my Challenge #2, started a backup of my computer and removed the Cushy pillow-top mattress pad from my bed to see how it sleeps with just the 1" of medium-firm foam. (Monday morning, my back felt pretty good).

Mon 1/21 = Just before noon I went over to
George's
younger brother who lives in Mesa with his wife and family
for a final visit before they head to Central America for two weeks, worded out at Fitness 1, flew my
second heli
little Align TRex 100x RC helicopter that has a tail rotor and flies similar to a real one
) there (much scooting around on the floor practicing banked turns), came home to work on my swim trunk modifications, read some of the Spektrum DX7s RC Controller instructions and head for bed.

Tues 1/22 = UNEXPECTEDLY GREAT DAY today. I worked hard on my Challenge Projects today, all involving sewing, threads or lines. I finished modifying the second and last pair of swim trunks and immediately started in on the van bed mattress cover slip. My frugality (cheapness?) dictated that I should make this slip out of a twin bed-sized fitted sheet, although it was not quite big enough. I did get it mostly completed. Now for the great part of the day.
- About 6:30 I phoned both Duncan's RC stores and found that Byron, at the 59th Ave & Glendale store had all the helicopter stuff on my reward list - and that they were open until 8:00 - and that he would set up and bind the Spektrum DX7s controller to the Blade Nano CPx and give it a test flight, so I drove over and spent a little over $500, including tax and headed home with the loot and all the batteries charging from my
LiFeMnPO
Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen
 battery. When I got home I went to bed as visions of helicopters danced in my head.

Wed 1/23 = Being true to my challenge, I spent the morning installing the van mattress in my new sleeve, lacing it up, installing the mattress in my van and putting everything away from the projects, then fixing lunch and supper and to Fitness One to fly my new new
Nano
fourth RC helicopter: little Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
with my new Spektrum DX7s controller, trying to keep the heli within an inch or two of the floor. Nothing broken and no bad crashes, but it IS a challenge. Good thing the DX7s is set up at 80% responsiveness and exponential sensitivity.
- As a follow-up to the nuclear treadmill stress test, my cardiologist said I'm in good shape and do not need to see him again, even for annual checkups, unless I experience problems.
- Then on to the Chandler 24-Hour Fitness where Alex, the new manager, chased me and my helicopter out of the aerobics room, although it was not being used by anyone - the first time for any gym. Then to Gangplank for the first time in about three weeks. It was good to see everyone there - and show off my helicopter a little.
- On the way home I stopped by Fitness 1 at 7th ST & Union Hills for another heli session.

Thu 1/24 = Two 4-battery sessions with my new
Nano
fourth RC helicopter: little Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
today. The first session was in a La Fitness raquetball court, followed by a heavy torso workout and the second session was in the Fitness 1 aerobics room. I didn't crash much or bad and toward, the end, was flying the little heli about three inches off the floor.
- The rest of the day was spent sorting some of my new helicopter things and preparing for tomorrow's trip to Tucson.

Fri 1/25 = I left home this morning at 8:04 and didn't get back for about 13.5 hours. I drove to Oro Valley (northeast of Tucson) to my Aunt Vendla's memorial service. She died December 28th in her sleep (what a way to go) after a healthy and productive life of 103 years, 7 months and 2 days. What an inspiration, with her writing books etc.! Between the morning memorial and the late afternoon reception at Jim and Joyce's, Bob, Vendla's oldest, and I went to LA Fitness in north Tucson where he became engrossed reading Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception on my Kindle while I did a light, fast arms workout. Then he joined me while I flew my
Nano
fourth RC helicopter: little Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
in an unused racquetball court. It was neat visiting my old cousins, Bob, Ken and Joyce, plus a bunch of other relatives.
- On my way home I stopped by Fitness 1 for another heli session and finished off the evening by taping some cracks on the
Nano
fourth RC helicopter: little Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
's canopy. I wonder how they got there??

Sat 1/26 = I flew my
Nano
fourth RC helicopter: little Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
outside for the first time this morning, drove down to Frank's Hobby House where they had just found the link we lost on the floor two weeks ago for the rotor of my
Heli Max
third micro RC helicopter: Heli-Max AXE 100FP that has a tail rotor and no flybar
. I got the link installed, charged all four batteries and flew both that heli and my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
at Fitness 1, as well as doing a light, fast arms workout there. The Heli Max flew well with the new link, although I did not do real well with it and, since you handle the controls slightly differently with a collective pitch heli, I decided I would quit flying the Heli Max.

Sun 1/27 = Helli day: I flew outside at the
Heli Field
dirt field south of 19th Ave and Bell Rd where guys fly electric RC helicopters and airplanes
until the rain resumed, flew in a racquetball court at LA Fitness before my light fast torso workout, then drove out west to both Duncan's RC stores where I bought a battery connector so I can test the voltages of my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
batteries, bought the Phoenix RC flight simulator, which I figure will pay for itself by reducing crashes and saving on repairs, stopped by Fitness 1 and flew the Nano then came home, fixed supper and installed the battery plug for Nano battery testing on a cheap digital multimeter I had bought from Harbor Freight.

Mon 1/28 = I flew my heli several times, including in an open area at the Sears Outlet store where I bought a floor model 30" drop-in range for
Dahlia
my Phoenix rental house located on Dahlia Drive
and coordinated its replacement, disconnection, installation, disposal logistics.
- In the wee hours, this morning I booked two nights (the cheapest I could find) at the Radisson Resort in Chandler to try out a Sleep Number bed there because my back is not feeling real good in the mornings. I figure the money will be well spent before I go out and buy such an expensive bed.

Tue 1/29 = This afternoon I got a physical aptitude and health evaluation from Dominick Bartnik at Fitness 1. He said I was in great health, BUT wanted me to get 180g protein/day in six servings vs my current 140g/day in three servings. For the workouts, he wants me to work out with lots of heavy, faster reps three times a week, vs my current six-day plan of three days heavy & slow followed by three days fast & light. I need to measure my muscles as a baseline to see if the change makes a noticeable difference.
- SEARS! They made me go to their store (a 13 mile trip) to change the kitchen stove I bought from customer pick-up to Sears delivery. They could not even reserve a delivery date until I showed up at their store with my delivery payment in hand. The delivery date is important because it all has to be coordinated with the tenant, Jerry who is going to do the cabinet modification, the property manager and me. They also charged me a $10 fee to haul away the old stove, although they had told the management company, that it was included in the $70 delivery charge. After this Sears customer service I understand why the big outlet center seemed to be devoid of customers and only have three cars in its massive parking lot.

Wed 1/30 = As a last step in my swim trunk modification project, I installed additional elastic in the waistband - also laid out in the sun 20 minutes. I did not drive down to Gangplank this evening, as I decided I'd put away some of the clutter from my current projects and take care of a little finance - too many things going on at once. I DID fly my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
in the gym and go to Radio Shack and buy a 4-AAA battery holder for my
DX7s
Spektrum RC controller
.

Thu 1/31 = This morning I measured my muscles and body fat for the first time in over a year - about the same as always. At least I am not deteriorating at a noticeable rate.
- Around noon, under the auspices of Duet, I took Kathleen to her cardiologist way on the west side. On the way I stopped by Fitness 1 to fly, but the DX7s and/or Nano quit working. While Kathleen was at the doctor's I drove down to Duncan's RC on 59th Ave where Tony helped me install a new battery holder in my
DX7s
Spektrum DX7s RC controller
for AA NiMHs and fix up my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
with a new blue (!) canopy, landing skids, main rotor motor and tail assembly to the tune of $50. Who said this hobby would be cheap? After that I did not do very well flying it (frequent mild crashes) until I realized the DX7s had been reset to all defaults, including deactivating both the motor kill switch and the automatic timer. This evening I re-acquainted myself with some of its finer programing points and got the timers, kill switch, exponential and dual rate features all set back to my liking. I flew the Nano out front and the bird was a lot tamer and easier for me to fly with my controller settings.

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