Screwed By Radio Shack

Vero Beach

Boy was I frosted this morning.  Last Friday I went shopping for a new laptop.  I went late in the morning to avoid the Door Buster crowds (I'm too old for that stuff.)  Good thing that I did. I heard that people camped out for 48 hours at Best Buy to get the deals.  Anyhow, I didn't find anything attractive, so I shopped online.

After several sights offering good deals said "out of stock", I found a nice reconditioned Toshiba computer at radioshack.com.   It said, "in stock".  I called and ordered it through their 800 phone number.  I even paid extra for overnight shipping.   Today, Tuesday, 4 days later, I got an email from Radio Shack.  It said that my order was delayed and if they didn't ship it by January 1, 2011, that it would be cancelled.  What bad sercvice.   I called again to cancel the order and to give them a piece of my mind.   Would you believe that the man I talked to admitted that Radio Shack doesn't have a real time inventory system.  Boy, that's unforgivable for a technology company in this day and age.   I'll never shop online at Radio Shack again.

So, what did I do. I went to Best Buy.  There I found this Samsung netbook computer for $279. I bought it.  I also bought an external DVD drive to use with it for $60.  I also bought a 2 year extended warranty that provides repairs for all hazards, including spills (i.e. water) and screen cracking.  That cost $140.  My total bill was $500.

This new computer is sweet.  It's so small and so light compared to my 4 year old Acer.   Still better, it claims to have up to 9 hours of battery life, compared with up to 2 hours on the Acer.  It should be much less power hungry when charging it up on the boat.

It only took me a few minutes back on the boat to get the new computer turned on, and connected to the Internet tethered to my Droid phone as a modem.   Then I was in for a shock.  Browsing the web was horribly slow.  It was so slow, that I couldn't log in to my google account before the login page timed out. Did I make a horrible mistake?  Could netbook computers be to slow compared to my 4 year old Acer?  

To resolve it, I changed base.  I'm at the local Publix store using their WIFI.   The first thing I did was to download and install the Google Chrome browser and to use that instead of Microsoft's Intenet Explorer 10.   Now the speed is just fine.  I have two theories why.  The netbook has only 1GB of memory; and perhaps IE10 needs more than 1GB to run.   Theory 2: it is another one of the stupid browser wars.  IE10 seemed to work fine going to a microsoft web site or to bing.com, but it was horrible trying to connect to anything Google.  I suspect foul play.   In any case, I'm fine now.

Artistic Flowering

Vero Beach

Libby is getting more and more inventive in her pine needle basketry. I suppose this is how artistry arises.

The hourglass shaped basket has a glass bottle inside. Like a ship in a bottle, this is a bottle in a basket. She intends it to become a flower vase.

The round basket is intended to become a wall hanging. She left the tail stocking out unfinished. That shows the construction technique and makes it a conservation piece for the owner.

The third picture shows Libby at work teaching her second group of students how to make baskets. By popular demand, she's teaching a third group today.

Hats off to Libby.

p.s. I apologize for the poor editing of recent posts. Although I can create posts on my droid phone, advanced editing features are lacking; especially regarding pictures.

Thanksgiving Pot Luck

Vero Beach

Look at that stupendous Thanksgiving feast spotlighted on the buffet tables. Who could possibly eat all that food?

This horde of hungry cruisers, that's who.

Here we are at our table with our friends. It was our luck in the lottery to be last in line at the buffet. Alas! There was only scraps left of the turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. But there was a big surplus of bean casseroles. Too bad.

It just happened that in all previous pot luck dinners, we were closer to the front of the line. I was spoiled, having never experienced a shortage before.

Today I told Libby that in the future she should get involved with the pot luck sign up to prevent unbalances. She, being wiser than I said, "No. That would be too anal. Plot luck dinners almost always have unbalances. That's why they call them pot luck." She should have added "dummy" to the end of that sentence.

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Running Backstays

Vero Beach

Libby is preparing food for today's Thanksgiving pot luck dinner. I'm on shore shopping online for a laptop. Maybe now is a good time to answer a reader's question about running backstays.

First, a disclaimer. I've always been reluctant to write about the art of sailing. I don't consider myself an expert or even a good sailor when it comes to sail handling. In 40 years of sailing, I've never raced even once, and racing is where people learn a lot. So any advice below merely repeats what I've been told.

Tarwathie is a cutter rig, like the sailboat in the picture. It has two foresails (jibs). The big one is called the yankee, and the little one is called the staysail.

In force 5 winds (gale), with wind behind us, I've been using the (reefed) yankee only. I've been told that I should have sailed with a reefed main and staysail only. In still stronger winds use the staysail only. It is not just a question of sail area. The main/staysail combination moves the center of force lower and closer to the degree of gravity. In other words, the boat is better balanced and thus easier to handle.

Now consider the forces on the mast. The yankee pulls at the tip of the bowsprit and at the mast head. The back stay balances the force at the mast head. However, the staysail attaches part way up the mast. There is no stay there to balance the forces. That makes the mast bend. Eventually, it leads to metal fatigue and cracking.

The running back stays attach to the mast right behind the staysail attachment. Their purpose is to balance staysail forces. Because they get in the way and are inconvenient, running back stays are removed when they are not actually needed.

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Blogable Events

Vero Beach

The picture shows group 2 of Libby's pine needle basket class. As you can see, she has 5 eager students working away at it. Now she has requests for even more, so she'll teach a third group next monday. Good for her.

For me that means another expedition to buy ferules for her students. I cleaned out the local hardware store of ferules last week.

While Libby taught I went to the beach for a swim. The water temperature was 74F; very pleasant.

At the suggestion of a blog reader, I bathed my laptop in WD40. I'll see tomorrow if it worked.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Nick got his wings from airborne school today. After Thanksgiving weekend home south his family, he reports to Fort Bragg.

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