SMF and Spammers.

Finally, I’ve successfully banished spammers from eldergypsies forum and I’ll have a chance to grow the forum into something useful and not the ghost town it is today.

NFL on the Road

We have been outfitting Li’l Beast for our first extended journey. We expect to be “gone” for six to eight weeks and this at the beginning of football season. I’m not a huge fan myself, though I really enjoy watching plays unfold on the field, second guessing play calls, and understanding what made a play succeed or fail. I’m sure there are some who just love the brutality of the game. There are many who enjoy following players, teams, and statistics; these are the fantasy football aficionados.

DirecTv Slimline HD Antenna

Yes, football season starts soon and Ellen must have her Jets games. To that end I’m having a pop-up Slimline HD DirecTv antenna installed at WallyWorld next week. Amazon shipped the receiver last week. WallyWorld called to say the antenna arrived and we’re good to have it installed. It’s no small expense, and the monthly fees will add up. It’s a small price to pay for Ellen’s joy on Sundays when the Jets perform well. Of course it is not just for Ellen that HD programming is going in The Beast, there are any number of escapist programs that I look forward to each week.

I’ll post an update on how the installation goes, how the antenna works, and my overall impression next week. We have an off-air HD antenna and a simple cable connection already. I will be disappointed if the new sat installation interferes with our current setup. Once installed, HD setup should be as simple as pushing a button to raise and direct the antenna for good reception. The antenna is ten inches tall when retracted and thirty eight inches high when extended! That’s a honkin’ big antenna. Camping world, er WallyWorld, has outstanding reviews for both the quality of the antenna and their installation.

RV Checklist

We’ve created a checklist for arrival and departure from campsites. There are so many exhaustive checklists available online that I will not add to the noise by posting yet another list. We’ve found that a checklist is not absolutely necessary. Most of the important items that would go on a checklist are not typically overlooked on a walk-around or walk-through before departure. An arrival checklist is good to avoid the occasional cold shower. From time-to-time we forget the small things like forgetting to latch or unlatch the refrigerator door or to close the bathroom vent. It is also good to be reminded to check tank levels regularly. With a retractable antenna we will have to check for clearance if we park under trees and we’ll have to remember to lower it before we drive off. We went over a number of online checklists discarding the obvious and ordering the lists logically (for us). Over time setup and take down becomes “second nature” and that’s when something can be overlooked. We will use our checklist and avoid those “Ooops, I forgot to unhook the electrical” errors.

Ron