Category: Uncategorized

Harvest Time

Part 5

After I last wrote it looked like Martti would have to move out to be closer to a job he had lined up in Cumming. It made me sad to think of him going off without the other two guys, plus I figured I would have to lower the rent again. He had arranged the job through an Estonian that lives here and involved digging swimming pools with a Hispanic work crew. With no transportation and not even a driver’s license he was going to try to move in with this guy. But the guy wanted $650 a month for rent which is more than I’m charging the three of them. He went back to Kroger and said that a “Help Wanted – Produce” sign was out. He asked “What does that mean, ‘produce’?” It is a strange word that we’ve chosen to mean fresh fruits and vegetables.

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Trouble in Paradise

All is not well. Last Sunday I found out that one of the Estonians would be quitting his job with the book company. He will still deliver the books he has sold in September like the other guys, but he wasn’t making enough money to break even and pay for plane fare and living expenses (he already has his return ticket home since that’s a requirement of the visa). Instead he decided to take a regular job for the rest of the summer to pay his bills.

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Revenge of the Estonians

I’m just kidding about the title. It just seemed like a good title for a third installment (see Episode 1 and Episode 2).

Arni, Madis, and Martti have been staying with me now for 6 weeks and have another 6 weeks to go so we are halfway. They continue to work like crazy: out the door before I wake up and home around 10 PM. Though they asked to borrow my car again the weekend after I let them use it for a Sunday get together (in Part 2), I have decided not to let them use it anymore. Here’s the reason why:

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JP1 Programming

I got the JP1 cable (to connect my universal remote to my computer; see earlier blog) a week or so ago. Then I had to learn how to use it. There are a whole host of programs that do different things, all written by a community of people who aren’t making a dime on any of this. The main program is called IR which actually talks to the remote and can store settings in files on your computer. It has a graphical interface like a typical Windows program and presents a ton of information though you can ignore most of it.

Another program is called KeyMaster and is actually an Excel spreadsheet with tons of macros attached to it. It is used to handle “upgrades” which are the settings for operating a particular device by remote. A lot of devices are built in to the remote, but others have to be added via these upgrades because 1. the devices are newer than the remote, 2. so old no one thought they would be needed, or 3. so obscure the manufacturers of the remote didn’t include them. You can find thousands of upgrade files on the internet, but you get what you pay for. Some work okay and some don’t.

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