Jason's social visit to UCSF and A/C

This weekend was a happy and eventful weekend for Jason. He had a great time going
to see the great nurses and staff over at UCSF Children's Hospital Pediatric Cardiology floor.
We traveled up to San Francisco on Friday and stayed overnight to be able to visit the
nurses that took great care of Jason while he was being cared for. Some of them were in complete amazement that the little boy that was discharged to go home some nine months ago had made some much growth and development progress.

After the visit to the hospital we went out over to the Golden Gate Park took in some of the sites. Jason even got to ride on the carousel at the park. After a short while there, we went over to the beach by Pier 39 and Jason go to take in the ocean. He had a great time looking at the ocean and everyone at the beach.

Today's trip back home went pretty well and Jason had a pretty good time traveling back home.
It takes us about 3 hours to travel home from SF, but usually we have to stop sometime along the way to feed him (for one of his 'every three hours' feedings.)

This evening my wife and I noticed a slightly warmer house in the evening and we were not totally certain the A/C unit was running. All the Central Valley weather forecasts were claiming how hot it was going to be, and I though that could have something to do with it, but went out to the back yard to investigate. The indoors thermostat appeared to be working just fine and there was air blowing out of the register vents in the house so outside to the outdoors fan sounded like the obvious next step to investigate. When I went out there, I found the blower motor was not running and the whole unit was pretty warm; warmer than I ever felt it.

I cut the power off from the house circuit breaker and started looking through the 'house appliances install/service guides' for ideas. I did not get too many from that but I then checked out a schematic on the inside of an exterior panel. This showed me how a relay, outside compressor, and outside fan (the blowermotor) were interconnected and I immediatly started to check the supply voltages to the blower motor. I have had this Fluke 79 Series II multimeter for over 18 years now and it continues to be of great value. Some may consider it an extravegant tool to have, but I have fixed more house problems with it than I can keep track of. So anyway I got to checking the supply voltages and it appeared to be getting the right voltages, but I was not certain the motor was fully functional. I gave it a little push with a stick and it started up spinning and gathering speed to its normal flow rate.

I may have to give it a little while to make sure its fully cooling the house, but a service call tomorrow appears to be in order....

wow...big things this past week and Jason's latest little trick he did!

I have been putting an incredible amount of work lately, all at home, work, and even for the USAR. This past weekend was an Army Reserve Drill weekend that went of for three days instead of the usual 2 on Saturday and Sunday. We accomplished quite a few major achievements that have not been done before in the organization and in the end, I was glad I could attend. But drill came this weekend at a pretty rough time.

I had some meetings the week prior to drill and I even got to meet my boss face-to-face. Too bad the meeting was a short one and work matters had to get underway soon after. The next day I spent about 26 hours total up-time with about 19 of those on-site peforming a data acquisition. Sometimes I dont know what comes over me to see these things through despite being dog-tired.

I had quite a few things I needed to keep going at work so I would be able to take Friday off to perform my obligatory service for the USAR so it all got jammed in a short period of time last week. But the way things are going this week, I certainly feel like things are moving along productivly and there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Jason, my wonderful son is doing well and he did the neatest thing last night that made we want to blog about it today, at least sometime today. (Thank goodness I remembered.)
Jason was with mom on her lap and when she went to wipe his face with a small towel, he decided to join in on the fun. He happened to get a hold of another cloth towel and mimic by wiping Mom's face! It was the cutest thing the two of them laughing it up and playing along. It also shows me that Jason is developing well and having fun while doing it. It was something I was happy to be around to see last night. It really had an impact on me. It really did represent a high-point to an otherwise hectic pair of weeks.