Lee.org

These instructions work! Hurray! I tried a while back and it didn’t work.

This tip came from my friend Tim A. He added, “I found that it seemed to stop me downloading the apks directly, so I put them on the SD card and installed them from there.”

https://boingboing.net/2017/10/11/quickly-add-the-google-play-st.html

ClickmonitorDDC lets you set up keyboard macros to change the brightness and volume on your computer. I initially got this freeware it to set the brightness on my new portable monitor that had no buttons, the AOC I1659FWUX 15.6″ USB-Powered Portable Monitor. I’m very happy with having this extra monitor too!

My favorite thing about using ClickmonitorDDC is that now my work computer and home computer now have the same controls for changing brightness and volume. It’s a little thing, but it makes me happy enough to send a donation to the author!

I set my hotkeys like so:

Update 11-19-18: I told the author about this blog post and he pointed out a typo I had made on my hotkey choice above. I have since fixed the typo. Thanks Martin!

He also pointed out “…monitorname should not contain spaces or use ” “. Theoretically you do not need to write full monitorname, normally a few chars will do, for instance B156X would work too.   There is a new version 5.5 on my homepage: https://clickmonitorddc.bplaced.net”

UPDATE 12-2-20: The author’s site isn’t maintained any more :-(. You can get the software from various freeware sites online. Here is a local archive: ClickMonitorDDC_6_0

Update 12-8-20: To get my second monitor to work well, I used to run the Displaylink drivers but with a recent update to… something… I don’t know… they weren’t working well but the Intel drivers started working. I used the Intel Driver & Support Assistant to automagically install and update the right drivers.

Clean air tip: If the air is smokey, go to the hardware store and get a really good furnace filter. Your home will feel like a bubble of good air in an otherwise smokey mess. (The bay area forest fires are getting kinda crazy. We’re safe but the smoke is everywhere)

A friend from middle school just Friended me on Facebook and asked “Catch me up on the last 30 years”
My response:

Went to Tufts University, stayed in Boston working tech until a breakup made we want to move away. NYC for a few years with a few relationships til the dot-com bust. Moved home to connect with family and regroup. Two of my friends from that time have since passed. Moved to San Francisco after attending Burning Man in 2004. Loved building really big art, traveled the world a bit with art and work: India is a place of insane contrasts, Americans don’t comprehend the cultural rift we have with Saudi Arabia. I sometimes teach building robots and flame effects. Not loving working in tech, I started toward medicine in 2011, finished my master’s and started work as a pediatric occupational therapist in 2017. Got married in 2014, became a dad to an amazing daughter in 2015. Living in Berkeley and life remains imperfect.

Full instructions:

1. Get a magic eraser pad, any brand will do
2. Get the pad wet
3. Rub gently back and forth, up and down on the windshield. Rub gently, it’s an abrasive!
4. Clean the windshield with your favorite glass cleaner
5. Triumph in joy!

If you use Cricket Wireless, you may have found, like me, that Cricket Visual Voicemail sucks. Here’s how to change to using Google Voice voicemail.

Step 1: Get free a Google Voice account  with a new phone number

Step 2: Set up conditional call forwarding like so:

**004*[your google voice number]#

Step 3: Have someone call you and the call should be answered by your google voice. Rejoice in the non-suckyness!

You can disable this forwarding with  #004#

You can read more about conditional call forwarding for GSM phones here

Update 11-6-19: On the Google Pixel 2, I was unable to use the **004* code. It threw an error. So I did what a few websites recommended: Put the SIM card into another phone, type in the code above, put the SIM card back in your phone. Done!

Why do I say the Cricket Visual Voicemail Android app sucks?

• I have to push most buttons twice for it to work (sounds crazy? it is!)
• When I start playing a voicemail, the first 3 seconds play and then it stops. Hitting play (twice) restarts it as long as I’ve waited the magically determined amount of time. It’s crazymaking like having a big piece of lint under one of my keys!
• It often doesn’t transcribe my messages
• I’ve had these exact same problems for 3 years and 2 phones

What do you do with a sick boat?
Take it to the doc!

A neutron walks into a bar and asks “how much for a beer?” The bartender says, “for you? no charge.”

Two hydrogen atoms are walking down the street. One stops, looks in his pockets and says, “Wait, I think I lost an electron!” The other says, “Are you sure?” The first says, “Yes! I’m positive!”

A helium atom walks into a bar and the bartender says ” we don’t serve noble gases here.”
No reaction.

Did you hear about the uranium atoms that went to the anti war rally. They got bored and split.

Two uranium atoms are at an anti-war rally. From the other side of the way an atom throws a proton and hits one of them right in the head. The other says, “Don’t let his negativity effect you!”

What do you call a bear with no teeth?
Gummi-bear!

A drum and a cymbal fall off a cliff
[Ba dum bum, tssss!]

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?
Pumpkin pi!

What do you call a fish with no eye?
fffsssshhhhh

Why shouldn’t you write with a broken pencil?
BECAUSE IT’S POINTLESS!

What do vegan zombies love more than anything in the whole world?
Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains!

What did one snowman say to the other?
Do you smell carrots?

what do you do with epileptic lettuce?
You make a seizure salad!

There’s two fish in a tank. One turns to the other and says
‘You man the guns, I’ll drive’

A man didn’t like his haircut, but it started to grow on him.

Guy walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under arm. Says to the bartender: “I’ll take a beer, and one for the road.”

Why did the cowboy adopt a weiner dog?
He wanted to get a long little doggy!

How does the man in the moon cut his hair?
ECLIPSE IT!

Where does George Washington keep his armies?
In his sleevies!

Why does a moon rock taste better than an earth rock?
Because its a little meteor!

Please help me. I sleep on my side. Most nights my hip sinks into my bed, pulling my back out of wack and giving me a backache. Nearly every bed I’ve had in my life has started to sag in the hip area after a few months. Do you know of a bed that doesn’t have this problem? Please don’t write saying “I’ve never had a problem with xxx bed.” Most people haven’t had a problem with ANY bed. I’d like to hear “I had a problem with several beds but found THIS bed to be better…”

For reference, I’m 6’1″, about 210lbs, and a sidesleeper.

A partial lineup of the beds I’ve killed:

• Actually, the waterbed I had in high school (thanks mom & dad & 1980’s!) didn’t have a problem.
• I killed a bunch of beds through college and after but I can’t recall the deets.
• 1999: I think it was a new Sealy Posturpedic. I killed it
• 2003: Bed in NJ. When I moved in 2005, it was starting to feel pretty bad
• 2005: I slept on a portable Aerobed for 6 months. It was awesome.
• 2005: store model Macys bed. I lay on it in the store for an hour and loved it. I had it at home for 2 weeks and my butt sank so low, it felt like I was in a lounge chair. Returned.
• 2006: new Ikea Sultan queen bed. I had to throw it away after 3 years
• 2009: another new Ikea Sultan queen bed. I killed it.
• 2012: Megan’s queen size bed for 3 years. I killed it.
• 2015: Nest Alexander Signature Select — Medium, King size. After 1.5 years, to keep my back sanity, I have a mattress topper, and I put a towel between the mattress topper and mattress (over the course of 2 months I go from 0-3 layers of towel to give increasing support) and every 2-3 months I have to rotate the bed 90 degrees. Originally I had to rotate it every 4-6 months. December 2018: putting a 1″ thick, 18″x 24″ piece of foam helped a lot. Late January 2019: I’m starting to get back aches and leg tingles again.
• 2019 I tried a Sleep Number P3 bed for a week. I couldn’t ever get comfortable on it. It felt like… it felt my middle was sleeping on a bag of air; my head and feet were over the edge of it so they felt different no matter how I slept on it. Felt just as weird on day 7 as it was on day 1. In one configuration, my middle felt like it was going to roll off the balloon under my butt while my head and feet were “fine” or my butt was in a hole while my head and feet were “fine”. There was no middle ground :-(
• 5-14-19: tried a “Lucid” hybrid spring and latex memory foam twin bed from Amazon.  The bed started sagging seriously after 2 months. Fail.
• Update 8-17-20: We went to Bay Bed & Mattress in Santa Cruz in January and got a king size bed. The cover on the bed can be unzipped and the latex cushions changed out. We went with 4 layers: something like medium, medium, firm, firm. After about 2 months, my side was sagging so I fluffed the cushions. After another month, it sagged again. I reduced it to 3 layers and a sheet of closed foam. That has held me for a few months. The adjustability of the bed will hopefully get me through! It takes maintenance but at least I <strong>can</strong> do maintenance because of the unzippable cover. They are a small company with very good customer service. Check them out   https://www.baybed.com/

Can you help me get a pair of RC cars for Abigail and I? She took an interest in my RC plane but the learning curve is way too steep there for someone who’s never done RC!

I’m thinking we want:

• Offroad, through our back yard, on woodchips, in playgrounds, I think that means a buggy or truggy.
• Probably under $100 including everything for each

I tried looking online for some good vehicles but finding real and legitimate buying advice was daunting. Sadly, I don’t really have a local hobby store. I’d be happy to buy used if I had any idea what I was getting!