Coffee Pods, Part 2……

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I wasn’t planning a Part 2 when it came to discussing the new coffeemaker, but there are a few things to get used to. I will say now that I have a revised routine in place, it does work well and Hubby was correct about this type being useful.

The way it works is the button for Pod is to the left and Carafe to the right. They can both operate simultaneously as long as everything else is properly set up. So, if the water level in the reservoir for the Pod side is too low, or the old pod is still in, it won’t engage. Okay, got that. Also, even though you can adjust the brew amount for a smaller serving, I like my mugs for coffee. Ah, most of them aren’t quite big enough and thus some spillover. Solution? I have this absurdly-sized mug I never used (and was going to give away). It however, if perfect to brew the pod and pour the right amount into my mugs. Next, the carafe side. Once the pod side is working, it takes right at the same amount of time as I need to rinse the carafe, fill that side with water, grind the beans and get those into the basket. The pod side finishes dripping my first mug and I press “On” for the carafe side. I’d rather not admit how many days it took me to work this all out and I certainly did not express my frustration to Hubby. After all, end results are what counts.

Dual Mod Coffeepot…..

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Okay, our coffeepot was having issues and when Hubby was reading off the $1,000+ we could get, I was quick to say we don’t need something like that. In the way even couples married this long can do, I didn’t understand what he was really saying and he misinterpreted what I meant. No, I meant what I said, but more about that in a moment.

So he orders a basic Kenmore pot and when it comes in, there is a delay getting it out of the box due to our extra busy schedule. In the process of taking it out, I realize our previous miscommunication. It is not that he wanted the $1,000 maker; he did want the dual mode for brewing a pot or a pod. We had in fact once discussed it and I had forgotten. I told him to stop, go ahead and order what he wanted. If our cleaning lady didn’t have someone she could give the pot to, I would put it in the next Pickup Please, an organization that takes household items and clothes. When our cleaning lady came the following week I explained and as it turns out, her coffeepot had died and she hadn’t replaced it yet. A win-win.

Okay, Sunday Hubby finally had time to unbox and set up the new Cuisinart dual-mode coffeemaker and I had cleverly picked up a box of pods. Yesterday, I brewed my mug using the pod side while I put water in the carafe side and ground the beans. The timing works out perfectly and I had my first mug of fresh coffee as the other began to brew. For anyone new to the blog, I am usually up around 5:00 and put the coffee on. We usually have one mug left in the carafe at the end of the morning so I have been re-heating that for my first of the day. Nothing against, but now having truly fresh as the first is extra nice.

A New Venture in Writing…..

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Okay, all who follow the blog are aware I have previously discussed not having a commercial breakthrough in the decades of writing. I have tried campaigns that should have worked, might have worked, and probably-won’t-but-give-it-a-try. I stopped for some time, then in 2024 was lured into a very expensive one that absolutely should have worked. It didn’t. Then came a few with some new approaches that dealt with analytically-based “adjusting algorithms”, “targeted readers groups”, etc. Nothing there either.

Slight gap and an absolute flood of things, many of which seem to be generated with AI. A few are easily identifiable as scams; others not so much. As I said to my husband, if I had only 10% of these offers as new readers, I would be happy. Anyway, late among them is having me set up on Substack for the Chris Green books. I have never ventured into Substack although Hubby has a few he follows and a couple he even subscribes to. It is a site initially developed for writers and seems to have expanded beyond into other aspects.

The way this will work is the individual running the campaign will do twice-weekly serialization of Deadly Doubloons, then False Front over a period of some weeks to get me established. She will develop chapter summations rather than word-for-word (kind of like the old Readers Digest Condensed Books).  The idea is to bring in readers who want a good sense of my books which will hopefully lead to a new audience. While that is the ideal outcome, I have such a large body of work, if nothing else, it gives me a new platform to share portions of my work once I get into the pattern. We’ll see how this goes.

Not Sure Yet on AI……

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A few friends have embraced AI and several people have asked me if I am using it. The other evening I was with three who do and for they are mostly using ChatGpt. One friend, another writer using more than one, plus another one or two for her regular job. I have been reluctant for a couple of reasons to include there seems to be a new one every few months. The friend who is actually an IT person said ChatGpt is basic and simple enough to start with and once I am comfortable, I can make other decisions. Oh yes, since CoPilot comes with Microsoft, another friend uses that. She even took several on-line training segments and didn’t pursue it because she felt moving up to the next subscribed level was not something she would use enough to justify the cost.

I am not very good with these things and anticipate frustration if I try. On the other hand, it won’t take long for me to find out. I am hoping the current efforts I am engaged in taking up so much of my time will settle down by mid-August. I can state with a high degree of certainty I will not use AI for my writing. For routine tasks might be a different story, especially when it comes to things like reading insurance policies. It would be nice to have a summation of critical points. The sheer volume of “insurance speak” is what keeps most of us from knowing what a policy actually entails. Then there are the many files I should be clearing out of my computer. This is another mind-numbing effort I tackle only occasionally and don’t usually make such progress before I stop again. We’ll see how this goes.

 

Women’s Dive Day……

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I suspect I’ve lagged again in posting as it has been a jammed two weeks with one more ahead. It would be nice to go back to “normal jammed” instead of “super jammed”. Anyway, not that I could have taken the entire day last Saturday, but the fact it was Woman’s Dive Day did slip up on me. This is something established in 2015 by the Professional Dive Instructor’s Association (PADI) – the largest certification company in the world – to encourage PADI associated dive shops to have some kind of all-female event.

Horizon Divers scheduled an all-day and follow-on BBQ that was a great line-up even if I couldn’t go. I did kill two birds with one stone though because I wasn’t going to have an article for the week and the timing was perfect. I did check and included three other dive centers to acknowledge them. My friend, Lisa, Director for the History of Diving Museum was part of the Horizon event so I was able to give s shout-out to the museum as well. That was the proverbial cherry on top. The downside is between my still extra-hectic schedule and Mother Nature, I haven’t been in the water since either November of December. I really hope to get that turned around although next week is not looking very good. Sigh!!!!

Women’s Dive Day with Horizon Divers

Summer Slump for Most…..

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With tourism one of the major industries of Florida, we have a somewhat odd split for s summer. In addition to tourists, we have many “seasonal residents” I have mentioned before. They usually own a property although many do RV and others simply book for 2-3 months each year in the same place (generally condo complexes). It is no surprise winter is the primary tourist season, although in reality, it’s more like Oct-Aprll since there are holidays sand school breaks that extend beyond actual winter months. Summer is of course school vacation time, but as you get deeper into South Florida and on into the Keys, the high temperatures and bugs are factors for many. The Panhandle and Northern Florida offer many of the same outdoor activities and will tend be a little cooler.

On the other hand, the best diving is Key Largo and except for storms, June through mid-October brings the best water conditions – surface and below. So, while the dive shops are super busy, hotel and restaurant occupancy are down as is attendance at many outdoor entertainment venues. This is especially true of the Everglades and Biscayne National Park. Locally, our restaurants suffer and try to make it through until later. We are going out to dinner tonight specifically because of that and we’ll probably continue to do so for the next few months.

Collector’s Edition of Britannic Book…..

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It is sometimes odd to realize how quickly years pass, but in February it was ten years ago when Mystery of the Last Olympian: Titanic’s Tragic Sister Britannic was published. If anyone new is reading the blog, co-authoring the book was a great adventure and I met an incredible number of awesome people along the way. While we didn’t have the kind of sales we hoped, they were good for the small specialty press and Richie has made many presentations based on the book. He’s been invited to everything from scuba clubs in New England to the annual dive show in Singapore and lots more.

Anyway, I may have already mentioned he was finally selected for a prestigious award that will be presented at the New Orleans dive show. Since that obviously will generate sales, it turned out they were going to have to make a new run (print more books). The new acquisitions/marketing person promoted the idea of publishing a special hardback collector’s edition with Part IV to cover the ten years since the first book was published. This is especially significant since they are now being allowed to finally bring artifacts to the surface.

My part will be fairly small this time as Richie has to write most of the text with gathering a few other segments. I have to incorporate the new part to make it flow smoothly with the previous book. The only other new item we will need is someone to write an updated Forward. Not sure who that will be yet. Richie has promised the rest of his input by next week so I can meet the end of July deadline. Another “potential surprise” connected to all this is in the works. If it does come to pass, I’ll share it with everyone.

Skipping One Trip……

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Without getting into unnecessary details, I have a series of obligations for the summer that is making it extra difficult for me to take my usual trip to Louisiana. I had already decided not haven’t broken the news yet to most of the friends and family I visit. This morning, I was wavering and decide to check flights to see if I really compressed the trip – as in fly Friday and return Monday, how could I work that. Basically it would mean a lot of jammed activities in an already jammed summer. This is one of the few times when I think I will genuinely have to acknowledge I need to yield on something and the trip is the logical thing. Sigh!!!!

Anyway, the main point is my wonderful aunt who will be 92 in January will simply have to still be around a year from now. My cousin called the other day for a catch-up and I did explain my dilemma to her. She said things were well and I shouldn’t be concerned, so that does make it a bit easier. It’s been a long time since I missed a trip. Year before last though was a year when the usual “friend reunion” didn’t happen because the timing was off for everyone in Natchitoches. I may have already posted that I will see my sister and brother and their spouses in November when I’m in New Orleans for the dive trade show. More about that in a future post.

On the home front, tomorrow is an important, although low-key reception at the Museum for a pre-opening of an exhibit as our part of celebrating the 250th. Back in 1976, Homestead applied for and was designated a Bicentennial City where they had all sorts of things planned. We decided to highlight all of that and have found some great stuff. I’ll do a separate post about that next week.

Hubby has two different events he has to cover for the paper so instead of having friends over for lunch, will have them for an early dinner. Going really simple on this one and letting others bring something, too.

When Your Best Isn’t Good Enough…..

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Yes, the gap in posting is due to a number of extra tasks and deadlines thrown into the already busy mix as soon as we returned.

One of those tasks, I can’t post about yet, but led me to a quick discussion about the “Good enough is enough” at times. I did a post not long ago explaining, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”. However, there is another reality that is important to teach. “Doing the best you can,” is a worthy measure. On the flip side of the coin is, “A man’s grasp should exceed his reach”. One of the quick lessons learned in Officer Basic was the initial, “I can’t do that”, with “well, you have to”, followed by, “Oh, I guess I can.” With that said, there are times when no matter how hard one tries and no matter how much one wishes to be able to do something, the ability may be lacking. “A man has to know his limitations” is where reality meets trying.

A long time ago I posted about taking flying lessons and going as far as my first cross-country flight. I realized I probably wasn’t good enough to continue through to getting my license. I enjoyed what I’d learned and was among a number of people who had their own licenses. I had to admit to myself that even though I could probably do well enough to get a license with some extra training, that wasn’t the same as having the degree of comfort needed doing something that can, and does, result in a fatality.

There is no question every day some individuals are out there “doing the seemingly impossible”, but for most things in life, doing our best is good enough.

Virginia Trip, Day 3….

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A day for recovering. With granddaughter in school, kids took a little extra time and we met them for a later lunch at Stratford Garden, a place in Falls Church they have been wanting to try. It was previously an old, small motel that apparently had been empty for some time. A large interior, a fairly large covered terrace where we dined and a beer garden to the side with appropriate picnic type tables, benches and umbrellas. A range of cuisine with some raw bar options. Daughter-in-law had the burger, son the crispy chicken salad, Hubby the battered cod sandwich and I yield to baby kale Ceasar with grilled shrimp. The array of beers was excellent although I did stick with Chardonnay. Son and Hubby braved double espressos, plain coffee for me and a cappucino for daughter-in-law. Oh yes, the dolce lecho cheesecake with fruit to share.

Granddaughter hadn’t decide yet where we would be dining for the evening. Our friend was going to be able to join us and as it turns out, the pick was Longhorn. Here’s the main reason. I agree their chicken tenders are very good, although the cheeseburger was granddaughter’s choice. They do make a good cheeseburger, even when just plain- only meat, cheese, and bun. The kicker is the chocolate lava cake. The meal would have started with firecracker chicken wraps – son’s favorite – and they had run out, so it was the hot cheesy spinach dip. With full meals and that, the adults didn’t quite carry the load in sharing dessert which meant their was some left on the plate.

Flight is supposed to be on time today; will see how it all goes.