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Showing posts from April 16, 2017

100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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Easter is here. The weather is perfect for an Easter day. I have been working (for regular work) this weekend. There is so much to do. I had a birthday a few days back. It was relaxed. I have been better at relaxing. I did have time to build a Pedestrian Horn for the leaf. Supposedly, a few EVS such as Opel's Ampera have these pedestrian horns. The leaf did not, but mine does now. I used a small piezo buzzer, a push button, a small fuse and a couple hours of my life. There is a small accessory battery in the leaf so there was no rocket science trying to find a decent 12VDC power supply. The leaf is so quiet sometimes folks don't hear you behind them when they are walking. The regular horn is too loud when you sneak up behind a pedestrian. It is nice to have a quieter, friendly noise maker for this need. I felt good that I accomplished this small project without a single trip to the store for parts, tools or anything. I had it all in "my inventory stuff".