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  • You’ve got Mail!

    You’ve got Mail!

    I’ve been working on a project with ChatGPT as my assistant to smarten up my mailbox. I spend most of the day on the third floor, so coming down to the ground floor to check whether mail has been delivered is so, well, 20th century. I knew I had to do better.

    I had purchased a new mailbox, but it turned out the lid was slightly curved, and would be hard to adhere the solar panels to well. Tyler took the old mailbox and rehabbed it. I think it looks better than it did new! And now that new mailbox has become my mom’s mailbox, replacing a rather rusty old one.

    The solar panels help charge a battery, and the battery powers the electronics inside this project box:

    Inside that box, besides the battery, is a charging circuit, and a little microcontroller board that can connect to my home WiFi, and from there, connect to my Home Assistant installation, where it can, when appropriate, notify me that the mailbox has been opened. Most of the time, the device is in “sleep” mode where it hardly requires any power at all. It awakens hourly to tell Home Assistant it’s still there, and more importantly, it wakes up when the lid is opened! The way I have it setup, Once that notification arrives, I have to go into the Home Assistant app and press a button that says “Mail Retrieved” which then resets things for the next day (or next delivery, anyway).

    You can see some painter’s tape there. It is just holding the coiled up wire from the left hand solar panel which isn’t connected yet. I have an adapter on order that will let me wire up the two panels in parallel to double the recharging power. But it seems to be holding pretty steady with one. Two will just make we worry that much less about it.

    The first day it was deployed, it worked great! The second day, not so much — the mail carrier was so fast that by the time the device woke up and connected to Home Assistant, the lid was already closed again, so there was nothing to report, and I was not made aware that mail had been delivered. So today, we re-wrote the detection so that when the device is awakened because of the lid opening, it remembers that, and can inform us more directly. Previously, it was just recording the current state of the lid, and if the carrier is very fast (video analysis showed it was open for about a second), the lid may be closed again when it goes to report that. And today, with the new code in place, it was successful again.

    Working with ChatGPT has enabled me to complete, or in some cases, “make good progress on” project ideas I’ve had for years. Working without ChatGPT means doing all the research yourself, trying to find example code that does something like what you want and modifying it. Then finding out that example was from 3 revisions ago of the library you’re using, and then you spend the next half day chasing down build errors. With ChatGPT, much of that drudgery is gone. And I for one appreciate that.

  • This Fan Blows! (but not very well…)

    This Fan Blows! (but not very well…)

    It all started in January, when the cold really settled in. I started to notice that when the furnace was on, the airflow from the vents was inconsistent. In the early morning when it would start up (coming up to the daytime setting from the lower overnight setting), it would blow for a few minutes, but then stop. Then start. Then stop. Etc.

    As with most things in my life that are not a dire emergency, I kind of ignored it for a while. But I eventually called in an “expert” — an HVAC contractor that was on the list of approved contractors from the Bosch web site. They were able to come by a few days later (it was not a “NO HEAT” situation, and there were people without heat). The very polite tech came in and made some changes to the thermostat’s settings, and went on his way. Basically, he changed things so it would use the aux heat (gas furnace) more often, and the heat pump less often. Well, I knew that wasn’t the end of it, because the problem was most evident (to me) when it was using the gas furnace! Sometimes, the furnace would lock out, requiring a circuit breaker reset to get it to try again.

    They came out again about a week later, this time more willing to listen. And the technician was able to experience the problem when it happened, and he said, “Yup — the blower needs to be replaced.” which was what my guess was, too. However, what I didn’t expect was for it not to be covered by warranty (it was installed < 5 years prior), and for the price to be $1827. Yikes! I tried to see if I could get a hold of the original installer, but he was a small contractor doing this kind of work part-time (his full time job was an HVAC technician for M.I.T.), and it seems that he quit doing that kind of work shortly after installing our system. I also tried to find a “warranty friendlier” contractor, but came up empty there as well.

    So I “phoned a friend” who has a lot of knowledge and expertise in this area, and he thought it unlikely that the blower was bad, and that it was more likely that one of the furnace safety switches had gone flaky. The Bosch furnace has a lovely single LED indicator that blinks out a numeric code if there’s a problem. I had only ever noticed it at 11, when it locked out. I told my friend, “If I were smart, I would hook up a webcam and some software to monitor the LED…” but it sounded like a hassle. However, it also seemed like the best way of getting some diagnostic data to get a better handle on what the problem was. If I failed to mention it, this unit is in an attic crawl space, so it’s a pain to get to.

    I then “consulted” with ChatGPT about the idea. It suggested that the camera module (ESP32) I had was underpowered for doing that kind of image analysis work, but that an ESP32 module with a light sensor would be cheaper and the code would be easier. So I set off down that path. “We” were originally going to have 2 light detectors, and put filters over them so we could tell if the LED were lit in green or red. But the filters ended up cutting so much signal that all that was left was noise, and the detector was unreliable. So we ended up with a single detector, essentially attached to the LED via a small tube. And this worked great!

    Meanwhile, I had also purchased and hooked up an airspeed sensor module, so we could monitor the airspeed through the main trunk duct (see the graph above). I was able to show that no matter whether the fan was on manually, or for the gas furnace, or the heat pump, it just ran very unreliably. It would run for a few minutes in a row when cold, but once it warmed up it became very erratic. Then the LED monitor would sometimes show we had gone to code 4, which indicated that the overtemp device kicked in, and had shut down the furnace. Often this would escalate to a code 11, where you would have to manually turn power off and on to get it to reset.

    So all the evidence was pointing to a bad blower, and in fact, to the Electronic Control Module (ECM), which probably had a bad capacitor or something similar. But you can’t just replace the ECM — the motor and ECM are essentially a single unit. So I looked around and found a place to order the blower motor from, and ordered it. It arrived this past Thursday (19 March 2026), and I waited until today (Saturday) when Tyler would be available to help with the install.

    It took just about 2 hours exactly to do the swap. After turning the power off, we had to disconnect a ton of wires,

    and document what needed to be connected where. After that, the entire blower unit with the control board can slide out. Once we had the unit out, we were able to bring it to the basement and do the swap.

    This involved loosening the squirrel cage from the motor shaft, then removing the suspension from the housing. Then getting the squirrel cage all the way off, then removing the suspension from the motor housing.

    That got us to the halfway point, so it was time to turn around and head back — starting with attaching the suspension to the new motor, then the motor to the unit, then the squirrel cage to the shaft. Then we brought everything back upstairs, and reinstalled it into the furnace housing. Finally, we turned the power back on, and monitored and tested everything.

    And we have been successful! Everything now works as expected, and the fan ran for 20+ minutes with the heat on, and turned off when it hit the set point. I then ran the fan manually for 90 minutes, and it ran consistently. So, all looks good! And instead of paying the pros $1827 for this service, we paid $752 for the blower and did the work ourselves, saving over $1000!

    Screenshot
  • An Ode to Stella Rosa

    An Ode to Stella Rosa

    A car is a car is a car, some would say,
    But a car can be oh so much more, in a way,
    Than a simple convenance from hither to yon,
    And a practical purchase from which to move on.

    Stella Rosa is her name, and she’s treated us well,
    A mini-van with many great stories to tell.
    She arrived on the scene in September Oh-Seven,
    And oh how our ordinary lives she did leaven!

    All dressed in a full coat of fine maroon paint,
    A pedestrian auto she definitely ain’t.
    She chauffeured our family, and sports teams to boot,
    And when moving apartments, was as strong as a brute.

    She’s led teams on mission trips, crowded with teens,
    Dressed in enthusiasm and worn out blue jeans.
    She’s seen most of this country, she’s been here and there,
    Performing her job with dependability and care.

    Her eyes have gone cloudy, and her paint’s lost some shine,
    But as transportation, she conducts herself fine.
    The upcoming repair bill was just too much to swallow,
    And so we are left, in our sorrow, to wallow.

    It’s the end of an era, as our needs have since changed,
    And now, Stella Rosa, must be sadly exchanged.
    The miles, and the years, have all taken their toll,
    But her absence will certainly leave a big hole.

    Goodbye, Stella Rosa, and godspeed to you now,
    I hope your next life is rewarding somehow.
    You’ve served us as completely as any car ever could,
    We will always remember you as faithful and good.

    Arriving home for the first time
    Arriving home for the first time!
    Doing a regular stint of mission trip duty.
    Doing a regular stint of mission trip duty.
    Goodbye from your most faithful fan!
    Goodbye from your most faithful fan and caretaker!
    Going out, and coming in

  • JATATD

    Last night’s sing-and-act-along performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Arlington’s Capitol Theater was a major success for the brand new Starlington Productions production company, selling out the theater. The gathered audience was enchanted by the singing of the two principal stars, Susan as the Narrator and Zachary as Joseph. There were also some very entertaining cameos by Matt as Pharaoh, Clara as the Baker, Cori as Reuben, Sara as the Butler, Parke as Jacob, Tyler as Benjamin, and many others.

    Susan’s performance as the Narrator was captivating — she clearly had learned all her lines, and had worked with a vocal coach to bring her A game to the show. She performed her costume changes with amazing fluidity, and her positive energy was infectious.

    Zachary’s vibrant tenor was well suited for the role of Joseph. His performance of Close Every Door in particular was hauntingly beautiful. Zachary brought a wonderfully collaborative and positive vibe to the production.

    I would highly recommend that you go see this production, but sadly, if you missed it, it was a one night only engagement.

  • The King is Touring (Sort of…)

    Last night, I went with a friend to go see the BEAT Tour on their stop in Lynn, MA. The band is Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Steve Vai, and Danny Carey. The first two were members of King Crimson in their mid-1980’s incarnation. Steve Vai is a well known guitarist taking on the role of Robert Fripp, the creative genius and only consistent member of the band from its founding in the late 1960’s. I sort of assume that’s why the tour was billed as “Performing the Music of 80’s King Crimson,” in deference to Mr. Fripp, rather than being listed as King Crimson.

    The show, which was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m., began at 8:02! I don’t think I’ve ever been to a show that started so promptly! The first thought that occurred to me was that these guys are old and don’t want to be up too late! But that shouldn’t be read to mean that they lacked energy in any way. Levin, at 78, is the oldest of the crew, with Belew, the front man, not far behind at 74. Steve Vai at 64 and Carey, 63, are the youngsters.

    The music the band played was all from their three 1980’s albums: Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair. I am not terribly familiar with the music, but I wanted to see the band because they are such an icon of progressive rock, and the musicians are so accomplished. The show was filled with great energy, and they all appeared to be having a great time, and playing off each other. I had a great time, and was glad I had gone.

    Here are three songs from the evening, if you’re interested:

  • The Summer of Beer

    The Summer of Beer

    I will readily confess to enjoying beer, though I have always considered myself more of an aficionado than a connoisseur. I appreciate that the world of (readily available to me) beer has expanded from what was available when I was coming of age (see my previous post) to what we have today, and specifically the proliferation of local breweries. I do sometimes wonder if we have reached “peak craft beer” but there isn’t a brewery on every street corner yet, so perhaps not. (It was amusing to me that when we visited Clara in Austin, in the less-than-a-mile walk from our hotel to her apartment, we passed by two breweries, but that’s Austin!)

    This summer, with the help of friends, I cooked up a scheme to get a group of folks to visit more local breweries, and I put together a “Brewery Passport” with a page for each local brewery, and some extra pages for more remote breweries that people might visit in their travels. I even wrote software to generate the pages from a spreadsheet containing relevant data about each brewery, and a photo and name of each participant. A good friend took the resulting booklets and hand-bound them into covers made from six-pack holders. The artifact itself is one of my favorite creations of all time.

    On the 29th of June, we had a kickoff event at a local beer hall (which some have mistaken for a brewery…) where we distributed the 20 passports to participants, and agreed to meet again on the 15th of September to celebrate our dubious accomplishments. The listed breweries were all within 10 miles, most within about 5, so they were almost all very bikeable. The idea was that people would plan a trip to a brewery and announce it via a WhatsApp group we created for the purpose, so that others could join in. That didn’t seem to catch on in the group, however. But people did like the idea of visiting local breweries, and some even thought of it as a climate-friendly way of enjoying local tourism.

    By the end, I managed to visit all 24 of the original listed breweries (3 of them on the second to last day!), walking or biking to 17 of them. In addition to that, I visited 30 other breweries this summer. Many of those were still within Massachusetts, but not bikeable (not by me, anyway) and were part of the Mass Brewers’ Guild passport program. Amusingly, I thought that my Brewery Passport was a completely novel idea, but I have come to learn that there are, and have been, many such programs (I do think that my passports are the best of all those that I’ve seen, though). Some of those extra 30 were visited during our travels this summer, in Rhode Island and Texas.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the activity, and when I asked bartenders if they had a brewery stamp, and showed them the passport, that would often be the start of a very interesting conversation, which wouldn’t have taken place otherwise. And that’s what I did on my summer vacation.

  • The King is Dead (Almost…)

    The King is Dead (Almost…)

    I can’t believe I’m having to write this. Cambridge Brewing Company opened in a run-down, post-industrial, pre-biotech part of Cambridge on the outskirts of Kendall Square in 1989. That was the year after I graduated college. I didn’t know about it initially, as I had moved out of the area (way out to Waltham), and worked in Boston. But in 1991, I started working just outside Kendall Square, and I discovered CBC. Spending money was short in those days, so I won’t say I went often, but I did stop by periodically. It was a revelation. I knew that Budweiser and Miller could not be all there was to beer, but there were not a lot of interesting options. Heineken? Molson? St. Pauli Girl? I mean, there were other brands, but a bar that served something other than the big 2, and maybe Guinness for an Irish bar, was unusual, if not downright pretentious.

    Into that milieu came CBC, along with three other local brewing startups from that era – Harpoon (Mass. Bay Brewing Co.), Sam Adams (Boston Beer Co.), and Commonwealth Brewing Co. So in the Boston area, you would start to see some “local” beers (Sam Adams was contract brewed elsewhere for a while), certainly in stores, and occasionally at a bar. Commonwealth Brewing was a brewery and restaurant that was located near the Boston Garden. While both CBCs were labeled “brewpubs” Commonwealth always felt more like a restaurant, and not someplace you might go to hang out at the bar. So I always had a preference for the more laid back atmosphere of Cambridge.

    I would never have been counted among the regulars there, but until perhaps ten years ago, if you wanted to bring someone to a restaurant (or bar) where they brew their own beer, there were few other choices. Cambridge Brewing kept things lively by brewing a wide variety of beers, including a Heather Ale, and the occasional gruit. They also experimented with wild “Brett” yeast. If you wanted to expand your beer horizons, there was no better place.

    There was one year, though, when I was something of a regular. From June 2016 through June 2017 CBC had what they called the “Beer Year” contest, where you were invited to post to Instagram every different beer you had there, and if after a year, you had posted

    about every unique beer that they had brewed over those 12 months, you would earn a special mug. I would say that I went above and beyond over the course of that year, by also posting their traditional (of that era) four drafts, the 3 different canned beers they offered, posting when I had one of their beers at a different local restaurant/bar, and posting the many unique beers they made for their pumpkin fest which were not required for the contest. All in all, I made 74 posts to Instagram for the beer year, and in fact, the Beer Year was the reason I signed up for Instagram in the first place. I was working in Waltham at the time, and would ride my bike to work once a week, then ride home “the long way” (and it was a lot longer) via CBC. It was a glorious year, and I still treasure my special mug.

    After that, my visits went back to their more ordinary pace of “occasional” but when it was time for another “Guys Night Out” I could almost always be counted on to suggest CBC (to the chagrin of at least one friend), and if that ended up being the chosen venue, I would always arrive early to get in an extra round (or two, or…), to see what was new on tap. One of the first places I visited after the worst pandemic restrictions were being lifted was CBC.

    Cambridge Brewing has also long been a great supporter of the local craft brewing scene. For their recent 35th anniversary celebration, there were a bunch of beers available from former brewers who have gone on to work at other breweries. From the menu, there were brews from “Ben Howe of Otherlands Beer, Megan Parisi of Samuel Adams, Jay Sullivan & Sean Nolan of Honest Weight, Kevin Dwyer from Oxbow, Lee Lord of Naragansett, Ben Roesch of Murder Hill, and Anthony Lauring of Outrider Brewing.” Pretty amazing, no?

    So I was totally caught off guard this past weekend when CBC announced that they would be closing at the end of the year. It would be hard to overstate how much I will miss Cambridge Brewing Company. I know they won’t particularly miss me – I was never someone who was going to keep the place afloat – but CBC has been a constant presence for almost all of my adult life, and I foolishly thought it would always be there. To Phil (the owner) and Will (the brewmaster), I wish happy retirements and/or next ventures. You provided me with 35 years of amazing beer, a creative food menu, and a great place to hang with friends. Próst!

  • Weekend Away

    Weekend Away

    We went away this weekend to spend time with two other couples, and log some good biking in Western Mass. We rented a house in Amherst that was near the Mass Central Rail Trail. Late on Saturday morning, we hopped on our bikes and rode 14 miles to the Williamsburg Snack Bar where we had a lovely lunch, after which we turned around and headed back.

    About halfway back, a large tree root that made a good sized bump in the trail caught me off guard, and I lost control of the bike, and fell. Thankfully, I fell in the dirt and weeds along the side and not on the pavement. The image above is of my shin, which is the most photogenic of my scars. Beyond that, my hip has a lovely bruise that is just starting to blossom a day later, and my shoulder, was pretty well wrenched from the incident. Nothing broken, but my ego probably suffered the most. (Shoulder is pretty painful, though). All my companions were very concerned and supportive, and helped pick up all the bits and pieces that came off the bike.

    Since nothing on the bike or me was actually broken, after a few minutes of calming down, I got back on the bike and rode the rest of the way home, knowing that at some point in the near future, everything would stiffen up and feel a lot worse. The rest of the ride was, happily, uneventful.

    At the encouragement of everyone, I let Susan take me to the clinic. We got in the car, and the directions told us it was 0.1 miles away. In the end, it probably would have been faster to walk, it was so close! They took some X-rays of the shoulder and saw nothing to be concerned about, and recommended ibuprofen, arnica gel, and icing.

    For dinner, we walked a little ways past the clinic and had beers and appetizers at the Hangar Pub and Grill, which is home to the Amherst Brewing Company, so we were able to get our passports stamped there. Then we had a lovely dinner at the Amherst Public House. When we were done with dinner, it was raining pretty hard, so the walk back was, um, refreshing?

    And then there were board games.

    The next day, the rest of the crew did another ~30 mile ride. Even without the accident, it’s doubtful that Susan or I would have felt up to another big ride. Instead, we went to visit the Beneski Museum of Natural History at Amherst College,

    which had a very manageable collection of minerals, fossils, etc. We enjoyed about 2 hours there, and then headed to Tree House Brewing Company in Deerfield.

    So this is not their flagship location in Charlton, but a newer facility. I’d always heard great things about their beer, but not so great stories about the Charlton facility, which could be overcrowded, with long lines, long waits, etc. Having never been to their Charlton facility, I can’t compare them; I can only say that our experience was great. The facility is huge, and it took some time to walk from the ample parking lot to the sunny, air-conditioned atrium taproom. We arrived shortly after they opened (noon), and were able to walk right up to the bar and order a beer without waiting, and then order a pizza, which was ready in about 15 minutes. The beer was terrific, and the pizza was very good. And we were able to get our passports stamped as well!

    A truly enjoyable weekend, with but one blemish. If I had been more alert, or less tired, it probably wouldn’t have happened at all. I’m grateful that my body took this more or less in stride, and seems to be recovering. It won’t be as fast as it would have been in my twenties, but that’s life.

  • That thing where the moon blots out the sun

    That thing where the moon blots out the sun

    Back in 2017, we travelled to Simpsonville, South Carolina to witness a total solar eclipse. It was awesome. It’s hard to plan for these things, given the vagaries of weather forecasting, but sometimes you just have to go for it. We went with friends who are simply amazing planners. The featured picture for this post is from that event, as is this one:

    with all of us posing looking up at the sun with our eclipse glasses.

    This time around, with kids fully grown and doing their own things, we were a smaller group:

    This year, we drove west to Rochester, New York, to witness the eclipse. Weather was not on our side this time around, but we made a strategic decision on the morning of the eclipse, to head about an hour east to Syracuse. The weather prediction was slightly more favorable, and even though there would be less time in totality, the likelihood of experiencing any totality in a meaningful way meant the tradeoff was worth it.

    In the end, the cloud cover stole much of the awe inspiring visible experience from us, but we still had a great time. From our vantage point, we were able to see the umbra moving from west to east, and it got much darker than we remembered from 2017. And then, the three hundred mile drive home went as smoothly as it possibly could, getting us home by 8:00 p.m. which was a blessing. We had friends who were in Burlington, Vermont, who headed home after the eclipse and who didn’t arrive home until 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Yikes!

    All in all, a great experience, and we would be inclined to do it again.

  • Keep the Rubber Side Down

    Keep the Rubber Side Down

    This autumn, I’ve had three good friends suffer falls and injuries from their bike slipping on ice. Probably a decade ago, I had a similar incident, on the Minuteman Bike Trail, where I was turning to go around the gates they had setup at the time, and my front wheel slipped right out from under me. My shoulder went directly into the bollard. I wasn’t going fast at the time, but it hurt like heck, and I could barely move my arm. I limped home on the bike from there, and wondered whether I’d broken anything, but nothing seemed broken. After a couple of days, I could move my arm again reasonably.

    Susan and I share one car, which generally means that if one person has the car, the other is left with a bike. (Or walking, or public transit, all of which are reasonable options around here, thankfully). Not wanting to relive my previous experience, with bones a decade more brittle, and after seeing so many other experienced cyclists go down, I decided to set myself up with a second set of wheels, with studded tires.

    I first spent some time researching what I had on my existing back wheel for sprockets, and started looking for used wheels on eBay and Craigslist, but it’s a little complicated and hard to be 100% certain that everything would work together. So in the end, I opted for new wheels. I was super excited when they came, but when I opened the boxes, I discovered that I had ordered wheels with nutted axles instead of quick release. Thankfully, even though it was my mistake, the shop allowed me to return them, and refunded me, and I ordered the proper wheels.

    So when the new order arrived, I thought I had everything I needed: wheels, tires, tubes, cassette. But I didn’t have rim tape. So I had to go to the local bike shop for that. The owner there was nice enough to install it on the one wheel that I brought, and sent me home with a second piece for the other wheel. And then the tubes. The tubes I bought had “normal” length stems, but the rims are slightly aero, so the stems are barely long enough — really hard to get the pump to grab on. Sigh. But now I have a set of winter wheels, and hopefully that greatly reduces the chance of slipping and tumbling.

    It would of course have been possible to just replace the tires on the existing rims, at much lower cost. The tires themselves are not particularly inexpensive, so this was a pretty costly endeavor — about $400 when you add it all up. I just doubted my ability to follow through and actually swap tires twice a year. Swapping wheels seems a lot more likely.