Sunday December 1st 2024

The temperature is running cooler than normal right now in central Florida. Compared to most of the rest of the country it is still very comfortable, but the current conditions add a few complications to daily activity. I let the weather prevent me from going to Sea World this weekend. The problem is dressing for the weather. You need lighter clothes during the day and warmer clothes at night. That presents a minor logistics issue. You either need to carry a backpack with a sweatshirt inside, get a locker for the sweatshirt or go back to the car for the warmer clothes after sunset. After all that, a sweatshirt may not be enough. Sea World involves a lot of setting outdoors for shows. What is good enough while walking isn’t always enough for low activity. Hey, I’m used to the warm weather and probably a little lazy too.

I guess I’m really getting settled into life at the base camp. I got internet installed on Friday. The tech got it done quicker and cleaner than I thought. I turned one of the cabinets in my living area into a network cabinet. It holds the cable modem, the WiFi router, a network disk drive and lots of power and cables. I replaced the shelves with metal grates to allow for airflow and punched some holes in the top and bottom of the cabinets. I may need to add a small muffin fan for better airflow, but for now it works. Having a high speed internet connection is a nice luxury I haven’t had while on the road.

Today I started the ultimate task of commitment to my base camp. I started to change the locks. When I moved in I had one key to the front door locks and four keys to the back door locks. My goal was to change the locks so I had only one key and add an electronic lock so I could get in without a key. My research led me to a Kwikset lock set solution that allows me to rekey the locks to use the same key and provide a keypad deadbolt. The keypad I chose is battery operated, but low tech. It does not use Bluetooth or WiFi and does not require a smart home hub. I got the front door lock changed today and will tackle the back door next. The front door is a standard residential door. The back door is a little more complicated. It is closer to an RV door than a regular house door and opens outward.