Back on 6/17/11 we checked the inverters to ensure they were performing healthy output in the Texas sun and found another State 225 error. This is the 2nd time this inverter has experienced this error, the first time was 10/17/09 and was fixed with a new GFDI card (Ground Fault Detection and Interruption) documented on the old post.
The first time this issue occurred I contacted Solar Community and they got right on top of it and had me a new GFDI card replaced and back up in running in 7 days. Unfortunately this time around since Solar Community is experiencing business growth pains the repairs took quite a bit longer.
The tech came out 19 days after reporting the issue and confirmed the GFDI card needed replacing again. The order was placed with Fronius and the card came in within 6 days, but unfortunately it took Solar Community another 14 days to send a tech out to install it.
Well the GFDI card did not solve the problem this time around, which I was kind of happy about as I felt this inverter was acting like a lemon. So Fronius sent out a replacement inverter which took about 5 business days and the tech was out in another 2 to install it.
Where I am not happy it took almost 50 days to get the system back up and running, I still stand behind Solar Community’s workmanship and communication when you can get a second of their time. I wish their company plenty of success in the future and hope they staff up appropriately for the incoming amounts of jobs they are getting.
So my biggest goal this year to ride my bicycle from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and of course blogging along the way, but not on this site. So to kick the year off I launched my cycling site. What do you think?
A unexpected adventure seed was planted a few years back while reading through a cycling touring book; Bicycle Journeys with Jerry. A group of retired folks trekked across the Grand Canyon in a day. Heck if they can do it we can do it, right??? Err…Ugh…Umm
All the reading material we could find HIGHLY DISCOURAGED attempting to hike across the Grand Canyon in a single day. Plus after attempting to book primitive camping and laying out our travel plans with the rangers we received a letter back recommending we reconsider along with this message -
“Experience has shown that trips such as the one you requested all too often result in off-itinerary camping, injury, and occasionally death.” & “Your request indicated that you intended to hike rim to rim; will mean a 25 mile hike to the South Rim. This distance is virtually impossible for all but ultra marathon runners who have been training for years for a challenge of this magnitude.”
Once you get a idea planted in your head it’s hard to be talked out of it and it was a trip of a lifetime to complete, possibly even more so since it was discouraged.
A summary of the trip was:
Leave Austin 7 am and arrive in Phoenix at 7:25 am
8:30 am drive from Phoenix to the South Rim
20 min pit-stop in Flagstaff for Lunch
12:30 pm Arrive at the Bright Angel Lodge at the South Rim to take in the Views
1:00 pm Check in with the Trans Canyon Shuttle
1:30 pm Depart Bright Angel Lodge for the North Rim
We talked the TCS touring company into letting us drop off our rental car near the gravel lot at the South Kaibab Trail Head
6:30 pm arrive at the North Rim Lodge just in time for dinner reservations (booked 6 months in advance)
8:30 pm Hike the 1 mile from the Lodge to the campgrounds
10 pm asleep
3:45 am alarm phone clock
4:30 am 1 mile hike to the North Kaibab Trail Head
4:50am the hike starts at 8,250 ft
10:20am arrive at Phantom Ranch at 2,400ft
2 hour lunch break (longer then expected)
1:20pm start up the South Kaibab Trail
7 mile trail with slightly less water stops (only by 2 miles), less shade (still some), steeper, but it’s shorter
5:50pm Made it out of the South Rim at 7,200ft
Our Supplies (we over packed)
Large Hiking pack & backpack, both have holders for Camelbaks
2 x 3 liter Camelbak (refilled twice apiece)
2 x 20 ounce water bottles (used to mix Pedialyte Powder mix x 6)
9 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches (we ate 8 of them)
4 bags of beef jerky (only needed one)
1+ lb bag of trail mix (ate only 4 handfuls)
Lightweight camping tent (weighs in at 2.5lbs)
$8 Academy Sleep Bag x 2 (we donated these to the North Rim Camping store)
2 x Air-up pool rafts as sleeping pads (also donated)
Clothes – Hiking pant/shorts, breathable shirt, hiking boots, two pairs of socks, headlamp, thin rain jacket, Thermal Underwear long sleeve Shirt, beanie, light “magic” gloves (lows were in the 30′s overnight at the north rim) x 2
The biggest question we were asked leading up to it was “Why?”, most implying to take our time and enjoy the scenery. I thought about this quite a bit during the hike and pondered the question of “am I not enjoying the views?” or “would I enjoy this more over a multi-day span?”.
It wasn’t until half-way through until I started to get a idea of why people view that we are not enjoying it. At Phantom Ranch around noon surrounded by hikers alike, people asked “what trail did you take?”, “what trail you taking out”, and “how long are you staying?”. Once we told folks what we were up to most rolled their eyes in disbelief or glad it wasn’t them. Once we told them we were heading up South Kaibab Trail they all thought we were crazy, “it’s too hot”, “not enough water”, and “no shade”. We decided they were from the North or West Coast, it only got up to 88 degrees that day.
These comments seemed very similar to those who said we were rushing through the hike; naysayers! Call it the human psyche or what not, but it seems if you are taking something to a extreme from anothers point of view then it must not be enjoyable. For the record we very much enjoyed the views and the sights in a day.
We were lucky though at lunch to run into one couple, in fact the only couple to pass us on the downhill hike in, they were in their 50′s-60′s from North Carolina. They asked the same question as others, but when we let them know the concerns the others have brought up they simply asked “how long did it take you to come down?”. With our response of 5 hours 30 minutes (their time was 4 hours 30 minutes) they quickly responded that we would be fine and that we would make it up in 4 hours as they have many times (we allotted 7 hours, but made it in 5.5 hours).
Their well timed positive words of encouragement were all we needed to continue our plans and to complete this trip of a lifetime.
– Hike the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim in a Day – CHECK
Looking at the numbers since we moved into the house and doing some math, that I may of got wrong, it will take us 13.8 years to pay off the Solar System. This is a estimate and not 100% accurate as I didn’t take into the account the rate change from less < then to > greater then 500 kWh; I plan to do this at some point in the future.
Feel free to download the spreadsheet and run the numbers yourself, as I do make errors quite common.
Cancer is a coward, it is has no face, it is a equal opportunist killer, and I hate cancer.
Long before I became a fan of Lance Armstrong and joined the Livestrong bandwagon my family and extended family had been facing cancer over the generations. With over 11 immediate / extend family members to succumb and overcome everything from skin, breast, pancreatic, colon, lung, and brain cancer we uniformly have a disgust for it.
In June of 2005 in Maui, HI I proposed to Emily Sue to be my wife and thankfully she accepted, something many people don’t know is when I booked the airline tickets it wasn’t my plan or on my radar to get married. The sudden unknown change didn’t come to me when several people including co-workers asked / harassed if I was proposing, no it came to me through a surprisingly much sadder situation that made me realize time was precious and moving fast.
In March of 2005 my 11 year old Golden Retriever, Shadow, was diagnosed with colon cancer. Shadow had been my pet and family member since I was 14 years old and after I moved to Austin the second time in 2000 became once again my best friend. Shadow passed away just a few months after being diagnosed.
I hate Cancer.
We moved beyond the passing of Shadow and after getting married adopted our first little guy of our own, Vegas. After almost a year with Vegas we knew he and us needed another companion and I was ready for another big dog; meet Chance (circa 2007, 6 weeks old)
Through the years the boys have grown up together and become best of buds.
It’s been three years and two months since we have had Chance (3.5 years old) and Vegas (4 years old) and we love the heck out them, we know they are dogs and not real children, but to us for now, they are our family.
Chance is a crazy active dog, he loves nothing more then a ball, the outdoors, to run free, and run like crazy. Leading up to my Marathon in February he participated in all 9 months of training and got to a point where half marathons barely made him pant. He got so strong that he built up his endurance to 18 miles with more to go, if I would of let him, he is a athlete in every sense of the word.
I hate Cancer
About 3 weeks ago Chance developed a limp in his front right leg, this was really no big deal, he tends to hurt a foot here and there usually due to a splinter or thorn. Coincidentally the timing of this limp was 3 days before his annual shots and checkup, so we thought great we will let the Vet take a look at it. This time unlike other times I noticed the limp was due to pain in his shoulder versus paw, the doc took a look at it and said it can be one of a few things; sprained or pulled muscle, a piece a cartilage that separated from the bone, or at worst a shoulder rotator cuff injury. The vet said since it had been only couple days since injury instead of spending money on x-rays already that we can give him some pain pills, Duramaxx, and monitor that he gets better. Well after a couple weeks and no improvement we took him back to the vet, last Wednesday the doc shot x-rays and was 95% sure that it was Osteosarcoma (bone cancer). The doc still wanted to confirm with a second opinion and on last Friday the Radiologist took at look at the scans and agreed.
I hate Cancer
This story and fight is long from over, we go in on Tuesday to get a chest x-ray scans to see if the cancer has spread and depending on the results we may possibly amputate his front right leg to lessen the pain in the coming months and hopefully slow the spread. With the costs of treatment and the lack of insurance we will have to make some tough decisions as it comes to chemotherapy and the quality of life balance, though like before we will do our best to appreciate the precious time we have with Chance and use these life lessons to bring Emily Sue and I stronger and closer together.
Thanks for all the wishes, love, and support – we will make sure to shower them on to Chance so that he knows he is loved
Last Monday night I experienced my 1st Sub 24 hour Overnight (S24O) bicycle camping trip with the cross country experts Russ & Laura from the PathLessPedaled and more of their blog followers. It was pretty tough to go considering it was a school night and all, plus I had a 9:30am meeting the next morning back at work.
The ride met up at 7pm at Freewheeling and departed closer to 7:30 to head to McKinney Falls state park. The pace was easy to slow and we had about 14 riders ranging in skill level and touring setups, with the distance at about 13 miles it took us well over a hour to get to the park (I think we averaged 10mph on the way out).
The camp was fun, but 6 of us quickly departed for a 6 mile round trip beer run (avg. 15+ mph this time). Once we got back folks were in full social swing, it was fun to hear most folks background and stories from chefs in the domain, bartenders, pedicabs, etc… etc.. plus more knowledge about how Russ and Laura do it and what is next for them.
We ended up staying awake until 2am and I ended up crashing before the final 6 (including Russ and Laura) who were starting to jam on the guitar (good serenade music versus my cycling buddy Ondre’s snoring, jk). Morning came early with a 6am wake time since I had a 9:30am work meeting. Ondre was nice enough to join me on the ride back, we got out of camp by 6:45am made it to his place around 7:30am (much faster this time) and I made it in to work with 30 minutes to spare.
