My wife and I found a lost dog on July 4th, 2010. We were lost ourselves after finding the lost dog did not have a collar or RFID chip. It was July 4th and we could see the many fireworks scared it. Our family helped find the owners, but I figured posting this somewhere for future reference would be handy:
- Create a found/lost posting in lost & found on: http://raleigh.craigslist.org
- Create a found/lost posting at: Triangle Lost Pets (sponsored by Wake County)
- Want to check for a RFID chip? Animal Hospitals can read these chips. If it is after hours, this vet is open 24 hours: Quail Corners Animal Hospital
- Lost and Found @ SPCA
- Leave your phone number with people when asking around the neighborhood (just in case the owners ask the same folks later).
- Pet Finder also has alot of information for finding hospitals.
- Wait… for any replies (hardest part).
Letter of Separation
State timeline and intentions clearly. It does not need to be overly detailed, but it will go in your file with HR. There are plenty of example letters online for reference.
401k
Decide how to handle 401k, which Clark Howard would say: Roll it Over! Just need to call to see if roll-over is an option.
Benefits
Determine when health benefits from the old Company end and at the new Company begin. If there is any lapse (which is bad) between when your old coverage ends and the new begins, decide on paying for COBRA Insurance which may be offered from the old Company’s health plan. Keep in mind, single-payer insurance can be expensive and COBRA insurance normally is not subsidized due to voluntary separation. If the job-loss is involuntary, COBRA is actually subsidized and pretty economical. Going on a spouse’s plan is an option as well. Typically a job-loss is a qualifying condition for the spouse to update their benefits.
Stock options
If vested but not exercised, and it is beneficial to use them (after taxes, etc), don’t forget about them before leaving!
Vacation
If you have unused vacation and it has already been accrued for the year, ask about getting paid for it.
And lastly, enjoy the adventure 
My Elemental Designs A2-300 subwoofer showed up earlier in the month. I reviewed it on their website but didn’t think I did it justice. After setting the subwoofer in an initial placement I reran Audyssey. After verifying crossovers/settings I started up Serenity. The opening scene made the wife came running in to see what was up (plus she likes that movie) :-) Initial impressions are very good. I still have tweaking to do, but does that ever finish?
The A2-300 was ordered on January 24 2010 and showed up March 9 2010. It could have been 2 weeks sooner. My order took a little longer than normal because during production eD changed the roundover appearance from 0.5 to 0.75 on the cabinet. I was interested in the new style after seeing the forum post photos. In my order I also had requested that both the spiked and hourglass feet be included due to flooring/placement concerns. Either way the feet are sturdy.
See the unboxing gallery after the jump.
Post Fail
Blogging is hard. Sitting down and working through the writing process takes time and that time commitment has been the main problem. My plan is to make posts from any timeframe rather than what just occurred in the recent now.
This plan should open up post possibilities from the past, present, and future WordPress luckily has a way to set the publish date so the post can represent when those things actually happened.
It at least should make for an interesting Internet Archive history over time.
Operation LiftMaster
One of my LiftMaster garage door openers (1/2HP, Model 1205A, MFT 1999) stopped working after 10 years. Upon first glance, I saw white dust had accumulated in the Up/Down travel adjustment holes. Upon removing the casing, the nylon drive gears had failed (the drive gear that turns the sprocket had stripped).
This past weekend I fixed the opener in about three hours and I highly recommend the: Liftmaster Gear and Sprocket Assembly Kit Part Number 41C4220A.
I also bought Sears Craftsman Liftmaster Garage Door Opener Gear Kit – Part #41A2817 as well because my house has two LiftMaster openers. But I found the sprocket solution to be better in this case as I could just drop it in. I now have the extra stripped sprocket which I can use with the extra part kit to replace the stripped gear and reuse it on my second opener when and if that fails.
Remove animations from Gnome
gconf-editor
- ‘desktop/gnome/interface/enable_animations’
- ‘apps/panel/global/enable_animations’
- ‘apps/metacity/general/reduced_resources’
Reduced resources for Metacity also turns hides window contents when moving. But turning on accessibility fixes that:
- ‘desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility’
300 Gallon Rain Water Collector
A summer project is complete! Just in time as we are under water restrictions due to a drought.
Installed under my front porch is a 300 gallon rainwater collector and is modeled after my Dad’s rain barrel. The main difference between ours is the pump is not hooked up to a pressure sensor. Rumor has it that the pumps used do better when there is a continuous flow of water through them (even though restricted) in order to keep them cool. We will see how each approach lasts over time.
Mousepad wedding favors…
Hello world!
Welcome to chrishemp.com. Maybe one day I’ll actively write something here.