Mission: SM-2010-1

Mar 23, 2010 10:55

Last month, inspired by our space program, I decided to plan and prepare all of my visits to my mom as if I were going out to the International Space Station. I can only really have about 3 days and trips to Home Depot and Costco cost me at least 90 min.

I have a series of testing and preparation to do before I even consider booking my ticket:
1- acquire and test solar security lights
2- acquire mobile hotspot for a webcam
3- practice setting mouse traps

For (1), I have 1 light and it's been testing out wonderfully...



Apologies for the blurry picture, that's my fancy camera phone... :/

Anyway, it's incredibly bright and has been working well here. It should do very well in SoCal. I really like the long wire for the solar panel, should offer good flexibility for installation. This has been the best consumer solar led light I've come across so far. It's about $70-80 at a local hardware store but $50 at Amazon.

I did order a 2nd one, but it was faulty and just did the RMA this morning. This is certainly one of the reasons I'm doing this. I want to make sure everything works. Too bad I don't have the same payload capacity as a space shuttle...

For (2), mobile hotspot has been picked up on Sat and activated on Sun. It supports up to 5 wifi devices. I'll be mounting this on the house outside my parents' bedroom window. One of my brothers offered me 2 of his IP cameras. Then he forget and then offered 1. Ok, better to not depend on him I guess. Another boon to having everything ready before heading out.

For (3), I'm terrible at setting traps. My hands shake and then I trigger them. I need to pick some up soon so I can start practicing. Ever since an earthquake back in the 90s, there's been a mouse problem. But it was my dad who was able to trap them. Not something my mom can handle.

Funny to use the analogy of treating my mom's house like the space station, but I think this is a technique that will help me accomplish a marathon list of tasks...

sm-missions, family

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