Comcast xfinity Cable Modem Activation

Comcast Xfinity Cable Modem Activation

new one of the latest (Nov 14, 2017) activated by a technician on site.  then anytime one would open Safari 10.0.1 the Activation page comes up and can not be gotten rid of.  2 hours on phone with Comcast Xfinity and they had no idea how to fix a problem they caused.

Tried deleting cookies from both Xfinity and Comcast, did not work

Fabulous Applecare support suggested removing the Homepage under general preferences.  Restart Safari and that worked.

Seems like the code on the modem overrides the Safari setting. Just like any hacker would do!

Plus they don't document it.  Or train their support people.

This was after 12 hours on the phone and 5 technician visits over the past few months because they obsoleted the Motorola Surfboard modem without telling me.  And then later, they changed video encoding codecs thus obsoleting my Moxi DVR.  Again without telling me.

Kind of stupid since they know what equipment I have installed and cheerfully take my $185 per month.

Very poor end of product life planning.

Roost Smoke Carbon Dioxide Alarm Battery Configuration

Having spent many. hours trying to get the battery to connect to WiFi and simarly talking online with their support person and engineer, here is what I found works.

Please click on an ad or two to pay me a bit for saving you time.

The WiFi must be 2.4 Ghz

The SSID name MUST NOT have a ' or a - in it.  It might not even work if the SSID has anything other than lower case letters only and/or no more than one word.

If you have a battery working properly and you want to change its WiFi connection, I found that trying to change the connection for the previous instance does not work.  Delete that device in the smartphone app and add a new one.  Then it works fine.

I'd say the Roost people have a pretty poor engineering team to NOT have anticipated different spellings of the SSID and the support/documentation people for having not updated their troubleshooting instructions with what you see in the 4th paragraph above which I discovered with them in Dec 2015 and as of this writing in April, 2016 it has not been updated.  

I think the product is a great idea to be able to early detect smoke before the flames are coming out the roof.  Pretty good insurance for $32 covering the length of the battery of say 5 years.

BUT if they don't up their game in engineering and in support documentation, they will be overcome by an competition that does.

Using Turbo Tax for Years Has Been a NIght Mare...and it just continues

I need to pay estimated taxes for next year.  So I opened TurboTax on my Mac Book Pro, inported last year's taxes and tried to save the file.

I got "the document could not be saved" error message.

When to Turbotax support website and they asked me what the issue is and then gave me a ticket and phone number to call.  Called it and they said they would call be back.

They did and the automated system clicked around and hung up.

I called again and the system said my issue has been resolved.

Tried to use their online support system and they had to do double factor identification.

So far 45 mins wasted and no resolution.

I wonder if they consider the customer's satisfaction when they set up such a system? 

Essential Oils used in Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Food and Fragrance

Just got Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Food and Fragrance by Mandy Afel and Daniel Patterson.  I was interested in it because Heston Blumenthal, so he writes, works with a perfumer in Switzerland.

The book has receipts and sources for the oils.  But there is no shopping list one can just go out and buy them and work their way through the cookbook.

Until now!  Here is the list and on what page the essential oil is used. Everything listed is an essential oil unless otherwise noted.

First is a list by page in order.  Then an alphabetized list for ordering.

1. Coriander essential oil 39
2. Basil 39
3. Spearmint 39 42 43
4. Bergamot 39
5. Cucumber Hydrosoil 45 46 47 48
6. Rosemary Hydrosoil 45
7. Fir  50
8. Lime 50
9. Lavender 50
10. Geranium 55
11. Sweet orange 55 57
12. YLang YLang 55
13. Blood orange 56
14. Bitter orange 58
15. Tarragon 76 78 79
16. Perilla 82
17. Lavender 89
18. Litsea cubeba 95
19. Chamomile 100 101
20. Orange flower water 107 108
21. Neroli 109
22. Jasmine pearls 111 112 113
23. Rosewater 116 117
24. Moroccan rose absolute 118
25. Cepe absolute 130
26. Cinnamon bark 151 152
27. Black pepper 155 156 57
28. Ginger 160
29. Cumin 165 168
30. Coriander 170 171
31. Saffron threads 193

Alphabetized 

Basil 39Bergamot 39Bitter orange 58Black pepper 155 156 57Blood orange 56Cepe absolute 130Chamomile 100 101Cinnamon bark 151 152 Coriander 170 171Coriander essential oil 39Cucumber Hydrosoil 45 46 47 48Cumin 165 168Fir  50Geranium 55Ginger 160Jasmine pearls 111 112 113Lavender 50Lavender 89 Lime 50Litsea cubeba 95Moroccan rose absolute 118Neroli 109Orange flower water 107 108Perilla 82Rosemary Hydrosoil 45 Rosewater 116 117 Saffron threads 193Spearmint 39 42 43Sweet orange 55 57Tarragon 76 78 79YLang YLang 55

Temper Chocolate Sous Vide

Seal in bag and place in water bat at 115 degrees F.  Should melt in about 5 minutes.

Reduct temperature to 81 degrees and add ice to cool.

Increase temperature to 90 degrees F.  Every minute lift the bag up and squeeze to mix it up.

Hold at 90 for use.

Cut off end of bag to dispense and reseal to keep.

Taco Seasoning Ingredients

Taco Seasoning Ingredients

I want to make the kind of seasoning flavors one gets when one buys a Taco at Taco Bell.  But I don't want to buy their seasoning (I use to) because I have no clue as to what their food engineers put into it especially to increase shelf life.

For all I know those little, potentially unnatural, ingredients might have a longer shelf life in my body too!  The FDA generally do not research those things.

So I have started to develop my list here first by looking at what Lawry's puts in theirs:

• Paprika
• Cumin
• Oregano
• Chili peppers 
• Onions
• Sugar 
• Garlic
• Salt
• Cocoa powder

Perfect Eggs

Boiling water: three minutes
shock: 1 minute in ice water bath.
143°F water bath: 45 minutes