Cabin Fever Part 4: New Plans For How The Unit Will Work

 [The OAuth logo, designed by Chris Messina - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported]

In Part 3 of this "Cabin Fever" project, we were able to get a Temperature reading sent by email.

We realized that it was quite a lot of work for this little computer (technically a microcontroller) to send email. Now, we wanted it to receive emails too.

Revisiting the Original Plans
Our original plans were to:
1. Read a Temperature
2. send an email when the temperature was below some setpoint (like 32 degrees Fahrenheit which is the same as Zero degrees Centigrade, the freezing point of water).
3. Send an email every day with the past 24 temperatures that were read for each of the past 24 hours so we know that the unit is still working
4. Take a command from an email that tells the until to report temperature
5. Maybe, just maybe, also report when power failed

We have realized now that we need to simplify this a bit to allow it to fit into the small RAM memory (1K) on the Arduino Uno we are using.

New Plan
So, the new plan is as follows:
1. Read a Temperature
2. send an email (and copy the email address for the cell phone) when the temperature was below some setpoint (This will orignally be set to 40 degrees Fahrenheit because that is what was requested by the person I'm doing this for).
3. Send an email every week (and copy the email address for the cell phone) with the temperature so we know that the unit is still working
4. Take a command from an email that tells the until to report temperatures  (it will tell how often and how many times)
5. Forget about reporting when the power failed, it's just not practical at this time.

Detailed Requirements
This is what we decided when thinking about the details of the above:

1. When it starts up, it will send the temp once just to let you know it's working (and if it comes back from a power failure)
2. It will send the temp once a week just so you know it's still working
3. When it senses a temp below some setpoint (originally 40 degrees F) then it will send the temp.

It will work in 15 minute increments.

If the temp remains below the setupoint, it will send the temp every hour for the next 24 hours
Then it will send the temp only once a day.

(note: to use the email sending service on temboo that I selected, they only allow a certain number of free "calls" to their routines per month: 250, otherwise you need to pay )

Of course, if the temp goes above the setpoint, it will send one email to show the temp was above the setpoint , then it will stop sending emails again.

4. We can send an email to cause it to send some temps.
The subject of the email message must have the following characters, then it will send the temp according to the parameters:
CFRxx,yy
Where CF means "Cabin Fever" (the name I gave this project)
and
Where R means "Report"
and
where xx is the number of readings you want it sent (01 to 99)
and
where yy is a two digit number of the multiple of 15 minutes (01 to 99)
So, for example,  The following command:
CFR08,12
will cause it to send 8 temp readings that would each be 3 hours apart (12*15minutes)

5. If there is enough memory, I would also suggest we support a command to set the setpoint

CFTzz

where zz is a two digit setpoint temp in Fahrenheit

Issues with Oauth
In order to use Temboo to get gmail emails,we need to set up Oauth. You've probably seen it before, it's usually used when you allow a website to use your facebook or email login to login to some third party website. Oauth (Open Authorization) is used a lot for this. You can read more on it here on wikipedia and technical info here on the Oauth.net website.
This isn't all that complicated, there are instructions, but I ran into a problem that used up 3 to 4 hours because my temboo password had a backslash in it and that was causing issues with the temboo website. It took about a dozen emails  back and forth over 3 days with the temboo support staff to figure out that the password I had used was the issue.

New Issues with Temboo
Once I got past that obstacle, I started looking into the Temboo "choreo" that allowed me to get emails.  I realized that Temboo only allows 250 free "calls" per  month. I want the "Cabin Fever" unit to check for an email and when there is one, use the information in the email to tell the "Cabin Fever" unit how often to report temperatures.  Well, since checking for email is a "call" that counts toward the 250 free calls per month, that limits how often I can check for emails.   Using a little math:
24 hours / day X  30 days / Month  / 250 Calls /month =  2.88 hours/call.
So, we would only be able to check email every 2.88 hours. Not good.
We need a new solution.

IBM Bluemix and the Internet of Things Foundation
So, I am now looking into IBMs Internet of Things Foundation and Bluemix programming on the cloud.

An account for Bluemix is free for 30 days and I understand it's also free after that as long as you stay under certain limits.
So, I am following this tutorial and I'll be posting more info about this next.
"Build a cloud-ready temperature sensor with the Arduino Uno and the IBM IoT Foundation, Part 1: Build the circuit and set up the environment"

See part 5

Cabin Fever Part 3: Sending the Temperature Using Email

In the last installment of this project, I was able to send email.

This next part of the project is to send the temperature in an email.

The Hardware: Adding the sensor to the Shield
 I wondered if the Ethernet Shield would be using pin 2 where I had connected the temperature sensor in the first part of this project. I thought about reading up on the shield to find out, but then I decided to just try it.  So, I added the sensor to pin2, then I reloaded the first program and it worked! So, "all systems are go" from the hardware standpoint.

Running out of Memory
I quickly found out that I could run out of memory with the Arduino Uno. My program started doing weird things when I had long text strings to send (when I tried to send the temp in Centigrade and Fahrenheit with those words like I did in the first part of this project).  This used up a bit of the time to figure out too.

Simplify
So, I changed to having a very minimal program. I only sent the temperature.

I was able to send the temperature to two email addresses and to the email address for the cell phone so that it came to the cell phone as a SMS message!

What's Next?
So, then, since I decided to simplify, what would come next?  My original plans to do so much seemed too complex and out of reach with the memory constraints.  It was time to "go back to the drawing board."

What do you think would be a next step or a re-planing?
(see Part 4)

Cabin Fever Project Part 2: Sending Email

In the first part of this project, I was able to get the unit reading the temperature.
This second part of the project was be able to send email (so that I could send the temperature).

I spent about 5 or 6 hours total on this part of the project.

The Hardware
As you can see in the photo above, I was able to just plug the ethernet shield into the Arduino Uno board.  They just stacked on top of each other. There seems to be a clearance issue between the ethernet cable socket on the shield and the USB socket on the Uno below it, but I can put an insulator in there later. For now, I just made sure they were not touching; we don't need any electrical shorts now, do we?

Barking up the wrong tree (going down a path that led to nowhere)
The first 2 to 3 hours was spent following a few instructions I had found for using one technique to send emails (located here and here and here). But, after trying to get email working using this technique (an email SMTP server), I was not able to get it to work. It seems that finding an SMTP server that doesn't require encryption (SSL or TLS) isn't possible anymore. And, the Arduino isn't powerful enough to do encryption. Also, it appears that projects that used free services in the past (like twilio and SMTP2GO), no longer appear to be free to use (for some I seem to be able to set up a free account to test, but then have to pay to use it regularly).

Using a Service
So, I found this article about using a service called Temboo. It's free if you make less than a certain number of calls per month. I don't see us going over that number, but I can program it so that we don't.

Within a few hours of playing with this service (I was slowed by some technical issues of being logged out of the Temboo service), I was able to get it to send email from the Arduino.

 I also was able to send a text message (SMS) to a cell phone by sending an email to a specific email address for the phone carrier. Most carriers support this.


(Note: upon writing this, I also found some other means to send email. I may want to check these out:  sendgrid article (which talks about using node.js code instead of C for the Arduino) and this article which talks about using MongoDB for storing data)

So, now I have the email working. The next step is to connect part 1 of the project (Temperature) and Part 2 of the project (sending email) together so that I can send the temperature via email.

Stay tuned!
(see part 3)

Cabin Fever - A Temperature Sensor and Alert for A Cabin Away From Home

Part 1 of a multiple part story...

I wanted to help out someone I know by making a temperature sensor that would alert them if they were away from their cabin and the temperature went below freezing (which could cause the pipes to freeze). I through it would be fun to use the term "Cabin Fever" as the name of this project.

I started with an Arduino Uno Microcontroller. Arduino is open source hardware, so I have a clone.

There are three components to this project:
1. Temperature - we want to measure temperature
2. Email for notifications - we want to send a notification when the temperature is below a certain point (and, if possible, receive email so we can get commands to send a report or change the setpoint temperature)
3. Time - we want to record the time of when we get the temperature (we want to have an option of sending a report of past hourly temperatures with their corresponding time)

And, maybe (if possible) we might add a 4th component:  Sensing a power outage because this unit won't be too helpful if the power goes out too!

Parts to Buy:

• Arduino Uno
• Ethernet Shield (this allows the Uno to be connected to the internet to send and receive emails)
• DS18B20 Temperature sensor
• Power supply
• Case to hold it all in
• a few extra parts:  4.7K Ohm Resistor, Connecting wires

Here's how I tackled the project:
1. Temperature
I found a "sketch" (program) for the Arduino uno for the DS18B20 temperature sensor.  To connect the hardware, I looked at the diagram there. I found another article that helped me understand the pinout a bit better. I connected up the hardware and had it printing out the temperature through the serial monitor. You can see the three wires and resistor I connected in the photo above.

This worked really well and I had temperature readings working within and hour of starting!

Since the sensor reports in Centigrade, I did add some code to convert it to Fahrenheit.

 Serial.print(temperature);
  Serial.print(" Degrees C, ");
  temperature = (temperature * 9.0) /5.0 +32.0;
   Serial.print(temperature);
  Serial.println(" Degrees F");
 delay(1000); //just here to slow down the output so it is easier to read

Originally, I was getting the wrong conversion to Fahrenheit, so I found this article that taught me to use 9.0, 5.0, and 32.0 which fixed the conversion error.

Here's the output I'm getting:
24.69 Degrees C, 76.44 Degrees F
Our thermometer here says it's 75 degrees, so that's pretty close.

So, now I'm getting the temp readings.

My next task is to get the function working to send emails. That will be in my next post.

Treat People Well While They Are Still With Us

Recently we've had some people leave us : People have passed away (some seemed way too young), people have moved away, and people have left our employer and moved on.

One of these people passed away (at a relatively young age) just recently. At one point, she had posted on Facebook a story about a child in her family asking why we treat people so well after they're gone. He asked why we don't treat them well while they're with us.

This is a good question and something to think about. I'm trying to remember to treat people well while they are still with us. I'm learning to spend time with people now. I'm learning to encourage and compliment people now - while they are with us. 

The Bible says: "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."  (Romans 12:18)

And "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." (Philippians 2:3).

What are your thoughts on this subject?

The Story of the Orange (negotiating)

The Orange
 

Even though I have 39,000 views of my blog, I have only one follower, so I guess I need to step things up a bit here. I'm going to try to post every Monday.

This is a story I heard in a negotiation class:

The Orange

There were two children (a boy and a girl) who were fighting over the last orange when their mom walked into the kitchen.
The mom took the orange, cut it in half and gave each child half.
This seemed to be a good compromise to make them each somewhat happy.
Neither of them were very satisfied with the result.
After more questioning, the mom found out that the son wanted to eat the fruit and the daughter wanted the peel to make orange zest for a recipe she was working on.

So, the point of the story is that sometimes we quickly think of a compromise (we're jumping to the "solution") when if we spend time to listen to the "need" we may find a better solution that meets the goal best (a better "negotiation").

So, when negotiating (and we use negotiations all the time in life and at work), try to find out the needs and goals of each party before we jump to solutions.

Pros and Cons of Having a Dog

A friend recently mentioned that they are thinking about getting a dog. So, I thought it would be good to blog about having a dog.

When I was a child we had a midsize dog that was a mix of mongrel and beagle and a few other special ingredients. Now we have Toby who is a miniature dachshund.

Every breed has its pluses and minuses.

Here are some pro's and con's about having a dog

Pro's

1. They show they're love like nothing else. When you come home, it's like it's a party!
2. They are good listeners
3. They get you out of the house for exercise
4. They're compassionate
5. They're good watch dogs and will warn you in a time of danger
6. They can learn tricks and they are very entertaining to watch
7. They're soft (usually)

8. They are fun to play with

9. Dog is God spelled backwards (here's a song about it)

Cons
1. Somebody has to take care of them all the time (even after your child's promise that they will do it wears thin). Small breeds are less work, they are lighter, make less messes, fit in smaller spaces, etc.

2. They bark a lot sometimes
3. You will need to find someone to care for them when you go out or pay for them to be in a kennel or have someone care for them in your home
4. Because not many places allow dogs, you sometimes are held back from doing things you would do otherwise. But, that's what love is all about, caring for another more than yourself.

So, 9 Pros and only 4 Cons!  What are your questions or thoughts about dogs?  Please comment.

What to do Before you Lose your Mobile Device (or it's Stolen)

I recently misplaced my cell phone for almost a day. As you can see in the photo here, I had dropped it in the driveway and shoveled it away while shoveling snow after church a few Sundays ago.

It's not the first thing I've lost.

Whether you have a cell phone or a tablet, here are some things I learned from this episode and "events" when I've lost other things. I've listed my tips in the following categories:

1. What to do before you misplace, lose, break, or drop in water your mobile device (or have it stolen)
2. What to do after its gone

1.  Beforehand

Make it easy for someone to return
Put a label on it with contact number and address
Put contact info on the screen. Many phones let you put a message in the lock screen or change the background screen. You can make a background screen with your contact info.

Make it easy to find

Install the iOS Find my iPhone app or the "Android Device Manager" app

Make it difficult to Steal

Put a screen lock on the phone so that if someone steals it, then they can't get to all your private information. (you can usually find this in settings).

Use an app that allows you to wipe your phone if someone steals it (iOS Find my iPhone app or the "Android Device Manager" app)

Backup your data regularly

For ios devices you can use icloud

For Android (and some of these apps work on ios devices) you can use google sync or "Back up photos from a mobile device"

You can also use the Flickr app on ios or android and it will automatically upload all of your mobile photos!

2. When it's gone
Find it right away 

Don't wait for the battery to die (like I did). Use your "find my phone app" or call it.

Retrace your steps
Where did you last see it? Where did you go since then?

Use online tools
If you are using a mobile device that you have connected to a Google account, this tool can show you where the last places are that it was located: Google Location History (Try it now to see where you've been).  This was very helpful to me when I shoveled my phone into the snow and the battery died because it was so cold!  I could tell that it was somewhere near my house. 

To set up location history on your mobile device, you might want to read the following:

Location Reporting & History for iPhone & iPad

Turn location reporting on or off (iOS)

Manage your Location History (for Android devices)\

If it's been stolen, wipe it clean

If the phone is stolen, consider using one of the apps mentioned above (iOS Find my iPhone app or the "Android Device Manager" app) to wipe the phone of all your data.

 What pointers to you have?

Learn From "Safety Warnings"

One of the companies I worked at in the past wanted to increase their safety record. A person was brought in to talk about safety. What I remember most was that he told us that when we get a "safety warning", we should learn from it and remove the safety issue.
   For example, if someone trips over something, but they are alright, they should move it so no one else trips over it and gets hurt more seriously. Or, they should report it to someone who can get it moved.
   Another example of how I've applied this is if I have a thought like "someone could get hurt by that " then I act on the "safety warning" and remove the issue before someone does get hurt.
   How can you keep this in mind the next time you get a "safety warning?"

DIY: Rubber Band Ukulele Toy

 

A few days ago, I wrote about the Wood Five Pointed Star Coin Bank that I made for our new granddaughter. Now, here is the toy I made for our grandson.

Our grandson enjoys seeing his dad play the ukulele. He also likes to see me, "grandpa", playing the ukulele and guitar. So, it was no surprise that our daughter put a ukulele (or guitar) on his Christmas list. He's only 1.5 years old, so it would have to be durable. I had already been trying to decide what to make for him for Christmas and already had an idea, but one day while looking at ideas for variations of what I had wanted to make, I saw a piece of wood cut out in the shape of a guitar. That's when a "light bulb" went on in my head and I realized that I could make him a toy rubber band ukulele!   If the rubber bands broke, they could easily be replaced with a new set.

The first attempt at cutting the wood with a Dremel tool went bad.  It went out of control and even with the routing attachment, I couldn't hold it steady.

 

All my scroll saw blades for my sabre saw were broken (another story for another day), so I went and bought some more. I was able to easily cut out the shape now. I traced the shape of a soprano ukulele (the smallest type of uke) and cut it out of a thin piece of luan plywood.

 

 

I cut the same same shape out of a 1 inch thick piece of pine stock. I also cut another piece of luan plywood for the back of the uke. I then hand traced a line on the inside edge of the 1 inch thick pine. This line was about a half inch inside the "body" of the uke.

 

I then used a drill bit to make a starter hole in the 1 inch thick wood and then cut it out with the sabre saw. I used a hole saw to cut out the sound hole on the top piece of luan plywood. You can see in this photo how the pieces overlapped to make the uke. 

 

Then it was time to carefully glue and clamp them together. 

 

clamps, clamps and more clamps. 

 

Next, I needed to cut out two "bridges" for the "strings." I used a piece of oak trim that would normally be used as a transition between maybe two oak floors. It was beveled on the edges. You can see in this photo how I kept it attached to the big piece of trim so that I had something to hold onto it with while working on it. After it was cut out, then I made a groove in it with the dremel tool and a knife (more on that below). I also marked and cut slots for the "strings" (which would be for the rubber band strings).

 

Here is a close-up of how I made the groove underneath in each of the two bridges. The groove allows the ends of the rubber bands to wrap underneath.

 

 I glued the two bridges on with wood glue and more clamps.  

 

Here you can see how two rubber bands went around.

   

Then I sanded it, stained it with wood stain, and painted it with polyurethane.  I then used a permanent marker and a paint marked to make the frets and the nuts. The finished project is shown at the start of this post.  

What do you think about this project? How would you improve on it? Please comment!

DIY: Five Pointed Star Coin Bank

 

Our daughter was due to have a baby girl around Christmas. I wanted to make a present for the baby. My other daughter gave me an idea. While I was considering how to make what she suggested, I came up with another idea: A wooden coin bank! We have a wooden duck shaped coin bank that we've had since our children were little. My daughter who was expecting (she had the baby yesterday on Christmas day!) has been using "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" as a theme (see my earlier post about the sign I made with that theme). So, I decided on making a star shaped coin bank for the baby.

 

I looked around on the internet for some tips on how to make a 5 pointed star and came across a post about a "DIY Wooden Star" by the Rouge Engineer. That post gave me a good idea about how to make the wooden sides of the bank.  I was going to cut an outer and inner star shape on a flat board, but this design was simpler and looked much nicer!

It called for using a 1" by 2" board and cutting angles of 36 and 54 degrees. It called for cutting them using a chop saw (aka trim saw), which I don't have. After lots of trial and error trying to do it "by hand", I realized I needed a better way to get it done. Both of the angles were just a bit different than a 45 degree diagonal and I had a mitre box with 45 degree angles. I also had a DeWalt Hand saw that cuts faster than most. (The saw was a recent birthday present from my son-in-law. He has a similar one and I admired it for it's fast sawing ability.  ) I used a tool to measure and mark the two angles and then cut them as new angles in the mitre box.

 

 

Now, with the ability to hand cut those two angles, I clamped the 1" X 2" board into the mitre box and cut the angles as explained in the post. Note: I also wanted this star to be smaller, so my cuts for each point were 2" shorter than the measurements described in the post that I linked to above. 

 

  After cutting all of the pieces, I laid them together and saw that I indeed had a star!

 

Now I had to figure out how to connect the pieces. The post calls for nailing them, but I decided to glue them. First I glued the points together, then I glued the points into the star shape. 

   

Next, I had to figure out how to cut the acrylic (aka plexiglass) that would go on the front and back of the bank. I picked up 2 pieces from Home Depot. Each one was 11" by about 15" and .093" thick. Each one costed a bit less than $5. I read up on how to cut it on the internet (and watched some youtube videos). I marked the cut lines using a grease pencil (but later had a difficult time getting the grease off the edges of the wood). You can see that I also marked an A and B on the acrylic and the star so I would get it back on the same way (the star didn't come out exact since I cut it by hand).  I also marked where I would put screw holes at each point).

 

I used a power "Sabre Saw" (mine is actually "Skill" brand) to cut it. After a failed attempt that resulted in the acrylic breaking into many pieces, I went back to the internet and youtube to learn some more. I realized that I needed to keep it from vibrating and go slow with the saw. I also learned that I needed to clean away the little pieces of cut material because if they got under the saw, they would scratch the surface (even through there is a protective film that is on both sides of a new sheet of acrylic). So, I used a horsehair brush to clean everything off between each of the 40 cuts (two cuts per point and two sides of the bank). That slowed things down so that it took a long time.

I also learned that I needed to clamp down the material so that it didn't vibrate while cutting because that vibration causes it to break.

 

I realized that my saw table has a slot which allowed me to hold down the material with boards on both sides to minimize vibration. Here, in the photo below, you can see all of the pieces of material left after just one cut; they all had to be cleaned off after each cut.

   

To drill the holes, I started with my smallest drill bit and slowly worked up from there. I held the material in my hand so that if the bit jammed in the material, the material would spin instead of breaking in pieces. It was maticulous work. I also cut a slot for putting the coins into. The slot was made by cutting many holes near each other.

Here you can see the finished project.

 

Let me know your thoughts. Let me know if you try to make something like this! 

I'm Thankful to the Lord for What I Don't Have

On this day of Thanks, I'm most thankful to the Lord. And, I've realized that rather than be disappointed by what I think is missing, I'm thankful to Him for what's missing. Why?

Because I trust Him.

You see, when I was confirmed, my mom gave me a bible and in the front she wrote Proverbs 3:5-6:

Proverbs 3:5-6New International Version (NIV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

So, I trust the Lord, that although I am missing people today, I believe he's got it all taken care of and he knows what's best for me.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

 And, I'm thankful for what  (and who) I do have!

DIY Sign: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

My wife and I made this sign for the baby's room to give as a present at the baby shower this past weekend for our daughter and son-in-love. They are decorating the room in a beach motif.

Here are the photos of how we made this.

First, we took the recommendation of one of our friends who has the popular blog: The Thinking Closet and used a pallet.  You'll find more information on the two links I just gave you than I'm willing to copy here. I just used my God given (and father trained) know-how to pull the wood I needed.

Then we cut them to the size we wanted. In this case, we wanted them to be as wide as the 3 starfish we selected.

Then we placed them together and flipped them over and connected them together in the back. Make sure not to use screws that are so long that they come out the front: just hold the screw up to the two boards laid on top of each other and you'll see if they're too long (no measuring ruler required).

We placed a paper over it and creased it to get the layout of the boards so we could design the lettering

Then we used carbon paper to trace it to the sign

So, then we could see the placement of the lettering

Then we lettered the front with permanent markers and put a message on the back 

Here's a close-up of our message to the baby

Then we glued on the stars with hot glue! (just a little bit of glue, starfish aren't all that heavy)

Yes, that's a quick tutorial. Our daughter and Son-in-love really like it. We were able to contribute something we made together, by hand, to the baby's room!  They hung it over the changing table soon after we got home from the shower! Hooray! 

 

The Great Cell Phone Expedition: In Search for the Best Carrier

 

We are no longer under a contact, so I've been looking for a cell phone carrier.

We currently have Verizon Wireless, but we're trying Republic Wireless (the photo above is their "welcome kit" that came with the moto X phone I'm trying out). We've also considering Straight Talk and Consumer Cellular.  Here below is the run down so far. We invite your comments and suggestions.

First, let me say that there are 3 of us and we currently use about 3GB of data a month. We are restricted to 700 calling minutes (which we rarely use) and unlimited text. Two of us have the iphone 4 and one has a simple phone used only for texting and calling (without a desire to necessarily have a smart phone).

I comparing prices by computing costs over 2 years.

Verizon wireless:

This is the carrier we currently use. If we renew for a 2 year contract, they currently offer free upgrades to iphone6 for the two iphone4 models. The other phone could be an iphone 5c for free or a 5s for $99.  There is a $35 per line one time activation fee.

Monthly costs:

$60/month for 3GB data (I would get 22% discount on this with my employer)

$40 per phone 

this comes to about $167/month with discount

So, cost over 2 years is $167*24+($35*3) = $4108

Republic Wireless

This carrier makes calls over wifi to reduce costs. It has high satisfaction ratings. They offer only 3 phones, all Motorola phones. No contact is required, but you need to buy their phones up front. We are currently trying it with the Moto X phone for 30 days with a trial moneyback period. We've found a few issues with the service:

• One app we loaded said it wasn't compatible with the phone
• It doesn't seem to sync to the bluetooth in our Hyundai Tuscon car (2012)
• We found out that they don't yet allow us to send picture messages (MMS) to Straight Talk which a few very close family members have
• the network they use is Sprint which doesn't appear (on the coverage map) to have as much coverage in some areas we travel (there's no coverage for data in some areas from what I understand on the map)

Monthly Costs:

• $25 for unlimited talk and text and data (throttled back after 25GB) (note: there is a plan for $10 that might be used on one phone - that plan offers unlimited talk and text and data only over wifi)

One Time costs:

• They have a limited selection of 3 motorola phones (owned by Google, I understand)
• I like the phone except for the issues above, but it's not as versatile and doesn't have access to as many apps as the iphone)
• The Moto X (the one I'm trying) is $299
• The Moto E (this is a smartphone with not as many "bells and whistles" that could be used for one of the phones -it's supposed to be available on Oct 15): $99

 So, worst case over 2 years (note: no contact is required)
(3 * $25) * 24 months + (2 * $299 + $99) =   $2500 (might be $15*24=$360 less if use the $10/month plan)

This is a savings of $1600 over 2 years compared to verizon, but the coverage may not be as good and the phone does have the issues I listed above.

Consumer Cellular

This carrier is highly rated for customer satisfaction. We can get a AARP discount of 5% off the monthly fees. The use the AT&T network. There is no contract. They offer many various phones.

Monthly fees:

• 1200 talk minutes, $30 (with discount $28.50)
• 15,000 texts 2.5GB data $30 (with discount $28.50)
• 2 extra phones $10 *2 = $20
• If we continue to use 3GB data:  1.5 cents per MB * 500 = $7.50

 One time costs

• iphone6 $650 (times 2)
• iphone 6c $450 

So, costs over 2 years:
($84.5*24)+ ($650*2)+$450 = $3778 (I'm not certain this is enough of a savings over Verizon to make it worthwhile) - cons: AT&T coverage may not be as good as Verizon from what I'm hearing and we would have to watch data use and voice minutes

So, who is the winner?
There isn't a clear winner here. I'm leaning toward Verizon only because of the great coverage and ability to get an iphone6 (I'm already familiar with the way they work), but the $1500+ savings of republic wireless is still keeping me from making the decision too quick.  What do you think?

5 Good Questions that Project Managers Ask the Team

I recently had someone ask me for some tips on getting a project executed.

I learned this (and relearned this) on projects I've worked on. These are important questions to ask those who are performing the tasks on the project.

1. Schedule: Here is your lists of Tasks. Will you still be able to get these done in the durations listed and in the timelines scheduled?
2. Dependencies: For your tasks that are listed here, is there anything that would prevent you from starting (or finishing) on time?
3. Risks: What types of events might occur that could prevent you from getting these things on time or at an acceptable level of quality?
4. Scope: Do you know of anything that might increase the amount of work that these tasks represent?
5. Quality: Do you believe you can get these all done at the expected level of quality?

 If you, as a project manager, can ask these questions (simplified here to help make them easy to remember) on a regular basis of each of the team members, then you'll find that it will help you to get the project executed.

Of course, there are many more questions that Project Managers need to ask, but these are important ones to ask of the team members who are performing the work.

Please share the questions you like to ask when trying to get a project done.

How to get CPR Certification

We have someone in our family who has had some heart issues and I recently read on the IBM Healthy Living "Active Track" website that we could obtain "points" for getting CPR certification. And, our daughter's are both in the "mommy" stage of life and encouraged us both (my wife and I) to get some CPR and choking training. So, we both took an infant CPR course a few weeks ago. Then, I took a CPR course last week and received my certification card yesterday.
It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  The instructor was very nice and thorough.
I took mine at the local hospital.
You can also find courses through the Salvation Army, American Heart Association, The Red Cross, and other organizations. Sometimes the local fire department will offer classes as well.

I suggest you consider taking a class as you may save a life. After the class, I was talking to a young man in the parking lot. He mentioned that his grandfather had died just a few months earlier. He said if he was there and had CPR training, he may have saved him. He was very close to his grandfather.

How to Issue the Important "Call to Action" in your Communications

This is a simple ones folks:
When you need someone to do something, include in the communication (email, chat, phone, text...) a "Call to Action" - usually it's included at the end of the communication (this way, it's fresh in their mind)
A "Call To Action" is you telling them what they need to do.  A few pointers:

1. State clearly what is expected of them
2. If more than one person is involved, state clearly who you expect to do the action
3. If possible, give them a due date or ask them when they can have it done or at least tell them what the priority is

In an organization I used to work in, we used to laugh when someone asked for something "As Soon As Possible (ASAP)."- that meant nothing to us. We were all so busy that ASAP meant "some day" (which meant "no day").  We had an agreement that if it was needed immediately, then use the word "Immediately."  And, there better be a good reason why it was needed immediately (hopefully it wasn't because you didn't realize you needed it until the last minute).

A very important point: End the communication with the call to action. You can also start the communication with it, you would even do good to put it in the subject of the email, and ending with it is important because it leaves the receiving person with the most important reminder to do what needs to be done.

So, my "Call to Action" for you is: please post some comments below :)

How to "Get all the Liars in One Room"

#186544021 / gettyimages.com

At a previous employer, I had several project managers reporting to me. One of them had done Project Management for decades and was well seasoned. He knew a lot and I learned a lot from him.

One day he had an issue on his project: there were several people who had a different viewpoint on a big project issue. Everyone had a different story about how they got there and what needed to be done to address it. This issue was big enough that we all knew about it at my level. He came to me and told me what he was going to do. He said that the best way to solve issues when you have conflicting viewpoints is to "Get all the liars in one room!"  In other words, he was going to pull together everyone into one meeting so that everything could be aired and come to a consensus.

Sometimes this seems like a simple way to solve things; it seems like a straightforward answer: just get everyone in a meeting. But, sometimes this just isn't for the faint of heart. It can be very difficult with various passionate viewpoints to get everyone to work together to a consensus. A few pointers:

1. Let everyone know the goal: to come to a consensus on how to address the issue at hand
2. Let everyone know that we're not here to point fingers at people (i.e. to blame people). We will only discuss how we got here if it helps to determine a solution
3. Use the G.R.O.W. technique: Identify the goal, the Reality (where we are), Options (let everyone air their suggestions to resolve it and the pros and cons of their proposal), and What Will We do! (i.e. let's all decide on a solution we can all live with, maybe not all agree with, but all of us can concur on the solution.
4. You may also like to get input from people in advance, especially those who can't make the meeting, who are not invited, or those that are more quiet (less likely to chime in when there are strong personalities in the room)
5. If there are people who have strong personalities who are re-stating their points and monopolizing the conversation, restate the ground rules and mention that we want to hear all viewpoints.
6. If possible, share the notes real-time in a way that is shared with all those involved in the meeting: share a screen where you record the main bullet points, or use a white board.

What suggestions do you have for using a meeting to gain consensus on a team?

How to Be Valued by Maintaining a Positive Attitude

#503152787 / gettyimages.com

One of the people I worked with for a while was seen as a valued contributor to our project. I stepped back to ask why.

One thing I learned from her was that she always had a good attitude no matter how stressful or frustrating or complicated things got.

She would always have a laugh or giggle her way through these times.  People valued her contribution of a positive attitude to the project team.
This is something I can learn from.

A positive attitude in the difficult times helped those working with her to be lifted as well. A good laugh in the face of these difficult times made the job a bit lighter.
Just as a negative attitude can poison a team, a positive one can also spread to the team and encourage a team, lifting their spirits.
It also frees people up to see new possibilities, to joke around, and to put things in a bigger perspective.

How have you seen a positive attitude of someone on your project spread to others?  How has it helped you to be positive? How have you helped the team to be positive? Have others with a positive attitude helped you?

Are you Fighting Battles or Are You the Messenger?

Sometimes we have big battles to fight; sometimes we have small battles to fight. Sometimes we fight battles that are not ours to fight.

Always keep in mind who has the battle to fight. Ask yourself who owns the fighting of the battle.

Many times it's not you, you're just caught in the middle.

Let those who are fighting and those who have the authority to make (and enforce) decisions be the ones to make the decisions and fight the battles. Realize the times when you are "only the messenger." And, when you are the messenger, remember where your allegiance lies.

What are your pointers of fighting battles or when you find yourself fighting a battle that isn't really yours to fight?  What about pointers on being the messenger?