Drive in was not too bad. Left a little later than I liked but got to work at about the usual time, so that was fine, and arrived feeling relaxed and ready for the day.
The day was...a day. Did what I had to do, was not overworked--had some epic slowness, but the day seemed to pass pretty quickly for all of that. The drive home, to my surprise, was equally as fast as the drive in, which simply does not happen. Ordinarily, the drive home is two hours, plus or minus perhaps eight to ten minutes.
This time, I left work at 15 after quitting time, and arrived home an hour and forty-five minutes later...with a stop at the store to get orange juice, bread, and my wife's pills.
Used up the last of the mud on the bathroom wall; I'll need to get another pail of it to finish the job, of course, but it's getting there. I'm aiming to have primer on the wall no later than Dec 11, if possible.
Just finished cooking a pot of chili, and that'll be dinner, and lunch tomorrow, and probably lunch on Wednesday as well.
So: 7:40 PM, everything that I needed to do today is done, and I'm on to what I want to do.
Oh! And I learned what my schedule will be like after I'm done with training. As I expected my training period will be over in January, and at that point I will transition to working from home...1:30-10PM, M-F.
Win.
...because I won't have to get up obscenely early to go to work, I'll have weekends off, and I'll be home when my wife is off; even if I can't spend a lot of time with her, at least I'll be in the same building as she is.
The only thing wrong with this schedule--the only thing--is that it is such a late one. I would have preferred maybe 11:30 to 8 PM. But that's okay! I mean, it's not like I have to commute or anything, and it gives me a couple hours after my wife gets home to spend with her before we go to bed.
I cannot complain.
* * *
So, I learned a little bit about what's going on in France, vis a vis the fuel tax.
So: it's a tax on diesel, which is something the government there promoted as being better for the environment than gasoline, because diesel engines are more efficient. People were urged by their government to make the switch to diesel cars. And now, atop every other thing they've done to automobile owners, they're raising taxes on fuel. France, being a socialist country, already taxes fuel out the wazoo; it's something like $6.25 per gallon for diesel fuel in France.
The new tax raises the price by TWENTY-FOUR PERCENT over a few years, to $7.73 a gallon. That assumes that the price of fuel does not go up for any other reason, of course.
Of course they're rioting. Holy shit.
* * *
Today SpaceX flew a booster for its third time and successfully recovered it. Win.
I watched it here.
* * *
Anyway, once I've eaten this bowl of chili, I'm going to have another gander at the console stereo. Mainly I want to try to identify what model it is, and what the TO-3 devices are that are mounted to the chassis. I'm thinking they're the main transistors for the power amplifier, but it'd be nice to be sure.
After that, I'll relax.
ADDENDUM:
The stereo is a Teledyne Packard Bell RPC485CL. I actually found a picture of one someone is selling in Newport News, VA, for $150 in working condition.
That's the first time I've seen a picture of one anywhere but in the old photo albums.
...still trying to find a schematic. I may be out of luck on that one. Still, just looking at the thing, I'm pretty sure I've identified the rectifier diodes in the power supply, and the big TO-3 transistors that are bolted to the chassis are 2N301, good for 50w each. So, probably 50w per channel?
Anyway, that's what I can do for tonight. Have to wash dishes before bed.