Camping At Work: October 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

10/13/09 day 14

A day of disappointments. The day started off somewhat chilly so I ran the heater. Today I let it run for about 30 minutes and learned that it doesn't generate a lot of heat. I tried running the fan on low to help spread the warm air with no luck. I want something that blasts the heat in quickly for a quick warm up. So I curled into the blankets and shut it off.

The day warmed up and the heat woke me up by 1pm. I ran the fan again on medium and the voltage output kept dropping steadily from 12.7 to 11.7 over the course of an hour. At this point the inverter started providing quiet (yet annoying) warning beeps. The charger had showed the battery as fully charged on Sunday. I left another battery trickle charging this week, so I will test that against the fan this week.

The only good news is that the generator started up immediately. The bad news is that the air conditioner did not. I took the plug apart and put it back together to no avail. The parts inside look cheap - I will have to try replacing the plug itself this week.

Monday, October 12, 2009

10/12/09 day 13

Not much. Chilly today. Weather reports a low of 45f and a high of 70f. the battery on my thermostat died so no local measurements. I ran the propane heater for the first time. I am so paranoid about it using all the oxygen that I kept two windows open, which didn't help in heating the place. I will have to look at air sensors to alleviate those concerns.

As things felt warmer, I bundled up and got nice and toasty. I probably only ran the heater about 20 minutes and used it as a hand warmer. No battery or generator usage today.

I did however, get more curtains hung up and will install the final two tommorrow. They are already making a difference.

I am practicing typing this entry on my phone instead of a laptop. Perhaps I can connect my bluetooth keypad to it for faster typing.

About

I keep track of my equipment costs here.

Photos are here.

I work about 117 miles from where I live. My work schedule is fairly interesting. I work night's – 12 hour shifts. It alternates between 3 and 4 shifts each week. Factoring in a 1 hour lunch break, I work 33 and 44 hours. I then end up with really long weekends. The drive takes 2 hours and 15 minutes each way, so on a 12 hour shift, a round-trip is 16.5 hours. That leaves 7.5 hours to sleep, hygiene, and eat. For the last two years, I have been either renting an apartment or staying on a coworker's couch for the 2-3 days (and it is daytime that I sleep) that I'm at work. Rent in the DC area for a single bedroom apartment is very comparable to my mortgage payment on a 5 bedroom house at home.

For a permanent solution, I have decided to use a conversion van as my apartment during the work week and hope to sleep in the work parking lot during the day. I checked with the both the county sheriff's office and the county attorney's office. While there are rules against sleeping on a public sidewalk or park during the night (which might apply to someone inside a van) there are no issues with me sleeping at those same places during the day. Private parking lots require permission of the owner, otherwise I could wake up with a $100 fine on the van. The sheriff's office advised me that I should be prepared to be woken up a few times if someone called in a suspicious vehicle. Otherwise, there are no legal issues with me camping out in the area on a semi-regular basis.

My quest for cheap living begins.