Category: technology

Thursday’s Theme Music

Hello to my fellow air-breathers of Earth, which could be an interesting band title. But then again, I thought last night that “Friends of a Different Life” would be an interesting novel title.

It’s December’s final Thursday, which bestows the day with the honor of being the year’s final day. Our day has polarized feelings about its position. Eastern and southern window views are lavish with sunshine. The other two directions find white bottomed sky embracing the houses and playing hide and seek with trees. It’s 41 F, a hospitable winter temperature, with aspirations of duplicating the feat of the last several days and seeing 51 F. I’ll take it. Wish it would snow on the mountains. Guess I need to do another snow dance. The last one might’ve backfired. I’m not saying that my last snow dance is responsible for the bomb cyclone which dumped massive snow and iced up much of northern and eastern North America, but coincidental timing is suspect.

This friendly sunshine began its visit at 7:39 today. 4:47 PM will see the sunshine’s tour end. It is December 29, 2022.

Today’s themey music was prompted by The Neurons and the cats. Felines were trying to herd me. On my side, I was playing the classic floof game, “What do you want?” I kept asking, “What is it that you want? Are you hungry? Need food? Is your water okay? Do you want to go out? Is Lassie in a well?” The questions kept going and then I just urged them, “Come on, show me what you want. Show me the way.”

The Neurons said, “Oh, he wants some Frampton.” “Show Me the Way” from 1975 spun up in the morning mental music stream. As a treat, I found a recording of it on it on Midnight Special, a television show which used to showcase the hit pop and rock performers and their songs. Many friends of the era would ask if I’d seen X on Midnight Special last night. Current gen folks can’t understand the huge differences in our technology from now and then. The wasn’t as wide as me as the one between me as a child and my grandparents, but the scale of change and what can now be done got faster and faster, becoming a dizzying and impressive shift.

Sorry, somehow put on my old man pants. I was just pondering, what was it like in the late eighteen hundreds when they had to deal with the weather? Television, radio, and computers were all in the future. How much warning was given before something like a snowstorm struck? How was the word passed?

Think I need some java, and I’m not talking script. Stay positive and test negy. Here’s the throwback. Cheers

PS – Do you think Final Friday might be a good novel title. Has probably already been done, don’t you think?

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Another DIY Project

I noticed that the air blowing out of our furnace vents seems weak this year. Something needed to be done. Shouting, “To the net,” I did some research. The first thing I did was change the filter, which helped — that rascal was filthy. I then set a calendar reminder to check and change it every three months. Then I visited the crime scene for clues.

Our furnace is a Tempstar L9 unit horizontally mounted in the attic above the garage. I’ve been up there to deal with problems before so I’m comfortably familiar with it. It’s our original unit, so it’s almost sixteen years old. I’m embarrassed to admit, the blower hasn’t been cleaned since the capacitor failed ten years ago. I decided to do two things, based on research: clean the blower and increase its speed.

Both were easy, with the second part being easiest. The heating and cooling systems use the same blower and ducts (yeah, duh). But the wiring on my system can only specify that one of them has the higher blower setting, and that is the A/C. So I switched it so the heating has that setting for the winter. Before I started messing with the wires, I perused the manual’s wiring table and instructions and then photographed the original wire placement with my phone. I’ve learned to do that last anytime I’m dealing with switches and wires. It’s saved my butt a few times.

Now it’s all much improved. I’m once again grateful to the net and its helpful videos. Finishing, I set another calendar reminder for the summer, so I can go back up in there and switch over the wires for the air conditioning. Have a good one. Cheers

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Sunday’s Wandering Thought

He remembered when his family ordered things from a catalog when he was a boy. First, there was filling out the form of the item numbers, quantities, and prices. “Get my credit card from my purse,” Mom would order. The 800 number was called, the order placed.

Days of mystery would ensue. When would the order get here? Where is it now? Each day brought the three Ws: watching, waiting, wondering.

Slip forward a few decades. Companies began telling him exactly when his order would arrive. Shipping and tracking advances continued. Soon, he tracked his packages as they left faraway cities and countries and zigzagged a path to his home. He knew exactly when it would arrive. It was immensely satisfying.

Systems matured and processes evolved. Breakdowns from overloaded, overpromising systems became endured. Tracking information is still sent out, but he frequently finds himself as he was when he was a child, watching, waiting, wondering.

He feels like he’s gone full circle.

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Replacement Parts

My microwave went out again in November. Replacement switches were needed for the less than four-year-old microwave. The GE Profile model only cost us a little over $200 back when we bought it. A replacement is affordable but I gnash my teeth over being part of a throwaway world. We could live without a microwave, but I am addicted to its convenience. Yes, shame on me.

The first microwave my wife and I bought in the last century served us well for several years. We gave it to my MIL after we moved because she didn’t have one, and it served her until her death, almost forty years later. To be fair, this GE Profile microwave is the first microwave which ever failed for me. Congratulations, GE! It is shiny, sleek, and pretty, though and matches the other appliances, which appeals to my wife.

Also, buying a replacement is only about half the price. There is then the disposal cost for the old unit, shipping, and the installation cost of the new appliance. I believe I can do an installation but I’m a rookie and would rather have it professionally done.

The parts were ordered in November and received yesterday. Twenty minutes after the parts were in my hands, the machine was up and running anew. There were issues. I ordered the replacement part from RepairClinic. They followed up with a survey request about my experience.

Here it is.

  1. In dealing with you, I found you’re not there on weekends and evenings, only Mon-Fri, with limited hours, a throwback in this 24-7 shopping and shipping world of bots and emails, and surprising for a company selling goods online. Sweetly quaint and old-fashioned.
  2. You sent me the wrong part initially, replacing the microwave door microswitch holder with a muffler. As soon as I picked up that box, I knew it wasn’t the delicate plastic piece which I expected. That first package weighed ten pounds. The switch is less than a quarter of a pound.
  3. I contacted you as soon as wrong part was received, but, alas, Saturday, so no response was received until Monday. Your apology was straightforward with appropriate regret and you immediately ordered the correct part. It was sent out the next day, Tuesday.
  4. The replacement part was received the following Sunday. It was not actually an OEM replacement part. The screw placement holes on the new part were rotated 90 degrees from where they’re required, so the part can be placed and works in that regard, but it can’t be secured with screws. It troubled me that the part was different in that manner. This isn’t my first online replacement part experience. I did due diligence and your site said, yep, this is the part for your machine. It’s not. I used it anyway because of my microwave addiction but I have begun searching for the right part. I suspect that I won’t find it.
  5. Finally, not your fault, but the parts always took three days longer to reach me than announced with your shipping and tracking email. It’s always an amusing aspect of the modern ordering and shipping experience to see the original expected delivery day followed by an update showing it’ll be delivered the next day, and then a second update with a third date. As I wrote, not your fault but it did color my shopping experience with you.

Other than the things noted above, it was a great shopping and shipping experience. Cheers

I’ve marked my calendar and will see how long it is until the next failure.

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Saturday’s Wandering Thought

Dear blog. My computer keeps urging me to use MS Edge. How do I tell it that I’m already using Edge? You’d think it’d already know.

Signed,

Browsing in Confusion

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Friday’s Wandering Thought

When something in his home breaks, his first step in his troubleshooting and fixing process is to turn it off. He allows it to stay off for a few minutes before turning it back on. It’s surprising how often that works.

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Thursday’s Wandering Thought

He got out his free weights today. They were the ‘Jack Lelane’ brand, given to him as a gift in another dimension. He theorized they would make a perfect material to fence the Roomba in and out of where he wanted it to clean.

He was right.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

As promised, we have Thursday, October 27, 2022, upon us. Your reality might vary.

Thin fog was the acting doorman when sunrise made their 7:38 AM entrance. The fog stole the show. It’s burned off since then, with the temperature rebounding from 38 F to its present 6 degrees C, on the way to a high mark of 62 F. Clouds have vacated the sky. Sunshine glints off yellow leaves like they’re pure gold.

The Neurons have brought up a song from 1978 called “Whenever I Call You Friend”. The song was written by Kenny Loggins and Melissa Manchester, two big names from the 1970s pop scene. Kenny recorded and released the song but the female on it was Stevie Nicks, who was uncredited, all stuff learned from American Top 40 back in the day.

All this came about because my beer group met last night. Prior to that, I’d sent the group a Youtube link of Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits performing a fantastic live rendition of “The Sultans of Swing”. Everyone enjoyed it. Discussion started with one member, who was a DJ at the time, about the music which came out then. He recalled playing songs on both 45 vinyl and CDs. That was a surprising mix to me; I remembered Sultans coming out in 1978, but I remember having the album on CD. I didn’t buy my first CD player until 1984, and knew they were being sold at least two years before, but not in the late 1970s. I realized, though, that I’d not initially purchased Dire Straits’ debut album. I was just back from the Philippines then, living in Texas, and then left the USAF and bought a restaurant and was running it. I had a juke box and listened to the music on it. I was also going to college then. Money was tight, so I didn’t buy the album until later, after I’d re-enlisted in the Air Force, having failed as a restaurant owner.

All that soon had The Neurons circling 1978 like a train set around a Christmas tree. I was thinking about my beer buddies and how I enjoyed their friendship. Hello, The Neurons replied, and began playing, “Whenever I Call You Friend”. It still resides in my morning mental music stream which brings us to now.

Stay positive, be cool, and test negative. The coffee is brewed and ready to flow into action. Here’s the music. Also, since I mentioned it, here’s the Dire Straits video, too. Have a better one, friends.

Cheers

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