Keeps Getting Better

Tried to print something this evening and my free for buying a laptop Dell 720 printer wouldn’t print. Wouldn’t turn on. Zippo. I measured the output voltage at the terminals of the transformer, it is supposed to be 30VDC, it read zero.

I can take a chance on some fly by night outfit and buy a new power cord/transformer for around ten bucks with shipping or I could just go ahead and buy a new printer. There is a dealer on Amazon that is selling the same Dell 720, new, for just $39 including shipping.

Or I could get something else in the $50-60 range, but what? Our printing needs are minimal, an occasional receipt for an internet purchase and the Miata Club Treasurer’s Report once a month. Color is not required at all. Anything fancy I do it at work where I have access to everything from a letter sized color laser to a 36 x 48 ink jet plotter…

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 344

Where Did The Time Go?

Up in a bolt of electricity.

Saturday late afternoon a thunderstorm rolled through town. It rained hard for almost an hour before we heard one clap of thunder off in the distance. A minute later while we were in the middle of watching Disc 2 of Season 6 of West Wing the flash and the clap happened nearly instantaneously. The power to the house blinked off quickly, but came back on before any of the digital clocks lost what time it was (except for one which jumped ahead 1 hour exactly.)

The surround receiver was making a steady loud popping sound and the TV would not come back on. Both items were plugged into a surge protector that is for the whole entertainment system. So, one gargantuan tube TV gone and one surround sound receiver toast. Neither of the DVD players were hurt.

Inventoried the rest of the electrical stuff through out the house and came up with a few more items that were wiped out by the EMP. Phone/answering machine was gone, but the plain old still worked. The sprinkler control box, which was wounded in a similar incident in 2002 was now flashing No Power. I checked the transformer and it was putting out the proper voltage, so I figured crispy chip or something.

The severest blow was to the cable modem, horrors, no internet. It was no big deal while the cable was delivering noting but snow to the 13″ TV in the back room. By the time the cable came back and it was confirmed that the modem really was dead, it was too late to buy a replacement. Then the South Carolina blue laws prevented us from buying a replacement until after 1:30 PM. By the time we were back up and running it was almost 22 hours without. How did we live BI (before internet.)

Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 341

Not Another Picture

Donna and I try out our new outfits for the Mad Men Premier Party this Sunday night.

Mad People

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 338

Cache General Hospital

This last Sunday we went out via bicycle and went caching. We scored 3 for 5. The last one we did was a multi with three stages. Stage 1 was a small magnetic container with the coords inside. I missed it when I first looked, but she spotted it right away and pulled it out so I could enter to coordinates for the next stage in the GPSr. When Donna went to put it back, she realized the magnet had separated from the plastic container and had stayed attached where it was.

Our first thought was to just take it with us, then when we got home I’d epoxy the magnet back on and bring it back later in the evening, so I put it in Donna’s handlebar bag. Stage two coordinates led us to a section of split rail fence so we looked between all the rails and all along the ground near the posts with no success, I backed up about 50′ and made another run at GZ. This time I was about a dozen feet away from the first spot. We looked and looked everywhere, just as we were about to DNF it I reached under something and feeling nothing, I looked under there and AHA! there it was.

On the way to stage 3 we passed by a small pond where we had been warned to watch out for reptile activity. Didn’t see any snakes, but we did see a large spaniel prance across one section of the pond to get away from us. The GPSR pointed into a small patch of woods and Donna ducked in to look. In short order she called, “I got it.” It was a small camoed Lock ‘n’ Lock that for some reason was very wet inside. Our sharpie still managed to let us sign the log book as found, but when we got home we would have to let the cache owner know this one needed some looking after. Seeing as that was the case, the cache owner was going to have to do maintenance on this stage too, we just put the dysfunctional stage 1 container in the Lock ‘n’ Lock making one neat package.

When we got home I logged the find and then created a separate “Needs Maintenance” log. Later that night I noticed the CO had posted that they had just had surgery and would get to it as soon as they could. On Monday I emailed the cache owner and offered to fix the cache. We pass right by that park on our way to and from work everyday, so it wouldn’t be a problem. She gave the OK.

On the way home from work there were plenty of muggles about, so we just drove on by. Tuesday morning on the way in we grabbed it. It is our week to start work early, so it was a little after six and still dark went I popped in to the woods with a flashlight and retrieved the cache.

We wiped the inside of the Lock ‘n’ Lock dry and spread the contents out on a towel in the spare bedroom/recovery ward. We replaced the plastic bag the log was in and then the other one that was for the schwag. When I had the epoxy out to fix the Stage 1 container I also repaired a small rose pin that had come separated from its backing. The lettering on the piece of paper explaining geocaching and what it was people were holding in their hands was gone and the tape was peeling off. I’ll make up another one tomorrow at work and laminate it for some more permanence.

We will put everything back in its place early Saturday morning.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 336

Time Changes Everything

We re-watched the second X-Files movie (I Want To Believe) the other day. We went to see it in the theaters last July when it came out and in spite of a few flaws thought it was pretty good. With our poor showing in finishing recent Netflix selections I bumped this to the top of the queue. Well, on second watching, the few flaws seemed to have multiplied.

In preparation for the third season of TDTV2 this coming Sunday, this past Sunday we started to re-watch season 2 of Mad Men. after about 4 episodes we agreed that it seemed to be moving too slow. It wasn’t bad by any means, but we didn’t feel compelled to watch the rest of the season’s episodes. Hopefully the new season will rekindle the love.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 332

I Need A Push

A man and his wife were awakened at 3:00 am by a loud pounding on the door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.

“Not a chance,” says the husband, “it is 3:00 in the morning!” He slams the door and returns to bed.

“Who was that?” asked his wife.

“Just some drunk guy asking for a push,” he answers.

“Did you help him?” she asks.

“No, I did not, it is 3:00 in the morning and it is pouring rain out there!”

“Well, you have a short memory,” says his wife. “Can”t you remember about three months ago when we broke down, and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself!”

The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain.

He calls out into the dark, “Hello, are you still there?”

“Yes,” comes back the answer.

“Do you still need a push?” calls out the husband.

“Yes, please!” comes the reply from the dark.

“Where are you?” asks the husband.

“Over here on the swing,” replied the drunk.