Thank you, Melody.

I guess I'm lucky she lasted as long as she did after getting sick suddenly at the end of July. Throwing up stomach-fulls of food for 3 days in a row, followed by a sharp drop in appetite. At first I struggled to figure out what was wrong and just did everything I could to find something Melody would eat consistently. Some things were on and off, most things were one taste and she walked away like she was afraid of it. August was like that while I didn't want to think the worst. She went from a decent weight to some loss, but after September there was still some loss of weight but it wasn't very fast. October was when I worked hard to give her the food she needed and medications required. I often stayed up late, sometimes 3 or 4 in the morning just so I could give her the 1/2 tablet that helped her stop throwing up. I thought things were going in the right direction the first day I watched Melody have a bowel movement outside - at least it wasn't coming back up. Quite unlike the peas I gave her over 3 days in September when I was trying anything to get her to eat - they came back up in 2 puke piles, one large and one small.

The last time I had to deal with a vomiting episode I gave her some rice with chicken broth - Melody didn't exactly care for rice by itself, having eaten it once to calm her stomach. That passed quickly and she was back to eating normally for her eating habits.


November was when she started turning down her favorite crunchy dog bone treat after coming in from being outside to do her business. Much of the time I had to make sure she had something of food in her since she refused to eat willingly - the things she did eat on her own were foods that weren't exactly good for her - potato chips, for example. She'd wait for a pizza crust and I'd offer it. Usually she'd accept it - it was her favorite thing on pizza nights.

December was when there was a dramatic loss of weight, and the past 2 weeks she was unable to keep anything except water down. I even tried giving her some gelatin dessert. It seemed to stay down, but nothing else would. It ended up with her still eating the mint-flavored dog dental bones but throwing them up less than an hour later. There were a few days she figured out how to get outside of the fence and enjoyed some extra activities but came home when I finally yelled for her and she heard me.

I took some photos and you can see the yellow jaundice in the whites of her eyes - it faded at one point but there would always be some amount of yellow there.

Considering the dog Melody was before she suddenly started throwing up, I would not put it past her to have eaten some pieces of death cap or other similarly poisonous mushrooms that I had seen growing in the yard. I should have gone out there with gloves on and removed them but they got mowed down before I could remember to do it. Melody has been known to just eat little bits of whatever that she smells and finds, but her habit of just eating anything remotely edible probably was her downfall. There was no way she'd get anything bad for her in the house. I refuse to believe that some dogs are just genetically prone to just getting suddenly sick like that. Just flip a switch and presto, the liver shuts down? Bullshit.

At least this time there's some explanation to why, so I'm more able to accept Melody's passing. It never gets easier, and there's pain. An emptiness in my heart that I hope doesn't stay that way for long. Marmalade will miss his friend - he liked to lick her ears clean, and he did that up until last year or so when Melody suddenly snapped at him in a way she never had before. Oh well.

Nearly Year end Rememberies

I finally did end up with my complete set of Sugar Sugar Rune manga, after locating 1-5 from an eBay seller in Alaska. After 4 attempts at locating Vol.8, I finally got one off Amazon, though it was a beaten-up copy from a library and over-priced for its condition. At least this one did not get lost in the mail.

My Fred Exploder had rusted out transmission fluid lines so that got worked on. The mechanic recommended getting the brake lines worked on pretty soon. I see they also looked over the rest of the vehicle with some recommendation on the front pinion gasket or seal thing. I hope that can wait.

A VHS to DVD project over the summer yielded a surprise gift certificate that I did not expect at all, as well as one other DVD project that a friend thanked me with a Pre-order Figuarts Sailor Moon poseable figure.

Snagged the MizuIro Jidai CDroms I'd been after for the past couple of years, along with a Wedding Peach Win95 screensaver package (hopefully soon) and a book I didn't have but getting it the way I did, I was able to save over 50% eBay list prices on it. I still need Shin MizuIro Jidai 1-3 manga, and now people on that one site are listing 10 book sets of it after I've already gotten the regular series' 7 books.

I'm still trying to start my business, but with my vehicle needing expensive work and Melody throwing up and getting a liver problem, it's just complete distraction as I try to deal with getting her well.

I still have 4 figure kits awaiting my attention. There's something I want to do with them before I make any progress.

And so far, other people keep winning my money in the lotteries.

Well, it's probably what I think it is - hopefully

Well, my Fix Or Repair Daily is turning into a Fix Or Repair Monthly. Went out to start the Exploder to take it to get an oil change - first attempt to start didn't do anything, 2nd try got it started, but when I went to put it in Reverse, nothing happened (or moved).
Best Worst Case Scenario - it just has a transmission fluid leak and will need work. That means maybe pulling off the transmission and finding all the seals that need replaced.

Worst Worst Case Scenario - the transmission is toast - which is unlikely, since it did have some transmission fluid in it after I parked the Exploder. I didn't try driving it since I parked it on Thursday, so that's all in my favor. Unlike with the Kia when it died on my way to parking it.

It'll get picked up and hauled by the dealership and maybe I can get them to waive some amount since they should have caught this during the service for the power steering when they caught the belt tensioner.

It's always something

I REALLY hope the latest anomaly with the Fred Exploder isn't expensive to remedy. I know it needs to go in for an oil change - that's a given. What I hope the thing this time isn't expensive. A couple of times on my way home from doing things in Alliance as I got closer to home I noticed my speed dropped and the RPMs spiked near and above 3000. Under all other normal use, it never gets above 2500. Now, I know I was not paying attention to my driving (thinking about random things) and didn't keep my speed up, but having the RPMs spike like that is unusual. None of my other gauges were off - they were all in the proper ranges, and no lights came on. I then made sure to get my speed back up to the posted limit and things were fine until I had to slow down to around 40 mph, and the Exploder would be shifting down (it's automatic) and once again I saw that spike. As I turned off onto a side road to get home, it did not happen again all the way to parking and shutting it off.

Any time anything is odd with the operation of the vehicle I'm driving, I don't like it. My anxiety goes up because it means paying someone to do something about it. After getting the power steering, belt tensioner, and exhaust worked on, I do not want another expensive repair bill. A minor bonus is the oil change at the dealer is $5 less than the place I had been going to.

Now, seeing as it's the RPMs and that usually means transmission stuff, I did check the fluid level. Or at least try to. It seems to still have the right amount, but I'll see if they include general fluids check when doing an oil change. They'll know how to read it properly and how to add fluids properly.

It's all a matter of perspective

Had to "Fix" the KLH Subwoofer... again

Last night for about 2 hours, the subwoofer started making odd noises like it was receiving some odd RF interference. It's done it before. I remember pointing a cordless phone at it once, pressing a button on it, and it went off. It was annoying and even when I shut off the subwoofer, the sounds would persist. It was just as oddly coincidental that it would stop making noises when Bones finished airing.

This morning when I fired it up to check how it was doing now (and no longer making spurious noises) it had a decidedly less than desirable response. Choppy. Gritty. It wasn't a warm bass response. Great.

So I decided to open it up like last time and see if I spot those slightly out of spec solder points again. And I do, as well as testing with the chopstick to see how it responded. And it was the same kind of thing. So I fired up a soldering iron and touched the one spot I found and sure enough, the solder disappeared. So I find my solder and re-do that spot and check a couple of others. Plug it in and fire it up, tap the circuit board - no more of that sign of a component not connecting to the circuit. Nothing loose!

As a result of all that, I had to figure out how to re-calibrate the settings on the back of the subwoofer so that it was at an optimal level for crossover and volume. The technique I discovered was to set the Dolby receiver at a common volume level (50) and then play something with the DVD player to make sure the bass response is warm, clearly heard, and resonates in the room without sounding localized, something I remember reading in the instruction booklet.

I wonder if these KLH subwoofer circuits run hot because of seeing this one actually melting the solder in the smallest of margins to make it go out of spec. Either that or the solder melts too easily, or the components weren't soldered in that great to begin with. As I seem to recall, this subwoofer did this same thing years ago. It worked well, then went sputtering for bass response, before just not working at all.

Those square metal plates on roads

I decided I was going to figure out what those square metal plates you find on roads around here are. 

As it turns out, and how they're used at least in Stark County Ohio, they are considered to be surveyor benchmarks used to mark things like the center line of roads. I was able to find a webpage that has some GIS data released that indicates where these are. The compressed file is about 5.26MB, and considering there's a lot of these surveyor benchmarks, that file size sounds about right. Only thing is, you have to use Google Earth Pro if you want something to easily and directly import that data. There appear to be tools to do it without Google Earth Pro, but with 50 MEGS of data, I'm not going to even begin.

I just wanted to know what they are. And I found out.

Fun little digital picture frames

A friend kindly handed to me this little video playing digital picture frame to play with. It has an onboard 111MB flash drive and plays Xvid/MP3 AVI video files. Until I get something to fill it up and run for an hour, right now it's playing an Ika Musume music clip. Oh and if I forget to rename the video to '00.avi' I found out you have to hold down the button while turning it on, then it will stay on long enough to have WinXP recognize it. I had to look it up to fix that goof. Thank goodness I did.

You know, if someone wanted to be extra evil, they could sneak in to some stores with these displays with a little netbook laptop, plug these little annoyances in and put nasty clips on these things. Oh the fun they could have.

The video file that used to be on it was 480x272 and 15mb big. I wish it would play every file you could fit onto it, but apparently it's not made that way - or could it be made to do that? I don't have a manual for it, so I don't know.

Aldi's FAIL

Some book prices are just INSANE

What is it with Sugar Sugar Rune manga? Volumes 4 and 8 are rip-off priced more often than not, and then those volumes are either Sold Out or some seller lists the Spanish editions. And the one copy of SSR V.8 that I do find for $13, the seller shipped it Media Mail and promptly did not arrive when it should have. I got a refund, the seller apologized for not having a 2nd copy in stock. Well, crap, if you saw the prices, you'd think someone stole my copy and sold it for drug money.

I managed to get SSR books 1 to 5 off eBay from a seller in Alaska of all places and ended up being $6 a book. Vol.6 and 7 aren't so expensive, but V.8?? What did Del Rey do? Print it with gold?

I found another not-as ripoff priced copy of V.8 of Sugar Sugar Rune but still more than reasonable, and this time it better arrive. AND IT BETTER NOT BE IN SPANISH.

Idiot

Guy at the gas pump at Sam's Club didn't pay attention to which side of his vehicle the filling cap is on.

Junction boxes are good, mmkay?

The sign I posted

So the shut off problem was cleverly averted with a junction box (of sorts) that was put in at some point. Now we have the locals waking me up at 9:15 am by pressing the door bell. At both back and front doors. You've just activated my pissed off card. Anyway, I posted a sign by the front door, wrote "Hands off!" and "You're being videotaped" on the old heaters with a Sharpie during which I was spotted, so I got back inside and locked all the doors.

It's a simple case of physics, right?

So let me get this straight. No electricity needed to be turned off except for the circuit that went to the old electric water heater when it was removed, but now that a new one is being installed, ALL ELECTRICITY to the place has to be turned off?

Big sis came over to begin a look at things and warns me that she "might" have to turn the electric off, meaning ALL electric, just to install something that already has the electric to it turned off. I warn her that if she turns off ALL electric, the TV which I've been having problems with might not turn back on. I see absolutely no need to turn all the electric off for a circuit that's already off and was off when the old wires were being disconnected from the old heater. By that logic, shouldn't have all electric been shut off THEN?

I don't know if she got irked at me telling her that she shouldn't need to turn all electric off, because she comes back with that I don't know what she'll need to do to hook up the new heater, among other things, took a look at something, then left.

If I can replace electrical sockets without turning off a breaker, she should be able to hook up electric service to a water heater on a circuit that's already off without depriving the rest of the place of electric. It's simple physics. Don't Cross The Streams.

Fixed the bass subwoofer!

This is just another example of messing with something in a different way leading to an unexpected solution. I've been trying to remember what the last thing was that I fixed in this manner - while messing with something in a different way that I probably would not think of right away leading to the solution of fixing it. But today lead to fixing the subwoofer for the Dolby sound system, which hasn't worked in 10 years since we moved out of the house on Euclid.

When Mom lost the house due to foreclosure 10 years ago, we packed up everything and minimally unpacked some things at my grandparents' house. One of the things that did not get set up was the Dolby sound system. It wasn't until when we moved in where we ended up did that get pulled out - and in fact I had to look for the subwoofer because I forgot which box it was in.

When I brought it down, it still powered on but the speaker wasn't doing anything. Not knowing what the problem was, it just sat unplugged and unused. Which was a shame since Mom spent so much on the speakers, bought at Circuit City.

Thankfully, instead of tossing it out like so many others would have, we left it sit where I put it. Eventually it would get fixed or replaced, right? And in all this time, I kept bringing up the idea that I would at least try to figure out what the problem was, but due to lack of energy, I wouldn't touch it for a while. Life just went on around it. Things got piled on it from time to time. This thing sounded GREAT when it worked back in town. It's a shame it stopped working. Or did it?

It would power up, light up the LEDs on the back (for Off or On), but the speaker would do nothing. Not like it's supposed to - a nice big loud Thump when turned on. So it's getting power but why not the speaker?

Today I finally decided I had enough of this nonsense and opened it for the 3rd time (must be anyway) looking for obvious signs of component failure. No leaking capacitors. No burst or burnt transistors - I don't even have a tool to test those components. I looked it over and couldn't find anything. I tested the speaker, and it did make a noise as I checked the impeding resistance (aka impedance) and even registered a value. OK, so why isn't it working?

I checked where the connector for the subwoofer went into the 2nd board (the power board presumably) and saw where some of the circuit traces went. I couldn't tell a thing. It wasn't until I was putting it back together out of defeat that I decided - Hmm, maybe the relay that turns it on in Auto mode isn't doing enough to connect? Thinking of something my dad would have done, I got out a wood back scratcher, and while turning on the subwoofer from Off, began tapping it, and that's when the speaker started to suddenly show some signs of doing something. Hmmm....! 

So further tapping and slight pressing on the power board started to yield interesting results. There was a solder connection that somehow went a bit out of spec to the point where it should be visible and a simple connection somewhere just needs a little heat and solder to make it work again. I found one spot that looked like it needed it, but still didn't have it nailed down yet. Some more tapping with a chopstick brought me closer to the immediate local area where somehow the solder connection just didn't work anymore, gave them all decent heat and a touch more solder, and tested it.

Turn on and THUMP! The speaker is working again!! HOLY CRAP. Was this the problem? A slightly less than decent soldering job that went out of spec by an invisible micrometer? The tapping helped me find the part of the circuit board where the problem was, and careful precise probing (shut up) helped me localize more of the solder points that needed touched up. I tried looking at solder points that just didn't look right, and eventually got them, hopefully all of them.

It's a big difference between what I had been hearing and what I can get out of my DVDs now.
And I saved a LOT OF MONEY being able to fix it myself.

Progress or something like it

Got the Fred Exploder back today - the power steering works, but I have to turn slowly otherwise it shakes. I figure this could be due to improperly inflated tires, a damaged power steering pump (because it had to run without fluid), the new lines put in are to narrow to feed hydraulic fluid fast enough, or there's some of the fluid I tried putting in but should have been interchangeable with the specified fluids. Or it could be something bent and / or out of spec and the technicians at the dealership didn't catch it.

The hot water heater has both water inlet and the electric shut off, as they have been since I went to see what the noise was about 2 days ago. Now I just need a new one really soon because cold showers at this time of year really aren't fun. I knew enough at the time that both of those should be shut off. Maybe I'll get lucky and this won't be a leak but some odd overflow problem and it might reset itself.

The TV though has its share of things. The odd discolored patches went away when I shut it off for a few moments and then turned it back on, so it must have some sort of self-degaussing. But the power section has issues. Being 17 years old, probably not surprising to some. The capacitors probably need changed, but for one being rated at 200 volts, it's not something for my level of skill to tackle. If changing out that huge capacitor solves problems, by all means I'd love some help.

How do I know the power supply section has issues? When turning it on this morning, it did one of its "turn off immediately" things it would do every other time the electric went out. I'd have to keep trying to get it to stay on until it would finally agree. And then I'd have to let it remain on to "warm up" or it would get all crazy when a white or mostly white screen would come up. It also doesn't like cold room temperatures. It would do it until it got adjusted to such screens. At any rate, I've set the brightness and contrast down to give it a break.

I did look on Craigslist and found at least 1 person offering a 36 inch CRT Toshiba model (hopefully with remote) not exactly close by but not too far away for $15. I think I would want to tackle replacing the capacitors in the power section of the one I have first. I might as well turn it to the black screen when set to the SVHS input and just leave it on. *sigh* I don't have $500-800 extra just laying around for a flat screen with composite video inputs that's tall enough to actually be able to replace this Magnavox MX which for all intents and purposes has a great picture and sound when it works.

And on Melody - after reading up on Milk Thistle, which is a supplement sold to help liver function, even in spite of damage due to hepatitis, cirrhosis, or eating poison mushrooms  - I have a feeling Melody's habit of eating anything she found remotely edible got her into trouble, and she ate some toxic mushrooms. The variety known as Death Cap can certainly damage the liver and Milk Thistle is known to help regenerate liver function and help get toxins out of the body. Due to the humidity and general conditions around here, there have been fungi pop up out of the lawn and Melody probably ate some. She's not been known to eat mushrooms, but the advantageous eater she is got herself into trouble.

1:50 am and Melody just puked up everything she ate. She has not been able to keep food down for long. If she has to be put down, I don't want to be the one to do it. I paid over $300 to try to figure out what the f^ck is wrong with her and try save her life, but if nothing can keep her from puking which is goddamned frustrating, she doesn't stand much of a chance.

I just hope the next dog I get doesn't like mushrooms.

I can only hope the Milk Thistle helps Melody. She is the last gift my Mom left behind when she passed away. Much of Melody's personality is due to my mom. I just want to keep her a while longer if you don't mind.

Magnavox MX TV and another annoyances

If anything else goes bad today, I'm going to flip out.

Friday the 13th, actually this whole week/ past month or so has been annoying and trying.

1. Finally got the muffler on the Ford Exploder replaced, only to have my power steering lose fluid 3 hours later and on my way home from doing things on Wednesday. It's at the dealership and will be a $500 hit to fix. At least it's really quiet as far as the exhaust goes. Mechanic said all the lines were rusted out and were blowing fluid. Odd that I would have this for 9 months and this happens.

2. Sick dog for the past month, finally got an Xray on Tuesday, signs still indicate liver function problem. Administering meds, food, and Milk Thistle.

3. For the past few days or week, the hot water heater has been leaking water. Flooded basement to about 2 inches deep, as the drain on the floor is clogged with silt and my sister still hasn't snaked it out (or perhaps the septic tank needs drained).

And then to this:
4. Power outage overnight caused the Magnavox MX TV to not want to turn on.

In the past after an electric outage, and over the past few years, it has developed the annoyance of not wanting to stay turned on after being asked to turn on after one of these outages. I've had to keep turning it on only to have it click right off and requiring me to try again. Today it wasn't having any of that. So I found a 6.5mm socket to take the screws out of the back and get my can of air duster and blow it clean.

It may have been the dusting or the replugging of the cord to make a snap as it touched the current, but it finally started doing the clicking back off after being asked to turn on. Eventually, it decided to stay on.

I suspect that after 17 years (it was made in 1996), the capacitors need replaced. Not something to do on a TV, as one is rated to 200 volts, by someone such as me with my skills. Supposedly it was made with some amount of surge suppression protection.

Another thing it does is during completely white or mostly bright screens, it doesn't seem to like them. I have to wait a while to get it to "warm up" before a bright screen doesn't cause it to bend in and out until it adjusts for it. Which leads me back to the capacitors. Which ones, Not sure. I've had to adjust the brightness and picture (contrast) settings down to give it a break.

But after taking the back off and putting it back on, I have oddly colored areas on the tube. A hint of green mostly in the lower left, some odd fades of red or blue at the top. Most of the center, where lots of letterboxed video lives, mostly OK. Really apparent during full screens and certain colors. Maybe the back has bumped something. I was trying to be extremely careful putting the back on, but it was doing this even on the black screen I put it on before I got the back put in place. Maybe it needs degaussed.

I still have my grandfather's Toshiba big screen similar to the MX, but it doesn't respond to the remote anymore, and it needs dust blown out as well. It will shut off the screen and audio unless I rap on the outside, and then when it's decently warm, it will work without too much fuss, but definitely needs dust out of it. If I can't get the remote sensor to respond, watching TV without being able to mute stuff will be annoying.

So I either live with this MX, see if it just needs some adjustment, or (can't really afford it) replace it cheaply or find a suitably sized wide screen with composite video input, which I really need.

I bet my dad would know what to do in order to replace the caps, and maybe to see what's affecting the discolored patches. I would think the image processor is working just fine, getting it to the screen has a problem.
 

In case you have a Barolo weather forecasting clock

In case you have one of those Barolo weather forecasting clocks with the external sensor(s), and the sensors go bad, you can order a new one from the company that made and sold them. Just look at the back of the sensor and it will tell you what kind of sensor it is. In my case, it was ASENSOR4. The instructions you got with the Barolo clock even has the website!

http://www.produktservice.info/ is the website for ordering products from Krippl Watches, the company that came up with the clock I have.

The upside is that now you can order those other sensors you've always wanted to use with the clock - the downside is that they will add their local Value Added Sales Tax no matter what, and shipping doubles the price if you're ordering just 1 replacement sensor. They do take credit cards for payment.

It takes a while to get it (it is coming from overseas) but as long as you got the right sensor, it will work as expected with your original clock.

I had to replace the external sensor when the one that came with it kept shutting off over the summer even though it had new batteries, to eventually completely failing to work at all. It worked fine for over 2 years or so, even working and sending data when the batteries weren't strong enough to drive the LCD display.

A few words about a word

"meme" is pronounced "Mehmm" as in Memetic. ("meh met tic")

Memetic means "A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another."

"mémé" pronoucned "may may" is French for "Grandma." I don't know about any internet grandmas that are funny.

And it's not pronounced "meem" because that rhymes with "beam" and I'll get medieval on your butt if you insist on saying that.

Maybe we're finally getting to solving this problem

UPDATE ON MELODY:
Took her in to the vet today - I got an early appointment. Talked to the doctors, explained things. They looked at her - there was some weight loss. They seem to think there was some soreness in her gums but generally not bad. So a blood test was run.

Some of her levels on one sheet were all normal.
The 2nd sheet showed some interesting things though. 4 items were showing High, and I forget the names of what she told me the abbreviations mean, but the ALKP, ALT, Cholesterol, and TBIL levels were high. The BUN level was low, but since another indicator was normal (Phosphorus), the kidneys were ruled out as being a problem. Melody pees just fine.

She somehow developed a problem with her liver. The one doctor noted the yellow in her eyes, so that also indicated a liver problem. Without doing a biopsy or other physical tests, it's hard to determine if this is a tumor, cysts, or something close to cirrhosis, and possibly this is something that may heal. But the yellow in her eyes would be due to her not eating well and then the body is using the fat stores in her body. Anyway, the two things are related.

They were amused by her good spirits and sitting up to beg for attention. It was decided to see if medication and a change in her diet could help things, after all a change in the chemistry is expected to help the liver. As such, a protein-restricted diet has also been recommended. They sent home 4 cans of expen$ive brand dog food and a recipe I can make - but I don't know where to find calcium carbonate.

Medications prescribed include Prednisone and to help the liver function, Zentonil. After all those years of giving pills to Ariel, Melody shouldn't be much different.

A PSA - please copy and repost any time you see some idiot bashing the Kardashians

OK, can you please be among the millions of idiots online that can post something not containing the word "Kardashian"? Please? As much as you Want to Talk Smack about them, and as much as You Appear to Hate Them, Each time You post the word "Kardashian," an orphan in a 3rd world country gets killed/strangled/murdered/raped.
If you hate them so much - stop using the word, stop watching the TV show - STOP TALKING ABOUT THEM. PERIOD. If you're jealous they have money and you don't, get over yourself. You're not that special.

I REALLY HATE "RELIGIOUS" ROBOCALLS

I hate telemarketing robo-calls.

But I vehemently detest religious robocalls that do not identify who is calling nor give me a number to call and get them to knock it off. I also hate it when it calls when I'm not home so I can press 8 to get my number permanently off their list. I also hate it when they call and I'm not home and the message gets to the point where I can leave my "name" at the beep at the end, because I can't let loose a tirade of filth that will teach them to call my number like that again.

Religious robo-calls, for all intents and purposes, are illegal.

It's not your freaking job to spread your ideology. Keep Thy Religion To Thyself. If you can't speak 2 sentences without some mention of Jesus, the bible, or whatever, you don't need to speak to me without me hitting you upside the head with an aluminum baseball bat. You also deserve it when you use your religion to make decisions about anything. If you can't decide things for yourself, you have a problem. Seek help.

I don't go to church, and I don't care what you choose to believe in. Leave your beliefs at the door.

Never mind about the kitchen faucet - I took care of it.

I finally got that leaking kitchen faucet replaced. Earlier in the month, Lowe's sent out these envelope advertisements with $10 off a $50 purchase, so I held onto that one just in case I could get a better price than that $65 faucet I saw in a local store. On Sunday, I took $50 and went up to Lowe's to see what they had. I found the Price Pfister Pfaucet you see here for $49.97, which I thought was both good and annoying. It was 3 cents short of being the $50 purchase so I could use my $10 off card. As it turned out, the store also had these various tables around the store with various items on them marked for clearance. I ended up finding some odd item for $1 so my total purchase would then be just over the $50 needed.

I go through the instructions and it says I need plumber's putty for the base as it meets the sink. I check underneath and I have the detachable supply lines and immediate shut off valves. Seems easy enough but I put it off for the moment.

This morning while still having to deal with Melody's intestinal obstruction problem, I'm dealing with the current faucet and getting it to shut off and not drip. At one point, the handle cracks and breaks, so wow, it has to be dealt with NOW.

I shut off the water to the faucet, and after having looked up at things earlier in the week, it didn't seem all that hard to replace. In fact, the thing I had to wrestle out with pliers was the sprayer hose thingy! I detached the supply lines and got the retaining rings off the old faucet (now broken) and instead of following the instructions, I work to get the sprayer connected before fastening down the new faucet. Trying to get that hose pushed up and connected after the thing goes in just is not going to work.

Anyway, I get the whole thing fastened down, supply lines connected one at a time, turned on, and no immediate leaks. Looking good.

That old faucet leaked since we moved in. Now I have one of a style I prefer, rising up high over the sink like it should. AND IT DOESN'T LEAK ANYMORE AND even better -  it doesn't drip underneath like the old one. That area can finally be fixed and worked on - the moldy wood removed and replaced.

I just wish Mom was here to enjoy this nice faucet.

No idea what to do!

Melody has been vomiting for past 3 days. Tonight I decide to feel her abdomen and she yelps when I get to a certain spot. I fear the worst that she's eaten something she shouldn't have and I don't have the f_ing money for a vet appt or surgery! no idea what's wrong but it doesn't look good.

Trees hate us

Tree fell down across road and took out cable & internet. Neighbor called fire dept who looked at it, put up yellow tape and left. Tree is still on road and RR still out. Probably until tree is removed. WHEN?

Nice update - later that day, someone from Time Warner did re-connect the cable, then a crew later came to remove the tree and replace the broken utility pole, and then Time Warner crews returned the next day to make a more permanent repair.

The reason why you should do good things for people you don't know

Some months ago, a fellow who frequents one of the Sailor Moon forums that I also get on from time to time asked me in email - out of the blue as it were - about a set of map points based on info from Genvid's Warriors of Legend book. Map points that show the real places in the Azabu Juuban area of Tokyo where most of Sailor Moon was based on. The reason was that he was planning a 2 week trip to Japan around the time of the Japan Anime Expo at the end of March 2013 and another event the next week to finish up his visit, along with a few days in Kyoto to see some things. There might have been a few other details that I've left out, but while he was going to be walking around Azabu Juuban, he was going to take photos and just soak in the area.

Because the 2 anime events were going to be happening (and at the time Sailor Moon fans were hoping for more info on the show only to find out later there's a delay for some reason), and he was going to be there, I asked him that if there were any free items they were handing out to see if it's possible to get one for me and he could thank me that way. Even if it was paper items with artwork promoting something, anything would be fine. I didn't really expect anything, but sent him my mailing address and left it at that, after sending him the Google Earth file he asked for. I have no problem offering that. But so far he's been the only person to ask for them.

Months go by and I note at the end of March what the fellow would be doing. I had encouraged him that if he doesn't have too many issues with local Japanese food and if he can afford it, to try whatever there is. I also tried to see if he would shoot some video - even though I saw some of his photography work (he sent me a link) and it was really good, I figure if the moment comes and a little video might work, he might get something really nice based on what I saw.

It was only a week or so ago that I remember "Whatever became of that fellow who asked me for the map points?" I figure Oh well, he had a good time (I hope someday soon I get to do the same thing for my trip to Japan), and if there wasn't anything, that's OK.

Yesterday I got a packet in the mail. It had a little noise coming from it, and I figure what did my older sister order this time - only the packet is addressed to me! The return address has the name of the fellow who contacted me! Oh wow!

I bring it inside and open it carefully to find a March 2013 issue of Newtype magazine, and a smaller dark blue plastic bag with a few things inside, and a note.

The blue bag had a beautifully designed sakura flower petal bell with a little string (for attaching to a cell phone for example) in a packet that when I looked up the kanji on it, it was the name of a shrine in Kyoto. There was a 2nd smaller blue plastic envelope type baggie inside as well and in that was a Hetalia phone strap and a Nanoha "A"s pin!

The note, to summarize, told me that: The map points were accurate and everything he was expecting and it made his trip that much better. It was something he had been planning for about 20 years. It could not have been more special. He apologized that he was somewhat late in sending the thank-you gifts, but hoped I would enjoy them none the less. He didn't see anything about the upcoming Sailor Moon anime, just a lot of Hello Kitty, Hetalia, and Rilakkuma.

So you see - this is why I do some of the things I do for people I don't know.

But dang it - when am I going to get my trip to Japan?!?!?

Over 6 hours without electric last night

Electric was out from 5:44pm last night to 11:49 pm. All my plans for what I wanted to do shot to crap. It was just like out at my grandparents' house. One rumble of thunder and Ohio Edison's electric gets scared and poof. Really unreliable.

But it wasn't done there - at one point last night I heard a BBRRRT! and a beep from one answering machine downstairs and I knew there was yet another hiccup in the electric.

At least I know when the power has been out for a good while, the TV just needs time for its capacitors to charge before it will stay on when I ask it to turn on. Ask is pretty much how I get it to work at times like that. It's over 12 years old but still works. I could replace the capacitors but not without discharging them first.

Suffering

Unreliable ohio edison out since 5:44 pm.

My sign

My TARDIS Disappeared!

Are you sh!tting me!?

So for some reason I've been getting these calls from some tech worker recruiting company or whatnot. The first guy I blew off and told him I wasn't interested. This past week while waiting for some other call, I got a lady calling about some similar thing - maybe from the same company as before - about some job about a client in Canfield? who needs 2 workstations "refreshed" and if I was interested to return their call - a long distance not toll free number.

I also got an EMAIL about the same thing. One of the requirements was in regard to equipment they expect you to have.

1. A Laptop - No, I don't have one. I work on this stuff here at home. So unless you're willing to bring the systems to me... you should have one working system I can get to the outside web and look up what I need to solve.

2. an iPAD. - ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? If I'm working on a computer, I DON'T NEED AN IPAD.

3. A Cellphone with a camera - Well, I guess my Tracfone fills that requirement.

I still can't get that iPad requirement out of my head. iPADS SUCK. Maybe they meant an Android tablet, but seriously forget you.

I have more brains than money and I know to work on a computer, I don't need an iPAD. If they are wiping hard drives for whatever reason, I have a Boot CD that has a utility that can do it.

I wonder why the hard drive needs wiped - are they doing a reinstall? Why is the reinstall necessary? I rarely need to do one. Are they getting rid of old equipment? Yes, wiping a hard drive is a good idea there, but why not just keep the old drives? Use them until they fail or something. Get your data off first!

Eternal Sailor Moon figure kit finished

Nobody on Foosebook seems to have seen these photos yet, or if they did they forgot to "like" them. 

Finally finished Eternal Sailor Moon. This kit had a lot of things against it. 

1. Broken pieces - either already broken when I got it, or by me after I got it. The bottom edge of her skirt in one place had to be repaired with filler putty!

2. Missing pieces - the red thingy that's I guess a red ribbon that hangs down was not included. So I cut a red plastic coffee stirrer in half lengthwise.

3. Both of her feet needed to be anchored to the stand, otherwise she would fall over.

4. The example image I have of this kit in the Replicant magazine I have from 2001 (Page 11 of Dec 2001 Vol.9 Replicant, in fact) has her standing straight up, while my kit sorta hunches over, as if the staff she's holding is a little heavy and she's about to take a step with it. Maybe that gives it some character.

5. The pin striping on her sailor top thingy is very teeny tiny. A detail I have a hard time doing.

6. And finally - the top of her staff had a ring piece that when I got this kit last year I had no idea where it went and only last week did I figure out what part it was!

 

I'm going to ship all over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I03UmJbK0lA

This Is The Style of Faucet I got

Update - a faucet of this style has been purchased for almost $25 less than seen here!

Express lane asshole

Starburst, I need them!

I always wondered what happened to them

I decided to take some time to find out whatever became of Jimmy Richardson and his wife Emma after seeing a couple more buildings knocked down in Kensington today. Mrs. Richardson was my 1st Grade teacher. I found she passed away Sept 11, 2012. She was a grand 90 years old. It doesn't say when she retired from teaching after doing it for 30 years.

Then I had to look but I found an obit for James M. Richardson in the Alliance Review, where it mentioned he passed away in October 2008 and had owned and operated East Rochester Hardware for 40 years. But it doesn't say when he gave up the business. He was a grand 95 years old.

So it makes sense that between 2008 and some time in 2011 that the building was torn down. Emma would have been able to make the decision if she was still able - her obit does say she passed away in her home. Still, it makes me wonder what happened to the place and why it got so dilapidated and got filled up with stuff. I wonder who now owns the patch of property it stood on.

Probably a way to find that out, but I don't feel like doing it right now. I'm sure I could find out.

Sometimes the Dell scares me, other times its the POS I'm driving

Last Friday I booted up the system to do some picture editing so I could make a post somewhere. However, during the editing the system was updating AVG Free when it suddenly locked up. I didn't know what was going on. Maybe it was the recent USB device usage (I took the SD card out of the digital camera to grab photo files off it with my card reader) that messed it up. I've had the audio suddenly stop working until I had the system shut down, and then suddenly Oh I'd get to hear the shutdown sound.

At any rate, for the next half hour or so, the system kept acting up. Ignoring mouse and keyboard input for some reason. So I took the chance to unhook the Dell, open it up and blow out dust. Made sure connections on the motherboard were in place. Made sure the RAM modules were seated OK. And install that Sony DVD burner that I've said for a while I would put in so I could burn disks with Mom's system again. I upgraded the RAM 3 years ago, and finally it's got a burner drive better than the one that came with it and was flaky from the first few times we used it but generally worked well enough.

I have no idea what helped, but the system stopped locking up and stopped ignoring the mouse and keyboard. I tried a system restore only to tell me that it made no system changes. Eventually I ended up with a working system and AVG Free flipping out, so after enough scans and no problems I made it update itself and it ended up actually installing an update properly as well as setting down.

 

Bit of a system scare, but nice to figure it out

I was moving files around when suddenly the system wasn't doing things I expect it to do. Then I figured out whatever it is, it was a system thing and not a hardware problem.

Basically, I moved some PDF files around and of course the Acrobat Reader part of the system kicked in so it could offer me a thumbnail in My Computer. However, if you deal with many PDFs very quickly, moving them from one directory (aka folder) to another, the Acrobat Reader system thingy can get confused. The result: You get more than one process named AcroReader trying to access files you just moved, and then one other file that you moved also ends up unable to be accessed. My Computer stops offering preview thumbnails for images. You load up My Computer, and it hangs, trying to find your drives. It seems you're having problems with your hard drive! Scary!!

Essentially, a system process was still trying to access a file on C drive. When a program continues to access a file, you get problems. When it's trying to access a file you moved, it's worse because it's trying to work with the file where it used to be and now it isn't there.

The solution was to end the AcroReader process (I had 2 going at the same time when this happened), and when they disappear, your drive is free again.

 

At Chuck E Cheese

The real explanation of those stupid names for winter storms

Athena: The MIT campus wide computer network

Brutus: The bad guy from Popeye

Caesar: Sid's salad dressing.

Draco: The Malfoy brat from Harry Potter

Euclid: The street where I used to live

Freyr: Some rock musician dude that I never remember

Gandolf: A character in a 1896 fantasy novel in a pseudo-medieval countryside.
(Hey, they got this one right)

Helen: Ms Slater

Iago: That parrot voiced by Gilbert Gottfried

Jove: By Jove!

Khan: Star Trek baddie played by Ricardo Montalban.

Luna: from Sailor Moon!

Magnus: Magnus opus?

Nemo: Nobody

Orko: From He-man, the mostly useless magic twerp

Plato: Singular of Plates. When you're asking for some - I want a plato spaghetti.

Q: Star Trek Next Generation trouble making imp

Rocky: YO ADRIAN

Saturn: The Sailor Senshi of Destruction and Rebirth

Triton: I'm thinking of something for this.

Ukko: Either they romanized Unko wrong or they meant Ukkutsu meaning Gloomy. Either way, winter storms are gloomy shit.

Virgil: Wasn't this the name of a gorilla?

Walda: Why not use Waldo? Then we could spend less time looking for him.

Xerxes: As opposed to Xerox?

Yogi: The Bear who was always after pick a nick basket.

Zeus: I'm ashamed to say it, but this sounds like a male porn star.

It finally came back on at 8:34pm

I had a few candles lit and even got out one of mom's oil lamps. When the electric finally came back on, I had a problem with the TV not wanting to stay on. It might be the dust I need to get out of the insides, but it could have been cold. I eventually cajoled it to work properly.

I never do find out what caused the outage each time it happens, but sometimes I can guess it had to do with a traffic accident killing a utility pole somewhere when I hear the sirens of rescue vehiculars off in the distance.

It's 65 degrees and dropping dammit!

Fucking unreliable Ohio Edison!

Annoyances

7pm and the power goes out dammit! hopefully will be back on before 9:30.

FINALLY FOUND THE PROBLEM

1. Probably my fault - it was stuck in 4WD Low. The mechanics at Loudon's was able to bypass the computer and force it out of 4WD Low. Drove it home - no OverDrive light flashing However...

2. 4WD switch on the console inside came up as having a problem. So that switch needs replaced. $84 for a freaking switch, and I told him might as well bypass it and just wire it to be in Automatic all the time when it comes down to it. This can cause the High and Low lights to flash.

3. Shifting motor should be replaced. This is about $300. I think this is a good thing to get done.

4. RIGHT FRONT SPEED SENSOR STILL COMES UP AS A PROBLEM. You know, this one is on the wheel well with a long wire going to it? IT'S NOT ON THE TRANSMISSION. Though I think $415 for this is excessive, the guy who spoke to me says an after market sensor 'could' cause a different reading between that and the Left Front Sensor. This affects the 4WF Low and High lights to flash, and can affect ABS, since he said they got that to light up.

I may end up liking this vehicle now that it's about to run right and it's not sucking down gas.

The shit I put up with

So now I've spent $80 in getting a new Transmission Output sensor installed (because after all, that's what the Autozone code scanner said it was! Right??), I still have the Overdrive Off light flashing at me. They scanned it again, and that sensor error code didn't come up, so it's something deeper in the beast.

So while I have to work up the courage to call the dealer that sold me the freakin' thing, I was up late working on a video clip.

It was a 19 minute clip, originally shot in crappy Apple Quicktime MOV, in glorious 15 fps and 11025 hz audio, horribly upconverted to 44.1Khz. A file that downloaded as an FLV.

So here's what I had to do:
1. Convert to AVI - Super(c) had to do this because MediaCoder got confused. At least I got to set the resolution (352X288), aspect ratio to 4:3. I had to force the fps to 15 because MediaCoder thought it was 20fps. Well, no, it's not.

2. Use Virtualdub to amazingly resample the audio down to 11025 hz and fix the crappy raspy audio, a telltale sign the audio wasn't 44.1khz to begin with. It took a while to figure out that VirtualDub's audio filters aren't simply straightforward. You need to set up an Input Node, a Filter, and an Output Node, and on the little chart that comes up for this, you need little lines and arrows connecting stuff. Unlike the video processing where you just stack them in the order you want it performed.

3. I still have to pull out the audio as an MP3, because while the audio is fixed, the data still shows up as 11025 hz. I use Audacity to set the sample rate of the 11025 audio and the project itself back to 44100. Notice that rate is 4 times the playback rate, so I drop the speed by -50% twice. Each time doubles the playback time. 2x2 = 4. Which is what I want. The raspy audio is prevented by converting audio in this manner. Lots of digital cameras still do not save audio as CD quality, so it must be correctly converted using this method.

4. Remux the audio into the video, again using Virtualdub to copy the video stream into the new AVI. Rename this as the file I used in Movie Maker, and it slips into my project as if it was the first file I was working with. All my edits are retained, because while I was fixing the original clip's audio, I was inserting a CD quality MP3 over it in 2 places where it appears in the video. (It was a singing group with only 1 song.) Fade out the clip, fade in the song, back and forth. It works.

Standardized part naming is needed!!!!!!!!!!!!

It would be nice if the names of the parts people need were the same everywhere you go. While the computer code said a Front Speed Sensor was bad, the name of the part for my vehicle was called the Transmission Output Sensor at NAPA. It would also help to get the sensor for the right type of transmission - mine is NOT a 5-speed.

Good news: We may finally have the right part figured out. The mechanic attempting to do the work pulled out the bad sensor and had it matched by photo.

Bad News: It won't be here until Wednesday morning.

First full week of 2013 results

I had a hard time dealing with having to get a working vehicle, not having something safe or reliable for the past year, or at least the last few months. I put $1,800 into my Kia Sephia back last March and April when I really should have been looking for something else to drive. After this past week when all my sources for rides to my guy for things manga fizzled, the first time in weeks since depending on others for rides, some family members and I found a 1998 Ford Explorer XLT for $1,500 before fees and that other crap. I don't exactly like this vehicle but my brother in law says I got a good deal. It just needs a speed sensor replaced.

Which meant in turn I had to do something with the Kia. Not worth trying to trade it in, I took it to a scrap yard, being able to drive it in, and got some cash for it. I cleaned it out of course before that. It held a lot of memories, driving my mother to her doctor's appointments in the 2 years I was in the role to do that for her. It was her car previously when she was working and got injured, and then became my car when she was no longer able to drive. Having that Kia meant a lot in these past 3 years. How odd to be cleaning it out and finding the missing control knob for the upstairs air conditioner, something we thought was lost nearly 10 years ago!

As for manga that came out this week, OreImo Vol.2 manga from Dark Horse has a letter from me and a photo of my bathtub tiling design! I got a Nichijou poster soon after writing them, and yes I was FIRST to email them in regard to OreImo. It has the glorious Kuroneko on the cover.