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.

My Grandmother's Services - last part

This happened last Thursday before Christmas, but I didn't have a chance to remember to send this to my blog until today.

Need to go see some cars???

So when the flying f*ck are people going to help me find a replacement vehicle? My older sister obviously went somewhere today and when I asked if she'd be able to take me somewhere to do some shopping, I got a summarily told No.

I need to get another bag of dog food because it seems Melody is just throwing up anything from the last half of the bag I have now, and I don't know why. I really need to get out and get some shopping done.

5th Grade Choir

For some reason while I was in Elementary school, I was pretty much pressured into (others would say I was merely "encouraged") trying out for school choir as an extra activity mainly because my older sister was in choir (I don't recall if she was in band, too, but stands to reason she was) and she enjoyed it. I don't know why, but I did. I forget which grade this started, but I know it ended by 5th grade. All the while I endured hell. I remember being made part of some PTA thingy in 4th grade if I remember right. At any reason, let me expound on the event that ended my involvement with school choir. Thankfully I was never encouraged to do anything like it ever again, not even band which as I reflect on it, I'm glad it turned out that way.

I don't remember what event it was for, but Mrs. Fugelberg (her married name at the time) decided to take a song from South Pacific and have the boys in the choir sing it, so the song then became "I'm going to wash that Girl right out of my hair." It wasn't enough just to have the boys sign it. She wanted them all to come to the edge of the stage, make hair washing motions, and then point somewhere for the next line after that first line.

I was horrified. Rehearsals were fine and dandy, but I did not sign up for this.

I was raised to respect your teachers, so I saw no alternative to not doing this. Mrs. F didn't give anyone the option to not doing it, at least right at the time this happened.

On the day this was to be performed, my stomach hurt with anxiety cramps. I don't remember anything else or what was rehearsed. Nobody really believed I was sick, but Mom let me stay home from school that day. Afterwards, Mrs. F had the nerve to chew me out over this - somehow Mom communicated how much "better" I was feeling by the end of the day. Well, duh. I got out of public humiliation over something I didn't want to do and had no other options.

Mrs. Fugelberg then tells me that if I didn't want to do something, I just had to say so! But at no time during this did she ask anyone if they didn't want to do it!!! Telling me afterwards is too late.

So for some reason, I was kicked out of 5th grade choir and I never was encouraged or pressured into anything like it ever again.

I hated school. When I was in 6th grade in town, I really disliked Mr. Swank (Junior High choir teacher) and his general attitude. He really disliked other people talking during his class, and would throw pieces of chalk at students who didn't listen while he spoke. That killed off all future consideration of choir, and the high school choir teacher I thought to be a flake.

Oh, what about Band? What if I just wanted to learn how to play an instrument and not have to deal with school concerts?

And something not exactly related, but in 3rd grade one kid invited the entire class to attend and I was the only one who didn't show up mainly because we didn't know where the kid lived nor how to find the place, in spite of my grandparents having lived in the area for some time. I remember getting flack because I was the only one who didn't show up. I didn't exactly like the kid, and as time went on, he became a real asshole anyway.