Monday, November 30, 2009

I'm Tired Of The Pressure (Part 2)

On Monday I drove in to work.  When I walked out I saw one of my tires was looking a little low.  Sometimes the tires just look low, but they're not.  I decided it would be a good idea to check the pressure just in case.  I did.  It was low.  Of course, when I was checking the pressure I noticed something was lodged into the treads.  A nail!

I managed to get my car into Canadian Tire (where I bought the tires) where they took out the nail and fixed the tire.

If this blog post is causing you deja vu, that's because I blogged about something similar last week.  In real life, these two incidents were about a month apart.  That's right.  Two nails in two tires within a month!

Monday, November 23, 2009

I'm Tired Of The Pressure

One day shortly after I got home from work, Wendy was outside. She came in and yelled at me to check my tires. One of them looked flat.

Sure enough, when I went outside it was looking pretty low. I got out my tire pressure gauge and checked. As I bent down I saw something stuck in the treads. It looked like a little piece of metal. I started to push it, thinking it was just stuck. As I did, I heard the "psssssssst" of a deflating tire, and I saw the threads of a screw coming through the rubber of the tire!

The time was 5:30. I tried calling the dealership to see if it was something they could repair, and, if so, make an appointment for the next day. They close at 5:30. I couldn't get through.  There was no guarantee of an appointment the next day. I checked the 14 day forecast to see if it would be going above 15 degrees much. Thankfully, it wasn't. I had an hour of daylight left. I scrambled and got my winter tires on in just over an hour.

When I got the tires on, I checked the pressure. 3 of the tires were right about where they should be - within 1 psi. One of them was down 20 psi! Great! Now I have to keep an eye on that tire all winter.

It's been a few weeks now. So far so good.

Monday, November 16, 2009

This Is All Very Draining

Back in June, the main upstairs bathroom - the one I use - got a new sink. When the plug was raised, it wasn't very high. This caused the water to drain rather slowly.

One night, when I was shaving, I was trying to get the water to drain faster. I was jiggling it, and it stopped moving up and down with the controller. So I had to figure out (with shaving cream all over my face) how that worked. I managed to get it fixed.

As I was planning on getting some Draino to clear out the sink I heard a clunk somewhere in the pipes and the water drained really fast. Cool. Problem solved.

The next morning as I was taking a shower, I noticed the water wasn't leaving the tub at all. It seemed that the blockage in the sink pipes had moved into the tub pipes. I didn't have time to investigate until after work.

When I got home Wendy and Jack told me that they put Draino in the tub. This cleared out the tub pipes, but pushed some black gunk into the tub in their washroom.  This blockage seemed to move from one set of pipes to another.

I believe they got that sorted out by now.

Friday, November 13, 2009

What About Singing In The Shower?

A while ago I blogged about an auto-body shop in Britain that turned up their radio loud enough to be heard by the public. They were sued for copyright infringement.

I thought, and still think, that's ridiculous for the following reasons:
  • The very nature of radio broadcasts are public, not private. This is not a fuzzy statement, as one commenter said. Radio waves are fluctuations in the electro-magnetic spectrum which exists all around us.
  • Radio signals are easy to convert into sound signals. Spock can do this with egg cartons and tin foil.
  • Radio signals aren't encrypted.
  • If you own a radio station that plays music, you've (presumably) paid for the right to play that music over the airwaves on your frequency. The rights to the music have been purchased.
  • Playing music over the radio is a promotion device. It promotes the album, the band, and any concerts, etc.
  • If you own a radio station, you likely want as many people listening as possible, not as few as possible.
  • If you're a band trying to sell albums and concert tickets, you likely want as many people listening to your music on the radio.
  • As a radio listener, I don't buy the right to listen to the radio.  The right to listen to any station it can pick up is implied. By not encrypting the radio signals, it's implied that if I own a radio, the radio station wants me to listen to their station.
  • At the risk of beating a dead horse: if you own a radio station, concerning what goes over the air, you have NO expectation of privacy.

Anyway. Suffice it to say, I think they went too far with that.

Then I read Today's Article! This time, the British equivalent of the RIAA told a shop to turn down their radio because it could be heard by the public. *spits on floor* So the store did. But one of the shop workers liked music. If she couldn't listen to the radio, she'd make her own music, Gosh Golly Darn it! So she sang to herself as she stocked the shelves.

She was then contacted by the PRS and told she needed a performer's licnese to do that! A performer's license for singing to yourself while you work! Well, you'd better fine me too! I listen to my iPod at work, and sometimes, I hum along with the song I'm listening to.

I shouldn't have to explain why this is ridiculous, but after the last time, I think probably will.

At least in this case, the PRS realized they were being donkeys, and sent her an apology, along with a bouqet of flowers.  How nice.

Monday, November 09, 2009

All Dried Up

The night before Jane left to school this summer, she did a laundry. Unfortunately, not all of her laundry had dried by the time it was time to go. Wendy informed me of this after my laundry was still very wet after spending over two hours in the dryer.

This is not good.

When I opened the dryer door I was hit with scalding hot moist air. The dryer was obviously getting warm, but my clothes weren't drying at all! Something like this had happened a few years ago, and I wasn't looking forward to spending more time at a laundromat again.

When I took out the lint trap, it had tons of red lint. I cleaned it off, ran the dryer for another minute or two, and looked at the lint trap again. Same thing. Tons of lint. It looked like a red sweater exploded in there!

It was soon time for me to go to bed.  Wendy said she'd be up for a little while later, and she'd make sure the dryer kept going. When I got up the next day, there my clothes were: dry! Thank you Wendy!

That day I decided I was going to research how dryers worked. I didn't actually do that, but I did mention the problem to some people who told me to try cleaning everything out, even the vent on the outside of the house.

When I got home I pulled a huge hand-full of lint from the vent on the outside of the house. I went inside and Wendy told me she spent time cleaning out the dryer.

The following week, the dryer worked great! I was so happy. I didn't want to have to think about getting a new dryer.

Earlier this week, I noticed the washing machine was making funny noises. Uh-oh!

Friday, November 06, 2009

United Breaks Guitars, and Looses Luggage

Remember that guy (Dave Carroll of Sons of Maxwell) whose guitar was damaged while travelling with United Airlines?

In Today's Article Dave was flying "to Colorado Springs to give a keynote address at a customer-service and social-networking conference, and also to perform his hit, United Breaks Guitars." The only direct flight he could get was with United Airlines. When he got to Colorado Springs, he found that United has lost his luggage.

I'm not sure if this is more sad or funny. It is ironic, though.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Take A Light Brake

Where were we? Oh yeah. Last I wrote, the McQueen household was really busy, and they had to take their car in to the garage for the third time in four weeks.

Since then, Jane, Bruce, and now Robin, have gone to school. Wendy and Jack are emtpy-nesters with the exception of me. I'm experiencing only-child status.

Before the kids left - about a week or two after the McQueens had their car brakes fixed, they noticed the brake lights weren't working! You can't have that! Back to the garage they went, with me following close enough behind so that no one would get in between and accidentally rear-end them, all the while watching them close enough so that I wouldn't rear-end them!

I think that's 4 times in 5 or 6 weeks. Ouch.

That was back in August. I'm writing this in October, and I'm happy to say that they haven't had any car troubles since. I, on the other hand.....well, we'll save that for a further post.