Wouldn't you know that one of the few gadgets I've ever bought, and the one that brings me the most joy, is on the blink.Up, Down but not Left, Right or Backwards in Time
As I climbed into the Lesbaru last night, I fired up the 4-banger and plugged in my iPod. The song playing was a good one and I wanted to start it over, so I pressed back on the wheel doohickey. It paused.
"Damn these gloves" I shouted, then I unpaused it and pressed the left button again.
It paused again. "Damn it" I again shouted at the piece of modern gadgetry, and I angrily removed my gloves, pressing the left button with that attitude you usually reserve for the Enter button on your keyboard. "There!"
It paused. "What the fuck!" I yelled, realizing that it wasn't the glove that was the problem, but the left button. The damn thing is screwed up. It doesn't have the same feel as the other buttons, and it certainly doesn't work. Being a hardware guy by trade, I'm normally quick to blame the software when anything goes wrong. This time it was clear that the hardware, AKA the iPod itself, was to blame.
Sensing that I might need to replace my beloved toy in the very near future, I checked out iPods online and decided I was going to need a game plan and a good exit strategy.The Plan AKA Phase I
Here's my plan. I'm going to marinate on this plan for a few days before I start moving on it, as it's going to run me a couple of dollars. The first step will be to buy an 80Gb real iPod, color to be determined (but leaning toward black). With that, I'll be able to store all of my current music and have plenty of room for new music and/or videos. In fact, it'll have more storage than my laptop so for the time it will be impossible to fill it up.
Note that Dani California by The Red Hot Chili Peppers (Stadium Arcadium) is playing. I love that song.The Exit Strategy AKA Phase II
The second phase of my grand strategery (thank you, Mr. Bush) is to be ready and waiting for my current iPod to fail completely, then run out and buy one of those little square Shuffles (color also to be determined, but leaning toward green). This would be used solely for running and other excercisical activities, sparing the good one of any unnecessary abuse. This plan seems pretty foolproof, and it lets me get the full life out of my current iPod before setting it in a box for posterity.
Note: I don't know what song is playing.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
Thursday, March 08, 2007
On the Blink
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Global Warming or Global Rewarding?
The Postal Service
Just the other day, I started listening to this indie group called The Postal Service. They sound a lot like The Flaming Lips to me, but I guess maybe all Indie Rock (or whatever genre it is) sounds the same to me. I'm not an Indie Rock kind of dude, but sometimes the chill music sooths my relaxation nerves just the right way.Anyway, as I was rolling in the A-ride I heard the following lyrics. They caught my attention for two reasons: the first being that they talked about global warming and the second that were clever as hell. As you may recall, I'm reading a book whose background theme is global warming. Normally I hate when I have to read song lyrics on someone's blog, but this is pretty short.
Again last night I had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded
For treating others as they'd like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in November
My favorite is "for mailing letters with the address of the sender". That's all.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
Get the Whole Story Here...
Monday, March 05, 2007
Warning, You're Going to Windsor
Okay, every time I drive to Windsor, my Check Engine light comes on. Maybe not every time, but that last three times this has happened.Caution, Hillbillies Ahead
The Check Engine light doesn't come on at the same point of the trip or anything like that, that might clue me in to what it's telling me.
The first time I was on my way to pick someone up before heading up when it came on. I changed my plans that day. The second time I was going up by myself and it came on somewhere on East St, a mere mile from my house. Yesterday I picked up someone and was driving down Dalton Division Rd, still in Pittsfield (or maybe that side of the double-yellow line is Dalton), when I pointed it out to my passenger. "See, I told you the car knows" I explained.
Saturday night we agreed that in the morning we would not discuss Windsor, Notchview or anything that might clue the car in on the fact that we'd be driving up there. It was supposed to be a total surprise, but then Natasha (my Garmin navigator) spoke up and blew our spot, telling the car where we were going. The next thing I knew the Caution, Hillbillies Ahead light was on and my theory was once again supported.A Quick Google Search
Later that day, the light had turned off again, leading me to believe that there's something none-too-serious wrong with the car. Typical causes of the aforementioned light coming on include loose gas cap, bad oxygen sensor and engine on fire. I guess the Grade A, #1, Top Choice cause is the loose (or bad) gas cap so I thought I'd see if that's my problem.
I always tighten the cap to the prescribed three clicks when I fill the tank, but I have also always wondered if the sludge build-up on the cap is affecting the output of my high-performance automobile. This morning I took some Simple Green to the cap and where the cap threads into. It was fun-ky!
The next step is to drive to Windsor to see if the light comes back on. If it does, I'll try a new cap and pray to God that the light isn't trying to tell me the engine is on fire.You May Have Noticed
If you've been keeping up to date on my blogging, you might have noticed that I've already written three posts today, each one a small little morsel of bloggetry. I'm going to try it for a while and see what sort of feedback I get.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
The Skiing Nun
Yesterday morning I found myself skiing out at Notchview again. Before anyone asks, my Check Engine, AKA Warning, You're Going to Windsor light went on. It was pretty much business as usual until I came across something that almost made me pee my tights.That's a Big God Damned Hat
Here I am, gracefully trekking through the woods in the freshly groomed, freshly powdered woods of Windsor, MA. I came down a little hill when what did mine eyes see but a woman in a big ass white knitted sombrero.
Now, I know women from Vail, New Jersey, Connecticut and even New York City wear some funky getups after skiing. They have their woolly mammoth boots, fur-lined everything, and so on and so forth, but I never thought I'd see a knitted sombrero WHILE skiing.
Unfortunately, as I got closer it turned out that she just had a white knitted hat (of standard proportions) with a big snowy branch behind her. Man, that would have been SWEET!
Over and Out,
Old Coot
Killer Google Hit
You guys know how I love good Google hits, and this one struck my fancy this morning, so I'm gonna share it all on its own.simple green degreaser pregnancy
I'm willing to bet that this person was wondering if there's any risk to a pregnant woman and/or the baby if she uses Simple Green Degreaser (which coincidentally I used this morning to clean my gas cap... more on that later).
After a brief check of their website, it doesn't mention pregnancy specifically but it's a very mild degreaser, with the worst side-effect mentioned (and that I've experienced) is that your skin dries out. Hmm, it removes natural oils from your hands, imagine that.
If said googler comes back, I think it's safe to make the following, unfounded statement "Simple Green does not prevent pregnancy." While I would guess that you're more likely to end up with an effed up kid if you try to use is as a birth control technique.
Over and Out,
Old Coot
