What significant things have I done today?

[pieces o nine]

Held up my end of a three (3!) hour phone call in the wee hours o'the mornin' to help a dear friend compose a grievance over a serious issue at her school. Every time we hammered out a cogent sentence, the injustice rose up in her and she had to rant for awhile. But it was OK; she got that out of her system and submitted a very professional report today. Waiting for official feedback...

Then, after three (3!) leisurely hours of sleep, was awakened at the butt-crack of dawn (not a term I normally use, but apropos here, I think) to get mom & three (3!) of her closest Merry Widows off on one of those retiree bus tour thingies. In a fit of sleep-deprivation-induced good manners, I did not honk imperiously in each driveway, but rang the doorbell and offered to carry the minibus each calls a suitcase (for less than a week) for her. Fortunately, I'm good at geometry and jigsaw-puzzled 4 steamer trunks into the trunk (boot  for you Continental types). Saw them, their gigantic suitcases, and the clear plastic "rain bonnets" they winched upon their respective heads, safely on to the bus...

Came back and did 8 hours of serious labor cleaning out/organizing her pantry/storage room...

Will sleep very well tonight! 



[EDIT]   Have just prepared watermelon shavings for Mom's cat.   

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I am not making this up.   [/EDIT]

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Yesterday I replaced the circuit breaker from the AC that was jumping like a bunny (I used a 40A pair to replace the 30A, although it well may be that the breaker was faulty, Bob, do you think it was a bad idea?).

Today I installed a new DVD burner on my main computer. Its wonderful compared to my old NEC 2500, burns 4 times faster (16x, possibly 22x with the right media) and it doesn't use as much CPU both while reading and burning. I'm a happy camper. 

[Griffin NoName]

Changed my bed (well the linen). Took me two and a half hours. Once begun, I had to finish, as I needed to go straight to bed afterwards.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Yesterday I replaced the circuit breaker from the AC that was jumping like a bunny (I used a 40A pair to replace the 30A, although it well may be that the breaker was faulty, Bob, do you think it was a bad idea?).

Today I installed a new DVD burner on my main computer. Its wonderful compared to my old NEC 2500, burns 4 times faster (16x, possibly 22x with the right media) and it doesn't use as much CPU both while reading and burning. I'm a happy camper. 

YES!

NEVER a good idea to go UPHILL with electrical breakers.

If it was jumping at 30amps?   *WHEW*  An electrical CLOTHES DRYER doesn't use 30A all by itself!

If the breaker was bad (and they go bad) replace with the SAME SIZE OR LESS (you can ALWAYS go downhill with electrical, i.e. replace a 30a with a 25a, etc.)

GET THAT CHECKED SOONEST! 

The breaker is there ONLY to prevent FIRES!

If you go higher, then the breaker WON'T trip-- the WIRES WILL MELT INSTEAD!

PLEASE, have this looked at-- soonest!

If you've the skills yourself, get an AMMETER-- basically a meter that measures amps.  Get one that clamps around the wires, or you push a pair of "forks" past the wire in question, and measure the AMPS the wire is pulling.

If it's more than 30amps-- you've overloaded the circuit, and you MUST locate the overload.

If it's less than 30 amps (very likely) you're fine-- but REPLACE THAT BREAKER WITH A PROPER 30A one! 

Please!

If you DO ever get a short-- the wire is specifically designed to LAST ONLY LONG ENOUGH TO TRIP THE PROPER BREAKER.

If you've oversized the breaker-- THE WIRE WILL MELT INSTEAD!  IT COULD CAUSE AN ELECTRICAL FIRE!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The main is a 50A (same thickness for the wire) so I imagine I'm in no immediate danger, in fact the 40A is currently off because even with the AC off the breaker jumps which means that either the compressor or something in its circuit is fried.

Indeed someone is coming on Monday to check if it's a cable, a capacitor or the compressor in which case it may prove better to replace the whole unit... 
----
As significant today? Take my son to his violin lesson, and my wife to her mom for lunch.

Oh! and called someone to fix the AC!

[Alpaca]

Got my old iMac's logic board back from the family friend we sent it to. (First-generation iMac G5s have this nasty problem where a certain few capacitors start to swell, making the computer cease to function. Happened twice, first when the computer was under warranty, then when it was under a three-year warranty extension for that very problem, but this time, no warranty. Apple's solution is to replace the entire midplane - i.e. logic board, power supply, processor, pretty much everything except for the CD drive and the HD, which costs $600 at the very least, which is stupid because that's way higher than the current market value of the computer itself. So we sent it to a family friend in Boston, who took out the faulty capacitors and soldered in new ones.)

Put it all back together, and the computer works again!

[Griffin NoName]

Online food order. Been incapable last 3 days. Won't arrive til tomorrow late, but ecstatic at thought of food...............

[Alpaca]

I graduated.

[Sibling Chatty]

I'm using an iMac with a qwerty keyboard!

Different computerage for me. (see also: Old dog, new tricks.)

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

You know you can pop out the keys from the keyboard and place them in the order you want, right?

If you don't remember the order...

[Alpaca]

I'm using an iMac with a qwerty keyboard!

Different computerage for me. (see also: Old dog, new tricks.)

Whoa. We'll have to video chat one of these days. (Fancy!)

[pieces o nine]

Pumped another Great Lake of water out to the curb...

Ground water holding steady or rising very slolay at this point, but surrounding communities are also flooded and the sturdy pioneers who built IN A FREAKING RIVERBED have not done their decendents any favors...

Skimmer pump on order; hasn't arrived yet. When it does, I will be busy-busy-busy! Especially if we get two more days of forecasted rain this week, and the 8 WEEKS possibly threatened in a recent news update...

(Have I mentioned lately that I loathe NE?)

[Sibling Chatty]

You know you can pop out the keys from the keyboard and place them in the order you want, right?

If i did that on the only not-a-laptop in this house...I wold be murdered in my sleep. And I need to get back up to what passes for speed on a qwerty board, since the laptop I'm borrowing for my surgery/trip is qwerty as well.

We have some Dwortyboards at home (old models) but Dan does all our boards by rearranging the key caps.

[Darlica]

(yesterday) I finally dragged my doughy bum to the gym.
Today most of my body aches but I'm very proud of myself.

[Black Bart]

I've been going to a gym for well over a year.  I only go because I can watch football on Sky whilst I'm jogging at a fairly slow pace...I usually end up going for a pint of lager in the bar afterwards.  I have never completed all of my excersises so every time I go to log off the computer it asks me 'Are you sure, you have not completed all of your exercises'...can't it see the sweat pouring off me?!