Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Star Wars The Force Awakens!
We saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens today and it was fantastic! We both loved it! Thankfully we were able to avoid all spoilers, and we didn't even watch any of the trailers after the initial trailer so we went in not knowing anything and not looking for any specific scenes. I'm not saying it was a perfect movie, but it was totally enjoyable from start to finish and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Car Smogged and Lights On
Took my car in for a smog test today and it passed with flying colors. I started reading Game of Thrones while I was waiting it to finish.
After lunch I put up our multi-color LED Christmas lights that we got on sale from Kmart. We got the icicle style which hang down so that we could just hang them from the existing hooks and they'd be visible.
After lunch I put up our multi-color LED Christmas lights that we got on sale from Kmart. We got the icicle style which hang down so that we could just hang them from the existing hooks and they'd be visible.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Card Door Lock Actuator Replacement
The driver's side door lock on our Toyota Highlander had been acting finicky for the past few months, sometimes responding to the remote's command to lock and sometimes ignoring it. A fix by Toyota would have cost hundreds of dollars, but thanks to the Internet and YouTube I found that it'd be possible to self repair for much less (under $30). So that's what I did today.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Loss of a Friend, R.I.P. Brian
This morning we learned some very sad news, that our friend Brian had passed away last night. It was very sudden and unexpected. It had been a few weeks since we last got to see him and it's very painful knowing that we'll never get to see him again.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Laptop Repair Complete!
After I arrived home from donating platelets at the Blood Center I found that the remaining parts I needed to repair my Uncles laptop had arrived. I didn't know the total extent of the laptop's damage because the power button was broken so it wouldn't turn on. I knew that besides the power button, the back of the lid was cracked, the front bezel was cracked, and left LCD screen bracket was broken. It broke where it attaches to the left hinge so it definitely needed to be replaced. The back of the lid was also cracked bad enough that it also needed to be replaced, as two of the screws holes that attach to the right hinge were completely broken off.
I had already replaced the left LCD bracket on Saturday, so what remained was to install the new back cover, power button, and front screen bezel. The power button attaches to the back lid cover so I did those together. The back lid contained various wires and other electronics that were taped down, so had to remove those carefully before transferring them over to the new back cover. Once I got that installed and the LCD screen screwed down I plugged it in and turned it on. Thankfully it booted just fine.
I then took the whole thing out back to blow all the dust out of it before finishing up. I put on the new front screen bezel, put back the keyboard and keyboard bezel, and finally put back the hard drive and battery. It again booted up fine, which was a relief, so then moved on to software updates. I updated the BIOS, did all the needed Windows Updates, installed a few missing drivers, and updated some others. So far it seems to be working good as new!
I had already replaced the left LCD bracket on Saturday, so what remained was to install the new back cover, power button, and front screen bezel. The power button attaches to the back lid cover so I did those together. The back lid contained various wires and other electronics that were taped down, so had to remove those carefully before transferring them over to the new back cover. Once I got that installed and the LCD screen screwed down I plugged it in and turned it on. Thankfully it booted just fine.
I then took the whole thing out back to blow all the dust out of it before finishing up. I put on the new front screen bezel, put back the keyboard and keyboard bezel, and finally put back the hard drive and battery. It again booted up fine, which was a relief, so then moved on to software updates. I updated the BIOS, did all the needed Windows Updates, installed a few missing drivers, and updated some others. So far it seems to be working good as new!
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
The End of Parks and Recreation.
We watched the series finale of Parks and Recreation this evening, which was phenomenal. One of the best series finales I've seen. I loved how they showed snippets of the characters' future selves while also giving them all one last project to tackle together. I also loved all the cameos of past characters. I'm going to miss that show.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Weekend in Vallejo
My cousin and his wife and kids are moving to Washington soon, so this past weekend we headed to Vallejo to attend the goodbye party. It was a nice party held at my aunt's house with some delicious lasagna that's making me hungry just thinking about it.
On Sunday my dad and I went to Fry's in Concord to buy a floor model receiver for a friend of mine. It was already ordered and I had all the information so I was just going to pop in, pay for it, and then be on our way. But I'm sure you can guess that didn't end up happening otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it.
We got to one of the many, many checkout registers Fry's has, and our checkout guy was a friendly fellow named Tye. I handed him the paper with the order information and he went to grab the receiver but came back shortly saying that it wasn't there. At first he thought the reason was because the order was only supposed to be held for 48 hours, but the email said that I should have been held until Monday. I gave him contact info so I could look up the email himself and he verified that it was supposed to be held until the 2nd. He went and looked again but couldn't find it, so he took us to the electronics department in back. He had us wait there for Chris, who was head of the department and could authorize substitutions, while he went to check the warehouse.
Chris was helping some other customers, so a couple other guys in the department tried to see if they could help, but they had no better luck and agreed that we just needed to wait for Chris. While waiting, Tye came back to say it wasn't in the warehouse either. After explaining everything to Chris, he also went off looking for it and came back empty handed. Since nobody could figure out where it was, he had us look at other models that we could possibly substitute. Mellisa, who seemed to be a higher up manager, authorized a substitution of a more expensive higher model.
I called my friend to see if that would be okay and he was happy with that, so Chris unhooked that floor model and then went to find the remote. After waiting for probably another 20 minutes he came back with just a shopping cart because he couldn't find the remote But he put the receiver in a shopping card and said we could take it up to Melissa and he would bring the remote up.
We went to the front but didn't see Melissa anywhere, so I got in line and checked out with Tye, telling him that we were supposed to bring it to Melissa. He went to find her but apparently she was on break so he had to find someone else to authorize the substitution. Eventually he got it rung up, and we headed toward the door, but Chris still hadn't shown up so my dad waited with the receiver while I went back to find Christ. He said he brought it up but didn't see us and so just put it on the podium. I headed back to the front, grabbed the remove off the podium, and exited the store.
What should have been a maximum five minute in-and-out turned out to be more like an hour and a half. But everyone was nice appeared eager to help so while it was a little frustrating it wasn't a bad experience. I would like to thank everyone in the store who worked hard to help us out.
On Sunday my dad and I went to Fry's in Concord to buy a floor model receiver for a friend of mine. It was already ordered and I had all the information so I was just going to pop in, pay for it, and then be on our way. But I'm sure you can guess that didn't end up happening otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it.
We got to one of the many, many checkout registers Fry's has, and our checkout guy was a friendly fellow named Tye. I handed him the paper with the order information and he went to grab the receiver but came back shortly saying that it wasn't there. At first he thought the reason was because the order was only supposed to be held for 48 hours, but the email said that I should have been held until Monday. I gave him contact info so I could look up the email himself and he verified that it was supposed to be held until the 2nd. He went and looked again but couldn't find it, so he took us to the electronics department in back. He had us wait there for Chris, who was head of the department and could authorize substitutions, while he went to check the warehouse.
Chris was helping some other customers, so a couple other guys in the department tried to see if they could help, but they had no better luck and agreed that we just needed to wait for Chris. While waiting, Tye came back to say it wasn't in the warehouse either. After explaining everything to Chris, he also went off looking for it and came back empty handed. Since nobody could figure out where it was, he had us look at other models that we could possibly substitute. Mellisa, who seemed to be a higher up manager, authorized a substitution of a more expensive higher model.
I called my friend to see if that would be okay and he was happy with that, so Chris unhooked that floor model and then went to find the remote. After waiting for probably another 20 minutes he came back with just a shopping cart because he couldn't find the remote But he put the receiver in a shopping card and said we could take it up to Melissa and he would bring the remote up.
We went to the front but didn't see Melissa anywhere, so I got in line and checked out with Tye, telling him that we were supposed to bring it to Melissa. He went to find her but apparently she was on break so he had to find someone else to authorize the substitution. Eventually he got it rung up, and we headed toward the door, but Chris still hadn't shown up so my dad waited with the receiver while I went back to find Christ. He said he brought it up but didn't see us and so just put it on the podium. I headed back to the front, grabbed the remove off the podium, and exited the store.
What should have been a maximum five minute in-and-out turned out to be more like an hour and a half. But everyone was nice appeared eager to help so while it was a little frustrating it wasn't a bad experience. I would like to thank everyone in the store who worked hard to help us out.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Recliner Repair
Our couch has recliners on both ends which are released by pulling a parachute-style handle hidden between the seat and the the inside of the arm rest. My handle has always been difficult to pull, requiring a lot of force, and 9 days ago the handle broke. To fix it I just had to steal a handle from the love seat (which also has dual recliners). I had to do this once before so I knew the procedure. Then last night I pulled and instead of reclining the pull cord actually came out way farther than it should have. So this morning I set about to find what went wrong.
I found that there was a kink in the cord and that the metal wire inside of the plastic cord had actually came out. Thankfully I already had a spare cable, which I bought to remove and replace the previously broken handle. The challenge with replacing the cord was getting the old one unscrewed, because the part with the screws was trapped between two metal bars. I had to figure out how to completely remove the arm of the couch in order to access the screws, and the arm was not only attached by three hard-to-reach bolts but also by the couch fabric. So even after separating it I couldn't pull it completely off and had to pick up a right-angle screwdriver at Harbor Frieght to get in and remove the screws.
It was a huge pain but I finally got the new wire in, swapped the handle back to the new wire, and got the arm reattached. The part of the wire which attaches to the release mechanism under the couch was a little long so I had to loop it through one hole to shorten it by like a centimeter. I also stapled the cord to the underside/inside of the couch so it wouldn't get caught in any of the movie parts. Once it was all done I pulled the handle and the recliner released as expected. And as a bonus it's now super easy to pull the cord, taking very little effort. So I guess in the end this turned out to be a good thing.
I found that there was a kink in the cord and that the metal wire inside of the plastic cord had actually came out. Thankfully I already had a spare cable, which I bought to remove and replace the previously broken handle. The challenge with replacing the cord was getting the old one unscrewed, because the part with the screws was trapped between two metal bars. I had to figure out how to completely remove the arm of the couch in order to access the screws, and the arm was not only attached by three hard-to-reach bolts but also by the couch fabric. So even after separating it I couldn't pull it completely off and had to pick up a right-angle screwdriver at Harbor Frieght to get in and remove the screws.
It was a huge pain but I finally got the new wire in, swapped the handle back to the new wire, and got the arm reattached. The part of the wire which attaches to the release mechanism under the couch was a little long so I had to loop it through one hole to shorten it by like a centimeter. I also stapled the cord to the underside/inside of the couch so it wouldn't get caught in any of the movie parts. Once it was all done I pulled the handle and the recliner released as expected. And as a bonus it's now super easy to pull the cord, taking very little effort. So I guess in the end this turned out to be a good thing.
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