I had heard stories of washing a gunky keyboard in the dishwasher, and even read a posting or three by people who had purportedly used this method to restore a keyboard to like-new (or at least closer to new) status. But until today I was a bit skeptical of the whole idea. In my mind the delicate circuitry of the keyboard wouldn’t stand a chance against an environment harsh enough to get three day old dried chili of my bowls.
The fine folks over at Coudal Partners have done an experiment, and made a film of their results. Well worth a click through to watch.
Auto Flush Overnight, one night last week, all the toilets in the men’s rooms in the building where I work were converted from manual flush to automatic flush through the installation of some overly sensitive infrared sensors. I discovered both of these facts simultaneously when I shifted a bit while seated.
The flush mechanism makes a slight mechanical whirring sound as it winds up to flush the toilet. I immediately recognized the sound as the last place I worked had a similar mechanism. At the old building they were properly adjusted so that the flush never occurred until after you got up. These new ones are a bit twitchier and the slightest forward movement turns the toilet into a make-shift bidet. Hopefully they’ll get the sensitivity sorted out soon.
The best part about this development is that one will never again be surprised by the present the last occupant of the stall left behind. Why grown men can’t flush a toilet is beyond me.
Manual Flush The urinals are still all manual. I don’t know if there is another midnight plumbing exercise in the works or not. Grown men can’t seem to flush these either, but it’s less of an issue than with the toilets. One wonders if they bother to flush at home?
Over the weekend I added international calling to my phone. This seemingly simple goal was made overly complicated by the “customer service” paradigm employed by AT&T.
Online Ordering Repeated attempts to access my account in order to add the new service via AT&T web account manager failed. The error message displayed was ambiguous as to whether the problem was with their server or my account.
Eventually, on the second day of trying, I was able to access my account and add the new international calling plan. I got a printable confirmation page and later an email with the same information.
Verification Since the phone companies are all greedy and have in the past “slammed” customers by unilaterally changing their service, verifications are required before customer initiated changes go into effect. I suppose the protection is a good thing, but putting the onus of implementing the protection on the customer is rather insulting.
Calling the provided 800 number to verify and confirm my order request was fruitless. They were unable to find any information regarding my account when provided my phone number. I was told to call back in “a few days.”
Customer Service Further reading of the confirmation email revealed an AT&T customer service number that I called. The automated attendant very helpfully wanted to look up the account for my cell phone (as that was the phone I was using to make the call), and once I entered my home phone number, he offered to give me “new information regarding your recent long distance options changes.” Selecting that option was a dead end; I was given useless information about the number of minutes I had used (zero) and no way back to the initial menu.
After hanging up and calling back I managed to get into the queue for a human being. Ten minutes of cheesy elevator jazz music at an incredibly loud volume, punctuated by advertisements for the AT&T web site, followed. Eventually “Brian” came on the line and wasn’t able to find my order using my phone number. Eventually he discovered it and said that the “Internet orders are slow to process.” He was able to complete the process for me today (the plan will be in effect by 8:00 pm this evening) but along the way he persistently wanted to review my other telecommunications needs (“Did I want to switch to AT&T DSL and save?, et cetera…) By repeatedly saying no I didn’t want to change anything else, I was able to short circuit their process.
At the end of the call he wanted to know how his service was today. I said that his was fine, but that the entire process was demeaning and frustrating. Three days, several phone calls, and more than a dozen attempts to set the service up online do not make for a good customer experience.
For the last year or so my cellphone has been a Sony-Ericsson w600i. Overall I am very pleased with the phone, its features, and its performance. However, about two or three weeks ago it started responding slower and slower to inputs, either from the number pad or the multi-way joystick. It got so bad that I could barely answer the phone; pressing the “answer” button took so long to respond that the call would forward to the voice mail system before the phone answered the call.
Not good.
The solution was to take the battery out and boil the phone in a mixture of olive oil, thyme, orange juice, and salt free butter for ten minutes. Really. Actually just taking the battery out for 5 minutes and then restarting the phone seems to have returned me to normal performance. I’m not sure what caused the slow-down, but I am happy that it is working normally again.
Just over a year ago, on June 12th, I bought a bathroom scale and started tracking my weight. I weighted 250 pounds on any given day, and I wanted to weigh less. A lot less.
I had seen a blog entry about something loosely referred to as the “hacker’s diet.” Not really a diet but rather a system for altering the way you eat. In a sentence you track everything you eat, along with their calories, and use that information to eliminate the excess from your diet. And you add exercise. A simple, eat-less-do-more approach to living.
It was highly successful for me. I’ve lost, and more importantly kept off, 50 pounds of weight. That’s ten 5-pound sacks of potatoes. My weight has been stable between 199 and 204 for a few months now, demonstrating that I have modified my eating habits enough to maintain a weight.
I’d like to loss maybe another 20 pounds and so I need to start tracking what I am eating again, and increase the amount of exercise I get on a weekly basis. Whether I lose another 20 pounds or not, I am very pleased with myself for having the determination to a fifth of my body weight.
I bought a car yesterday. Actually I bought my car again yesterday. It’s a long story.
Once Upon a Time Many years ago, while still living in Illinois, I bought a car. The dealer recommended a lender and I applied for the loan there and got a very nice 5% lending rate.
When we moved from Illinois to Kansas in the summer of 2004 the license plate tag on the car was almost expired. When the new Illinois sticker came we put off going to the Kansas DMV; why stand in line unless it is absolutely necessary. In August of 2005 Michele handled the license plate sticker renewal. Looking back now I realize she must have told me about the issue with the title and the bank in Illinois and the State of Kansas, but through the fog of her death I really can’t remember.
The Issue With the Bank, the Title, and the State of Kansas The title to the vehicle is held by the lien holder, in this case the Illinois National Bank of Springfield, Illinois. The car is collateral for the loan, so they keep the title unitl it’s paid for. However, now that the car (and I) reside in Kansas, it needs a Kansas registration to go with Kansas license plates. Oddly enough, the State of Kansas would like to have a Kansas title on the vehicle. When I went to get my August 2006 sticker I discovered this fact and called the bank in Illinois to have them send an original of the title to Kansas. The bank said, “no way.”
They don’t “do” out-of-state vehicles and refused to release the title to Kansas. Fortunately I managed to connect with a very understanding representative at the Kansas Department of Revenue who gave me a 1-year exemption on the title requirement so I could get my sticker for the year. This would also give me time to transfer the loan to Kansas. Obviously this must have been the deal that Michele engineered in August of 2005 that I either never knew about or can’t now remember.
When I called the bank in Illinois to plead my case they flatly refused to release the title. Even after I pointed out that this was going to cost them business. It would appear that they take the “Illinois” in their name far too seriously.
A New Loan Last September after I sorted out the whole sticker/title/bank/Kansas mess I put a reminder on my calendar for July to transfer the loan to my credit union here. This past spring in an effort to be more organized we started a couple of goals lists, and one of my goals was to complete the loan transfer by July.
Monday this week I completed an online automobile loan application at my credit union and yesterday I went to the local branch office and signed the paperwork. It will cost me a bit more now to own the car outright, but the lender, and therefore the lien holder, is now in Kansas. Within a week or two, when the processing is complete in Illinois, my credit union will hold the original title and I can register the car in my state of residence.
So today I got to drive my “brand new” car to work.
With the help of eleven people we move most of her stuff yesterday. There is something incredible in the generosity of friends and strangers. Without the help of these people we could not have done what was accomplished yesterday. The task of loading furniture and a refrigerator, tables and boxes on to the truck would have been quite simply beyond us. And the task of unloading it all just a couple of hours drive later would have been impossible as well.
That so many people came and helped, lifted, carried, packed, and cleaned, and did so cheerfully and willingly felt wonderful. Too often in life all we hear about are the negative aspects of people, to have a day where we saw again and again the positive, the goodness in people was very special.
So to Kelly, Jamie, Chris, Allen, Yea Su, Tengung, John, Michael, Ben, and the two guys whose names I didn’t catch, I say thank you. Not just thank you for lending your muscle to our move, but thank you for displaying the strength of community, the power of good, and the joy of shared experiences. Yesterday was a very good day for us in large part do to all of you sharing it with us.
I’m permanently 72 cubic MM smaller today. Maybe 73.
As a follow-up to my physical last month I had a dermatology visit yesterday to have some moles on my back examined. There is a history of melanoma in my family, and one or two of the spots on my back were suspicious enough that my primary physician wanted the dermatologist to have a look. The appointment was one of the speedier doctor visits I’ve ever had; thirty minutes from start to finish, including 4 stitches.
There were two spots he wanted to remove, one 4x4 MM and the other 4x5 MM. The whole process took about 5 minutes, and now I’ve got two dents in my back, each roughly 2 MM deep. The stitches are to stay in for 10 days, which seems like a great long time given the size of the wounds. No shower for the first 24 hours, so I’m all itchy this morning. The spots are a bit itchy, but not really painful.
When I go back in 10 days to have the stitches removed I’ll get the pathology results. As he was leaving the treatment room the doctor said that he didn’t think these were anything to lose sleep over.
After a brief flirtation with returning to karate this past winter, a new martial art has risen to the top of our list. Returning to karate was unsatisfactory on several levels, not the least of which was the potential to aggravate my degenerative disk disease, or arthritic back. Also I wanted to find something we could potentially share.
Aikido was also considered but after a visit to the Three Dragons Way studio last evening for a complementary trial class, I think we’ve found a new shared activity. The studio itself is clean and well presented. There were about fifteen adults and several children in attendance, with the kids working in a separate space downstairs from the adults. Everyone was open and friendly, and the atmosphere was very casual. After the often rigid formality of karate-do, the barely perceptible ritual of starting class was a bit of a shock to me. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the overall atmosphere was very welcoming. Class ended with a bit more formality than it started. As my favorite part of karate-do was always the kata, practicing a new form for most of the class period was very pleasing to me.
The art itself is measured, calm, non-aggressive. I have likened Tai Chi in the past to slow motion underwater ballet. There is real power and technique hidden in those long liquid movements; hidden meanings to be discovered and learned. The 45-minute practice warmed me up nicely and did not have any deleterious effect on my lower back. We are planning on returning this evening to sign up and try it for a while.
It has been several weeks now since the doctor diagnosed my back condition as severe degenerative disk disease (read arthritis). I’ve had a physical therapy evaluation, and two follow-up PT sessions. Tomorrow I have the final follow-up session and then I am on my own.
The PT has consisted of lower back strengthening and stretching exercises. I have sixteen different activities to perform on a daily basis now, about 30 minutes worth of effort. The exercises themselves are simple to perform, they just require that I do them in order to be effective. It seems that late in the evening, towards bedtime, is the best time for me to work them into my routines.
It is hard to say what kind of impact they are having but I think they are making a difference. Over the weekend I helped pack, lift, and move several hundred pounds of books, music, and furniture with no ill effects. There are still times that my back hurts, but I haven’t had a debilitating episode since the first weekend in May.
We have been trying to walk more, trying to exercise more without much success. It is hard to insert new activities in to a routine. Harder still to accomplish that when the routine is already undergoing major changes and upheaval. In another couple of weeks the move will be largely behind us and we can start to focus on daily life again. I think we’ll be more capable of taking daily walks and perhaps attending Tai Chi classes after that milestone has been reached.
For now I am doing pretty good. I understand that my back will never be has strong or flexible as it was when I was younger, but I am hopeful that I can retard the effect of arthritis and keep the strength and flexibility I currently have.