Derailed

I figureed it was time to get back to my exercise program. So I grabbed my Kindle device and headed for the treadmill. Damn. The light bulb burned out above it. Easy enough. I would just change it. When I tried to pull down the light cover, I could not pry it loose. I grabbed a set of long plier and got it open.

Inside I found a huge flood light bulb. I tried to replace it with a regular 60 Watt bulb. It was just not bright enough. Then I pulled a mini-flood light bulb from a light in my study. Must have damaged the bulb while struggling to screw it into the fixture above the treadmill.

That's okay. I discovered I bought a six pack of mini-flood light bulbs for just an occasion. I replace the bulb I borrow out of my study. Then I screwed in another one above the treadmill. It worked well. But my old style original Kindle was too dark to read. Luckily I broke out the iPad with my Kindle app. Got busy readng and exercising.

Internet Woes

Last night I needed to work on my college class project. Spent some time writing some code. Then I needed to add some new software plugins to my system. Tried to search online for them. But the Internet was down in the house.

I told the family that I was going to reboot the router. Everyone told me they had Internet problems too. Why wasn't anyone else doing anything about this? Just waiting for someone else to do the work I guess.

A reboot of the router did not do the trick. So I connected to the router and tried to get it to reset itself with our Internet Service Provider. I gave up after struggling for a bit. I was tired and went to bed. The next morning, Momoko asked me if I got any errors. Sure I did. Everyone using our network connection would be until the problem was solved.

I unplugged the router. Plugged my computer directly into the cable modem that connects to our Internet Service Provider. I was able to get onto the Internet. That is all the Internet Service Provider guarantees: one computer directly connected will work.

I swapped out our new fancy router for our old one. It still did not work. But a single computer connected did work. Kept trying to get the old router to reset and get connected to the Internet. It seemed futile. Finally after reconnecting wires, rebooting all devices many times, I got the old router to work.

Not sure if it is time for a new Internet Service Provider or what. I do think it is time for some other people in the family to step up and learn how to debug Internet problems. They are all consumers of the Internet service when it works.

A New Found Glory

I used to like this band "A New Found Glory". They have since changed their name to New Found Glory. I consider them a rock/pop band. They link to think of themselves as punk rock. The song I most remember from them is Hit or Miss.

New Found Glory (NFG) reinvented themselves after their debut. I also recall watching their All Downhill From Here video on MTV. It was a weird animation/claymation type of video. The sound was definitely NFG. But it was modernized a bit.

Somewhere in the middle of their career they released the My Friends Over You single. Good stuff. My favorite will always be Hit or Miss. How could you not love them singing ...

Remember the time we wrote our names upon the wall
Remember the time we realized "Thriller" was our favorite song

Day Off

Momoko and I took the day off from work. We had some business to take care of. But the business got cancelled. We decided to do something fun on our day off. It was finally time to visit one of the local casinos.

There was some confusion at the start of the day. We planned to eat breakfast at 8am. Then Momoko told me we were going to eat at 9am. I studied hard the night before. I thought I would have a nice sleep in. Nope. Momoko woke me up at 8am. She reverted back to the original wake up time. Ouch.

The casino had a weird parking lot. The ramps between levels were steep. Initially it took a long time to find my Super Jackpot Party slot machines. They were nickel machines. I like penny machines. Later we found a new game that I like - Black Knight. It was actually Black Knight II. But close enough.

I spent a lot of money trying to get to the bonus round in Black Knight II. Momoko hit the bonus around five times before I got my first one. Once I got it, I quit the game. I played one more Super Jackpot Party round until I got a party. Then I was done for the day.

The real bonus was that we discovered a new Sonic that is around 10 miles from our house. We don't need to go into the inner city to eat there. The parking lot was hard to get to. No problem. For Sonic I can make do. Sonic made a mistake on our order. We ended up with two extra burgers. The kids would be getting a burger bonus today.

Amazon Delivers

Momoko added Little Kat onto her Amazon Prime account. That way he could enjoy free two day shipping on most Amazon purchases. This came just in time because Little Kat wanted to buy a Halloween mask on Amazon.

Little Kat expected his shipment to arrive in two days. When it did not come, he tracked his package. The thing got misdirected to North Carolina. Fail. Amazon guarantees two day shipping for its Amazon Prime customers. Momoko encouraged Little Kat to contact Amazon and voice his displeasure.

Little Kat wrote an email to Amazon complaining about the long wait for his package. Amazon responded by refunding his purchase price, and allowed him to keep the merchandise. That was a good move. That's why I love Amazon. They know how to do customer service even when they screw up.

The Value of the Deal

I am always on the lookout for a good deal. Amazon offers free 2 day shipping to Amazon Prime members? Sounds good. Getting a discount to Amazon Prime because I am a student? Sounds even better.

Momoko signed up for Amazon Prime for full price. Ouch. But there is a silver lining. Once you sign up for full price, you can allow your family members to enjoy the benefits as well. Lucky Kit Kat and Little Kat. Now they get free two day shipping too.

I take advantage of another Amazon Prime perk. Once a month, I am able to "borrow" an eBook on Amazon for free. This is nice because those books normally cost $$$. There is a drawback. You must rent the book on an official Amazon Kindle device. Kindle readers such as the iPad app do not work here.

Well I purchased an orignal Kindle a long time ago for Little Kat to use to read. He really did not use it. So I reclaimed it and use it to read my monthly Kindle rental. Now there is a new Amazon Prime benefit called Kindle First.

Kindle First let's you get a free book once a month if you are a Prime Member. These are books that are about to come out, but have not been officially published to the general public. You get to choose from a selection of four books each month. They become your books to keep.

Normally I jump at such opportunities. I already subscribe to Amazon Prime. Might as well take advantage of all the opportunities. The thing is that of the four books available for October, none of them really excite me. So I took a pass on it this month. I did sign up to receive an email every time new Kindle First titles become available.

Two More Months

Today Momoko took off from work to take Little Kat to test for his driver's license. He has practiced a lot. He set up an appointment around noon. I stayed home and worked. I also watched over my two handymen as they attended to assorted problems around the house.

I tried to wait until Little Kat came home from his test before heading out to lunch. But it got too late. When I came back home with lunch, I saw Little Kat. He said he failed. The closed circuit test was no problem for him. He said his tester said he did not need any more parking practice.

Little Kat failed on the road test. The tester told him to take the second left at the cones. Little Kat thought he said to take the left at the second set of cones. There was only one set of cones. The official reason for failure was that Little Kat did not obey the instructions of the tester.

Having heard about the failure, I now know what we need to practice. I usually give Little Kat very explicit instructions when he drives. I want him to learn the driving, not the interpretation of directions. I know that Little Kat knows how to drive. Just need to give him practice following vague or tricky directions.

Little Kat will return in two months to try the driving test again.

Stepping Up My Game

Today I decided to work out in our basement gym early. I had the day off from work due to holiday. At first I did my normal warm up. I lifted some weight on the barbell five repetitions. Then I started my 15 minutes walk on the tread on "setting 2". There are 10 speed settings on the treadmill. This is the second slowest one.

A few minutes into the walk, I figured I was at the point where 15 minutes on setting 2 would hardly break me into a sweat. Time to up the game. I bumped the speed to 3. That is a whole lot faster than 2. I was able to keep up for the full 15 minutes. Was not tired after the walk. But I was sweating a lot more.

Then when I went to the barbell to do more curls, I decided to up my repetitions. Did 7 lifts instead of 5. Might be time to add more weight on the barbell. Since I was on a roll, I upped the resistance on the stationary bike I ride. That was hard at first. I might not be read for an increase there.

Finished up with another 7 repetitions on the barbell. I will give this another month or two before I try to up the ante even more. Let's hope I can stick with the program.

Billiards Surprise

Today I had scheduled to take the early afternoon off to visit my friend at her college. We were going to play some billiards on campus. I had prepared by printing off directions to her new college. Then I printed a map of the campus. Finally I found the places on campus where there was paid visitor parking.

I packed my goods in my bookbag. Also loaded up on quarters so I could pay for metered parking. The morning was hectic at work. Guess the boys knew I was heading out for the afternoon. I also had to complete something for my boss. I did leave my house on time an hour before billiards time.

When I got to the campus, I made my way to the visitor parking garage close to the billiards building. This garage had an arrangement where you go to a station and buy a parking pass. As I got out of my truck, I discovered my wallet was missing. I searched my truck. No luck. Must have left the wallet at home during the ruckus at work.

I texted my friend. She came over to my truck. I told her we could search for metered parking that takes in quarters. She decided to use her credit card. Parking was a reasonable $2 per hour. I was not going to be there long.

There was another problem. I was hungry. There was no time for breakfast. My friend bought me a cheeseburger topped with jalapenos. Also drank a Pepsi. After lunch, we headed to the pool hall. It was crowded earlier. But there were almost all free pool tables when we got there. These were long 9 foot tables. Both of us were off our billiards game this afternoon.

Grill Grate

Little Kat was scheduled to grill us up some pork chops this weekend. I quizzed him about his cooking plans. He tried to modify our menu. However the time for modifications is when we decide what groceries to buy every Saturday night. With Little Kat having planned out the times for cooking, I thought we were safe for dinner.

After being outside for about 10 minutes, Little Kat came in from grilling and said we had a problem. He said he cleaned the grates on the grill. One of the grates broke. There are three grates total. Each grate has three sections. One section had broke. This was troubling since Little Kat only grills at most once a week.

I took the action item to find out if the grate could be replaced under warrenty. Had to find my sales receipt (we bought the grill at Walmart). Luckily I had blogged about purchasing the grill. Hell. We just got the thing back in May. It is 5 months old. I will call them tomorrow and request that they replace the broken part.

Let's hope none of the other grates break down before our next grilling. Luckily we actually have a backup grill. It is a junior sized grill. But it works.

Forgot the Secret Code

Last night I was tired but took care of my business. Packed my work computer in my bag late at night. I woke up this morning on time. Drove over to my dad's house to work from his basement and eat lunch with him. As I booted up my computer, I realized that I left my paper with my secret logon codes at home.

I had to drive back home. It was already past the time when I need to log into my computer. So I just logged in from my home. Momoko came home from a doctor's appoint with some Burger King for breakfast. I had missed out because I was not supposed to be at home then. So I got not Burger King for myself.

The big boss at work left me a message and wanted to talk with me during lunch. So I grabbed some food from my fridge, went over to my dad's house, ate lunch, and talked with the big boss. Then I spent the lunch hour with dad. Afterwards I returned home where my work computer was located.

Kit Kat and Momoko came home for lunch with Chik-Fil-A. Ouch. I missed out on another delicious meal. They did not expect me to be home. So they did not pick me anything up. The only positive meal I got was dinner. Kit Kat made chilli, one of my favorites. She also baked up some corn bread. Delicious. Thanks Kit Kat.

Community College

I attend community college to keep on top of recent changes in computers. My company pays all the costs. It is one of my benefits. Keeps me sharp too. Kit Kat is attending community college while preparing to transfer to her four year college. She happens to go to my college.

I occasionally interrogate the children about their college plans. Previously Little Kat wanted to leave the house for college. He was destined to attend college in California. He was not sure which college he would go to. He just knew California was the destination.

One of Little Kat's long time friends had plotted to move to California with Little Kat long ago. Turns out now this friend wants to go to North Carolina instead. Fickle kids. Little Kat may also change his destination.

I do know this. Little Kat's new plan is to attend community college first. And he also plans to attend my community college. This might not be strange if I attended our county's local community college. However I attend the community college in the county I used to live. I guess it is a good college.

College Misdirect

My friend was taking her little sister to an all day convention in the city college. My friend was just going to wait around until her sister was done. I had not seem my friend in a while. So I decided to go up to the college to hang out with her.

I googled the city college. Printed out maps. Got directions for visitor parking. I was prepared. This morning I went up to the college and parking in a garage at the south of campus. Then I texted my friend. She said she was in a certain building.

Looking over the map, I could not find the building. My friend insisted that it was on the campus map. I had her check the street address. Doh. She was really far south of me. I began a long walk to go meet her. When I arrived at the address, I figured out what was wrong. She was at the state college (which just happened to be in the city). She was not at the city college.

After hanging out for a while cooling down from my morning hike, I needed to return to my car. It was another marathon walk. I programmed my GPS to take me home. Half way through the city, my GPS froze. That was no big deal, because I can normally navigate myself fine.

When I returned home, I was disturbed to find the side door to our house ajar. I called out. Nobody answered. Eventually Momoko came downstairs. She said the kids went out with their friends. Guess somebody left the door cracked and the wind blew it open.

Kool Aid Debacle

Yesterday I took the trash out twice. The second time around, I checked out fridges to see if any food needed to be thrown out. The kids do a poor job with that. As I opened our large silver fridge, a huge container of Kool Aid fell down spilling onto the floor. It was the red variety.

I immediately called out to the family for help. We assembled a bunch of towels and sopped up the Kool Aid. Unfortunately we were not quick enough. Some of the drink went under the fridge and freezer. We moved both and cleaned the floor underneath them.y.

After moving the freezer back to its original spot, I noticed a trail of Kool Aid under its path. Damn. The Kool Aid was on the bottom of the freezer. We then had to start the arduous task of emptying out the freezer, tipping it on its side, and cleaning the bottom of the thing.

The whole cleanup took 45 minutes. That's a lot of time considering we had all four members of the family working on the task at the same time. These kids got to make sure the Kool Aid (and any other drink containers) are pushed to the back of the fridge. Otherwise we will continue to be on cleanup duty.

Lunch Choices

I had a break from work and decided to go out for lunch. It was going to be some sort of fast food. I narrowed my choices down to Jerry's Subs or Roy Rogers. Jerry's is nice because there is not much traffic in the store. Guess that is because the prices are high. Their subs are tasty, and I can get their Cheap Thrills deal and not spend too much cash.

Then there is Roy Rogers. It is the opposite. The place gets packed at lunch time. I like their fixings bar. I load up my burger with pickles and jalapeno peppers. Also fill a couple cups of their awesome BBQ sauce to dip my fries into. In the end, I choice to visit Roy rogers.

It was still early enough that they place was not crowded when I arrived at Roy's. The receipt tape broke after I placed my order. The cashier handed me a piece of my receipt. I did not care. They knew the order was for me. I spied on a guy filling up a holster of French fries and putting it on my tray. Then the cashier got my burger and put more fries next to the burger.

The cashier eventually noticed that I already had fries. She told me I would get double fries today. To me this was a sign that I made the right choice. Now my gut might not benefit from this decision. However I was a happy eater.