The iPad Blues

I could not use my iPad the other day. The thing would not turn on. Figured it might be the end of life for this device. No more playing games before I go to bed. I had a warning. The thing was dead previously, but I charged it back into life.

Started thinking about getting a replacement. The exact same iPad 2 model is available on Amazon. Used starts a bit over $100. One guy was selling a slightly used one with three cases for around $120 shipped. Unfortunately that was a good deal and someone else must have taken it already.

Apple has unveiled the newest edition of the iPad. The scaled down model that is the same size as mine costs $329. I tried to order one but they were all unavailable. There was a cryptic message on Apple's web site about 03-24. Now I am thinking that meant they go on sale on March 24th?

Structural Problems on the Wood Pile

Some time ago I moved our wood pile out into the middle of the yard. To protect the wood from rain, I put a huge tarp over the pile. The problem now was that water would puddle up on top of the tarp. I figured I needed the tarp to hang at an angle so the water would naturally roll off.

I quickly built half an A-frame structure with some spare wood. It was not very sturdy. But it would do to hold up the tarp. I tied the A-frame to the top of the wood pile, and covered the A-frame with my huge tarp. It mostly kept the water away from the wood.

After the latest snow storm, I found the tarp down flap on top of the wood with water pooling on top of it again. Underneath the A-frame had collapsed. I mentioned that it was constructed with haste. Now it was time to shore this structure up.

I just got a couple small pieces of wood. Nailed them in diagonally across the back of the A-frame. I don't this thing is going to be having any structural problems any more. Now I just need to tie everything down so the wind does not blow away the tarp. Dry wood. Problem solved.

Printing Problems

I bought a gift for Kit Kat's birthday. Did it well ahead of time (over 1 month early). The gift made it here safely. However they emailed the instruction manual to me. WTF? Can't these bums provide a printed copy with their product? Oh well. I guess I could print the darn thing out.

The manual was a 6 page color document. I tried printing it to Momoko's color printer. At first there were problems with the paper being fed into the printer. Once I sorted that out, the pages came out with weird colors. Maybe one or more of the color cartridges were bad? I don't got time for this mess.

I had an action on my list to get this manual printed for some time. That's when I thought maybe some company on the Internet could do it for me. The first place I checked would only do a run of 6 manuals. I only need one.

Then I chose a familiar store name. It cost a couple bucks to print out the manual on high quality stock paper. But the shipping charges were going to kill me. I did find an option to pick up the print job in the store. That is how I am going to proceed. At least the online process let me get the manual to them ahead of time and pay online. I should be able to just drop by and pick up my product.

Whew. Now I had better go back and figure out what is wrong with our home color printer.

Snow Late in the Season

The weather man predicted upwards of 12 inches of snow this week. We got under 4 inches. Momoko and Little Kat were off from school. My brother drove into work. I worked from home. At lunch time, I rallied the family and we went to shovel the snow.

Immediately I found it hard to get the snow off the driveway. It stuck to the concrete and was very heavy. I decided that we should shovel the priority areas first. After clearing a path for Momoko's car out to the driveway, we stopped. We were all exhausted.

Momoko and Little Kat went out to pick up some Chinese food for lunch. Then I went back to working. When my brother came home, he helped us finish off more of the driveway to park his car and give my car a path out.

The recycle guys and Postman came today. However the trash guys did not. I hope the trash folks come tomorrow. I got 4 trash cans of trash sitting out on the curb. I do have an extra empty 4 just in case they skip us this week. But I don't want the old trash sticking up the place.

Fiat 500L Maintenance

I put my Fiat 500L in the shop today for the first time. Had to get the oil changed. Turns out my car uses synthetic motor oil. That jacks the oil change price up really high. Hopefully I won't have to change the oil as often though. My mechanic said it was a tight space to get in there and replace the oil filter. Small cars - go figure.

One of my headlights was also out. The headlights are very bright. I think they must be LED or something. However, when one of them is out, it is very dark. Hit or miss I say. I was glad that my mechanic did all the work before I need to go to school tomorrow. I could have driven Little Kat's or Momoko's car. But I like my own Fiat 500L.

Driving to Work in the City

Today I was scheduled to go into my company's offices downtown. I had never been to that building. So I did some homework by Map Questing the way. I also printed out a local map. Set my alarm for really early. Unfortunately I needed to snooze a bit before making the commute during rush hour.

I was initially pleasantly surprised by how little traffic there was on the road. There was some rain, so I thought I would be doomed. Took an hour to get to the building. I had spied on a parking garage across the street using MapQuest. However when I got there, the garage was nowhere to be found.

I drove around and discovered a parking garage entrance on the side of my company's building. Pulled in there and parked where the attendant told me to. They pack the cars in, blocking the cars in the back. So I had to leave my keys.

We had a low turnout of people in our conference room. So the company did not cater lunch. However my boss took me out to a local restaurant. I like it when the company pays for good food. It earns a lot of goodwill.

Going home after work, I hoped for a smooth ride like the way in. Nope. As soon as I exited the building, I found that the main road to the highway was blocked by police. Okay. I decided to take the long way through the city. But believe it or not, my turn that way was also closed off by police.

WTF was going on? I used navigation to help me drive around the city to try to make it to some highways. Of course I was hitting construction and rush hour. Luckily my boss said that since the people who attend the meetings the most live outside the city, we were going to choose offices to meet that are also outside the city from now on. I concur.