A Little Cheezed

My laptop has been limping. I asked Santa for one for Xmas, but that's a pretty big order. It's the slowest machine in the house, but I use it the most. It's pretty reliable, but there's been one major problem that I thought would torpedo me. I've been having trouble with the power cord.

The cord is structured like this. It goes from the wall to a box, from the box to the laptop, about one inch away from the laptop there is a barrel and after that it plugs into the machine. Right at the little barrel, from bending so much, the wire is frayed and it hasn't been making contact very well. I've had to bend it and get it just so so the machine would power up and get it's battery charged.

Tonight it finally gave up the ghost. I figured I'd take 5 minutes and take the barrel off to see what kind of electronic gizmo was inside. Maybe I could get a replacement from "Le Shaque Du Radio". At worst, it would mean a new power converter from Dell. So I get my tools and plug and pry and dig.

Here's what I found.

1. A rubberized outer "barrel".
2. A hard plastic inner "barrel".
3. A small wrap of electrical tape.
4. The wire.

The only thing I could think of was that they put this thing on so the wire frays prematurely and you have to buy a power connector. I fixed it with about .1 cent of electrical tape. A new power supply, if I could get one, would probably run 30 or 40 bucks. If I couldn't find one, It would mean a new machine.

I understand things breaking, but I hate it when they design stuff to break on purpose. If you know someone that has that problem with a laptop, send 'em to this story.

BTW. 80,000 plus dead from the tsunami. They think it's gonna run over 100,000. Amazing.

Cya

Tourists to Fitzlandia

Got up and did a little personal grooming today, then Cat and her Daughter Katie came down from way up north. Since Santa has to pass Katie's place to get to mine, I don't know why he leaves some of her gifts here, but he does. Katie got a very cool ball and a computer game and a drawing set from Santa. We got her a Hello Kitty alarm clock, Hello Kitty nail polish and a Hello Kitty FM radio.

We sat and chewed the fat, drank coffee and watched Katie play ATV Off Road, Gran Tourismo 3 A-Spec and Karaoke Revolution. Katie is our local champ at Karaoke. I helped Cat get her new cell phone working. Deb worked at a funeral at the church and got home a little after noon. We had a lunch and hung out for a little more. I showed Cat all our Xmas presents, then they had to go.

I gave Cat an Alice Cooper poster I've had since high school. She's gonna hang it up in her classroom.

We headed out and I showed them the gym that I joined. They took a look and headed up the road, then I went in and kept getting back into the swing of working out. My right foot is sprained a little in the arch, other than that I feel pretty good.

Gonna hang and watch some tv and mess with the pooter.

Have good holidays.

Cya

The Big Easy and Tsunami Sunday

Big Easy Week that is. I have a few clients to see and a few gifts to wrap, but it's gonna be a nice relaxing week. Back to the gym tomorrow. We are cleaning out drawers and closets and trying to organize stuff a little better.

Big Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. So far the count is 23,000 plus dead. It came ashore in 6 countries, on the beach, at the height of tourist season. Just an incredible event. There is a 1000km gash in the middle of the ocean and one island was MOVED 100 ft. Some islands in the Seychelles are only 3ft above sea level. There is nothing on them now. Say a prayer, people.

We're hangin' out and playing games. Hope your having a great holiday.

Cya

The Halls Have Been Decked

What a fantastic day.

We went to church last night and Deb did the narration for the cantata. They did a great job. My complaint is that I'm used to my church when I was a kid. We sang a bunch of carols and you just don't get to sing that stuff like you did when you were in school. The congregation only sang two songs and one was "Peace on Earth", which I don't really consider a Christmas carol.

We came home and had some wine and cheese. Then the kids started wrapping and Deb and I cleaned. She did dishes and I tidied and vacumned. The kids hit the sack and I started wrapping and sent Deb to bed. I had about 2 hours worth to do with the Christmas carols going. It was nice cause I was in bed by 2:30, which is my normal time and some sort of record for Christmas eve.

We got up around 10 and the inlaws got here around 11. We started unwrapping, broke for lunch, unwrapped some more, broke for a phone call from Billy and Toby, kept unwrapping and finally finished around 4:30. Even then there were a few things we missed.

We went overboard, which is always fun to do. Just for highlights, Chrissy got a lot of "homesteading" stuff and a mp3 player. We got Mike "The Sims" and some other games. Deb got a mixer and a vacumn sealer. Bill got an air compressor and we got both of them a cell phone, which Betty hates. :) I got an Xbox with some accessories and a belt sander.

We took the compressor over to Bill's house, came back and straightened up the house and burned trash. The kids went to Chrissy's dad's. They came back and they're installing World of Warcraft on the upstairs machines. Deb is watching "White Christmas" and I'm typing to you.

I hope you all had a great Christmas. I have to work tomorrow and then I'm off for a week. I'll be doing a year end letter on here. I sent a lot of folks emails. I figure a brief "Merry Christmas" and a "Come to my website to read my boring family letter" is better than just spamming the letter to everyone who could care less.

cya

A Christmas Miracle

So, what is this miracle? Peace on Earth? A miraculous rescue? No, something even more amazing than that. Hershey's is finally making unwrapped Kisses for people who make the infamous Peanut Butter Blossom. Finally...proof that there is a god.

My holiday pic was at the end of this. This was only up for one day and one day only and, believe me, there are worse. If you want to see them, post a request in the response area with your email (if I don't know it) and I'll send it to you.

Cya

Good Tidings

After 2 days of sheer hell,we finally had the whole family here for eats today. Considering what a wreck the place was, it's a minor miracle that we got it done. We had about 25 people here. Everybody ate too much and some very cool gifts were exchanged.

Another reason it was a miracle we finished is that we went to Wally World last night to do the last minute shopping for today. Now this week we have to do the last minute shopping for Xmas day.

We're loading up at the Walmart and I see this Xmas tree. Completely decorated and all lit up. Slowly moving across the parking lot. Somebody has it on the back of their pickup truck.

I just finished chattin' with Billy. His brother is going down to see him on Xmas eve. He leaves for Iraq early January. Not looking forward to it, but I told him to keep his head down and the safety off.

We're heading down to Harrisburg tomorrow morning to kick off this week of shopping. I'll be talkin' to ya!

...Rigging up these Lights!!

We have a two day crush until ALL of Deb's family comes here. She has some sort of martyr complex I think. Her dad and mom and I installed a toilet upstairs today. We will be working here solidly for the next few days.

I will be able to wangle 3 days off of work, with holidays I only have to go in on the 26th.

I must go help fix the house. Listening to the Jethro Tull Xmas album.

Pray for me.

cya

They Always Come in 3's

The one you probably heard about...

"Dimebag" Darrell, guitarist for Pantera and Damageplan was gunned down by a crazed fan. Five people were killed at the show, several wounded. I got to see Pantera open for Black Sabbath. Instrumentally, they were very, very good.

The one you might have heard about...

David Brudnoy, talk show host at WBZ Boston died from AIDS related cancer. He was a 30 year veteran of the talk show format and a college professor. He gave his last show Wednesday from his death bed and died Thursday evening. It was very moving. I didn't listen to him alot, but garnered much information on him from the other hosts on the station. He had been fighting the disease for over 10 years. He was 64.

The one you probably didn't hear about...

Jillian Swartz, 13, died from an aggressive brain tumor earlier this week. I did not know her personally, but she danced for the Margaret McCann School of Dance, which I do production and graphics for. I know the amount of work the kids put in and how much fun they have. I know that she will be missed.

cya

Happy Hollandaise

Here's wishing you a Murry Chris Moose and a Hippo Ewe Deer.

I am FINALLY starting to feel better. Last thursday the Dr. took me off Zocor. By Saturday I was feeling significantly better. We did the dance recital over the weekend. I had enough energy to get thru it. I'm actually starting to think that I may get into Xmas this year after all.

So I start feeling better and Sunday I feel a cold coming on. Now I'm in the middle of it. I'm hitting it hard early so it will go away quick. I hope to get back exercising on Wednesday if I don't feel any worse today.

Lots happening. I'll try for an update in a few days.

cya