Mega Millions

I almost bought one of those super duper lotto tickets today when I saw the jackpot was about $170,000,000. Those always get me thinking I would build a town and give it to my family and friends. We could even buy our own Wal-Mart. We could even pay everyone to live there. I didn't buy the ticket. It probably wouldn't be enough money for that anyway.

Duh

Calories count the most.

Thank Two Texas Congressmen for Saying No to Creationists

Science has long been under assault in Texas, particularly in schools. About the only place on earth where science has been in more trouble is the Texas legislature. The situation has caused great loss in opportunity for the people of this state because in a high tech world, Texas schools produce some of the worlds least fit graduates because of the sorry state of affairs in science education here. One direct cause of that is the incompetence of the State Board of Education. Now comes a little light. State Senator Rodney Ellis and State Representative Patrick Rose have written and excellent editorial in the Houston Chronicle and introduced legislation to hold the education board accountable for their performance. Everyone who cares about the future of kids in this state should sign a letter of thanks to them and get involved in every way they can right down to their local school board level.

Great Pet Show

Like everything else in life, know the vocabulary about critter behavior gives one a better chance of getting the best out of a relationship with a pet dog or cat. This is episode of Nature has some very fun examples of what we learn about pets.

Your Facebook may haunt you forever.

I guess it is no worse than the rest of the Internet, but Facebook has changed their terms of service to say that all your page are belong to them. Not good.

I have a new skill.

I am now experienced in replacing the inside and outside door handles on 1996 Chevy Silverado pickup trucks. The outside door handle is a bitch to change. I did both jobs in just under thee hours but now I know how to do it in less than half that time and with about $50 in parts. The real repair shops wanted $350 up to $425 to do the job. Stopping to think about it, yeah I hate it that much too but I didn't have the extra $300. I guess in one sense I do now.

Mini Family Reunion to CT Scan

I got to go to a mini family reunion this past week end where we forgot to take enough pictures even though nearly everyone had a camera of some sort. There were at least four iPhones but they were all busy with email or games or even being used as bubble levels and clinometers. I ate too much. Then a couple of days messing with my ride and today a CT scan and on to breakfast at J's. The CT scan only lasted about fifteen minutes total. I like the warm sensation from the contrast agent as it washes over in a wave from the neck down to my toes. So now, it's on to Craigslist to see if anyone wants an aero mechanic or windmill repairman or something in between or see if anyone wants to buy anything I've got. Then maybe a nap today. :)

The stupid, it burns

Screwy Days

Some days just go really screwy. I've got this little problem with my old truck. The inside door handle on the driver's side just stopped working. It still feels about the same as it always did but a few days ago it got so that I had to pull the handle and give a pretty good push with my shoulder to get the door to open. Then it just got where the door would not open at all using the inside handle. The outside handle still works fine. So the drill now is when I want out I have to roll down the window, open the door, roll up the window, shut off the key and get out. This impedes my normal graceful flow of park, shutoff the key, bail out, hit the lock switch and shut the door before my passengers even figure out how to release their seat-belt. It is a very old habit and hard to modify.

About five years ago, I think someone tried to break into my truck and cracked the frame of the outside door handle. It is about to fall off. That won't be good. So, decided it is time to do some repairs. I think fixing the inside door handle problem will be a matter of taking the door apart and cleaning and adjusting some stuff. I decided that while I have the door apart it would be a good time to replace the broken outside handle too. I looked all over the Internet and could not find the kind of info I wanted on how to work on the injured door. So I went over to the Dallas Library to look up what all is involved in taking the door apart. They have info on repairing or rebuilding just about every part of the truck except doors and stuff like that. Too bad I'm not overhauling the engine or transmission. I came home and called some local parts places and even checked with some salvage places but found that I could get the part way cheaper online.

I ordered the part, got the receipt, dropped the part number on the receipt back into the search box on the site and it came up for a different model. ??? Thinking I screwed up the order, I live chatted customer service and got them to cancel the order so I could do it again.

I went back to the order page for my make and model and it came up with the same part number again. I checked further and found out that part number fits a bunch of models including mine. So I completed that order.

About that time I got an email that said the first oder had gone through. I waited a little while to see if they would send a confirmation that the first order had been canceled. Instead I got a message that the second order was approved. I waited another hour. Then I checked the bank account and sure enough, I was charged for both orders. I emailed customer service to verify that the first order was canceled. Another hour of silence. Then, I called them the old fashioned way on the phone. I asked the lady to verify that the first order had indeed been canceled and a a credit issued to my card. After about ten minutes of the young lady asking me why I had ordered the same item twice and me trying to walk her though putting the part number into their search thingy and getting the wrong model number back she finally asked if I wanted to cancel the orders. I told her I just wanted to cancel one of them. She replied that one of them had already been canceled. I wondered why she didn't confirm that in the first place. I said okay that is perfect thank you very much. I could tell that she never got it that I just wanted one driver's side front door handle instead of two. But she said a credit had been issued for the first order. I thanked her again. I could tell that whatever language she was filtering my english through was maybe coming out as gibirish in the logic department on her end. I can't wait to see what I get.

Some days I just seem to have an unlimited capacity for things getting compicated. If I get the right part before the old one falls in the street the $10 I saved over driving to the junkyard and getting the right part will work out to about $2 an hour.

Curt Warner - Hilarious

Doh! He's serious?!

“A lot of people believe 13 is an unlucky number,” Warner said, “but I’ve kind of embraced it.”

He added: “A lot of negative things come with the No. 13. My life is never dictated by superstitions. My faith is first and foremost. If you believe that God’s in control, there is no reason to believe in superstitions.”

Well maybe he will get a run on SNL now that the Steelers are finished with him.

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil and his New York cohort Charles G. Hogg came out of hibernation today, saw their shadows and Hogge even bit New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. This is said to mean six more weeks of winter. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O are preparing a joint statement that this is proof that global warming is a hoax.

Super Sunday

The turn signals on my truck have been driving me nuts the last couple of days. It was one of those things that wouldn't act up when the truck was sitting still. This morning I got out my screwdriver and started taking it apart starting with the tail lights. Right away the problem became visible. The greasy stuff the factory put in the light bulb sockets to protect the sockets and connections from corroding had hardened to the consistency of 3000 psi concrete and was preventing the bulbs from making good connection with the socket contacts . So I popped both tail lights off and took them all apart and stuck the pieces in my dishwasher. It took two cycles with some poking and scraping between cycles to get the junk out of the sockets. While I was at it I changed all six bulbs with new ones. I drove the jalopy around for a little while after putting it all back together and it works. Yay! That's even better than watching the Superbowl.