Well, once again, I've been tasked with fixing another appliance in the house. This time, the dryer. And before anyone asks, yes, Angel trusts me working with high power electricity. The dryer was functional in all ways except the slightly important part, heat. So, something doesn't work, how do you fix it? Tear it open.
So, the dryer first stopped working on Thursday of last week. Once I got off of work, I started tearing into the dryer to figure out what was wrong with it. Have I ever tried to troubleshoot a dryer before? No. Do I have a clue of what I'm looking for? No.
The process starts with opening the back of the dryer. For reference, the big part, not the little one. Once I get the back off of the dryer, I discover that there isn't much to it. The only part of the machine I couldn't get to was the motor. However, since the exhaust fan and drum spin, I'm not worried about getting to it. So, what are the pieces of the machine I'm looking at? Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know yet.
Since there wasn't too much to look at, time to open the small part on top of the dryer. The top of the dryer wasn't too much different from the bottom. There are only a set of wires running from point A to point B. Since the dryer is functioning in every aspect but that of heat, the knob/timer should be working fine. Since the machine starts and stops, the start button obviously works. What is left to investigate on a machine of such relatively simple construction.
Well, thankfully, Whirlpool so conveniently provided a wiring diagram inside the top section. Based on the diagram, I was then able to identify what the devices in the bottom portion of the dryer were. I found a fuse, a couple thermostats, and a thermo-fuse (for lack of a better name). I was able to deduce that the fuse was in working order with a multi-meter. The thermostats and thermo-fuse are a completely different story. I thought one of the thermostats were the problem. However, while testing the fuse the battery died within the meter. At this point I've decided that since I can't prove without reasonable doubt which part is broken. Also, there is still one more part that could be the culprit. The coil.
The heating coil, according to the diagram, works off of 220/240 current. There is only one 220/240 plug in the house. Something within the dryer is broken and I can't manually trigger the coil. What else is there to do to test the coil? Yup, you've guessed it. Hot wire the coil to the plug.
WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF! YOU CAN BE SERIOUSLY INJURED TRYING TO REPRODUCE THE FOLLOWING STEPS!
The plug has 3 wires in it, red with white generates a 110/120 volt circuit and red and black creates a 220/240 volt circuit. Well, according to the diagram anyway. Since I've been inside the guts of this machine, it is already unplugged. So, from my dad's garage, I had some 12 gauge solid wire lying around. There are already 2 pieces, so I'm set there. Each wire has one end stripped. So, there are only two strips that I need to do. I don't know what heat rating this wire has, but for the duration I'm going to use it, it is safe enough. So, I unscrew the retainer screw for the red and black posts for the plug. I place the wires into the gap that is produced and refasten the screws.
Now that these wires are ready to be energized, I determine where and how I'm going to place the wires against the coil once the plug is connected. So, the two safety mechanisms I took to protect myself was first determining that connecting the wires in opposing directions (both inward to the center of the 2 posts which would prevent the wires from touching because the posts would be in the way) and having Angel in charge of the plug. So, now that the safety procedures are in place (no matter how unsafe it might have been) it is time to give this coil a go.
Angel's instructions were that should I get shocked, unplug the source. Then, she connected the plug to the outlet. So far, so good; no sparks and I'm not getting zapped. So, I present the wires to the coil. First the one in my left hand. Nothing happens. Then I begin to move the wire in my right hand to the coil. I get about 1/4 or 1/8 of an inch from the terminal and ZAP! Sparks fly. I guess I moved too slowly getting the wire to its destination. Well, at this point I've proved that the circuit works. But, I have not proved if the coil will still heat. Also, the look on Angel's face was classic. The look said OMG!!! But, she didn't say a word or make a move.
So, I regain my composure and try this again, this time prepared for the spark. Once I get the wire connected, the coil didn't wait any time getting hot. I mean did not wait. I was absolutely amazed at how quickly it went from black to orange and being able to feel the heat on my hands. Ok, the coil works. I remove the wire from the coil. Angel removes the plug and I remove the jumper wires. This leaves me to believe that there are only 2 items that could possibly causing our no heat issue. A thermostat or a thermo-fuse.
Angel and I make the futile trip to Lowes to see if we can purchase the replacement parts. Well, as expected, the parts for the many items that they sell are not warehoused at the stores. The sales representative was kind enough to provide me with a number to call to get the parts ordered. Well, since we're there and we didn't get what we needed, I bought a new battery for my meter.
Well, since it was so late, I didn't make the call to the Lowes Parts Replacement line that night. Friday was a day from hell at work (10 AM - 3AM working) and therefore, I didn't make the call then. The business card did not indicate if they were open on weekends and I failed to think about it on Saturday (well, it didn't help that I spent most of the day sleeping). Therefore, I gave them a call on Sunday just in case they were in operation. My luck is with me then, they were there and were able to help.
Before I gave them the call, I pulled out my meter again and did a continuity test on all of the thermostats and the thermo-fuse. Well, the only one to give a reading that worried me was the thermo-fuse. It was open. Therefore, I thought it was the culprit for certain.
I gave them the make and model of the machine, a brief description of the part that I believe is the problem and they placed the order for delivery on Tuesday (today). To my amazement, the parts to fix my problem came to a combined total of $35. I had heard horror stories about people being told that fixing their dryer would be so expensive, it would be less expensive to buy a new one.
Well, today, my parts arrived. I decided to hit the new pieces with the meter and to my surprise, the new parts were generating the same results as the ones I took out. At this point I'm skeptical. Did I order the right parts? Is the dryer going to work when I put it back together? I don't have a clue and there is only one way to determine the answer. Time to put everything back together.
Once again during this process, I am shocked. I don't know what changed at this point, but once everything was reassembled the dryer is working. Almost as equally amazing, once again, there were no pieces or parts that were not replaced left over. This is amazing. In a two week period I've fixed 3 appliances of varying degrees of difficulty successfully and without left over parts. Is this going to become a trend? Should I get used to this? I guess only time will tell.
Anyway, one of the more interesting aspects of this instance has to do with the following question. When these things are so simple to fix by yourself, is it worth calling in a technician that is going to inflate the cost because of the addition of labor costs. I think I'll keep working on things myself until I'm out of options, either physically or due to knowledge.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
More Household Chores
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Identity Theft
About a month ago, Angel & I both experienced an instance of Identity Theft. A combined total temporary loss of about $375. We got the full amounts back almost immediately, so the loss was a non-issue. However, I thought I'd share our experience with everyone.
The day started out as any other, I woke up and walked across the hall to work. However, shortly there after, Angel was asking me about a transaction that was posted on our joint account. Since the transaction was for $299, it immediately jumped out at us. It was a transfer thru Western Union. Neither of us have ever used Western Union nor had made a transaction in the recent past for that dollar amount. Therefore, we began to worry.
The first call was to BofA. Unfortunately, since the transaction had not cleared yet, there was nothing they could do for us. They recommended that we call Western Union. Angel calls to talk to Western Union and they claim there is nothing that they could do for us because the transaction had already been paid out. Also, this transaction, so they claimed, contained all of the information related to Angel's check card. This included, Name, Address, phone number, Debit Card #, expiration date, and security code (the one on the back of the card). With this information in hand, Angel calls BofA bank to have the card blocked and subsequently shreds the card. They inform us that it would take 7-10 days to receive the replacement. We would not get that until we returned from our honeymoon. Unfortunately, at this point, there was nothing more we could do about it until the posting of the transaction cleared. We wait 3 days.
In the meantime, I checked into my PNC account, though for reasons I can't recall, and discover 2 transactions with the European arm of eBay via PayPal. I logged into eBay and find no reason for these charges. These charges were in relation to sellers fees. You know, the type you get charged for posting an auction. I have never sold anything on eBay and don't have a sellers account in my eBay account. The final oddity to the story was that it was charged in Euros. It wouldn't make sense for my US based eBay account to be charged in Euros. Therefore, I call them and start to question the charges. They would not begin the investigation until I could mail them a statement from my account. This was unacceptable. My statement period had just begun and I wasn't waiting for a month to file a claim thru them. I threaten to resolve this thru Paypal and they don't even give up a fight. At this point I'm steamed.
I log into Paypal and start poking around. I find a link for disputing transactions. I give the forms all of the information they want and I feel unsatisfied. But, at least with this action, I know that the ball is rolling. To make a long story short, Paypal attempts to contact eBay three times and do not receive a response. Subsequently, they give me the money back. I don't know how my Paypal account became linked with a different eBay account. Also, I don't even remember what the linking process is like. I don't remember what information is required or anything. Aside the point, I change the passwords for both my eBay and Paypal accounts and did it again once I got my password manager. Now I am certain that noone will be steeling my passwords for any reasons. I can't even remember them.
Back to the Western Union story. So, we've waited the three days required for the transaction to completely clear the system and call BofA back. Once again, we go thru the process of explaining what happened, what we've done, and what we want them to do. They immediately start processing the claim. However, they did not present us with a temporary credit until they receive an Affidavit. They send that out to us immediately. Before we fly home to Pittsburgh, the letter is received, we both sign it (once again, joint account), and get it back to them. While we're in Pittsburgh, we receive notification that while they are investigating the transaction that the money has been replaced in our account. They investigation did not turn up any information that they were willing to disclose to us. However, the end result stayed the same (as it should have), we got our money back.
Between these two little issues, I decided that we would take further steps to securing our information. Introducing a password manager with password change policies. The post RTFM will explain the difficulties of my first few days with it. And the subsequent Password Quagmire will discuss my surprise at the number of passwords that I have to juggle within our favorite ether entertainment spot, which we like to call the Internet.
I know that this little password manager is not going to prevent any future issues like the one that occurred against our BofA account, but I'm pretty certain that they only way that my Paypal account could have been linked to another eBay account was thru hacking my password.
Password Quagmire
As a follow up to my RTFM post, about getting my password situation under better secure control with a password manager, I have learned something interesting. The number of places that require a password that I use are numerable. I new that there were many places that I use a regular basis, however, I didn't know how many. Now that I have all of my passwords configured into my manager, I'm shocked.
I now have 41 passwords stored in my manager. The device has a maximum capacity of 50. I certainly hope that my internet usage doesn't change too drastically in the near future. I will max it out and then have to figure out a different storage or usage scheme. Right now I have 13 password slots for just work and the Army. If required I could consolidate my US Bank passwords again, but that would defeat the purpose for which this all started. Trying to synchronize all of my passwords at work is a bunch of work. I would rather not have to do that again. Though, keeping the separate might be more difficult, but I've yet to discover this problem as I haven't yet started using this for work purposes. (That will be Monday.)
Anyway, this little device, once configured the way you want it, is pretty simple to use. To begin use, just click the center button. This will cause the device to prompt you for your 5 key finger pattern (a password comprised of a combination of the arrow keys). Once into the token, you use the center button as they enter key and the arrow keys to navigate to which password you want to use. It is pretty simple and straight forward.
However, it doesn't always produce as much feed back as you would like. To shut off the device, you press the left arrow key from the main menu (View, Options). However, while you are in the View mode, you select a site to view the password of by pressing enter, to return to the list press left. However, the first left arrow press only takes you back to the individual record so you can see the username also if required. To get back to the list, press left again. If you get impatient and press left too many times, you could shutdown without wanting to.
The device boasts a last used password memory. I will not tell you that this is false. On a technical level, this is not a lie. As long as your session within the token continues, you can look at a password, return to View, look at options, or whatever else and when you return to View, it will take you to your last used password. However, once you shut it off and return it to use, it will not remember which password you were using. Having a list of 50 available slots in the device, navigating around to view you password can get annoying.
The user interface allows the user to overlook this issue, as they have provided 2 very useful features. The first one is the wrap around. From record 1 you can roll back to record 50. For me, this was very useful. My most commonly used personal passwords are at the bottom of the list. All of my work related passwords are at the beginning. The other solution that they put into place is a common one. If you hold an arrow key down, it will continue to move from one record to another. If you hold it down long enough, the progression speed will increase. Thus, moving faster then continually pressing the arrow yourself.
The instructions also recommend another security tool for those worried about having their token hacked. They recommend that you use a symbol offset for the passwords on the token. Therefore if someone was able to obtain your token AND hack your finger code, the passwords that they see are not the passwords that you actually use. There are simple ways of doing this, but for the paranoid, they have an example of a complex way to use it in their manual. Their demonstration from the FAQ's is as follows:
AN EXTREME EXAMPLE –The following is an example of a complex offset that
combines multiple techniques which can be used
separately or in combination with other techniques.
This example includes (1) a fractional reading of only
a subset of the displayed code; (2) applying
multipliers against displayed numeric characters; and
(3) substitutions for displayed alpha characters.
For this example, lets say a user utilizing the token
generates and stores a purely random string of 14
printable characters.
The Display reads:
\BjrGjh3>u7A&t
The user secretly applies the following complex
offsets only known to him/her to arrive at the true
password for the Login Record:
Offset (1): The password length is only the last 8
Characters read right to left on the display;
Offset (2): All displayed alphas are decrement by
one character;
Offset(3): All displayed numbers are incremented by
one.
The actual password for the Login would be
discerned in the following 3 step process:
Step 1: - Locate the Last 8 Characters of the
displayed password and read them right to left.
t&A7u>3h
Step #2: All displayed alphas are decremented by
one character (application of offset #2):
s&Z7t>3g
Step #3: All displayed numbers are incremented by
one character (application of offset #3):
s&Z8t>4g
Under this complex example, the displayed password
of
\BjrGjh3>u7A&t
would be converted by the user to the actual
password of
s&Z8t>4g
Without knowledge of the offset only known to the
user, it is impossible to deduce the actual password
from the displayed password.
So, since getting this bad boy configured for use, I have done myself a favor to force myself to use it. The first thing was to put all of my passwords into it. The second was to completely turn off password saving in my browser. Since these passwords are more complex and different from anything that I have memorized, I have to go back to it each time I want to log in somewhere of less common use or if I press the wrong link and log out of a commonly used site or due to a reboot.
This might sound and be annoying, however, it is better then what I was doing before. The same password everywhere and/or exposing my site usage to anyone that can obtain access to my computer. For any of you wondering, yes, this also included my passwords for my financial websites. I feel safer knowing that even I don't know my passwords.
RTFM
For as long as I've been into computers, this has been a recurring theme. Read The Fine (or other "F" word of choice) Manual (RTFM) is the mantra of a support analyst. We use this term for those people that don't have the drive or skill with computers that would have lead them to a simple answer.
Unfortunately, every once in a long while, there are circumstances that arise I have to use this against myself.
I recently received a new toy. This little device (just about the size of a OEM car keyless entry box) is soon to become another tool for my computing arsenal. With all of the passwords that I maintain and with all of their various rules of composition, it was starting to become difficult keeping them straight. It really wasn't that big of a deal until a situation occurred just before the wedding with eBay and Paypal. At this point I determined that I needed to do something to better secure my information within the ether world of the Internet.
Bear with me if you are reading this early. I will document the aforementioned situation in a subsequent message. Once it is posted I will create a backlink.
Anyway, after being financially impacted by some unknown means I determined that it was time to increase my security. So I bought two of these Mandylion Password Managers. I could not tell you how long I had been using the same passwords at many of the sites that I was required authentication. Furthermore, majority of the sites were using the same passwords. The exceptions were the ones that required a specific password composition, such as no symbols. Anyway, the more sites and places that require a password that use the same password increase my risk to exposure should it ever be cracked. Although, the password I was using was strong, the more that it is used, the more potential that it can be discovered. The definition of a strong password is one that is not dictionary based and contains a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols.
Well, as with many of the things that I do, as soon as I received my new toy, I grasped on to it whole heartedly and have taken it to the extreme. I've spent several hours with this toy already and almost gave up on it as a publicly consumable item. It has taken me 3 days thus far to get it configured the way that I want it. However, as the title of this message implies, my frustration was due to an issue with the instructions. I didn't read ALL of them.
So, lets recap my experience from the start.
I get this device while I'm working so I have to sit on it until I'm done with work. As soon as I finished work for the day I rip into the packaging and begin the discovery process. I get the device connected to the computer. Install the drivers & associated software and validate that it is what it says it is. So far so good. Now, lets put it to use.
I fire up the software to begin to enter the array of sites and locations that I use a password the most often. I determine what the password template should be for each site. For example, how many characters and what character set (are multi case letters required, numbers, are symbols permitted) to use. The next question is regarding what time period the password should change. Since only at work do any of my passwords have a mandatory expiration period, this is completely subjective. How often do I want to change the password.
To this point, everything has been peachy. However, the next part caused the most frustration. There are a few options regarding how the password should be specified initially on the token. I figured that since I had set policy information that manually entering a initial configuration password that this would work. However, this is not the case. As soon as I would enter a manual initial password, the password pattern would reset to manual. This was not a good thing. I was hoping with how shotty this software appeared that this was just an ascetic problem. This was not the case. Therefore, once I transferred the information to the token, it would configure it anyway that it wanted.
However, I didn't discover this until after I started using it. Since the password I wanted to see was on the token, I went to begin changing passwords that I use. However, after getting just a couple sites into the process, I discovered that passwords were being generated that I couldn't use. The password templates that I specified were not being enforced (because they were reconfigured) and getting passwords that were too long or even with the wrong character set.
This was unacceptable.
So, now I have a real dilemma, I was under a misconception that I needed the software to configure this device for everything that I wanted. I now know that this is not the case, however, it is too far gone now for me to start over. The only thing that a computer is required for is the initialization step. Anyway, since I'm now using the passwords that are on it, I'm not going to re-initialize it. I'll deal with it with what I've got.
Moving on with the issue. Now, the device has passwords that I don't have memorized but I need to make configuration changes to it. So, I'm back to the same problem that I had initially. I need to update the password template from the software (because I locked the token from being able to do it) and I need to be confident that once I make the change that the password on the device is correct. A little forethought was put into this. I wrote down the passwords on the token into notepad and tried to reconfigure it.
At this time, I'm not very confident that what I tell the software will not certainly reach the token. So here's the deal. I first need to determine how to set the password pattern template and set a starting point password. As I told you before, this wasn't working. So, instead of flailing blindly at this software, I open the manuals. There was an option for the initial password called "Bootstrap". I didn't understand this term and wasn't sure what the results were going to be. Unfortunately, the manual was not very clear at the definition of this option, but it did give the impression that this was the option for which I was looking.
I return to the UI and start to redefine my password template options and specify bootstrap passwords. We have success. The software accepted the password and did not reconfigure anything else in the configuration.
Please bare in mind, all of this has transpired over a three day period. I'm not so sure that the typical consumer would put this much effort into using this device. I might have been better off making all of the password additions and configuration within the tokens interface, but this would have been cumbersome and time consuming. In hindsite, it might have been less cumbersome.
So, I spend some time (a lot of time) researching my browser cache and putting every password that I use for work (including the Army) or personal use into the software and I'm now ready to start using it.
The moral to this story is read the manual, understand the tool you are trying to use and it will save you tons of time in the long run. However, I'm not excusing the company. The documentation is less then desirable and the UI is about as intuitive as something I would expect from Beagle. Maybe, not even that good. His interfaces might not be pretty, but they work well and he will explain to you how to use it. That is more then what I got from this company.
The last challenge left in this adventure is to get Angel to set up her token. I'm certain that working with her will be a better usability test for this device. However, she has an advantage, I know how it works now. I'm sure that I'll have more to say about this little tool in the future.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Life in a Drought
Living in an area that is in an area that is declared Exceptional in regards to the drought situation forces you to be creative. As most of you know, I enjoy taking good care of the exterior of my cars. When I have the time, I like to spend exorbitant amounts of time ensure that my cars look their best by applying some TLC to my cars. Well, since I've moved to Georgia, that has not been an option. My car is pretty dirty. The last time I had washed it was right before I went to camp in 2006. It got another bath while I was at camp thanks to Dad and Dana. Needless to say, I'm getting to the point that I need to provide my car some TLC.
The apartment complex that we lived in didn't have outside spiquots to wash our cars with. I had plenty of hose to use should I have found one, but to no avail. Then, in spring, we buy our house. Focus then was removed from the car and to the house. By the time the house was situated and I was ready to focus on the car again, we were in a drought condition. It became illegal for us to use our outside water except during specific times of certain days.
If I recall correctly, the way it worked was if you had an odd numbered house, you could water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. If you were in an even numbered house, you could water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Fridays were banned for everyone. Also, for all houses, if you were watering, you could only water from Midnight thru 10am. If you were caught watering outside of those days and time frames, you would be fined.
Needless to say, I was not about to wake up at 5 or 6 AM just to wash my car. However, since the drought has gotten progressively worse, our water restrictions also have gotten worse. It is now illegal to use water outside on any day or time. It has gotten so bad that companies have been forced to stop using water. This includes car washes, street paving companies, green houses and floral shops, or anything else that you can think of that consumes water as a matter of business as usual. This drought is further complicated by the fact that the nearby lake, Lake Lanier, is being drained and shipping our fresh water down stream to Florida for an endangered mollusk.
Well, in the light of all of this build up, I did something that was likely not the wisest of things that I've ever done. Since it was raining still at the end of my shift today, I decided that I would take advantage of mother nature and wash my car in the rain. However, as most of you know, it now gets dark at about 7PM when I'm off work. 
So, not only was I in the rain, I was in the dark. It was getting cold out there too while I was doing it.
To wash my car, I used a total of 4 partial buckets. I used one partial to mix with soap to wash the car. Two partial buckets to rinse the car down, one by wringing a rag over the car and the other to wipe down with. The last bucket was used in conjunction with some degreaser for my rims. I think it took longer to get the water, wash and rinse down the car then it did to clean my four rims.
While I was washing and rinsing the car, the rain had subsided, but I was still getting water off of the roof to fill the buckets (we have a clogged downspout). However, once I thought that I was going to luck out and not have to finish in the rain, the sky just opened up on me. This was also about the time that I was starting to wash the rims. Then, not only was it raining harder, it was also getting colder by the minute. Once again, I remind myself, this is not the smartest thing I've ever done.
Finally, I get done with the car and close up the garage, it is time to dry off and get warm.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Up Beat!
As I was poking around on the net today, I came across some miniclip games. This one I had played before, but I felt the compulsion to share it with the rest of you.
For those of you that have played the Guitar Hero games, this will be familiar to you. I find it to be an easier interface then the guitar, but then again, I type much more than fiddle with a guitar. So I guess that is only fitting. However, Guitar Hero has much better music. At the bottom of every page within our blog, you will find Up Beat. You can play it from within the page, it is not an external link.
If you don't know Guitar Hero, give it a try anyway. You might like it.
Edit:I've managed to limit this only to the index page and this post, not every page within the site. Yes, I was getting annoying with it being everywhere.
Read More......
House Guests - First Friends to Visit
Since we are so far away, we don't get many house guests. Up to this point, all of our guests have been family. We've finally had our first set of non-family guests visit us at the house. We had discussed James coming to visit a couple of times previously but, it seemed that we just could not get the timing down. The timing has finally straightened itself out. James made the trip to the ATL.
Finally, our first non-family guest comes to visit. Except this means that we need to get the house prepared for guests. Angel did some laundry and helped get the common areas presentable. We made sure to vacuum, sweep & mop, in addition to the general pickup that the house needed. I'm not complaining about these things, it needed done anyway. It was just added motivation to get it done. This took us from Wednesday to Friday to complete. If we put on a full press to get it all completed in one day we could have, we just didn't.
Friday afternoon, James and Ashley begin their trek to ATL. James wasn't sure how accurate my estimate of travel time was and therefore over estimated the trip. He thought he wasn't going to make it in until late. Well, late wasn't late at all, they rolled in at about 9. Before their arrival we determined that there wasn't enough food in the house for four of us so, we would need to run to the store. After I get off of work, we finish up the house and ran to the store. We didn't exactly go shopping just for them, we needed to stock up anyway, but while we were there, we picked some things up that I knew James would appreciate. Breakfast is not a common meal in our house, it is a must in James, so we grabbed some stuff for breakfast. By the time we returned home, unpacked the car, and put the items away, they were pulling into the driveway.
It was great to see James again, regardless of the fact I had just been to his place two weeks prior and would see him again in another three weeks at the wedding. When a man is preparing for another trip to combat, you can't see too much of him. So, after the ten cent tour, the first order of business is to determine what we're going to do with the night; especially since they arrived much earlier than either of us had expected. The question is, do we say in and catch up or do we go out? Well, Angel answered that question. She has to work early Saturday so we'll stay in. I can't say I'm surprised, but James brought two fifths of Jaeger with him. Other then that, the only alcohol we have in the house is 151 and Captain. While we were at the store, we grabbed some frozen fruit and are thinking of using the smoothie machine. Therefore, I'm sent to get Vodka.
As most of you know, alcohol is not one of my forte's. There are really only three names that I am usually concerned about bringing into my house. Yuengling, Captain, and Jack. Buying Vodka is not a typical thing for me. The funny thing is, while I was there, I found everything but Vodka in the place that I had expected to find it. Turns out, the vodka was not stored on the wall shelves but in displays in the middle of the room. I knew what I wanted, but I couldn't remember the name. Ashley was there with me but, she wasn't much help on the topic either. I was like, it is a clear bottle with the name in a red banner. If I saw it, I would know it. Well, looking around long enough, I was able to find it. Stoli. She was impressed. She was like, that's excellent. I just shrugged. It's the only name I know aside from Smirnoff and they sold out long ago.
We return to the house and we break out the smoothie machine. On its maiden voyage. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I'll fake it just as well. I grab some mixed berries and strawberries from the freezer, pour in some vodka and hit the high button. I ran this thing for what seemed to be 10 minutes. It was think and I didn't have a clue what it taste like. James, Angel & Ashley are the first to point out that water might be a nice addition. WTF, like I know these things. In hindsight, maybe a fruit juice would have been nice. Throw some apple or pineapple might have been it. Anyway, water and more vodka go in. Blend some more. Is this stuff thin enough to pour yet? I dunno, but I think the better question is, what does this taste like? I grab a tumbler and open the spiquot. It just oozes out. I'm not sure what I've just created, but it sure is interesting. Angel gives it a go and requests more liquids. Another round of water & vodka and I think we're set. I also notice this time that the low setting also says pour. I kick it on low and open the spiquot and away we go this time. It pours like a champ and Angel is satisfied with how it turns out. Mind you, all while I'm working on this "work of art", we're doing shots or Jaeger and chatting it up. As the night goes on, we do kill a fifth. I was actually surprised by this, thankfully it was slower then the last bottle I was involved in.
Well, once Angel and Ashley are starting to feel good, the party separates. James and I in the living room and them two in the kitchen. They are playing the getting to know you game and James and I are on a tangent or two of our own. Also, James and I are kicking around my computer. He brought two or so dozen CDs down on his trip. I asked him to do this since he has quite the extensive collection and I wanted to demonstrate to him the speed of ripping his collection to MP3 would be like. Once I completed the disks he brought down, which did take all weekend, I created a DVD for him to transport the tracks back home with. I would have given him CDs (his car will play MP3 CD's) except I couldn't for the life of me find the CD spindle. Later discovered that Angel had put the spindle in her book bag; I never thought to look there.
Eventually, we call it a night. The next morning, I wake up to breakfast already prepared, a new experience for me(of course, I was the last to wake). After doing some him-hawing around the house, James asks what we're going to do. Suggests Lazer Tag. Well, I do some research online and suggest paintball instead. I had previously done both and certainly prefer paintball. Ashley is down with it and off we go. The gaming location is not but 2 minutes down the road. We walk around like lost puppies for a moment and then find the desk. We sign our waivers, get our equipment and paint (I forgot how expensive this can be) and head to the floor.
There were a few kids around, the bay doors were open and we couldn't figure out what was going on. There is a team that is out of this outfit. They had just completed practice and were cleaning up the court. Since I had played this before and this was new to them two, I really didn't know how this was going to go down. The first game we play, once we load up and don our masks is a two on one. James decides to take the two of us on. Interesting choice. Anyway, I lit him up.
Once the kids see that we want to play, more join us. We played some interesting two on two matches and even once got up to five on four. We couldn't line up the teams for some reason, but we didn't care. It was good fun. During our time there, I made a couple of interesting choices. One worked, the other two didn't.
One game it came down to me vs. Ashley. She is a passive player, shoots on opportunity. I'm more aggressive, just not so much as James. I was going to wait for her to show herself, but it was taking too long. I made a run for it. As soon as I saw her I started firing, but I didn't stop moving. It was like a strafe maneuver from UT or something. As soon as I saw paint, I stopped shooting. Ballsy, but it was fun. The other two didn't work out so well.
There was another time when it was Ashley and James vs. me. It didn't start out that way, but that's what we had. Since Ashley was so passive, I focused on James. Once I got him out the way, I had Ashley left. Well, the rush worked last time, lets see if I can do it again. Man, was I wrong. I saw where she was and made a run for it. I figured that after a couple of shots it would be over. Not this time. I made a bad choice. Instead of continuing to walk front to back, I made a turning move. I should have walked straight and ducked behind a object. Well, this turning move took me all the way around her and I still hadn't hit her yet. It was almost like she was just waiting for me to be in the right place. Once I hit that spot, she just lit me up. This wasn't nearly as successful as the first time. However, the next one was worse.
We didn't have any other participants this round. Each time we did a two-on-one it was James flying solo. I decided that I would take them on this time. I knew James tactics (somewhat) and definitively knew what to expect from Ashley. Therefore, I decided to change my tactics this time. Surprise them. It almost worked. Key word almost. I made a quick run from my end to theirs, doing my best to stay low and not get their attention. This worked. I made a move from my right to my left sweeping around their end of the court. I made a quick glance to find Ashley and didn't see her, but I did find James quick enough. I shot a few rounds at him, only to find his ankle. Good enough, I see paint. I turn back to find Ashley and I get lit up. Taking out James had taken too long and she had her sights zeroed in on me. Goes to show, just because they play a passive game, doesn't mean you can ignore them. They will take you out just the same.
There were quite a few other memorable moments during the day. Like the time that we both shot James in the face mask. He didn't like this one bit. Apparently the paint doesn't taste that good. But it is a good thing for the mask. There were more then one situation where he took a shot to the goggles. Definitely would have lost an eye with some of those shots. It was a great time and great exercise. If it wasn't so expensive, I think I would do it more often. Even if I had my own gun and protective equipment, paint is ungodly expensive. I don't know why either.
Of course, James would notice that there is a tattoo shop in the same location. Therefore, that means we've got to check them out. We head over and he decides that the tat idea he has for his bicep would get done here. However, his design isn't stock so it would require some artistic time. We give the guy an hour and a half or so and James returns. I stayed back so I could get dinner started. Well, it turns out that the design is a no-go. James said that the guy didn't portray a demeanor of confidence and thus passed on getting the work done. For as much work that James has and the quality of work that it is, I can't blame him for passing on a potentially shady deal.
In between the tattoo attempt and dinner, we take a trek to a local tourist trap. I'm not sure what else to call it. It is a mountain with a piece of artwork carved into the side of it that has been commercialized. I hadn't been there since I was a little kid. I really couldn't remember too much about it. Apparently there was a reason for this. Unless you have kids, this really isn't being marketed to you (unless you are hitting the multi star restaurant or the golf course and we were doing neither). So, once we get there, the question is now what? Do we walk the trail up the mountain? Do we take a riding tour on the train? Do we check out this ducky tour? For some reason, we think that the ducky tour is a good idea. We couldn't be more wrong. Just like the ducky tour at Station Square, this is just as lame too. We ride in an amphibian around the park and in the water (enter and leave from the same dock, WTF?) listening to this guy tell stories, most of which are fake about this and that and some true stories (or at least believable) about the park itself. Honestly, I'm not sure the kids would much enjoy this, much less the adults. So it was a bust, but it did kill some time till dinner. (We also tried to play a round of mini golf but it was so busy I think we only played but 7 holes in 50 minutes.)
One of the things that Angel & picked up at the grocery store the night before was dinner for Saturday. We wanted to cook some steak. Neither one of us are fans of sirloin. We both think that if you are going to take the time to cook it up, especially on the grill, it should be good quality. However, I also discover that she is not a fan of ribeye. I don't know why, but I don't argue. No sirloin, no ribeye. As we're looking around at the cuts that they had, nothing really looked appealing. Either too small or too thin or lacking in confidence. Then we stumbled upon the London Broils. Wasn't a name that I was previously familiar, but they looked healthy and were certainly thick enough to please. We picked up two of them. Each one at about 2 pounds. The price wasn't bad either. The only problem was, I didn't have a clue how to prepare these monsters.
When I was up in Fayetteville, James put on a masterful show in the kitchen. Therefore, I waited on a decision till I could call on his skills. I know he knows marinades, so I let him lead. It was different then the preparations I was used to. I'm a rub guy, myself. But wanted to try something different. Maybe next time he visits I'll treat him to a rub. Anyway, we run to Publix for the required ingredients and return. So, time to start the fire. Yes, fire. A charcoal fire. This is atypical of me (and the grill). The grill that was left at the house is a gas grill, however the prior tenets of the house left it behind with the evidence of how it was used. With charcoal. I don't know why, I didn't check the gas tank or the burners to figure out why they would do this. Anyway, I grab my bag of quick light, single use bag coal. You know the type, just set the bag on fire and away you go. Well, after dumping the bag out, it is evident that maybe there isn't enough to prepare dinner, but we decide to go with it anyway.
Now is the time that I pulled out the tools of the trade. I have an entire tool box for grill cooking. James was impressed. :) Anyway, we let the coals get white and up to temp and toss on the marinated steaks. Well, once again, in hindsight, I know that I didn't spread out the charcoal enough, there was a hot spot in the middle of the grill. The middle tips of the steaks got a bit charred. I didn't hear any complaints, but I wasn't exactly happy about this. We also decided that we would try to get baked potatoes done for dinner too. Well, they never did quite finish right that night. Also, by the time they were done to an acceptable level we had eaten enough steak and green beans that they really were not a requirement. All in all, even without the potatoes and the charred edges, the steaks turned out quite well. They also made for great late night snacking too.
After we recover from our dinner and have a couple of more shots, we decide to go out to the Blue Moose. Since it is Saturday night and they typically have a band playing we make a go of it. Well, something happened to the band that night, they didn't show. Also, we're not sure if it was related, but they were also dead slow. Unusually slow. So, first off, what do we get. Of course beers all around and shots of Jaeger. I didn't do the shots as I was DD, I had to stay straighter then the rest of the crowd.
We mill around, grab a table, and start chatting it up. James and I take in a game of darts (which I won, again) then Angel wanted a turn. She did very well for her level. This matchup is usually a no contest. However, she actually got 4 of the 6 targets closed out. Very good for her. She is improving. Well, once our game is over, we were going to play some pool. Well, this didn't happen. I ran to the car to put up the darts and when I return, it is painfully obvious that someone had too much to drink. Time to go. By the time we return to the house, it is about time for us all to hit the sack.
Sunday was much more reserved than the rest of the events. Alcohol is shelved and we just chill. We tried to pull up the Steeler game, but alas, the transplanted Yankees don't get what they want. Instead we put the Cinci/Cleveland game on. This was a shootout if I'd ever seen one. So, during the game, I get his CD collection finished & burned and they are off shortly there after. I didn't want to see him leave. But alas, all good things must come to an end.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Household Chores
Well, today I decide to take on the belt problems we have in the house. Our attic fan is out of commission because of a belt and our washing machine is making a ton of racket because its belt is wearing out and missing some teeth. Since we're reaching fall and using the attic fan might become a good idea and since I'm replacing one belt, why not change the other one too. Well, this turned into an adventure.
First, the attic fan. Obviously, it is in the attic. So, I get the ladder.
Enter the attic and immediately the problem is obvious. The entire belt is wrapped around the fan as it has disconnected from the motor. I retrieve the belt, and you have to see this guy (left). Please, click for a closer look. That is in piss poor shape and the scaled image doesn't give it much justice. Look at how bad of shape it is in, it created a 90 degree angle when hanging from the doorknob. Last time I talked to Ernie, he said that it was on a spring, so while I was up there, I checked out the spring. Ok, good to go.
Lets save some time right now and just understand that I dismantle the washing machine and take both belts to the local auto parts store. Both belts were in such a bad shape that neither one matched up to what they were supposed to be (in hindsight). So we take an educated guess at what belt each one was supposed to be. I get the belts home and the attic fan belt fits perfectly on the first try. So, that's task 1 done, no parts left over and 1 to go.
So, before we discuss the replacement of the belt on the washing machine, lets talk about the dismantling of it first. I don't know if it is because of the age of the machine or because that is the way things are done, but the belt is obviously not in a place designed for easy access. There are 2 main components of the machine. We've got the motor, off to the left and everything else right in the middle of frame. There are water hoses, mount points, spring tension points and other "stuff" that is required for this machine to operate which includes a total of 4 pulleys. I'm sure there is a clutch in there too somewhere. But that is not important.
Anyway, I begin with the motor. This was pretty straight forward. Take 2 bolts out and the motor is in your hand. In hindsight (again), I just had to loosen the bolts and it would have pivoted so I could have taken the belt off. The next objective is to get the belt out of the middle of this contraption. The first things I notice are the support brackets, there are 3 of them. They come off with little argument. With the motor and these brackets, I try to discern how the belt was designed to be removed. I determine that the belt must come around (outside) the entire unit. This seemed to be a simple task. There was an exception to this that I later discovered.
The belt effortless came toward me, had to disconnect some water hoses, but that's minor. However, it was at this point that I discovered the challenge in this activity. One (of three) vertical mount points was stopping me from removing the belt. Ok, I take out this one bolt and I got the belt free from that, but there was another shaft that I didn't previous notice. After some examination I determine that this is attached to a plate that is under springs. Somehow this is part of the auto leveling system (or whatever that is called).
This shaft has threads and a bolt by this plate. So, I attempted to make the shaft shorter by screwing the bolt further on the threads. Nope, that didn't work, the shaft has a nipple that aligns thru the plate. Ok, lets try to disconnect the shaft from the plate (hopefully the shaft is in place with pressure) and unscrew the bolt against the shaft (making it longer and pulling the nipple out of place). This worked, the nipple came free, but the shaft would not move from where it was. Damn it. What now?
Well, on a guess I remove the bolts from the other 2 vertical mount points for the unit an hope that it doesn't fall to the ground or apart on me. We have success here. With the vertical mounts disconnected, it separated the plate from the shaft. Also note, the unit will only slide so far down. It didn't drop down on me in a blaze of glory. I then rotated the belt until one of the sections of missing teeth were in that place and pulled the belt free.
Is it just me or could they have done this another way? Couldn't they have put all of the pulleys below the mess of the internals and ran the shaft up to spin the basin thru a bearing in the housing (I assume this housing is a water pump) and this could have been a 30 second job rather than 3 hours? I guess that would have been too easy.
Anyway, so now, lets put this guy together since I now have the new belt. I pull the belt thru the gap between this shaft and plate (too some encouraging to get this done). The rest of the belt feeding was pretty straight forward. Once the belt was in place, time to put it all back together and we'll be done. Well, one can hope, can't he?
I get everything together. I'm pretty proud of myself. No parts left over and it still works. Well, I spoke too soon. I turned it to spin and nothing happened. I didn't close the lid, but that was an afterthought once I got behind the machine. The motor was spinning, but it wasn't spinning the belt. Shit, the belt is too long. The adjustment bolt for the motor was already at the extreme location. Nothing to do but get another belt. Damn, I thought it was too easy.
Now that I learned the tricks to taking it apart, I dismantled it with less mess and time then the first time. I run back to the auto parts store and get one that is 2 inches smaller. Return home and it is too small. Lets run back to the store and get one 1 inch longer then the last. Get home, put the belt on and it is it. I pull the motor and it rests in the middle of the adjustment slide.
So, I get the unit put back together and guess what. Again, no left over parts. I set it to the spin cycle and nothing. I hear the motor running and see the belt spinning, but yet there is no activity with the basin. Then I smack myself in the head and close the lid. Wait a couple seconds and there is the spinning basin. Finally, everything is back together and working.
Neither constitute a monumental status individually or combined. However, I did want to mention that companies design equipment to work, not to be fixed. Why did I have to fight the machine so much to replace a belt. Automotive makers figured this one out a long time ago when they designed the tensioner pulley. Put a breaker bar in the hole and presto, no more belt tension and the belt pretty much falls off of the car. The belts don't ride in holes or between equipment that would require more parts to be removed to replace a simple part. I don't know what more modern washing machines are like, but I sure hope that they have changed the design a bit to make quick fixes really quick.
Ok, for those that are asking, "what is all the fuss about not having any left over parts?" Well, anyone who knows me and my dad, when we work on something, particularly cars, this is a valid concern. For some reason we usually can't fix a car without having a bolt or spring or something left over. Whatever we were working on works now and still, but why do we have extra parts? We don't know. Also, the part that worries us the most is that we typically don't know where that extra part belongs.
However, just because I don't have parts left over doesn't mean we're out of the woods quite yet. There was a time that I worked on something under the hood of my car. A day or so later, discovered, that apparently, I just hand tightened a bolt and forgot to ratchet tighten it. I discovered this as I was driving down the road and BANG, clank, clank, clank... I look in my rear view and see a bolt bouncing on the road. Of course I stop and pick it up. However, I was curious to know where it came from. I popped the hood and wouldn't you know it, one of the bolts from the previous project had come out, hit the fan or belt and dropped to the ground. No harm no foul, I got home, replaced the bolt and it was a non issue. But it goes to show you that just because it works when I'm done doesn't mean the project is complete.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Wedding Planning Down to the Wire
Ok, be forewarned, this is going to be a marathon post. Likely longer then any of the other posts thus far. I'm going to try to summarize the entire week leading up to the wedding with the exception of Friday & Saturday.
Our trip begins on Saturday with a rude ass, dark & early AM wakeup @ 5:00. What were we thinking? Angel was up before I was as she was already showered when she woke me up. I take the opportunity to shower because we're already completely packed and our ride shouldn't arrive until 5:30. Well, as soon as I step out from my shower, there are headlights in our driveway. Ernie is at least 15 minutes early. It's ok, all I have to do is get dressed, close & lock all of our windows, load the car & we're rolling.
Well, between bullshitting & what not, we don't leave until ten to six. I can't remember our flight time but, by the time we got to the airport and check in, we've got about an hour to kill. Not a big deal. We walk outside, have a smoke and decide to venture thru security. We get to the carrel point and it is a zoo. I was not expecting this number of people at the airport at this hour on a Saturday. Anyway, thankfully Hartsfield Jackson was designed to handle the throughput and we were thru there in a relatively short period of time.
Once thru security, we stop at a shop so I can grab a magazine and coffee for Angel. At this point, we also find a smoking room. I think ATL is one of the few airports that offer this luxury. By the time we finish up, board the plane. We just about walked right on the plane. And the ride to Pittsburgh was uneventful. Which is just the way we like it.
Of course, Mom, being ever impatient showed up at the curb to pick us up before we even got our luggage, we had to flag her around for another lap. There were no problems with our luggage, it came right out & we were rolling once Mom came around again. From the airport, Mom treated us to the traditional meal (breakfast this time) upon landing. Bob Evans was the choice of the day, as it is something different and something that we don't have here in ATL.
Mom took us to Angel's parents from there. We got to their house before they did, but it was not much. The day didn't really go the way Angel had planned. She had anticipated that we would work on wedding stuff. Well, we did a little, just not as much as she had expected. However, this worked out for the better. Anyway, we finally got to checkout some items that we purchased online and had shipped directly to Pittsburgh. This included, Napkins (though we received one from Mom), toasting glasses, knife, service knife, and cake topper. I was expecting that my gifts to the guys would be there by now, but to my distress, not so much. Anyway, there was much talking done but not much acting. At some point it was decided that Sunday would be our planning day to include the placement of guests.
Around 2 I started making phone calls to determine the feasibility of a group Munchkin night. On a planned basis, this is hard to pull of, this short of notice would almost make it impossible. Well, to our surprise, everyone that I talked to was going to make it. Beagle, Ray, Dave, Josh, Lisa, and ourselves. What a crew. And to top everything off, Angel's parents offered to let us use their dining room to play. I don't think they understood what they signed up for. More on this later.
Angel had her final fitting for her dress today, so I had time on my hands. Dana came over, and we ventured to the mall at about 3:30. I had to find something for Camren & I wanted to find an engraving machine. First stop, Remember When. I asked what I thought was a simple question, but I got a cryptic answer.Q: Do you still offer embroidery services?
Well, damn it, which one is it? So, as I stew on the answer, Dana and I walk around to check everything out. I'm hoping something will jump out at me and say, "Pick me!" We looked at almost everything in the store twice and we both managed to miss the one thing I was looking for both times (not that I knew at the time for what I was looking). So, I happened to stop to look at a off-wall display, again, and Dana points out this stuff sack. It was by Jansport, but it appeared flimsy and not very durable, though it was cute. Anyway, right above it, we found mini backpacks with embroidered names. A-ha! We have a winner. Fortunately, the display model had a nice color scheme because we later discovered that the bag color and accent embroidery was not selectable. We were stuck with what was there. Ok, so we have a winner, but can I get it in time? They say it is a 7-10 day turnaround. This is Saturday prior and I need it before Friday. That isn't going to work. Well, they have an expedite service that was very reasonably priced. So, that it is. Mission #1 accomplished.
A: No. Only on items we sell.
Well, there wasn't anything left to accomplish at the mall, so we head to Petsmart (Dana's idea). It just so happened that she was right. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Anyway, the machine wasn't stocked in the same fashion as the other one that I had seen. The other one had blanks that included the standard "dog tag" shape and size. This one, being a pet store, was more focused on domestic animal sized tags. Oooh. Rough situation. An engraved rectangle is associated with humans, hearts, dog bones, tear drops and the such, not so much. Anyway, I decide that the one I get Cammy would fit well on a zipper and get a Steelers designed dog bone for him. The one that I wanted to make for Angel was a large red heart. It was fitting anyway. So, since the dog tag idea was dead, what was I going to put on it now? (My intention was to put her full name, SSN, Wedding Date, and blood type on it, official looking.) So, I throw a couple of ideas around and came up with this design:
September 29, 2007
Love always and forever
Of course, since I'm the type that seeks approval, I show it to the family once they return and then later to the guys. The family thought it was a "nice touch" and everyone else asked me if it was what they thought it was. Then, continued to tell me that it might not be a good idea. The symbolism, if taken the wrong way, could have very bad consequences. (i.e. I'm making her my pet & placing my tag on her)
Regardless, everyone appears onsite by the prescribed start time of 8:30. Into Munchkin we go. I'm not going to say too much about this. Jason did such a nice job. But needless to say, we were loud, obnoxious, and rowdy. We played this single game till close to 2 before it was abruptly aborted. A single game. We were shocked that it lasted that long. Furthermore, for as long and loud we played, we didn't bother Mom & Dad who were sleeping upstairs. Simply amazing. Regardless of the fact that we didn't have a winner, we still had fun and it was great to hang with everyone before the hectic business of the week begins.
Well, on Sunday, after being up till past 2, we technically didn't get to sleep in as we were only allotted sleep until 11. Well, it is going to be a busy day, better get started on the work. Much of the day was consumed by validation of the dinner selections, getting the name lists to match and then the incredibly long challenge of the creation of the seating chart. I didn't have any misconceptions around this daunting task. I knew that getting it done was going to be an interesting task.
At some point in the day, it was brought to my attention that Mom wanted a scaled replica of the room layout created for us to play with later. I didn't know what she had in mind, but I wasn't about to ask at this point. So, I drew it up. BTW, architect, I am not. Though, it was well planned as we eventually did use it. Honestly, I don't remember what Mom & Angel were doing, but I was keeping myself gainfully employed.
Once I completed the room layout, One of the first ideas that I had was that each RSVP would need to be classified (to provide reference to who they were and to establish seating priority). I established a scheme and started to implement it on paper. Of course, since I was using numbers to represent groups, Angel thought I was assigning people tables. Well, not yet. I keyed all of the information I had into the source spreadsheet and printed another set of guests. Then, before trying to seat anyone yet, we cycled thru the RSVP list at least three times until all of the numbers would line up. Once we got all of the names into the spreadsheet, it was time to get all of their meal selections entered. Now that everyone has been accounted for, we need to figure out where they are going to sit.
Angel takes said list and begins to organize the tables. Seating people and discussing this task is very difficult without a visual aid. We quickly learned this once Angel was done with the first draft of the seating. She had a picture in her head, but those of us that were not involved in the creation of the order couldn't easily make heads or tails of it.
Enter me & a pair of scissors. Take another copy of the spreadsheet and chop it into pieces. Thus we are left with 180+ slivers of paper with a height of ~ 1/8 of an inch. Reorganizing these names into Angel's & Bob's was a task, regardless of each sub group. This is turning out to be too much like work. The next decision was to determine the family organization. Should we go in table numeric order (left to right/front to back) intermingling the families or should we separate them similar to the church? Well, the enlarged diagram had a tape line down the middle that made a nice separation. Angel - left, Bob -right. It didn't separate the tables in the room evenly, but this was fine. I think my family & friends took up 7 1/2 of the 19 tables.
Well, needless to say, once this round of seating, politicking, and organization completed, we were not about to loose this information. Each column of tables got a line of scotch tape & they were not going to move from their last assignment. We're done. Well, not really. Now we need to enter this information back into the computer so we can print the place cards with table assignment and meal choice. Sounds easier then it was. The place cards did not come with a template or one that could be downloaded. I had to create the template. It is the good thing my dad taught me well when it comes to printing. However, with the version of Excel we were using, I couldn't make multiple modifications to a single cell (Multiple font sizes & positions (left, center, right). The next problem that was encountered after a single page design was set, I couldn't format paint column heights. Each card had 3 cells (back of card, Name & Table, bottom margin & food choice marker - right justified) and required me to cycle thru the spreadsheet 3 times multi-selecting every third column to adjust column heights. Tedious process. Then, to be able to paste the information into the template, I had to insert 2 blank rows in between each record from the source sheet. The last required task was to insert the Alt+Enter between the name and table declaration and move the meal selection from the record and place it into the next row. What a bunch of manual work. If I had thought of it, I should have written a macro to do it for me. However, this would have likely taken just as long as the manual effort did.
By the time the information was entered into the print ready template, Mom & Dad went to bed. We should have done the same, but we didn't. We printed every one of the names that we could. We ran out of paper before finishing. Well, no paper, no work. No more work, time for bed. We'll work on the last of the details of this later.
As with every subsequent day this week, we're up early. 7:00 at the latest. We've got to take Mom & Dad to work, otherwise, we won't have transportation. That's not an option, so we labor to awake this early. After dropping the rents at work, mission #1 is get our marriage license downtown. I'm sure everyone knows how things can be at the city/county building. This can be quick or take all day. Well, to our surprise, it didn't take us but an hour to complete the task from departure of the vehicle to return. Not bad at all.
Since this is one of the few tasks that we had over planned for, what do we do now? Let's stop to see my dad & borrow their camera. To date, we don't have the layout to our programs completed. On of the things we wanted to do was have a photo of the church on the cover. Well, we don't have any print ready artwork, so we need to go create some. We have a rushed visit with my dad and we're off again. Heading to Office Max, but stopping at house first to get a copy of the paper we need. On the way to the house, we stop at the church. We were passing it anyway. So we spend a few minutes getting some shots from around the church. 18 in all, once I was done. However, there was a situation of note that occurred while I was doing this. The last picture, i was really getting into the spirit of photography. I started talking to the church."Oh yeah, just like that. Make love to the camera, yeah, yeah, just like that..."
Apparently I was talking just loud enough. Angel heard me doing it. She just started rolling. I guess it was really funny. Although, I guess there must have been a reason to have started finding that enthusiasm with photography. It was a very nice shot, however, we later located a stylized ink pen drawing of the church from the exact same perspective. Coincidence, not sure. Sure was odd though.
From the church to a quick stop at the house and off to Office Max. Well, wouldn't you believe that they didn't have what we wanted and furthermore didn't have anything that I would have considered using in the first place. Unfortunately, this means another trip to Pat Catan's. What a shame, we just came from that side of town. We take the trip from Scott to Stowe and are left with very little time before having to pick the rents up from work. What do we do now? Do we head to house and get the rest of the cards printed?, do we go to Dad's and create a quick 15 minute mock up? Do we say screw both and just head to Robinson? Decisions, decisions. We go to my dad's and create the mock up. I literally only had 15 minutes to do something with him barking objections over my shoulder. Which part of mock-up did he miss? Anyway, some symbolance of page one and 2 are created, punched, & tied. Just enough to get they layout idea across to the parents. We're off again.
From my dad's, we head to pick up the rents. From picking up the rents, we head to our meeting with the Bradley House. The meeting went well, however, once again, we had issues with numbers. They were not lining up. Eventually we get everything straight and re-review the final plans and arrangements. Everything is set and things appear to be going well with them. By the way, working with the Bradley House was wonderful (from my perspective). They were absolutely professional and personal, which you don't usually get both. All of the arrangements with them were clear and concise with just enough personality to make things unique to us.
Dinner time. Interestingly enough, being the second and last meeting with the four of us at the Bradley House, we go to Hoss's for dinner. I didn't realize it until we got there, this is the same place we ate when we had our first meeting with them. In route to dinner, Angel & I were discussing taking her parents out to dinner. Well, with the way the rest of the week was planned, it appeared (and as it did turn out, was) our only opportunity to do so, so we seized it. As usual, dinner was good. After the ride home, that about wraps up this day.
Well, Tuesday starts the same as Monday, take the rents to work. From there, it is off to my dad's house. Since I had a good picture of what I wanted to do with the rest of the layout, I estimated that we should be done by lunch or so. I couldn't have been more wrong. By the time that 4:00 rolled around, Angel had to leave without me to get her rents. While I was working on the program, she was putting the finishing touches on the favors and place cards. This included putting the stickers over the meal choice letters, folding them, putting them in alphabetical order and putting the cards in the bells. As for me, there were just so many things not going right on this day. The layout was easy, it came down to the final touches that kicked my ass. I wanted a specific border around the pages, this required two attempts because I closed Photoshop without saving changes by accident. Then once I got the border straight, I wanted some filler artwork, scroll work or some such. However, trying to obtain these things is easier said then done. Then, once all of the components are compiled, print time. I screwed up my margins. Now, I had to rearrange everything because the 1/2 inch top margin wasn't present. Then the left margin wouldn't print. How much more could go wrong. Thankfully, not too much this day. By the time that Angel got back to my dad's, everything was locked down in a fashion that I could live with & was saved to my thumbdrive. I was ready to leave as soon as Angel got to the house. Angel glanced over the program, pointed out a typo. That was corrected and off to Kinkos we went.
So, initial thought was to have all of the paper the same weight, card stock. However, card stock does not fold nicely so a score line would be required to encourage it to fold. Well, Kinkos could not score the paper overnight. Well, waiting until Thursday to receive the programs was not an option. Therefore, we changed from all card stock to cover & rear card stock, regular paper stock in between. This did not remove the need for the score, just much less of it. That didn't change their minds either, but I was going to do the score myself with my dad's letter press. A machine I'd seen used many times but have yet to operate. Such an imposing device this is. Anyway, we get our proofs from Kinkos, sign off and off to Mom's for dinner.
We have a nice dinner with my Mom. In addition to dinner, I clean her computer & get a hair cut. By the time we leave here, we're much ready for bed again.
Wednesday begins the same as the rest. Off to take Dad to work early. Mom had the rest of the week off as of today. Since Dad works in Coraopolis and this was the last time we were going to need to take him to work, it was as good of a time then any to stop at the Armory. Finally got to introduce the guys to Angel & vice versa. I still have a tough time calling Mr. Hines sir. For pity's sake, we were both specialists at the same time at one time. We have a chat about OCS and WOCS, his family, our plans for the wedding. The standard fare of catch up talk. While we were there, also ran into SMG Haught and Mr. Flint, which which we had a quick chat with each of them. It was nice to see those guys again. It had been quite a while.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Rehearsal - The Day Of
Today is the last day that we'll spend as an unwed couple. So what do we do? Spend most of it apart. Odd. Anyway, the day is already planned for me, get my tux (read on for details on that one), visit work, meet back up with Angel to take a trip to the cemetery and then back on the wedding wagon we go.
Today, as with the rest of this past week, I'm without a vehicle of my own. Thankfully, Josh has the day off also and I'll be hanging with him for my errands. So, lets back track for a moment here and discuss the previous nights highlight event. Thursday before the wedding, time to get the tux.
My intention was to get all of the guys together in the party to do the fitting thing and then chill. Well, since my planning skills are less than stellar, this didn't work out as I had wanted. Life goes on. Earl & ride down to have our final fitting and there is a large line. Josh and Dan are going to be arriving shortly. My dad, Camren, Ray, and Beagle already did theirs throughout the day (good thinking on their behalf).
Anyway, Dad & I wait in line for some time. We get to the front & the guy starts looking for my ticket. Guess what? My tux is in Georgia, not 20 minutes down the road from my house. Well, that isn't going to do me much good since I'm in Pittsburgh. They promise me that they will have it the next day. So, I hang around until the rest of the guys finish up (dad was the first to leave) so we can head over to the North Park Clubhouse (yes, the one in Robinson Town Centre). The only thing I keep thinking is that I can't call Angel to let her know about this. She doesn't need the stress (and I am thinking that she is having a makeshift bachelorette party, later to discover, it was just dinner & chilling much like I was doing). Regardless of what she was doing, she didn't need to know about my issues yet.
At the Clubhouse, we had a crew. Tom, Jenny, Josh, Lisa, Dan, Jeff, April (and Evie) & myself crammed around a six person table. It worked out just fine though. It was a good time, we kicked back, had a few drinks, played some games, called it a night. It was good to see April & Jeff again and to meet their newest edition (or addition, whichever). Tom gave me a ride home & then I got to break the news to Angel. Of course, as you would expect, she was like, WHAT?!?!? How could this happen. I explained to her that even though when I had my initial fitting we called the Robinson store to confirm their store number and I was assured that my tux would be in Pittsburgh that it didn't work out that way. I would get it the next day.
Back to Friday now. Josh picks me up after we did some last minute errands which included running to the reception hall to drop of our required contribution to the decorations and food and then a final visit with the florist. Needless to say, mom & dad were more then happy for me to be gone at the point we got back. Angel & I had been acting like a couple of kids and they made us know about it. They even threatened to separate us if we didn't start acting our ages. (of course I started hearing the line "What's my age again?".
Well, once Josh picks me up, we get the tux. Thankfully there wasn't anything wrong with it (except I had to exchange the shirt for one with longer sleeves) that would have required me to return again the next day. That would have been bad. From the tux, we head to Station Square to give a holler at some of my coworkers.
Of course, this is never a quick event. I really only had an hour to do this before Angel would get upset with me because of the visit to the cemetery. Well, you don't want to hear about the office jabber and miscellany that happened at the office so I'll spare you that. However, we were there for just about 2 hours when I get the call from Angel, "Where are you?". At this point I know I'm in trouble. Thankfully it worked out because we just met her at the cemetery to save time. She got a bit upset with me about it, but once she got to there, the anger subsided and all was good.
We didn't spend much time there, however, it was just enough. The trip back to the house was fraught with traffic and slowdowns. We get back to the house in just enough time for Tracey to leave and do what she needed before arriving just on-time at the church. There was quite a reception at the church by the time we got there. Ooops, did you need us to start this thing? Oh, well, I guess that was partially my fault. Especially between the over run visit to the office and then needing to wrap gifts before the reception. We didn't leave the house until 5 to 6 and we were supposed to be there at 6. We were only a couple of moments late. Angel's parents don't live far from the church.
The rest of the events from this point on this day can be found here.
VBScript - Forgotten Realms
There are times as a programmer that you just have to throw up your hands and say WTF!?! Well, today I had one of those situations. I was working in batch scripting and VBScript. Well, my batch scripting has become quite more advanced then it once had been thanks to a previous project (iCom) and its over night processing routines. Anyway, since I've been involved in nothing but integration projects for the past year or so, my development requirements has been few and far between.
Today, I needed to write a script that would sort the contents of a file. Simple task, yet, not something I'm going to attempt with the batch language. It is just too cumbersome. Therefore, in comes some VBScript. It has been a long time since I've worked with VB. Well over a year and a half, as that is when I graduated. So, to accomplish this, I need an array, a sort routine, and a way to read the file into the array. No big deal. This should be a five minute job. Sure, if you've worked in a VB IDE in the recent past.
Since I have not touched VB in such a time, I completely forgot about the caveats around the REDIM statement. I was troubleshooting this script for well over a half an hour because the array would grow but the contents would disappear. I'm troubleshooting the array population (while it is populating); I was troubleshooting the sort routine; I troubleshot everything so I thought. Anyway, as it turns out, between my population routine and the sort, my information was limited to a single record in my 148 element array. I was confounded. The problem existed in the population routine alright. The question was where. Finally, my very first lesson (which I've evidently long since forgot, its been well over 8 years) with working with arrays. If you don't put the key word Preserve. I could not believe that this little word came back to haunt me.
In VB, if you resize an array, and forget the Preserve, it will blank out everything that was previously in the array. Other languages (PHP in particular) doesn't work this way. By way of comparison, I've done infinitely more development in PHP then that of VB in the recent past. Therefore, little details like this one are easy to overlook when developing with Notepad. I hate the .Net IDE and for that reason refuse to use an IDE for scripting purposes. If I wanted to write & compile a program in VB, sure, I'd be there, but not for scripts. However, in this case, I couldn't remember the keyword and didn't have the intelisense present to help me out. I finally figured it out with the assistance of Google. A quick search for "VB Script + REDIM" got me my answer. Once I got the answer, the script worked like a charm.
I hate forgetting stuff that was at one time ingrained in my mind. Well, such is life.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Rehearsal and Subsequent Dinner
So, we've made it this far, less than 12 hours to being wed. Amazingly, everyone important to the ceremony is present. The only person missing is my mom. Where did she go? She knows where we're supposed to be? Oh well, she'll show up eventually. We push on. We don't have the church for long and we need to get thru this. We only had an hour to begin with and then the organist informs us that he has to leave early. What ever, do we really care? He already has his instructions. They are not difficult. But he decides that he is going to try to play an integral part of the ceremony. He should have but out.
So, as if any of us know what the hell we're doing, we've got 3 different sets of people telling us how our wedding is going to work. I'm sorry, there is only one set of people that have the answer to most of the questions. Angel & I. Well, the ladies that volunteer for the church had their opinion and the organist had his own (and very poor at handling himself for that matter), and us. I was completely across the church from where Angel spent most of her time. It isn't our fault that if either one of us moved the whole production would stop.
Anyway, the first decision to make was what order. I'll be damned if I can't remember what order we decided on. We had this set up, but also managed to forget it too. Ok, grab a program. Shit, I messed up the order in there too. Ok, get everyone in one place at the same time. Ray - Dana, Josh - Chris, Dan - Kris, Jason - Tracey. Good, got that figured out. Everyone to your places. Jason & I to the ready room. Mom's come down the aisle, Ray & Dana are in the aisle and someone else coming down the side wall... WTF?!?! So, he we have the three parties beginning to butt heads. "Guys down the side" says one and the other saying "together" and the other party screaming faster. It was a pretty bad site.
Angel & I put our feet down and say that the groomsmen will be with the bridesmaids, no more questions about it. Oh, next question was valid. What about Tracey? She's by herself because Jason stays with me. Ok, start over, try again. Mother's down the aisle, Ray & Dana begin and a bellowing SLOW DOWN comes out louder than the organ. Damn, where am I, boot camp? I haven't heard someone bark orders like that since I was there. No, I'm pretty sure I'm not there. Anyway, so we make a successful trip down the aisle with the adults.
Next comes the kids. Every time Camren has been asked about the wedding he has said no, I won't do it. Well, we wanted to put the actual rings on the pillow. That didn't work out. We didn't have the confidence that he would cooperate during the ceremony. So, he gets fake rings. Well, once he made it to the front, he had a seat in the front pew. He was encouraged to scoot all the way down, but on the pew he remained. Ok, big deal. If he doesn't stand and that's the only thing that we don't right, I can deal with that. Let the kid sit. Conversely, I don't think we had a single issue with Ashley. She didn't say much either. Overall, both kids were well behaved.
Finally, we're to the part that everyone is looking forward to: the bride. Well, rehearsal, it wasn't very exciting, but very odd to see her coming down the aisle with dad. Odd different, not odd bad. Our participation in the ceremony was terse. Stand here, you'll do that, you'll do this, you'll say blah, blah, blah (literally) and then I'll (from the perspective of the Reverend) say this and that and that will be it. Blah, blah, blah, kiss, walk. Hey, that was easy. Organist got to play the last song and promptly left. Well, your being late is not my problem. We had you booked well in advance for this whole rehearsal thing. If you have to leave and you're late to your destination, I DON'T CARE. Enough of him, he caused enough problems.
Well, we run thru the process once more and the ladies are pushing out out the door. There was at least 15 more minutes we could have been in there. Don't know what we would have been doing, but our time wasn't up yet. However, they were sure to let us know that we needed a Unity Candle and Taper Holder set. Oh, it would have been nice had we been told that a LONG time ago. Why are we just finding this out now? I don't have a clue. Well, add that to my to-do list. No time to do that tonight and the girls won't have time to do it tomorrow. I hope I have time & am successful at finding something.
So, now it is time to make our trip to the reception hall. Now I have to step back a couple months. Since before I moved, I was aware of only one Rockerfellers restaurant. After I moved, the opened a second location, and some time after that, close/rename the original one. Well, when I was putting out the information for the Rehearsal Dinner, the question was always which one. Since I was most used to Roslyn Farms, that was my answer. Well, thankfully by the time the event needed to occur, everyone was straightened out as to which one & what time. We're going to Kennedy.
I'm not sure what to think of the events for the dinner. There was a bunch of milling around, reacquaint with this relative and that relative. It was very nice to see everyone and in hindsite, it was wonderful to see everyone because I don't think I talked to a single one of them at the reception. Not on purpose, just happened that way.
So, right before dinner, we're asked to give a toast (for some reason, my mom expected Jason to do it, this one was my job, but I was under prepared, but what's new about that). I made a joke about what I wanted to say, "Yeah us, lets eat." Well, I made a slight modification to that to not make it so pretentious. I think I remembered thanking everyone for traveling, if I didn't, I wanted to. Anyway, it was short, to the point and I don't think anyone yelled at me for it.
We, once again, did the mill around thing after dinner (grabbed some smokes) and it was back to work. Presents time. I pushed Angel into handing hers out first. Why, I don't know. I guess I wasn't ready for that part either. Anyway, I fudged my way through the presentations and was quite happy at the reactions from the guys. It wasn't until much later did I realize what I did screw up. Niether a gift for my mom or my dad and Steffy. WTF was I thinking. I should have covered that hole. Angel should have smacked me for that one. But, hindsite is 20/20. Thankfully, neither one of my parents have told me that it was a problem. I hope they both realize how much their help was appreciated. Angel & I couldn't not have fronted what they contributed to the events.
Of course, me being me, I had to do something very different for Angel. Those of you that were surprised at this, raise your hands so I can call you a liar. Angel knew I was looking for an engraving machine while we were still in Atlanta. I wasn't able to find one, but Dana hooked me up. I had to make two of them. I had used Camren as a cover story so she wouldn't get suspicious. I think it worked. So, I created this engraved tag for Camren for his zipper of his new backpack. What I created for Angel was no my intention, but it worked out just as well. I wanted to have created real dog tags with her new last name. I could have gotten it done, if I would have thought of it sooner, so instead she got a dog collar tag from a pet store (in the shape of a heart) with her new name, date & an I love you from me. It went over really well with the family; my friends, not so much. They saw it for what it was, not what it meant. Anyway, enough about that. In addition to the tag, I also purchased another gift for her. One that was a bit more serious. In my gift searching, I found a very unique site. This site was linked from another wedding gift giving site. I decided to check it out. The site creates posters out of books and plays. The first one that gets my attention is Romeo & Juliet. I also considered A Midsummer Night's Dream, however, this wasn't a mid-summer wedding, nor at night. I'm not as familiar with this play as I would like to have been. Therefore, I certainly opted for Romeo & Juliet. It turns out I made a good selection. It is her favorite Shakespeare. I didn't know that, but I did like the symbolic nature of the relationship. I guess I did good. However, the one thing that I didn't realize was how large this was going to be. I should have checked here. I saw the gift sitting there, but I didn't realize that it was that one (mom wrapped it for me because I had it shipped to her house). All in all, I think I did well.
Then we were going to open our gifts from the other family members that brought them this evening. Well, we were bombarded by Dana first. She was 100% insistent that we open it right then and now. Of course, we oblige. What we discovered inside was nothing short of amazing. She decided on her own, that she would share with us a portion of her windfall (if you want details, please ask her). It was emotional. I'm not sure if Angel did, but Dana and I were both crying. Of course the guys saw this and didn't understand what had taken place. It was part shock, part amazement, part gratitude, and then the revelation of the source of this money was and then I was upset. Regardless of what I or we tried to say, she was not taking any of it back. Her only comment was go, have fun (and don't spend it all in one place). It was just so selfless of her to have done so. We can't possibly thank her enough for it.
The only thing that I remember that was a bit rocky on the night was when the bus from the hotel got lost heading to the hall. Kathy called Sue & she handed the phone to me. They got off at Crafton and forgot to turn at Kings. They were down past the Pittsburgh Motel & everything when I got the phone. It was funny, it was minor, and it all worked out.
