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(Christmas) Eve of (Digital) Destruction
Dec. 24th, 2024 01:44 pmStarting with some good news first: after seeing their losing streak reach 13 games, or as I put it after that showing....
XIII.
This losing streak is reaching epic proportions worthy of Roman numerals. They're not even grabbing loser points anymore.
It feels like it stretches back to Roman times. I remember the first one, when the Buffalo Gladiators lost to the Detroit Lions in a spearout.
At least our goalies aren't lying dead on the ice anymore. They just suck.
- Your Buffalo Sabres played last night in the county of my birth against the New York Islanders, gained a five-goal lead that nobody assumed would be safe, gave one of them back after two periods, but hung on for a 7-1 victory and the blessed end of their Voyage to the Bottom of the Standings.
The home fans booed the Islanders off their ice. Across the Triboro, Rangers fans are storming their owners' suite with torches and pitchforks. Ottawa's (formerly our) goalie is out indefinitely. If there's ever a season for a miracle comeback, it's this one.
Nahhhhh.
Closer to home, as we settle in to the All Is Calm If Not Bright of the one remaining mandatory day off around the nation, things are going pretty well, but not without digital hiccups. I've mentioned both recently, but briefly, and each has a more detailed denouement to report:
----
Both before and more recently since the election, I've wanted to get our passports renewed before the new regime takes over. I was aware they expired at the end of November, and got the forms for them back in July when a Biden landslide loss seemed imminent. But then two things happened to slow it down: Kamala got the nod and the momentum, and since the forms required an emergency contact and we wanted Emily on there, we wanted to wait until she was settled into her new address. I put aside the effort, and Eleanor didn't seem crazy about spending between 2 and 400 of discretionary funds when we're not likely to be traveling, but I, especially, wanted the extra layer of citizenship ID in case President Musk demands new proofs of that to vote. Our birth certificates each reside in a faded envelope, and while she can get a copy of hers fairly easily from Rochester, I've no idea if the county, town or village of my birth is in charge of such things and what would be involved getting one if the faded one was deemed too fadey. So I dusted off the forms, we each visited AAA for the new photos, and I somehow determined they would have to be mailed in with paper checks to get them renewed. Given the check-washing problem a co-worker has encountered, I did not want to risk that- and I found out, only last night, that we could indeed do the whole shebang online! Just have the old passports in hand, verify logins with the gummint (we each had them from taxpaying and Social Security), and upload those pictures to the site. We even saved a few shekels because they only offer standard six-weekish processing online, not the expedited (2-6 weeks) I'd budgeted for or the superduperfast and expensive kind they only do in emergencies. All went well, except the photo uploading. I ran into the same nitpicky thing with each of ours:
Step 1: scan the 2x2 AAA photo into the computer using the new scanner and software. I did mine first, and this produced an 8½ x 11 image with the 2x2 actual photo within it. We will crop it for you, they said. Only when I selected, it said, You are not centered. Take it again with you in the middle.
Step 2: reposition the 2 x 2 on the platen and try again. First I appeared to be tooooo close to the camera. Then the photo was tooooo big. Then it was tooooo small. I tried manipulating it through other photo software and it was wrong format (png, not jpeg). I finally scanned a third time, and saw that a lovely strand of cat hair had worked its way onto the platen. I said, fuck it, and the State Department said, That one's fine.
Step 3: Same drill when I did Eleanor's. Multiple tries, finally getting in a via-Paint screenshot of the original 2 x 2 scan that was just right. No cat hair on hers, but look at what we're going to be applying for Costa Rican asylum status with until 2034:
Good thing we didn't submit these in person at the post office, because they would probably have been matching them up with WANTED posters on the walls.
So they're in, and unless the government shuts down again in the next six weeks or they start checking pending applications against the Enemies' List we're surely on, we should be good to go if we gotta go come sometime in February.
----
The other computerish thing I mentioned recently was dodging a bureaucratic bullet on was my car's inspection. Mere days after bringing it in and getting its shiny new 2025 sticker on it, the check engine light went on. That would have caused a fail of the emissions test and, depending on the code, could have run hundreds at the dealership just to diagnose if our mechanic couldn't identify it, plus potentially hundreds more to fix the damn thing. I first waited to see if it would just clear on its own- Eleanor had left JARVIS's gas cap off briefly after Sticker Time, which will sometimes cause bad codes that clear after some driving. Once it resolved to stay on, I briefly considered just covering the thing with black tape, but decided yesterday to check if one of those auto parts places with "free diagnostics" could at least tell me what the problem was.
Indeed they could, once I got there. THAT proved the tougher issue. I first headed out to the Autozone I remember being on Union Road because it was just a block away from the only remaining full-service pharmacy in Erie County that accepts in-person payment of water bills. I decided not to risk mailing any check if I could help it because of the checkwashing business. Most banks around here, and places like Fay's and Leader Drugs with postal substations, used to have dozens of places to do this, but they all cut back the service or got merged out of existence. Now just one remains: the old-school Tile Pharmacy on Cleveland Drive on the corner of Union Road, which is still there. What isn't still there is the Autozone a block away from it on Union. It's an abandoned hulk, and the nearest one was close enough to my gym to try stopping there before a late-day class yesterday afternoon.
Stop I did, but most of the stopping was on Transit Road. It took close to half an hour to go three lights up the road and I barely made it to the gym on time by the time they ran their diagnostic gizmo on JARVIS's brain. What I've got, apparently, is your basic P2440 "secondary airvalve" being stuck in the open position. Once back home, I did ma reesurch. The good news is, it's not anything likely to cause a stall or a start failure. The semi good news is, it is a fairly small looking part.
Ah, but the where of it is the rub that probably will make this a repair we are not attempting on our own. This video, on a slightly older Smart model, shows how deeply buried this part is within the guts of this fairly small body. Once I heard the YouTuber admit he'd never done this before, I'd abandoned hope of any home repair. After the 1st, I will take it to our non-dealer mechanic for a quote, which we can then save up for over the next 11 months if it turns out to be ridiculous.
----
Speaking of the R-word, nothing new from the camp next door about the camper next door. Eleanor did have some relatively pleasant messaging about it with the wife of Mr. Ridiculous, so we're hopefully going to let sleeping campers lie for now.
Tomorrow will just be us two, some entertainment on the tube, and some much needed peace. Sleeps of it in heavenly quality, all of you:)
XIII.
This losing streak is reaching epic proportions worthy of Roman numerals. They're not even grabbing loser points anymore.
It feels like it stretches back to Roman times. I remember the first one, when the Buffalo Gladiators lost to the Detroit Lions in a spearout.
At least our goalies aren't lying dead on the ice anymore. They just suck.
- Your Buffalo Sabres played last night in the county of my birth against the New York Islanders, gained a five-goal lead that nobody assumed would be safe, gave one of them back after two periods, but hung on for a 7-1 victory and the blessed end of their Voyage to the Bottom of the Standings.
The home fans booed the Islanders off their ice. Across the Triboro, Rangers fans are storming their owners' suite with torches and pitchforks. Ottawa's (formerly our) goalie is out indefinitely. If there's ever a season for a miracle comeback, it's this one.
Nahhhhh.
Closer to home, as we settle in to the All Is Calm If Not Bright of the one remaining mandatory day off around the nation, things are going pretty well, but not without digital hiccups. I've mentioned both recently, but briefly, and each has a more detailed denouement to report:
----
Both before and more recently since the election, I've wanted to get our passports renewed before the new regime takes over. I was aware they expired at the end of November, and got the forms for them back in July when a Biden landslide loss seemed imminent. But then two things happened to slow it down: Kamala got the nod and the momentum, and since the forms required an emergency contact and we wanted Emily on there, we wanted to wait until she was settled into her new address. I put aside the effort, and Eleanor didn't seem crazy about spending between 2 and 400 of discretionary funds when we're not likely to be traveling, but I, especially, wanted the extra layer of citizenship ID in case President Musk demands new proofs of that to vote. Our birth certificates each reside in a faded envelope, and while she can get a copy of hers fairly easily from Rochester, I've no idea if the county, town or village of my birth is in charge of such things and what would be involved getting one if the faded one was deemed too fadey. So I dusted off the forms, we each visited AAA for the new photos, and I somehow determined they would have to be mailed in with paper checks to get them renewed. Given the check-washing problem a co-worker has encountered, I did not want to risk that- and I found out, only last night, that we could indeed do the whole shebang online! Just have the old passports in hand, verify logins with the gummint (we each had them from taxpaying and Social Security), and upload those pictures to the site. We even saved a few shekels because they only offer standard six-weekish processing online, not the expedited (2-6 weeks) I'd budgeted for or the superduperfast and expensive kind they only do in emergencies. All went well, except the photo uploading. I ran into the same nitpicky thing with each of ours:
Step 1: scan the 2x2 AAA photo into the computer using the new scanner and software. I did mine first, and this produced an 8½ x 11 image with the 2x2 actual photo within it. We will crop it for you, they said. Only when I selected, it said, You are not centered. Take it again with you in the middle.
Step 2: reposition the 2 x 2 on the platen and try again. First I appeared to be tooooo close to the camera. Then the photo was tooooo big. Then it was tooooo small. I tried manipulating it through other photo software and it was wrong format (png, not jpeg). I finally scanned a third time, and saw that a lovely strand of cat hair had worked its way onto the platen. I said, fuck it, and the State Department said, That one's fine.
Step 3: Same drill when I did Eleanor's. Multiple tries, finally getting in a via-Paint screenshot of the original 2 x 2 scan that was just right. No cat hair on hers, but look at what we're going to be applying for Costa Rican asylum status with until 2034:
Good thing we didn't submit these in person at the post office, because they would probably have been matching them up with WANTED posters on the walls.
So they're in, and unless the government shuts down again in the next six weeks or they start checking pending applications against the Enemies' List we're surely on, we should be good to go if we gotta go come sometime in February.
----
The other computerish thing I mentioned recently was dodging a bureaucratic bullet on was my car's inspection. Mere days after bringing it in and getting its shiny new 2025 sticker on it, the check engine light went on. That would have caused a fail of the emissions test and, depending on the code, could have run hundreds at the dealership just to diagnose if our mechanic couldn't identify it, plus potentially hundreds more to fix the damn thing. I first waited to see if it would just clear on its own- Eleanor had left JARVIS's gas cap off briefly after Sticker Time, which will sometimes cause bad codes that clear after some driving. Once it resolved to stay on, I briefly considered just covering the thing with black tape, but decided yesterday to check if one of those auto parts places with "free diagnostics" could at least tell me what the problem was.
Indeed they could, once I got there. THAT proved the tougher issue. I first headed out to the Autozone I remember being on Union Road because it was just a block away from the only remaining full-service pharmacy in Erie County that accepts in-person payment of water bills. I decided not to risk mailing any check if I could help it because of the checkwashing business. Most banks around here, and places like Fay's and Leader Drugs with postal substations, used to have dozens of places to do this, but they all cut back the service or got merged out of existence. Now just one remains: the old-school Tile Pharmacy on Cleveland Drive on the corner of Union Road, which is still there. What isn't still there is the Autozone a block away from it on Union. It's an abandoned hulk, and the nearest one was close enough to my gym to try stopping there before a late-day class yesterday afternoon.
Stop I did, but most of the stopping was on Transit Road. It took close to half an hour to go three lights up the road and I barely made it to the gym on time by the time they ran their diagnostic gizmo on JARVIS's brain. What I've got, apparently, is your basic P2440 "secondary airvalve" being stuck in the open position. Once back home, I did ma reesurch. The good news is, it's not anything likely to cause a stall or a start failure. The semi good news is, it is a fairly small looking part.
Ah, but the where of it is the rub that probably will make this a repair we are not attempting on our own. This video, on a slightly older Smart model, shows how deeply buried this part is within the guts of this fairly small body. Once I heard the YouTuber admit he'd never done this before, I'd abandoned hope of any home repair. After the 1st, I will take it to our non-dealer mechanic for a quote, which we can then save up for over the next 11 months if it turns out to be ridiculous.
----
Speaking of the R-word, nothing new from the camp next door about the camper next door. Eleanor did have some relatively pleasant messaging about it with the wife of Mr. Ridiculous, so we're hopefully going to let sleeping campers lie for now.
Tomorrow will just be us two, some entertainment on the tube, and some much needed peace. Sleeps of it in heavenly quality, all of you:)