Home Improvement. Or lack thereof.
Apr. 26th, 2009 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogHow I Spent My Sabbath Day, To Keep It Holy:
* Futzed with cable connection in living room. When we got cable installed ages ago, the only television in the house was in this office/den space, so when we expanded to a larger set and better sound, we did our own ersatz connection to run cable (much of it pre-existing from the prior owner) from in here to the living room. Since the hole in the moulding wasn't big enough to fit the business end of the connection-
-right, that one, I stripped it off beforehand and attempted to reconnect it on the living room end. That jerry-rigging finally breathed its last a few days ago, so I headed back to Radio Shack for a new foreskin for the whole assembly, and I'm happy to say it's connecting just fine now.
* Confusing things was a complete lack of internet for most of the morning. This turns out to have been a regionwide problem with Time Warner, but combining with my lack of television and my neighbor's lack of phone, it was damn difficult to diagnose. But it's all back up and running now, or you know, duh, no posts.
*After conquering the cable connection, I set my sights on larger pieces of machinery and determined to get Emily's car on the road for the first time this year. It's been offroad since failing its inspection in November over a structural issue we can now afford to fix, but I wanted to at least get it around the block before making the appointment for the repair. Ha. Despite monthly startups over the winter that proved it was still a reliable vehicle, today's restart attempt in perfect 70-degree weather was a washout. A gallon of fresh gasoline didn't help. So now there's a AAA call in our future, which is unexpected since when I did this drill this same time last year and the damn thing didn't start, they sold me a brand-new battery which worked every time I cranked it since the fall.
* At least I could get the screens in the front and back doors, right? Well, half-right. I got the back in okay, but only after shredding the screening in the front-door panel when the just-removed storm window fell into the screen as I chased one of the connecting bolts down the stairs. The only good news is that I did keep the storm window from shattering, which would have been a much more expensive, and much messier, repair job. Plus, this is the kind of shit that keeps little corner hardware stores in business. The one we used to go to in Rochester (Monroe Hardware, on Monroe Avenue of all places) used to specialize in this repair, with a huge sign in the front window saying "WE RESCREEN PORCHES," it taking me years to realize they were talking about window netting and not precision German driving machines.
* After my fauxes pas last week with helping with dinner preparation, I joked this morning about doing so again tonight- "take the casserole out of the freezer at 5:30, right?, and then set the, um, washing machine to 350 at 6?" I think I actually did all that stuff right.
* Futzed with cable connection in living room. When we got cable installed ages ago, the only television in the house was in this office/den space, so when we expanded to a larger set and better sound, we did our own ersatz connection to run cable (much of it pre-existing from the prior owner) from in here to the living room. Since the hole in the moulding wasn't big enough to fit the business end of the connection-
-right, that one, I stripped it off beforehand and attempted to reconnect it on the living room end. That jerry-rigging finally breathed its last a few days ago, so I headed back to Radio Shack for a new foreskin for the whole assembly, and I'm happy to say it's connecting just fine now.
* Confusing things was a complete lack of internet for most of the morning. This turns out to have been a regionwide problem with Time Warner, but combining with my lack of television and my neighbor's lack of phone, it was damn difficult to diagnose. But it's all back up and running now, or you know, duh, no posts.
*After conquering the cable connection, I set my sights on larger pieces of machinery and determined to get Emily's car on the road for the first time this year. It's been offroad since failing its inspection in November over a structural issue we can now afford to fix, but I wanted to at least get it around the block before making the appointment for the repair. Ha. Despite monthly startups over the winter that proved it was still a reliable vehicle, today's restart attempt in perfect 70-degree weather was a washout. A gallon of fresh gasoline didn't help. So now there's a AAA call in our future, which is unexpected since when I did this drill this same time last year and the damn thing didn't start, they sold me a brand-new battery which worked every time I cranked it since the fall.
* At least I could get the screens in the front and back doors, right? Well, half-right. I got the back in okay, but only after shredding the screening in the front-door panel when the just-removed storm window fell into the screen as I chased one of the connecting bolts down the stairs. The only good news is that I did keep the storm window from shattering, which would have been a much more expensive, and much messier, repair job. Plus, this is the kind of shit that keeps little corner hardware stores in business. The one we used to go to in Rochester (Monroe Hardware, on Monroe Avenue of all places) used to specialize in this repair, with a huge sign in the front window saying "WE RESCREEN PORCHES," it taking me years to realize they were talking about window netting and not precision German driving machines.
* After my fauxes pas last week with helping with dinner preparation, I joked this morning about doing so again tonight- "take the casserole out of the freezer at 5:30, right?, and then set the, um, washing machine to 350 at 6?" I think I actually did all that stuff right.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 06:34 pm (UTC)Glad you got the dinner right, Julian Child.