Truck repairs

My SuburbanBeen busy the last 2 days. I actually had work to do and projects to get done. Well, really I always have work and projects. I just don’t always do them.

I am getting ready for a couple of big trips and my time at home is getting limited. I have been visiting different mechanics to be able to get my truck in for some work. It is always best to get an appointment and show up 30 minutes before the place is supposed to open so that you might actually get the vehicle back within 2 days of their projected deadline. I spent Thursday morning running to the different places and am getting them lined up for next week.

Depending on how the first place goes, I should be able to get it all done next week before a group comes in on Thursday. At that point, I will not be able to have work done before the end of the month.

Monday is a trip to the air conditioner shop. These people installed an A/C last summer before our big trip to camp. On the way north the A/C blew out. On the way South the compressor locked up and melted our belt. Fortunately we had just pulled over for the night and were in a town where we could get the work done. They just replaced the compressor with a pulley and got us back on the road.

This all happened within 3 weeks of having the brand new compressor put on.

We got back into town and I wanted a new compressor. Isn’t that what a guarantee is for? They opted to rebuild. That was definitely not my preference, but as long as it was fixed I was fine with it. Over the course of the next 2 months I was in and out of the A/C place 4 or 5 times. I got tired of it and just lived with a sub-par performing A/C until this year. The end of April the A/C, as poor as it was, completely died and seized up.

I went in to the A/C place yesterday to tell the guy I was ready to spread his sorry name across town unless he did something to sway me. He has one chance this next week to get it right. I also learned yesterday that there is a form of the Better Business Bureau here. I think it is run by the mafia. The story I got was that you complain about a company. They dig up what dirt they can on the company and threaten to expose them to the authorities for tax evasion, or whatever, and then you get your problem fixed magically. I may visit them and see how well they work.

After the A/C gets fixed, I will have the headliner in the truck replaced. It is a Suburban with a lot of wooden customization installed. So there are a lot of parts to take off and put back in place. The job will cost $110. I think that is fair. I have done this type of work before. It will probably cost about $80 in materials. I can pay someone $30 to do the work that I don’t want to do. I don’t always have more money than time, but this time I do.

Hopefully this will all be done by Thursday afternoon.

There is something going on with my fuel delivery. I will work on that as soon as I get back from California. I am afraid it is the fuel pump. That will require me to pull off the gas tank. Yikes!

I need another blog friend

My friend Terry has been out of town this week. He decided, for some insane reason, to not troll the blog world while he is gone. Why someone would make such a strange decision probably has to do with going off his medication, or maybe his psychotherapist recommended it. Whatever the reason, the result is that I have had very few comments on my blog this week.

Can someone volunteer to step up to the plate and add some comments in Terry’s absence?

At Terry’s blog, he has a strong group of comment-ers. Rarely does he have a post without a comment. Maybe I can talk him into suggesting to his readers/comment makers to come give me a visit and show some comment love.

I know people read my blog. Now I just need to convince them to leave a comment on occasion.

Does your podcast really have to be encoded at 128 kbps?

I have a podcast that I listen to that is an MP3 encoded at 128 kbps stereo. This podcast is 90% talk. There is usually 1 song in the middle of the 1 hour program.

The podcast always weighs in at 60+ MB. I have seen it over 75 MB before.

In contrast, my shows are about 6 MB and 15-20 minutes long. 1/4 the length and 1/10 the file size. I am not saying that my show sounds generally better than the show I am complaining about, but at least it is manageable.

There is one show I listen to that is encoded at 32 kbps, stereo. It is a professionally produced show and I would have never known it was such low (high?) compression had I not just happed to see it one day.

If I were just downloading one 60 MB show a week, this would not be too big of a deal. But I download hundreds of podcast episodes in a week. My plea is that podcasters would stop being so in love with their own voice and show some consideration to their listeners.

Daily Writing Tips

I ran across a web page today that I am excited about. It is called Daily Writing Tips. This is one of those pages that you want to stick into your RSS reader. You do have an RSS reader set up by now don’t you? We just talked about it last week, so I am sure you do.

They give out writing tips each day. So far the tips have been about how to improve your writing with proper grammar and spelling. For example, one of today’s tips is on word mis-use. Another is about poor spelling in advertising.

When you subscribe via RSS (here is their RSS subscription address), you can get these tips delivered to you. No need to give them your address. They won’t even know you are getting the information. But, when there is new info, your reader software will go and collect it for you so that you are always up to date.

I have mentioned before that I have taken writing courses and am interested in writing properly. I know I am not the most creative or clever writer, but I hope that I am clear and understandable (even though a bit verbose). I use my blogging as an opportunity to write something on a regular basis to hone my general writing skills. Much of my real job depends on clear writing and communication abilities.

These tips will help keep your writing on track.

New site

I am designing a blog for my Dad. Since I had only a few hairs left, I decided that I needed to pull out the rest of it. If you want to see the progress and offer suggestions, you can see it at: www.beekeepersfriend.com

I am modifying a theme and am mostly pleased with the way it is headed. I wanted my colors to be black and yellow. But I have decided that I must have a tertiary color. Right now I am going with a grey, but am open to suggestions. I need something dark. The red (if there is still any left when you see the site) was from the original theme. That is not a good tertiary color for this. Maybe a dark pale green?