I did take pictures of the bikes that I got. I just didn’t want to bother with pictures of the bikes the day I got them, because it was raining.
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Bike Auction [Update]
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Category Archives: Life
Bike Auction
I went to the city bike auction today. I ended up getting two bikes. One boys bike and one girls bike. They both need some work, which is fine. Neither of these bikes need to be ridable right now, so I have time to assess what I need to do to them and get to work on it. Just from looking them over I can tell I need the brake assembly for the front and the back on both of them, new chains, and a new tire and rim for the one. I will probably find more problems when I get around to taking them apart and trying to fix them, but for right now I think they are certainly worth putting the money into. I will probably need some new tools while I’m at it. It should be a fine adventure.
Mowing the Lawn
I finally got out and mowed the lawn with the lawn mower I bought from Sears. It worked like a charm. I can’t find the blower attachment (I think that is what that attachment is called?), because I wanted to use that instead of a bag. I think I left it in Jo’s trunk. My trunk was not big enough when I bought the lawn mower so it is a good thing that I had him along with me when I went.
I did not use the mulching feature of the lawn mower, because honestly I didn’t want to go through mowing twice. It is a good thing I took the easy way out, because it actually started raining shortly after I finished. I did use the front wheel drive feature though, and that made it a little easier. I really only got a lawn mower with front wheel drive so that when I decide to teach Eddy and Patty to use it they can.
Bike Problems
We took Eddy’s bike to Eddy’s Bike Shop and they wanted $100 to do a tune up and replace the bottom bracket. It is most certainly a fair price, and they do know what they are doing over there, but I sort of wanted the experience. An experience I got.
I went and bought all the tools necessary for the job. You need a special tool to replace the cranks, which is what they call the bars the pedals attach to, and another special tool to remove the bottom bracket, which is the part that the cranks attach to that goes in the frame of the bicycle. I also bought gloves, a little toolbox, a bigger wrench, and a chain tool. Every other tool I needed for the job I had around the house.
As far as parts go there were quite a few. I wanted to replace the front brakes, the chain, and the bottom bracket. I ended up having to replace the seat as well, when I found out that the metal on the bottom had worked itself loose from the plastic on the bottom of the seat and I did not feel that was safe.
I tore up my hands a bit and I’m sore in my shoulders. The bottom bracket was rusted in the frame and it took a whole lot of work to get it out. The chain and the seat were pretty easy to install. Some learning curve on using a chain tool, I kept producing locked up links, which after some playing around I figured out the right way to do it.
The whole project took me three days, but spending the time with my son, learning a whole lot about bikes, and getting to do it myself made the whole thing worth it.
TV Problem
I just got this new Samsung television and already I’m having a very odd problem. It seems that whenever there is white text on a black background, which you see quite often in the “bumps” on [adult swim] and during the credits for King of the Hill, the screen actually darkens and lightens depending on how much text there is. If there is a lot of text then it appears white, if there is not a great deal of text then it appears gray, because the screen darkens. I have already turned off anything in the settings that was dynamic and the power saving feature, and it still is doing it quite actively.
I asked Rick, since we have the same television, and he said that it doesn’t do that for him, and when we compared settings they came out the same. He suggested I call Samsung and to be honest I probably will. I don’t have any DVD’s or games that really create the same environment, but admittedly I haven’t looked very hard, so I don’t know if it just does this with the cable or with other devices.
Wireless [Update]
I tried the suggestion on assigning the Xbox 360 a static IP and the problem is that the Xbox 360 detects the network as being “moderate”. I don’t know what the classifications are, but basically if you test your connection to Live and it comes back as “moderate” then you have a problem and it will affect download, game, and chat. Honestly, if I had to guess at what is causing it I would say that while UPnP fixes this problem, because I am giving the Xbox 360 a dedicated IP the router isn’t doing the DNS for it, so it also doesn’t do UPnP or anything else. That’s just my theory. If I could find a way to enable all the features of the router for a device that is not hitting the DNS then maybe it would work.
Cable is Back
Time Warner Cable came out, I believe the technicians name was Mike, and replaced the splitter. All the technicians that have come out were nice guys, and Mike was no exception. The splitter that he replaced quite literally was full of water, and he brought it inside the house and shook it around to show me this. Apparently water does not kill the splitter it just severely drains the signal so that the higher the station the less likely you will get it. He said that the guy before replaced it the right way and everything and that he felt it was more of a fluke. This marks the third time in a month that the splitter was the cause of the problem.
Random
The wireless gaming adapter that I’ve been playing with doesn’t seem to like holding an IP for more than a day, so I’ve gotten the suggestion that I should go with a static IP on the Xbox 360, because that might help. I am not sure that the problem isn’t really that I’m using a virtual network on my router, because the adapter only does WEP and my network was WPA. I was told that WPA is better security. I will have to wait and see if this fixes the problem. Right now I can’t suggest this setup to Renee, because while I incorrectly said she bought an Xbox 360 when in fact she exchanged one she got for her birthday and got one with a hard drive, she needs a wireless solution, but this isn’t really stable enough for right now. Lucky for me her television is basically rubbish so she isn’t in any real rush for this solution.
The kids went to the doctor’s for their physicals and everything seems to be fine. We are still waiting for some routine tests to come back, but so far the only problem is the kids are slightly overweight. I was already aware of this fact though, so there wasn’t any surprises that have come of this physical yet. I believe the kids have been losing weight, and when the school year is over and they can spend more time riding their bikes, which I still have to find a bike for Patty, then I’m sure this problem will resolve itself. The Easter candy isn’t helping the situation any in the very present. Hopefully they slim down enough to make it easier to fit them for uniforms for the new school year.
I have the Praxis II content and PLT test on the 25th and I’ve been reading some books to help me get prepared for them. I picked up two AP history books at the Akron public library, because to my surprise the University of Akron library did not have any world history books that would be of value to me. I need the history books for the content part, which is about 130 multiple choice questions that can be pulled from world, American, geography, economics, and politics. I have made it to about the 15th century for the world history, but I feel that the next four centuries are going to be more important to me. On the PLT side of things I’ve made it through about a dozen people who have contributed theories that have shaped the modern education system in the United States, but I really have to go back through and read them all again and finish these books. These tests could not have come at a worst time, as the semester is winding down and I have a lot of assignments due in all my other classes.
Speaking of assignments what I have due is a final draft of my Historical Methods paper, which I got the rough draft back today and there are quite a few corrections I have to make to get a better grade. I need to put together another paper for my Advanced Teaching Instructions class, along with a Curriculum Connections paper, a rough draft of the unit plan, and I have to finish the observation hours I’ve been doing at North High School. I have a big paper and a possible presentation coming due for Measurements and Evaluation, which I sadly have not even started on. I have to finish up about 6 online quizzes for Family Financial Management and start thinking about the final project that is due on finals week. I have the final paper and a presentation due in History and Film, which while that is actually not that difficult is still more work piled on. I would like to finish all these books I got for the Praxis II tests.
I have so many assignments and appointments lately that I forced myself to learn how to use the appointments and tasks feature on my phone. I was keeping all these things written down in a notebook, but I need a more constant and ready reminder of what needs done. It wasn’t hard to learn and I feel more confident about keeping track of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. I don’t have any reminders or anything set, because I’m constantly in there adding or checking something so I don’t think I’m going to forget what’s due next.
Everywhere I go anymore it smells like fresh mulch. This is both a blessing and a curse. Sure everything looks better and eventually the smell settles down and it is fine, but in the very present it is a very pungent smell. Sometimes I feel as though I’m carrying the smell around me if I walk too close to it.
Time Warner Cable will be out to fix my cable for a 3rd time in a month. I know 3rd time is a charm, but I’m really just hoping they get it right this time. I don’t even know what went wrong this time. The cable box isn’t working and now the kids are telling me that some of the higher channels are scrambled on their televisions. This problem seems to be brand new. I don’t know what’s going on. I even talked to Rick and while he probably knows what the problem is there isn’t anything I can actually do myself to fix it.
My Grandma helped me with dinner tonight and she made the pork chops better than I do. I learned how to do it from my Dad and the recipe is dip them in Italian dressing, then breadcrumbs, then in the oven for an hour at 350. Grandma did them with egg instead of Italian dressing, and I have to say that I like it better that way. I’ll have to start doing that.
Wireless
Jo came over and helped me set up a Linksys gaming bridge that was sitting in his parents basement so I could see if it would work for my Xbox 360. Jo actually got this thing refurbished for about $25 and I wish I could find one for that price, but I’d prefer version 2, since the one he has version 1 doesn’t do WPA. I had to set up a virtual network on my router so that I could have WEP running to get it to work. I’m not even sure if the Linksys router I have does virtual networks or if that’s a feature that I got with DD-WRT.
It is working pretty well. I streamed a video and downloaded something. I probably should try using Netflix, because that’s probably a real test to see if it’s fast enough for me to recommend to other people. I’d already recommend it just based on the fact that it works, but I’d really like to try this one, because it actually does WEP and WPA and you don’t have to worry about which version you get. The whole reason I decided to play around with it was because I know someone who bought an Xbox 360 and eventually they are going to want to take it online, after they get a better television and some other things probably.
Some Pictures
I forgot to post these. I took them a few weeks ago when we got a whole lot of snow. I had to shovel the driveway twice, really three times, that day. It was impossible to drive anywhere and school was canceled for all.
I made the kids go outside and enjoy it some. I thought for sure that they’d enjoy it, because I know I always did. I remember getting bundled up with gloves, scarfs, hats, and whatever else just to go outside and enjoy the ground being covered in snow. We would make snow angels and snowmen. We would throw snowballs at each other. Those were fun times.
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