I lied yesterday... I went out to Best Buy and got mom's computer anyway.
The guy that sold it to me was really trying to sell me hard on the extended warranty plan... I almost had it out with him, but I didn't.
He told me that he sold computers on the side and set them up, and that he always got the extended warranty... I'm sure that he got the commission on all of those.
I thought to myself as he was doing the hard sell, "this guy is either a fool or a liar, most likely both" but I didn't say it out loud, but it was really close.
So I came home and set it up, letting it burn in for a while. Then I went to bed, slept until about 17:30 or so.
Went back to bed about 20:00, slept most of the night, and now I'm rarin' to go! Go where? Well, I don't really know...
I need to put the software on mom's machine, then I'll put it back in the boxes and head for Oklahoma.
Something that I've been meaning to mention for the last few days... the lawsuit against gun manufacturers. How fucking stupid can you get?
It is still the criminal element in our society that kills people, whether it is with guns or knives or their bare hands. The criminals aren't going to be deterred at all if the gun manufacturers get hurt, or even put out of business.
But the people who are bringing these lawsuits don't care about the criminals... they know that they can't control them. So what do they do? They figger out what they can control, even though it has nothing to do with the problem, then they set about doing that.
Pretty much the same thing may be said about the anti-smoking laws... only the situation is pretty much reversed, since most smokers are law-abiding citizens. The real cure, here, would be to outlaw the manufacture and sale of cigarettes. But, once again, it will take a really powerful lobby to do that. So they do what they can... harass the end-user, who dutifully obeys the laws.
Power, and the use of that power, to whatever end, makes the owner of that power happy, or at least, they feel, justifies their existence... and those without power, me, for instance, can do nothing but get pissed off.
Bah.
Similarities also occur in our national lawmaking bodies... the republicans in the house and senate who want to get Clinton at any cost, no matter that it makes them look like the venomous fools that they truly are.
Electrical problems again... last night, Karen put a swiss steak (with peas!) on the cooktop and some potatoes in the oven to bake, then she went with Kim somewhere. When she came back, both appliances were off, as in, not working.
I've decided that I won't go to Oklahoma until tomorow... got too much to do around here, especially since I foggily misspent yesterday.
10:53...
Update later....
15:19...
Which has been the problem all along, dammit.
So Kansas Power and Light is supposedly on the way... I had to go through one of those damned automated systems... they (it) told me that a trouble ticket had been generated. So that means... someone will be coming sometime.
I surmise at this point that either the incoming line is bad at the box by my meter or on the pole... or maybe actually in the line itself. The line has been hit many times by heavy branches, they all probably need to be replaced.
So, I'll sit and wait.
16:38...
He replaced the old wire with #2 wire, so I won't have any trouble at all running the 200-amp breaker. He said the max load would be about 125 amps, more than adequate for anything that I might want to do.
I feel much better now, knowing that most of my electrical problems weren't an inadequacy on my part but somebody else's problem. And here I was thinking that I wasn't an electrician!
My hands are pretty cut up from doing the box, and my back and arms are really sore from working on the damned thing. Most of the work I was doing was above shoulder level.
I had to cut the ground wires out of the old box, the terminals had rusted so much that I couldn't unscrew them. And the old wires definitely need to be replaced... the insulation on them is hard as rock, the last step before complete decay. And decayed insulation is bad, very bad.
Everything is now working, except for the air conditioner, I still need to hook that back up. I didn't think that there was any urgency about that. I'll probably leave it until the last minute. I'm really tired of being an electrician...
Well, I'm just really tired.
Come to think of it, there's another pair of wires that I didn't hook up... I couldn't figger out if it was a 220 or a 110 volt circuit. Instead of a black, white and ground, it was a black, red and ground. And everything seems to be working... guess that I'll wait on that one too.
That's enough for today. I'm gonna just play with Mom's computer tonight, get all of the software on it and everthing...
Wot the hell. It's gotta be a bad connection somewhere... probably on the ground, which I've reconnected several times. The big question is, why? The bigger question is, "why me?" and that one covers most of my life...
Damndamndamn. I've put it off long enough... I've got to change my main electrical box out, and I've got to do it today. So I'm going to send this up and do it. If I don't come back on today, you'll know I've fried myself.
Well, I got the box changed out, it was a real bitch... and it still didn't work. So I took the voltmeter up to the meter box and measured it there... and one leg was dead.
I didn't have to wait too long... about a half-hour from the time I called. The guy was surprised that I had any electricity at all... he replaced the lines completely. He said that the connections were bad at both ends, and that the lines both had multiple broken strands.