Sunday, July 15, 2012

Adventures With New Stuff

I'm about moved in to my buddy's rental. His mother had a double wide put in near her ex-mother in law's place, which is also next door to her ex's place. They were a close bunch, even divorced. Both his parents have since passed on, and he rents out Mom's old place.

At any rate, its a two bedroom two bath with attached garage manufactured home. I have not tried to fit my pickup in the garage - the drive is kinda twisty and it sure looks tight. I've got most of what I need - I keep running into things that I do not have and end up buying - stuff like flashlights, or a lighter and matches to start up a recalcitrant gas range, batteries, or whatever. The lists have been endless.

Things like a beard trimmer. I have a goatee that I like to keep trimmed, and it was getting shaggy. El Marto Del Wal did not have the same model trimmer I had before, so I had to select a new one. While Wahl is undoubtedly the quality king of trimmers, they also start at sixty bucks or more. The Remington was about fifteen. My old one had an adjustable head for controlling depth. I used to run it at two or three, so when first using the new one, I decided to try setting three because it would be "longer." Good thing I tested it on an eyebrow (I was sporting the Andy Rooney look), because three on this thing was about like 3/4 on the old one. Not much left of that eyebrow.

Of course I had to buy a new television. And once again, El Marto Del Wal was the retailer of choice - they are just plain cheaper. Earlier this week, I bought a Vizio (the toasted tv was a Vizio, I stay with what works for me). I also had to buy a stand, which meant assembly. So, after spending quite a bit of time putting that thing together, I pull out the tv and set it up for mounting on the stand. Finally, I got it up there and fired it up.

Three fourths of the screen didn't work. It looked like someone had held a square dance on the right side of the screen - I don't know how the glass didn't start falling apart. I discovered this at about eight o'clock and I was just plain tired. DirecTV was scheduled the next morning for installation. I hoped they carried something that would let them set up without using my tv, but alas, no. So, had to reschedule. Took the broken unit back, got my money back, and they didn't have another one of that model in stock.

What. Ever. Got one five inches wider for seventy bucks more. Oh well.

The new new tv works fine. I ordered a DVR with HD model - the toasted one was just an HD  model. I'd been planning on upgrading for some time, but never got a round tuit. So the installer was showing me how to record episodic television, using Law and Order on TNT as an example. I got it, but he insisted on actually entering the request to record all the episodes. Not necessary - I got it, but he insisted. He then "deleted" the entries.

He did warn me that the receiver would be sluggish for some time until all the software updates and such were done. So, it was not surprising to find the remote was ineffective. I had to manually enter everything with the buttons on the front of the unit.

Only to find out "Law and Order" was recording. I stopped it (still w/o being able to use the remote), deleted the episodes already recorded, and so on. Finally got the remote back.

This morning, the remote refused to work. Recording "Law and Order" again. Same procedure, different day.

If I have to keep deleting "Law and Order" episodes to make this fine piece of electronics function, well, me and DirecTV are gonna talk. If I can't use the remote when it's busy recording, me and DirecTV are gonna talk.

And the new digs need a little attention in certain areas, but they are being attended to. I think this place is about half again as big as the ol' farmstead, and it has ∞ +1 storage compared to the old place. The kitchen is way smaller, but once again, tons of storage compared to what I was used to. Pantry? This place haz it.

One of the areas of concern is the garbage disposal. Not. Functional. At. All. No. Water. Flowing. Completely. Plugged. Not a big deal - the sink is a twin and the other side works. Until I fired up the dishwasher (old place, dishwasher was ME) and discovered it drained into that side of the sink. Did some baling over to the other side, and had to watch the dern thing - luckily it would only just about fill the sink in one cycle, but it sure had to be emptied out or there would have been a disaster.

I've got a place to live now, and I think I'm gonna like it. I am completely in debt to so many people. Absolutely unreal.

15 comments:

Bob's Blog said...

Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) asked if there is a way you could put up a Pay Pal donation button. He said you would get a LOT more donations if you could do that.

Jeffro said...

I had so far resisted doing that, but I probably will, if the Instapundit deems it so!

Anonymous said...

Hey Jeffro, you got a Paypal account? Or do they at the banks. I'd like to help out....

Jeffro said...

In order to create a donation button, I had to start a new account with PayPal. They want a method of payment in place before they'll let me use the damn thing, which means I have to link up either the savings accounts mentioned in previous posts or my debit/cash card.

PayPal does not like my debit card all of a sudden - perhaps I cannot use it on my other account. Don't know. Also don't know what my account numbers and routing numbers are for the savings accounts at the two banks, so I'm apparently at a standstill.

Jeffro said...

Robert - my normal PayPal acct is under jeffro@ucom.net, and I apparently cannot use that account to make a donation button. Can accept payments, though. The banks are listed on an earlier post.

drjim said...

Sounds like you're getting settled again, Jeff.
Always a PITA, but sometimes necessary.

Anonymous said...

Please post pictures showing eyebrows. Your fan club waits breathlessly.......

CU74

Bob's Blog said...

I will let Instapundit know about jeffro@ucom.net

Bob's Blog said...

Jeffro,
Instapundit replied immediately with this advice: "He needs to put the paypal button conspicuously on his blog. I don't mean to be difficult, but he'll do MUCH better if he does that. I've had experience with this. And it's important to get it right because you really only get to ask once."

jed said...

Hrm. Used to be, PayPal had a wizardy thing for doing a donation button. Are you a 'verified' account? Maybe that's the hangup.

Anyways, yeah, pics of the eyebrow. :)

Glad to hear you're getting settled. Dishwasher eh? You know, even if I had one, I wouldn't use it, because for just my own self, there's not enough dishes. Hell, I barely own enough to fill one, and most of them are in boxes anyways.

Anonymous said...

I second the Anonymous. Where are the visuals?


PS.
I am sure you can tame any darn rebellious dishwasher or three.

Jeffro said...

I'm working on it - the only card I have is a cash card and it's already registered with PayPal, so they're not liking me using it again. I do have two brand spankin' new savings accounts that I do not have enough information about to use for PayPal's intents. They want a bank account or a credit card linked to my donation account. Just in case I wanna buy something, I guess, even though the purpose is to receive money.

I do happen to have tomorrow off and can address the situation. Not much else I can do in a short time.

Jinglebob said...

Well, post your address ( as if you already have, I missed it, hey, you know how dumb I am!)and I will just mail a check, damn interwebs and fancy schmany paypals accounts! ;-)

Jeffro said...

Bob: Just got the info I needed and set it up, at the top in the right column.

Bob's Blog said...

I will let Instapundit know immediately.