Posted by Joe King | Posted in Ramblings | Posted on 28-09-2009
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I've always been a hands on kind of person, learning about things by experiencing them. So when it comes to doing things that I don't know how to do, or know anything about, my theory is always "do/try it once".
Yesterday's lesson was replacing an AC compressor in our van. Air conditioning components, along with transmissions are the parts of a car that I try to stay away from. They both have little room for error.
I'm currently in the market for a new car to replace our van, so I don't want to invest another $1000 in it having someone replace the AC compressor. So I decided to make this one of those "try it once" experiences.
I did all of the research I could, picked up the parts and tackled it yesterday. It was a huge pain in the ass, but it was also a great learning experience and it saved me over $600. While it was time consuming, it would be something I'd be willing to do again.
But there have been tasks like this, that I've tried once and will avoid again at all costs, like
- Roofer – They don't pay these people enough
- Repo Man/Tow Truck Driver – Horrible hours and customer's at their worst
- Sod Layer – Hell no, never again. This is the most back breaking work ever.
What have you "tried once", but will never do again?
Posted by Joe King | Posted in Random Geekery | Posted on 24-09-2009
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This has been on my todo list for quite some time. Now I'm kicking myself in the ass for waiting so long.
Life has been changed…Check out this video.
Posted by Joe King | Posted in MS SQL, Random Geekery | Posted on 23-09-2009
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Came across this “where-have-you-been-all-my-life” improvement for Microsoft Excel’s lackluster CONCATENATE function in the latest Network World magazine.
It is a VBA function that can concatenate a range of fields and include a “separation character” between each value.
I often use Excel to build bulk SQL insert statements. This will prove to be very useful.
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/stringconcatenation.aspx
via: Network World
Posted by Joe King | Posted in Random Geekery | Posted on 23-09-2009
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Many owners of the awesome little Nokia E62, have one of the same complaints I do. The stupid rubber audio jack cover is not connected to the phone, thus prone to loss.
To keep it with the phone when you remove it, try this. Store it between the battery and the SIM card under the battery cover. The space between the two is enough for the rubber lip of the plug, and the battery cover fits right over it without any issues.
Nothing ground-breaking, but simple and effective.
Posted by Joe King | Posted in Ramblings | Posted on 21-09-2009
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I’ve been wakeboarding since I was a teenager. I first learned on a Skurfer, then I bought a wakeboard around 1995 from Sams Club (which I bought on store credit, because I was broke and unemployed at the time). That board has long since been out dated. Since then, I’ve used a loaner from a friend.
This year, for my brithday, I decided to break down and buy a “REAL” wakeboard. So I went to my local Sports Authority and bought an O’brien System 140 package. As an added benefit, they had all of their watersports equipment 40% off!
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The next weekend, we took it out and I rode it four times and loved it, then my 135lb nephew rode it a few times then SNAP…broken.
Less than ten rides total and the whole end just broke.
A few days later I called O’brien to ask what to do, and they said “try to return it to the store”, because it will be faster if they take it back. So I then called the store and they said to bring it in and we’ll work something out.
When I took the board to the customer service counter, they said that they could exchange it, but after looking at the shelf there were no more O’briens left. Since I got the board during the 40% off sale, I would be loosing out to buy another board now.
We explained the situation to the manager, and he quickly offered me the same 40% discount on anything they still had in stock. So now I have a new Hyperlite Movement 140.
Thanks to the Man
