This weekend we had a chance to go canoeing again on the Harpeth River. It’s nice to finally get to use this natural resource that’s just five minutes from the house. We didn’t go last year at all but this year it’s been twice in the last month and a half. With three companies providing kayak and canoe rental just down the road and a number of options for length of trips it will be easy to take advantage of getting on the river. I hope we can do this more and maybe even pickup a canoe or kayak of our own. Some pics are available on this flickr feed, it was a perfect outdoor activity for the 95+ degree day.
Sick
I’m usually good for a few colds each year just like everyone else. So on Friday when I felt a scratchy throat I figured it was the same old thing, boy was I wrong. Saturday started the aches and pains, got so bad Sunday I was in bed most of the day. Didn’t help we had company from IL come by, but Kay did her great job of entertaining as usual. Today was another day in bed. I can’t ever remember having something that is just body aches and a severely soar throat. No stuffy or runny nose, not even a headache.
I think tomorrow I can be a little productive.
Crash
I have been very lucky in my years driving and I can only hope it continues. However this evening I had my first crash, sort of. It was really more of a fender bender as the other vehicle got the worst of it. I was leaving the rink on my way to the pub for a beer and got rear ended at a red light. The truck took the bump very well with no structural damage and only a rub mark at the bottom of the tailgate. I can’t say the same for the other vehicle, it had to be towed away. Hard to imagine how much can get broken at about 5 miles an hour, yes that’s about all the other vehicle was doing. We both were stopped at the red light and as I moved up, since the car in front turned on red, I stopped again and they didn’t.
Their S10 blazer’s bumper slid under mine and it drove the radiator into the hitch. Hood was buckled, grill in pieces and both vehicles were hooked together. After police finished with their report and the tow truck came it was about an hour. Once we got them unhooked I was off. No air bags went off on either vehicle and neither of us were hurt, which is the important thing. I guess it’s just another reason to keep the truck and not cave to getting something new. Now if only Can-Back would get the soft-tops for S10’s in production I’d be a happy camper.
Internet up and down
Yesterday my connection started going up and down just after lunch. I figured something was going on and decided not to call, I hate calling the ISP to get that stupid user treatment. Things were fine in the evening so I didn’t think much of it. Then this morning it went down again, but didn’t come back up. So this time I called to check on outages, none in the area. I headed to a nearby coffee shop for some lunch and to check email. Since it was still down when I came back it was down to the cable modem and start testing. After swapping cables and no change I checked the television boxes and picture quality was horrible on the DVR and the HD channels were not coming in.
Since their are a number of cables running around I figured I’d go to the source and test at the junction box in the garage. When I opened it up their was a three way splitter that ran lines to separate parts of the house. This was confusing at first since the line was split again in another room in the basement, what for ? After connecting the modem directly to the line coming from the pole all was good. After replacing the splitter the DVR now had a clear picture and HD channels, the internet was up too.
I guess it pays to know what’s between you and the pole, for TV and internet. If I knew the line was split that many times at the junction box I forgot. But you can always fall back on tracing cables and eliminate connections. The ISP doesn’t do that type of Q and A over the phone, I don’t blame them. I recall the days of asking someone on the other end of the phone to trace a cable, it’s not fun for either side. I’ve been around long enough I should know better …. but we all get lazy sometimes !!!
Losing important things, almost
I like to think I’m pretty good about keeping track of important things but earlier this week I pulled an OH %$@* !!!!. It was Wednesday afternoon and I knew I had a conference call at 2:00 but couldn’t find my PDA, as it had the call in number and access code. Not the first time that has happened but a quick check in a couple places and still was no where to be found. As I sat and thought for a moment bad things entered my mind. I had visited a few retail places the evening before, had it with me but couldn’t remember what I did with it when I got home. Not good.
By this time the conference call had started and I left a voice mail saying I would miss it not cause I didn’t have the info but, it had been more than 12 hours since I last saw my PDA. No big deal accept is has my credit cards and passwords in it. The last time I used it was around 7:30pm the night before, more than enough time for damage to happen. Yes I was thinking it could have been stolen from the truck.
After calling the credit card companies no additional charges were made, but I had new cards sent out anyway. I got in the truck and headed to the stores I was at the evening before, this was potentially a bad move which will be clearer in a moment, just to make sure I had not left it. After stopping at both places, the answer was no, and coming back home I was still very perplexed about the situation. I then decided to look around the driveway to see if by chance I had laid is somewhere and it fell out. A long shot by any means but I was left with few other choices. That also came up snake eyes until I was standing behind the truck looking at the back bumper……. wouldn’t you know sitting on the bumper was my PDA. Yes folks I drove back to the two places I shopped the night before 15 miles away and on the interstate no less with it on my back bumper the whole time.
And to think I needed new shocks !!!!