Today’s Business: 2010-04-08
Thursday, April 8th, 2010Today’s Activities
- Shower. DONE.
- Cat duty. DONE.
- Set up automatic monthly bill payments for Mom’s medical insurance premiums. DONE.
- Pay all two pending bills. DONE.
Log
08:00 AM: I’m up. My weight did not change from yesterday. It’s still 173.5 Lbs. See here for a summary of the progress on this goal so far in 2010.
08:05 AM: Read more of the Classics for Pleasure book overnight.
09:25 AM: Got Mom signed up for automatic checking account deductions for her medical insurance premiums.
10:15 AM: Paid all outstanding bills this morning.
10:50 AM: [Emmy] called to update me on our mutual friend [Jack], and to say that the Penguins are playing their last hockey game at Mellon Arena tonight. They’ll have lots of former Penguins players, general managers, et al at this game. Next season, the Penguins will pay at their new facility. Not sure what they’re going to do with Mellon Arena (formerly Civic Arena).
01:00 PM: Replaced the CPU fan in this computer because the fan alarm sounded this morning and subsequent inspection of the original fan showed bad bearings. It was barely turning at all and emitted this grinding noise besides. Unfortunately, I had no exact replacement Cooler Master CPU fan (part # A8025-22RB-3AN-F1, 12-volt, 0.18 Amp., 3-wire motherboard connection). There was one used one on eBay for $28 (including shipping). But that price seemed awfully high for a sold-as-is, used fan. So instead, I rooted around and found a similarly-sized fan in the basement, which I fastened to the CPU heat sink with two pieces of chicken wire. It’s pretty tight and the heat sink is running very cool. I’ll hold off a few days before putting the case back together, just in case other problems appear.
03:30 PM: Watched today’s episode of The Young and the Restless on the DVR.
04:15 PM: Watched the 2010-04-04 episode of NBC’s Meet The Press on the DVR.
06:00 PM: Read more of the Classics for Pleasure book. Hmmm, I will have to read that book Utopia as well. That was discussed briefly in this book, and it sounds intriguing. But at the moment, it’s nap time.
07:00 PM: I’m awake once again.
07:30 PM: Calling [Emmy]. We’re listening to the Penguins last regular season game at Mellon (Civic) Arena.
09:15 PM: [Emmy's] audio on her phone began cutting out a lot, and she lost her Internet connection for the IRIS WebRadio for a time as well. Things worked better once she rebooted her cable modem.
09:30 PM: Mom was blow-drying her hair when the dryer shut down and the lamp beside her as well. Inspection of the circuit breakers in the basement revealed no tripped breakers however. But, we have a power strip near her chair, and the breaker in that was what dropped out. Pressing it back in resolved this ”highly localized” power outage. 
Mom threw the dryer away, saying that it had a loose connection and that it was quite old. Actually, it was pretty aged; I purchased it in early 1997, when Mom, the twins, and Joann came to visit, and Dianne forgot her suitcase, and threw quite the hysterical fit of frustration. Anyway, I bought this dryer so they’d have something to use for hair drying for the weekend. That was a bad-luck weekend as I recall – a safety switch on my water heater went bad as well, and we all had to take cold showers. Cost $80 to have repaired. Ah yes, those good old memories.
10:30 PM: The Penguins won, 7 to 3.
12:30 AM: Created a new personal category for long-time friend, [Lynn]. Haven’t spoken with her in six years. So I really should call her and see how she’s doing. After all, we communicated a great deal via email and telephone through the first several years of our friendship / romance, and I do think about her from time to time.
12:55 AM: Okay, I’m off to bed again (how many different ways are there to say that I’m going to bed?) Anyway, I am headed there now; although I may read a little more tonight. So sweet dreams to you all, and I’ll see you back out here when next I am awake. Later.
Received Mail and Shipments
- Wedding invitation from someone we don’t even know.
- Mom’s wheelchair rental bill.
- Platinum business rewards credit card offer from one of my banks. No thanks.
- Mom’s updated / correct tax forms from the preparer.