Other stuff.

I got to work today only to find my wireless mouse was shot and wouldn't turn on.

The boss let me head over to Best Buy to pick up a new mouse. I wanted a wired mouse because I've always felt they have the best response.

Best Buy's mouse section contains only wireless mice.

Eventually I found a Logitech G400 gaming mouse. With tax, it cost about $56 (rounded to nearest dollar).

Amazon has the same mouse for ~$37, but I need a mouse *now* so I paid the premium. (And will hopefully be reimbursed...)

Interestingly, the only mouse Best Buy stocks for Apple computers is the Magic Mouse for $70. This is pretty close to retail on Amazon.

I guess $56 isn't so bad.

Twitter's web interface seems broken (borken!) so here I am again having remembered that I have this account.

Spent most of the day trying to figure out what I really need to do in terms of car maintenance. Since I don't drive at all that much, I don't give it much thought beyond oil changes.

Jiffy Lube keeps track of the services they've performed for me though, and they sent me a card to remind me that my cabin air filter needs changing. That's easy enough for me to do even while braindead, but then just to confuse the issue they listed a whole bunch of other services they can do for me.

In addition, my dad took a peek under the hood and noted that the power steering fluid is low. The maintenance schedule doesn't say when to change it, though maybe I missed it somewhere, so all I did was top it off.

After much head scratching and soul searching, I've concluded all I need to do right now is:
- get the oil changed (as usual) and
- do a radiator flush (on the maintenance schedule).

Whether or not I need fuel injection system cleaning or a new fuel filter is undecided. My MPG seems to have taken a sudden dive from ~25 MPG (all city) to ~22 MPG.

What I'll do tonight is see if I can find a bottle of decent fuel cleaner (Redline, Techron, Seafoam or Lucas are oft mentioned) and run that through the system first. A fuel filter change doesn't appear on the maintenance schedule either, though at this point I wouldn't be adverse to replacing it either.

Everything else can wait. The serpentine belt, or at least I think it's that belt, has started squealing a little bit, not sure if it's from all the heavy rain we're having but that certainly doesn't help. Will keep an ear out for it.

---
Jiffy Lube services & quoted prices rounded to nearest dollar.

1998 Nissan Sentra
• oil change (conventional) $42**
• power steering fluid flush $100
• fuel system cleaning $70
• fuel filter change $70 ($10 off parts this month though, so I guess it's $60)
• radiator flush $115**
• transmission flush $180

**will do these two tomorrow.

I forget to get a quote on replacing the serpentine belt. Probably don't need to do that just yet though.

Ended up repairing the cracked screen on a second iPod Touch 4th gen unit, this one's an 8 GB. It was much easier the second time around, this time with the proper "spudger" tools. I could probably do more but since I have beaten the challenge it's probably time to move on to new things. Unfortunately, it's not too profitable to do this by buying cracked units on eBay.

Maybe if I check Craigslist every so often...

Picture of the first iPod Touch, after repair. I'm very happy with it.

The decluttering continues apace during my vacation time. I realize I could have done a lot of this earlier if I was more motivated, but at least it's getting done.

I got a funny tweet from my coworker friend today about it, at least:
" Even faster: 1. Put everything in box. 2. Toss in trash or haul to Goodwill. DONE! ^_~ "

---
For tomorrow, I'll at least clear the center bookshelf by the door (it's the last one there!), fill a box and donate it.

Working on a major decluttering project. It's probably going to take a while, sorting through the debris of years is like that, but I feel so much better having just cleared out the area near my bedroom door. I've already hit a critical point where I feel energized to keep on going.

Hopefully, I'll be able to do the majority of it over the next two months before December rolls around and everyone else is in end-of-the-year cleaning mode.

In other news, I have a whole bunch of work shirts with logos that maybe I ought to see about turning into shorts, so the logos aren't quite so obvious. The fabric's great quality and so are the shirts, I hate to donate them to charity and have random people possibly wearing them around.

Too many things happening I can't talk about until they're more than seeds and sprouts.

Wish me luck. I will need it. *rolls up sleeves*

...this seems appropriate.

“There will be other tasks. Try to complete them without whining too loudly. I cannot stand the sounds you humans make when you’re unhappy.” –Bonwor Fierceblade.

...I'm busy when you don't see an update. Quick one:



Our red Siamese fighting fish. If a betta were a bird, it'd be hanging in the aquatic shrubbery, and so it is. Sorry about the crappy image quality, some days it's all I can do to get a photo uploaded.

ARGH. And I just remembered the pile of San Francisco / Vegas photos still in my camera...

Hi everybody. Yes, I've been really busy lately, and not managing my time as well as I should. Can't believe it's been something like three weeks since I last updated.

Where does the time go? :/

Rap: Aggressive Bee (via YouTube)

When you're young or uninformed, you get the impression that if you can just absorb enough information, you can make the perfect choices. Obviously, this is wrong.

---
Nothing gets really fun until you get good at it.

---
Being able to lose graciously increases fun factor by nth power.