Our RV Adventures

52 years ago today, on July 5th,1967, I walked across A1A in Titusville, FL, and met the love of my life. I knew it pretty quickly, but it took me a couple of weeks to get Jan to even go out with me.

But with a lot of persistence I finally wore her down, though today I’d probably be considered a stalker. And we’ve been together pretty much ever since.

Sometimes nagging pays off.

I hate Apple products.

Unlike most days at work where I get to do things I enjoy, like play with computer stuff,  I spent most of today doing something I hate, i.e. work on something Apple . . . actually anything Apple.

Which today meant trying to set up my client’s new IPhone 8+. Went round and round several times just trying to get the Apple ID configured and everything updated.

Just a real mess.

My feelings actually started with disdain though, before moving on to hatred. The ‘disdain’ started back in the early days of the Macintosh when reporter ask Steve Jobs why the Mac had a one button mouse while the PC mouse had two.

Jobs said the average user was too stupid to operate a two button mouse.

But my disdain metamorphosed in to pure hatred when I actually had to repair them. In 1998 I was doing tech support at the University of Houston – Clear Lake. We were an authorized Apple Repair Center since we had so many Apple products.

At that time Apple was the go-to computer for pretty much anything to do with computer graphics, video, or desktop publishing, so we had 100’s of  units scattered in classrooms all over campus.

One product we had a number of was the Apple Color LaserWriter, probably the only printer that needed regular oil changes. There was an open pan at the bottom of the printer inside the case, kind of like a cookie sheet, that held a layer of very slippery silicone oil.

This oil was used to keep the fuser clean and had to be changed out at stated internals, which was almost impossible to do without spilling some on the floor. Which then created a hazardous area and had to be surrounded by orange cones. This was due to the fact that the oil made the floor so slippery it was like trying to walk on ice.

Plus if someone bumped the table holding the printer, oil would splash out from the open pan and on to the floor, again creating a hazardous area, surrounded by orange cones.

Another Apple product that we had to repair was the 21” Studio Display Monitor like this one.

Steve always seemed to have favored esthetics over function and reparability, and one of his favorite SSSS to not have any visible screws or fastenings on the outside of the case.

And the Display Monitor was just such a beast. The rear cover was just a rounded dome that was press-fitted onto the chassis. The factory service manual listed the tools necessary to remove the cover as 4 strong metal fingernail files and 2 dozen wooden popsicle sticks.

Yep! 2 dozen popsicle sticks!

You were to jam a nail file into the seemingly air-tight seam, hopefully making enough of a gap to be able to wedge a popsicle into the opening. You then proceeded to work your way around the rim, jamming and wedging as you go, just like changing a big truck tire.

Oh, and the reason you need four fingernail files? It’s because you’ll break at least two of them working your way around the rim.

But the manual neglects to tell you one important thing.

The dome is essentially spring loaded as it’s pressed on at the factory. So at some unknown-to-you point, the heavy dome comes loose, flies across the room, and of course, smashes into a brand-new, VERY expensive, LCD monitor, knocking it to the floor in pieces.

Then of course, there’s the infamous ‘melting’ G4 Cubes.

The G4 was a small (7” x 7” x 7”) computer that also illustrated another of Job’s pet peeves. He didn’t like cooling fans or the noise they made.

So the G4 depended on convection cooling for the components, pulling air in at the bottom of the case and exhausting it out through the top grill. Now that may have worked in mild San Francisco, but not in the Houston area.

The much higher humidity here, even in the air-conditioned buildings, meant that the whole convection cooling thing just didn’t work very well. And the heat buildup made the grill on top of the case start to sag and crack.

Oops!

Happily, for this reason, and lack of expandability, killed the G4 off in just a couple of years.

Thought for the Day:

You ever get the feeling that some people slipped into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn’t looking?

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Since my sciatica seemed to be tapering off the last couple of days, I was hoping that today would continue in that direction, but no such luck.

My leg pain returned about 4:30 am and that was pretty much it for sleeping the rest of the morning. And because my problem seemed to easing up, I had decided not to call my doctor yesterday and try to get an appointment for next week.

So now I’ll have to wait until Monday to try for an opening. Actually what I really want is to get some more Tramadol. Though when I say ‘more’,  I really mean ‘some’ for me.

Because what I’ve been taking is some that Jan had from her latest kidney stone problem. I tried Tramadol because nothing else worked, not Advil, and not the Salon Pas patches, both of which have worked on other pains.

But the Tramadol only last 4 to 6 hours before I have to take more. However so far the only real side effect I’ve noticed is that it’s harder to pee. Which strangely enough is not one listed on any side effect list I’ve found.

Kind of important to me, though

And though Tramadol is listed as an opioid, it was originally an over-the-counter analgesic. but due to addiction problems being reported, it was listed as a Schedule IV narcotic in 2014.

However I haven’t noticed any of that. In fact, I’d rather not take it, if something else would work. But it’s pretty much the only way I get to sleep at night. So we’ll see what my doctor says.

About 1:30 pm Jan and I drove over to Texas City and our favorite Yummy Yummy Chinese Buffet. They were having a 4th of July special at $9.99 and were really busy. Especially since they had Crawfish on buffet.

Not many places have all you can eat Crawfish for only $10. Saw one guy on his 3rd or 4th plateful. Of course I can’t really talk since I kind of do the same thing with the Cold Boiled Shrimp.

Later, coming home we took a detour to check out the new FM646 underpass at I-45. Glad to see it finally open.

Miss Piper is embarking on a new path in her career. Recently she’s been working on an internship at a local psychologist office, and really enjoyed it. But that wound down when the office, having financial problems, shut down.

And Piper, deciding she liked the Texas Hill Country life that her mother and father have moved to, and with her apartment lease up in Clear Lake, moved up to the Burnet area near Chris and Linda.

And then in one of those serendipity moments, she got a call from a company based on her LinkedIn profile. They were looking for someone with her psychology experience to work as a C.C.J.A.P. (Certified Criminal Justice Addiction Professional).

And then they said, “Would you mind moving up to Burnet?”

“Well, as it happens . . .

She’s being hired to counsel individuals who are incarcerated and/or receiving court-ordered substance abuse treatment services. She’ll be working at a minimum security women’s prison in the Burnet area, one that houses only substance abuse inmates.

She starts Monday, first of course, with HR, and an orientation. And a Self Defense class too.

But the big thing is that they’re sending her off to school to get her CCJAP certification, which supposedly is pretty expensive if you try to do it on your own. But they’re paying for everything, including travel, hotel, and a car.

She’s really looking forward to it.

Finishing up, I was just researching sciatica treatments, and one of them is a TENS unit. So I checked Amazon and found this one.

TENS Plus Unit

It’s only about $37 so I ordered one that will be here on Monday. Hopefully it will work. But we’ll see.

Thought for the Day: 

Long May It Wave!

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