A bit under the weather

[greatbear]

Jeff came home early Thursday for a doctor's visit, the last few days he's been having mild flu-like symptoms. We made a trip together to the doc and tests seem to indicate it is viral in nature, so it is mostly a rest and wait it out situation. I went with him to see if there was anything I could help with at home, and to get an idea what it was, since chances are good I would get it too. I've been battling a form of exhaustion for a few days too, I can only do so much before I need to take a nap. Problem is, I sleep and nap during the day and by night time my body clock on its graveyard shift time zone keeps me awake. So, when Jeff along with By-Tor and the Snow Dog head to bed, I head into my little lab and fix stuff. This time I tackled my failing Dell 30" display. After a half hour of thermal testing the display lamp driver board I narrowed the trouble to what seemed like bad soldering in a 1 square inch section of the board. There is about three dozen components about the size of sesame seeds in that space, and out came the tiny iron and other tools I have for such work, including the 3.5-90x stereoscopic microscope I got for such things. After more thermal stress testing after the repair with good luck, I threw it back together and am now using it while creating this entry. I hope it holds out, I absolutely love this display, but I relegated it to lab bench PC duties. The irony here is the particular computer and display is connected to the aforementioned microscope. I could've had a nice panoramic view of the board on the display it it weren't the one in pieces under the scope!

Our latest pup, Snickles, aka By-Tor mentioned above, had his first day of doggie school this evening. He had fun, and seemed to react well. He's finally growing out of his puppy-ish stages and has become a very loyal companion for the two of us. He needs to learn some discipline for his (and our) sake, and I think with some "official" training he will be a model pooch. Kodi did well in his schooling about 7 years ago, and I am hoping for the same results with Da Snick.

Jeff is very close to buying a new vehicle. His '00 Chevy S-10 has been decent for these fourteen years, but it's getting long in the tooth at over 185,000 miles, and given the fact that I have two trucks as it is, he's in the market for a wagon/small SUV sort of ride that gets decent mileage, can haul stuff as well as people and will be reliable. So far he's narrowed it down to the new Jeep Cherokee, the Subaru Outback, and the Subie Forester. Friday we are going to kick tires and take test drives. Hopefully this will be with as few hassles as possible. I had a decent time with my last vehicle purchase once the dealer was finally able to get the model I had settled on to the lot.

I'm happy to see some more old, familiar faces showing back up here in LJ-Land. The more I sit here and take the time for a "real" entry as opposed to a handful of words scooped up and thrown at Facebook, the better I feel about "socializing" online. I see usernames in my friends list of people who have cast off this mortal coil and are no longer with us. Those names seem like pictures hanging on a wall, and their journals acting as memorials as well as places to visit and remember the days gone by. None of the other popular "social media" behemoths have this. Nor do they have the control or accessibility of everyone's posts like LJ does. I think people are feeling this too, and while making entries here is a bit more work, it definitely pays us back in the depth of contact and interaction. Let's keep up the good work.

Well, the display has been performing like new as I've been writing this between other tasks and not flashing and shutting down like it had begun to do several months back. I wasn't about the scrap a thousand dollar display. These things are supposed to come with 3 year warranties, but I bought this from Newegg, and, disappointingly, it showed no warranty from Dell when I started the process. I've since reconsidered a lot of purchases from there, a shame, since I've generally had good luck over these many years. I hope my repair lasts until it somehow becomes obsolete, which I don't see happening for at least another ten years or more.

Cheers, everyone!

Comments

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

I hope this viral thing is short-lived for Jeff, and you avoid it!

I think it's very cool that you have a binoc scope at home for electronic work. Very cool. I have always wanted to collect vintage microscopes, but 1) they are friggin expensive! and 2) I have no idea where I would put them!

For Jeff's car, I would vote for the Forester. I'm on my second one and throughly love the car. It's great for hauling things. That being said, I do like the Outback. I don't think it has the same cargo space, but I do like the way it looks and I think it's a bit zippier.

I agree with you on the LJ versus other social media commentary. I too, am glad that folks are coming back here.

[geometrician.livejournal.com]

I am astounded that you hauled your display into your shop, dissected it, and... fixed it. This is a set of skills--and determination, motivation, and wherewithal--that I think we all should have. I do not.

I hope Jeff feels better quickly. Have a great weekend!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I hope the virus Jeff and you have is nothing serious. It's been really fun signing on to LJ and reading posts from longtime friends. Since they are making the effort to write, I am most definitely making the effort to read and comment. It's invigorating!

Jeff is in uncharted territory compared to me. I've never kept a vehicle longer than six years and have kept only one vehicle long enough to pay it off. Of course, I'm not a fixer, nor do I have anyone close by to give me advice.

Feel better, my friend!

[jrjarrett.livejournal.com]

If you're thinking Subaru, a friend of mine just got a CrossTrek. It's very nice, and would be an economical addition to the fleet!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Can't comment on vehicles since I drive an almost 11YO Mazda P5 myself, and I'll have had it 3 years this January, having bought it near the end of January of '12. :-)

Still and all, living where rust forgot, it still looks fantastic for its age, despite needing a good wax job etc.

Speaking of electronic repairs, I hope to do some service work on my reel to reel deck, a TEAC 4300SX deck from around 1977 soon, a new capstan belt if it needs it and get it dusted out inside and perhaps get it electronically adjusted bias wise before too long.

But first things are first right now, buy that house/condo and then look into it.

I did buy some electronic tools a pair of wire snippers and the pliers at the Homo Depot recently for such things like fixing my AC in the car so it works in all fan speeds. I need to set aside a day and squeeze the contacts tighter and get some dialectic grease to shoot inside and hope it works better, for a while anyway. I should replace the fan speed resistor pack too as it looks to be out of spec.

Hope you and Jeff don't get too sick and that this virus abates soon.