Look, I am not complaining here, just talking (well, sort of talking). I am leaving this link here just in case anyone is really interested. I just don't feel like doing a whole bunch of research on the history of the toilet. When I do write about things here I always try to make sure my facts are correct. With the day as it is, lets just agree (for now) the toilet in it's present state has been around for a heck of a long time.
Remember the "Godfather' When Michael was getting ready to shoot the police captain and Salotzo? He was in a bathroom reaching behind the pull chain box for the gun Clemenza had planted there. When the guys were discussing that particular place one of them said, "It's perfect for us, it's got one of those old fashioned toilets." And he added, "You know, the kind with the pull chain."
OK then, if that movie which was taking place around 1948 had "an old fashioned" toilet, I would guess we have a "modern" one. What the heck have the inventors been wasting their time on recently, cell phones? computers? 3-D televisions? HEY, how about helping us out, spend a little time on the lowly toilet.
I had my monthly doctors appointment this morning. I'm sorry if I have mentioned this before, please hang in there if I have. Every month, every four weeks I need to go see my doc and get a prescription. The med is very expensive which is why the insurance company will only pay for a month at a time. Heaven forbid something happen to me and I have an extra couple months of the stuff around. The appointment was at 8:40 this morning.
The last things I did before leaving the house this morning. I shut down the lap top computer, I left a pee, I made sure the coffee pot was off and the house alarm was on. I got through the appointment and stopped at the local Safeway store on the way home. Grapes by the way are selling for .99 a pound, a good price. I got back home around 10:15.
The first things I did when I walked back in the house was turn off the alarm, turn on the lap top and go to hang up my jacket. The toilet was making that "running" sound. I'll check that in a minute. The lap top was not starting up, it was still shutting down from hours before. I had unplugged it so at least it was not wasting electricity but running on battery.
My first task was the toilet. Wouldn't you think that with all the really smart people on this planet, someone, somewhere could have come up with a new and better system? What's with the lousy "paperclip" on a chain and a crappy (no pun intended) rubber flapper. The chain had come undone and part of it was underneath the flapper letting water run out. In two hours I probably wasted enough water to take ten showers. Using all of my fix-it know how and manual capabilities I reached into the cold water, reattached the chain and crimped the clip, ta da, fixed toilet. The next time it does this I guess it'll be time to find a safety pin.
I should mention now that I do happen to have a couple of partial "toilet fix-it kits" somewhere in the garage. Maybe one of those has a clip, maybe another has a flapper? I'll get around to checking later today.
With toilet fixed it was time to look at the lap top.
I did a manual shut down and restart which only took between fifteen and twenty minutes. Once the computer does get up and running it is pretty fast. I have no idea why it takes so darn long to start-up and shut down. I have several times in the past, as well as today, tried to find a fix. The majority of the so called answers relate to the programs that run at start up. I guess lots of these sort of sneak in there and slow things down tremendously. The "book" tell you to disable many of them. The book" tell you that you don't need many of them. The "book" tells you how to rid yourself of them. The "book" does not really tell you which ones to get rid of.
I started at one of the highly recommended technology web sites. This site has thousands of downloads, some free, some not. Each download has many reviews and suggestions for use. I picked out a couple I thought would help my problem. There were several steps to follow, four or five, which I did. Just before I was done a prompt popped up on my screen,I am paraphrasing: Something went wrong and this ain't going to work. I tried another one, at least this one downloaded and installed. I followed all the instructions to the letter. The end result was a cleaning of a few thousand "problems." I was happy.
The "free" download that took care of all of those problems now told me I had more. For only $39.95 I could have a better program. We have three computers here, if this one really 'breaks" I'll take it in while using another. I decided not to spend money when I can't actually see and touch what I'm getting.
I spent a little over three hours "fixing" all those problems. When I finally finished I saved five minutes on the next start up. I figure I'll make up for those three hours the sixty second time I start up the computer.
What the Hell happened to my wireless icon? I sure don't think I did anything that would have made it decide to run away and hide but that's what it did. Over the years I have learned this is the way things are. For every action on a computer there is a reaction. I guess I fixed something and now need to fix something else. I was able to easily find a fix and now have the icon back next to the clock. Maybe all this has something to do with Daylight Savings Time?
Like I said at the beginning, I'm not really complaining. Compared to many other things going on in the world a broken toilet and a quirky computer are pretty minor issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment