i can't feel you there

My iPod has been working OK for a while, but now it's started a new game - locking up when I try to sync it with iTunes. Fortunately I can use the power cable to keep it powered, but that means I can't load up the new Gobeski/Wallace Report podcast.

I've been spending some time cleaning up the kitchen. The plume of ash got tiny carbon flecks everywhere, so I now have to clean every surface. I did get the stove cleaned up nice, and now I'm enjoying some frozen pizza. I also bought a fire extinguisher to curtail future incidents.

I blew some money this weekend and some of it was on a Halo 3 wireless headset. Note this in no way implies my endorsement of the game. Another $20 got me a receiver for the computer, so I can now use Skype with it as well. Adam and I tried that for a little bit, and now that Skype usage is starting to proliferate amongst our circle of friends a multi-way podcast may appear in the future. We have to commission a technical feasibility study first though.

Sunday night again, so pulling down the next Top Gear. Someone posted a lower resolution one so I should be able to get that before it gets stupid late and let the full size one run overnight.

fire, brb (part II)

I figured out the mysterious source of the fire. It was a damned spatula. I had used it the previous day to scrape some peanut butter out of the jar and then tossed it in the sink. Then when I put the pot in the sink the next day to fill it with water, the peanut buttery spatula stuck on the bottom.

That would explain why the smoke smelled like nasty burnt plastic.

fire, brb

I accidentally started a fire today while trying to boil water. I still have no idea how it started. My initial theory was that a towel was caught under the pot I was heating, but whatever the hell I pried off the stove was more white and rubbery. So I don't know what the hell it was. The more pressing concern after getting the fire out was the fact that the entire apartment had filled with smoke. And yet didn't set off my smoke alarm, come to think of it. I should probably check up on that.

I opened up all the windows, got the fans going and drafted my ionizer to clear the air, and I went out. I didn't have anywhere to go, so I went to Fred Meyer, where they had copies of The Orange Box which I have been looking for but had not been able to find. So when I got back I cleaned up some of the mess and then played through Portal. It's an interesting game. I then started HL2: Episode 2, but I was too used to playing with the portal gun to deal with it.

there's beauty in the breakdown

Today was an adventure day, as much as I didn't want it to be. The company picnic was today. I figured I would hit Best Buy quick to see if the new 5.75G iPods were in and then head straight over to the picnic for lunch.

However, when I came out of Best Buy the Malibu wouldn't start. At all. It was totally dead.

I walked to the nearby gas stations but they were useless, so I had to call a tow truck. It eventually showed up and the guy broke out a battery booster, and after two attempts we got the engine running. However, when he removed the booster the engine died again. Tow Truck Guy declared the alternator broken, so I had him load the Malibu up onto his truck in the middle of the parking lot, causing a bit of commotion.

Tow Truck Guy kindly hauls my sorry ass over to Sears (saw a Ferrari 360 on the way) and dumps me in their repair bay, effectively allowing me to jump the line. After I settle with Tow Truck Guy, Sears Guy runs some more thorough tests and said it was the battery that was bad after all.

I went to pass the time in the waiting room, where a very static-y TV was showing U-O whoop on U-M, a game I didn't think I was going to catch any of. I also read an interesting article in one of the magazines about the roots of GM racing. I had a bag of salty stuff from the vending machine, which combined with the emergency Mt. Dew I had in the car amounted to everything I'd eaten so far today.

At one point Sears Guy came back and said they'd discovered my serpentine belt was badly cracked. I told them the go ahead and fix it and then, since I'd never heard of the damn thing, checked to make sure it wasn't in the same category as headlight fluid. Turns out it does exist, so good catch, Sears Guy.

I wasn't the only one in automotive purgatory. Another guy kept wandering in and out. After he wandered back in I asked him "So what are you in for?" So I talked with him a little bit. Mostly about how we wanted U-M to lose. Same with some of the other Sears Guys who were checking the score. One of them was once a Buckeye, so we were united by our common enemy. I thought the score was 12-7, but when I went to squint at it it looked more like 39-7. At that point the TV says "If you're wondering what the numbers at the top of the screen are, they are 39 and 7." Uncanny.

Eventually the Malibu is repaired and I am freed from automotive purgatory. I pull out of the Sears center and punch in the coordinates for the picnic in my GPS. Of course, following GPS to an unknown location is a tricky thing and I am nearly T-boned en route, but I eventually show up to the park around 4:30. I wander around for a little bit before finding a guy I know from work, who says the picnic has been over for half an hour. He then gives me a short tour, pointing where the tables of ribs and the raffle prizes were, and then shows me where the food was, which is now reduced to trays of baked beans.

So I got hosed. And now I have to spend all Monday explaining why I skipped the picnic.

And no, the new iPods aren't in yet. Lame.