Safari 4 first impressions

It seems faster
It works with the Palm internal websites
Do not get the fascination with the whole Cover Flow thing – seems like eye candy with minimal value added.
Got it working with 1Password – which by the way is the most awesomest app ever – via the latest beta build.

The tabs on top are disorienting as hell – makes me nauseous to use them. Thank god for this note describing how to get back to the “normal” tab view

Going to use if for a week or so and see how it goes. I have Firefox customized with probably way too many add-ons. Let see which ones I miss.

The Big Picture

If you are not familiar with the Boston Globe’s Big Picture you should check it out. Each “episode” consists of 20-40 large pictures – some of which are stunning.

Needless to say, the first picture in the recent Carnival episode was, ummm, eye catching.

Deserted Island Discs

It is time to update my Deserted Island Discs (DIDs).
This is a list of the albums you NEED to have with you if you were stranded on a deserted island.

3 Rules:
1) You can not pick a Greatest Hits disc
2) Can only have 10 discs
3) There is no number 3

Did a pass through iTunes and came up with this as my starting list (in alphabetical order). This is to give you a sense of scope of music I am working from

- A Fine Frenzy – One Cell in the Sea
- AC/DC – Back in Black
- Against Me – New Wave
- Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill
- Anna Nalick – Wreck of the Day
- Annie Lennox – Diva
- Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s I’m Not
- Bad Company – Bad Company
- Beatles – Revolver
- Boston – Boston
- Bowling for Soup – A Hangover You Don’t Deserve
- Bruce Springsteen – The Rising
- Chalets – Check In
- Cheap Trick – At Budokan
- Chumbawamba – Tubthumper
- Death Cab For Cutie – Plans
- Def Leppard – Pyromania
- Depeche Mode – Violator
- Dixie Chicks – Home
- Eagles – Hotel California
- Fleetwod Mac – Rumors
- Foo Fighters – Echo, Silence, Patience, & Grace
- Foo Fighters – In Your Honor
- Good Charlotte – The Yound and The Restless
- Gorillaz – Demon Days
- Green Day – American Idiot
- Matchbox Twenty – Yourself or Someone Like You
- Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mining
- Pink Floyd – The Wall
- Police – Sychronicity
- Queen – Night at the Opera
- Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
- Rush – Permanent Waves
- Sheryl Crow – C’mon, C’mon
- Snow Patrol – Eyes Open
- Spoon – Gimme Fiction
- Sting – Brand New Day
- Styx – The Grand Illusion
- Talking Heads – Speaking In Tounges
- The Cat Empire – The Cat Empire EP
- The Corrs – In Blue
- The Swell Season – The Swell Season
- Tool – 10,000 Days
- U2 – Joshua Tree
- White Stripes – Icky Thump
- Yellowcard – Lights and Sounds

And my final 10
(drumroll please)
- The Beatles – Revolver
- Boston – Boston
- Bruce Springsteen – The Rising
- The Eagles – Hotel California
- The Foo Fighters – Echo, Silence, Patience, & Grace
- Green Day – American Idiot
- Pink Floyd – The Wall
- The Police – Sychronicity
- Queen – Night at the Opera
- Rush – Permanent Waves
- U2 – Joshua Tree

Ok, I cheated. It is a Bakers 10. I notice that most of these albums are from my younger days. I think that is a result of the positive memories the music on these albums has.

So what is are your DIDs? Which would you add/subtract from my list?

The Plug

aka – Lessons in Home Repair.

First – did you know there is a reset button on the bottom of your garbage disposal? Did you also know there is a hole/slot that you can use to manually turn the motor?
Several weeks ago the garbage disposal stopped working. It would make the motor noise but would not turn the blades. Hitting the reset pin did nothing to resolve the issue. Was talking to a neighbor and he mentioned the hole/slot that you can use to manually turn the motor. Lo and behold I had the correct torx screw driver to fit in the hole/slot. I rotated the motor by hand in the reverse direction and unstuck whatever was jamming the works.
Disposal back to grinding things and all is well in the world

Jump forward to last weekend. Disposal stops grinding the leftovers. Tried the steps outlined above and no joy. Figure it must be time to replace the disposal. After a quick call to my handyman hotline (aka my dad) I learn that all I need to do is disconnect the hoses (inflow from dishwasher and outflow to the sewer) connected to the disposal and rotate the disposal counter-clockwise to release it from the mechanism that holds it in place.
Making note of the make and model of the disposal I head off to Lowes. In no time flat, and $90, I have a new disposal that is ready to be installed into the place it does it’s magic.

Steps to install seem pretty straightforward – no need to RTFM (read the fracking manual). [you see where this is going, don't you] Lift and rotate to hang it from the mechanism that holds it underneath the sink. Connect the plug with a couple of wire nuts. Hook up the two hoses. Flip the switch and hear the sweet sound of a 1/2 hp motor doing it best to make leftovers into little bits.

Jump forward to Tuesday morning. Woke up to some water on the counter next to the sink. Figured it had to do with the fact I ran the dishwasher last night. Easy cleanup and started thinking what could be the problem.

Jump forward to Friday morning. Woke up to lots of water on the counter. And on the floor. And in the lower cabinet. Definitely has something to do with the dishwasher and pretty sure it has something to do with the disposal because that is the only thing that has changed. But not sure how the pieces fit together – or in this case, don’t fit together.

Time to call my handyman hotline – who by the way is in Norway and was driving back from a week of skiing in a storm. Figured it was best to call back when he reaches his destination.

Called my handyman hotline back and quickly described the going-ons. His first question to me – “did you remove the plug?”. Me: “what plug?”

Seems not everyone that installs a disposal has a dishwasher so not everyone has a hose connected to the top opening. For those unfortunate folks they plug the opening so that they don’t have water, etc. spilling out under their sink. Makes sense.
But see, I have a dishwasher, so I have a hose that connects to the to opening. And when the dishwasher runs it tries to expel the excess water into this little opening – the opening that is plugged. AAAAAHHHHH – Lightbulb moment.

So, remove the top hose. Insert screwdriver. Hit with hammer. Hear a satisfying pop. Reach into the disposal and remove plastic plug.

Lessons learned
1. My handyman hotline is getting old and left out critical data. Yep that must be it, because the fact that I did not RTFM is not my fault. He should have told me about the plug. Yep, that is it. Not my fault. Nope. No way.