Christmas has come and gone….

Tonight was the official Bryant Christmas celebration. I did my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, and as soon as I brought my packages home, I promptly forgot who was getting what. So I didn’t bother wrapping them, and I ended up just giving them out at random. But everyone was happy, and I learned a valuable lesson (never do my shopping that far out early again). But all my Blu-Rays and gift cards made it to recipients. And I even gave away my spare present (one of my Christmas shopping traditions, is to buy for everyone on my list, and then shop for one person extra, in case someone extra shows up so they don’t have to be left out).

Christmas has come. And now it’s gone. Good food was had, and a good time was had too. And yes, Pizza is a quite appropriate holiday meal. Though this will be all the celebrating I’ll be doing this season since I have to work New Years’ Eve and New Years’ Day. Perhaps I shouldn’t have told my boss that I quit drinking for years ago….

Finished….

Day 2 of 3 day Christmas break is over. And today, I’ve finished rebuilding my laptop. Tomorrow, we go out to Karen’s for the actual Christmas gathering. Though I’ve already given my brother his Christmas present. He got the Harry Potter Box Set on Blu-Ray….

Feeling much better now….

The cold medication has kicked in. I feel much better now. Happy Holidays….

Sorry I’m late…

I hope you’ve all had a merry Christmas. Normally, on Christmas Eve, there’s the Big Bryant Family Reunion in Olalla. I missed it this year as I had to work. The ookiness that I’ve been fighting for the past two weeks finally became a full-blown cold. So I spent the day at home, self medicating with all manner of hot beverages. Finally today, I got out of the house and got to Wally World for some cold medicaiton. I went for the über-strength severe formula. If nothing else, I will get my sleep…

Our actual Christmas celebration will take place tomorrow. Due to transportation issues (Dad is not yet cleared to drive). So My Christmas will be a couple of days late.

And hopefully, I’ll feel better…..

Split weekend….

Normally I get two days off in a row. But not this week. I had to take a sick day on Sunday, and so tomorrow, I’m coming in as a make-up day (I have enough paid time off to cover the shift I missed, but I don’t want to use it yet). So that made today my last day off before Christmas. Didn’t really do much. I did finish installing all of my Steam games on my laptop, and I set up my new TV tuner….

Both my computers are equal now

Today, I set up my laptop’s TV Tuner. Now there is nothing that my tower can do that my laptop can’t do. Though since my tower has twice the hard drive space, and there are a couple of programs that are activated on my tower than my laptop. But I can now watch TV and Blu-Rays on both devices.

Now I just have to remember to keep both devices current…

Sometimes, nothing is best..

Second day of my weekend today. Absolutely no errands were run today.Or yesterday. Sometimes the most important thing to do is nothing at all...

Now, with Christmas coming up, yes, things are going to get really busy, especially at work, so this is the time to do nothing. While I still can. It is also the only way I can get a day off in without spending 3 figures at Worst Buy (especially after you've already decided that your Christmas shopping is done). Next year, I'll go back to procrastinating to the very last minute. It'll be cheaper that way. No chances to go back and get something else....

Monday Night.

Due to a shift in my schedule, I’m off tonight. Which means watching Monday Night Football. Here’s to Tom Brady getting humiliated. Maybe someone can give him an atomic wedgie.

Sometimes, it’s not the cutting edge….

There are times when you have to be at the absolute bleeding edge. Then there are times when it is best to stay one step (or more) behind. Like when a new version of Windows comes out. Like my laptop TV tuner.

I ordered from Newegg a  Hauppauge 1595 WinTV-dualHD Dual Tuner USB. I didn’t think much of it since I have a pci-e TV Tuner in my tower that also manufactured by Hauppauge. The problem is that the tuner stick I ordered doesn’t have an analog tuner, which is what I need since I use a cable box. And it says so right on the device’s web page. But I didn’t bother looking, I just ordered. Oh well. Lesson learned. I’ve already ordered the right TV tuner, and I made sure to get the right one.

BTW, I ordered this one.

Back in the saddle.

Ordered my replacement quickrelease skewer on Monday from Ebay. I was told that it wouldn’t be till next Monday that I recieved it. It arrived today. And I just installed it. While I had both tires off (I had to take them both off to fit my bike into my sister’s car Sunday night), went ahead and checked the tire pressure. And reinflated them both. Then I installed the wheels. The tricky part was adjusting the brakes and the rear deraileur (I have disk brakes). But about 20 minutes with my bike multi-tool, and a screwdriver and everything is now ready to go.

Weather permitting, I will be riding in to work tomorrow…

Unhorsed…

That’s what I feel like. Sunday night, I got off work and rode the bike to the transit center to take the bus. Since the ride to the transit center is mostly uphill, I kept it in a low gear. When the grade lessened, and I shifted to a higher gear, I felt it jump at least two gears. I was able to manipulate the shifter, and got it into the right gear, and thought nothing more. Maybe I just need to tune it up on my days off.

Nope. It was worse. When I got to the transit center & dismounted (Soundtransit rules dictate that one must walk one’s bike at the transit center), my rear wheel just about came off. Both of my bicycle tires are quick-release, and my rear quick release skewer went missing. It was only my weight on the rear axle that was keeping the wheel on. Needless to say, I didn’t ride the bike anymore that night (got a ride from my younger sister that night). Got the bike home, and after a quick email exchange with the manufacturer got me the size of the skewer, and I’ve ordered a new skewer. Though it won’t arrive until next Monday.

For those of you keeping score, I have a Vilano Duece 650b. And the customer service at Vilano Bikes rocks…

Another day, another wipe…

This time, it’s the laptop. I’m not trying anything new. It’s still going to run the current version du jour of Windows 10 (currently Fall Creators update). The reason why I’m doing this is I want my account name to be the same across my computers (it’s easier for me to back-up and restore my files). I’m also applying what I’ve learned from installing software in my tower (what to install, what not to).

I’ve also purchased a USB TV tuner for it. So now, my laptop will be capable of doing anything that my tower can do. My tuner does come with an antenna, and I’ve ordered a splitter and a length of coax cable so I can hook it up to the box…