So now I am here for a completely different thing. As mentioned, I am now retired and suddenly find that I have time to watch TV and movies -- and I have discovered what looks like a great site - see the URL under links.
I haven't actually tried it yet, so will have to add posts as I discover more, but they seem to have up to date listings, and this is especially good for Canadians who are out in the sticks with two f------- channels only. The monthly fee is low at $4.95 and there is a way to get a free membership. I would suggest visiting the site to check it out.
As I said, I will check it out myself and post further comments.
So the other day, I happened to touch the white plastic lens cover of the driver's side tail light assembly and it responded in typical Volvo fashion with plastics -- it crumbled! One of the few disadvantages to living in the sticks in Canada is a scarcity of junkyards. I actually become quite envious of people like Terry (see link) who goes to junkyards all the time. Thanks to my Rosie, there are a couple of Volvo enthusiasts in town who try to be helpful, but the cheapest they could find was $179 for a used assembly. So I bought a reproduction on EBay and will bring it to my buddy, Skip, to install. And the ebay price, even with expensive shipping from Los Angeles, is only about $70 and that's Canadian!
I had to take the car back to the States for her inspection. I knew the license plate lights were out and one of the holders is broken. My car buddy in Maine let me slide on this but I have to fix it before next year's inspection. In the meantime, I bought a mini fluorescent light at Walmart and taped it above the license plate. I almost never drive at night anyway and this little light illuminates the plate better than the original. The wires coming through the hinge at the tailgate are severed so it's a pain in the ass job, but actually will be kind of painful fun.
More later.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
More about Rosie
I think I had mentioned that Rosie got her name from the sound of her muffler system (barely passed inspection), hence, Rosie the Riveter. I kind of liked the sound but one of the potholes on Pine Street in Philly took care of that option by separating the pipe from the catalytic converter. So the whole muffler system was replaced finally. I blithely drove her all over the place for a while, and then the windows stopped working. I found the fuse panel and found that the aluminum strip was powder! Put in a new fuse. Fine. Stopped working again. Finally decided I had to do something when it got to the point that I would stop before the customs booth, insert new fuse, lower window. After customs, depending on weather, stop again, another new fuse, close the window.
Even I realized that was ridiculous, so took her to the clinic. I am extremely fortunate in that near the small village in Canada where I visit, there is the town of Sydney where my good buddy, Skip, has taken over his father's business. Used to be Thruway Muffler, but they do everything on all cars. And they are honest enough to tell you if they can't handle something. Skip checked things out and found that the air conditioner relay was bad and when he ordered a new one, Volvo sent him the wrong part. I retrieved the car in the interim while he sent for another relay, and the windows worked perfectly, as did everything else on the same circuit, so I told him to forget about the relay. Who needs air conditioning in Canada and/or Maine? Very seldom.
And then I drove over a huge weed bed near my house to get the car away from some workmen coming to finish my well, and shortly after that, I drove down the street and heard a sound like you used to get when you put a playing card on your bike wheel so it got slapped by the spokes? Whap, whap, whap. So back to Skip. Yep, very strong weeds wrapped around everything. He fixed that and told me very firmly that Rosie is not a 4-wheel drive!
So we're perfect again. For a while. And then one day, on my way back to the States, in the rain, the windshield wipers stop working. Pulled into a gas station. The mechanic comes out and suggests that I restart the car. I did. Wipers worked! But over time, they worked more and more infrequently. It got to the point that when I started her up, I would test the wipers. If they didn't work, I restarted, sometimes more than once, and that usually did the trick. But then it got to the point that I would try not to drive on rainy days. Which is silly. Back to Skip.
He checked it out and told me it was a fuse problem, which I doubted, but just drove off, without testing the wipers for activity. Well, they were off again. In the meantime, I had to reregister my car - very inexpensive in Maine for an old car - Rosie is so old I didn't even need to prove ownership, just insurance coverage. Took her for her inspection with some trepidation because of the wiper problem. Having no wipers also means having no horn, two of the prime inspection points. I was greatly relieved when the boys put her on the lift and she honked and wiped and did everything right, except no plate lights! I told the inspector that I hadn't even known there were plate lights. They sent for new bulbs, put them in, still no lights, but they passed me anyway. Now I know how to check the wiring for those and will do it someday.
Got replacement shocks for the tailgate which suddenly took to dropping on my head which I noticed after several drops. Only $35 on E-Bay. Put them in myself. But wipers still not right so - back to Skip again. This time, he did find a ground fault. That actually made sense because of the intermittent nature of the problem. He found a few other things which he also fixed. So I went to town to pick up my Rosie. Paid my bill, which was surprisingly low, and left. Started up the car - no wipers. I just had to laugh. Skip realizes I am not leaving the lot and comes out to see what's up. He was really chagrined and frustrated because they really thought it was fixed. Finally, after playing with it some more, they found that the ignition lock was iffy. I left Rosie so he could order the lock and replace it. But instead, they tried a really heavy duty lock lubricant and have not been able to reproduce the problem so I am picking her up today and we shall see.
It has been an adventure and I joined the volvoforum and have been reading about other people's trials and tribulations and confirmed that I am still very lucky with this car. I have had her now for almost three years and aside from toys and maintenance, I have spent probably $1200 on her and I think that she is well worth it. The cheapest cars/leases on the market would have cost me a lot more and would not have been as much fun. I hope to keep her at least until she is officially an antique!
Even I realized that was ridiculous, so took her to the clinic. I am extremely fortunate in that near the small village in Canada where I visit, there is the town of Sydney where my good buddy, Skip, has taken over his father's business. Used to be Thruway Muffler, but they do everything on all cars. And they are honest enough to tell you if they can't handle something. Skip checked things out and found that the air conditioner relay was bad and when he ordered a new one, Volvo sent him the wrong part. I retrieved the car in the interim while he sent for another relay, and the windows worked perfectly, as did everything else on the same circuit, so I told him to forget about the relay. Who needs air conditioning in Canada and/or Maine? Very seldom.
And then I drove over a huge weed bed near my house to get the car away from some workmen coming to finish my well, and shortly after that, I drove down the street and heard a sound like you used to get when you put a playing card on your bike wheel so it got slapped by the spokes? Whap, whap, whap. So back to Skip. Yep, very strong weeds wrapped around everything. He fixed that and told me very firmly that Rosie is not a 4-wheel drive!
So we're perfect again. For a while. And then one day, on my way back to the States, in the rain, the windshield wipers stop working. Pulled into a gas station. The mechanic comes out and suggests that I restart the car. I did. Wipers worked! But over time, they worked more and more infrequently. It got to the point that when I started her up, I would test the wipers. If they didn't work, I restarted, sometimes more than once, and that usually did the trick. But then it got to the point that I would try not to drive on rainy days. Which is silly. Back to Skip.
He checked it out and told me it was a fuse problem, which I doubted, but just drove off, without testing the wipers for activity. Well, they were off again. In the meantime, I had to reregister my car - very inexpensive in Maine for an old car - Rosie is so old I didn't even need to prove ownership, just insurance coverage. Took her for her inspection with some trepidation because of the wiper problem. Having no wipers also means having no horn, two of the prime inspection points. I was greatly relieved when the boys put her on the lift and she honked and wiped and did everything right, except no plate lights! I told the inspector that I hadn't even known there were plate lights. They sent for new bulbs, put them in, still no lights, but they passed me anyway. Now I know how to check the wiring for those and will do it someday.
Got replacement shocks for the tailgate which suddenly took to dropping on my head which I noticed after several drops. Only $35 on E-Bay. Put them in myself. But wipers still not right so - back to Skip again. This time, he did find a ground fault. That actually made sense because of the intermittent nature of the problem. He found a few other things which he also fixed. So I went to town to pick up my Rosie. Paid my bill, which was surprisingly low, and left. Started up the car - no wipers. I just had to laugh. Skip realizes I am not leaving the lot and comes out to see what's up. He was really chagrined and frustrated because they really thought it was fixed. Finally, after playing with it some more, they found that the ignition lock was iffy. I left Rosie so he could order the lock and replace it. But instead, they tried a really heavy duty lock lubricant and have not been able to reproduce the problem so I am picking her up today and we shall see.
It has been an adventure and I joined the volvoforum and have been reading about other people's trials and tribulations and confirmed that I am still very lucky with this car. I have had her now for almost three years and aside from toys and maintenance, I have spent probably $1200 on her and I think that she is well worth it. The cheapest cars/leases on the market would have cost me a lot more and would not have been as much fun. I hope to keep her at least until she is officially an antique!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Back again, finally
Well, came back to continue this and found that we are now
Google-ized. I am fairly fond of Gmail but am reserving judgment on
Google's growing ubiquitous presence.
I was a little shocked to see how long it has been since I logged on. I broke my wrist on Philadelphia's winter black ice and, although it seems like yesterday, it was over a year and a half ago.
Finally did retire in April 2006 and Rosie now makes her way between Canada and Maine quite happily. There have been a few issues which I will address later, but this is a champion car. I am so pleased to have become her latest owner.
More later.
Arrietty7
Google-ized. I am fairly fond of Gmail but am reserving judgment on
Google's growing ubiquitous presence.
I was a little shocked to see how long it has been since I logged on. I broke my wrist on Philadelphia's winter black ice and, although it seems like yesterday, it was over a year and a half ago.
Finally did retire in April 2006 and Rosie now makes her way between Canada and Maine quite happily. There have been a few issues which I will address later, but this is a champion car. I am so pleased to have become her latest owner.
More later.
Arrietty7
Friday, December 02, 2005
Nothing to do with Volvos - I do have another life
FOR MY POGO FRIENDS WHO ARE WEEPING AND WAILING AND GNASHING THEIR TEETH OVER STELLAR SWEEP.
This is a method which I have been using, starting with a big tip from Jday1938 about the right/left click. I was never a fan of minesweeper but this technique apparently is well known to minesweeper players, and even in the how to play section, Pogo mentions it. This from Pogo:
Dual Click (Option-Click on Mac): Advanced players may want to use the dual click technique. If you Right and Left-Click on a revealed number space, and you marked all the crystals that account for that number, the game will clear all of the unrevealed adjacent spaces that have already been determined to not contain crystals.
They also warn elsewhere that this could lead to inadvertent explosions so use with caution, but in hundreds of games, I only had it happen twice, and they did give us a new game option.
Getting the first crystal is up to you. Pogo says that the first click is always safe in every game. However, it is not always productive. I like to start at an outer corner and if luck is on your side, several, perhaps many tiles will clear, revealing numbers. Now it is true that if you left click on a number, the number of tiles associated with that number will be outlined and if that outline includes matching crystals and number, the other boxes could possibly be clicked. So if you have a crystal exposed and left click on the number 1 and the crystal and one other tile are highlighted, it should be safe to click on that tile. But there are overlaps and this requires too much calculation and thinking so I stick with my method which is slower, but dumber and easier.
Once you have done that first click and revealed some numbers, you might see some tiles that are singletons, completely surrounded by numbers. Right click on those tiles because they are crystals. Then you might see tiles that are ‘corners’ with three numbers around them. These are also probably crystals so right click on those tiles. Once a corner crystal is revealed, do the magic right/left simultaneous click. [Or if you have trouble coordinating, hold down the right button and then click with the left one, or hold down the shift key and use the left click. I do not do this. Will explain later.]
Be certain that your cursor is on one of the numbers surrounding the crystal and start with the one’s because they are safer, but try them all, and do the R/L click. This will eliminate tiles, revealing more numbers. If you click on all the numbers around the crystal and nothing happens, try right clicking the tile next to the crystal. It might be another crystal. Sometimes when you click on a number you get a very gratifying huge clearing of the board. Continue in this fashion, keeping an eye out for more ‘corner’ tiles to right click, until you are done.
Now, the left click. The only time I use it is on the first move or two because using this method, the only times I have not had a perfect game is when I mistakenly left clicked on something and it exploded, or when the first click of the game does not clear tiles and I have to try another corner [new game if going for badge]. So even when I have revealed all the crystals in a particular area and the remaining tiles are probably safe to left click, I don’t. I clear them by using the RL click. So that’s why I do not use the Shift + Left method.
Also, note that this does not clear tiles that you have right clicked and placed a marker on. I never leave marked tiles marked.
Also, although scan is fun, I save my power to use hints at the very end if I get stuck. Scan uses all your power and you can get three hints for the price of one scan.
So try it. You might like it. And now you see why I prefer not to tie up the Chat with this lengthy explanation.
This is a method which I have been using, starting with a big tip from Jday1938 about the right/left click. I was never a fan of minesweeper but this technique apparently is well known to minesweeper players, and even in the how to play section, Pogo mentions it. This from Pogo:
Dual Click (Option-Click on Mac): Advanced players may want to use the dual click technique. If you Right and Left-Click on a revealed number space, and you marked all the crystals that account for that number, the game will clear all of the unrevealed adjacent spaces that have already been determined to not contain crystals.
They also warn elsewhere that this could lead to inadvertent explosions so use with caution, but in hundreds of games, I only had it happen twice, and they did give us a new game option.
Getting the first crystal is up to you. Pogo says that the first click is always safe in every game. However, it is not always productive. I like to start at an outer corner and if luck is on your side, several, perhaps many tiles will clear, revealing numbers. Now it is true that if you left click on a number, the number of tiles associated with that number will be outlined and if that outline includes matching crystals and number, the other boxes could possibly be clicked. So if you have a crystal exposed and left click on the number 1 and the crystal and one other tile are highlighted, it should be safe to click on that tile. But there are overlaps and this requires too much calculation and thinking so I stick with my method which is slower, but dumber and easier.
Once you have done that first click and revealed some numbers, you might see some tiles that are singletons, completely surrounded by numbers. Right click on those tiles because they are crystals. Then you might see tiles that are ‘corners’ with three numbers around them. These are also probably crystals so right click on those tiles. Once a corner crystal is revealed, do the magic right/left simultaneous click. [Or if you have trouble coordinating, hold down the right button and then click with the left one, or hold down the shift key and use the left click. I do not do this. Will explain later.]
Be certain that your cursor is on one of the numbers surrounding the crystal and start with the one’s because they are safer, but try them all, and do the R/L click. This will eliminate tiles, revealing more numbers. If you click on all the numbers around the crystal and nothing happens, try right clicking the tile next to the crystal. It might be another crystal. Sometimes when you click on a number you get a very gratifying huge clearing of the board. Continue in this fashion, keeping an eye out for more ‘corner’ tiles to right click, until you are done.
Now, the left click. The only time I use it is on the first move or two because using this method, the only times I have not had a perfect game is when I mistakenly left clicked on something and it exploded, or when the first click of the game does not clear tiles and I have to try another corner [new game if going for badge]. So even when I have revealed all the crystals in a particular area and the remaining tiles are probably safe to left click, I don’t. I clear them by using the RL click. So that’s why I do not use the Shift + Left method.
Also, note that this does not clear tiles that you have right clicked and placed a marker on. I never leave marked tiles marked.
Also, although scan is fun, I save my power to use hints at the very end if I get stuck. Scan uses all your power and you can get three hints for the price of one scan.
So try it. You might like it. And now you see why I prefer not to tie up the Chat with this lengthy explanation.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Blogger for Word
O.K. I finally got the blogger for word program to download and now I can say that your Järn looks spiffy.
Monday, October 17, 2005
So Pops-A-Dent works . . . Sort of
Played with Rosie this weekend. My landlord joined in the fun. There was a small depression on the passenger side door panel and once we got the glue to the right temperature, the popsadent did actually raise it up so it is almost invisible. I took a before picture but not the after one yet so will post both later. For the Big Depression on the driver's side fender, however, more professional help might be needed. It doesn't interfere with driving though, and I don't want her to be too beautiful -- someone might take her!
Used quite a bit of WD40 to remove gunked on stuff like old registration sticker glue and something on the dashboard cover. I also used it on the rubber trim below the windows, on the bumpers, and on the tirewalls. Everyone was amazed at the results and I do have pictures of that which I will publish soon. Also, the front turn signal light covers were a little hazed looking and I thought I might want to replace them later and just for the heck of it, I squirted them with WD40, wiped, and Voila! No more cataracts. There are some cosmetic things I can live with and some I can't. Noticed a crack starting on the top of the dashboard cover near the defroster vent, which apparently is one of the first places this kind of stuff starts, so got some black auto goop to fill it in and maybe keep it from getting worse. Also bought her a cover to give her some shade. I read the box, it mentioned the volvo 200 series, got it home, tried it on, it was a size too small -- they must have meant sedans although they did say up to 16' but Rosie is a little over that, went back and exchanged it for XL and now Rosie is nicely covered, looking somewhat matronly, but her complexion will be better preserved.
The next thing I want to do is get out there with the Klasse all-in-one and shine her up. We were astonished at how good her paint is under the haze which incidentally came off with the WD40 treatment of the trim and bumpers.
I also had the realization that this is almost as good as owning a horse. You can talk to it. You can give it a rubdown, pet it, feed it, water it, buy toys for it -- it takes you places, it is very needy but very dependable, stable is nice but not necessary, etc. etc., and actually, in my case, it's a little cheaper. Thank the Lord for some sun finally. On coming out of my local Strauss (discount auto) store where I am practically on a first name basis with the help just because of all my browsing, I looked over and thought -- oooh, a Volvo! [one tends to do this when one is an owner]. Looks good. Went over to take a look -- it was mine! I didn't tell Rosie that I hadn't recognized her. Hurt feelings in a horse or a car are not a good idea.
Used quite a bit of WD40 to remove gunked on stuff like old registration sticker glue and something on the dashboard cover. I also used it on the rubber trim below the windows, on the bumpers, and on the tirewalls. Everyone was amazed at the results and I do have pictures of that which I will publish soon. Also, the front turn signal light covers were a little hazed looking and I thought I might want to replace them later and just for the heck of it, I squirted them with WD40, wiped, and Voila! No more cataracts. There are some cosmetic things I can live with and some I can't. Noticed a crack starting on the top of the dashboard cover near the defroster vent, which apparently is one of the first places this kind of stuff starts, so got some black auto goop to fill it in and maybe keep it from getting worse. Also bought her a cover to give her some shade. I read the box, it mentioned the volvo 200 series, got it home, tried it on, it was a size too small -- they must have meant sedans although they did say up to 16' but Rosie is a little over that, went back and exchanged it for XL and now Rosie is nicely covered, looking somewhat matronly, but her complexion will be better preserved.
The next thing I want to do is get out there with the Klasse all-in-one and shine her up. We were astonished at how good her paint is under the haze which incidentally came off with the WD40 treatment of the trim and bumpers.
I also had the realization that this is almost as good as owning a horse. You can talk to it. You can give it a rubdown, pet it, feed it, water it, buy toys for it -- it takes you places, it is very needy but very dependable, stable is nice but not necessary, etc. etc., and actually, in my case, it's a little cheaper. Thank the Lord for some sun finally. On coming out of my local Strauss (discount auto) store where I am practically on a first name basis with the help just because of all my browsing, I looked over and thought -- oooh, a Volvo! [one tends to do this when one is an owner]. Looks good. Went over to take a look -- it was mine! I didn't tell Rosie that I hadn't recognized her. Hurt feelings in a horse or a car are not a good idea.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Playing . . .
For some reason, the picture of Rosie with her side dent doesn't display the title so I am doing a brief posting to see if pushing it down on the page works. But that's her 'bad' side and she still looks pretty good. Got to play a little this past weekend but more later.
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