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.

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.

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.

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.

left front dent with missing trim

 

The Adventure Continues . . .

So then my boss had to express a few qualms about doing business with friends, family or coworkers. I reassured him that I understood and agreed with him, but I thought we could handle it. I did have to promise not to lose any of his computer data if Rosie did something bad.

He brought her in for me to see and test drive. He unlocked the car, I sat in the driver's seat, turned her on, and never even did a test drive. I have never gotten into a vehicle and felt so immediately comfortable and at home. After pointing out some minor problems, he suggested that I think about it overnight -- and it was not really a suggestion, so I told him I would. For the first time in a long time I could not wait to get to work the next day. I was tempted to go to the bank and get 10 $100 bills so I could peel them off and pay cash, but I resisted. The result is that my test drive was AFTER the sale, transfer of titles, changing of plates, etc. I drove her home and that is when I named her. The muffler passed inspection but is a little noisy, hence Rosie [the Riveter]. We had a lovely ride home. And then I started noticing things. Nothing major mechanically. I am only the third owner and was lucky enough to get all manuals, maintenance records, tool kits, etc. (did I mention that my boss, the P(revious) O(wner) is a little compulsive? But there were other things.

I have since found out that these are more or less normal for a 15-year-old Volvo - cracks and missing chunks in the plastic door pockets and center console [fortunately the dashboard is in GREAT condition, which I understand is usually not the case.] and the housing over the dome light was missing. Then I checked around in the glove box and the door pockets and the PO had compulsively saved every little piece that broke off! There is a small slice in the leather in the back, not on the seat but over the rear wheel well housing. Lots of dog hairs. I did have a mild allergic reaction on the way home, but carpet cleaner and a brush took care of the worst of it. A good vacuum job is next.

It has been raining in Philly now for the last seven days and I do not have a garage to work in. My sister in Dallas (Lexus SUV hybrid -- Hyacinth with a GPS named Chickie (another long impolite story) -- what a doll! We took our last trip to Canada on 1/2 to 2/3 the usual amount of gas) wanted to know if I was drowning but we're all just getting a little moldy! and I am just dying to get a sunny day to work on Rosie.

Aside from the slightly noisy muffler, which actually sounds just like all the other 240s in town that I have met, the car is in excellent mechanical condition. The tires have only 1500 miles on them, the battery is about three years old. My boss was astounded that I didn't have my mechanic check it out before buying but I just knew it was good and also figured if worst came to worst, I could part her out. The gas tank lid was bent out of alignment and didn't close quite all the way, but when I got home from work, I found that my landlord had fixed it for me. You can't tell it was ever bad. [He is an 82-year-old doll and he and his cronies are having such fun with this car.] And thanks to the volvoforum http://volvoforums.com I know where the buttons are to reset the service light. There is one burned out bulb - not a major one - and there are two small dents and the one biggish shallow one on the left side. See picture.

More later.

Rosie in her new home.

 

In the beginning, there was . . .

I am new at this. I had heard about blogging but did not appreciate how much fun it could be until I encountered Terry's Revolvo blog -- http://revolvoblog.blogspot.com

So my saga begins. After having lived in big cities [NY & Philly] for over 30 years, I had not needed to own a car since my beloved, I wish I had kept him, black 1965 VW Beetle, $2500. Now I am contemplating retirement to Maine and Canada [where I have a house on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia - about which more later] and have known for some time that I really will need a car. Of course, I can't afford any of the things that I thought I wanted, new or used and I just decided to wait awhile.

Then my boss got a message from the shop that his car was ready for pickup. I passed this on to him and he said oh yes, the dog car. Well, we all knew about this car and some of the problems he had had with it. Then he mentioned that he was thinking of selling it. So I had to ask what it was and how much he was thinking of asking. That's when I found out that it is a 1990 Volvo 240DL wagon, blue, 125,000 miles, and he was thinking around $1,000. So I said something cool like oh, that sounds good. Meanwhile, all kinds of light bulbs are going off in my head.

I had to think long and hard about this, so after about 15 minutes on line and finding that these cars were selling at anywhere from $900 to $3500, and factoring in that my boss is obsessive compulsive about keeping things nice, I had $1000 in my bank account, it was a station wagon, and it was a VOLVO! I popped into his office and said I'll take it. What? The car! Oh! Okay.

To be continued . . .