I don’t know what is going on with this past week but the stars must be all out of alignment or something…
It seems that there are gremlins loose and they are playing with all of our home projects, appliances and electronic equipment.
Back in college, before Spielberg, we called them Zombwits. Back then they usually occupied themselves with pencils, important papers, and socks. But with the advancement of technology, they have evolved and gained new skills.
This week we had the following happen…
Lawnmower Died…
I tried to repair but could not find parts anywhere that would work and the more I fiddled with it the more it broke. So off to Home Depot I went for a new one.
Microwave oven Died…
If you have never tried living at home without a microwave oven, especially with kids in the house, you should try it sometime. This week it died a painful death with an agonizing screeching sound, and smoke!
We did not see any in the local stores that looked good or got good reviews so we found a reasonable one with good reviews on the Internet and ordered it. 
Of course, now we have to wait for shipping!
Amplifier / Receiver for the entertainment system died…
This one I almost decided to forgo replacing but since this particular piece of equipment is the heart and sole of the entire setup, I decided it needed replacing. After all without it, nothing else worked. Fortunately we have a backup system and all the kids could plug into another TV (yet much smaller TV) to play their games and watch their DVD’s and other TV shows.
Regardless, it ended up being some one board capacitors that required the whole board to be replaced – and yup – you guessed it, either one did not exist or it cost just as much as a new unit would.
So back onto the Internet I went and after much research found one I liked. Now, I am by no means an audio junkie, so I was not about to spend literally thousands of dollars on another one. But I do know what I like and the cheapest unit, again with good reviews, that I could find was way more than I was willing to spend. So after a bit more research I found a place that had some reconditioned/refurbished ones for sale at about 1/2 the price with factory warranties! Now, being in the computer field, I know that 90% of returned/reconditioned manufacturer PC’s are not actually broken but rather its the stupid people who can’t figure out how to work them that are; so I figured that this might apply to slightly sophisticate home theater equipment as well. And so, just like with the microwave, I am waiting for Shipping!
Speaking of backups…
My Hard Drive on my work laptop died…
And I had to go all week with a loaner and about 1/2 the information and apps that I usually had. I put in a request to get a newer laptop, but it seems that my laptop is still under warranty, so no such luck. I did, however, get approved for the latest Vista image and MS 2007 version of all my apps. So this is kinda cool. But still I was on a loaner laptop for most of the week.
The CD player in my car finally died…
this has been dying a slow agonizing death for months – mostly my agony because it refused to work when it was below 50 degrees…
So while I was online looking up all the other stuff I found a HD radio with all the necessary USB, ipod and Aux connections on the front panel which not only fit my car (this was actually tougher than I thought it would be) but was a reasonable price and had decent reviews! And yes, you guessed it, I am waiting on shipping for this as well!
So now its a waiting game for all this wonderful shipping to arrive.
And what am I going to do while I listen to that big Whoooshing sound of all my money going out the window…
Easy, I just fire up the ol’ gaming machine, pull out my little bag of costume tricks, and take my aggression out on those little buggers that caused all this mischief in the first place…
Fumbled Returns 