I installed the HP840 printer on Tardis today. Now Sarah doesn't have to sneakernet her files downstairs to print, although she doesn't know it yet - the girls are back at school today, after the Easter break. Not all the schools are back, though. One local private school isn't back yet, so the girl that Jane minds until her mother (a teacher at another school) can get back is here all day.
Now to buy and fit the network sockets for Katy's room and our bedroom (I commented that I only needed one, but forgot that room). Maybe at a later date I'll put a socket downstairs too. Not anywhere near the TV though.
I've just updated the Equipment page to reflect all the recent changes.
I got the network sockets today - Connectix Net 6, from my local computer shop. Cheaper than the local computer chain store, but maybe not quite the cheapest. No matter, now I can finish off the wiring.
Jane's Mum's car has thrown the same wobbly as before, since I went down to Wales. I'll have to get this sorted, so that Sarah can practice her driving. My tame Skoda garage have an auto electrician on call. I've booked him to attend tomorrow morning. I'll be at work, but I've briefed Jane.
The electrician found that the battery is shot - again. This is Peanut's battery, that I installed in BLC 3 weeks ago, and which was fine then. Now it won't take a charge. This suggests a fault in BLC's charging circuits - but you can't troubleshoot the alternator and charge regulator, if you can't start the car. It won't start, even on jump leads, so I'll have to fit a new battery, and call him in again. He doesn't bill for investigation, only remedial work, so no cost to date.
Rushing about at work - lots of material for Channel X, all short notice. We have to send all the programmes out for language dubbing, and they seem to come back just in time for air. We then have to check them for compliance with our technical specification (none of us are linguists enough to check the quality of the translation) and then get them timed for air - a process called 'previewing" which often involves putting in breaks that we have spent time removing. The removed breaks are generally too many (and/or too close together) to be used as-is, so we edit them out, and the previewers add them back electronically (or at least the automation does, we just tell it what to do) All our purchased programmes are prepared to be aired in one part, continuous play. Commissioned shows are different - they are precut on tape, and have to air in that format.
Bought the new battery for BLC, and some other goodies, from our local cash-and-carry store. They aren't always cheaper than a supermarket, but you can get some bargains - a car battery for UKP15 plus VAT, instead of UKP35 inclusive.
Short notice overtime today, another early shift, and again it was rush material, including a censor edit for Channel X. I checked the tape for spec. on Wednesday, but today I get told "We can't allow this bit to air as-is" so I had to dub the show, and drop in an artistically blurred bit, just to meet licence rules.
My accountant claims that he will have the paperwork for tax returns ready before the month-end deadline, so that's good. I'll have to be ready to sign quickly, though, so that we can submit complete returns - That will be Monday.
The car electrician came this morning, and we found that the problem seems to be the radio - it's drawing enough current to drain the battery over a few days, and the charging system is set to charge the battery to a slightly low voltage, so the battery never gets fully charged on the car. Over time, it just gets to be too much, and only a bench charge will level things out.
We'll fit a new radio - I've asked the electrician to supply and fit, even though I could do it myself, just so that we've got comeback in case of problems.
He's going to send me a receipt for the work done, so that I can claim it back on the insurance warranty.
Dad 'phoned, earlier this week, to tell me that his electric lawnmower is on the blink, after he tried to use it during a shower of rain. So I went in this morning to take a look, and unfortunately it looks like the motor is duff - rain and electricity don't mix, although I would have hoped that a shower of rain wouldn't have done any harm. I'll have to run him down to the local factory shop to get it fixed or replaced, especially since he's got more 'old ladies' asking for garden chores or lawn mowing.
While there, I noticed that their chest freezer had been switched off, so we had to extract food that had thawed out - some of which was usable - we've just had shepherd's pie (made with rescued minced beef) and apple crumble (made with rescued apples) for lunch.
I've put Porsche into store, with some sadness, although I may be able to recycle him as something useful - 486DX4/100's with 24MB of memory and 810 MB hard disks aren't really useful in today's M$ world.
A quiet day - I've just got instructions to pump up the tyres on an outgrown bike, so that we can check for leaks, before passing it on to our friends for their use.