Smart Chess moves - part II

So, I've got one to top the "leaving the chess board on top of the car and driving off" escapade.   I taught the Chess merit badge to the scouts last night, and left the chess board on the passenger seat of the car.  Tonight, I offered to take Bridget out to dinner at Chipotle, and backed out my car so that she could close the garage door and noticed that the chess set was still in the car (The battery in my garage door opener has been dead for months, so I can't use it).  Not wanting to have chess pieces all over the car if the set spilled, I shoved it in the garage as the door was closing, thinking "this is a bad idea".

Well, I didn't lose any chess pieces in the car.  When we got back from Chipotle, I pulled the car in the garage... and ran over the chess set.  Strangely enough, it didn't break... it scattered all over the garage, but didn't break.  After searching diligently, I'm pleased to report that I am now only missing one black pawn... and maybe a white backgammon marker/checker.  I say "maybe" because I have 16 black "checkers" and 15 white.... 15 is the number needed for backgammon, 12  for checkers, so I'm not sure what game 16 is needed for.  I may also be missing a couple of dice, but don't know what I had to begin with.

In even better news,  I've fixed the garage door.  It's had issues going up all the way or down all the way during cold months... started at the end of last winter, but got better during the summer.  It's required a little manual assistance to complete the task.  Readjusting the springs helped a bit, but not quite enough.  Tightening the loose bolts helped a bit too, but again not quite enough.  Tonight, I figured out where the pressure sensor's are for the garage door and adjusted.  Up... no problem; down... no problem.

Disney - Chim Chim Cheroo, Good Luck Will Rub Off..

Being at Disney World with Susie was amazing. The only downside is that we're getting older and it takes us longer in the morning to get to the park (or is that afternoon...) and we're not always staying until the park closes down. We took five days to get through EPCOT, and we still didn't do it all (although we did do some things multiple times).

Susie seems to have amazing luck at restaurants. One night she wanted to eat at the new Mexico restaurant (the one overlooking the lagoon). They had no reservations available, and said to check back for standby seating about a half hour before we wanted to eat. We checked in about 8:20 pm and were told that it would be a 90 minute wait (which I found interesting, because my time guide said that the park closed at 9 pm). Evidently the resort guests had an extra magic hours opportunity and some of the park rides were open until 11 pm. Although we couldn't ride after 9, we could still spend our money. At about 8:50 our beeper went off and we were ushered to a table overlooking the lagoon. We ordered our appetizer and had an unobstructed view to the 9pm fireworks show - not to mention a great meal.

Another night, after the Mickey Dolenz concert, we wandered into Italy to try the new Italian Restaurant located at the far end of the Italy pavilion. There was a line running from a stand outside of the restaurant to a point where the staff came out and cut it off, as they couldn't accomodate all those waiting for a table. (As I look back, I think it might have been a line for an outdoor table). We went into the restaurant to see if, in light of the long line outside, there was any chance of a late reservation for two. We were told that they had an available table NOW. WONDERFUL pizza, great appetizer. The "individual size" pizza would definitely feed two, especially if an appetizer was ordered - and we each had an individual pizza (not knowing better); Susie the white cheese and artichoke; me the tomatoe and mushroom.

A dinner at Teppan Edo went from a lost reservation (we were not on their list, but I had the reservation number - the only time I think I've ever bothered to keep that number handy), to a great meal. When the hostess found the reservation by number, it was handled very smoothly, as if the reservation had never been lost in the first place.

And the last night we went back to the Magic Kingdom for a final look - as we're wandering out of the park the Electric Parade starts up and we end up with front row seats... the best view of the parade ever.

And yes, I was past due for a vacation. I ended up on two conference calls during the course of the 11 days, and was catching up on some security problems the first couple of nights. The thought even crossed my mind at the first Peter Noone concert that he looked an awful lot like my boss - only older.

I got back home worn out. My legs didn't want to move after three hours on the flight home, and I slept all afternoon (guess I'll be up half the night tonight).

Best Gyro in Colorado

There's a NY Deli and Gyro shop (strange combination) just west of the Wendy's by Papa John's on 120th Ave in Thornton. I've been wanting to try their Gyro out since they opened. Finally made it tonight. I'll be going back... probably have them leave the lettuce off. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but definitely the best gyro I've had in Colorado and a very close competitor for the all around Best Gyro.

Best Gyro title still goes to Greek Souvlaki in Salt Lake. I LOVE their red sauce.

Worst Chess Move EVER

So the rescue trip to get Susie's sewing machine to Carolyn started with a stop at a flea market that Susie likes to visit when we're driving through that town. I humor her, because 1)I'm kind of fond of her and 2)there really isn't a #2 - I'm really not that fond of flea markets. But to make the best of the situation, I wander around looking for SOMETHING - a butter dish or interesting LP or SOMETHING and try to give Susie enough time that she's not being rushed. So I ACTUALLY found SOMETHING. There was this chess set... not that I don't have a chess set, but this was one of those with a glass board with half the squares etched and the other half clear and half the pieces clear and the other half translucent. (I'm not sure which you'd call "white" - the clear pieces or the translucent pieces, but I'm sure that I could figure that out. Complete with the original box and at a really affordable price.

So what's the bad move? The car was filled with spare tire, two suitcases, sewing machine, snacks, crocheting... and just needed a little rearranging to get our purchases in (some old bottles that Susie found, yet another cast iron pan - which was well seasoned - and my chess set). So while rearranging, I set the chess set on the top of the car... where it remained. I checked back at the flea market on my way home. They confirmed that they saw it on the car as I was pulling out of the lot and tried to stop me from driving off, but weren't fast enough.

Dangerous... Don't do this... Call a professional...

That's what the warnings are when you look at the site for replacing the torsion springs on the garage door.  However, after doing the research, (see video on youtube.com for details), I determined that I was going to go for it.  All went well, until it was time to open the garage door.  Then I noticed that one of the wires that raises the garage door was not on track.  This became a "two man" job. Mom didn't want to be the "second man", so a few phone calls later, I found one of the neighborhood teenagers who could come over and help me.  I think he was here for all of two minutes.  After that, a few more adjustments to the tension... and the garage door opens once again.

  

Saved by Super Dog....

Yes, it's 1:30 in the morning.  And life is once again winding down after averting a potential disaster.  Maggie had the indecency to start barking at the front door, the result of which was I had to get out of bed to see what evil was lurking (or who was toilet papering the neighborhood) or other nefarious night life.  Sure enough, there was nobody at the door, and life was quiet on the street, so reassuring the dog, I went back to bed.

Then there was a sound, something like a toilet running, but not coming from the toilet.  It sounded like it was coming from the sink... only lower.  Heading downstairs to the main level, there was no sound of running water coming from the bathroom.  Strangely there WAS the sound of water running in the family room.  Strange, because the family room has no plumbing fixtures, and hence no need for running water.  To be precise, the water was running out of the ceiling onto the carpet - not good as the carpet does not have a drain and the ceiling is not equipped with a faucet.  Back upstairs and under the sink, there is water running.  Seems like the feed from the hot water line for the sink decided that it wanted to not play well with the rest of the bathroom plumbing and and taken the night off.  Hot water was coming out of the partially disconnected feed line to the sink.  Solution: turn off the water, mop up, and go back to bed.

Damage: there's a couple of spots on the ceiling that will need new popcorn sprayed and paint applied.  The stuff under the sink was mostly in sealed containers, so adrenaline rush aside, we got lucky.

And thanks to the dog for barking at "nothing" and waking me up.

Dear T-Mobile

It's been fun, this past decade, upgrading phones every couple of years, whether I needed it or not (usually not).  However the past year has not been as much fun.  My new phone crashed in December - I think it was due to a software bug that overwrote something vital as I was sent too many picture messages with too little memory.  Alas, your outlets couldn't fix that phone - reinstall the software, recover my phone numbers, ... but you could charge me $10 to replace my phone with the same model and make it all better again.

Today, I accidentally, while trying to speed dial (press #3 and hold it down), pressed the power button instead... and held it down.  When I realized what I'd done, out of reflex I pressed the power button to turn it back on.  The screen seems to know what model of Samsung phone it is, but all the buttons on the keypad flash on and off in unison... and even with removing the battery and SIM, ... and then reinstalling the same, it still doesn't boot up... just a pretty synchronized light display.  As it is, I never really liked that phone.  It couldn't hook up to the computer (no USB port), I couldn't store any music on it, and it wasn't much of a calendar.  It was a good alarm clock, however.  But since you have offered to replace the phone for another $10 ($20, if I want the replacement before I leave town for 1-1/2 weeks),  I think I'll decline.  Fool me once, shame on me... fool me twice???

As I'm hooked on T-Mobile until April, 2012, I'll just have to muddle through with one of the outcast phones that have been collecting dust in the garage.  Currently I've found one that seems durable enough to last awhile - I've used it before.  It's purple or some weird shade of pink, but I think I can make it for a year with an ugly (or cute, depending on your perspective) phone without excessive damage to my ego.... and on the plus side, I now have a target date for changing to some other service.

Sincerely,
A soon to be former customer.