Aug 16 - rainy day activities

Raining and cool outside, the temperature dipped to 67F inside and I put on a fire.  It was quickly up to 72F and I let the fire die out. 

Abby had a boring day, what with the rain outside.  There was nothing that I was doing that she was "interested" in participating. 

I did some major bike maintenance, replacing the rear derailleur which had taken a beating with that chain problem in Edinburgh.  It would have probably lasted longer but it's inexpensive maintenance.  Another bit of inexpensive maintenance was replacing the shift cable housings.  The existing ones had fine cracks and were stiff when I did the inner cables a month ago. I'd purchased 25' of housings to be delivered to Jeffrey's, along with the rear derailleur.  The chain is still good for another ride or two, in particular the 600k coming up this weekend.  I've got a spare chain in my box which would probably last me through the 1500k in Tennessee but perhaps I'll purchase another couple.  I go through a lot of chains.  Wet riding and sand do them in. 

There were two service indicators annoying me in the X5 so I did some reading online and found how I can reset them.  The first is the oil service -- done in Plattsburgh -- and, at the same time, the basic vehicle check, performed at the same time.  So, after the reset, I'm good for another 11,000 miles with the oil and 27,000 with the vehicle check. I need to double check the list of things that the oil change place checked against the BMW list to ensure that nothing was overlooked ... this is so that I don't run into trouble with the extended maintenance contract.

I heard from Hamid, who has had the staples removed and is now in less pain.  He's been up on his feet and can walk slowly -- great news !  He walked for about 45 minutes, according to his email.  He said that he's mostly pain-free but does have some lower back pain -- surprise ?

I'd purchased two new DVD players, one of which I brought up and the other is in Sandy's car.  I split them so that crossing the border there's less chance of them wanting to have us pay HST.  The amount of HST isn't the issue, it's the annoyance factor of going in and doing the paperwork.  The players were only $105 each.

I'm replacing the players in the loft and basement.  The new ones are the same (almost) as the one in the den and have the Sony video streaming.  I replaced the one in the basement and went searching for an HDMI cable ... found one.  The old player was connected by component video cables.  The new player only has an HDMI output ... which then caused me to look at the TV in the loft.  Oh oh; it doesn't have HDMI input.  That TV is older than Methuselah in the electronic world.  Bought for the house in Radnor, I'm guessing that we've had it since, what, 2000 ?  Can it really be 14 years old ?  It has a ton of S-Video and component video inputs but no HDMI.

I looked online to see if I could get an adapter box.  I did find several but they all had mixed reviews, depending on what it was being connected from and to.  Since they are doing a digital to analog conversion the quality of the video can vary.  Should I take a chance or simply purchase another TV ???

Then I decided to look at the Sony player in the den.  Bingo !  It is a year older and has component video output !  The two new ones only have HDMI.  So .... I moved that one up to the loft and will await Sandy's arrival with the new one that can go in the den.  The Sony DLP lives on !!

Speaking of Sandy's trip, she called to say that she was on I176 with a flat tire.  That's only a few miles from Jeffrey's.  She said that it went flat suddenly and that she'd already called Roadside Assistance.  The car has a full spare but it would be the same age as the car, i.e. 12 years old.  Not wanting her driving on the highway very long with a 12 year old tire, I found a tire place in the King of Prussia area, on her way to Angelika's, give or take, that had a replacement.  Much back-and-forth later, I found out when I got back from Mass that her rim is also toast.  They mounted the new tire on the spare rim, which is brand new, and the spare tire on the toast rim (why ?), which is now in the trunk.  Too late to do anything about it, I'd have instead taken a second new tire, put it in the trunk and let them keep the rim.  Oh yes, they didn't have a rim that fit her car.

So she'll be driving up without a spare.  The likelihood of having another flat is miniscule but if it does happen, she'll be waiting for a flatbed this time.  Once she's here I can go into Arnstein with two wheels -- the damaged rim and old but unused tire and one of her snow tires on rims and have the tire remounted.  I don't expect that we'll need those snow tires again and they're now too old as well.

Sandy's plan is to drive to Barrie today and have dinner with Kim and Megan, staying overnight at Stef's.  Hopefully there won't be any more car incidents.  She's not had much luck with that car in Reading !

I'll have to do something about snow tires for the X5, depending on what we're doing at Christmas.  The snows up there are on narrower rims, which is actually good for snow, but more to the point, the tires are old.  Maybe I'll bring up four new snow tires to be mounted on those rims or I'll save myself the hassle and simply buy four snows on rims, have them delivered to Florida and change the tires before the trip north.  That makes for an easier trip to and from and leaves the spares in the location where it's easiest to get replacements.  I guess that I could also haul the existing snows and rims down to Florida to get new tires installed ... but those rims had given me some trouble on the old X5 so maybe not.  Too many options !

What else did I do -- oh yes, dropped over to see Jim and Bonnie, picking up the mail.  The packet of mail finally arrived from Florida.  There is another healthcare reimbursement check (US cheque) in the packet so I'll have another opportunity to do a smartphone scan.  The last two worked like a charm.

Today, Sunday ... the sky is clear and hopefully I'll get out for a ride.

Onward ...