Fix THIS!

Hello, friends.  It's Monday, so hope it's going well for you.  We have sun and 70 degrees here in Lexington today, which is a nice way to start the work week.

Once in a while I take stock of some things I've done around the house and take a small amount of pride in what I've done.  Please note that my father was NOT a handy person, attempting to mount a basketball hoop with nails when I was a kid.  I thought I could do better, so as a confident twelve-year-old does, I asked my mom to take me to the hardware store so that I could get the right items to secure the rim to the existing backboard we had.

My father didn't speak to me for well over a week, he was so angry that I had shown him up.

I don't try things I can't do, which usually is a plumbing or electrical issue that is more than my limited skill would permit.  But I generally will try things if I can find a YouTube video that explains what I need to know.

For instance, the rear climate system quit working in a Honda SUV I used to own several years ago.  YouTube had two or three videos about a capacitor that could be had for a small price and wasn't hard to replace (it was really like turning a screw).  Ordered the part, watched one of the videos multiple times, went out to the car and swapped it out.  Voila!

I love it when something like that works.

I've also had a little luck more recently in the automotive area.  My wife miscalculated her passenger side clearance when backing out of our garage and damaged the mirror on that side.  Worth mentioning that this car is a 2005 Honda Accord, but she loves it.  So I did some shopping online and found a replacement mirror and successfully installed it, even connecting the power adjustments correctly.  It's right where it should be while my wife drives around town today!

Same car, different problem.  She came in from an errand about a month ago and said that her key stopped working.  The battery failed, it seemed, so my job was to try to open the head of the key to replace the battery.  I had a similar problem with my former Honda SUV some years ago, and was able to remove the controls from the old key and place them in a new key frame with the blade from the old key and a new battery.  Dug around online and found the correct key blank, did the swap and now we have a sort-of-new key for a car that's 18 years old.  Ha!

Today's my office day and I work from home when not in the field or traveling.  A while back we discovered that the placement of our wireless router, inside of what would be a bookcase built into the front of my desk, was causing us to lose some internet signal throughout the house.  So the solution was to put it atop my desk, which addressed the signal strength issue but then overcrowded the top of my desk.  Tried a few things but to no avail to relieve the overcrowded surface.

I looked at everything by scooting the desk out from the wall (we have the feet mounted on felt pads) and I deduced that the Ethernet cable between my modem and router was too short to allow much flexibility.  That was fine when the pieces were sitting side by side, but I wanted to move them apart a little.  Went through a massive plastic bag full of electronic and computer odds and ends, and would you believe that I found a much longer cable amid the junk?  Made the switch, moved the router to a spot directly behind my desktop computer, and reclaimed considerable desk space.  How about that?

Before you start thinking about calling me about the little jobs you need done around your house, remember what I said about knowing my limitations!  I can replace light fixtures and electrical outlets, but am not at all comfortable installing a new one where one was not located before.  Same with plumbing.  If we're replacing an item, a drain pipe or a faucet, I'm your man, but if it's something different, can't help you.

My ingenuity is going to be put to the test in about a month, as my wife and I have discussed the need to make some changes in our front and back yards this year.  I'll let you know how it goes!