I found this at the bottom of page 40 of the June 2013 popular Science. It’s an interesting approach to using a patient’s own cells to treat a condition – but they’re not stem cells! Weird, but maybe someday the “Pei pee” treatment will be … Continue reading An interesting approach to Alzheimer’s treatment
Last night I finally got around to getting some seeds in the ground. After the last big snow melted away, we discovered that the strawberries had already started coming back, and now some raspberries and rhubarb are too. This is getting a start without even … Continue reading The planting season finally begins!
So, remember in the last post how I mentioned that I mowed the lawn yesterday? That was phenomenal. You see, we had about whatever amount of grass a week ago, and then it started to rain for five straight days. Yesterday morning I come out and I gotta cut my way through a jungle to get the bike out of my shed. I knew I was going to have to mow the lawn or suffer the pain of knowing that my neighbors were judging me with their judging, neighbor-eyes.
So I got to bust out my new lawn mower for its first serious mow! Last year we were using one of those reel mowers that you push around and it was such a pain that we only mowed when the grass was really long. But we wanted to avoid getting a gas mower or an expensive mower. Finally at the end of the summer we broke down and got an electric mower. But not just any electric mower! Instead of a cord, this one has a lead-acid battery, like the one in your cat. Yes, your cat! No, I meant to type “car” there.
After we bought the mower there was this “invisible drought.” The grass did not grow and it barely rained. I was like a pig in slop though because the weather was always great, just this really dry heat that made me want to run with my shirt off. So far, this year is not the same. Oh well, c’est la vie. So I mowed a little bit one time to prove that it worked and satisfy myself that I wouldn’t have to return the thing.
I had to keep the battery trickle-charged all winter, so I put a reminder on my phone to go off every other Saturday to plug in the battery – come back fifteen minutes later, light is green. Put the battery away. I was told not to set it on concrete because somehow the energy would be sucked right out of it, so I kept it on a shelf in the basement.
Well, the mow went gloriously. I had to go over the lawn twice, because it was so long and I had to figure out the appropriate height for the mower deck. I had it all the way down so of course it was chewing up the high spots. It went through all of this like a champ; it starts with the press of a button, has a self-propel mechanism for weaklings, and when I was done the charge indicator was on yellow, not red.
So if anyone wants to get a leg-up on going green and is in the market for a mower, I totally recommend a lead-acid battery lawn mower. The brand of mine is Yard Works, I think. I got it from Menards for around $200. But the concept is key. It’s not internal combustion so the thing will probably never require repair or tuneups, definitely doesn’t need oil or gas… what a great way to go green on your green and save some green over the long run!
One more cup of coffee, and then I have to get ready for work. I’m still wearing my wrist braces because I’m too lazy to take them off until I have to, but that’s okay because I feel ergonomic while I’m typing – they always tell you how to hold your hands, but they never tell you it’s practically impossible to hold that position without wrist braces on! And I’m thinking about blogging.
I swear that I’m a writer, and I’ve always had this laziness where I would start a daily practice, and then let something get in my way and steer me away from it. Usually it’s time, but that’s everyone’s crutch, isn’t it? “Not enough time.” “I couldn’t find the time.” That seems to be my crutch for everything, and what did I do yesterday? I rode my bike to work, I worked for ten hours, blogged on my breaks and lunch, had a short text conversation with my wife, rode my bike home, mowed the lawn, turned over the compost pile (as best I could since it’s bedded with the grapevines we wrenched from the clutches of Mother Earth a couple years ago), took a shower, and spent less than three hours with my wife and daughter (including supper) before I was falling asleep and had to go to bed.
Three minutes ago, the alarm went off. I should be getting ready for work now, but I want to finish this post. See? I have to steal from life in order to write. That’s where the time comes from; I’m a time thief, and am I qualified to attest honestly to the quality of what I’m stealing to do? I can’t wait for this weekend – a three-day, one-day-paid weekend where I might be able to attack one of my better ideas. I have a little book I’ve been writing article ideas in, things that require more time and attention than I can give them in the space of the broken hour I get at work, or rather 75 minutes on my ten-hour days. When I don’t have a Saturday morning (because I have decided that I have the option of taking Sunday off) to work on something prolific (two-pager or better) you guys miss out on something I can really craft.
In the meantime, I have to write something to keep you busy. Fortunately, I have the Lumineers and my coffee to keep me motivated. Unfortunately, I gotta push and get ready for work. I have an idea for later – I always have some kind of an idea, but the words come in blurbs and they’re written hastily into an iPhone app because I have less than 30 minutes to get them down, proofread, and posted. That makes it tough.
And so, the challenge of writing moves on.
Eleven minutes ago, the alarm went off.
Gotta go.
http://youtu.be/F2lqRBAXxfc This is a funny video I found about consumer products that failed spectacularly. I actually remember about six of the products in the video – Olestra, New Coke, McDonalds’ Arch Deluxe, Apple Maps, lawn darts… okay, make that five. Fifty percent isn’t bad! It’s … Continue reading Having fun with failure
Last night the wife and I were sitting in the living room watching TV when she told me about the tornado that cut a swath of destruction through Oklahoma yesterday, including two elementary schools. She was catching the news on her phone while I was … Continue reading How I learned to stop worrying and fight the tornado
I just read an article in The June 2013 Popular Science about how toys are preparing kids for a future with robotic companions. The cover blurb, however, says “the toys that are training your children”. This got me thinking: will robots end up teaching our … Continue reading Will robots replace teachers?
Last year I started gardening. I built a bed box on the side of the house, manually tilled a section for potatoes and broccoli, planted some raspberries, strawberries, onions, bell peppers, and carrots. My wife and I also bought two four-foot manchurian apricot saplings and … Continue reading A possibility of fruit tree(s)
Wow! So I was just hitting Amazon for a little low-money-week window-shopping and saw a new book by Stephen King called Ghost Brothers of Darkland County. The description says that it’s about two sets of brothers in Mississippi: two uncles who apparently murder/suicided, and their … Continue reading Hey, Stephen King wrote . . . a musical??
Here’s something you may or may not have known about: you can go to Twitter for customer service. The thought occurred to me last night when we were watching Hulu and we tried to switch television shows – and for some reason it’s been doing this for the last two weeks since we started our one-week trial – the interface begins to load a lot more slowly, some of the artwork doesn’t show up, and sometimes we even get a blank gray screen. I was really beginning to get fed up with that, and then it occurred to me that I heard of people using Twitter to get customer service before. I decided to give it a shot.
Using my tablet, I shot a Tweet to @hulu_plus. It was a shot in the dark, but the tablet app started to list as I typed. That was easy. I said to them that their PS3 client was the biggest software disappointment since Windows ME. Much to my surprise, they responded quickly, saying that they would be happy to help me troubleshoot my problem. Honestly, I’m not sure what there is to be done. I just installed the software, and it’s not as though it’s due to some setting that I have that needs to be tweaked or something like that. It’s an app; it’s just supposed to work.
But I’m going to give them the chance to make this right. I’ve been engaging in conversation with them since then and so far they seem to be leaning towards having me uninstall and reinstall the software, even though like I said, I just installed it. I’ll try it when I get home tonight. We’ll see what happens. If the issue continues, I will continue to be unhappy.
The point here is, I’m using Twitter for customer service! It’s a new thing for me, I’m used to calling a phone number but I guess that’s a more expensive option now? I verified this on the web; there are articles on using Twitter for customer service out there, and they they explain the rationale as it’s cheaper and it’s quicker and it builds better customer relations. I like the sound of that, and I hope it works out. Plus, who wants to sit on the phone waiting for help anymore?
If you have any experience with using Twitter for customer service, or if you have any other comments please feel free to leave them below.
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