Random Thoughts - Part Deux [NO POLITICS]

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by justalex

Can anyone recommend an oinment for hives? I ate grilled squid and all of a sudden I have rashes all over my body.

that's for eating those slimy creatures.

But now that you have, Bubba suggests you fix up a warm bath of epsom salts and soak for an hour or so.

I would recommend you pop a couple of antihistamine pills, a couple of prozac and slather some hydrocortisone cream on the affected area.

Then mix up a pitcher of strong margaritas and drink till you pass out. The next morning your hangover will be such that you won't notice the rash anymore.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Lol, when you do, share the secret..

So tell me, when you find switches in your house, and the current tester says they have power, but you can't figure out what they do, how do you find out? Tracer if some sort?

it's really an educated guessing game--unless you already had a good idea what they're going to, tracers really don't offer that much better chance of figuring out what they do-- the times i've tried tracing tools, it usually ends up bleeding the tracing signal into wires it runs parallel with, and i end up on the opposite end of the house working on a circuit that has no relation to what i started with.

the easiest advice i follow is mystery switches are most typically located to an area of convenience for the 'thing' they power. best solution is to get into the mindset of the person that built the house ("hey, i want a switch and a flood light by the back picture window so i watch the deer at night in the back yard").

a mystery switch near an outside door is usually related to detached building lighting/power(in my area, houses built in the 50-70's typically have the detached garage power go through a switch by the back door, due to fears at the time of robbers running around with 'newfangled' garage door openers and stealing cars out of garages--trips a lot of people up until i explain it), post lights(post lights break all the time, and many people just bury it), christmas light outlets in the eve's of the house, or heat tapes in the gutters.

mystery switches by windows many times control something one would want to watch through the window, or floodlights that used to exist above those windows--i've also seen heat tape switches in these locations as a "hey, there's icicles building up, i forgot to turn on the tapes!".

and big panels of mystery switches in the master bedroom next to where a bed could be expected to be(not where everyone puts it!) can control a number of lights throughout the house-- a hold-over from the 70's home automation craze, where automators drove this impression that everyone wanted to control every light in the house from the convenience of their bed.

outside of that, there's really no magic formula to figuring it out except turning it on and running around checking things, which can take a ton of time--if you're ever home by yourself, sometimes it's easier to shut everything else off except the circuit powering the mystery switch, and then it gives you a very rough radius of devices that the other half could be located in.

because of how time consuming it can get, unless the homeowner is adamant about paying the time to figure it out, if i can't find it in 15 minutes, i'll put a wire nut on the switch leg wire coming off the switch, so i can guarantee that it doesn't power up a rogue wire that could be damaged in some way(more than once, i've gotten stories of past homeowners having problems, and they just choose not to use the switch), or placed in a hazardous location, make the homeowner aware of what i'm doing, and so if they come across something that doesn't work, we can address it later.

[WildCard600]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Lol, when you do, share the secret..

So tell me, when you find switches in your house, and the current tester says they have power, but you can't figure out what they do, how do you find out? Tracer if some sort?

[soundman98]

lol, i've done a few duplexes/triplexes. you don't know how bad me and the apprentice wanted to wire at least once switch to a light bulb somewhere like this.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Lol!

I figure it would be nice to go places in the truck, then be able to pull out the sports car for fun. Plus, if I have a real problem I can't fix, I don't want anyone here touching my cars. The mechanic that did my smog check had never seen a lotus, and asked me who made it. Nearest lotus mechanic is hundreds of miles away.

Well, the first part does make sense. However, the breaking down part I wouldn't worry about. If you have Lotus problems, just give me a call and I'll call Bubba, he has connections all over the country. I'm sure he can fix you up with someone that can fix your Lotus - hell, it's a internal combustion, gasoline engine - can't be all that different from a John Deere tractor -

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Well, the first part does make sense. However, the breaking down part I wouldn't worry about. If you have Lotus problems, just give me a call and I'll call Bubba, he has connections all over the country. I'm sure he can fix you up with someone that can fix your Lotus - hell, it's a internal combustion, gasoline engine - can't be all that different from a John Deere tractor -

I think all of Bubba's cousins live here.

[soundman98]

how far off can it be from a porche, or a lamborghini?

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Lol!

I figure it would be nice to go places in the truck, then be able to pull out the sports car for fun. Plus, if I have a real problem I can't fix, I don't want anyone here touching my cars. The mechanic that did my smog check had never seen a lotus, and asked me who made it. Nearest lotus mechanic is hundreds of miles away.

most people around me still don't know what my car is. just last week, someone in a parking lot stopped me to ask what it was. they seemed a little embarrassed when they asked if it was new, and i had to tell them it was 6 years old already--i try not to embarrass people for asking stupid car questions(it leads to less questions and more incorrect speculation in my experience), but i'm not going to beat around it either!

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

I think all of Bubba's cousins live here.

Ya, history indicates their was a splinter group from Bubba's clan, that veered off the Oregon trail and headed up to Idaho -

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by soundman98

most people around me still don't know what my car is. just last week, someone in a parking lot stopped me to ask what it was. they seemed a little embarrassed when they asked if it was new, and i had to tell them it was 6 years old already--i try not to embarrass people for asking stupid car questions(it leads to less questions and more incorrect speculation in my experience), but i'm not going to beat around it either!

My stock answer is "it's made by Toyota and yes it's pretty quick".

That works for me 98% of the time -

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by soundman98

most people around me still don't know what my car is. just last week, someone in a parking lot stopped me to ask what it was. they seemed a little embarrassed when they asked if it was new, and i had to tell them it was 6 years old already--i try not to embarrass people for asking stupid car questions(it leads to less questions and more incorrect speculation in my experience), but i'm not going to beat around it either!

Same here. People ask what it is, and when I say toyota, they look at me even more puzzled. I've only seen 4 here in a year.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by soundman98

how far off can it be from a porche, or a lamborghini?

Well, I'll be darned, this ol farm boy never knew they made tractors -

I learnt something today -

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by soundman98

how far off can it be from a porche, or a lamborghini?

The Porsche is rare ( saw one at a Monterey car show once), but Lamborghini was a farm equipment company first. Gotta be a lot of them.

[Sapphireho]

A friend from San Jose is coming to stay a day or two. He is moving his son here. His son got a scholarship playing football at Boise State.

They just announced they are suspending the season indefenatly. So sad.

Boise state football is like the biggest thing in idaho. So many small businesses rely on the income from home games each year, not to mention the income for the school. More small businesses will close. This has been such a bad year. Sucks.