Things are finally getting back into a routine. The most troubling aspect of the past week has been my cat Stumpy. He was lethargic all weekend. Early Monday morning I packed him off to his usual vet for an examination. When I picked him up in the afternoon I was told he had a fever and more pus had to be drained out of his leg. Doc shot him up with more antibiotics.
He is eating and is active, but will not put any pressure on that sore leg. He seems to be extending it more, not curling it into his body as much, but I’m still worried. If he is still like this Friday the Dr wants me to bring him around.
Tuesday morning I got my subwoofer back together. I needed to access the works by removing the front control panel to complete the job. Naturally the knob was frozen to the shaft of the volume control. To cut to the chase, the way the unit was put together made disassembly pretty much impossible. Not for this boy though. However in the process the volume control unit snapped off the circuit board. It looked to be a pretty standard part.
Here is a case where terminology is everything. I first went to Radio Shack. Isn’t that the logical place to go for such a thing? I had the defective part to use as a sample. This clueless clerk looked at me like I was from Mars when I explained what I needed: a volume control for the subwoofer to my computer sound system. “We don’t have anything like that” she said.
I played around on Google for some information on the needed part. I can’t for the life of me find anything remotely helpful for replacing that volume control. It has to be an easily replaced part, I just know it. When all else fails try a discussion board. I logged into Craigslist and threw myself to the mercy of the Computer forum. A kind poster gave me the information I needed: “Simple potentiometer will do it, and you can get them at Radio Shack or any electronic parts store. Just pop out the old one and get one like it”.
Sure enough I pulled up the Radio Shack website and using “potentiometer” as a keyword brought up lots of choices. Using the code on the side of the old part I ascertain I needed a 100k unit. I called ahead with the catalogue number of this blasted unit and sure enough, this store that “did not have anything like that” had four units in stock.
Gone are the days when “electronic geeks” with an understanding of circuits and components are at an electronics store to help. About the only consolation is being able to research what you need ahead of time, and to only expect the store clerk to be an instrument to complete the transaction.
I had to drill a new mounting hole to mount the new unit on the front of the subwoofer. Believe me I don’t care. This system is so old, but with the newly foamed speaker it sounds wonderful and hopefully will last another 12 years.
There has been quite a bit of drama going on with the Rowing Club in trying to get teams together for the regattas next month. Racing in a master’s class can be tricky. Being over 21 is considered being a “master”. Naturally a sweep of “master rowers” in their 20’s is vastly different from a sweep of rowers in their 50’s. There are handicaps employed to offset such differences.
Our club is still in its infancy. It is a tough call putting together teams… do you only choose the aggressive rowers, or do you just open it to everybody who wants to race regardless of their skill and endurance level?
I’m speaking solely for myself when I say to go for the aggressive rowers. That first race I participated in back in April sparked a passion that I’ve never before experienced. So much so that I’ve been training on my own five days a week at the “Y” so not to be the “weak link” of the team.
I have the luxury that most of my teammates don’t have in that being retired I have the time to devote to this sport that has taken over my life. Will see what happens. There is no mens competition team, and there are not enough men rowers to fill out two mixed sweeps. It is so frustrating.
Anyway, I need to get ready to meet a bunch of my old co-workers for breakfast. They had been meeting at I-Hop which I don’t really care for. They changed the location to Wrights, a family owned place that makes the best western omlettes. They are made up of everything but the kitchen sink and are SO GOOD. I will have to erg on the Concept II Rower extra hard after this breakfast!!
No comments:
Post a Comment