Lots to do, nothing done

Stardate 57082.9 (08-29-2004)

Ok, another one of those days where I start out to do a number of things, and get held up by one of them. I wanted to change the oil in the Altima, and then cut the vertical step pieces for the deck so I can screw them in. I got the oil drained easily enough, but I had problems with the filter. I hate car designers who put the user serviceable parts in hard to get at places. It's halfway up the engine block on the side closest to the passenger compartment. The car is too low for me to crawl underneath unless I jack it up, which is extremely dangerous. So I am left with threading a wrench between hoses and pipes to get to it. This leaves me with about a quarter inch space to twist. It would not come off. I finally just said 'forget it', and replaced the oil. Starting the car up, I let it run and checked underneath. Oil was spurting out from where I had cracked the filter. The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out how I was going to get it off, since I now had no choice. April had to go into work to try an fix the analyzer. A courier there suggested driving a screwdriver through the filter, and twisting with that. It took another hour to get the screwdriver in due to the limited space, but it worked. By then it was 7 PM. The rest of the tasks I had planned were shot.

I did get instant messaging going, and had a small chat with Carl and Dave Wright. I could have done it before, but it requires getting a 'dot NET passport'. I had to get one of those for my MSDN membership, so I decided what the heck. I checked out the online gaming for Age of Empires. About seven thousand online this morning. I watched a History channel show on the Battle of Chelons, so I've started playing it again. The last couple of nights I have been up until 2 AM with games. If I think I have the time, I might try an online session.

Thomas came down with a slight fever last night, at 100.3. This morning he was fine, but it flared up again this afternoon. I guess he must be fighting a virus. April came back from Arizona with a head cold. We thought it might be that. I'd hate to have to keep him home from school, considering the good start he has going.

End of Entry