My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on July 8, 2017

You’ll need a small hand with a good grip to change the daytime running light bulbs in the sardine like corners of a BMW X5 35D, and assume other models. That doesn’t mean you can wiggle around and tweak a tool or two to fix and assist, but smaller hands would make the process a bit easier. 

I ended up using a large adjustable wrench to help break the seal loose on the cap that covers the headlight compartment. Once open, the first bulb is the H8 daytime running light. Since I was not upgrading to brighter lights or a different color, an inexpensive $9.99 halogen replacement is fine.

I was able to twist the old bulb out, but the pigtail on the locking plug was not easy to hang onto while trying to unclip. I ended up wrapping the tip of my needle nose pliers with a little padding (electrical tape) and was able to hold onto the plug while snapping in the new bulb (don’t touch the new bulb with your hands). Once twisting the bayonet bulb back in place and resealing the cavity cover with a finger tight twist, pat yourself on the back because you just saved over $100 and a trip to the BMW dealership.

Category: Automotive, BMW, Diesel, How-To | No Comments »
Tags: BMW, daylight, driving, h835, headlight, How-To, replacement, x5 35d

Posted By RichC on July 7, 2017

Complaining is getting me nowhere … but those of us old school users of Yahoo and Google continue to be frustrated to see both companies going down the "design for smartphone – card look format" to their pages, even for large display computers.

YAHOO

A few weeks ago Yahoo Finance forced all users to give up their "classic view" portfolio pages that many including me have used for over a decade. The "new" view shuffles what is displayed on a "row" for each ticker AND adds white space and less information which is the trend for smaller screen smartphone use (lost "notes column" and others). This new portfolio eliminates what was "a nice full screen" of data for computer use and is now sluggish to scroll or quickly scan through "spreadsheet-like" amounts of tightly packed data. I complained (as did hundreds of others) and eventually stopped using Yahoo Finance and their portfolios.

GOOGLE

So, I rebuilt the portfolios using Google Sheets which takes far more management and is not nearly as workable as Yahoo’s "old" portfolios were. I opted for Google rather than a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet since I regularly used the Google News page. Now, Google has force switched users of their pages to their new format and is heading down the same design path. Their design team seems to be "pleased to announce" the "new UI having a clean and uncluttered look, designed for comfortable reading and browsing."

I disagree with their decision to give up function and ease of use for artistic and trendy looks. A quick glance at the above screenshots will illustrate how much less information (stories) can be displayed on a computer screen with out scrolling and jerking up constantly just to scan stories. I could not be more frustrated … as are a lot of other users.

As with Yahoo … I doubt complaining will get us anywhere. Time for changing again and looking finding both a new "news" and "portfolio" data aggregator — suggestions?

Category: Business, Computer, Financial, Marketing, News, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: complaint, design, finance, google, News, portfolio, smartphone, tech friday, techfriday, website, yahoo

Posted By RichC on July 6, 2017

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Video | 1 Comment »
Tags: annalyn, drew, encore, family, house, katelyn, new, ohio, perrysburg, toledo, video, vimeo

Posted By RichC on July 5, 2017

Just wanted to archive some Practical Sailor “Waypoints” advice excerpted from Renee D. Petrillo’s A Sail of Two Idiots … good to remember about powerwashing.

… we had a narrow canal to squeeze through to reach the Travelift. Then we were strapped into it and hoisted out of the water. We then made one of the most expensive mistakes ever. We were asked if we wanted the bottom pressure-washed or to just give it a quick rinse. Because Americans often think that more is better, we went for the most powerful option. Our bottom paint had held up well from the Bahamas application, but with the pressure-washing, we watched $3,500 of liquid gold (or blue antifouling paint, in this case) wash into the boatyard. The boat bottom was now nice and clean, all right, but it would need repainting. You do not want to make this mistake. 

Lesson 91: Just Say “No!” If your bottom looks good, and there’s a lot of antifouling paint on it, when someone asks if you want it pressure washed – say it with me now – “NO!!!!!” A light washing with a garden hose will do just nicely, thank you. 

Category: Advice, Archive, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: bottom paint, petrillo, powerwashing, practical sailor, sail of two idiots, sailboat

Posted By RichC on July 4, 2017

If you listen and make it to the end of this 10 minute July 4, 2017 Independence Day podcast by Mike Rowe, you’ll get the point of this interesting story. Well worth the Blue Apron advertisement and introduction (definitely a worthwhile podcast to subscribe to or follow on Facebook).

Category: Audio, History, Holiday, Tidbits | 3 Comments »
Tags: caesar, independence, mike rowe, mp3, podcast

Posted By RichC on July 3, 2017

As is all to frequent … the YouTube video has been removed.

When it comes to music, I’ve always been a James Taylor fan and have posted a few times about him. This past weekend I ran across a YouTube clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from a year or so ago that had me laughing (video below). The skit was about James Taylor writing “Fire and Rain” … and that “he hadn’t seen that many things.” Funny stuff, but … it also had me remembering it on his original vinyl album “Sweet Baby James” or watching him live at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum in 1980 with Kim Carnes (archiving “my” story after the below video).

Personal story:

At the end of the summer in 1980, I had sold my 1974 Capri and purchased a 1973 Cadillac Coupe de Ville that was hit by a train (drivable but needed a little body work – my thing at that time). It was a BIG and comfortable car with a giant 489cu in V-8 with a thirst for gasoline to match (probably why my next car was a 1977 Honda Civic!) … but I’m off track.

Anyway, a good friend and I decided we wanted to go to the James Taylor concert in Cincinnati so we bought 4 tickets ($10 ea) and took our dates down to the Riverfront Coliseum (just 8 months after The Who concert disaster) for the 8PM concert. As I rolled into the 3 floor of the parking garage in downtown Cincinnati on a hot August summer night, we heard a loud BOOM from under the LONG hood of the car and watch all the antifreeze gush out. Hm, I knew it must be a radiator hose and didn’t bother to even open the hood. Off to the concert … excellent by the way … and left for the car just as the encores were starting. At least the parking garage was not backed up and the streets of Cincinnati bare at midnight. I’m not sure why, but drove across the bridge to Covington, Kentucky and rolled off at the first block over the river into a parking lot of an all night parts store. What are the chances … just FYI, this is way before cellphones, etc. I walked in, picked up the correct under $10 hose and with a rag and a couple tools from the trunk changed the very hot hose and added water. Within 30 minutes we were back on the road and heading 2 hours back home to Sidney — I don’t recall the feedback from our dates’ parents, but never dated her again. I wonder why?

EDIT: added photo of my 1973 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

Category: Archive, Automotive, Memories, Music, Personal, Video, Video-TV | 1 Comment »
Tags: Cadillac, coupe de ville, fire and rain, james taylor, monday, Music, musicmonday, richc, stephen colbert, youtube

Posted By RichC on July 2, 2017

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, drew, family, house, iphone7, katelyn, mortgages, ohio, perrysburg, taylor, toledo, virgin mobile

Posted By RichC on July 1, 2017

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Category: Archive, Health, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, doctor, drew, family, hematology, katelyn, minneapolis, minnesota, oncology, unm, wayzata

Posted By RichC on June 30, 2017

Switching from an iPhone 5s to an iPhone 7 Plus has a few surprising pluses and minuses that need to be address by new users. One such negative adjustment has a fix that on the surface may not be found by everyone.

The annoyance:

The larger iPhones (currently 6 Plus & 7 Plus) go into “landscape mode” on the home screen and split screen on certain apps if the phone is turn horizontal in its standard setting. For some apps this is helpful, but for me, something I dislike on the home screen … particularly the home screen jumping to auto rotate back and forth while pulling out of my pocket or off the desk.

So the “easy” and likely known fix is to swipe up and “lock” the screen into portrait mode. While this fixes the home screen issue, it is not helpful if you want to look at landscape photos or video (you’ll have to swipe up and unlock each time).

So a better fix is to go to the Apple iPhone “Setting –> Display & Brightness –> View” and select “Zoomed” instead of “Standard” … your iPhone Plus will restart to implement these changes. This will enlarge icons and change the split screen view on a few apps (to look like smaller and older iPhones), but it will fix the dreaded flipping or pivoting “Home” screen when you pick up your smartphone. Give it a try.

Category: Advice, Apple, Cellphone, How-To, Tablet, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: home, iphone, landscape, mode, plus, portrait, screen, standard, zoom

Posted By RichC on June 29, 2017

One of the fears when sailing long distances across oceans is either getting hit or hitting something. Numerous stories have been told by those who survive hitting “something” … and who knows how many are never told? My phobia is striking a partially submerged shipping container, debris or log with our fiberglass boat on a passage in the middle of the night. Other sailors spend thousand of dollars on AIS, radar and deflectors in hope to be seen and avoid a collision with a ship — ie. USS Fitzgerald recent yet avoidable accident. 

A lessor worry but still realistic possibility is a whale (photo above or animated gif below) or other marine mammal or fish.

Kito de Pavant and his Bastide Otio hit an unidentified floating object. The damage was fatal for the boat and the skipper was forced to abandon the race and his monohull. .. When the videos recorded on the hard disk aboard the boat become available, it was discovered that the unidentified object was in fact a sperm whale, which was clearly visible in the wake of the boat.

LINK

Category: Sailing | 1 Comment »
Tags: animated, gif, sailboat, sperm, whale