Randy’s random musings

So I purchased an ’98 Accord recently, but didn’t realize until after I was driving it home that it had a problem with the horn. It worked, sometimes–as long as the keys weren’t in the ignition, or the wheel was turned a little to the left or right.

After a few guesses and part replacements (relay, “clock spring” AKA “cable reel assembly”), I realized I was going to have to bust out the multimeter and really trace the problem. I figured out that the horn switch is supposed to get a ground from the steering wheel, and when the switch is pressed, it passes that ground through the cable reel assembly to the horn relay. It turns out that the ground on the steering wheel itself was intermittent. And it got its ground from the center of the steering shaft, which was also intermittent. Read the rest of this entry »

My wife just told me about a “sneaky” phishing email she just received. I took a look at it, and it’s a phishing website that is collecting banking login names, passwords, as well as ATM card information. I took a minute to report it to the bank being spoofed, Heritage Bank. They already knew about it, but said their computer people were “out to lunch”. I took the liberty of checking DNS records to see who was hosting the website, and lo-and-behold, it was Yahoo! Read the rest of this entry »

After searching, downloading, testing, and playing around, I’ve finally come up with a few tweaks for those of us running TomTom on our Nav-Cam. Available for download are two different files. One is a restore utility to use after performing a hard reset on your device, and includes menu software to replace the factory menu. The other is a small helper utility to launch said menu. Read about it by clicking the link on the side, and then leave your comments or questions here.

NOTE: There was an error in the restore file, which has been fixed. Please download the file again, and unzip it to the root of your SD card. My apologies for the mistake. -Randy

Well, it looks like it’s “that time”, again. Tomorrow morning, I’ll pick up the moving truck, and we’ll spend the day loading it up, and cleaning up the house. I’m really looking forward to spending some time with Cathy’s family, I just hope we don’t wear out our welcome too quickly!

A few days ago, I wooted a GPS Navigation system. Living in Texas means, unfortunately, that I have to pay taxes on my woots, since they’re based in Texas, too. But it has its advantages! It looks like I was among the first to receive my unit, and I started playing around with it this morning.

First impression is that it feels a bit cheap. I’ve had the opportunity to use a TomTom One, which is a very similar unit, and the TomTom unit just feels better built, more solid. After taking the Evesham unit for a test drive, I’ve discovered that it has other shortcomings… Read more for my short review, and instructions for TomTom installation. Read the rest of this entry »

Lately, I’ve had more opportunities to cook, since I’ve been home more. It’s exciting! I like to grab a few items out of the pantry or fridge, and then “perform a Google search” for the ingredient(s) + recipe, and try new things.

Actually, just about everything is new to me, since I only really know how to make a very few meals… Mac ‘n cheese, spaghetti, grilled cheese, fried eggs… Recently, I learned how to make hash browns, as well as chili. It’s a lot of fun when it ends up being tasty!

Today, I decided to make falafels, and was pleased with the result. We didn’t have pita bread, so we ate it with tortillas and tsatsiki. Mmmmm!

Since we need to save money nowadays, I’ve tried to compile a “menu” of sorts, of tasty, healthy food that’s not too expensive. That’s a bit hard to do, so some of the meals on my menu only satisfy 2 of the 3. If you’re interested in seeing my menu, you can find it here.

So today, I wanted to mail off my claim for educational benefits to the Dept of Veteran’s Affairs. I’ve got the GI bill, so I might as well use it, right? Anyhow, the application ended up being about 10 pages, so I wasn’t sure if one first-class stamp would cover it. I also didn’t feel like going to the post office to find out, so I scoured the house searching for more stamps, and all I could find was a sheet of one-cent stamps we purchased when the rate for first class stamps went up. So I decided to have fun with it. Here was the result–for a total of 68 cents, if I count correctly.

At first, I thought that whoever handled this piece of mail might get a small chuckle out of it, however: I just realized that some poor post office employee is going to have to cancel all of those stamps! I feel guilty, but still can’t help but smile…

For almost two years now, I’ve been using VOIP telephone technology for my home phone. At first, it was through the local cable company, Grande. We got a small discount, since it was part of a package for cable TV, internet, and telephone service.

But then, I heard of Vonage, and loved the idea that if we moved, taking our home phone service with us was as simple as carrying a small adapter and plugging it in at the new location! And being in the military, we figured we’d be moving at least a few more times. If you’re not familiar with VOIP telephony, basically it gives you standard telephone service, using the normal telephones you’re used to, but the signal goes over the internet instead of the phone company’s wires. (which is the only downfall: if you lose internet connectivity or electricty, your telephone no workie, either! Better have a cell phone as a backup!!)

Sure enough, it worked out great! We were temporarily accommodated at a hotel, and later a furnished, weekly rate studio apartment, and were able to keep our home phone service with us as each location. The price wasn’t bad, either: $24.99 per month for unlimited nation-wide long distance service (with Caller ID), and they even have free calls to certain foreign countries! Read the rest of this entry »