Time and a little TLC

This past week the alternator died on our newest family edition … so today we spent some time and energy replacing it. A twenty minute shop job (+$200) became an several hour adventure of fun, frustration, and reward – and for a savings of almost $100. We now can really call her ours.

In all it was a success … most of the time was spent searching for dropped nuts and bolts as my dexterity seemed a little off … maybe it was the lack of sleep last night … or maybe just the fact my hands are a little out of practice. We were also missing the “breaker bar” which is a tool used to reduce the tension on the serpentine belt. We got the belt off the old alternator using a pry bar, but it took forever – then once the new alternator was bolted down we struggled to get the belt back on. We lost the leverage without the belt and pulley tension. So we broke down and bought the breaker bar (which would have saved us likely 2+ hours if we had done that right away – oh well, next time). But we got everything back together and she seems to work great … we find out tomorrow how great with our trip to Orlando.

Joe decided to take a nap on the job
We all (Joe, Melissa, and I) joined up with a group to see Serenity. Joe seemed to quite enjoy it … sitting quietly throughout the entire show – and watching a surprising amount. Seemed to enjoy the fight sequences and outer space shots. Melissa and I also loved it … good story, good acting, good characters, good action … but then we also both liked FireFly (the short lived TV series).
I have also been working on a update to the Screen Saver Menu (hence the lack of sleep). Version 1.0.1 Beta 2 is available (Mac OS X only). Please let me know if you notice any problems with this release – I am hoping to get the 1.0.1 update released early next week.
Anyway … better return to packing the car and getting some sleep. Have a good weekend everyone!

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