AmeriHome Double Seat Glider Chair Assembly Instructions MCDSG

I recently bought this cool retro glider. I believe the manufacturer Buffalo Tools and it is called the Double Seat Glider Chair, part number MCDSG, part of the AmeriHome line.

I had some problems putting it together, primarily because the printed instructions had a small, blurry image, and used a gray glider, which was then printed in grayscale with not enough contrast and no background removed. So, here I am, spending a few moments trying to save you, Dear Consumer, a little hassle.

I could not find the PDF version of the manual, but I was able to contact Buffalo Tools and a perfectly pleasant customer service representative named Elizabeth was nice enough to email me the PDF. I have shared the MCSDGManual.pdf on my Google Drive account. You can see the images more clearly on the digital copy than on the printed copy.

I also created a 3 minute video, which shows you the tricky parts that I encountered. I hope this saves you a little trouble. If it does, then please give me a thumbs up on the video or leave a comment. Thanks! Kevin

Books: This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

Currenty reading:

This Immortal by Roger Zelazny, published in 1966, this novel won a Hugo award in a tie with Herbert's Dune.

The year and the tie with Dune should pique your interest in this novel if you have any interest in Sci-Fi at all.

You can really feel the beginnings of modern sci-fi in this book. It's the way that technology is referenced off-handedly, nonchalantly... mixed in with voo-doo references and very adult sexual situations and themes. It feels gritty and has a realism that is gripping.

How to Determine which Microsoft JET version is installed

The easiest way to determine which version of the Microsoft JET ADO access component (MDAC) installed is to check the registry under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,\Software\Microsoft\Jet\" . You should see a folder under this one that is named with version of the JET component, like 3.5 or 4.0.

It's also pretty easy to check \Windows\System32\msjet*.dll for a version, as suggested by this MS KB article : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/239114/.

More complicated is installing Microsoft's Component Checker - which I did and found to be overkill for my simple task. It lists the version with the DLL name.

To use Component Checker, select the top radio button labeled 'Perform analysis...'. Once you get the exact MDAC version select that version in the second radio button labeled ''Perform analysis against a selected version'. Apparently, 'odbcjt32.dll' is the ODBC connector in the MDAC so you can check it for a version.

It is interesting though, that this MS KB article suggests you check the \Windows\System32\msjet*.dll for a version, yet I could not find any msjet*.dll files listed in the component checker.

Dexter Jumped the Shark?

I just recently watched the season 3 finale of Dexter, where Dex kills the Skinner and gets married.

There was a scene a few episodes ago where he helps Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) execute his first victim. He asks Miguel what it felt like to kill, and Miguel dressed in a weird Steve-Jobsian black turtleneck replies orgasmicly "Fantastic!". At that moment, I paused the DVR and looked at my wife and said, "I think Dexter just jumped the shark." It was just such an awkward and campy scene.

I simply had some issues with Season 3.

What happened to the Dexter who was sexually ambivalent? Now he's more sexed up than David Duchovny. I thought Dexter was completely maladroit at almost all forms of social contact. Now he's spending every second with his wife and wanting to be a good father?

All of these weird plot lines gives me the feeling that the writers are trying too hard and are leaving the basic character behind. I think they need to get back to basics in Season 4.

Here's my back-to-basics note to the writers of Dexter. Ready? Here you go: Dexter = Batman. Dexter is a dark superhero. He can't have a wife and kids or the bad guys will use them against him. He kills bad guys all over the place. He is constantly hounded by the cops bcause he is a vigilante. He also has all kinds of cool toys that he can play with, and uses science to his advantage at every turn. Come on! Let's have some really smart CSI-like stuff, or some really hard to unravel mystery that requires Dexter's brains. Miguel Prado was Dexter's misguided attempt at having a sidekick : Robin. No more of that! Ditch the family!

I hope they figure this out again, and knock off all these crappy plotlines. Good luck!

Interesting Words - Nov 2008

Putative:
-Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof

Anodyne:
-An agent that soothes and relieves pain. See Analgesic

Liquesce:
-To become liquid.

Liquescent:
-Becoming liquid

Cartouche:
-An oval ring containing the hieroglyphs of a royal name
-An ornamental shield or decoration often placed above door openings or fireplace mantels.

Vulpine = Fox-like

Vulpine means fox-like.

I'll add that to : lupine, canine, feline, bovine...

Time Warner DVR Software - Mystro

A couple of months ago Time Warner here in North Carolina replaced the DVR software that they had been using with a new system called 'Mystro'. I'll get to the point: Mystro sucks.

Mystro is buggy. There are so many bugs and quirks in this software that I can't begin to name them all. The system that was previously installed worked very well.

And when I tried calling tech support about it, they can't do any thing aside from reboot the box, of course. There is no way to directly report bugs about the software, you have to visit the website and submit a web email - which I've done three times and never had a single response. It's a black hole and no-one is listening. I'd like to submit specific bug reports as I find them and get some response that someone in the company is actually tracking the bug. How can the software be improved without a direct feedback loop from concerned customers?

I just sent them another web mail, we'll see if they answer. I'm quite sure that I will be looking into Satellite TV again here in the very near future.

Gmail Plus Addressing
Gmail has a really cool 'secret' feature which helps you sort mail and track spam-bastards: if your email is 'john.doe@gmail.com', you can send email to 'john.doe+anything@gmail.com' and it will end up in your account. How does this help? Well, let's say you visit, spamBastardFriend.com and want to sign up for a newsletter. If you give them your gmail address and you start getting spam then you can't tell who sold your address to the spam-bastards. But if you sign up for the newsletter as 'john.doe+spambastard@gmail.com' then when you start getting spam to that address, then you know who the culprit is! Then using gmail's rules you can just start trashing anything sent to that address. Using this feature, you have an unlimited supply of identifiable addresses.

The downside : many web sites simply have shoddy email validation functions that simply ignore the 1982 RFC822 spec which defines which addresses are valid. If you run into such a site, please feel free to email them and send them the link to the spec and ask them to fix their code. Also, I'm sure it's just a matter of time until spam-bastards simply start filtering all their gmail addresses to strip off the plus sign, but until then it's your friend and well worth using.