Notes for the day

[sraun]

1 - Working on getting printing fixed on the server. After that comes web-mail, then comes mailing list archives

2 - The car just got a new catalytic converter. Do you know what happens when your catalytic converter gets plugged? It's not nice - the symptoms are very similar to being low on transmission fluid, or having a dying transmission.

3 - Gevalia sells very nice coffee, thank you. (For some reason I'm doing coffee for my daily beverage today.)

(insert 45 minute pause)

4 - I just had a phone interview with a head-hunter. Hmm, this could get interesting. The position would probably require a pay-cut, but it would be with a ~400 employee company, largest in its industry and growing. And the position would be much more of a generalist position.

5 - I've got one to two hundred day-lily seeds I'm going to try to plant next year.

6 - I was just reminded that I'm about to get Minn-StF new laser-printer delivered today. Oops! Hmm - need to go do some work on that.

Comments

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

2 - The car just got a new catalytic converter. Do you know what happens when your catalytic converter gets plugged? It's not nice - the symptoms are very similar to being low on transmission fluid, or having a dying transmission.

Could you be a little more specific? I've never had to replace a catalytic converter and have no idea what the symptoms might be. A long time ago I remember reading that a bad CC caused a "rotten egg smell," but that doesn't resemble a sick transmission in any manner.

I have a specific reason to be curious about this.

[sraun]

The symptom is basically 'step on the gas, and it doesn't want to accelerate or shift gears'. If you fiddle with the exact amount of gas, you can get the car to shift, but there's no acceleration to speak of - I couldn't even maintain a constant rate of speed going up I-35W from the 35th St. on-ramp to the peak of the hill around Lake Street - I could maybe be going 35mph at the peak. (expletive deleted), I could barely get to 50mph between the peak of that hill and the downtown exit!

Oh, and when you do step on the gas hard, either the engine runs away, or the car starts lurching.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Interesting, to be sure. Did this happen all of a sudden, or did the problem come on gradually? How was it diagnosed as the cc?

Sorry you had another expensive repair, but I'll bet you're happy it wasn't the transmission. I'm certainly hoping our van's problems are ... well, pretty much anything EXCEPT the transmission. Unfortunately, trannies are the universal weak spot of the Caravan/Voyager family.

[sraun]

Over the course of ... a week, maybe ten days? No, actually it took more like three or four weeks. We had all that work done on September 10th, I maybe noticed the first hints of it a week or two after that? The growth curve is, as near as I can tell, exponential.

[sraun]

Sorry, missed the 'how was it diagnosed as the cc'.

I don't know how - we took it in to Hawkins to have it looked at, and they diagnosed it.

Thanks, much useful info

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that it turned up in the computer diagnostics.
I've got a funny story about that diagnostic. When we bought our van in March, 2006 it seemed to be in good shape except that the engine light was always on. We took it to Ellwood Automotive near our house and they attached the diagnostic machine that reads the computer and said "no codes turned up," so it must be nothing. I happened to be reading through the old service records we got from the previous owner and found hidden in a long report the comment that the engine diagnostic was showing "Catalytic Converter needs service." Hmmm. We have never had it serviced and the engine light is still on. And now it feels like the transmission is slipping and lurching a little.

At this point I'm kinda hoping that the light really is on for the catalytic converter and there's nothing wrong with the transmission. That would suggest that the guys at our garage were somehow unable to read that diagnostic output, but that wouldn't entirely surprise me.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Good luck on the job.

And, um, Minn-Stf laser printer?

[sraun]

Visi was looking to get rid of a reasonably functional HP LaserJet 5si with the big paper-tray add-on, but apparently without the duplexer. Minn-StF was a sufficiently charitable organization that they just gave it to us. Oh, it also has a functioning JetDirect card.

It does need a fuser - Seven & Dorf are taking care of getting one, I'll be installing it. I've replaced that, in the long dim past (when I was at Barr Engineering in the early 90's).

It's going to live here, I'll use it to print Einblatts, iraunink and I will be happy to handle 'here's a file, print us NNN copies, please?' And with iraunink's schedule, we should be able to deal with people coming over and using it during the day if needed.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, that's amusing. If I'm not confusing my model numbers, we've got about the same thing in about the same condition (ours has the duplexer, not sure about the paper trays; ours has two or three that hold a full ream). Acquired from MultiLogic.

[sraun]

My memory is that you said you got a 5si. If it's about 3 feet tall, it's got the standard paper trays - IIRC, that's two that hold a ream each. If it's about 5 feet tall, it's got the add-on paper trays - I don't remember how much that adds.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Standard paper trays then, yes. It's only 5 feet tall because of the table it's sitting on :-).

The thing I think is worth mentioning about it is that it prints 11x17. This is useful for signs, and also for saddle-stapled booklets if they're not too thick (so they don't need trimming; though for that matter Dean has the technology to trim a stack of booklets, too).