This weekend was quite fun. On either Monday or Tuesday my garage door opener broke. One of the brackets sheered off and the belt stopped driving the door. I located the part number and bought a replacement on amazon (thank-you prime) and had my dad and brother over to fix it (and rotate my mattress, and move the TV unit I got over the summer up from my garage into my unit). Dad and bro get here Saturday around 10 AM and we begin our work. I grab my tool bag and the part, and we start assessing the situation and how we'll go about this. We take the drive bar off and replace just the part that got broken. Well, that didn't quite work since it also required the thread pin that came with it (it was a slightly different size pin). About 40 minutes after and we get it fixed, so we think. We try it, and the door won't fully open. It kept stopping right as it was going up. At first we thought there was something that was getting caught on the track, and we did locate a portion that was out of alignment. We knocked it back in, but to no avail. Now dad figures there's too much friction on the wheels and tracks, so we go to the auto parts store for lube. We got a can of WD40 and a pound of grease. We were going to get a 5 ounce tube, but it was the same price for a pound (lower quality, but still effective). Now for a funny story. As we were checking out, some guy in a mechanic's outfit and grease covered hands, and asked my dad for help turning over his car. He was like "hey man, I need help turning over my car, can you help me?" and my dad said "uhhh, OK." The guy behind the counter said "I would have helped him, but whatever." My brother and I go out to see them working on this guy's car, and he had some funny thank-you stories about how "this is what happens when you let other people work on your car," as he drives away with exhaust coming out of the side of his truck. We had some laughs about it afterwards, and his logic of "well it's broad daylight and I have my sons with me, this can't turn out really bad." My brother and I cover the tracks in grease while my dad sprays the wheels with WD40. We used half a pound of grease, and we were glad we bought the pound of grease. Well that didn't quite work since it opened twice, but then stopped. Eventually we figured out the opener doesn't like to be opened multiple times in a row, and the job was done.
Between this ordeal, my brother and I rotated my mattress, because I was making a grove in it. We also moved the TV unit I got over the summer at a garage sale for free. It's one of those wood panel things where you put a CRT in the middle, can put a VCR above or below it, and then there are drawers for tapes and other things. I pulled one of my spare CRTs out from behind my VHS wall (I have a "hide in plain sight" thing with my VHS wall), and my brother and I put it in. It's great. After all this we went to a local bar where I bought my brother and dad lunch. It's this bar that has a unique variety of beer, and they like beer. We each had a beer that matches our tastes while talking about life and eating a lighter lunch. After lunch and some more time, we went to mass with my grandparents in honor of my uncle, and afterwards we went out to dinner. It was a good meal, and got to see everyone. Good time.
Now for Sunday. I met my girlfriend halfway between our cities for an afternoon of fun and exploring. We went to the outback steakhouse for lunch, and that was a good meal. I also showed her how to put more windshield wiper fluid in her car (I like being able to be her handyman, I've helped with other handyman chores in the past). After lunch we went to the mall in the city and just walked around holding hands. We went to some stores, and I helped her pick out some new ear rings (because she needed some where the backs wouldn't fall out, and I know my physics properties). It was a pretty empty mall, with a lot of vacant store locations, but there was a little arcade with "quarter in-quarter out" coin pushers. Since I have a coin pusher, I looked at them to see if it was worth playing, but after looking at them I said "no, those are not ready to pay out." We also took some pictures, because we wanted some pictures together. After the mall we went to get ice cream. That was fun. We did a little more exploring of the city, but didn't find anything else, so we just sat in my car listening to music. After 4 or so hours together, we went home. Apparently I didn't fully close the hood of her car, and it was rattling (she has one of those hood locks that keeps it from flying open if not fully closed). I got a concerned call on my drive home, and I explained what happened and how to fix it, and after stopping at the next exit everything was fine. That was my weekend. Later.
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