Pop the lock

Yesterday was another long day of virtual classroom training.  Sure it is great to sit at home in your underwear and be “working”.  However the Microsoft training format can be pretty dry.  A lot of the subject matter being covered does not apply to networks as small as what I manage.  I try to pay attention best I can.

There also is a lot of repetition, needless repetition if you ask me.  The instructor will talk about a subject and then go through a demo of the subject.  Then the student is supposed to do a lab where you do the exact same shit the instructor just did.  It just doesn’t seem like a very effective use of time.

My hope for this class is to use it as a starting point for upgrading my Microsoft server certification to the 2012 level. (currently at 2008)  The prep to do this is again not an effective use of time.  I wind up memorizing a bunch of details about a bunch of features of the product that I will never use.  Once the test is passed that information will quickly vanish from my brain, never to be found again.  But at least I’ll have a nice piece of paper to show for it.

I had the dogs out here with me yesterday to keep me company.  During my lunch hour I had an unconventional workout that was backed up by an unconventional video (by my standards).  Check it out.

After class left out I headed outside to work on the van.  When Cindy borrowed the van to go to Key West she had a couple incidents.  The first encounter with a big palm frond left part of the rubber air dam dangling.  This was easily fixed with some spare fasteners I had laying around.

The second issue was she pushed the driver side door lock cylinder out.  That cylinder had been loose for a long time so I just had been babying it when inserting the key.  Well I hadn’t warned Cindy ahead of time of the issue so when she stuck the key in full force it popped the cylinder in and down into the body of the door.

Getting this corrected was far more tedious.  After removing the inside door panel I spent a good half hour trying to awkwardly position the cylinder back in place.  The lock is behind sheet metal with a few holes in it.  I was trying to peer through the holes while balancing/rotating the lock with my one hand that was jammed behind the sheet metal.  I also had various rods and other door hardware to contend with.

The lock only went in one way as there was a slot that had to be in just the right position.  Finally after much futzing around and a lot of muttering under my breath I got it.  Not only did the lock slide back in, it also was once again secure, no longer sliding back and forth when the key is inserted, bonus.

Did I mention that for the second year in a row I am in my fantasy football league’s championship game?  I won my last game easily.  This is also the second year in a row that I have risen from the ashes.  I started this season either 1-3 or 0-4.  All of a sudden my team caught fire, just like last year.  The funny  thing is I am pretty sure I put the least amount of planning/thought into my team of any of the owners in the league.  If I somehow manage to win it all it would be a testament to poor planning and minimal effort.

Today is shaping up to be another day similar to yesterday.