I’m counting last week as week one because it was the first week that I lived AND worked in the RV. That commuting back to the apartment foolishness is now over and my little “office” is setup.
I’ve got to admit that it’s taken some getting used to. When I first stated working from home four years ago (mid-August 2005), it was really difficult to find a groove to it all. I’m feeling the same way again as I try to adapt to my new space and MUCH smaller desk. The picture on the left doesn’t really do my old desk a lot of justice – just snagged it from the vendor website – but trust me, it was significantly bigger than my current.
Aside from the desk size differences, it’s been hard to stay focused. I’ll start in on something and I’ll glaze over for a few seconds and completely lose what I was trying to do. I’m always easily distracted, but I’ve not really experienced distraction like this since way back in 2005. Hopefully, it will get better over time as it did back then. For now, I just have to persevere until I find my groove again and not let work pile up too high.
Had some workus interruptus Friday as the power went out right around 3pm. I had my two computers running, all the network equipment, and MJ had her computer running, the a/c was on and then MJ turned on a small fan in the bedroom, which all = kablooey. The breakers tripped and we couldn’t get them to re-seat properly, so we figured we’d broken something serious. We checked power at the pole, checked our cord, and also checked the circuit breaker in the front storage compartment. We tried flipping everything off and on several times, and no luck. The circuit panel inside with the breakers that were tripped, has a number of the bladed fuses like in cars, so I yanked all of those out and tested them as well. Everything seemed fine.
But, it was three o’clock in August. The air had been off less than 20 minutes before we were sweating bullets. Just uncomfortable. One of the annoying things about these RVs is that no matter the manufacturer, no two models are exactly alike. Everything inside from the toilet to the circuitry to appliances can all come from different manufacturers. So the “manual” we got with her consists of about 20 different manuals from all the manufacturers who have products in our home. There’s no clear way to find a quick answer. And I felt like we were probably missing something simple. Some switch, some thingymabob, in some random compartment that would solve all our problems. Frustrated, I decided I’d just call the dealer who sold us the home. I talked with a guy in the service dept and he said that it seemed we’d checked everything, but maybe the converter was blown.
With that information, MJ pulled out our extended warranty card and called them to find out how we got service. Seems they also have a 24 hour troubleshooting line, so she talked to him and yes, we’d tried everything – best get to a shop and have it corrected.
Next hurdle? The big RV show is coming into town in two weeks and the main RV dealers we’ve had contact with are busybusy and couldn’t possibly see us until after Sept. 15th. Did I mention it was August? And we have no air? And live right on the river where we get the worst humidity at times? While MJ is calling dealers, I’m running down the battery on my laptop with the Cricket mobile thingy searching for mobile RV repair – someone who will come out here and fix us.
Long story shorter, the dealer practically around the corner from us had an electrician who would be in the next morning, so we made our appt. After a long, hot evening, uncomfortable sleep and the hour or so it takes to pack up the house for moving and hitching it up, we find that our problem had to do with breaker switches not resetting properly. There is a faceplate that surrounds the switches, and while it doesn’t look like it, the thing actually blocks the breaker from seating firmly into “Off.” Bobby, the mechanic, showed MJ that the two switches needed to be flipped all the way off and back on again. And so ends our sweat-soaked night of confusion and misery. A faceplate. That we could’ve removed ourselves. There’s a mistake we’re not likely to make again.
Sunday, we had some lunch over at Squire’s, the popular local restaurant. MJ and I have been there a few times in the past and haven’t been all that impressed, but we’d never tried their pizza, so we gave them another shot. The pizza was pretty decent and not overpriced, so I think I could have that again. The main reason for going was so that we could have something to eat before hitting the grocery store. Bad things happen when we shop on empty stomachs. I grew up in Germany and had this notion pounded in my head repeatedly by the Armed Forces Network (AFN). AFN never showed regular commercial ads, just public service announcements and community news. A lot of the PSAs were animated and most had jingles. I still remember a few a them, but this one was a little song and dance called “Don’t Shop When You’re Hungry – No, no no!” For a glimpse of one my milder childhood miseries, go to YouTube and search for AFN commercials or AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Services) commercials.
Anyway, lunch had, we headed to the grocery store. Typically this is a task that I’m able to avoid, but I got blindsided with it today and we were in sore need of groceries. If I’m forced to grocery shop on my own, I prefer late at night or early weekday mornings. Weekends are out the question. All the people, stopping randomly, stopping with their cart blocking the whole aisle, turning corners as there would never be someone else coming the opposite direction. You have a cart, with four wheels - I feel all the rules of vehicular traffic should still apply. Or I’m just a fascist. Whichever way, it annoys me.
But on the bright side, this Giant recently had a grand re-opening and they’ve put in a service called “Scan It!” You put in your club card number or phone number and are issued a little scanner, then you grab some bags or bring your own and start shopping, scanning everything as you put it into your bags. To check out, you go into the special checkout lane, hand the woman the scanner, pay and gone. That definitely made today’s trip a little more palatable. It’s so geeky. And the large carts even have a little holder built in for the thing.
Also, I don’t know if this is a regular thing (as I try to avoid the store, right?), but there was a three piece jazz band entertaining us. We started at the opposite end of the store and as we moved toward them, I was thinking, man that music is getting louder and wow, that sounds live. Then we finally saw them. Pretty cool, I guess.
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See, shopping CAN be fun!