{"id":668,"date":"2014-09-03T23:01:21","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T06:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/?p=668"},"modified":"2015-11-28T22:15:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-29T05:15:32","slug":"faking-my-way-through-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/faking-my-way-through-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Faking my way through life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I admit it. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;m not a perfectionist. \u00c2\u00a0I kinda do a half-assed job of most things, mainly because functional is more convenient than pretty. Early on in my programming life I tried my hand at graphical user interfaces. \u00c2\u00a0I failed miserably. \u00c2\u00a0After the program worked, I found it somewhat pointless to make it look pretty. \u00c2\u00a0That&#8217;s probably the reason why I work on compilers and software tools&#8211; computer programs that will NEVER be seen by the naked eye, let alone by my friends and family. \u00c2\u00a0Compilers are those things that you just pray to god works, because no one wants to take a look inside. \u00c2\u00a0Somewhat like the master cylinder in your car brake system.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nMy whole attitude towards getting it done did not gel properly with my dad who sits on the other end of the spectrum. \u00c2\u00a0You want something done right, you ask him. \u00c2\u00a0It&#8217;ll take longer, but it&#8217;ll be working and a beauty to look at. \u00c2\u00a0Case in point, my blueetooth stereo contraption he helped me install in the RV. \u00c2\u00a0That thing is a work of art. \u00c2\u00a0Even the internal wiring (that no one will ever see) is properly routed and placed. \u00c2\u00a0Left to my own devices, I would&#8217;ve had 4 cables sticking out of the stereo system and a manual override switch I could kick with my foot.<\/p>\n<p>Enough useless preamble to explain how getting the job done is more important in my way of doing things, probably because my brain works that way. \u00c2\u00a0This is the main reason I&#8217;ve refused to take on any do-it-yourself projects in the RV. \u00c2\u00a0It&#8217;s a fancy RV. \u00c2\u00a0I don&#8217;t want to ruin its resale value (if I ever part with it), and if I put but one hand on it, it&#8217;s going to end up having wires and PVC pipes coming out of the unlikeliest of places.<\/p>\n<p>This is the reason I&#8217;ve neglected to fix the windshield fluid mechanism, despite the fact that I&#8217;ve been driving with a windshield that looks like I&#8217;ve been 4-wheeling through a cattle ranch. \u00c2\u00a0However, every time I find a dealer that will service a Mercedes Sprinter chassis, they let me know off the bat, that the next available appointment is at least two weeks out. \u00c2\u00a0Now, what good is warranty work if it takes a fortnight to use?<\/p>\n<p>I had some time to kill this weekend, so I figured I&#8217;d just diagnose it like I do everything else at work. \u00c2\u00a0Follow the flow of logic, tear things apart step by step, save your work, pray to Kutulu that things will work when you put them back together, and if they don&#8217;t&#8211; call Carlos or Richard.<\/p>\n<p>Well, I&#8217;m proud to say that an hour later, having taken out my trusty multimeter, and having pulled at any hose remotely resembling something that may carry water and\/or windshield fluid, I managed to dump fluid all over my new running shoes, and swallow some fluid I can absolute testify is NOT water OR windshield fluid. \u00c2\u00a0But, I got the sediment out of the pump and seal, and put things together reasonably well (daddy approved). \u00c2\u00a0I now have a clean windshield&#8230;after about 10,000 miles. \u00c2\u00a0One small step for mankind, but one huge step for Scissorhands Aldy.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-669\" title=\"Fixing the windshield water pump\" src=\"http:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/img_20140621_152026-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Fixing the windshield water pump\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/img_20140621_152026-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/img_20140621_152026-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/img_20140621_152026.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Oh, and I climbed three or four thousand feet on the bike today on my way to see Mount St. Helens in Washington. \u00c2\u00a0How cool is that? \u00c2\u00a0No eruptions today though.<\/p>\n<p>Two for two! <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-671\" title=\"Mount St. Helens\" src=\"http:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-06-21-1024x729.jpg\" alt=\"Mount St. Helens\" width=\"614\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-06-21-1024x729.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-06-21-300x213.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I admit it. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;m not a perfectionist. \u00c2\u00a0I kinda do a half-assed job of most things, mainly because functional is more convenient than pretty. Early on in my programming life I tried my hand at graphical user interfaces. \u00c2\u00a0I failed miserably. \u00c2\u00a0After the program worked, I found it somewhat pointless to make it look pretty. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/faking-my-way-through-life\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Faking my way through life<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":997,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668\/revisions\/997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}