The View From Wisconsin

Some thoughts for a Saturday Morning in August:

• I just ran through my iTunes list, comparing it to the titles on The Beatles: Rock Band. Of the 45 regular tracks and the one "bonus" track for the Xbox ("All You Need Is Love"), I only have 25 of them. Does that make me less of a Beatles fan than I thought I was?
  
• Speaking of which, part of me wants to read through the Rolling Stone article on the breakup of the Beatles, and part of me doesn't. Mostly because trying to explain the breakup of the Beatles is like trying to describe World War II.
  
• I think I did a good thing in scheduling my Furlough days prior to November/December, and not on a weekend. I suspect at some time before the year is over I will get ordered on to first shift due to snow and such.
  
• After watching the Cowboys-Titans game, I'm convinced that that HD scoreboard at Cowboys Stadium is going to get hit, hit, hit with punts - unless they figure out how they can raise it up without causing other problems.
  
• The Brewers are on the Triple-A portion of their schedule, with games against Washington, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh (who, unfortunately, we've proven that we can't beat). If they go 9-0, then maybe we can salvage the season. I doubt it, though.
  
• Saw a new "100 Calorie" product at the store last night - Little Debbie has a new Cookies & Cream cake that looks yummy on the package. Only one problem: you open up the box, pull one out, and it's smaller than an iPod nano. Seriously: it's smaller than an inch by inch by two inches. I tried not to eat it in two bites, but it was incredibly hard to do so.
  
• Marcel Goc. Why? In essence, signing him was a trade between the Preds and the Sharks for third-line centers. Former Pred Scott Nichol signed with the Sharks, essentially as an "upgrade" from Goc, who isn't as tough and doesn't score as much. Most observers see him as a Milwaukee pickup. I'm thinking I'll be seeing him in Admirals laundry this year.
  
• Guilty pleasure: watching Man vs. Food. I'm waiting for him to show up at the Heart Attack Grill in Tempe, AZ.
  

PT Cruiser repair update: My PT Cruiser's vent issue was finally solved on Thursday. The replacement cable came in, and the only thing left to do was remove the old one and put the new one in. So - slip the old cable off its connections to the control levers on both sides, take it out of the clip attaching it to the control panel, and... wait a minute, that's a bolt there stuck all the way back under the dash frame. And the head is recessed enough that my nut driver can't get around it to loosen it.

So, as I'm struggling to figure out how to get it off - and considering snipping the cable off - I realize a neighbor of mine is out in his garage. He has a small wrench that fits, and with a little more help after getting the cable seated right, I finally have the vent system defogging my windows. Putting everything back in was relatively easy compared to that.

I took a good look at the old cable - what had happened was that the cable itself got frayed, probably from years of constant switching and (perhaps) the lever seizing up on the lever atop the vent canister. When the canister got stuck, for whatever reason (I'm still thinking that a seed or twig or something fell into the vent system), the cable got bent from my attempts at switching from vent to defogger.

After seeing how the controls for the HVAC system in my car works, I can only say two things:

1. It is rather disheartening how Chrysler cut corners on the PT Cruiser by concentrating more on the exterior and looks of the car instead of thinking through the interior and controls, and
2. Looking at the inside of your car is a little bit like going to a sausage factory or attending a congressional hearing. You know the old saying by John Godfrey Saxe: "Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made."