It has been 5 months since I was able to work out at my community center gym. Today 2020 Aug 17 the Toronto public gyms reopened, but with significant changes. Overall I felt that the City of Toronto did a really good job in infection control and cleanliness, considering pandemic circumstances.
Though I have been strength training at home, I don’t have the weights required to get a good pump and build strength, so it has only been maintenance. Working out at home, which will continue (I will explain) is a bit boring and at times very difficult for motivation. Still, when you have no other options a home workout must do.
Nutribullet NB101B was non-functional. A cleaning of the actuator switches fixed it. Three drainage holes were unclogged. Now it works.
A friend gave me his Nutribullet NB101-B, a small blender used for smoothies. The blender was non-functional but intact. He said that the blender was well used, but started acting intermittently, after which it stopped working. There are many youtube vids on cleaning the blender, and the cleaning did fix the problem. There are, of course, extra details that I discovered.
A friend has this Thinkpad/Lenovo keyboard for a long time, but the right mouse button was becoming erratic. We decided to disassemble and clean it and try to fix the right mouse button. on the back of the keyboard, CEM-2015-05-29 Rev W02 Fru PIN 03X8715
ThinkPad Wired USB Keyboard with TrackPoint, 0B47190. Front of keyboard. Photo 1 by Don Tai
Prying the Clamshell Apart
Turning the keyboard over there are rubber pads on each corner and one in the middle. These do not have screws underneath, so disregard them. This is a plastic clamshell. I used a credit card to pry open the clamshell from the USB port, and then used a flat head screwdriver to pry the two halves part. The front bezel comes apart easily.
Little Giant 554405 VCMA-15 non-submersible condensate pump
Awoke, we did, to a puddle at the foot of our basement stairs. Water. Perchance Little Weed had spilled a very large glass of water? Surely not. It turned out that our furnace water pump was no longer pumping. A repair was in order, and fast. Here is how I cleaned out the pump. It now works.
Kenmore®/MD 30” Freestanding Self-Clean Gas Range in White, from Sears. It works very well.
Wwe made the plunge into natural gas and bought a white Kenmore 30″ freestanding self-clean gas stove from Sears. Sears has some crazy numbering scheme so the stove is Item #: 223 674 132 10 as well as 790-74132. We had it delivered, and I had to get an outside contractor to install it. Before I bought it I found very few reviews of these stoves. After 3 months of use here is my review, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Fanboy, I am, on the Aquaclear (AC) line of aquarium power filters, specifically the AC20 to AC70 line. Not only are they reliable and serviceable, they are very flexible and easy to tailor to your specific tank needs. While there are some issues with noise, if you do regular filter maintenance you will be rewarded with stellar performance. There are a few customizations you can do that will make these filters even more flexible.
Maintenance of any mechanical device is important for the smooth and trouble free operation. A ripstik is a kid’s toy, similar to a skateboard, and as a kid’s toy, gets vicious abuse. We bought a used Ripstik Classic and it really needed some TLC. Here is what we did. As a result of our maintenance the ripstik runs much smoother and glides farther, resulting in faster speeds and/or less effort. These are all benefits of a couple of hours of maintenance.
