Herpaderp and general screw-ups thread

I should have stayed in bed yesterday...grab a tea and some biscuits. This is long..

Had an audit client booked for 11am. I avoid driving into the city unless I have to take a school group in there, so I decided to catch the train in, from a station 500m down the road from our depot.
Depending on time, I'd possibly be able to have yum cha for lunch after the audit, and then catch one of our buses back to work, as we have a run into the city every afternoon, and I knew there wasn't much credit left on my transport card, which I rarely use anyway.

In that case, we'd make it back to the yard just in time for me to get in the car and head for my evening class. I left my course work in a bag in the car, but I also left the unnecessary things from my handbag behind.
Like my sunglasses and that pesky umbrella that takes up so much room, in order to be able to fit the laptop power cable in, and zip it up - because public transport.

Walked to the station, hopped on the train and realised I would be a bit late, as there was an announcement made about delays on the line I was on. Thought I'd send the client an email, and let them know I was on the way, but would be delayed. Fishing around in my handbag, I can't find my phone... which also contains the email that had the address of the office building I was heading to. This wasn't such a problem, as I had looked it up on google earth the previous night, so I had a pretty good idea where it was.
Got off the train, and onto the tram that would get me to within a block of where I needed to be. Then started walking at a rather brisk pace to try to make it within about 10 minutes of our scheduled time. Looking at the street numbers of 470-499, I knew I needed to keep going...wondering why I didn't go to a station much closer to the other end of the street, since I was looking for 240.

It didn't look that far from the tram stop and the theatre on the map I'd looked at, so why was it such a long walk? 20 minutes later, I got to 250, but after that the whole street becomes a pedestrian mall filled with shops...this can't be right. it's not in there... and they said Haymarket, not Sydney (different suburb), but there is no clear boundary between them, and I didn't notice the street numbers roll over and start again, as they do in some streets running through multiple suburbs.
So I turned around and started back the way I had come, on the other side of the road, checking numbers again. I got back to the railway station, and stopped at a payphone to call our office to check a map for me.

I hadn't been into the office, so they wouldn't have seen my phone, and wouldn't be able to access the address I needed, or be able to find contact details for the company to call them on my behalf, since I couldn't remember it myself.
The secretary doesn't drive, and asking her to check a map for me with the address I'd given her was no use. She passed me on to one of the other drivers, who wanted to hang up and call me back on my mobile...
I told him I needed to find 240, and he told me the cross streets on either side of it, but that didn't help. I'm now 30 minutes late.

Finally I called into the Sydney Central YHA, knowing they'd have maps, and asked there for directions to 420. Totally not realising I'd transposed the numbers...I'd already walked past this particular building twice.

I'd decided to wear shoes I hadn't worn in ages, and they were starting to rub blisters on my toes. Walk into building 420 (It had huge numbers, how didn't I see them?), find the company I need in suite 105 - level 1, suite 5 yeah?
There are 3 lifts - two for residential use, and one for the corporate suites, but the buttons in the corporate lift start at level 8...
So I walk out and find the concierge to ask where I find suite 105.
It's on the 10th floor. The ground floor, is actually the 8th floor....

When I get to the 10th floor, it's a maze of corridors, and the only office without a number is of course 105, so I've already done a lap of the floor by the time I walk in and ask.
I'm almost a full hour late. My feet hurt, and I'm sweating like hell because it's 400% humidity.

The manager doing the audit with me gets me some water. Boiling hot water! WTF?!

Anyway, we get started, and I find I don't have a pen. Nevermind, they have some floating around...
Despite having looked through the audit documents on his own, he doesn't have a bunch of critical paperwork we need. We're at 3.5 hours when he asks to take a break for lunch. And so I leave until 4.30pm.

This means I won't be able to get a lift back to the depot with our driver that will be coming past at about that time. I really needed to be leaving then, if I was going to make it to class on time.

Going back, they still don't have all the documents they need, but I can't stay any longer, and they cannot get the documents today anyhow, so we pack up.
By the time the manager has said goodbye to me after walking me down stairs, it's now POURING rain.

My umbrella is in the car...I can't sit in a cafe or the pub next door and wait it out, so I get drowned crossing roads to get to the tram stop. I can barely see through my glasses, which keep sliding down my nose anyway.
The first tram is full. No one has any hope of getting on.
The second one 13 minutes later is almost as full, but I squeeze on with a couple of others who were also caught in the rain, and we comiserate with each other.

Heading into the Central railway station at 20 past 5 is insane. I rarely ever come here, so I have to check the indicator boards to find what platform I need (there are something like 27 of them), and then figure out where that platform is..
Just as I step onto the train, there is an announcement that the line I need to get back to work is affected by flash flooding, and there are no services running. They don't know when services will resume. We're being diverted to another line, with a couple of stops at stations on the regular line not affected.

I have to switch trains 3 times to finally make it back to the station near work. My feet are now soggy and bleeding, and I have .44c left on my transport card. It's now well past time that I should have been almost back where I'd started from, in the car on the way to class.
When I get back to the yard, there is my phone on the dashboard of the car, and the umbrella on the front seat.

Peeling off my soggy jumper, and with the heater/demister on full I set off for class on the other side of the city, sending Tiia, our teacher, an email letting her know I'd be late, and I get there a full hour late for a 2 hour lesson. At least it's stuff I've covered before.

Oh, and I still didn't have a pen. :-|
 
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Thanks! Today was a lot better. Though my job got washed out. So I spent the day at home finalising what I could of the audit - the guy hasn't sent through any of the documents I need, and it's due to the govt. on Friday, and going over the worksheet that Tiia had started us on in class last night.
 
Changed the rear brakes on the Jag. Tightening up the final bolt....hang on, the shim side of the pad isn't supposed to face the rotor, is it? Nope; unbolt, put the pads in the right way, now tighten.

Go for a test drive, brakes feeling mushy and not stopping as emphatically as they should be....oh right, I sprayed WD-40 rust remover onto one of the front wheels while trying to break my winter wheels loose, and some of that must've gotten onto the pads and rotors. Gotta take that side apart and clean as much of that crap off as possible with brake cleaner.
 
Started the oil change on my motorcycle this morning after dropping off the kids at daycare and school, and after dumping the old oil decided to check if I had enough oil... Nope, 1l short.

Jump in the car, leave for the nearest motorcycle dealership, in rush hour, decide to check what time they open halfway through the drive, :censored:, they open 1h after I get there.

Edit: And I went to work on my bike, without bringing my rain suit, thinking I would come back before the rain. I did not. Derp.

At least my Dainese boots successfully passed the rain test, my feet are the only dry and warm parts of my body right now.
 
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Those who know me will be well aware that I am most definitely not a morning person but today was a classic example.

Leaving for work, just 20 minutes after getting up this morning, I found myself trying to unlock the front door of the house with the central locking button for the car!

:wheelchair:
 
Forgot my work boots at home. Hope this job I'm at isn't going to care.
 
You are even more grumpy in the morning? :p

Actually I'm not grumpy in the morning, I just like to take my time coming to and ensuring I am adequately caffeinated.
 
Those who know me will be well aware that I am most definitely not a morning person but today was a classic example.

Leaving for work, just 20 minutes after getting up this morning, I found myself trying to unlock the front door of the house with the central locking button for the car!

:wheelchair:

I often try and open the doors of the shed at work with the remote for the garage door at home.
 
Stood on one of these:

asussilentknight2_pspc2.jpg


It was on the floor where I left it instead of putting it away, stood on it with just my right big toe and now I have three nice neat slices in the toe where the copper cut through...
 
I received today a pack of 3 combination trigger locks I had ordered.

The packaging was open on the right side, and at first I didn't mind, but then I realized I could not get any of the 3 locks to open with the default 0-0-0 code.

I contacted the seller, who offered to ship a new set for free and to just throw away this pack, but when he offered that I was already halfway through the 1000 combination possibilities.

Hoping all 3 locks had been set to a similar combination by a prankster (the open side of the packaging is where you have the push button to change the combinations), I kept going all the way, but no combination worked.


I then read the instructions again, and found a step I had missed before, you need to twist part of the lock before pulling it open.

All 3 locks were correctly set at 0-0-0 all along.


DERP!
 
On the plus side, you now know exactly how long it takes to brute force your lock :p
 
So the vent directions on my Jeep are vacuum controlled. It hasn't been working lately so I figured I had another vacuum leak. Jibduh came over to help out messing with the thing. We started by patching the vacuum hose in the spot where it leaked the last time. Got in the truck, turned the key to ACC, played with the HVAC control, no change. Moving up the line, found a bit that was totally corroded. Ran to Advanced Auto and bought some connectors to replace the crumbly bits. Did that, got in the truck, turned the key to ACC, played with the HVAC control, no change. Spent about 20 minutes poking at other various bits of the vacuum line trying to understand why nothing was happening. We were about to give up and move onto my radio rewiring project, when it hit me.... "the vent door needs vacuum to work, if there was a leak in the system, there's no vacuum in the reservoir, and simply turning the key to ACC won't get the vacuum pump working. Started the motor and sure enough, the vents worked.
 
So the vent directions on my Jeep are vacuum controlled. It hasn't been working lately so I figured I had another vacuum leak. Jibduh came over to help out messing with the thing. We started by patching the vacuum hose in the spot where it leaked the last time. Got in the truck, turned the key to ACC, played with the HVAC control, no change. Moving up the line, found a bit that was totally corroded. Ran to Advanced Auto and bought some connectors to replace the crumbly bits. Did that, got in the truck, turned the key to ACC, played with the HVAC control, no change. Spent about 20 minutes poking at other various bits of the vacuum line trying to understand why nothing was happening. We were about to give up and move onto my radio rewiring project, when it hit me.... "the vent door needs vacuum to work, if there was a leak in the system, there's no vacuum in the reservoir, and simply turning the key to ACC won't get the vacuum pump working. Started the motor and sure enough, the vents worked.

*filing this away for future reference* :p
 
Made lunch last night as I always do. Put it in the fridge as I always do. Put my ice packs in the freezer as I always do.

This morning, I put my ice packs in my lunchbox as I always do. Put all my snacks and non-refrigerated foods in my lunchbox as I always do. Put a pack of yogurt in my lunchbox as I always do. And left the rest of my lunch in the fridge.... as I always don't.
 
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Still in shock from selling the Miata?
 
Still in shock from selling the Miata?

Something like that. On the plus side, my lunch for today was already made.
 
Last week I updated Android on my smartphone to 8.0. Since I know that some settings get changed when you update any OS I looked at all settings and reconfigured them to my liking. Yesterday I went to a friend by bicycle, but as I never cycled there I used the OsmAnd app as satnav. Unfortunately the app didn't provide me with spoken directions, but as it was dark and you can set the screen to turn on before a turn I found the way. Meanwhile Spotify worked perfectly, I have one earbud in to have music and navigation while still being able to hear everything else around me.

Today I searched for a solution why the app didn't have sound anymore. Deleted and re-downloaded the speech files, tried this and that, but nothing helped. Then I went back to the system settings where it occured to me that I disabled Text-to-Speech. After enabling it and rebooting the phone OsmAnd is able to do voice guidance again...
 
Today I had to bring my truck out of hibernation so I could make a quick trip in it. I put a battery charger on it and had to remove it before I could leave. That was easy enough, but I had problems with the hood. When I tried to close it, it did not close properly, and I could not just push it closed so I needed to reopen the hood to give it some oomph when closing it. For some damn reason I could not get it to release. I played with it for about 10 minutes becoming increasingly frustrated. I then looked under the hood with a flashlight and discovered I was trying to push the hood latch the wrong way.... D'oh!!!

I could only laugh at myself. I am sure the neighbors thought I was nuts. ;lol:
 
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