Another milestone for Z'ha'dum...

I've moved my aquarium in from the apartment. I have it currently placed against the South wall in my livingroom. About one-third of the way down the wall, favoring the picture window. I had wanted to put it on the North wall in the "nook" near the kitchen wall, but that will most likely obstruct the construction of the bar in the coming months. The only other spot I could put it in on the North wall would be up by the window, behind the wall that divides the entryway from the livingroom proper. Thatspot would be quite nice but there is one problem: it's a switched outlet there, and that's no good. The wiring of this place may drive me insane -- when an outlet is switched here it means both receptacles on the duplex are switched, which is just... well, call it sloppy wiring on the electrician's part. I may fix the outlet on the North wall and move the tank, but I think I'll tackle that project later. The spot where the tank is right now isn't bad, it's just non-optimal. Maybe it'll grow on me over the next week and I'll reconsider my decision to move it.

Having filled it with fresh water and treated it for chlorine I have to let it sit and cycle for a while before putting the fish back in. I'm sure chebutykin will have choice words for me since I'm cutting corners, but sometimes that's just how it goes.

The only casualty of the move thus far is my back from picking up the tank badly (it still had a gallon or two of water in it, plus allt eh aquarium gravel) and my right shoulder. Oddly my shoulder only got hurt when I had to force the tank stand up so I could shim the left side and make it level.

Now that it is humming away and purging toxins I believe I shall embark on the next set of chores -- I need to find cables for my new receiver (an Onkyo TX-SR601 DTS 6.1 Surround decoder with dual-zone capabilities) and some face plates for the walls in the Blue room of Death. White outlet faceplates would just look... wrong.

Ain't that America?

Another milestone for Z'ha'dum...

I've moved my aquarium in from the apartment. I have it currently placed against the South wall in my livingroom. About one-third of the way down the wall, favoring the picture window. I had wanted to put it on the North wall in the "nook" near the kitchen wall, but that will most likely obstruct the construction of the bar in the coming months. The only other spot I could put it in on the North wall would be up by the window, behind the wall that divides the entryway from the livingroom proper. Thatspot would be quite nice but there is one problem: it's a switched outlet there, and that's no good. The wiring of this place may drive me insane -- when an outlet is switched here it means both receptacles on the duplex are switched, which is just... well, call it sloppy wiring on the electrician's part. I may fix the outlet on the North wall and move the tank, but I think I'll tackle that project later. The spot where the tank is right now isn't bad, it's just non-optimal. Maybe it'll grow on me over the next week and I'll reconsider my decision to move it.

Having filled it with fresh water and treated it for chlorine I have to let it sit and cycle for a while before putting the fish back in. I'm sure chebutykin will have choice words for me since I'm cutting corners, but sometimes that's just how it goes.

The only casualty of the move thus far is my back from picking up the tank badly (it still had a gallon or two of water in it, plus allt eh aquarium gravel) and my right shoulder. Oddly my shoulder only got hurt when I had to force the tank stand up so I could shim the left side and make it level.

Now that it is humming away and purging toxins I believe I shall embark on the next set of chores -- I need to find cables for my new receiver (an Onkyo TX-SR601 DTS 6.1 Surround decoder with dual-zone capabilities) and some face plates for the walls in the Blue room of Death. White outlet faceplates would just look... wrong.

Ain't that America?

if it ain't one thing it's another...

I got my errands done... I now have wall plates for the Blue Room, I have coffe filters, I have the proper 150w bulb for my torchiere lamp and I achieved cables for hooking together my A/V gear. Things look like they're going good... I had a bit of trouble with the wires so I had to exchange them, but that was no big deal. In the end I actually saved $24 so it was a benefit rather than an annoyance.

I get everything wired together, throw the switch on the TV and discover the Onkyo's inputs are scrambled... No matter what input I take I only see the feed from the DVD input, and that's flickering and scrolling so badly it obscures the Onkyo's On-screen Display. I redid the wiring, changed inputs around and did whatever else I could to troubleshoot the problem. Everything points back at the receiver no matter what I try.

To say that I'm disappointed is a bit of an understatement. Fortunately for me there is an Onkyo authorized service center about 20 miles from me in Carol Stream. I'll be giving them a call tomorrow and hoping against hope that they're open. If I am lucky and they are open I will schedule a time to drop the receiver off for examination and repair, although I am going to push for outright replacement.

This is rather frustrating and leaves me with a level of stress that is absolutely out of proportion to the situation. Fortunately I can do other things about the house (like laundry or work in the BRoD) while I have all this angry energy to work off.

if it ain't one thing it's another...

I got my errands done... I now have wall plates for the Blue Room, I have coffe filters, I have the proper 150w bulb for my torchiere lamp and I achieved cables for hooking together my A/V gear. Things look like they're going good... I had a bit of trouble with the wires so I had to exchange them, but that was no big deal. In the end I actually saved $24 so it was a benefit rather than an annoyance.

I get everything wired together, throw the switch on the TV and discover the Onkyo's inputs are scrambled... No matter what input I take I only see the feed from the DVD input, and that's flickering and scrolling so badly it obscures the Onkyo's On-screen Display. I redid the wiring, changed inputs around and did whatever else I could to troubleshoot the problem. Everything points back at the receiver no matter what I try.

To say that I'm disappointed is a bit of an understatement. Fortunately for me there is an Onkyo authorized service center about 20 miles from me in Carol Stream. I'll be giving them a call tomorrow and hoping against hope that they're open. If I am lucky and they are open I will schedule a time to drop the receiver off for examination and repair, although I am going to push for outright replacement.

This is rather frustrating and leaves me with a level of stress that is absolutely out of proportion to the situation. Fortunately I can do other things about the house (like laundry or work in the BRoD) while I have all this angry energy to work off.