I rented a car this week in Dallas, and it is a late model Dodge Caliber. The left turn signal was clicking very rapidly, and from my experience it meant that one of the turn signal bulb filament is burned out. I verified that and determined that the rear left bulb was bad. In my previous cars, this is an easy thing to fix. Just open the trunk door, remove the tail light access panel and the bulb socket is usually easy to pulled out for bulb replacement.
Since we are still using this Dodge Caliber car for a couple more days and for safety reason, I decided to go ahead and replace the bulb myself. I happened to have the exact bulb needed in the garage.
In this Dodge Caliber, there is no access door to the tail light back side. The tail light is not held by screws, but held on by a couple of plastic wedge push on clip that spreads out as the center post is pushed in. This pin wedge thing broke up in pieces when you attempt to pull/pry out the center post. So why do Detroit engineers do this and perpetuate their incompetent design and poor engineering? Why not use a couple of screws to hold the tail light so it is easily removed to access the bulbs. Better yet, why not provide a tail light cut out/access panel so you don't need any tools to replace these tail light bulbs? Any import cars that I ever had always provide this access panel. Why can't Detroit be smart an be consumer friendly? Filament based light bulbs are bound to go out sooner than later. This is so stupid! Needless to say, the tail light is back on, but since the holes for this plastic thing are so big and the original clips are in pieces, I don't have any way of securing the tail light assembly properly. So it is now held in place by a couple of those rubber tire plugs.
Oh, one other thing. Before replacing the bulb, whenever the car is just started and driven, when I turned on the left turn signal for the first time within a few seconds later you hear a "chime". I didn't make the connection of this fact until later, and the manual didn't even have an index of the keyword chime or warning. I think the car's computer is programmed to recognize that one of the turn signal bulb is bad, but how would the average person know what this chime meant? Nothing on the dashboard indicated that something is amiss.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Plane, Train and Automobiles (well, not the train)
We had a plane reservation to go to Dallas for Tuesday late morning, and the plan was to get to Dallas that day, drive the next morning to Shreveport for Jan's mom funeral service.
At 9am that morning, Jan got a computer generated phone call from Southwest saying that our flight was canceled. They did not offer an alternative. So, after I got back from printing the funeral brochure we started looking for alternatives. The next 3 flights from SWA was also canceled. However, after some pleading, the agent talked to her supervisor, and managed to book us up for the 520pm flight. She told Jan to get to the airport as soon as possible, at least 3 hours early. Since we are not sure if that too will be cancelled, and knowing that if we can get to Dallas earlier we would have a better chance of driving to Shreveport the same day, we decided to also check with American Airlines. On the AA website none of their flights to Dallas showed any cancellation, so Jan called them, and after a 10-15 minute wait, we got an agent who promptly told her that most of their Dallas flights were also canceled. We then called the car rental agency in Dallas about our delayed arrival.
At the Denver airport, we hung around for our flight, and saw a couple of Dallas bound flights that were still on, but since we have already checked our baggage for the SWA schedule, we waited. At around 430pm the SWA public announcement mentioned that the weather in Dallas is getting worse, and to be prepared for getting stranded in Tulsa or remain in Denver. Well, we have a funeral to go to, besides are bag will end up in Tulsa if we didn't go, so we waited and finally boarded. The flight to Tulsa was un-eventful, and about 15 minutes before we landed, the flight attendant (Dallas based) told us that we'd probably will be able to continue to Dallas. That was a relief, since we knew that they too wanted to go home.
Two people boarded in Tulsa, and we continued on to Dallas. Once near DFW just as we were descending, we saw no visibility from the side windows due to freezing rain. Once or twice we saw some clearing and can see the lights below, but the pilots handled it well, and we landed safely around 930pm. By the time we got to the baggage carousel, our bags were already there. Hooray for SWA efficiency. I've never experience that with any other airlines.
We then took the courtesy bus to Thrifty rental car. It took us almost 45 minutes to get a dingy Dodge Caliber that reeked with cigarette smoke, manual window crank, and a drive shaft that in my opinion is out of balance as it goes wump wump wump as we drove it. The rental agent reminded me of Steve Martin watching the airline agent tapping on her computer and staring at the screen for what it seemed an eternity. Ditto here, and I even made a snide comment saying, you must have a really slow computer there. In any case, we made it home, swapped cars with Melissa's Nissan Xterra, picked up Lauren and Jonathan who were already waiting there. By that time it was past 11pm, and we left Dallas in freezing rain towards Shreveport.
Just past Tyler, the freezing drizzle turned to rain, and by the time we reached Shreveport, it was 2 am, and the local temperature was 36°F. We were so relieved that we made it there safely, and thank the Lord for keeping us save. We checked into a hotel, slept for about 4 hours and was able to be at the funeral on time.
At 9am that morning, Jan got a computer generated phone call from Southwest saying that our flight was canceled. They did not offer an alternative. So, after I got back from printing the funeral brochure we started looking for alternatives. The next 3 flights from SWA was also canceled. However, after some pleading, the agent talked to her supervisor, and managed to book us up for the 520pm flight. She told Jan to get to the airport as soon as possible, at least 3 hours early. Since we are not sure if that too will be cancelled, and knowing that if we can get to Dallas earlier we would have a better chance of driving to Shreveport the same day, we decided to also check with American Airlines. On the AA website none of their flights to Dallas showed any cancellation, so Jan called them, and after a 10-15 minute wait, we got an agent who promptly told her that most of their Dallas flights were also canceled. We then called the car rental agency in Dallas about our delayed arrival.
At the Denver airport, we hung around for our flight, and saw a couple of Dallas bound flights that were still on, but since we have already checked our baggage for the SWA schedule, we waited. At around 430pm the SWA public announcement mentioned that the weather in Dallas is getting worse, and to be prepared for getting stranded in Tulsa or remain in Denver. Well, we have a funeral to go to, besides are bag will end up in Tulsa if we didn't go, so we waited and finally boarded. The flight to Tulsa was un-eventful, and about 15 minutes before we landed, the flight attendant (Dallas based) told us that we'd probably will be able to continue to Dallas. That was a relief, since we knew that they too wanted to go home.
Two people boarded in Tulsa, and we continued on to Dallas. Once near DFW just as we were descending, we saw no visibility from the side windows due to freezing rain. Once or twice we saw some clearing and can see the lights below, but the pilots handled it well, and we landed safely around 930pm. By the time we got to the baggage carousel, our bags were already there. Hooray for SWA efficiency. I've never experience that with any other airlines.
We then took the courtesy bus to Thrifty rental car. It took us almost 45 minutes to get a dingy Dodge Caliber that reeked with cigarette smoke, manual window crank, and a drive shaft that in my opinion is out of balance as it goes wump wump wump as we drove it. The rental agent reminded me of Steve Martin watching the airline agent tapping on her computer and staring at the screen for what it seemed an eternity. Ditto here, and I even made a snide comment saying, you must have a really slow computer there. In any case, we made it home, swapped cars with Melissa's Nissan Xterra, picked up Lauren and Jonathan who were already waiting there. By that time it was past 11pm, and we left Dallas in freezing rain towards Shreveport.
Just past Tyler, the freezing drizzle turned to rain, and by the time we reached Shreveport, it was 2 am, and the local temperature was 36°F. We were so relieved that we made it there safely, and thank the Lord for keeping us save. We checked into a hotel, slept for about 4 hours and was able to be at the funeral on time.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
January - an Update in Memory of Sue Gow
As mentioned in my previous blog, Jan went to Charleston to spend whatever time she has left with her mom. It has been weighting heavily in her heart that her mom have not been saved, and a couple of days ago, while she was alone with her mom, she just held her hand and talked about Jesus and prayed with her, and said her goodbyes. Last Sunday, our pastor preached about the steps of being a christian that consists of accepting the Savior's gift, followed by desire to fellowship, then desire for sharing and compassion, and from there to evangelism. The latter is not fire and brimstone, but to share your good news. It is then up to the Lord to working in that person soul for salvation of him or her to occur. Our evangelistic duty is to pass on our knowledge and faith to those who have never heard the Good News.
Today, her mom passed away peacefully, and we prayed that she heard the words and promise of our Lord and internally accepted Him as her Savior.
Since her deceased husband was buried in Shreveport, LA, Jan and her siblings are planning to bury her there, alongside her husband. It will take place on Wednesday, January 28 at Forest Park Funeral Home, 1201 Louisiana Ave, Shreveport, LA 71101 (318-221-7181)
May the Lord have mercy on her.
Monday, January 19, 2009
January
It's been a while since I blogged, and truthfully, there is really not much going on that are worth writing about, but, regardless, here is my blog for the month.
Since the beginning of the year, I've been busy with work and planning for the Divorce Care program at our church, Mississippi Ave Baptist Church. If you recall, last summer we started this program at the church and have had amazing attendance, considering that summer months are usually slow month for DC. As a matter of fact, most churches skipped summer altogether, as they do in Garland, Texas. From the inquiries we received, we decided to offer two DC sessions this time around, one on Wednesdays and one on Sunday afternoons. Our first sessions started this past week and we have 5 people last Wednesday and 3 on Sunday. Several people called and say they wanted to come but could not make it on the first week. So it seemed that we will be doing both sessions after all.
One week after we got here from our Christmas/New Year break in Texas, Jan had to leave for Charleston, SC to be with her mother who just had surgery to repair a ruptured intestine. She spent a week there, and now we are dealing with her will to live. It seemed that she has given up on living, and barely ate or drink. She is currently under Hospice care, and they are allowing her to stay there for a maximum of thirty days. We hope that you will be able to pray for closure on this uncertainties and her future. Jan wanted to witness to her about our Lord Jesus, but with her mom's limited understanding of English, she wasn't able to do so. So we are now just waiting daily for whatever will happen.
Work wise, while Jan was away, I've been working extra hours on most days, and sleeping early at night. I was usually in bed around 9pm. This week though is the beginning of Australian Open, and ESPN2 has been carrying daily broadcast of that event, so I've been sleeping much later.
That's it for now. At the end of January we will be flying back to Texas to greet our soon to be born 7th grand child, Eric Baggett!!!
Since the beginning of the year, I've been busy with work and planning for the Divorce Care program at our church, Mississippi Ave Baptist Church. If you recall, last summer we started this program at the church and have had amazing attendance, considering that summer months are usually slow month for DC. As a matter of fact, most churches skipped summer altogether, as they do in Garland, Texas. From the inquiries we received, we decided to offer two DC sessions this time around, one on Wednesdays and one on Sunday afternoons. Our first sessions started this past week and we have 5 people last Wednesday and 3 on Sunday. Several people called and say they wanted to come but could not make it on the first week. So it seemed that we will be doing both sessions after all.
One week after we got here from our Christmas/New Year break in Texas, Jan had to leave for Charleston, SC to be with her mother who just had surgery to repair a ruptured intestine. She spent a week there, and now we are dealing with her will to live. It seemed that she has given up on living, and barely ate or drink. She is currently under Hospice care, and they are allowing her to stay there for a maximum of thirty days. We hope that you will be able to pray for closure on this uncertainties and her future. Jan wanted to witness to her about our Lord Jesus, but with her mom's limited understanding of English, she wasn't able to do so. So we are now just waiting daily for whatever will happen.
Work wise, while Jan was away, I've been working extra hours on most days, and sleeping early at night. I was usually in bed around 9pm. This week though is the beginning of Australian Open, and ESPN2 has been carrying daily broadcast of that event, so I've been sleeping much later.
That's it for now. At the end of January we will be flying back to Texas to greet our soon to be born 7th grand child, Eric Baggett!!!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Kroketjes
Last week Jan attempted to make mashed potatoes by putting the boiled potatoes in a blender. It came out gooey like a pasty glue, and a thought immediately came to my mind: kroketjes.
Kroketjes is a Dutch finger food (well, European to some people), and I haven't eaten this thing in over forty years. So the other day, I pulled out my old, old Indonesian recipe book written in Indonesian (I googled this book, and a European antique book dealer wanted USD50 for the two volumes) and recipe no. 151 is for how to make kroketjes. With my rusty ability in reading Indonesian, I made this dish and it tasted just like I remembered it. Here's the recipe in English:
Ragout filling, allowed to cool in the refrigerator
(some ingredients mentioned in Pandai Masak omitted, e.g., Lidah asin = salted tongue?).
Ingredients:
1 skinless boiled chicken breast, chopped up finely into 1/4 inch cubes
1 Carrot, skinned and chopped up finely into 1/4 inch squares
1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
1/3 cup of flour
1/2 stick of butter
Milk
Powdered nutmeg
Salt and pepper, as needed.
Saute the onion in butter until translucent, then add the remaining ingredients except the milk for a few minutes, then add milk a little at a time until the mix is similar to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Add a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, as needed. Set it aside and let it cool down.
Kroketjes
Ingredients:
Mashed potatoes, the kind that are gooey and sticks together (quantity: well how many do you want to make, assuming large egg sized pieces?)
2 cups of bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 egg whites (for coating, see instruction)
salt and pepper, as needed
Frying oil
Mixed the two eggs with the mashed potatoes (as a binder agent), add salt and pepper as needed.
Using a greased hand/palm, using a spoon scoop a small amount of the mashed potatoes on to your left palm, make a depression into this portion, scoop a small ragout filling into it, and cover it with another small scoop of more mashed potatoes. If your right palm is also greased, you can then make a small oval ball the size of a large egg. Roll this kroketjes into the egg white, then into the bread crumbs, thus covering the entire kroketjes with bread crumbs. Do the egg and bread crumb rolling twice and set it aside on a tray.
Fry the kroketjes in a medium deep pan oil (at least 2 inch of oil), 2-3 at a time) until golden brown. Turn it once or twice to get both halves evenly brown.
Serve on a small plate with yellow mustard for dipping. Ummh, so good.
Side note: Jan saved the gooey mashed potatoes for me, and started over with the correct type of potatoes (russett), and NO blender, just mashing tool. It turned out better, that time around.
Kroketjes is a Dutch finger food (well, European to some people), and I haven't eaten this thing in over forty years. So the other day, I pulled out my old, old Indonesian recipe book written in Indonesian (I googled this book, and a European antique book dealer wanted USD50 for the two volumes) and recipe no. 151 is for how to make kroketjes. With my rusty ability in reading Indonesian, I made this dish and it tasted just like I remembered it. Here's the recipe in English:
Ragout filling, allowed to cool in the refrigerator
(some ingredients mentioned in Pandai Masak omitted, e.g., Lidah asin = salted tongue?).
Ingredients:
1 skinless boiled chicken breast, chopped up finely into 1/4 inch cubes
1 Carrot, skinned and chopped up finely into 1/4 inch squares
1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
1/3 cup of flour
1/2 stick of butter
Milk
Powdered nutmeg
Salt and pepper, as needed.
Saute the onion in butter until translucent, then add the remaining ingredients except the milk for a few minutes, then add milk a little at a time until the mix is similar to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Add a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, as needed. Set it aside and let it cool down.
Kroketjes
Ingredients:
Mashed potatoes, the kind that are gooey and sticks together (quantity: well how many do you want to make, assuming large egg sized pieces?)
2 cups of bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 egg whites (for coating, see instruction)
salt and pepper, as needed
Frying oil
Mixed the two eggs with the mashed potatoes (as a binder agent), add salt and pepper as needed.
Using a greased hand/palm, using a spoon scoop a small amount of the mashed potatoes on to your left palm, make a depression into this portion, scoop a small ragout filling into it, and cover it with another small scoop of more mashed potatoes. If your right palm is also greased, you can then make a small oval ball the size of a large egg. Roll this kroketjes into the egg white, then into the bread crumbs, thus covering the entire kroketjes with bread crumbs. Do the egg and bread crumb rolling twice and set it aside on a tray.
Fry the kroketjes in a medium deep pan oil (at least 2 inch of oil), 2-3 at a time) until golden brown. Turn it once or twice to get both halves evenly brown.
Serve on a small plate with yellow mustard for dipping. Ummh, so good.
Side note: Jan saved the gooey mashed potatoes for me, and started over with the correct type of potatoes (russett), and NO blender, just mashing tool. It turned out better, that time around.
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