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So, as you know, I’ve been working on figuring out so major problems with my car; between the exhaust and the driveshaft and the gaskets, and just general maintenance altogether, it’s just been one fight after another.

Today, I solved one problem, and found a bigger problem.

The problem I solved: The annoying rattle behind my dash.  The solution: A piece of double foam tape to secure the HVAC pipe to it’s proper location (it was wiggling loose and rattling against the back of the dashboard, so I just taped it there).

The problem I found: My passenger side brake caliper is seized up.

F***.

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Sooooooo last night my roommate and I started talking about ways to make entry/exit of the apartment easier, and I brought up Smart Door Locks. This naturally led us to a discussion of how we could get someone into the actual building so we could then let them use the Smart Door Lock to get into our specific apartment.

He mentioned it would be cool to have some sort of remote control for the buzzer/intercom system and I said it’s so funny you say that because I’ve been thinking about that too.  I said, it’s probably a simple wire jumper that triggers it.

Well, I was right.  And now I have a new project to work on. 🙂  This will be an on-going series, because I think this is fscking awesome.

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TSo, let me start off by saying: pot, kettle, black.  I’m lazy.  I’m lazy as hell.  I look at a problem and look for the simplest solution to a problem.  Work smart, not hard, as they say.  That being said, while I’m lazy, I still do a complete, thorough job when I work on a project.  Lately, this is something I’ve seen as very lacking in a lot of areas.  It’s got me pretty fed up, and I wanted to talk about it a bit because I want to set clear some expectations and realities and how to best deal with them.

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Update 1/6/2017 at 9:30pm: As of now my Best Buy Gamer’s Club Unlocked is officially unlocked.  Almost a full week after it was supposed to be. I am leaving this post up for posterity.  I am still annoyed with Best Buy.  I am still blocked from posting on the forums.

Oh man. I don’t even know where to begin with this one. I am thoroughly mad.  Best Buy is yanking my chain left and right on this and I’m pretty much out of venues to get feedback and talk it out.  I need to rant and vent because I’m not getting anywhere with anyone and I’m out the money (not a lot, $30, but regardless).

Let’s set the stage right proper here.

TL; DR Version: Gamer’s Club Unlocked (Online Activation) is either broken or a complete scam job.  Avoid it at all costs until they’ve figured this out.

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Sigh.

It’s been a week.  I was going to follow-up on a previous post about Zabbix API and getting a working status display going, but either Dell or Pitt-Ohio threw a wrench in the works today.  We’re not sure who mucked it up, but someone mucked it up and we’ve spent the last two days cleaning it up.

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Dealing with Mean’s Wearhouse Perfect Fit Rewards program people is surprisingly pleasant. I called up and said, “I got an email saying I have $100 in rewards that you said you mailed me but I’ve never received. I logged in and saw my address was my very old apartment address, so I updated it. Could you re-send the last certificates?”

And they go “Sure thing, not a problem, I just want to verify your address. I also see that you have rewards certificates from 2011 and 2012 that never got used, I can re-issue those to your account and you can use them in any store if you tell them you have expired certificates and give them this case number.”

So all in all, I have like $200 in Men’s Wearhouse rewards to use now, plus a 25% off coupon.

Pretty sweet.

I guess the “You’re going to like the way you look, I guarantee it” should be amended to “And we’ll take awesome care of you too.”

Way to go Men’s Wearhouse.  Customer for life status: confirmed.

(And the suit I got a few weeks ago is AMAZING.)

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