I Suck At Deliveries

Yesterday was like Christmas if your Christmas wishlist included a laptop and a way to get rid of mosquitos. Yep, it was a fun day yesterday getting two packages delivered. Too bad I suck at deliveries.

Coincidentally, the two packages arrived on the same day. The first package was from Dell. I've had my Sony Vaio laptop for quite some time now. I'm not sure how long I have owned that laptop, but it has been a long time. I had gotten that laptop when I still worked in Boston, which was well over three years ago. At the time, Sony was offering a trade-up program where they would provide a discount on one of their laptops if you traded in any laptop. It was really a no-brainer to do the trade-up program because I had a decrepit laptop at the time. Plus, there was peer pressure involved since my boss did the trade-up program at the same time.

Sadly, Sony no longer offers a trade-up program. Oh well. Needless to say, my Sony laptop has been a little sluggish of late due to its age. And rather than waste precious time waiting for the computer to boot up and launch certain applications, Karen and I decided that it was time for a new computer. Hence, we went with a Dell Inspirion 14z which was on sale.

Interestingly enough, the same laptop was part of another sale for $50 cheaper three days after I had ordered the laptop. But I have to hand it to Dell. I inquired about the difference and they credited me the difference. Yay Dell! Well, I haven't actually gotten the credit yet, but it is supposed to go through or so they told me.

The other package was from a company called The Mosquito Store. For a couple of years, my Mosquito Magnet has not been working. Because I'm particular about things, I am usually good about maintaining my things. Among those things is the Mosquito Magnet. I would clean it after each season. I'd use the quick clear cartridges as recommended. One season, the Mosquito Magnet never started back up and it has since sat in my garage for some time.

Well, thanks to my favorite brother-in-law (PJ), I had come into possession of another Mosquito Magnet. PJ left it on my front porch one day. Sadly, that particular Mosquito Magnet was in worse shape than mine. After spending a brief moment trying to see if I could use it for parts to fix my own Mosquito Magnet, I decided to see if I could at least do something with it.

Anyway, I came upon a store in Rhode Island that does an exchange program with Mosquito Magnets. Essentially, they send a refurbished Mosquito Magnet when one is sent to them. After some deliberation, I decided to give the company a try. So, I shipped the Mosquito Magnet. Lo and behold, they sent a fully functional Mosquito Magnet back. Granted, I still have one Mosquito Magnet that does not work, but it's better than having two Mosquito Magnets that don't work.

Needless to say, I spent most of yesterday setting up the things that were delivered. I got the Mosquito Magnet up and running in the yard. I added printer drivers, applications, and whatnot to the Dell laptop. For anyone curious, I am using the Dell laptop right now as I type this post. It definitely is nicer than my old laptop. All in all, yesterday was a fun busy day.

I Suck At Fixing My Mosquito Magnet

over a week ago, the propane tank for my mosquito magnet ran out.

i love my mosquito magnet. i think they are the one of the best inventions in the world because they eliminate my most hated insect... the mosquito. (granted, i'm not sure if there exists an insect that i do like.) for the life of me, i cannot figure out the reason mosquitos are on this planet. they don't serve any usefulness in the whole balance of things within nature. they simply suck blood... possibly spread diseases... and reproduce to suck more blood. i guess you can say they are like vampires, only not as cool.

so in my attempt to be like buffy the vampire slayer (who, i might add, still kicks butt), i do derive some pleasure when the propane tank to the mosquito magnet runs out and i have to empty the net full of dead mosquitos. (there are generally a ton of dehydrated mosquitos in the net... i love it.) i imagine being a vampire slayer is equally fun.

anyway, i had gotten the propane tank refilled and awaited for the next batch of dead mosquitos for the next month. the problem was... my mosquito magnet did not restart. thinking nothing of it, i attempted to restart the mosquito magnet. it still did not restart. i tried again. it still did not restart. i kept attempting to restart the mosquito magnet to no avail.

needless to say, the mosquito magnet has not been running since the propane tank ran out. considering i live near a pond, that's never a good thing. so today, i decided to fix my mosquito magnet while karen and my bff (kerry) attended the bon jovi concert. and like bon jovi, i was going to be living on a prayer because i suck at fixing my mosquito magnet.

i really didn't do much to the mosquito magnet. i simply took the machine apart and cleaned the inside. inside the mosquito magnet was quite the view... dead mosquitos in every nook and cranny... love it! go buffy!

after some dry vac action and some 409 action, i reassembled the mosquito magnet, crossed my fingers, and hoped the machine would restart. like usual, the machine started to whir. and then... the mosquito magnet started! yay! i was so psyched...

mosquitos beware!