The Battle of the Bulge of My Router

I finally convinced my Internet Service Provider (ISP) that something was wrong with my 3G-4G hot spot mobile router. I couldn't get it to reset with the reset button inside the battery compartment or the front panel button to work reliably. At one point the device finally worked after supposedly reaching 66% charged but then an hour later it wouldn't work with a message that it was shutting down due to a discharged battery. AND the device is ALWAYS plugged into a power source.

Today's effort at putting the cover back on the router seemed unusually difficult, so I looked at the battery and it was definitely bulged in the middle. So this may account for the difficulty of the battery trying to maintain contact with the device, or even being sound in the nitty-gritty of its internal mechanical integrity. The ISP is sending a new battery and so I'll be able to do some measurements and see if that was part of the problem. The entire device has always acted a bit unreliable, even brand new.

Today was a return trip to Amarillo. My special-needs sister-in-law had to go back home suddenly because her handlers had not sent enough medicine. I thought it was strange on Wed when they handed me a small paper sack of meds that was stapled with about a dozen staples. Next time I am forcing them to examine the contents of the bag to verify the correct contents. As you might imagine, this isn't the first time they have messed up, and always in a short manner, too. So my sister-in-law didn't even get to spend two complete days with her family over the holiday weekend, and just considering the price of fuel alone, her vacation was pretty eXpensive per hour.  AND she does need time away from her "n0r^maL" environment into a normal environment. Hold it, did I just call OUR home normal? Hah ...

I don't understand how gasoline and diesel could have moved so far apart in price. Aren't people paying attention to supply and demand issues and how you run an oil refinery? Today it was common to see the price difference be 80 cents a gallon, so diesel was way more than 20% higher than gasoline. AND gasoline has been falling in price while diesel has been climbing! I do realize that the feedstock fraction for diesel competes with use as heating oil product, and winter is coming. It will be nice when Libya gets back in full production.

I did get to go driving in my truck today so that was nice, but I was sick with flu type symptoms so that took part of the fun away, and the rain and wind tried to take the other half. It was a rare Not One Single Bad Driver Day, and considering it was Black Friday, tell me, how on earth did that happen for me? Now I don't feel like eating any supper. Lunch was really good at Jason's Deli, eXcept about 10 percent of the meat in my Southwestern Chicken Chili looked burned and hard as a rock. I accidentally got a piece in my mouth and it was horrible and didn't stay too long. Typically Jason's Deli is my Meal Mecca, my taste buds favorite place in the universe (well, Amarillo Texas) for at-noon-food. My sandwich is their Chicken Club Wrappini. I thunk I spilled thut werd currectly.

I rushed around but places were closed today - twice. I had to meet a deadline for returning my s-i-law to her place by lunch time, so I had several things to get squeezed into the morning before leaving town. I needed to get my used motor oil to the city recycling place, but when I got there the place was closed, obviously for a four day holiday weekend, so then I had to store the collection vessel in my garage, and it made a slight oil mess in the pickup bed I had to clean up. I thought I was doing really well on meeting my schedule then suddenly realized that being sick earlier in the week had made me forget the supplies for the hair salon where people rent from me. I was being a bad landlord! So I rushed around and got their critical toilet paper and bleach. BUT when I got to the shop it appeared that no one was working today, and the schedule for at least one of them, the normally busiest lady, was X'd out for the weekend as well. Plus there was no real critical shortage of paper product after all even though I was already a week late with my delivery.

A couple paragraphs later the need for supper suddenly manifestivals itself. So ... location location location ... I am ending my day at my favorite local diner having hopefully the best grilled chicken sandwich in my town. It hasn't quite arrived yet, but I eXpect the "ready bell" to ding shortly. And more importantly I have finally got my personal jug of BBQ sauce returned to the diner. Its absence was interfering with eating here properly! (Yes, here is actually here in the picture, typing away, courtesy of my iPad. Thanks, again Steve J.)

The brand of BBQ sauce is really 'Head Country' - it's my favorite! I just take the bottle home from the diner when it gets close to empty, clean it, and refill it from my gallon jug. The drink is Dr Pepper, of course, and the wait staff always keeps it full. That is about as empty as it ever gets.

Update 2011.12.02 - I got my new battery, so hopefully it works much better. The tiny battery arrived in a huge box filled with inflated cushion. EXCEPT the battery was not secured to the cushion, it was just free inside the box, right up against the outside wall of the box when I opened it. No bulge, it fits nicely in the router.