I Am My Own Tech Support Person!!!!!!

Or, How I Figured Out How To Do Something By Myself!!!!

When I come back to my home in Flerida after leaving it for months on end.....

there are always LOTS of things that have to be fixed.

Even though I have someone who watches my house and waters my plants 

(and does a bang up job),

 somethings fall through the cracks that only someone living here would notice.

The first night I was back I heard a gnawing sound over my bed in the very middle of the night when I was having a 

very nice dream!!!!!

(why does gnawing have a g in the front of the word?????

THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!)

It was keeping me awake, so I got up and stood under where the rodent was partying and clapped my hands really really really really loudly till the damn critter ceased and desisted.

I love animals, I really do.

 I catch bugs in my special bug catcher cup

 (I have one in each house....)

 and put them outside.

But I draw a line at rats in my house.

I have given up on the mice in my Lexington home.

I live in the country.

There are a million ways that they can get in.

They stay in the walls and basement....(mostly)

But rats, un ung.

Nope.

Soooooooooooo.........

I enlisted the aid of my exterminator, Mike.

One dead rat later and lots of money plugging up the holes and putting out bait traps and cleaning up my attic crawl space, I am good to go.

Next up!!!!!

Some of my trees have gotten TOO TALL!!!!!

Fast growing in Florida is: it grows while you watch.

Fast growing in Massachusetts is: It will grow 6" in a year.

Before you know it..... It's a rat highway onto your roof and right into your attic!!!!

Only thing I didn't supply for the little buggers was chips, beer and a TV.

I will share with you guys more about my landscaping in my next post.

THEN.....

there was a LOUD whirring noise coming from my living room armoire.

It was REALLY LOUD AND ANNOYING!!!!!

So I opened the door, and realized it was coming from my Tivo.

Soooooooooooooo

I did what any self respecting 60 plus babe would do.....

and I goggled "loud Tivo noises"

Boy!

Did a lot of sites pop up about the loud Tivo fans.

Just like any computer, Tivos need fans to keep the inside workings cool.

I guess after a while they can start to burn out.

Then they start to get louder!!!!!

Sooooooo.......

Then I did what any self respecting 60 plus babe would do.....

and started to look for someone who could repair the damn thing.

Tivo was no help.

The lady on the phone made me feel like I was a bad Tivo owner because I kept it in a closed cabinet.

WELL.....my cable box never had any problems, 

so there!!!!!

 THE NOISE WAS DRIVING ME BONKERS!!!!!

No luck.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....

Then I did what any self respecting Betsy would do, 

and I figured out that I could repair it my own damn self.

I don't need no stinkin' repair man!

Sooooooooooooooo.....

I went back to google and looked for how to replace the Tivo fan....

I found this company in California called Weakness.com that sold me the correct fan for my model along with instructions on their website for how to replace it.

I was very excited when the parts came.

They even sent the tools needed for unscrewing the screws.

You need a special allen wrench in the shape of a star because heaven forbid the screws on the back of the Tivo would be normal.

Welllllll.....

I figured out how to get the top off.

That was the hardest part, sortof.

It was really easy very complicated replacing the fan, only someone as smart as I am could do it.

Then it was time to put the cover back on.

Whereupon I managed to snag a bunch of wires on the cover clips and everything went to hell.

Sooooooo.....

I finally got it all back together and plugged everything back in, and turned it on.....

AND ALL SORTS OF LIGHTS STARTING FLASHING.

There were green ones and red ones and blue ones.

WELL.....

there was only supposed to be one green one.

SOOOOOOO.......

I called weakness.com, and the very nice man gently suggested that I had inadvertently unplugged something inside the Tivo box.

So, 

I thought to myself....

"Self, you probably unplugged something inside the Tivo box when you snagged all those @#$ wires."

So, I had to take it back apart.....

and sure enough...

I found this dohickey floating free inside, not seeming to be doing nothin!!!!!

Soooooo.....

I look around, and look around, and look arond.

I can't figure the damn thing out.

soooooo.....

I call Weaknees.com back.

And while I'm on hold!!!!!

I figured out where it should plug in!!!!!

So then I put it all back together, and it worked like a charm, and it was quite like a whisper, and it made me very happy.

I didn't have to take it to a repair shop.

I didn't have to pack it up and ship it anywhere (which I would never do as I'm too lazy).

I fixed it all myself!!!!!

I am still glowing.

So,

that's my story!!

On that note,

Later, Gate