DIY

In my effort to fully embrace the hacker ethic, I’m doing more and more stuff myself, instead of paying someone to do it. For example, changing the oil in our car. Now, I learned this particular trick while I was a poor college student, and there was a time when I was happy to pay someone else to do it, but these days, I like to put synthetic oil in the car, and most quick-lube places charge far too much to use synthetics. So I’ve been doing it myself.

And that’s what I did last night. But it took nearly an hour, thanks to a recalcitrant oil filter. Last time I changed the oil, I invested $5 in a filter wrench, but even with the wrench, it’s still difficult to remove the filter, thanks to cramped engine compartment and a smaller diameter filter. Needless to say, things didn’t go well. After smashing several knuckles, and drawing some blood, I resorted to the “hillbilly handle” of punching a screwdriver through the filter to get it loose. Thankfully, that worked, and allowed me to vent some frustration in the process. The new oil filter may mitigate some of these problems, as the slotted section for a wrench is a bit thicker than the rest, which should allow the wrench to get a better grip. We’ll see, however.

Seb News…

He’s now reached the I-realize-I-should-be-able-do-stuff-but-can’t-quite-yet-stage. He’s trying hard to scoot around when he’s on his stomach, but hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it, so that frustrates him. He’s also frustrated when he tries to get his rattle in his mouth and can’t quite get it there. He’s getting stronger though, and he’s able to hold his head up quite a bit, and he now enjoys “standing” while being held under the arms. He’ll be mobile in no time….