love technology

Yesterday, it was raining heavily and the wind was howling.

While I was in the kitchen, water started "pouring" out of the air conditioner (a/c)!

I quickly turned it off, grabbed some towels and a bowl and then went online to figure out what to do.

Love the internet!

The website I found told me it that there may be a couple reasons why water was coming out of the a/c...

1. The drain hose was clogged...(I think) this is where the water that goes through the a/c to cool the air gets disposed of...on our lanai it makes a little trail of water...

2. The cooling unit inside of the a/c was clogged...

I started with reason 1...but first I had to figure out what the drain hose looked like...thank goodness for online photos!

I then went outside (in the rain) and looked at the drain hose...yup, it was buried in a little pile of dirt.

I took it out of the dirt and positioned the hose so that it wouldn't touch the dirt any more.

Then I turned the a/c (holding my breath) on again (with the bowl and towels still under it)...no drips!

So far this seems to be doing the trick!

I'm glad that the water that fell didn't damage the microwave.

And glad that the electrical outlet isn't near the wall where the water fell.

Also very thankful that this didn't happen when we were not at home (I sometimes set the timer to turn on the a/c to cool the room before we come home)

Glad the rain has stopped (for today) though it will rain again from tomorrow...will clean the dirt off the lanai...

love the internet

Last year, I washed Satoshi's knit cap and put it onto a bowl (which was smaller than the one in this post, but smaller, and didn't realize it shrank.

It looked like this.

I put the pen there for reference.

I looked online and there was a method to unshrink it.

Put it into lukewarm water for 10 minutes.

Squeeze out the water and dry on a towel,pulling it gently into shape while it is drying.

Which made it bigger than before.

At least now he can wear the hat...whew!

bummer

Back in June (I think), we received word that our SIM card for our pocket wi-fi would end and that the company we deal with had new SIM plans.

In my opinion, the plan we had was the best because it was a flat monthly rate of 1000 yen (plus tax).

You could use it for however many (bazillion) bytes, but I guess the company was losing money because of that.

So, the new SIM plans would be based on how many bytes you used.

Instead of paying a monthly fee for something we hardly use, we decided to cancel our plan.

In essence by subscribing over the past 5 years, we bought the pocket wifi gadget, so I am on the lookout for a SIM card that will let me use it as I need to.

Right now, though there are only 2 ways to use SIM cards here..1) monthly rate based on usage 2) 7-day or 30-day usage (mainly for tourists)

We really don't need the monthly version.

And the 7-day/30-day version is a junk option too because it starts counting down from the day you activate it and depending on your usage, you could use it up before the 7 or 30 days.

When I was wandering around in Tokyo, the amount of free wifi was limited, but way more than what we have in Osaka and even way more than what we have on Oahu (Hawaii).

Why can't the whole world have some kind of "free" wi-fi connection? First world problems, yeah?!

learning something new

I learned something new from David Lebovitz's blog...he talked about how to tell if your baking powder was still good...here.

I wanted to do some baking because it is raining today, but the expiration on my baking powder is past...

So, I tried it...and it bubbled!

Guess my baking powder is still good until the next time I bake...whoo!

wi-fi

We just got this portable wi-fi router. Our internet provider said for an extra 300 yen a month, we could use this router for 2 years.

Pretty good deal as my cell phone provider wants to charge 490 yen a month for wi-fi service at their gazillion spots.

Since we still have our LAN service (we still have a laptop not a tablet), I didn't set up our computer to use the wi-fi, just my iPhone.

Next step is to get Satoshi to start using a smartphone, though he's waiting for the iPhone 5...

Oh and our rainy season has started...let the humidity and uncomfortableness begin...

after seeing...

I love how the internet influences what I eat...

After seeing this post on Kathy's blog...that same day, Satoshi and I had lunch at Otowa, a chain sushi place. Their lunch special was only 893 yen (about US$8.93)--10 pieces of assorted sushi and miso soup.

Then after seeing Rowena's post....I "had" to get an an donut (donut filled with sweet bean paste).

I wonder what yummy photos/posts are out there today...