Vehicle Maintenance

May 14th, 2010

Do you perform regular safety checks of your car(s) or truck(s)? You should. And when you do, do you also check your spare tire?

One common area missed during regular vehicle inspections is the spare tire (and the jacking equipment). Most important is to make sure it is properly inflated. If you have a full-sized spare, then the proper inflation should be the same as the other tires currently mounted on your vehicle, usually 35psi. But if you are as unlucky as I am and have one of those “doughnuts”, then the required pressure is what is indicated on the side of the tire, in this case, usually 60psi.

You should also make sure you can actually get at your spare. On my pickup, the spare is carried underneath, it is held in place by a small winch (sometimes referred to as a spare tire lifter, hoist, etc.) that is turned by hand using the lug wrench as the crank handle. Place the long-end (the end shaped like a screwdriver) of the lug wrench in a small hole in the back of the truck near the license plate and start turning the wrench. The tire will drop to the ground where you can reach under the truck and pull it out (don’t forget to crank the empty wench cable back up!).

The other day, I experienced a flat tire. Normally that in itself wouldn’t be too bad. But there was a malfunction in the workings of the hoist. The end of the tube that the lug wrench engages to turn the winch. This tube (or crankshaft) had come out of the access hole—how, I do not know. Fortunately, I was not far from home and could get someone to bring me an air tank, so I could get home and work on the truck, there.

When I finally got the spare tire out, I discovered it only had twenty pound of pressure in it! This doughnut is supposed to have sixty pounds of pressure. This is why you should always have your spare tire checked. After twelve years, my spare finally got put to use.

Also, don’t forget to check you jacking equipment. Do you know where it is? Is everything—jack, lug wrench, etc.—there like it is supposed to be? Do you know how to use it?

If you do not know the answer to these questions, ask your mechanic. If your mechanic is unwilling to demonstrate to you how to change your tire, even for a fee, then you should get a new mechanic.

Posted in General | Comments Off

How to Setup a Blog

April 11th, 2010

A couple weeks ago, I attended a  seminar on social media, and I got to thinking. It is high-time that I joined the twenty-first century. But,  where to begin? Do I start with Facebook? Maybe I should start with Twitter. Not so fast. I decided to start with the original, and simplest, of online, social media. I would create a blog.

The first step in blogging is you need an account established with one of the many, free blogging services. Wordpress is one such service. If you already have a Web hosting account, the service provider may already have the tools for you. You can have your blog located at a Web address of your own. That’s what I did.

My company’s Web site, and this blog, is hosted by 1&1 Internet, Inc. I went to my account’s control panel and located the link to setting up a blog and followed the onscreen instructions.

When you set up a blog using 1&1’s built in tool, one of the first things you are asked to do is select a domain for the new blog. At this location in the control panel, they don’t give you the opportunity to establish a subdomain. They don’t even give you the option of establishing the blog under a sub-directory, so you can’t have an address such as www.example.com/blog. If you want to establish your blog on a subdomain, such as blog.example.com, then you need to create this first, under the Domains section of the 1&1control panel. If you want to use the sub-directory method, you are out of luck.

Why would you want to establish your blog on a sub-directory or a subdomain? Well, if you already have a Web site and do not wish to replace it, then you will need to use one of these options. If you are creating a blog for personal use, then an address such as www.sampleblog.com would do just fine. In fact, this is another option for those of you with a Web site. Simply create an additional domain. I chose the subdomain route, as it is simpler (you don’t have to worry about name availability).

One big problem I had with 1&1’s blogging tool is that they lock you out of creating your own theme. You have little choice in layout and graphics. Sure, they give you a number of pre-made themes, but the list is limited, and you can’t edit them. As I already have a Web site, I wanted the ability to match the graphics, to make the blog look as though it should actually be associated with the Web site.

I stumbled upon a wonderful workaround, though. While mucking about in the configuration options for the 1&1 generated blog, I had to follow the help links because there were a few items I did not yet understand. The help links took me to another site, codex.wordpress.org, and it’s parent, www.wordpress.org. While reading the help information found on this Web site, I discovered a section on installation. All I had to do was go to the 1&1 control panel, create a MySQL database, download the zip file, unzip the file, edit one of the files to include information gathered during the database setup process, upload the unzipped files to my Web space, navigate to an install file using my Web browser, and my total time was under five minutes! In under five minutes, I had a workaround for modifying the blog’s graphical appearance (I now have access to the script files). Doing this also provides a workaround to the sub-directory restriction!

This solution can work for any Web hosting service, not just 1&1.

A word about WordPress. True, they are a blog hosting service. But they have made their software available, for free!, to anyone who wishes to self-host their own blog! Go to WordPress.com for the blog hosting service and WordPress.org for the self-hosting software.

Posted in Technology How-to | Comments Off

Introducing . . . another blog!

March 25th, 2010

Phoenix Technological Research is here to assist you with your technological needs. What ever you need done with a computer, that is what we are here for. Having been in business for 5+ years, PTR provides a variety of services to assist you in making information technology work for you! PTR currently specializes in digital photography, graphic design, and technical training and support.

Through this new blog, we will be bringing you all sorts of information about technology, business, and technology in business. You will also learn about how computers have changed the way we create art, what technology is doing for education, and more importantly, what technology can do for the environment.

We will also be introducing you to the Orange County, Virginia, and the surrounding area, and you will learn why it is a great place to visit, stay, and do business.

Posted in General | Comments Off