*Sometimes*, you get lucky!

[Don Y]

One of the two incandescent lamps in refrigerator flickering. Tap it (sign of loose/broken filament) yields no change in behavior (i.e., doesn't alter its state). Unscrew bulb, reseat -- no change. Inspect socket -- no issues. Inspect bulb base (solder imperfections, signs of arcing, etc.) -- nope.

Crap! Disassembling refrigerator to expose wiring (faulty contact?) risks breaking one of umpteen gazillion bits of plastic -- no doubt "unavailable" as spare parts.

Laziness prevails: swap bulb with counterpart and see if problem

*moves* (with the bulb) or stays in place (with the socket).

In its new home, bulb flickers a little -- then gives up the ghost. Yay! Just buy a new bulb (leave the other one in its swapped location).

[bob_villain]

"You" have to be "one" of "the" most boring individuals that post here! Tedious, ad nauseum.

[Muggles]

I kind of like Don. He's an engineer and "boring details" are his bread and butter. He doesn't really like discussing God, though.

[Stormin Mormon]

You might have screwed the bulb into a convenient socket that's not atached to anything. And then connect an ohm meter to the terminals. Shake. See if that flickers the reading. Can touch the VOM leads to tip and ring if you don't have a socket available. I'd be considerate of the other bulb's feelings and put it back where it called home.

[SeaNymph]

His details are not boring. Engineers think differently and express themselves they way they know how. I find the details fascinating.

I don't think he minds discussing god, unless it's with a poster who makes claims but won't back them up or expound on them.

[philo]

My wife did not like the magnets I used to keep the door shut so I told her that if it really bothered her, /she/ could buy a new fridge.

So she did!

Within six months, the switch for the lights stopped working. It had not failed, it was simply a matter of position.

I was about to fix it, then realized that early in the morning those extremely bright lights were downright annoying so I just left it alone. I can see what's there just fine without them.

The wife made not one peep.

[Don Y]

I enjoy discussing damn near anything -- other than professional sports and "entertainers" (which, to me, is people trying to vicariously live experiences that they could NEVER fulfill with their own skillsets).

I find it interesting and enlightening -- and sometimes ENTERTAINING -- to see how folks come to decisions (I know a lady who would deliberately make large purchases -- big financial commitments -- any time there was talk of a layoff at her employer. Her thinking was that she COULDN'T be laid off because she'd just put her tit in the wringer!)

At the very least, it gives me an idea as to who's ideas/opinions might be worth evaluating. E.g., I'm not likely to take financial advice from the lady mentioned above! :> )

And, sometimes you stumble on juicy bits of information that you might never have found on your own. E.g., realizing that there are only 14 "calendars" necessary to represent any year in the Gregorian calendar grew out of a 10 second conversation with a colleague. In hindsight, it was "brilliant"!

[Don Y]

SWMBO complained that I hadn't fixed the DVD player quickly enough (for her needs). I told her if she really needed a DVD player "right away", she could go buy one. But, that *I* wasn't going to waste my time shopping for it (if I had that sort of spare time, I could spend it working on repairing the DVD player! Duh...)

When she came home (with a piece of junk), I didn't say anything. Instead, I dutifully connected it to the TV and set it up so she could use it at will.

*Six* days later it wasn't working.

"I think you might want to return this and get a replacement..." (of course, the unsaid comment was "but make damn sure it's not THIS MODEL!!").

She returned the player. Came home and timidly asked me when I thought I might be able to get around to fixing the *old* DVD player...

[philo]

l.

We don't have a tv or dvd player.

Maybe once a year we will watch a movie on a computer, I have a few on my HD somewhere. I watched Eraserhead once when my wife was gone as I knew she'd hate it.

We never seem to have the time to go out for a movie either. but we did make an exception when one of our friends who had moved to LA many years ago, actually did produce a movie. She came back for it's screening. It was a good movie, but now she has to sell it. That was kind of exciting!

[Don Y]

We have a "display" but not really "TV" (no cable, etc.).

We watch a fair number of movies -- though my idea of "watching" would probably stump most folks (e.g., I'm often not in sight of the "TV" and, instead, *listen* to the movie). The local library loans titles. I keep a backlog of "requests" on my account so I've always got *something* to watch (though I may not know what it will be at any given time).

I refuse to watch videos on a "computer" (i.e., seated with a monitor and keyboard, etc.)

However, my "fix" for the DVD player was to replace it with an HTPC on the thinking that I can replace a "DVD drive" a helluvalot easier than buying a new "DVD player".

[It also lets me store SWMBO's (daily) exercise videos on the hard disk so she doesn't have to muck with media.]

My last movie (in a theater) was roughly coincident with my move, here: _The Mask_. A friend was in town visiting his sister. I drove clear 'cross town to say "Hello" -- only to hear him say, "We're going out to see a movie. Wanna come?"