Month: May 2010

Clogged Drains

I’ve had a particular body problem for a little bit over a decade now.  This problem flares up on occasion and it’s not fun to deal with.

From what I’ve read, teenagers have these sorts of problems commonly due to hormonal changes, but I’m far from being a teenager!

My father actually failed his physical when he was drafted for the Vietnam War because of similar issues, so I sometimes wonder if this isn’t an inherited trait I have received from him.

What happens is my body’s natural drains get clogged.  I have boils that pool with puss and other disgusting things all over my body.  Mainly on the inside of my thighs and around my anus.

These boils cause severe pain, so severe that I sometimes result to using needles to relieve the pressure which causes the pain.  I go to the hospital when my home remedy doesn’t work.

Now I have a similar problem that might be related.  This has only happened one other time in my life, the fix you might ask?  Surgery without anesthetics.  The surgeon tried, but it wouldn’t take.  I am dreading it, and therefore holding it off until I know that’s the only solution.

My sweat glands are clogged.  Anytime I do sweat, it just collects in pockets in my armpits.  When this happens it is very painful to have my arms in their “normal” positions.  Everything on the internet that I can find recommends to not wear deodorant for a period of two weeks.  I am now working on that time period and will see if it solves it.

I have seen many doctors for these issues, and it seems like nobody wants to solve the problem – just treat the symptoms.  I’ve been given special antibiotics and special soap – all of which make the symptoms disappear, until my prescriptions run out.  By the time I can see the doctor again, it’s as if I never saw them in the first place.

I’m pretty sure I have MRSA.  In layman’s terms, an antibiotic resistant bacterial infection.  The biggest problem is finding a doctor who actually cares.  What a concept.

Goodbye Friends

Saturday I sold my mower and trailer.  I had listed them on craigslist.  They went to a really nice guy from the Cincinnati Ohio area.  I still can’t believe he drove that far to purchase such old equipment.

My mower was old and tired.  I had called it the “little mower that could.”  A reference to The Little Engine That Could.  It wouldn’t give up and was a very good mower, but time wasn’t on it’s side.  It was a mid 80’s model, and the almost 30 years of use was rearing it’s ugly head on the engine.  I had a oil leak that started to become something to watch last year.  It was the first time I had to add oil to it.  I had talked around to several people about repairing it, but nothing panned out.  In the end, we replaced it due to blue smoke billowing out of the top of the engine after mowing the front yard.

I purchased the trailer from a former boss of mine when I worked for Sternberg.  Part of my job description was to mow their frontage property on Dillman Road and Highway 37.  The trouble with this was the fact that it was about an acre of total land, and I was not provided with the proper equipment – just a run down push mower and weed eater.  As I wrote  previously I snagged a Independent Contractor gig out of them and made an extra $30 a week mowing this.

I only had one problem, and a serious one at that.  I had no way to get my mower to the job site!  When I mentioned this to my boss, he said he had a trailer that he’d sell to me with terms I couldn’t refuse.  I really wanted a trailer, so this made my month!

There was one caveat, my boss lived in Story, IN.  Which is in the middle of nowhere.  One Friday night Rachel and I drove out there to take a look at the trailer.  It was not in the shape you see it above.  The wheels were rusted, the tires were dry rotted.  There was no light kit, and the deck was barely there.

After getting it home (which I was surprised it made the journey).  I immediately put new wheels, lighting kit and deck on.  I got it inspected and applied for a title for it.  I also put a new coupler (what the trailer attaches with) on.  I also tried my hand at building some ramps with the materials I had left over (big mistake).  So I bought some ramp end caps and used some lumber for ramps.

I was very happy with the trailer!  It was very handy when we moved furniture or bought new furniture.  It was the perfect size for my mower as well!

Since we sold my truck last year, we haven’t had anything that is capable of towing (yet).  So the trailer has just sat.  I had tried to sell it previously, but wasn’t liking the offers I would get.

I would have kept the trailer, but the new mower we purchased is much larger than my little John Deere STX38.  With a 8 inch larger deck, and taller stance this thing makes my old mower look like a toy.  I figured it would be easier to sell them as a package – tow and go, then separate.

You both filled a need in my life, but your time has moved on.  I hope you make your new owner as happy as you made me over the years!

Solving Error 46 For Good

Ever since I started working with Editor B on the ROX 2 DVD project, I have been using Apple’s QuickTime almost exclusively.  When my daughter and I got an iPod,  I started using iTunes.

Since I am a Windows user, there are some complications with using this software that many people like myself have encountered over the years.  I’m going to outline those problems, and how I fixed them here.

Apple includes an “update utility” with all of their products which will auto install updates for you, while this may sound nice – it’s a devil in disguise.

For some strange reason, while this update utility is supposedly updating your software, the first thing it does is actually remove your old versions.  It then removes all authorized users from the registry keys the programs require to run.   When the installation commences, it tells you various messages saying it cannot access this or that.  It then rolls back it’s actions and you are left without your software.

I was receiving QuickTime Error: 46 – Could Not Load ActiveX Control.  If you google it, you will find hundreds of listings regarding this issue.  99% of them will tell you to install a old Windows NT utility and then download a file named reset.cmd, you run the reset file which resets the security profiles for a few registry keys.  This works for some, but not all – including me.

I spent about 2 hours last night manually resetting all of the keys required, and finally fixed the issue.  While my case may be extreme, the only other option was to format and completely wipe my machine.  Not something I really wanted to do, as I don’t have a lot of free time, and I’m re-doing a video transfer job that went wrong.  I won’t go into much detail, but it’s the reason why I quit using dual layer DVDs.

The other error I was getting was preventing installation of QuickTime and iTunes.  A dialog box would pop up and say:  could not open key:
UNKNOWN\Components\9C4307835821FFF47864EE6DABC09AA9\E603EB826AD5C9F4DB0BBD3A8C6CFFDF.  After doing some exhaustive searching, I found the location of UNKNOWN\Components\.  The location is explained here.  It is located at HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components.  The first string in your error is listed there, with the second string being a subkey of that.  Change your permissions and you’ll be able to install.  I have seen examples that have different key values, so please don’t use my particular example – yours could be different!

I have modified that reset.cmd file, and now it works for me.  The major flaw with the other version flying around the interwebs, is that it does not force a owner into the keys.  Without an owner, you cannot add users.

Here is that modified file in it’s entirety.  Please copy everything into a notepad and save it as *.cmd file.  It worked for me when nothing else out there would.  I hope this helps anyone out there who is fed up and frustrated, it will also give me a reference should I need to do this again.
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