Broken & Fixed

Both my tv and bike were broken this week so I lost two valuable entertainments to kill my time. The tv went down first on Monday when my infamous tv provider, Direct TV, continued its excellent tradition of failing and lost signal completely. Usually, if we reset the receiver, the signal would be back on again. But this time, we tried it numerous times but the whole function was just not working. The percentage bar that supposed to show the signal searching progress didn’t even appear. Direct TV has failed before and a similar problem occurred two months ago and got fixed later as there was a malfunction in the connection of the cable to the dish. On Monday’s night, we immediately called the 1-800 numbers and reported the problem to some Indians over the phone but Direct TV only managed to schedule a visit by technician on Friday because the schedule was all full. (Yeah! I guess Direct TV really sucks since its technicians were all dispatched to fix its problems and we’d to wait three days for one to be available!) So we actually had to bear three days without tv. What a shame! I wasn’t at home when the technician came but it only took him like 30 minutes to fix the receiver and this time, the origin of the problem was the connection between the cable and the receiver. Omg! The fucking cable failed at both ends in merely two months. What the hell! Well, I wasn’t mad because I couldn’t watch tv since I download everything I watch over the internet. I was pissed because my parents were frustrated and they all got angry with me! The only good thing about this experience was that the repairing service was free since we paid the monthly insurance ($5.99). If we didn’t, the cost could jump up to $70 and it would definitely be another cause of augment at home. I swear that I would turn to cable and wouldn’t use Direct TV again if I ever moved out.

If it’s predetermined natural for the problem of Direct TV to happen, then the problem of the bike would be our own fault. Due to misunderstanding curiosity, my brother ordered a bicycle Swiss knife from Amazon and tried to fix the loose brake of the front wheel by himself. The tool arrived on Wednesday and we immediately started our experiment. The result was disappointing since we had neither the experience nor skill and we totally screwed up the brake cable which shrank in size after numerous wires were cut in half and the bolt was no longer able to hold the cable. More disappointment occurred after we unscrewed the handle and tried to remove the cable as the spring came off and we’re unable to put it back. So we just have to push our bike to a local bike to get it repaired at a cost of $18. There would be additional costs since fixing one wheel without replacing the cable only cost $10. So the moral of the story is that it you don’t know it, don’t touch it…