On A Boat

One more item on my 25 while 25 list is done. Over the past week I enjoyed my first cruise on the Carnival Destiny. It was amazing. I traveled with a friend, Loren, whom I've known since elementary school. The cruise took us from Miami to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau.

Going into the trip I was a bit skeptical: I didn't know how my body would react to the constant rocking, I've seen Titanic, and I knew next to nothing about the Caribbean. Luckily the rocking boat proved to be no more than a minor annoyance, we didn't hit any icebergs, and the Caribbean islands were awesome.

The first day was a day at sea. The most difficult decision I made was which pool to lounge by. The forward pools were infested with children whereas the aft pools were adult-only. A day on the ship was exciting. The Destiny is fully equipped with multiple bars, dining rooms, a casino, mini golf, a water slide, a theater, shops, and many pools.

If you've read this blog before you may have noticed that I like food. The food on the boat was awesome. There was pizza available 24 hours a day. Each day had a delicious breakfast and lunch buffet. A sushi bar made a great snack between lunch and our late dinner.

The dinners in the formal dining room were incredible. Loren and I shared a table with a pair of women who cruise frequently. One of which worked at a law firm in Queens, the other at the Canadian version of the IRS. (I did my best to keep my lawyer, Canadian, and accountant jokes to a minimum) Each dinner included three courses which were all delicious. I tried some new things including octopus ceviche, duck, Chateaubriand, veal, and baked Alaska. Yum yum yum.

After dinner Loren and I enjoyed shows and the night life on board. There were two dancing/singing shows in the theater that were good. I'd say not quite as good as the shows in Vegas but still entertaining. One night there was a passenger talent show. Another two nights there were comedy shows. Most nights included some time at the on-board piano bar.

I'll cover some of the fun we had ashore in posts later this week. To wrap things up though, I'll say that my cruise experience didn't disappoint. The customer service we got on the Destiny was some of the best I've ever had. The food was great, the entertainment entertaining, and the ports relaxing. I'll definitely consider another cruise next time I have money to spend on a vacation.

Kansas City Food Tour

I like food.  A lot.  As such, I find that one of the most exciting aspects of traveling is the exploration of local foods.

A while back I was watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network when they featured Grinders Pizza in Kansas City.  The feature showed the southern Philly cheese steak and a tater-tot pizza.  It looked delicious.

Kansas City is an incredible city.  If you haven't been there take my word that it has an amazing culture and feel unlike any other city.  Being an engineer I don't think I could articulate this thought clearly so you might be best off experiencing it yourself.

On top of all this I have some of the most amazing friends in the world that live in the Kansas City area.  So, to recap:  delicious food, incredible city, and amazing friends.  As if I even needed that many reasons to do a weekend road trip...

I pitched the trip idea to my friend Stephanie who lives in Kansas City.  I've known Stephanie for a long time (maybe 13 or so years?).  For some reason she not only puts up with my ideas but encourages them.  She's one of the most amazing people I know for many reasons.  She suggested that I make this Grinders trip into a weekend food tour.  Did I mention I really like food?

The food tour was phenomenal. And, as always, hanging out with Stephanie was great. I'd list the trip as a success. Information on the trip can be found here.

My notes:

 --The cheese steak at Grinder's was amazing. I'm going to try making it in my kitchen when I get a chance.

 --Stephanie introduced me to Christopher Elbow, which had chocolates un-like anything I'd ever seen before. I don't think those are going to be reproduced in my kitchen anytime soon

 --The National WWI Museum was one of the best museums I'd seen for a while.

 --The Asian market we went to was a new experience for me. I was way proud of myself for recognizing a couple Asian ingredients.

 --Genghis Khan for dinner was tasty. I even got to meet one of Stephanie's co-workers that I'd heard a lot about.

 --Bubble tea was another new experience for me. I'd try it again.

--The Westside Local introduced me to some incredible fried chicken and waffles. I hear this combination is popular in places that aren't Iowa.

 --The Nelson-Atkins Art Museum was fun. I generally don't enjoy art museums because my engineer sense kicks in with an “any idiot could have made that in like 10 minutes” feeling.  However, some of the glass displays were unlike anything I'd ever seen before.

 --I think Stephanie and I make a good team in the kitchen. Our dinner of homemade pork sandwiches was delicious.


All in all this was an awesome trip. Much thanks to my host for putting up with me all weekend :)
 
 

Magnetron replacement

The only thing I promise about this blog is that it will include some of the random happenings in my life. Sure, I'm working towards my 25 goals, but I have plenty of other stuff going on as well.

Last week, about 11pm, I decided I wanted a microwave beef and bean burrito. The microwave looked and sounded like it was warming my burrito but the burrito never heated. Doh!

I was annoyed that my microwave broke because it wasn't that old. Some research found that the magnetron probably died and that most people buy a new microwave instead of paying to get a magnetron replaced. Since I need to save some money for this upcoming cruise (goal #20) I would whine a lot before forking out the $300-$400 for a replacement stainless steel over-range microwave.

Since I'm a bit of a cheap skate I decided to learn to fix my own microwave. Attached is what I did to fix it.

Disclaimer: I am not trained or certified in microwave repair. You probably shouldn't be taking advice from a random blogger. If you mess things up there is a chance you could die. Don't do that.


Step 1: Remove microwave from wall and transport to working location. Since it is way heavy and awkward my living room floor became my work location.

Step 2: Remove lid. On mine this was one piece that wrapped all the way around. It was held on by a dozen or so screws. Righty-tighty lefty-loosey. Don't touch stuff yet. Figure out what magnetron it has and buy a replacement. I found one on Ebay for $35.

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Break to explain what I think I know about microwaves:
You put food in the microwave and it gets hot.

The food gets hot because the water, fat, etc resonates (vibrates) when it gets hit by RF energy created by the microwave magnetron. The magnetron is like a radio transmitter that creates RF energy at around 2450MHz.

So, the challenge of the microwave is to create 2450MHz RF energy from 60Hz 120 Volt wall power. To do this the 120 V AC is turned into higher voltage AC, then to even higher voltage DC, and finally to RF.

Did I mention there is high voltage involved here? Yeah, there is. In fact, there is a capacitor that stores energy for this process even when the microwave isn't plugged in. You don't want to discharge this energy into yourself. At best it will hurt like a mofo. Worst case you will die.
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Step 3: Discharge the capacitor into something that isn't you. My microwave had bleeder resistor (small cylinder with wire that goes from capacitor to the metal frame). This resistor will slowly discharge the capacitor when the microwave is unplugged. However, even with this, it is smart to discharge the cap. Again, death by fixing microwave would be a lame way to go. To discharge the capacitor take an insulated screwdriver and short the metal part across the capacitor. It might spark or pop.

Step 4: Replace magnetron. Unplug and unscrew.

Step 5: Put new magnetron in, replace wires, put cover back on microwave. Don't screw up putting screws back in. You don't want 2450MHz energy leaking out of the microwave and into your body.

Step 6: Mount microwave and test. Did I mention this thing is heavy?

I was super happy to find that this fix-it job was easier than I thought. It went well and worked. So, for $35 and some time I saved $300. Saving money will help several of my goals.

My microwave, topless:

Magnetron: