The Hsu’s Views

Spent the weekend fixing the washing machine. Like many things I fix, had to do it twice.

OK, if you are here because you have a Kenmore front loading washing machine and it makes lots of noise during its spin cycles, I’ll share a few thoughts regarding it’s repair. it is likely the dual bearing that supports the inner tub assembly. Ours had been making noise for sometime, but lately it has gotten really loud, and (drumroll…) began to leak. Just the incentive I needed to fix the washer.

You’ll need to purchase the Rear Outer Tub Assembly for about $164. It contains the two bearings that need to be replaced. You cannot buy this separately. I got my part at AppliancePartsPros.com and they got it to me by the next day from N. California for only $6.95. Here is the parts link for the Kenmore 417.29052990 built by Frigidaire. The part is $180 at Sears. Diagrams can be found at their website by clicking on the image below.

Disassembly is pretty straightforward. To do this job, I can see no other way than removing the whole tub assembly from the cabinet. I borrowed two neighbors to help lift the tub out of the cabinet. It’s really heavy. (Tip: remove the motor, and unpin the shock absorbers at the tub assembly, remove top back support member so you can lift back and up.)

VERY IMPORTANT: The reason I had to do it twice is because after I got everything assembled, and went to reattach the rubber boot from the door opening to the tub… I couldn’t. So, while the tub is still out of the cabinet, remove the concrete counterweights on the front, reattach the boot to the front of the tub, reinstall the concrete weights, then slide the whole bit in. It is the only way.

It runs great now.

Check out this t-shirt!  It actually tells you about the presence of a wifi signal!  LOL. I ran across this t-shirt and I’m using all my willpower to keep from purchasing one. I’ve no idea why this is so cool to me. Get one here.

Ran across this photo and project over at Jay Lorenzen’s blog. It is a visualization of the Internet created by a projected called The Opte Project. This project was created to make a visual representation of a space that is very much one-dimensional, a metaphysical universe. The data represented and collected here serves a multitude of purposes: Modeling the Internet, analyzing wasted IP space, IP space distribution, detecting the result of natural disasters, weather, war, and esthetics/art.

I’ve been staring at it for some time now and keep asking what it teaches us about networks. I’m especially interested in what it teaches us about the church:

• when viewed as disciples and their many relationships in a community or city.
• when viewed as local churches and ministries in a city.

What do you see?

Good news: the fuel injectors came back and I got everything re-installed, and the van started on the first try!

Bad news: It didn’t fix the problem.

Good news: I know exactly the problem now.

Bad news: Don’t know if I should replace the engine, perform additional testing, or what.

Bad news: Easter Sunday, while the van was in pieces, the brakes went out on our ‘92 Honda

Good news: Replaced the master cylinder successfully.

Bad news: The starter began acting up in the Honda. I had already replaced the starter in the van last month.

Good news: Replaced that last night.

Bad news: Though new, it might be bad. It makes an ugly sound.

Bad news: While under the hood discovered a bad seal on the valve covers which leaves my spark plugs sitting in a pool of oil.

Sigh…

UPDATE:  Everything is up and running and now I’m known at my local auto parts store.

I had a chance to listen to Francis Collins’ presentation at Stanford on Feb 5, 2008. Entitled, “God and the Genome,” Collins presents his reasons why he believes in God as well as insights on why he believes in evolution.  Fascinating.

He will be speaking in San Diego at Point Loma Nazarene University on April 11, and a daylong seminar the following week on April 19th. Details.

Geek alert!

I have to assemble a list of books, articles, journals, and stuff in general that I will be using to do the research for my dissertation. Some of the books I will be using I own and is cataloged in a program on my MacBook called Delicious Library.

There is a free script that exports the data on my books to a webpage. It is called DeliciWeb 2. Together you can see how much fun it is to keep track of your library.

I was reading an article in Newsweek magazine (May 21, 2007) about a company called Y Combinator. It is a group that gives seed money to fledgling start-ups and sends the generally young geeks to Silicon Valley for three months of intensive entrepreneuring. They get access to the best venture capitalists to pitch their wares and get connected with the start-up culture/ethic.

The part I thought was interesting was an observation by tech investor Mike Maples:

It’s several weeks into the program, and Maples is in a Palo Alto, Calif., coffeehouse for a meeting… He sees a lot of people barely out of their teens. The old wisdom for investors in start-ups said you needed an experienced hand as a CEO. The Valley’s new wisdom: don’t fund anyone over 30. The average age of a Y Combinator founder is 25.

This quote jumped out at me since it illustrates a similar element as our U40 group. Maples and the Y combinators recognize that the world, and hence the rules have shifted substantially. It is a tacit acknowledgment that, at least in technology start-ups, you don’t go with the “normal” formula.

I don’t think the Christian faith has had rules change radically over the last two thousand years, but the environment/culture/times we are in is radically different. Our mission to this new environment/culture/time requires us to become conversant with the language of today. This may require new ministry start-ups with under 30 year olds at the helm.

I ran across this in the May 2007 Wired magazine interview with Eric Schmidt. Toward the end of the interview he is asked, “Google’s revenue and employee head count have tripled in the last two years. How do you keep from becoming too bureaucratic or too chaotic?”

I was interested in this answer because the Wired Magazine editor asked the question with the assumption that Google should be run with a dynamic tension between bureaucratic and chaotic.

The reply:

It’s a constant problem. We analyze this every day, and our conclusion is that the best model is still small teams running as fast as they can and tolerating a certain lack of cohesion. Attempts to provide too much order dries out the creativity. What’s needed in a properly functioning corporation [or organism, movement] is a balance between creativity and order.

But we’ve reined in certain things. For example, we don’t tolerate the kind of “Hey, I want to have my own database and have a good time” behavior that was effective for us in the past.

I was struck by the notion of small team running fast, and the need to embrace a degree of incohesion, lest too much order would kill creativity. How do you think about a citywide movement of the body of Christ that would spur innovation toward transformation?

I just began an online course designed to help sharpen my thinking and to help plan my dissertation writing. It is being run on an online, open-source, PHP, platform called Moodle. If you ever wanted to create an online presence for a brick and mortar school, this is a great inexpensive solution.

Among our first assignments was a 30-40 word description of a general direction that I’m planning on writing about. I include it here for kicks.

I would like my dissertation to be a reflection of the practical project that I’m engaging in today. It is the development of a network of younger, emerging leaders of the Christian community here in San Diego. I would like this group to meet for the purpose of developing relationships of trust; to learn together; think about where the church needs to be in 15 years; and see what collaborations, partnerships, alliances form.

Fundamentally, I’d like to create an environment that will spark apostolic innovation amongst the people God has placed here in San Diego, and see what uniquely contextualized Kingdom expressions might arise.

You may have heard about the term Web 2.0, a shorthand for the second generation of websites and functionality that are increasingly taking over the web. Web 1.0 might be described as a bunch of websites that were either static or full of proprietary content. Web 2.0 websites would contain content that was generated by users or “mashes up” content from other websites.

So the most famous of these might be flickr which derives it’s value because people are uploading their images. Flickr just provides the backend, and the community adds the value. Think of Amazon. They have reviews that the community provides (at no cost) to benefit other potential buyers. It makes Amazon’s site better. But Amazon also plays the other way. They provide links and data about books, CDs, and products to anyone so people can offer products at their own websites.

If you want to learn about Web 2.0 sites. There was a project created at The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to teach it’s staff about this new generation of the internet. It put up 23 Things to do on the internet to teach you about the state of the internet and the various technologies that are “state of the art.” One quick look at the activities and I realized that I was behind. Take a look and surprise your kid that you know about these things.

Read about this project at Wired Magazine.