tnrkitect - Musings of an Unconventional Mind

Took another ARE exam yesterday, Schematic Design, and during the course of it managed to figure out how to crash the program during the Interior Layout graphics portion. Then while showing the Prometrics desk worker I recreated the crash, so it is definitely a program bug, not operator error. Unfortunately the only way to get it working after each was a hard re-boot, and the test time did NOT reset.

For those that are curious, the following is what it takes to crash the program:

When reading the Program criteria for the Interior layout, you have to scroll down to read all of the requirements for the spaces. If you scroll to the very end of the vertical scroll bar, you crash that part of the software, and can not get to the code requirements or program requirements without re-booting the machine.

I still managed to finish that section, and I think I did well enough to pass. I will be contacting NCARB on Monday though and reporting the problem just in case. I should be able to get them to let me re-test for free if I missed that section. :-/

Afterwards, we did some running around and picked up the permit for the Yard Sale we are having today as I type. So far, we have made $37.10, but people are still stopping by, so there is still hope.

The permit allows us to have a yard sale two weekends in a row, so we are going to have one next weekend too. Most likely it will be on Saturday only (like this weekend's) as Jessica doesn't want to have to set it all up and do the sales all by herself.

I take the last of the ARE sections (the first time) 2 weeks from Monday: Programming, Planning, and Practice. Then the end of the that week we go on a real vacation. :-) I will take my re-test of the Structural ARE in September, and baring my having messed up on any of the ones I don't have results back on, I will have all the requirements done to get my license. Knowing my luck though, the bureaucracy at the State Board will mean that I won't actually be awarded the license until December, or February. :-/

Anyways, back to the yard sale! Wish us big sales!

I was scheduled to take my next exam, Building Systems, at 9:00 a.m. yesterday. No problem, I was fairly well prepared for it, and think I did O.K.

The fun part was getting there. We had a SEVERE thunderstorm push through the Knoxville area around 8:30 ish yesterday morning. I wasn't having much of a problem at all getting through it, as I had the windshield replaced (thanks to insurance coverage) on Wednesday, and I had fixed the wipers using C clips. (Or so I thought).

Well, the C clips were noisy, and ultimately did not hold under the stress of wipers on full for extended periods of time. I found this out as I was getting off the interstate at Cedar Bluff on my way to the Prometrics testing site. (which is luckily right by the exit)

I believe the clip on the passenger side went first, as that wiper stayed at full wipe so to speak while the driver's wiper arm started back towards the stowed position. This cause the two to cross over one another and get caught on each other.

At this point, they stopped, while the rain continued to pour down in buckets.

Talk about pucker factor.

I immediately put on my emergency blinkers and moved my head in all directions trying to make out something, anything, through the sheet of water on the windshield, preferable before I hit it.

I discovered that the top 1/2 inch of windshield, right by the edge was somewhat conducive to vision, and so I limped the rest of the way to the testing center using that. (It was only about 1/8th of a mile total, 1 right turn, and a right turn into the parking lot.

At that point, I decided to deal with it after my exam, so I went inside and hoped the storm would blow over by the time I was finished.

Luckily, it did.

Once I got home, out came the tools and I tore into the wiper system to figure out what was wrong.

What I discovered was that when the linkage for the passenger side went, the stress caused the bushing at the wiper motor to fail, thus rendering the entire system inoperable.

Well, I called the dealership, and the closest one was out of the bushings. Then, I called the dealership in Alcoa, south of here, and they had them. So we piled into the car, put the top down as the day had cleared up and was beautiful, and made the trip to the dealer. The factory replacement bushings were expensive, with 3 of them adding up to just under $20 with tax. But I had the proper bushings.

At this point it was noon-ish, so we decided we needed food. Since Jessica wanted to browse through the Goodwill store in Bearden, and wanted Taco Bell, we drove to the Taco Bell on Kingston by the mall, then headed to Goodwill.

While she was in Goodwill, I stayed out in the parking lot and fixed the wipers.

Almost.

It turned out that I put the linkage arms on the wrong sides, causing the driver's side wiper to over extend past the windshield, and the passenger side wiper to not cover the full range it needed to.

So, in a few minutes, I get to go out and rework it all, and switch the linkages to the proper sides.

But, I am still chipper and upbeat, as I received my test scores for my third exam today and can notch up another pass, for Building Design and Construction Systems.

:-D