Category Archives: Tips

Tips and tricks.

Taking Volvo Out of Park

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Volvo Shifter

Volvo Shifter, location of access panel to manual override.

There are multiple reasons why the Volvo brake to transmission interconnect switch can fail.  In my case it was because of rain.  I inadvertently left the sun-roof of my Volvo S-40 open just prior to a rain storm.  The result was that the brake to transmission interconnect switch got wet and would not respond correctly.

The brake to transmission interconnect switch is located in the console of Volvo’s automatic transmission. In addition to the switch is a manual override.  The manual override is located under the small door that can be seen just below the D position on the the automatic transmission.

In order to engage the manual override you will need a slender, straight tool that you will use to engage the manual override.  I used the gauge from my tire pressure gauge.

Accessing Override

How to override the interlock switch.

First you lift the flap on the console the covers the manual override.  You then insert the tool into the opening to about 5 cm.  You should feel a little tension at this distance, gently push past the tension.  At this point you have now engaged the manual override and you should be able to move the transmission out of park.

You should not attempt to use the manual override until you are sure that it is safe to take your car out of park.

Mussels in Simple Red Wine Sauce Recipe (with pictures)

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Three Ingredient Red Wine Sauce

Three Ingredient Red Wine Sauce

My wife is not fond of mussels.  If I want mussels it means cooking them on my own.  Normally I just steam up the mussels and have at it.  I was out at a local restaurant having mussels when I realized that I needed to add a bit of pizzaz to my mussel eating experience.   What I needed was a simple red wine sauce for my mussels.  By simple I mean really simple, something a bachelor could do with the ingredients he’d have on hand.  It need to have next to zero prep time.

At first I looked on the internet to see what recipes I could find.  There were a bunch of recipes but they all involved lots of prep and lots of ingredients.  What I’ve come up with a three ingredient red wine sauce recipe that’s ready in 15 mins.

Mussels in Red Wine Sauce

Mussels in Red Wine Sauce

Prep time – none, if you don’t count the shopping.
Cooking time – 15 min
Serving Size – enough for one pound of mussels

Simple Red Wine Sauce Ingredients

  • 200 ml (one full wine glass) of dry red wine
  • 125 ml (half a small bottle) of Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Oregano Dressing
  • 200 ml (half a tin) of stewed tomatoes
Simmering Red Wine Sauce

Simmering Red Wine Sauce

Equipment Required to cook red wine sauce

  • large sauce pan
  • big wooden spoon
  • measuring cup
  • wine glass (required to hold additional wine ;-)

Simple Red Wine Sauce Cooking Directions

  • pour the red wine into the sauce pan and bring to a boil
  • add dressing and stewed tomatoes
  • turn down heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes
  • stir occasionally

How to Cook Mussels

Steamed Mussels

Steamed Mussels

The key for cooking mussels is to steam them not boil them.

  • place one inch of water in a large pot
  • bring the water to boil, can take 10 minutes depending on size of pot
  • add mussels to pot when the water is boiling vigorously
  • It will only take a few minutes to steam the mussels
  • the mussels are ready when they have opened wide
  • do not over cook the mussels as they get rubbery

Do not eat any mussel that remains closed.

Submit Comments, I Urge You!

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I have been tweaking this blog over the last few weeks and found that I needed a way to manage the posts that appear on my homepage.  I looked around for a  WordPress plugin but was unable to find anything suitable.   I didn’t give up hope and finally stumbled across FrontPage Manager by Elise Bosse who is a bit of a renaissance woman.  Ancient history academic to WordPress coder!  She is a new mother too.  You should check out her pictures of the swiss delivery room!

When I first tried FrontPage Manager it did not exactly fit my needs.  I posted a comment on Elise’s blog thinking nothing would come of it.  Elise not only wrote a reply she even updated her code.  I now use her FrontPage Manager on my blog.  Thanks Elise for listening and improving  your plugin.

Isn’t the social web great!

Top 5 Chrome Extensions

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FINALLY!  Google has finally enabled extensions in their Chrome browser.  I was an early adopter of Chrome and for a while I switched back and forth between Chrome and FireFox.  After adding a couple of bookmarklets to Chrome I gave up on switching to FireFox.   I’m pleased to be able to add some functionality back in to Chrome that I’d been doing without, mostly because I was too lazy to switch.

Chrome Extensions as Displayed in Browser

Chrome Extensions as Displayed in Browser

Here is my list of Must Have Chrome Extensions:

  1. Gmail Notifier – No more popping in to Gmail to find out if I have mail.  Additionally instead of a large button on my bookmarks bar I now have a tiny button on the address bar.   Over 200,000 downloads already.
  2. RSS Subscriber – Just like FireFox a little RSS button will appear in the address area whenever Chrome finds an RSS link on the page you are viewing.  Not only can you subscribe but you can now view the RSS in a Chrome tab.  Very Handy.
  3. Google Bookmark Enhancements – instead of syncing bookmarks between my browser and Google Bookmarks I just use Google Bookmarks.  Now instead of using a  bookmarklet to create my bookmarks I just click the button. This extension also makes it very easy to add and remove labels in your bookmark search.
  4. Send from Gmail – If you read my earlier posts you’ll know that I’ve switched to Gmail.  I no longer use Outlook.  With this extension I no longer had to cut and paste email addresses.  Now I click the link and Gmail opens.  I might be able to delete outlook from my system soon.
  5. Open PDFs in Google Docs – This might be my favourite extension.  I haven’t been able link directly to PDF’s in Chrome for weeks.  Do you know how many docs are online as PDFs – lots!  (Why use a PDF when a webpage will do?).  Now PDF links open in the Google Docs PDF interface.  It’s fast and easy to use.