What a week! It all started over the weekend when one of the steering springs on my TSW2 wheel broke -- or I thought it was the spring, anyway. After I opened things up, I discovered that the coupler that attaches the spring to the bolt on the steering shaft had actually sawed THROUGH the head of the bolt, shearing it off.

Yikes!

That might seem like an odd failure, but it’s not so odd when you consider that this wheel has seen almost constant use over the past 10 years (yes, I’ve had it that long). Aside from the occasional potentiometer replacement (I’m on my third set of pots) and the recent re-wiring I did to make it easier to replace the pots (I also added a switch to allow for dual-axis brake and throttle support), I haven’t had a single mechanical failure. Thankfully, Thomas Enterprises offers a lifetime warranty, so I’m waiting to hear back regarding replacement parts.

As if that wasn’t enough, the operating system on my gaming rig crashed HARD just a couple of days ago. I had to do a full re-install of my OS, but thankfully after I got all the service packs and hotfixes applied, I was able to recover all my games, apps, and files without having to re-install everything. Turns out my 5-year-old daughter (who loves to play games on Barbie World online on Dad's computer when he's not home) “learned” how to shut down my computer by turning off the power strip. My wife wasn’t aware that she was doing this until very recently, but apparently the cumulative abuse was enough for my OS to finally give up the ghost when I managed to accidentally turn off the power to my computer myself (which is what caused the crash . . . but I like to believe that my daughter’s actions were the main reason because that helps mitigate my own stupidity . . . er, culpability). Thankfully, I love my daughter as much as SHE loves Barbie World online, so after giving her a PROPER lesson on how to shut down my computer, she’ll STILL get to play on Barbie World online (it is a very kid-friendly site, and she only gets to play when my wife is on the adjacent computer, so she’s pretty much supervised when she is “online”).

At any rate, I’ve been involved in a training conference since getting my computer put back together, which means I’ve only had minimal time to continue preparation for this weekend’s inaugural Vintage Historics NASRL race, and if the parts don’t arrive for my TSW2, I’ll be racing with a semi-crippled wheel (it still self-centers with only one return spring, but it’s definitely NOT optimum for competition).

So here I am, waiting to hear back about replacement parts for my TSW2, stealing a few minutes to make a post online, frustrated that I can’t take an hour or so at my gaming computer to get in some practice laps, but at least thankful that my system is back up-and-running.

All in all, things aren’t so bad.

As my wife pointed out to me while I was muttering about having to re-install my OS, it could be worse . . . which reminds me of one of my favorite sayings:

“It could be worse -- it could be raining.”

Like a good crew chief, though, I’m going to roll out the rain tyres . . . just in case.