Writer's Block: DIY
I wouldn't call this an emergency, but I live in a studio flat and normally I share it with hamsters who like to go like a bat out of hell on their metal wheels all night, every night. Now instead of banning them to the hallway outside --- you never can trust neighburs or their guests, someone might run off with them or just open the cage so they escape -- I (1) oiled the wheel with olive oil to stop it squeaking and (2) put the wheel itself -- its free standing -- on a folded face cloth to dampen the rattle. Now it runs pretty soundlessly. BF is an engineer and he was very impressed when he first saw that. If the hamster tries to move either the wheel or the cloth try sticking them down with sticky tape.
Another thing I did the other day was manage to charge up our work photocopier charge card with £90 for free. Now that is pretty good when we usually have to sent them to Central Services and they charge the money to our account when they do it. I noticed that when we charge student cards (we put 50p on them) you can hold the charge unit button down and the amount keeps adding on a penny at a time. I managed to juryrig the system so I didn't have to stand there for 10 minutes waiting. I found a heavy hole punch and put the corner on the button by raising it on one side on an eraser, then I kept it there with a heavy ceramic plant pot holder pressing on that too. All I had to do was keep going back to check how high the number had got to.
Another thing I did the other day was manage to charge up our work photocopier charge card with £90 for free. Now that is pretty good when we usually have to sent them to Central Services and they charge the money to our account when they do it. I noticed that when we charge student cards (we put 50p on them) you can hold the charge unit button down and the amount keeps adding on a penny at a time. I managed to juryrig the system so I didn't have to stand there for 10 minutes waiting. I found a heavy hole punch and put the corner on the button by raising it on one side on an eraser, then I kept it there with a heavy ceramic plant pot holder pressing on that too. All I had to do was keep going back to check how high the number had got to.