i'm going to need to buy some more quikrete, unfortunately. i only need a little more but it's unavoidable and it'll have to wait until the 21st or the 28th. even so, i should be able to get a carpet down on the side with the patched hole, as it is now totally dry, if i can get a vacuum done in there first.

i have one nearly broken dustbuster for the garage, a broken shop vac that might be fixable for the garage and two potentially fixable inside vacs that are not for the garage. i have a new shop vac on order for late in the week that hasn't been processed yet, oddly. i don't want to use the dustbuster in the garage until the shop vac at least ships.

so can i fix this shop vac?

i took out the multimeter and learned that:

- the switch works

- the cord works

- the contacts connecting the switch to the cord don't stay put but work

- there's no break in the brushes

- so what the fuck?

i plugged it in to turn it on just to see, and it sparked and shut itself off. i was able to do that a few more times. i gave it power and spun the wheel to kick start it and it did it again.

it looked like the components work, but something was stopping it from boootstrapping or shutting it down after a short fail. is there like a converter in there?

i was able to find a blown fuse but i'm not sure it's the full answer. it needs to be replaced, at least.

i might have enough cash to order the fuse and some alligator clips for like tomorrow. the fuse should be very cheap but i don't want to put it in there if there's a deeper fault. let me get those alligator clips to see if it closes the circuit.

it might be a very cheap solution, which is a big win.

so, there *is* at least a blown fuse, and i won't know for sure if there's another short until i complete that circuit. cost is likely under $5.

a 100% export tax on oil to the us would be a beautiful thing.

we'd make a fortune from it.