Signed the Papers

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Michael

So, I’ve signed the papers. I’m about to have $10,000 worth of painted cement slapped onto the side of my house. I sure didn’t want to pay that much, but my house needs some serious repairs. The crap siding they built it with was never going to last. I’ve done the front part of the house in years past, but that was all ground level. The remaining siding is all second story or above.

Fiber Cement

It turns out the rep that came to my house has the same floor plan. He was able to provide me with pictures, so I can get a feel as to how our house might look. I didn’t say this to him, but wow, I do not like the combination of siding he used.

But, to each his own.

Rubber and Ice

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Michael

If the last week reminded me of anything, it’s that I needed new tires. We had 4 days of ice, 4 days of school being closed and 4 days where I slowly went crazy.

When I got my last set of tires, extra was paid for their warranty. And a good thing, too. I had to replace one of the tires and it didn’t cost me anything.

But what that means now is that I had one good tire and three bald tires. First thing Saturday morning, I headed to Discount Tire. Although it was still chilly, their front door was propped open with a heater/blower running. They had a water line break, and it flooded the garage and part of the customer waiting area.

It didn’t appear to slow them down much, and I was quickly charged for my three marginal tires. I settled in to wait. Not for long, they had me come out to the service area and showed me my bent rim. It wasn’t all that bent, but I kinda knew there was a problem from the way the car drove. The dude highly recommended aluminum rims, the cheapest they had were only a few dollars more then the steel replacements.

But the problem was you can’t just buy one rim; my old steel rim used a hubcap; aluminum rims do not use hubcaps. So I brought out the plastic and added 4 rims to my purchase; he upgraded me from the cheapest aluminum to the next best for the same price.

But wait! There’s more! A few minutes later he came out and told me they didn’t have those rims either, so he showed me a couple that were on display, and told me to pick one. I’d already paid, so he just gave me the upgrade. I didn’t really like either of them, but whatever; the car is 11 years old, it’s all good.

He mentioned that aluminum rims give a much better ride. I thought he was blowing smoke, but I really can tell the difference. Of course, if I really had two bent rims the difference would be obvious with any new set.

Overall, I’m pleased with the purchase, but did NOT want to spend $800 on my ride. And I don’t particularly like the red line. But whateves, it rides better.

Add these to the stereo I just installed, and it’s the closest I’ll get to a newer car!

I listen to a lot of audio books on my drive. My previous setup consisted of the stock stereo and a digital-to-tape cassette. I had to turn it up loud to hear over the rhythmic screech as the cassette labored to produce sound from an MP3 player.

Goodreads – The Name of The Wind

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Michael

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that at the end you say, “Well now what am I supposed to do?” Kinda like saying goodbye to a good friend; they are not there to turn to whenever you have free time. I can’t wait to say hello to my friend again.

2×4 Chair

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Michael

I was talking to a co-worker last week, and she was interested in creating some outdoor furniture. This made me recall all the books I’ve bought over the years concerning just that; making simple furniture out of 2x4s.

I went browsing through my shelves of dust-covered books, and found what I was looking for. And with that, I decided to actually MAKE the items in the book. In particular, a simple chair.

It started out easy enough; made a trip to Lowes and picked up 2x4s, 1x4s and screws. Came home and started cutting.

After about an hour I had the seat made.

I ran into a few snags while making the back of the seat. Some of which I can blame on the book. Their lengths for certain sections were just wrong, and the length screw they recommended would have left about and inch of sharp, pointy metal looking for unwary pedestrians. So I had to disassemble, and make up my own measurements. It came out pretty close.

Notice all the extra holes in the seat back. I originally had the 2x4s on edge; when I turned the 2x4s into the correct position, I had to move the holes. Since I’m going to use wood fillers to cover the screw holes, what’s a little filler between friends!

Here are the arms. It was a little tricky getting the arm in the right position while keeping the 2x4s in place. I used the spacers you see to keep it plum, but I don’t have a clamp big enough to hold it in place whilst I drive the screws.

Next up was adding the legs to the chair seat. The book recommended having two people, but I’m not sure how that would help. I first clamped one side, but I didn’t have any way to clamp the other side.

So to keep it in place while I drilled holes, I added a 4×4 fence post I had in the garage. As you can imagine, this did not work well. So I drilled the first hole with just the one clamp in place. Then I added the 3.5″ carriage bolt and tightened the nut just enough to drill the hole on the other leg.

I repeated the process for the other side, now it’s starting to look like a chair!

Next was the back. This was still tricky, but easier as I was able to use clamps.

Add some galvanized screws to hold the back in place, drill for a lag screw, and we have a chair!

I smeared wood filler in all the holes. When that’s dry, I’ll sand everything down and paint it.

Paint helpers:

After first coat of paint.

Google Earth

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Michael

While browsing around my neighborhood on Google Earth, I realized something. I could tell what time of year the photo was taken as well as on what day of the week. Not only that, I could tell it was taken in the morning, or at least before 1:00 local time.

In the photo above, I’ve marked the location of a church, a school and a public library. Notice that the church parking lot has a lot of cars filling the slots, but that the school parking lot is empty. From that, I can surmise it’s a Sunday. When else would the school have no vehicles, but the church lot be full-ish. It’s not summer, Google pictures are best when the foliage is non-existent or minimal. There’s also snow on the ground in some areas; if I really wanted to hunt it down, I could find out exactly when we’ve had snow (and snow that sticks); it’s not that common an occurrence.

On the Wind

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Michael

Many years ago, I was going through the pain of a breakup. I was at my girlfriends parent’s place on Long Island. They had easy access to the beach, although it was the wrong time of year for dipping in the salt water. I knew we were over, and I wish I hadn’t come.

I slipped away from the group, to sit and think with the sand as a cushion and the ocean wind on my face. As I sat, I began to realize something. The knots in my stomach, the tightness in my chest, the misery that was our relationship seemed to be fading. Fading, like a sandcastle before the wind. Blowing away, loosening its hold. If one had eyes of the soul, perhaps I would appear like the aurora borealis, the solar wind blowing above the night sky, leaving tendrils for all to see.

Eventually, they came looking for me. I knew then that the elevation of spirit I had experienced was only temporary, like ionized nitrogen atoms losing an electron. Passing as it was, it was one of the most welcome feelings I’ve ever had.

Years later, on the other side of our grand, expansive country I had an opportunity to go fishing on the ocean. It started out great, but soon the large swells made me nauseous like I hadn’t been in a long, long time. I cursed the fact that we had signed up for a full day. This was my first (and last) experience to be out of sight of land. The swells were huge; the ocean is a big, big place. She didn’t like me riding her, and I certainly did not like her constant motion and her unstable moods.

Perhaps there is a lesson in this two disparate experiences, but it escapes me at the moment.

Saturated

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Michael

A few weeks ago, I noticed standing water along the edge of the small patch of shrubs that line the front of my house. At first, I didn’t think much of it, perhaps a small problem with the sprinkler system.

When I ran a test of the system, I found that one of the sprinklers had turned 90 degrees and was pelting the side of my house with a blast of water every morning. I was sure this was the problem as there were no other pipes that close to the edge of the house. After I adjusted it, problem fixed, right?

Not so much. The first day after, I was sure it was just residual water, who knows how long that head might have been twisted? By the fifth day, I knew I had a larger problem. No way there should still be water there.

So, I started to dig. The first thing I did was make a little trench to drain the standing water area. (This shot is after it had drained, but you get the idea.)

As I said, there were no pipes in that area; therefore the water must be coming from the sprinkler system solenoid valves. They have been know to leak before, thankfully they were easy to fix. Because the valve box is a bit resessed, I had to haul out my digging tools before I could check the valves.

After I freed the box, I saw that the enclosure was full of water. Obviously, something was leaking here, but could be fixed in short order.

Again, I was overly optimistic. I used our wet/dry vac (seen in first picture above, on right) to suck out the standing water. I was disappointed to find that there was no water dripping from any of the valves, yet the area underneath the valves filled up again quickly.

So I had to dig deeper.

Now it may not look like much, but it took a long while to dig that out. After the first layer was removed, the rest had to be removed mostly by hand. Shoveling with those pipes in there would have been a disaster! And the thing was, it smelled awful. Like a sewer. Like it had been leaking for YEARS.

Turns out, the leak was just above the red valve in the picture above. A short, connecting pipe. When I emptied out enough earth, I could hear/see the water hissing and bubbling. This was a bummer, I didn’t have a clue how to fix this. I’ve never dealt with pipes and soldering, and didn’t want to start now.

So it was time to call these guys:

Now this was a Saturday afternoon, but they were at my house in a few hours. He tried re-soldering, for the easy (and less expensive!) fix. No joy. He didn’t have what he needed to finish the job that day, so it sat and leaked until Monday. The rate of escaping water wasn’t to prodigious, so this was OK with me. Especially since Monday was a holiday, and he was coming anyway. And because I wouldn’t be without water in the meantime. Keep in mind, this is the main water line into the house – this means no water anywhere while repairs were underway. My hands were covered with that thick, sticky, stinking mud and I couldn’t wash it off!

But it also meant I had to leave this on my lawn and entryway.

So below is the solution he came up with. He asked if I minded use PEX piping. I’m not married to copper, so I told him that was fine, especially if it would speed up the process.

Here’s the lawn after I filled in the hole. Note that I did NOT use water to clean the yard!

The day after I filled in that hole, it rained. Hard. We got about nine inches of rain (thank you Hermine!) While that certainly helped to clean up the area a bit, it did not help with my saturation problem. It’s been a week since this happened, and I still haven’t turned on my sprinkler system. Here in Texas, that’s forever!

Geocaching

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Michael

Lately I’ve returned to geocaching. My legs and arms are criss-crossed with red streaks and swollen dots where the biters have left me a little something. And I’m doing more searching then finding. My eTrex Vista treats me like a cat chasing a laser pointer. So why do I geocache? Who the hell knows, it’s just fun!

The best part is when you finally spot that little sucker and can wipe a little of that blood on it to prove you were there. No, I would never do that, but I sure do dig into the tecnu when I get home.

I’ve more to say on this topic, but a day in the sun and underbrush can do a person in!

Juxtaposition

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Michael

Went to a wedding this weekend, held at a museum. Very classy, I got to spend some time browsing the exhibits. When I look at the items behind the glass, I find myself wondering where they have been; whose hands have they been through since their creator brought them into being. It’s like my own little time trip, these items are so old; they’ve lasted so much longer then the hands that shaped/carved/pounded/chiseled.

Needless to say, it’s surreal to be surrounded by these artifacts, drifting through time… with the sounds of inebriated guests dancing the funky chicken setting the ambiance.

For whom do you write?

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Michael

Sometimes I think of things I’d like to write about, then think “Nah, nobody wants to hear it.” And then it occurs to me that what I write is for me. Odd, then, that I only write on a blog where someone else CAN see it. Not that they do, but they CAN.

That being said, I wanted to post something about Robin Hobb’s wonderful books, Dragon Haven in particular. A good book is a book that’s interesting and keeps your attention. An awesome book is one that involves you so completely, you detach from reality for a bit and are emotionally tied to the characters and events contained between its pages.

(Spoilers ahead.)

I was captivated by the events unfolding in the Rain Wilds. I longed to find the legendary city of Kelsingra, and was very excited when Heeby and Rapscal led the rag-tag party to the edge. And ultimately disappointed when the last page turned on the doorstep of that mythical place. Seeing Heeby come flying in to save the day – awesome. And Sintara (that bitch!) flying? No way!

I’d like to speculate on what may be in that city of legend, it’s nice to think about! But I haven’t a clue. I’ve read speculation that Fitz and Tintaglia (characters from earlier books) may have visited there. Mayhap. And mayhap I should read those books again and form my own opinion!

But right now I’m focused on “The Passage” in hardcover while I just finished “The Road” in audio format.