Mr. Sree passed away. :-/ When I got laid off three times running, and wound up literally spending my last dime with no income in sight, he fronted me lunch for a month and a half until I got back on my feet. Really, really, really appreciated that; he was an awesome guy. Rest well, [...]
The military spends more money on air conditioning in Iraq than NASA’s entire budget.
Was trying to dimension boards for an adirondack chair I’m going to build this month. Banged a 2×8 off the side of my kneecap, whacked my head on a light bulb (which broke on me), crunched a knuckle, and blew out my thickness planer. After reading the directions to see what can be replaced, figured [...]
The Economist reminds us that the US spends more money on the military than the next 17 countries, all combined. To be fair, by GDP, we only spend on the order of double, but still; is it Canada or Mexico we were afraid of? Diplomacy dollars go a *lot* farther than military spending; Rumsfeld said [...]
Still worn down from the weekend. Rode my bicycle to work today, and someone cut me off with their car; had to lock the brakes to stop in time, then they stopped and started *screaming* at me. Proper response: “no thanks! ” My response: “” That’d work fine, except it has me super-stressed an hour [...]
Streetlights can’t be on a motion sensor, because the metal-halide or sodium lights take a few minutes to warm up, and turning them on and off burns ‘em up. We’re replacing city street lights with LEDs now; they use far less energy, and a bulb will last ~25 years. The other change we don’t seem [...]
Brought a few boxes out of storage, setup a bookshelf in the basement, and there’s definitely some stuff here that I’m just not going to re-read any time soon. If anyone wants something, email me your mailing address, and I’ll send it to you free. If it’s not claimed by this Saturday… it’s heading for [...]
Moved a wall in the basement since this weekend. Demolition, moving three wall outlets, one ceiling light, cutting up carpet, removing plumbing and drain pipes that weren’t needed, reframing the new wall, drywalling, and one bit of spackle, done. Needs a bit more spackle, then some paint, and my shop gets a hell of a [...]
From riding a bicycle in the rain, I could use fenders, so that I don’t wind up with a stripe of water straight up my backside. Who knew?
Productive weekend, sort of. Half the basement is finished; I use that side for wood storage, a desk, exercise bike, a fridge, and there’s a sink as well. The other half is split; half is my oddly-shaped shop, half furnace+laundry room. The plan is to move a wall, expanding the shop to a rectangle, but [...]