No Tractor Pull

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:29:16 GMT

You are a
Social Liberal
(63% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(68% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

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Stupid is as the glass is half full.

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:36:36 GMT

One of the first steps toward idiocracy:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08266/914029-298.stm

Chaos will reign supreme! (starting in two weeks)

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:23:10 GMT

Everything's in place and the dates are all set. We close on the refi Tuesday and construction is set to begin on 09/22. This remodel/addition will be a bumpy ride.

Overtaxed

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:21:23 GMT

So in preparation for the Settlement on my mortgage refi, I find out yesterday that, for the 6 years I've owned my house, the county has been incorrectly assessing my taxes. They have been taxing me on 4.03 acres when I actually own 0.78.

I had always thought that the assessed value of my house was ridiculously high, but since the housing market got so ridiculous a couple of years ago, when I was last assessed, I just assumed that was the reason.

They are "looking into" what they can do with regard to a refund for past overages. I'm so not holding my breath on this one.

I may have just found a new pastime

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:51:34 GMT

XKCD makes my day, again.

http://xkcd.com/470/

Get Morgan Freeman out of my head!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:41:30 GMT

Damn you xkcd!

http://xkcd.com/462/

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:08:54 GMT

Your result for The Steampunk Archetype Test...

The Aetherist Bodger

36 Swashbuckling Engineer, 23 Crazy Clockwork Tinkerer, 33 Charming Noble, 33 Roguish Pirate, 8 Mechanical Fian and 50 Aetherist Bodger!

The aether carries the information, the aether is information. You are one of the few who know the ins and outs of Aether Terminals. You can access information across the Aethersphere, tapping into the Aetherpipes of anyone you want and stealing the information stored in their datatanks. Some think of you as a myth, a legend created to scare people. You are no myth or legend, you are quite real and you are currently reading the Queen’s AetherMissives.

Take The Steampunk Archetype Test at HelloQuizzy

Providence?

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:57:46 GMT

Last night it occurred to me that I had not talked to my grandfather for a long time, so I called him. This morning he was admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure, and this afternoon moved to another so that he could see a specialist. I don't know what, if anything they can do for him(he's 94), it's not like their going to be doing any major surgery.

I'm afraid that the day has arrived that I've been both expecting and dreading for some time, especially since he moved into the nursing home. Last night could have been my last time to get to talk to him and I have to wonder what it was that made me think to call.

Week Off

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:16:01 GMT

Last week I took the week off to clean up the yard. (Yes, it was that bad) I spent the week working my ass off in the yard, at least 10 hours/day, and pissing off the hippies. by putting a bunch of "carbon" into the air as I burned stuff all day/all week. Just burning off all the branches that the trees shed in the yard last winter kept the fire going all week. I finished up my vacation by spending all day Sunday in the woods with a chainsaw cutting up trees for firewood. I ended every day exhausted, stinky, and sweaty and yet the week felt very relaxing compared to a typical week at work. I think this may have to be an annual event, especially since I now get an extra week of vacation time. Unfortunately, even with a week, I didn't finish the yard. I probably needed a 2 or 3 more days to finish. Hopefully this weekend will be nice.

Bathroom Phase II

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:45:03 GMT

This weekend I tackled phase II of the bathroom remodel, the floor.

First I had to rip out top layer of the old subfloor, mainly because the bottom of the 5 layers of linoleum that was on it wouldn't come off and I wanted a nice waterproof surface for the tile to stick to.

Next, I had to put down a layer of latex modified thinset on the remaining subfloor, then install the Durarock over it, tape the seams and cover them with thinset. Somehow, I negelected to get a picture of that part.

Next came the tile which I discovered is a lot easier to do on the floor than on the walls.

Last, I had to install the new toilet, which went much eaiser than I expected. However, it wasn't without problem. I first seated it on the wax ring and bolted it down using the bolts and caps from the old toilet. They didn't seem to fit quite right, but it was holding the toilet down. Then, after looking at the set that came with the new toilet, I decided that they would work better, so I swapped them out. Somehow in the course of swapping them, one of the bolts came out of the flange which meant removing the toilet and reseating it which meant another trip to the store to get another wax ring. The second time around, things went without a hitch.

Phase II is now complete and we have a new toilet that does a better job flushing with less water and a lot less noise.

The ball nudges forward

Fri, 23 May 2008 16:21:35 GMT

After talking about it for 5 years, we're finally getting the ball rolling on putting an addition onto the house. This morning we met with a designer to come up with a plan. As expected, in the end he came up with a couple of ideas that had never occurred to us but are much better than anything we'd come up with on our own. Now we wait for him to tell us how much it will cost.

Sun, 11 May 2008 16:20:46 GMT

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:48:29 GMT

Yeah, it's an online petition which, in the end, probably means nothing and is not likely to actually get the attention of Congress, but this issue pisses me off enough I'll sign anything that is against a stupid housing bailout.

Useless public education

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:00:51 GMT

Reason number 6.02x10-23 why I don't want my daughter to attend public school

First, this was a stupid assignment. What was the educational value?

Second, what is up with sending her back to class and telling her that she can't call her parents? Whatever adminstrator/teacher told her that should be disciplined.

UPDATE:Ok, so apparently she made up the attack and the school did take appropriate action against other students, however question number one remains unanswered.

Bathroom remodel week 5 (I fought the tile and the tile won)

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:18:11 GMT

Got the tile up in the tub surround this weekend, was a long pitched battle that lasted until 10pm last night. Unfortunately the tile company hadn't sold us near enough border tile, so I've still got to do that before I can grout. In the process I broke my drill mounted paint stirrer while mixing thinset mortar. Oh well, I guess this means that I get to try out the spot welder! Woke up this morning moving very slow and aching from all parts. Returned the rental saw and picked up some additional border tile on the way to work, so I get to do more tonight, then grout tomorrow night.

Overall it looks pretty good, at least that's what the wife tells me. Of course, I can easily spot all of the imperfections, but hopefully the grout will hide the majority of them.

Bathroom remodel week 4

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:42:12 GMT

Easter activities left little time for work on the bathroom this weekend. I did managed to get the rest of the wall board up, only to have to take it down and redo it. When I rerouted the plumbing, I had fitted it so that the shower faucet fit even with the front of the studs, i.e. flat against the back of the wall board, however, I hadn't taken into account that the tub installation required extending this out with furring strips.

Result? the faucet didn't stick out enough to get the trim on. So I had to remove all the wall board from that wall, unscrew all of the framing, adjust and re-install. Glad I had framed with screws instead of nails.

Funeral

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:52:51 GMT

Went to the viewing on Tuesday and funeral yesterday for the co-worker who was killed in a car accident. The funeral was nice, as funerals go, but I've never understood the whole 'viewing' thing. Seems rather ghoulish to me to have a formal showing of the body. I can understand the need to have people gather around to remember the deceased and console their family, but I'd prefer that my last memory of the deceased be one in which they were alive and interacted with me rather than lying silent in a casket.

Some traditions I just don't get.

Bathroom Remodel Week 3

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:45:05 GMT

The bathroom remodel project has, like most all of my projects, suffered from major scope creep. The original plan was to simply get rid of all of the 60's rest stop tile on the walls, replace the fiberglass bath surround with ceramic tile, and replace the 4 layers of increasingly ugly linoleum with ceramic floor tile. Um, yeah.

Plan A
Several months ago, as I started by ripping down the ugly old wall tile, and the sheetrock it was attached to, I realized that there was a fair sized void between the bathroom wall and the adjoining bedroom wall, large enough for a small linen cabinet to be inserted, so I framed out a cubby for the cabinet between the toilet and tub. After putting up new drywall, the project has sat on hold which is a bad thing because the longer it sits, the more options I consider.

Decisions
There was a long debate about whether or not to replace the tub. It was cast iron, too shallow for an adult to actually take a decent bath, and worst of all, the frickin tub was always cold, about 60 degrees, which meant that taking a warm bath required filling the tub up once with hot water, waiting for it to warm the tub, then drain and refill. Otherwise the bath water got cold in a hurry. We finally decided that the tub needed to be replaced since Kayleigh will be using it for the next several years and we didn't want to deal with the cold tub issue. So I measured the old tub and ordered a new acrylic one to replace it. Enter scope creep. The new tub is 20" deep as opposed to the 10 or 12" of the old tub, so I knew that I'd have to raise the faucet a few inches, but somehow I mis-measured the width and got a new tub that was also 2" wider than the old one.

Demolition
What did this mean? Well, it meant that the plumbing now had to be re-worked to move the faucet both up and to the left as well as shifting the drain plumbing. It also meant that the cubby that I had laboriously framed out was now in the way and had to be removed and the old framing that had been cut out for the cubby had to be replaced. It also meant that I had to remove part of the subfloor to accomodate the wider tub as the upper layer of plywood, to which the sedimentary linoleum was attached, did not go under the tub but ended at the tub's edge. I had decided to remove this layer of plywood anyway after determining that adding a layer of dura-crete and ceramic tile was going to raise the floor about an inch above that of the rest of the house.

Adding It All Up
So, what was originally planned as one day of demolition and one day of tiling, turned into one weekend of demo, one weekend of framing & plumbing work, one weekend of tub and wall board installation, and one weekend of wall tile installation with painting and floor tile to be done in phase two. Adding to the complexity and longevity of this project are the facts that: this is our only bathroom, so I have to compartmentalize the project into several mini-projects; and most of the work, the loud stuff(which is most of it), has to be done between Kayleigh's naps.

Week Three
So here we are at week three. This past weekend involved installing the tub, re-routing the drain, and installing the wall board. I was quite proud that Stacey and I were able to get the tub in without any major issue and without having to remove the toilet. We did manage to break one small corner of the skirt, but that will be hidden once the sheetrock and floor tile are in. Unfortunately, I ended up being short two boards of dura-crete, not realizing this, of course, until after the stores had closed for the day. Apparently the tile store's ordering system calculates how many sheets that you need to cover a certain square footage, but doesn't take into account how those sheets must be cut to fit and the waste that results.

Next week: Tile!
Did I mention that my mother and sister are coming to visit in two weeks?

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:33:50 GMT

Which Heroes Character Are You?

More on Heroes. Created by BuddyTV

Idiocracy in motion

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:55:22 GMT

This was the first line of a HOWTO article I read today in a Linux forum, posted by someone with a handle of "smartboy":

"DISCLAIMOR: I am not reliable for any damage this may cause."

I hate this damn state.

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:06:28 GMT

So, I renewed my drivers license back in October. When I filled out the renewal form, there was a section at the bottom that was labeled voter registration and said to fill out if you wish to register to vote or change your registration. I'm registered as an independent, but wanted to change my registration to Republican so that I could vote in the primary against John McCain. So I filled out the form and handed it in with my license renewal.

The clerk at the window renewed my license and when she had filled in all of the necessary information, the computer asked about the voter registration info. I watched her fill in the information on the computer, check all the appropriate boxes, etc. and left the DMV assuming that I had just changed my registration.

This weekend, I got my sample ballot in the mail, marked 'non-partisan'. Confused, I called the county registrar who confirmed that they had me registered as an Independent. I explained to her that I had changed my registration when I renewed my driver's licence, had watched the clerk fill in all the appropriate information and submit it. She explained that 'they can't enter it on the computer, you have to fill out a form and mail it in to the county'. Well that's not what the form that I filled out said and that's not how the procedure works at the MVA. She told me that she was sorry, but it's too late to do anything about it, that I should take it up with the MVA.

I hate this commie state. It's not like I really expected my vote to be McCain's undoing, but at least I would have had the satisfaction of knowing that I had voted against him. This is just one more reason why electronics and voting should not mix.

Beyond words

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:56:32 GMT

Big suprise here, people who were irresponsible enough to buy more house than they could actually afford are just as irresponsible when it comes to their pets:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UFOH980&show_article=1&catnum=0

I hope these bastards remain homeless for the rest of their lives.

Scary look into the future

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:54:12 GMT

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the movie Idiocracy.
Mike Judge gives a look at a future that, when you watch it, seems too patently ridiculous to even be possible.

Then I look at the Presidential race and the other news of the day and get chills.

Congress says...

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:13:28 GMT

LOOK Shiny!

It's an election year, so I guess I should expect a lot of ado about nothing.
Tax Rebate? Whatever. I expect that xbox sales will see a short jump in June/July and that should pretty much be the total stimulus effect of the tax rebates.

Wait a minute, people who didn't pay taxes get a $300 rebate? Last time I checked, when you get money back that you didn't put in in the first place, that's not a rebate, that's a paycheck. Oh, and, of course, it's a graduated scale so that the more you paid in taxes, the less of a rebate you get back. Totally fair, makes sense to me.

About the only thing in this that will actually affect the economy, for more than a momentary bump, are the business tax cuts.

And as for the "mortgage crisis" or as I like to refer to it, "stupid is as stupid did", don't get me started on that nonsense. If you can afford to buy a $725K house, you don't need assistance from the govt. or help in the form of an FHA loan. And if you can't afford $725K, then what you need is a smaller house, or one in a cheaper neighborhood. I made a stupid loan decision when I purchased my car, I'm waiting for the fed govt. to come pay off my car for me. After all, it's not my fault that I didn't think things through.

I wish that the politicians would just sit down, shut up, and let nature take its course on this as with "global warming". The market will correct itself, it must every now and then, just as nature will with the climate. They'll do more harm by interfering than than by leaving well enough alone.

Fred is out

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:08:10 GMT

Send in the clowns.

Now the only thing I can look forward to, in this election, is voting against John McCain.