Saturday
- on the road again, down to Lancaster. A remarkable amount of traffic.
There were also a lot of CHP's - I saw five or six traffic stops. Most
journey's I don't see a single cruiser, going up or going down.
Pre-holiday practice? Revenue for a cash strapped state?
I need to be back at work on Monday, so that gives me one day to clean and work around the house a bit.
Friday
- not a lot to say. Rather tired, my shoulders ache a bit.
Your Friday Cat Photo:
Phoebe laying on the boot laces, Riley on his beloved scratch pad...
Thursday 13 November
2008
Thursday
- Hmm. Spent some time trying to square up the framing. There are
things you don't learn in Aerospace Engineering. I tried the old string trick, measuring
along the diagonals, and couldn't make it work, unless the deck
narrowed from 10' at the house to 9' at the end. Very puzzling. I moved
things about, here and there, manhandling the twelve foot two by fours
and concrete piers by myself, working up a pretty good sweat. Nothing worked.
Finally I went back and checked my numbers. Apparently I had calculated
short leg as 116.75", which was correct, but used 106.76" in
calculating the hypotenuse. Bah. After that it worked out fine. Except
that it got dark awful soon.
Leveling the frame was sort of
fun. I bought a laser gizmo for $65 that draws a horizontal line. It's
self leveling, so one I found the correct pier height for one joist I
could use it for all the other member supports.
"Now, you know that
normally, I'd take the libertarian side and argue
against this. But the news business is special.
Without us, you
wouldn't know anything. Besides, it provides millions of
low-paying,
insecure jobs to overeducated yuppies who are going to move back home,
into your basement, if you don't do something, quick. "
Wednesday 12
November 2008
Wednesday
- eh. Another day. The weather seems to be warming up again.
Next in my "found CD" series, I Am Legend, the widescreen DVD. (Yes, yes, I know, CD's and DVD's are different and distinct, but as a category "found optical media" just doesn't have the same resonance.)
I never saw it, by the way.
Megan McArdle is on a roll, writing about the GM bailout proposal and
what a bad idea that would be. I do love a good rant.. Post
#1 and Post
#2. Some selected lines:
"...GM's legacy costs
are crazy. So is the UAW leadership, which, goaded
by the retirees, is knowingly driving the company into bankruptcy
rather than negotiate clearly sustainable deals..."
"GM's management seems to have a positive genius for making horrible
cars, as if they'd deliberately sat down and asked themselves how they
could best combine ugly, inconvenient, and unreliable into one
expensive package."
"And if we want to keep auto workers from feeling pain, then we should
just up and give them money. There's no reason to waste steel
on a lot
of crappy cars."
"Very few people set out to work for Detroit these days unless they're
serious gearheads, or happen to already live there. Working
for the
Big Three magically combines vast corporate bureaucracy and job
insecurity in one completely unattractive package. "
Tuesday 11 November 2008
Tuesday
- Veterans Day.
Just working away, on this and that. My brothers' truck is in the
garage, so I couldn't make a lumber run for decking. Instead I sorted
through the old stuff - this is really a rebuild, not a completely new
structure, and so found some 2x6's that were is fair shape. Then I
started moving them about to see what might work. Never having built a
deck before it all seems a bit daunting. But then it's at nearly ground
level, so even if it collapses under the weight of a pudgy squirrel or a couple of finches, it's only a short drop.
I worked late, and ended up staying the night at my sisters'. I thought
her cats might come to visit me on the couch - I miss mine - but they
didn't.
Monday 10 November 2008
Monday
- more of the same.
I did win 25 cents rooting against the 49ers'. It was a pretty close
game, considering that it was Kurt Warner at the top of his game
against a rookie with three, total, NFL starts,.
Sunday9 November 2008
Sunday
- did a bit of work at my sisters' place, hung out with my brother, had
breakfast at a fairly decent restaurant, and watched the last half of
the Giants-Eagles game.
The Giants won, although I was rooting for the Eagle's they (NYG) were
clearly the more well rounded team, with better coaching.
Madden
didn't sound enthused, but rather somewhat down - I don't know if he
was upset about the game or by not being on Monday night
anymore.Oakland played today, they lost but were blacked out locally
anyways. San Francisco plays tomorrow night, against Arizona. I'm
expecting great things from them, great things...(that being 25 cents
courtesy of my Dad).
From about
a year ago, a comment by me on Washington Mutual: "There's
probably a reason they
are a hugely successful nationwide bank, but it isn't customer
service..." I guess they weren't as successful as I thought.
