Arnold

Cable news seems to be really excited about Scharzenegger's pecaddilos.  Who cares?

Das Boot

Decided to have carb problems from age and bad gas.  1 carb per cylinder, 3 carbs.  Looks like fun.

Atkins update 2

296.5 Morning weight

Atkins update

300.  Lost ~45lbs

Atkins

303-304

Seems to be picking up in drop speed.  Still slow

A Crappie Day

First time this year fishing. Absolutely gorgeous, sunny day. Light winds and high about 70. Found one pod of crappies and had a blast with a couple about 10-11" hitting on an ultralight. Fished with a Berkely minnow-looking plastic on a 1/16" oz jig. When they hit it, they were mad at it. The boat had been under a tarp since last year. Didn't fish much last year because of the heat and my achy tennis elbow. Learned a few things this weekend: 1. Start the boat before you take it out the first time. That way you can drive over to NAPA and get a fuel line to replace the one in the boat leaking from two mysterious wear spots. 2. If you look into the storage compartments the day before you get to take care of the ant colony that decided to take residence in the life preservers. 3. Covering a boat with a tarp that doesn't completely cover the transom and storing the boat under loblolly pines makes for yellow carpet with lots of needles and catkins. But most of them go away if you tow the boat 70 mph. 4. Stabil and sea foam don't do much for last summer's gas. 5. The new starting battery will die 5 miles from the launch because you cleaned the wiring connectors instead of cutting the wire back and replacing the connectors, you dummy. 6. You can find out how out shape you are trying to pull start a 40hp merc with old gas. 7. A three-year-old trolling motor that has been run off-and-on for 3 hours will get you the first 1.5 miles toward the launch. 8. When you waive at passing boats, they wave back and accelerate, even if you have the engine up and are paddling the boat. 200 hp bass boats pass by but two big guys in a little jon boat with a little motor will stop and tow you. 9. The shortest distance by trolling motor has no fish. 10. If you take I295 rather than I64 to avoid traffic, you will find that I295 is backed up for miles. You will also really, really appreciate that coffee you've been sipping on all day. Can't wait until next weekend so I can do this all over again.

Home Repair Rules

1. Estimate the project time. To get the real number multiply by 5 and add 10. A ten-minute project will take at least 60 minutes.
2. They quit making that 20 years ago.
3. They quit making the easy adapter for fixing #2 10 years ago.
4. The last guy who remembered the easy work-around retired 5 years ago.
5. You don't have the tool, so you need to make a special trip to get one. It is a limited use or one-time tool. So, after you use it, you will put it away in a place you won't forget until after you can't find it next time and buy its replacement.
6. If you need a helping hand, no one will be in earshot, especially if you have finally wedged yourself under a sink or some uncomfortable place.
7. You have to make at least 3 trips to the hardware store/Lowe's/Home Depot to get a $1 part. You get the wrong part; Larry puts the wrong sizes in the bag; and, after you've spent $20 and two trips, someone suddenly remembers that THIS transition piece is the one that works.
8. No plan is good unless it changes 3 times during execution.
9. It takes at least an hour to pick out the perfect paint color. Once on the wall, it will be absolutely wrong.
10. Buy Ibuprofen stocks. Sales will dramatically increase.
11. The new product is 0.5" bigger or smaller than the hole it's going in and won't fit without extra effort. For example, a 60" shower, bought to go into a 60" opening, is really 60.5".
12. It's never in an easy place to get to.
13.  We had those last year, but we don't know where they are.

Two days in the bathroom

Made progress on the bath.  Finally picked out vanity and new top,so I got's another trip to the dump to get rid of the old top.

Major effort on getting the drain line to meet.  Three trips to Lowe's/home depot trying to get a transition piece from 1 1/2 to 1 1/4 and finally, the guy at Lowe's Broad Street said use one of these.  Next time I'll go to Pleasants.  Together, no leaks.

Toilet

Easy installation.  No leaks, I hope.

Bath Mirror

Not bad and not hard to install.  Sits on a mounting bracket and two brackets to hold it on if you want to surface mount.  I can't recess mount this because other bath shares the wall.

Progress on New Bath

Painted yellow walls with Behr Premium Ultra.  One coat didn't cover the yellow.  Took two coats and I have some touch up to do.  Using the Allure vinyl planking.  The floor is in.  I may be sloppy, but I make up for it by being slow.

Electronics recycling

10+ years of computer junk and other electronics off to recycling.  Rainy so I used the Tahoe.  Took about 2 hours to drag it out of the eave storage and get it downstairs.

Took 3 minutes to empty the car

New Tub

A real plumber does it faster than I could

Atkins Diet

Started the Atkins Diet about two months ago.  Weight today was 310.  I started somewhere around 340.  Slow

Cheap Reciprocating Saw

I had a Black and Decker recip saw.  Used it twice for two bathroom renovations.  This saw quit moving the blade toward the end.  Wouldn't recommend getting one of those.

Second Bath Project

Doing the second bath.  I'm removing the old tub and having the new one professionally installed.  Starting, above.
Current look

Climate Change Predictions

They haven't been all that accurate, but the believers don't seem to mind.

Paint the World White

In a 2009 speech.  DOE Secretary Chu wants to paint rooftops white or some lighter color to save the planet.  Not one mention of the $$$ to do this or the environmental damage to get that much TiO2, if there is that much TIO2 or the economic cost of that much displacement.  Truly, getting a Nobel in one area doesn't prevent you from being a total idiot in another.

More news about a Green

This one seems to be a family tragedy.  You wonder why no one noticed anything if the power had been off for two months.

greeners in the news

Alvin is running for senate.  No relation.  Well, if he does well we might do some creative genealogy.  He has a few "famous" news encounters.

Bunny Ears