November, 2005

Yeah. A few quick links for you today. Maybe more later in the day, but maybe not.

So depending on when you look, you might get two updates for the price of one. This morning I woke up early (because I went to bed early), and figured I’d get in a quick update before venturing out into the inch or so of snow that might have ice underneath it. I’ll find out in a few when I head outside to shovel, I guess.

First day on the new job today. Went pretty well, all things considered. Well, one thing considered. Apparently the leftovers from last Wednesday were not still good yesterday, so I spent until about 3am with my body desperately trying to purge the no-longer-good food. Oops.

So basically this means that rather than having time to do much blogging tonight, I’m going to be hitting the sack early, and trying to catch up on the sleep I missed last night. Sorry. More tomorrow, hopefully.

Well, it’s time to switch schedules. With the new job beginning tomorrow, I’m probably not going to have the time in the morning for these updates, so I’m going to start doing them the night before. Not sure exactly how it’ll sort out in the long run, but we’ll try this for a while, eh?

Not too much of note for the weekend. Friday and Saturday each had a few errands. Sunday was rainy and icky out and I mostly stayed in and got a couple last things crossed off the to-do list. Added about twice as many to the list, so it ends up not feeling all that productive, but I guess it’ll have to do.

Are you headed out for the “biggest shopping day of the year” today? I’m certainly not. But I’m also not observing Buy Nothing Day. After a stay-at-home Thanksgiving, I need to head out for some groceries. I also need to get new inner tubes for my trike. I filled up the tires last week and hauled the trike inside so I could set it up on a trainer for the winter. But two of the three tires have already gone flat. One had a pretty obviously questionable valve-stem, so that doesn’t surprise me, but the other looked fine (and had air left from summer), so I’m wondering if maybe I somehow screwed it up in the course of refilling it. In any case, I only have one spare tube at the moment, so a trip to the bike shop is in order.

But that’s probably going to be the extent of my shopping today. Most of the shopping for prezzies is happening online again this year, and my mailman has been complimenting me on how much of the shopping I seem to be getting done already. There are a few presents that will require a trip to the store, but I think other than booze, I can get everything online this year. And boy, am I thankful for that!

Today, I’m not sure how to start my daily ramble, so I guess I’ll just dive in. Yesterday, I was sure everything was going smoothly, and I’d be starting a new job next Monday. I was excited and a bit nervous, and spent the morning taking care of a bunch of things that I need to do while I still have an extremely flexible schedule (and watching the sidewalk guys finish putting in my railing). Then I started filling out the reams of paperwork needed for the new job, and came across the following sentence in the employment agreement:

No weapons are to be brought onto the property.

Suddenly things are not so clear any more. As soon as I read that line, I thought of the way AOL fired three workers in Utah for having guns in their cars, a dozen Weyerhauser employees were fired at the start of hunting season for having guns in their cars in rural Oklahoma, or the way that Oklahoma’s law that was designed to clear things up is being fought by employers. Things in Minnesota are not clear at all, but as I read it, they can probably ban weapons in the parking lot.

That’s where the problem arises. About a month ago, during the interview process, I specifically asked whether I would be allowed to keep a locked, cased gun in my truck in the parking lot. One of the things that appealed to me about where I’ll be working is that it’s close to one of the ranges I frequent, and I wanted to be clear on whether I’d be able to swing by the range after work without having to make the 20-mile round-trip back home. It almost makes the idea of a daily commute appealing. Nobody mentioned the prohibition (but to be fair, I wasn’t told that one didn’t exist, either — I think the answer I got was along the lines of you should be okay, but I’ll double-check), and we kept moving forward.

But now, when I see that sentence, I worry. It isn’t even specific to guns. According to the TSA, the Leatherman Pocket Tool that so many geeks carry is a weapon. I’m sure that the chef’s knife that’s part of the tailgating supplies I keep in my truck year ’round is a weapon. And that worries me almost as much as what will happen if I decide I’m going shooting after work some day. I don’t want to be a butt-head, but I also don’t want to get fired because I want to head to the range after work or because I brought my usual cooking tools along before heading to a Saints game.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most about this is that I asked about this in advance. I probably should have followed-up when I didn’t get a clear answer right away, but I didn’t. And now I worry because I’ve been vocal about gun-rights and that might set me up as a target. I understand that this is a complicated issue and had hoped the employment policy would allow me to continue to avoid making a hard decision, but it appears that’s not in the cards.

Feh.

Oh yeah, and there’s something about a bunch of turkey tomorrow. I think I’ll make mine Wild Turkey.

Updated in the early afternoon: It’s not really about guns.

Once again, it’s the middle of an extra-short week already. The week before Thanksgiving always seems busy to me. Partly that’s because I usually spend some time on Thanksgiving weekend banging out the annual holiday letter and getting the Christmas cards ready to go. Partly it’s because there’s at least one dinner on the schedule. But it’s been five years since I flew out of town for Thanksgiving, and I was really hoping I’d be able to do it again this year. Sadly, all the cheap overseas flights were full by the time I got my passport back this year, so I’m staying at home.

That’s just as well, I guess. There’s a lot to be done around here, and I start a new job on Monday, the enormity of which is just starting to really sink in. My schedule’s going to see some pretty darned big changes next week, and I’m torn between trying to get everything in order around home (which I already know is a lost cause) and just relaxing and enjoying the last few days of freedom.

happy feet

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This is one of those mornings where I think I should be in a better mood than I am. There’s a beautiful sunrise, I had a pretty good weekend (full of doing nothing), and I’ve got happy feet, since my new slippers arrived. But there’s change a-comin’, and that always leaves me a bit on-edge. Some of it’s good change, and some I’m not sure about, but it’s knocking me out of my nice comfortable rut, and I’m never thrilled about that.

Part of the change is something you’re going to see. I’m not sure when, but I think I’m going to quit doing the blogging first thing in the morning. I’ve been with the morning schedule for quite a while, but I realize that it’s not working as well as I’d like. Even if I wake up at 5:30, like I did this morning, I’m not ready to head out the door until nearly 9am. And that means that I’m not ready to get out and enjoy a beautiful sunrise like the one this morning. I’m not sure of the details, and I’ll probably continue to spend at least a little time surfing the web each morning, but I think I’m going to try putting off the posting until evening. Probably change over next week, but maybe as early as tomorrow.

Another change is that I think it’s finally time to upgrade my Mac. Just a software upgrade of the OS, but that’s never as simple as it sounds. The driving force behind that is my frustration with Safari. I see the spinning pizza of death something like a hundred times every morning. Most of them are short, like five seconds or so, but over the course of my regular morning surfing, that’s a lot of frustration. I’m hoping the upgrade will improve matters, but I suspect the problem lies in something like the auto-complete text thingie that I need to trash, if only I could remember where it was. But there’s other reasons to upgrade too, so I’ll try that first and worry about other issues later.

As for the weekend, there wasn’t all that much excitement. I made the National Ammo Day run on Saturday, but that was about it. I’ll have a picture of my purchases sometime this week, but the total was pretty respectable.

Twice! Last night, Jim & I headed down to Keegan’s for some pub quiz (and a fair quantity of beer, too). In both the 6:30 and 8pm games, we finished second, earning us each a free drink (twice!). It was a pleasant end to a day that involved two trips to the hardware store and a lot of grunting and groaning as I moved my bed (and clothes and lamps and alarm clock and much other miscellany) into my new bedroom. But back to our near-domination. In the first game, the winners had 18 of 25 questions right. We were in a three-way tie for second with 15, but took it because we knew that Minnesota’s state bird is the Common Loon. That extra bit of pedantry paid off. Plus there were three other questions where we talked ourselves out of the correct answers. We coulda been contenders! In the second game, we lost by a single point, with two or three more questions that we might have been able to find the answer to if we hadn’t been flush with the after-effects of celebrating our first new win. Anyway, it was a fun time, but tipped the scales at around $60 for each of us (even with two free drinks each), so we probably won’t be repeating that performance too often. Nonetheless, Go Team Duh!

And as I mentioned above, I finally completed the bedroom transition I’ve been yammering on about forever. It felt weird going to sleep in a different room last night, but I like the fact that I’ve gotten that done. Today, I’m going to rearrange the boxes and furniture left in the old bedroom and make enough room that I can set up my trike and the trainer I bought last month so I can get some exercise over the winter. Wish me well, kiddies.

Okay, downright cold out there. Didn’t drop below zero, but we very nearly ran out of Fahrenheits last night. Between the cold and the wind that was gusting to over 50 mph, I didn’t have a big urge to get outside yesterday. In fact, I made two trips out. One was to refill the bird-feeders, since the critters need extra fuel in the cold weather too. The other was to head down to the Stone Arch Bridge to take a full-moon picture.

stone arch bridge & moon

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When I got down there, I was initially confused. The moon was supposed to have risen, but I didn’t see it. Turns out, it’s much farther north in the sky this month than last, and was hiding behind the buildings across the river. Once I figured out what was going on, I set up the tripod and clicked off a half-dozen pictures. This is the one I like best, though I wish I’d moved the tripod that last foot or two to get the moon centered in the power-pylon. But I think the trip was worth it. Already one person on Flickr has called this picture a favorite, which is gratifying.

I also pushed my new furniture around a bit in the bedroom. I was planning to move my bed in there yesterday, but one of the legs snapped off the vanity while I was moving it, so I spent some time repairing that instead. I also discovered that I need some power-strips or extension cords to get the electricity where I need it before I can set everything up, so that’ll be part of the plan for today. I had gotten used to the idea of being able to slowly nibble away at projects like this, but the other news from yesterday is that I now have an official start-date for a new job. I’ll be someone else’s employee, and I’m won’t have even a fraction of the free-time I currently do, so I’d better get this project completed.

So much for the threatened blizzard. It rained most of the evening last night, and finally changed over to snow about 7pm. But the ground was still warm enough that very little of the snow stuck, and most of the moisture came down as rain. Which froze. So yeah, it was a little treacherous out there, but hardly the huge blizzard we’d been warned about.

And yes, I was out driving in the mess. Tiffany and Jona were back in town and stopped by the Sporty, so I swung in there to see ’em. Good to see the gals, and they seem to be doing well now that they’ve both decided to leave Minneapolis and get their lives in order elsewhere. I’m not the only one who misses them, but it’s good to see them doing well, even if it’s not here.

a little snow

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Coming home, there were two spots where the Auto-4WD kicked in on my truck. The first was pulling away from an intersection where braking cars had polished the ice on the street to a near post-zamboni skating-rink sheen, and the second was right in front of my garage. There’s a little hump to get into the garage, and I needed the front wheels to help pull the rear ones over the hump. But as I said before, hardly the world-ending blizzard the TV stations had warned us about. Heck, I don’t think I’m even going to bother trying to shovel away the ice and snow on the sidewalk.

I don’t find it surprising anymore that people ignore warnings to evacuate because a hurricane is coming or there’s going to be a flood. If I’d heeded the TV weathermen, I would have spent thousands on arctic survival gear for yesterday. As it turned out, my leather jacket was plenty warm as long as I was out of the wind, and tennis shoes were still very appropriate footwear. Probably didn’t hurt that I’ve got fifty-some pounds of flesh-parka to insulate me, but still, the sheer quantity of doom and gloom on the TV on Monday night was just silly. I’d be more surprised if people didn’t ignore such warnings. Plus I’m kinda pissed we didn’t even get the two inches that was the minimum forecast. I was ready for some snow, and this is just disappointing.

So after sleeping most of yesterday morning and part of the afternoon away, I’m feeling better. Maybe it’s only temporary, but we’ll see. There’s supposed to be snow this evening and tomorrow morning, so I’ll probably get a chance to shovel off my spiffy new sidewalk tomorrow. Maybe it’s the illness making me goofy, but I’m kinda looking forward to it.

With the arrival of this first snow (which probably won’t last), it’s really starting to feel like winter. I’ve moved the due dates on all remaining “outside projects” to next spring, and it’s time to concentrate on things inside the house. But tonight or tomorrow is also the full moon, and I had hoped to get out to the Stone Arch Bridge to catch another full moon photo, but with the bridge lit up and no people in the way. It’s not looking like the weather is going to cooperate, though. Dangit.

I had a pretty productive weekend. Friday saw a trip to the range after a decent morning. Saturday, a visit to mom. Sunday, I went with a friend and shopped briefly for a stove that I’ll probably buy sometime next year, while she looked at dishwashers for her new kitchen. Then picked up my bedroom furniture from Melrose Antiques, moved it in (pictures to come once it’s reassembled and in place), and hung out with another friend having a couple beers. But I had an earache yesterday morning, and when I got home from the beers, I was tired, and finally gave in to the illness that’s been waiting in the wings. I’m feeling worse this morning, and I’m thinking I might need a trip out to get some anti-biotics for the ear infection that woke me up at 4am this morning. Ugh.

Didn’t find anything worth linking to this morning. I’m not sure whether it’s due to feeling sick, or today just being a slow news day. Sorry about it, either way. Hopefully something tomorrow. For now, I’m going to try and go back to bed and sleep some more.

Is it a holiday today or not? Well, if you’re a politician, a banker or a mailman, it is. Otherwise, not so much. But hey, it’s an inconvenient month for two holidays, so let’s just have the one where everyone gorges themselves and then goes to the mall to fill up their credit cards.

It’s officially “that time of year.” I stopped by Target, needing to pick up a few groceries and other sundries, and couldn’t avoid the Christmas decorations. I know the layout of the target store I shop at pretty darned well, and usually can weave my way through the minefields of plastic santas and fake trees, but they’ve been moving things around on me this past year, and that included some of the decorations. Plus I’ve been seeing Christmas trees in the ads I zip past on my TiVo. We’re still six weeks away from Christmas, and I’m already starting to be annoyed by the stores pimping it at me. I think this means it’s time to avoid retail as much as possible until January, but damnit, it’s getting tougher every year as they extend “the season.” And to top it off, I’m sure google will decide this post is going to attract people who want to start shopping now, so there will be ads for “holiday crap” over there on the right. [reloads] Yep. Crap.

But hey, I’m not entirely grouchy. In fact, I’ve got an extra-large order of links for you today, so knock yourself out.

Got cold enough overnight that the frost might have finally killed the plants still growing outside. But today’s supposed to be warmer, and the big wind that started Tuesday night has blown itself out. Seems like a perfect couple days to wrap up the last of the outside work around the house.

Yesterday, in a prep-run for National Ammo Day, I made a run up to Cabela’s in Rogers. Man. That’s a huge store. No, really. Huge! Their prices were pretty good, too. I got about half of my needs for my winter target-shooting out of the way, and I’ll probably find a friend who wants to head up there on the 19th (mark your calendar, Bill). Last year, National Ammo Day meant about ten million rounds of ammuntion bought around the country.

On the way home, I drove back on the “old highway” which took me through Brooklyn Center, where I went to elementary school. The old school is still there, but the playground that had the spaceship/slide that I dug as a kid is gone. Bummage. Both of the apartments my mom & I lived in during those years are still there, but the shopping center across the street from the first one (where I bought my first model planes and cars and the glue that would get you high if you forgot to open the window and they made you bring a parent the first time you bought it) has been levelled recently. The construction equipment was out pushing around dirt. The doctor’s office (where I got my allergy shots every two weeks) just up the block from that first apartment is now a Baptist Church. And there’s a “new” Korean church right next to the elementary school. I was surprised when I saw the Hangul lettering, since I didn’t know that there were that many Koreans here in the Twin Cities.

Man it was breezy last night! Once again, the “storm door” on the north side of my house was flapping in the wind. It’s poorly designed, since the doorknob from the inside door pushes on the latch for the storm-door, and it won’t actually latch unless the planets align correctly, so I end up using the hook on the door, and then go out the other door, and confuse myself when I try to get back into the house. Since that back door opens the wrong way (the opening is toward the front of the house, and I’m almost always heading in or out that door from the back of the house, by the garage), I’ve been thinking about turning it around since this spring. It’s not a high priority, but if the weather continues nice, maybe I’ll get to that yet this year.

Anyway, the wind blew most of the remaining leaves off the trees in my yard, so next time it’s nice outside (probably tomorrow), I’ll get out and run over the leaves with the lawnmower again and finish cleaning up the yard for fall. And then Friday the guys will be back to put in some grass-seed and I’ll mostly be done with “outside things” for the year. Unless it stays nice long enough that I decide to tackle some other project, like changing out the flapping storm-door.

In other news, Steph stopped by last night with a load of food for my freezer. She’s starting a remodel on her kitchen soon, and has been cooking up a storm, trying to get meals made so she and Tim won’t go hungry while they have no stove. I’m glad to help with the freezer-space, but I suppose I should have organized the freezer a little better before she got here. Oops. She also checked out the progress on my bedroom, and seemed to like what she saw. While I’m mostly pleased with the work I’ve been (slowly) doing up there, it’s nice to hear positive comments from someone else.

garage, painted

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sidewalk behind house

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Yesterday was a darned nice day. I headed outside and ran the lawnmower over the leaves that had accumulated in the yard fairly early in the morning (about ten am). Only about half of the leaves on my trees have fallen, but I wanted to mulch up the ones that were already on the ground about as much as I just wanted to be outside enjoying the weather. Just as I was putting away the lawnmower, the guys showed up to finish up the landscaping around the new sidewalk. Since it was beautiful out, I spent some time supervising while they worked. I’m really happy with the results.

step on side of house

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front steps

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In addition, I got out the paint and painted the wall of the garage where the shed had been attached, and apparently I’m pretty good at matching colors, because I couldn’t really tell the difference between the old color on the garage and the new one. That surprised me, frankly. I also got out and took pictures for you to look at. Don’t I just rock? There’s still a little work to be done. They’ll be out later in the week to put in the railing on the front steps, and hit the patches of bare dirt with some grass seed. By spring, things should be looking pretty good, just in time for more stuff to get torn up as I put in a patio on the back corner of the house and a retaining wall across the front of the lot.

front sidewalk detail

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And I’m not the only one who thinks so. I got complimented a few times over the weekend by neighbors and the pizza-delivery guy. More compliments yesterday while I was outside working. It’s pretty neat doing a project like this in a neighborhood where everyone stops by to check things out. I haven’t met any new neighbors in the process, but I’ve had a chance to talk to the ones I know a lot more lately.

Finally, remember that today is election day. Here in Minneapolis, it’s just local elections on the ballot, but I see that as a bigger reason to get out. At the local level, you might actually be able to help keep someone bad out of office. I do wish our mayoral election wasn’t just a case of tweedledee and tweedledum, but hey, what are you gonna do? The people have spoken.

The weekend is done, and there’s some news. The short version is that it’s pretty well decided that I’ll be going back to being a wage-slave before long. I’ll get into more details once I know more, but for now I just know that there’s a lot of stuff I need to sort out first, and there’s still a vacation I want to take. Must Get Cracking.

The weekend? Well, no real change on Friday. I pulled down the caution-tape around the new sidewalk during the afternoon, and then headed out to the local watering hole in the evening. A friend wanted to cap the night off with some cocktails, so we wandered across the street to the place that serves liquor and had a manhattan. Which wasn’t enough, apparently, so he ordered another set of them for us. I’m pretty sure one was all I needed, especially when the hangover was threatening to spill over into Saturday night’s card-playing.

Saturday there was cards. And preparations for cards, though not necessarily in that order. It went as well as could be expected, I guess. People seemed to have fun.

Sunday was a day of rest and laundry. Machines in my basement magically transformed stinky and dirty bits of fabric into clean clothes. Amazing! And all while I spent most of the day on the couch looking at the idiot box.

As for the sidewalk, no pictures yet. The forms are still up, and I’m not going to take more pictures until they’re down and things are closer to complete. Maybe tomorrow? That’s going to do it for today.

Cement Mixer

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There’s a new sidewalk! Yesterday, as I mentioned, the guys from Finer Surroundings arrived early to finish the forms for the sidewalk. About ten am the cement mixer arrived. I’ve seen these trucks rolling down the freeway with the boom folded up, but they’re a lot more impressive when it’s stretched out.

It’s remote controlled

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A neat feature that I hadn’t thought of until I saw it in action is that the boom is remote controlled. The operator can swing it around, control the flow of concrete, and probably a few other things without having to run back to the truck. It seemed to make everything go a lot smoother. Of course it didn’t hurt that instead of two guys, there was a crew of five out working during the pour.

conveyor belt detail

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In the boom, there’s a conveyor belt that fits into the trough of the boom. It moves the concrete out to the end, where it falls down some fancy cloth tube to be directed where it needs to go. Because they couldn’t get the truck in next to the side of my house, they still needed some trips with the wheelbarrow, but well over half the work was done by just swinging the boom around. The truck was empty by noon, and it was just up to the guys to smooth everything out put on the finishing touches. The result looks pretty darned good.

backyard

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I don’t have any pictures of the finished sidewalk yet, but the last shot of the truck is nice in that you can see just how long this thing was (and see my neighbor standing in my backyard, watching the whole process). I’ll be taking some pictures of it over the weekend (after the forms have been taken down) and post them next Monday, I hope. The sidewalk should be good to walk on in time for poker on Saturday night, too. About the only snag is that it didn’t warm up as much as I’d hoped yesterday, so I didn’t get the garage painted. I’m hoping the weather guys are right and there’s going to be some decent weather next week. I suspect I’m going to be painting in sub-optimal weather anyhow, but I’d like to at least try to follow the temperature guidelines for latex paint.

7am: No sidewalk pictures from yesterday. They were just framing things up, and didn’t finish until after it was too dark for interesting pictures. And they’re out getting started at 7am today. Full update will be along later, but I may be later than usual with it.

9am: Well, it’s later, but actually not too much later than usual. The guys are busy finishing up the forms and preparing for the truck of concrete to arrive, and I’ve had breakfast and cleaned up and am waiting for things to warm up enough outside that I can paint the garage. And that’s pretty much the plan for today.

my front sidewalk

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Unlike a certain local blogger who has spend all summer talking about a “water-feature” and who hasn’t posted a single picture of it, I’m taking you live inside the construction around here. Well, sorta live. I’ve got pictures, and I will for the next couple days. I’ve probably been making a pretty good nuisance of myself watching the guys work, but it’s interesting stuff, and I want it to turn out nice.

the side sidewalk

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The guys from Finer Surroundings showed up yesterday with the heavy equipment, and started work. They spent most of the morning and early afternoon tearing out my existing sidewalk. I’m putting in a new sidewalk all the way from the front, including new steps up the slope in front of my house, to the garage behind the house. Yes, it’s a lot of new concrete, but not all that much more than used to be here, and it’ll be smooth and level when I have to shovel the snow off it this winter, which will be a great improvement. It should also help with the water that pools next to the north side of the house (no leaks yet, but it’s the kind of thing that would make for a leaky basement if I didn’t fix it).

an un-shed

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Once they’d torn out all the old concrete, it was time to take down the shed that’s been attached to my garage forever. The guy who built both the shed and the garage (Al) was a carpenter (or perhaps cabinet-maker) who built things to last, so this was no small job. I would have tackled it on my own, but the cost of hauling away the foundation for the shed would have been huge, and it would have taken me weeks. Took the pros a couple hours. The picture was taken just after they had finished breaking it loose from the garage, which was a major chore. Al had attached it quite securely, and the darned thing was heavy, too. It was built better than most modern houses, and it was kind of a shame to see it go, but it wasn’t doing anything for me except taking up space in my yard and being a haven for spiders, millipedes, and mice.

And that’s about it for today. I don’t have any links for you. Not sure whether I will or not tomorrow, either. But I will have some pictures. The plan for today is to get all the forms built for the new sidewalk and do whatever landscaping can be done where things got torn up. And tomorrow they pour the new concrete. Given the weather forecast for a beautiful day today, I’ll probably spend a fair amount of time outside watching the work and taking pictures. If I get super-motivated, I’ll head down to the hardware store and get some paint for the side of the garage. The paint that’s there is probably good enough to get me through the winter, but I’d rather not spend all winter looking at a job that I could have gotten done today and tomorrow.

Yesterday the concrete guy stopped by. They’ll be by this morning to tear out my existing sidewalk and start prepping for the new one. Tomorrow will finish up the prep work. Thursday, they’re going to pour. Woo. I’ll have a new sidewalk before the snow flies for sure. And I also talked to them yesterday, and they’re going to demolish and haul away the little shed that’s tacked to the side of my garage. It’s proven useless to me, and there’s enough concrete in the base of it that I was worried about disposal costs if I tore it down myself, so this was the time to do the job.

Yesterday I talked about shooting with the red-dot sight. Today I’m going to mention a trip out last month, where we used LaserGrips. There’s almost certainly a longer article to be written, but when I was asked by the guy in the adjacent lane this weekend whether I preferred a laser or the red-dot, I didn’t give a full answer, mostly because I don’t have one yet. The LaserGrips are a darned good training tool, but at around $200, they’re significantly more expensive than a red-dot scope. On the other hand, the laser was a darned useful teaching tool, helping both of us identify a bad habit we’d gotten into.