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 out the planer was overheated; that’s something ( Read more... )

The Economist reminds us that the US spends more money on the military than the next 17 countries, all combined.

( Read more... )

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 later. Argh. It’ll pass, just *ew*. Lesson ( Read more... )

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 to be making use of is that those lights can be ( Read more... )

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 Goodwill.

one, two, three, four. There’s ( Read more... )

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 lot bigger feeling. (Yay!)

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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?

Originally published at Dean's Log. Please leave any comments there.

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 that involves taking out the sink and ( Read more... )

Awhile back (a year?), I tried to figure out what I was allergic to in food, and by paying a bit of attention, it looked like I was allergic to garlic and onions. Took those out of my diet, and then realized milk - milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, and pretty much any dessert - was also causing a problem. So I cut that out, and took ( Read more... )

So, I’m in California for work this week. Yesterday was mostly just deliriously tired, recovering from an early early morning flight. Dinner was capital-E Epic, indian food, sushi, In ‘n Out Burger and a 5-hour-energy. Breakfast was a pile of bacon as high as a small child next to egg whites. Yum.

My tired brain presents pictures of cats, 8000 ( Read more... )