Land of Windmills

Well, I'm not going back to Chicago, since we finished the tasks we needed to do by the time I left, and they don't have things set up for phase II yet. They figure they'll "call me back" when they are ready. It always amazes me how many clients seem to think that ourservices are "on-call" -- that we will work 2 hours here and a day there and a few hours next week on the same contract, so they don't have to pay for full days of work. I have had the strangest conversations with clients:

"So, we don't have a meeting until 10am tomorrow, so you won't be billing us until then, right?" Um. No.

"We aren't going to need you here next week, since the primary developer is on vacation, so you can come back the week after that instead." Um. No.

"We'll need about six hour of your time between now and Friday." Um...no.

If that's what they work out in the contract beforehand, fine. But otherwise? Sorry. We're not an escort service, despite our joking about our company "pimping us out" to clients. Sigh. They were very happy with the work (happier than I would have been, considering the speed at which we did it!), but I'll be out in Cheyenne, WY, for a few weeks.

It's almost close enough to drive (if you're used to LA traffic, I imagine), which is what our salesperson initially suggested. But it's actually about 1 1/2 hours north. So, I'll probably be driving up and staying there for a few days, and working the rest of the time remotely. That should be nice.

Of course, the new gig is to do a migration from Informix to Oracle -- it's a bad sign when every Informix database book I can find (to try to get up to speed) is OUT OF PRINT!

Galileo Was (apparently) wrong?

Well, there is apparently no limit to the depth of intellectual dishonesty when it comes to people choosing the primacy of religious belief over science. Some are so desperate for their religious stories to be true that they ignore or wish away all facts to the contrary. Evidence doesn't support your crackpot idea, and in fact supports the science? Don't worry! Just claim that "something else must be happening" -- no need to actually say what that is, or prove your own point. I found this article on NOLA.com, which describes one man's attempt to revive the argument that the heavens revolve around the earth:

Sungenis is a geocentrist. He contends the sun orbits the Earth instead of vice versa. He says physics and the Bible show that the vastness of space revolves around us; that we're at the center of everything, on a planet that does not rotate.

He has just completed a 1,000-page tome, "Galileo Was Wrong," which he hopes will persuade readers to "give Scripture its due place, and show that science is not all it's cracked up to be."

[ . . . ]

If you see the Earth as just a humdrum planet among stars circling in a vast universe, then we're not significant, we're just part of a crowd," Sungenis said. "But if you believe everything revolves around Earth, it gives another picture -- of purpose, a meaning of life."

Let's see if I get this: believe the bible (a book of religious myths intended to help people learn how to live together) that the earth is the center of the universe...because it makes us feel special? If we believe that we're just like anyone else, then it somehow makes us less. How sad.

It's pretty simple: you can have your own opinions, but you don't get to have your own facts. If you have to ignore most of them, and ignore the observable behavior of the world around you...what you are doing is not viable science.

But what about Foucault's famous pendulum? Its plane of oscillation revolves every 24 hours, showing the rotation of the planet. If the Earth didn't rotate, it wouldn't oscillate. Nope, Sungenis said: There just may be some other force propelling it, such as the pull of stars.

"Some other force". Sure. That explains things. People actually believe this drivel?

Furthermore, [...], "The Bible has no part in scientific discussion -- none whatsoever." Or, as Galileo famously quoted 16th century Cardinal Caesar Baronius, "The Bible was written to show us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go."

If you are Christian, the bible is an important part of your life. Good. I hope it makes you a better person. But trying to use it as the one and only science textbook is beyond silly.

Dungeon Construction, redux

I've lost track of the days. Not a lot happened while I was in Chicago except insulation, which is pretty cool. Wallboard and various types of blue/green/concrete stuff are stacked downstairs, ready to install.

There is a poor peon from the contractor waiting outside for the post-insulation inspection. He's been here for about two hours now -- I went out and brought him coffee, he's looking pretty dang bored and has started driving his truck in circles around the culd-de-sac. Apparently there's been some miscommunication between the inspector and this guy. Ah, well.

Things look pretty good, except they put the vapor barrier on the wrong side of the wine cellar wall (it should be on the theater side, not inside the cellar itself). But that's easy to fix, I imagine. I assume they'll start with the wallboard next week. Yeeha!

Here's a set of before-and-after pictures of the theater (and cellar wall) and the sitting room pre insulation and post.

Dungeon Construction...day...?

No insulation yesterday. The adorable husband arrived home to find piles and piles of wallboard, but no insulation. I assume they were off schedule because of the huge rallies on Monday.
It will probably only take a few hours for a few to get the insulation up, so I'm assuming that they will do it today. And start wallboarding tomorrow.

I just found out they're considering me for a gig in Cheyenne WY -- and the stated assumption is that "it's only an hour or so north", which I take to mean that they want to DRIVE there everyday. No. I'm really not going to do that. Yuck.

It might be fine if I can go up there and stay in a local hotel for the week and then head back when I feel like it, but I did the whole 2 1/2 hours in the car thing for a year. I'm not going there again. Really. The sales person initially said 3 weeks, and now is saying 3 months and I, frankly, don't trust either estimate.

Bah. This work thing is not what it's cracked up to be! Well, except for the paycheck part....

On the Road

Finally back to work! Ha -- surprised, aren't you? I shipped off to Chicago on Sunday and I've been working like a one-armed paper-hanger. The manager/salesperson for the client apparently told them that they'd have ALL the forms they needed (including data design and loading existing data) in three days.

"Oh, M said that that form would take only two days."

Well, I thought, M is speaking out his ass. He had NO IDEA how complicated or uncompliated the form was, and what was necessary. There were no requirements, and still no SOW. But, it is gloriously wonderful that the end-user actually knows what they want. Unlike my previous client, who just made things up as they went along and changed from one day to the next, this user has put in a lot of effort to make sure that they have what they need, can articulate what they want, and is willing to work to make it happen. I'm pretty shocked, I tell you. Shocked, in a good way. The long days are a bit tiring, though. The primary manager (who is also the reports developer here) wants a lot of handholding, but hasn't taken the hint yet that I can't finish if he continues to interrupt me. He's such a nice guy, though. I keep trying to tell him that I'll walk through everything when the first draft is done and we'll talk about it, but that if he keeps asking me for help right now (on unrelated things, including installing Forms on his laptop), I'll never finish what he needs. But, it's going well.

I pulled/strained/broke something when I was hoofing it through the airport in Chicago (after a 1 1/2 hour delay sitting on the tarmac and the craziness of landing at O'Hare at midnight) that feels like a serious, horrible, world-class charley horse in my left calf. My first thought: DVT! Ack! Blood clots! But it appears that this is actually just a strain or something (at least I haven't dropped dead yet). Add this to the still-cranky achilles tendon problem in the other foot I've had since we were in Ireland, and I'm pretty gimpy.

Which adds to the back pain. I don't think I've felt this OLD in a long time. I am quite literally devolving into a knuckle-dragging whiner as we speak. Hotel bed, the worst office chair, and sitting at the computer all day....see? Whining. I take about two minutes to straighten up when I stand up, and even then, it's not really upright. I may have to sleep on the floor tonight.
They should be insulating the basement as I am writing this -- the Adorable Husband has promised to send on pictures so I can update things and show you what it look slike once it actually has walls!

Lutefisk and Aquavit

I found this googling -- An Ode to Lutefisk, which contains the following instructions on how to actually enjoy this famous national dish:

To understand the relationship between aquavit and lutefisk, here's an experiment you can do at home. In addition to aquavit, you will need a slice of lemon, a cracker, a dishtowel, ketchup, a piece of lettuce, some caviar, and a Kit-Kat candy bar.

1. Take a shot aquavit.
2. Take two. (They're small.)
3. Put a bit of caviar on a bit of lettuce.
4. Put the lettuce on a cracker.
5. Squeeze some lemon juice on the caviar.
6. Pour some ketchup on the Kit-Kat bar.
7. Tie the dishtowel around your eyes.

If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk. Return to step one.

Sounds about right!

Leading by Example

From Yahoo today --

House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Ill., center, gets out of a Hydrogen
Alternative Fueled automobile, left, as he prepares to board his SUV, which uses gasoline, after holding a news conference at a local gas station in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2006 to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Hastert and other members of Congress drove off in the Hydrogen-Fueled cars only to switch to their official cars to drive the few blocks back to the U.S. Capitol.

So, let me get this straight: drove to the gas station for a press conference and showed up in a spiffy alternative fuel vehicle. Looks good, makes the news, "we're for saving oil!".

But....barely a block away swapped back to their gas-guzzling SUV to ride the rest of the way back to the capitol. And apparently they weren't smart enough to switch where no one would see them.

Way to lead by example, guys!! Honesty in politics! Why am I not surprised?

Joining the Workforce again

My old client (you know, the one who nearly made me crazy?) -- they must have been watching with bated breath for me to log in to IM so they could ask me back. Yikes! They really, really wanted me to come back and do more work on the reporting system I did for them. I suppose it's nice to be wanted but ...NO.

Well, almost no. I'm doing about 16 hours of work for them, including heading into the office in the tech center tomorrow morning for a 3-hour meeting to go through the reports and discuss how they should be changed and how to manage the new requirements. Apparently they want to do something entirely different (am I surprised? nah!) and can't figure out how I made the report work. It wasn't really that hard, and I thought I had documented things well...ah, well. It will be nice to see the people in the office.

I head out to Chicago on Monday for a (probably) 2-week gig. It was originally presented to me as an 8 week project, but the guy managing the sale only got the ok for 2 weeks. With no statement of work. He's done this to me before (and then I spent four weeks in Peoria!) so I'm a bit irked. But, the client sounds like a good one, and I'm working 4x10s, so we'll see how it goes. Even if it does to go 8 weeks, I can probably work remotely for half the time. Not too bad.

I think the Adorable husband is actually looking forward to me going. He hasn't really been alone in the house for...well, for three months.

Muppet Carpet

Ok, I may have just crossed over the line from 'interesting decorating' to Muppet Chic.

We're painting the theater purple. Walls and ceiling, in about this color. So, the guy comes to pick out carpet and tile and such and -- after fruitlessly searching for carpet that matches what we have (why is that so hard? it's just...beige), we discovered that we could do a different color in the theater....and I found...purple carpet.

It looks rather like Muppet hair, and is the perfect match to the paint and the velvet drapes. Over the top? Probably.

The framing is done, and the electric rough out will finish tomorrow in time for the inspections. Next week: insulation and wallboard!

Dungeon Construction Day 10

Things are definitely looking up! More walls today, and the plumber is finally finished with the rough-in (and inadvertently left the hot water off at the hot water heater, go figure). Things are beginning to take shape pretty well!

The electricians have been here for two days following the spiffy color plan that I did -- they got most of the lighting done and the outlets (in the walls that are up) and started pulling the speaker wire and subwoofer cables. They had a hard time getting things even, since the studs on one side of the room are not aligned at all with the studs on the other side of the room, but they managed to get the boxes for all the sconces in, and the subwoofer wire, and the boxes for the speakers, and all the enormous cables from the receiver to the projector.



The rough inspections are initially scheduled for tomorrow, but I think they not going to make that -- there are still quite a few of the soffits that need to be built, and they have to be in place before the wiring can be finished. They can inspect the plumbing and HVAC, I guess, but not the framing yet. Maybe they'll postpone a day or so.

The electricians have been great -- Doug and Dom have been incredibly conscientious about getting the speakers in the right place, actually made up a block to make sure that the outlets are all at the same level, and have moved switches and boxes specifically to make things look nice. I really appreciate it. I'm a bit overly-controlling about the whole thing (what with color schematics and bulletted lists of "things to do!" and they take it all in stride -- in fact, they have come upstairs to ask questions about things a few times to day, which is nice. I try to make sure that I don't bother them during the day, which is awfully hard for me.

The rest of the wiring tomorrow, and hopefully the rest of the soffits. The theater is off-center, but that's just becuase it's a narrow room and we have to cover up the hvac vents on the left, but want to have as little "low" ceiling as possible -- the Adorable husband will definitely brain himself if we aren't careful. And no, I'm not trying to hide his identity...he thought it was funny to refuse to let me take a picture of him to share with my imaginary online friends. Hah!

Black Death?

Yikes -- I missed this in the paper last week. A woman in California was hospitalized with Bubonic Plague. It's the first case since 1984, and is unusual because it occured in LA, not in a rural area.

We get outbreaks of plague in the prairie dog population every year or so in Colorado -- usually a few animals get it, and we've had nine human deaths since 1957. Erie had an outbreak in the empty field out behind our old house a few years ago.

Scary stuff, although we have adequate antibiotics nowadays and are unlikely to lose half or more of the population.

Benefits for Business

From AP: WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday ordered a temporary suspension of environmental rules for gasoline, making it easier for refiners to meet demand and possibly dampen prices at the pump. He also halted for the summer the purchase of crude oil for the government's emergency reserve.

Hm. Didn't he say that he wasn't going to do this? Instead he was going to "jawbone" the Saudis into managing the price of oil? As DailyKOS notes Bush seems to follow a pattern here of suspending the rule of law to handle difficult situations. Wages rules after Katrina? Not needed. Rules about phone taps? Nah, the president can override those if he feels like it. Rules about declassifying information? Nope! We can do what we want and it's by definition legal.

Those pesky laws. Why do we even have them?

No Offers of Cash, Yet

In the past two days, I've had THREE requests to use one or more of my Egypt pictures in published books. Two of the requests came from "book packagers" writing teacher's materials in India and China, and the last came from a nice gentleman doing a scholarly work on pyramid construction.

Rather flattering! The photos are just the same-old tourist pictures, but over the last few years I've had a number of emails asking to reprint those from Scotland and Egypt in a number of different venues, including a newspaper in Scotland wanting to print a picture of the LOST sign that keeps getting stolen, and a "sister city" wanting a photo of their Scottish counterpart to hang in their town hall.

Dungeon Construction: Day 8

More DEconstruction that construction today, since we made the poor framers take down the soffits around the beams. Our basement is unfortunately short, and since the Adorable Husband is not a short person, we have serious head-bumping issues in the basement.

They originally framed around the beams entirely, which lowered the space under them by 4 inches. Not good. Lots of forehead bruises in his future, I think. Since the original discussion we had about planning including "The husband is TALL, we neeed every single inch of headroom inthe basement we can get", they took down the original framing. They'll redo it with everything flush to the bottom of the beams, so we have as much headroom as possible. So -- lots of banging and cursing today, and only a bare dozen feet of new wall put up. Hopefully, they'll get things caught up tomorrow, or they're off schedule for the electrician.

The screen arrived today! UPS delivered it this morning. Cables should be here tomorrow (we have ordered HDMI cables and component video cables to hook everything up -- yes, I now have way more information about video signals than I ever wanted) and we now have everything except the receiver.

And -- just to add to the festive atmosphere...it's SNOWING here. Yes, yes, we had eighty degrees on Saturday and today, a mere 48 hours later, it's snowing. I'm probably heading off to Chicago for two weeks on my new gig starting next week, too. Things are quite exciting at the Phouka household.

Cellphone Communicators

If you haven't had a chance to see this, check out 'How William Shatner Changed the World'. It's on today and tomorrow on the History Channel.

I've long argued that modern technology had better conform to Star Trek's view of the future, or we'll reject it. The most popular cellphones look like the flip-top communicators, blue-tooth receivers look like comm badges, a palm pilot looks like a tricorder to me, and we can talk to our computers now, right?

If they ever manage to produce a food replicator, or transporter, it had better be like ST, or we're likely to think it's "not right". Seriously.

The show, in which William Shatner is at his self-deprecating best (he's never funnier than when he's playing up to the stereotyped, charicatured version of himself as Kirk) goes through how Star Trek was years ahead of everyone else, and how many new inventions came out of this short, cultish television show. It's actually a lot of fun.

Interesting Essay

This popped up in one of the forums I frequent, discussing the faulty belief that the bible clearly condemns homosexual behavior. It's interesting, if a bit linquistically technical.

Dungeon Construction: Day 7

I'm absolutely sure that the electrician and his helper, and Ethan were all doing some major eye-rolling after our walkthrough last night. You've seen the lighting and speaker layout that I did for the basement, and we walked through to make sure that they understood exactly what I want and where things go. I had charts. I had color charts. And specific measurements (e.g., mount outlet plates 12" from floor).

The electrician had some good ideas to balance things out a bit, and moved a few switches, but I was able to emphasize that things need to be right and the outlets need to be even and all that stuff that makes me nuts. They all laughed -- but the last time we had an electrician in, he ended up using a laser-level to make sure the outlets were at the same height.

No work today, though. With a couple of jobs going, scheduling seems to be tight. They'll be here tomorrow (Saturday) to wrap up the framing and get all the soffits built.

Plans

Looking back through the blog, I realize I haven't posted anything resembling the plans for the basement. So, here they are:

On the left is the wine cellar and the theater, on the bottom is unfinished storage, and the bathroom and sitting room on the top.

{Edited to add that an exercise room is on the right!}

Dungeon Construction: Day 6

Problems resolved, and copper is in the walls for the bathroom. They only set off the smoke alarms once today, while soldering pipe. Framing is going more slowly than I would like, but Ethan doesn't seem concerned and they can probably finish things up tomorrow. There are only a few walls to frame, and then the soffits.

They had to jackhammer out the drain for the shower, which was very loud and scared the dogs (and me!) this morning. They wouldn't let me use the jackhammer, though. I really wanted to!

The double wall is up for the wine cellar, and the wall with the French door is up. I discovered that we have to have a 36" door to the storage area, because it has a furnace. It makes no sense to me, because the door downstairs is only 32". Ah, well. Looks pretty good. They need to wrap the beam and build the coffering in the theater still, which has to be in place so we can do the wiring.

You can probably see where things go in the bathroom, now. Just a shower (under the beam, which will be interesting for anyone taller than about 5'8"), a toilet and sink along the far wall. We're all still staring at the pop machine and wondering just what in the heck we're going to do with it. Originally, we thought to just enclose the existing shelving unit, but that really was a pretty stupid idea. However, we can't really take it apart -- it would require new parts to reassemble properly -- so we need to built around it and then sort of move it all-at-once into a closet with the condenser suspended from the ceiling. The catch? We need to be able to get to the top of the machine to add water periodically. It's very close to the ceiling now, since we got a short tube to the actual bar gun, so it's going to be right fit.

The electrician is coming tonight to do a planning session and make sure we get everything we need in place. With the theater, there are some specific locations that are required for speakers and things, and we need to get cable and phone in the right places, too. I have three drawings (electrical oddities, lighting, theater speaker placement and wiring. I suppose I could let them handle all of this themselves, but this way, I know I get what I want. So I have lists and memos and I write everything down.

I think the plumber, at least, thinks I'm a lunatic. But at least he doesn't have the tools to wall me up in the basement if I become too much of a pest.

Dungeon Construction: Day 5 1/2

Small crisis this morning, and waaay more noise than before.

The plumbers showed up this morning, which was a surprise to me, and while they pretty much knew what had to be done, they also showed up with rolls of plastic piping. I know that this stuff is up to code, and in fact is used in most of the new houses we've seen recently, but I can't get over the fact that it's plastic and plumbing should be copper pipe. Everything else in the house is copper and I'm of the completely unscientific and unknowledgeable opinion that metal is superior to plastic.

So, much consternation on the part of the plumber, who insists that plastic is fine, and me insisting that we specified copper and want copper. He doesn't have copper and will need to head back to his shop for it, "and might not be able to work here today." Called Ethan (the contractor/pm) and he straightened it out tout suite. Copper it is. He's going to rough out the bathroom, move the oddly placed sprinkler system pipe, and move the pressure tank on the hot water heater so that we can built the wall at an angle. At least we kept the bathroom in the same location as the existing drain stuff.

And, jack-hammering unexpectedly at 8am is definitely a way to perk people up. They have to move the drain for the shower, which entails busting up concrete. That thing is noisy.

We bought the speakers last night, and already I'm having buyer's remorse. We got the "middle" size of tower speakers, and I'm wondering if we shouldn't have bought the "large" size, since I know we might have speakers for much, much longer than any of the other components and we're eventually going to want bigger ones. For the techies among us, we got the Definitive Tech speakers (DP7004 fronts, CLR2300 center, and four BP2X surround speakers. Specs here). I've also done a rather nice schematic of how to wire the speakers and their locations - click on the image to get the full size one! I am such a geek.)

We also decided on a receiver -- Denon AVR-2807. It has an ipod control dock, and something called HDMI switching. All I understand about it is that you can input pretty much ANY type of cable from your components (svideo, component, cable, digital) and it will output a single, digital, converted signal. So, one cable to the projector, not four or five. Works for me.

More pictures tonight -- framing should be almost done and plumbing in place.

Apologies to Dr. Seuss

I'm the decider. I pick and I choose. I pick among whats. And choose among whos. And as I decide Each particular day The things I decide on All turn out that way. I decided on Freedom For all of Iraq. And now that we have it, I'm not looking back. I decided on tax cuts That just help the wealthy. And Medicare changes That aren't really healthy. And parklands and wetlands Who needs all that stuff? I decided that none Would be more than enough! I decided that schools All in all are the best The less that they teach And the more that they test. I decided those wages You need to get by Are much better spent On some CEO guy.

I decided your Wade Which was versing your Roe Is terribly awful And just has to go. I decided that levees Are not really needed. Now when hurricanes come They can come unimpeded. That old Constitution? Well, I have decided As"just goddam paper" It should be derided. I've decided gay marriage Is icky and weird. Above all other things, It's the one to be feared. And Cheney and Rummy And Condi all know That I'm the Decider - They tell me it's so. I'm the Decider So watch what you say Or I may decide To have you whisked away. Or I'll tap your phones. Your e-mail I'll read. `cause I'm the Decider - Like Jesus decreed. Yes, I'm the Decider The finest alive And I'm nuking Iran. Now watch this drive! -- Roddy McCorley

Dungeon Construction: Day 4

No huge update last night. Felled by a migraine and we were both in bed at 9pm. So here is the Tuesday update, just a bit late.

They've got the double-walls up for the wine cellar (that was pretty hard to do, I imagine, since they couldn't actually attach it to the ceiling because of pipes. It's hung on a ledger board from the original wall). Inistead of getting an AC unit and humidifier, we're going to try a 'passive cellar'. The temperature in the basement is relatively stable -- most of the walls are buffered with another layer of concrete for the porch floor, so there is a concrete wall, six feet of dirt, and another concrete wall. The area we've put the cellar in is completely 'double-walled' like this. So, we are going to leave the concrete wall uninsulated, and super-insulate the other walls to keep that corner cool and (hopefully) moist. This can be done with regular walls and a few inches of foam board, or by two insulated single walls with a space between, which increases the r-value to some ridiculous number.

Being a bit detail oriented, I have cross section drawings for the constructions guys so they insulate this properly and get the vapor barriers on the right sides of the walls. I also have wiring diagrams for speakers and detailed descriptions of where things go. Me? Controlling?

And the HVAC guy was here, putting in new vents and returns. Apparently we're pretty lucky that we aren't boxing in the furnace and other mechanical stuff, or it would be hard to get the venting right. Since we have a large storage room that just includes the furnace, AC, and water heater, the outside air venting doesn' t have to move. Less work for the HVAC people. There's only one vent in the theatre, though. It's a long room and I wonder if it should have two. I'll ask.

The pictures haven't changed much (just a few more walls), so I'll wait until the end of Wednesday to post new pics. By the end of next week, we should have all the electrical and plumbing in place, and the first week of May wallboard and the rest. Yeeha!

Dungeon Construction: Day 3

Well, the Easter weekend was too much for the poor framers, and the contractor only had about half of his normal complement show up for work today -- lots of sick calls. So, no framers here today. Ethan assures me that the framing will still be done on schedule and we can start the hvac and electrical stuff on time.

I spent the day trying to track down some information on how to wire the 7.1 surround speakers we have selected, which have bi-polar subwoofers in the main towers for the front speakers -- and thus, do not need to have a separate sub and have their own LTE (subwoofer) inputs. We don't know if we're supposed to wire them separately using a Y-splitter, not use them, or if they are available only if you have a subwoofer to run them through. I've been wading through AV forums online for the last few days and, frankly, I'm confused. These are people who are building audio systems with four pre-ams and mono-block amplifiers and all sorts of things only truly geeky AV people do. I have no idea waht these things are -- I just want to know how to pull the wire so that we have it in place for the possible speaker configurations before we get the wallboard up.

So, I CAD'ed out the theater and the location of the speakers so we know where the wires need to go, now I just need to know what kind of wire and if I need more than one. It's not that complicated, I hope.

We've decided on Definitive Technology speakers, which have gotten rave reviews (and we liked the sound of them in the theater showroom at Magnolia), so all I need to do now is pick a receiver so we know what inputs/outputs we're working with.

And, you ask -- why am I not at work yet? I was supposed to start back today. Well, I am...sort of. THey don't have a gig for me yet, so I'm still at home and going through docs for the new toolsets and possibly doing some sales support. Otherwise, I"m technically off until next week. We'll see. It's not that big a deal, but I'm surprised they didn't have something lined up yet. So, I can hang around and "monitor" the basement building without worrying about having to run off for meetings or anything else.

The Eagle has Landed

Aha! The Adorable Husband has successfully landed (and is still under his own power) after his first jump today with Mile-Hi Skydiving.

They cancelled jumps yesterday due to high winds, but today was gorgeous -- sunny, warm, clear, and still. He headed out to the airport this morning and did his first jump with two instructors and is elated. He says he can't remember being that scared in a long time, but he really liked it.

Me? Well, I'm not going to jump out of any airplanes, but he's going to go through the seven levels of class stuff and continue jumping, I think. I still wonder what they'll teach him in the next six classes that wasn't important for the first jump!

Midlife Crisis, or Just Insane?

I'm fairly certain that the Adorable Husband is having a midlife crisis. Or perhaps he's gone insane. Suddenly, he decided that he needs to learn how to SKYDIVE. Oh, yes. Leap out of perfectly good airplanes.

Why? I haven't a clue. He's fairly excited about it, though. Four hours of class last night, review this morning, and he will be making his first jump. He's too big to do a tandem jump (where the instructor is actually hooked to the newbie) because there is a weight limit (200 lbs) for that, and the Husband is a Big Guy. So, he has to take classes in order to jump solo.

It's hella windy today, though. The wind was just howling when we got up; there's a good chance he won't be able to go up today and will have to reschedule tomorrow. Yeah.

Can you tell I'm thrilled with this? He did ask if I wanted to go, too. No way! I have a hard enough time getting on an airplane that I intend to stay on....jumping out is definitely out of the question.

Peep Research

Every Easter season, the shelves are suddenly filled with pink and yellow (and blue?) marshmallow chicks and bunnies. Peeps. You may love them, you may hate them -- but there they are, every year; then, accompanied by the 50% off sales of Easter candy, they disappear.

From whence do they come? Where do they go? What is the natural habitat for Peeps? The fine folks at Peep Research have delved into the issues of cold resistance, heat resistance, solubility, and the appropriateness of Peeps as jet pilots. It's a hoot.

Dungeon Construction: Day 2

Much noise and activity today! The framing crew was at work by 8:30 (despite being completely lost for half an hour) and were soon soon laying out the base plates and fastening them in with a concrete nailer, which uses .22 shells to drive nails into the concrete floor. In Colorado, we have to have suspended walls, because the ground here is notorious for heaving. We haven't had any problems in our house in the three years we've been here, but it's common practice. So, the base plates are put down, fastened into the floor, and then the walls are set a few inches above that, held in place with long nails.

They got a lot done today -- the theater is mostly framed in, the wine cellar has the interior wall in place (it's being built with a doubled 2x4 wall for insulation) and the bathroom is mostly framed in. It's looking good!


The light fixtures I ordered last week showed up today (we bought the sconces to match those upstairs, since I found them online for half the price even the contractor could get them for.

I ordered the projector today from projectorpeople.com, and just got an email that it shipped. It will be here Monday. The package comes with the projector, 106" screen, dvd player, power supply thing, remote, and cables. We will be looking for speakers this weekend, if anyone has suggestions.

Factoid Central

Two interesting things that I learned while sitting on my butt watching the Science channel all day yesterday:

1. During part of the year, the Mekong River in Cambodia actually flows backwards. The river floods dramatically each year (up to 10 m), which is a critical part of agriculture in the region. However, so much water flows down the river from headwaters in Tibet that it actually backs up one of the major tributaries and fills up the Tonle Sap lake -- which grows to five times its normal size. It is assumed that this backwards flow allowed stone and building materials to be moved to the site of the Angkor Wat temple.

2. A patrician Roman during the height of the Roman Empire consumed nearly 20 mg of lead every day. Lead was used in cookpots, water storage, in wine, concentrated in many of the food stuffs because of lead in the storage containers; it was in makeup, and generally permeated the environment. Current studies show that the human body can handle 1-2 mg a day without ill effects (only about 5% is ever absorbed), but safely levels are in the micrograms. No wonder they were all insane. (Learned this one from Hot Rocks).

Dungeon Construction: Day 1

The contractor arrived today with the framing guy to lay out the walls in the basement. They stopped by yesterday and confirmed the plan, so we're on our way.

We entirely forgot about bookshelves along the wall of the sitting room, and I gave them details on where the projector is supposed to be mounted; I think those are the only updates we have so far. They'll be loading the materials into the basement this afternoon, and the whole framing crew starts tomorrow. By thursday next week, we should be getting the electrical walkthrough to make sure that we have everything laid out properly.

Here's the empty space (look! How clean it is!) that will be the theater (on the left) and the wine cellar (right). The blue thing is the outline of where the screen will go:


And the bathroom/sitting room:

Bunnicula

Just in time for Easter...an enormous bunny. What on earth have they been feeding that thing? Yikes!

Puppy Lust

The neighbors just brought home the cutest golden puppy I've ever seen -- little squishy face, fuzzy chubby puppy butt.

I'm in love. And I want another puppy now.

The Adorable Husband is mean.

Have You Actually Read it?

A public note to the...ah, idiot who got into a flame war with me on one of the forums that I frequent:

The "sin" of Sodom was being inhospitable to strangers.

All that homophobia is of your own devising. If you're going to use the bible as a reference, at least R.T.F.M.

007 No More

Yeah! I am no longer an International Woman of Mystery!

I finally managed to find the right combination of documents, runes, and omens to get the Social Security office to correctly change my name on their records to match the name that I have been using for the last seventeen years.

As I posted earlier, I apparently did not get my name changed properly when I got married, which is JUST NOW showing up in the governments records as a discrepancy (and we trust these people to run the country? I mean, really!) When I went to change it before, my birth certificate and marriage license were no longer enough to validate the change. They needed some sort of evidence that I was who I said I was...seventeen years ago. It needed to be an 'official' document with my maiden name, birthdate, and SSN.

They suggested medical records. Well, my doctor has long since retired, and they never had my social security number anyways. Marriage license -- well, I had one and it doesn't contain birth date. Transcripts from nearly all major universities (the UofM is no exception) no longer include year of birth or social security number on their transcripts, because of Sarbanes-Oxley laws regarding privacy.

They eventually found the original microfiche of my two extension classes and copied those. The databases had not yet been consolidated and could still have that info on them.

So, I am who I say I am. Finally.

I rather wanted a Theme Song, though.

Pack Rats Anonymous

The Adorable Husband and I are pack rats. Not pack rats as in 'can't walk from one room to another' or 'bags of garbage in the hallway', but we have a hard time getting rid of anything that we bought or were given or, somehow ended up with that might be useful someday.

We don't need four sets of mixing bowls. We probably don't need to keep every tea towel we've ever received. We don't need extra dog bowls. Eventually we should throw sheet sets out. We have a hard time with these things -- it's never been used ! it's probably useful! There's nothing wrong with it! The classic reasons for keeping things.

However, since they are supposed to start work on the basement this week, we had to clear out all the boxes and go through everything that we've tossed down there. Some of the boxes were moved directly from the attic in the old house -- never opened in 14 years -- and some were even earlier than that. When we moved in here, we unpacked most of the boxes and put the daily-use things away and just left the rest of the boxes in the basement. Figuring rightly that we'd open them and get the stuff we needed as we needed it. Well, mostly. Sometimes it was easier just to get new stuff. This is why we have three sets of Pyrex measuring cups.

I'd already gone through the boxes of books and purged almost 3/4 of the paperbacks. (This made me quite nauseous). That only left about thirty boxes and a dozen or so of those plastic storage bins on various shelves in the basement. All of which had to move from where they were to the "new" storage area. We found all sorts of things that we had totally forgotten we had -- down comforters, champagne flutes, hiking boots, christmas decorations, photo albums, my sewing scissors. And a bunch of quite useless stuff that we finally sorted through. The Adorable husband winnowed his army stuff down to one bin, we got rid of clothes we've been hauling around since 1980 (although they are probably back in style now), coats, empty three-ring binders, extra xmas lights, and everything else. Friends took the three room-sized rugs we had, and were happy to take the old computer hutch. I think we donated or simply got rid of. about half of the stuff we had. Perhaps more. And -- we packed everything up in bins and can actually find the stuff we now have. Sailing stuff in one bin, christmas decorations in another, winter toys in a third. I actualy feel organized!

We did keep the two original Macintosh computers, though. One of them has signatures in it -- while it probably doesn't work any longer, we just couldn't get rid of it.

We'll have to go through things once more when the basement is finished, since we packed all the storage stuff in front of the current wine racks, but it should be a much easier process. I hope!

Every once in a awhile I watch the Discovery Home channel, where they have a show called 'neat' (there's a similiar show on HDTV called Mission: Organization) -- where a "professional declutterer" goes into someone's home and helps them clear out years of clutter. It makes me feel better. If "pack-rattedness" has a range of 1-100, with 1 being a zen-like acetiscm and no belongings whatsoever, and 100 being unable to walk through your home or enter rooms because of the junk...well, some of these people are in the 90s. We are maybe 30. We keep too much, but it doesn't actually impact our daily life.

And no, I don't believe you can actually have too many books!

Um. No.

I honestly don't know if this is a real product, in production now; or if it is part of some weird new product R&D idea. It looks a bit too avante garde to me, but the Uni-P sounds like a seriously bad idea.

As commenters on the site noted, whoever designed this has obviously never had a woman "test drive" it -- we tend to wear more than a miniskirt, and few of us go commando all the time. That would be the demographic that might use such a thing: panty-less miniskirt wearers. A bare step above squatting behind a tree.

Amusing, though. The website has some...ah...interesting things on it. Too chic and cool for me.

The Dungeon Begins

We finally managed to get all the bids from the basement contractors, and I spent an afternoon making excel charts to make sure we were actually comparing the same thing from each builder (same number of doors? right specification for insulation? did they all include vapor barrier in the wine cellar? correct sink? all that stuff). It was color-coded and everything.

We've settled on a builder from Longmont, after a glowing recommendation and visit to one of their current customers. We just liked the guy, and he was very up front about things. And (he got big points for this) he remembed all the weird specifications that I had on the first try. Double-wall construction and blue-board in the wine cellar, seat in the shower, pulling speaker wire, etc. It was amazing how the others just didn't "remember' that we had very specific plans for the cellar that would require different things. But we signed the contract and work begins next Monday, after the permits and such are pulled. I'm so excited!

And a little frustrated. The front-projector we wanted for the theater (Optima HD72) might not actually fit in the theater. The ceiling is slightly less than 8' down there, and this projector has a huge offset -- the lens is actually above the top of the screen and it project downward to the wall. It isn't adjustable. I spend the evening digging up my math skills to measure projection angle and viewing distance (yeah, I knew understanding tan() and such would come in handy). With our ceiling height, the screen ends up too close to the floor. Well, unless we get a smaller screen and I really want to stick with the one we have picked (106"). I've been reading through forum posts from the audio-visual gurus at AVS and trying to see if this is a do-able setup or if I have to start searching for another projector.

I ordered the light fixtures that match the upstairs sconces, and we'll pick carpet and tile next week, I imagine. Rather fun! Assuming that it's done in the 8-week timeframe that has been proposed. Considering that we lived in kitchen-renovation hell for almost a year, I'm hoping that this goes a bit closer to schedule. Admittedly, we had only one person doing all the work at the other house, with a bit of help from the Adorable Husband. I got used to having a microware in the living room and the fridge out in the hall! This shoudl be much less painful -- they'll come and go through the basement windows, for the most part, and mess upstairs should be minimal. We hope!

Sign of the Apocalypse

This is it. The End is near.

The fact that there is a Precious Moments Theme Park -- including a chapel is definitely a sign of the impending end of the world as we know it.

I can't stand the little pweshious wittle kewtsie PM figures anyway. They creep me out big time. But this is too horrifying to comprehend. And -- you could get married there. Swoon.

April Fools

I really did think I should post some horrible April Fool's joke in the blog, but I really couldn't think of anything funny that wouldn't be in quite bad taste and piss off people to no end. Other than replacing all the Inspirational posters with Demotivators in the office, I've never really had good ideas for jokes.

So instead, I point you to the Top 100 April Fool's Hoaxes for a few giggles.

One Thing He's Done

Well, the shrub has accomplished one thing in his tenure -- the obsolescence of the debt clock in NYC. Some time in the next two years, the debt will have grown large enough that the famous debt clock (which shows the current National Debt) will not have enough digits. It won't be able to handle TEN TRILLION DOLLARS.

Apparently, the last four digits are having a hard time keeping up as it is.

Good Idea Run Amok

Chevy is having an online "contest" ala The Apprentice, and people are invited to create commercials for the Chevy Tahoe.

A few people have been ...well, let's just say misusing the editor to create some hilarious anti-SUV commercials. They seem to be created faster than chevy can take them down, but here's an example and here's another. It may not be valid -- I'm sure they're deleting these as fast as possible.

Blame the Whistleblower

Apparently, the Boston Archdiocese fired the freelance photographer (who worked for their newspaper, the Pilot, for a decade) who took the picture of Antonin Scalia making a extremely rude gesture in response to a question on how he handles his critics. The photographer, Smith, sold the picture to the Boston Herald. Scalia said that the incident was being spun by his critics and it wasn't what he actually did. Yeah, it was, as other witnesses have supported.

Scalia said, “To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’ ” while making the gesture. That’s Italian for (expletive) you

Not quite -- it actually means 'up your a--', but we get the idea.

Why am I not surprised?

Crazed Software Developers

Ack! Busy couple of days, so here's a fun link while I work on other things:

Mild-Mannered Software Developer? or Serial Killer?

See if you can tell. I got 7/10 -- but you learn to identify that weird-yet-harmless look (as opposed to Hannibal Lector sneer) after dealing with software developers for a while. Or so I hope!

Dregs of Humanity

Phelps and his 'god hates fags' crew were in Denver yesterday. They've taken that vitriolic hatred on the road and are now protesting SOLDIER"S FUNERALS. Why? Because they are quite sure that their twisted, f-cked up version of god is "punishing america" because we allow gays in the military and tolerate homosexuality in our culture. Their latest chant was praising the IED (improvised explosives) in Iraq for killing soldiers. That's vomitous.

It was bad enough when these a**holes protested the funeral of a murdered gay man, and started travelling around the country to wave signs and announce that people were going to hell ...but protesting a soldier's funeral? Because the psychotic leader of their 'christian church" is so homophobic he starts to fit the stereotype of and anti-gay man with serious homosexual tendencies? The whole lot of them are mentally disturbed and quite possibly dangerous.

Yes, I fully realize that these people don't in any way, shape, or form represent christianity. But they certainly put themselves out there as "good christians" doing the work of god. Whatever made-up, twisted version of "god" they worship, these cowardly morons deserve contempt and dismissal. They really deserve to be treated as what they are: diseased animals.

Most of the words that come to mind to describe these hateful, hypocritical people are not for polite company. I am reduced to pure, white-hot rage when I think of these people waving signs to "prove" that america is failing because gays are not exterminated. That's what they want -- gay people, and any people who disagree with the Westboro church, should be killed. Only they have the right message from 'god', didn't you know?

The Colorado legislature was considering a law to ban them from picketing the funerals of soldiers. Unfortunately, while I"d like nothing more than to see the whole lot of them in jail -- it is free speech. Hateful speech. Disgusting speech, but they have the right to do it. Passing a law preventing them from expressing themselves sets a bad precedent. I hate that that's true. I'd like to see them spend years in prison for hate speech. They've crossed a line that simply shouldn't be crossed by a people in a modern society.

Of course, what really bothers me about this is that I'm sure there are people out there who look at the picketing of gay funerals and government session where gay marriage is being considered as a good thing. They wouldn't say it out loud, of course, but they're just a-quiver with glee that someone is standing up and saying the hateful things they believe. But even these people have to be squirming a little at the bizarre notion that soldiers are to be blamed, and their deaths to be celebrated, because gays exist. But are they standing up and loudly denouncing the ass-marmots of Phelps' "church"? I don't hear very many of them.

The only way to minimize their impact is to completely ignore them. COMPLETELY. No news coverage, no newpaper articles, no sobbing interviews with the maligned family, no pictures, no audio clips, no counter-protests, no confrontations. Treat them as if they are invisible. Do not report on any of their actions, don't print any letters pro or con, don't pass legislation aimed specifically at them, simply behave as if they don't exist. Sounds like just ignoring the problems, right? But what it's really doing is taking away from them the only thing they really want: attention. They don't care about anything but being in the spotlight. Deny them that and they cease to be of any importance at all. In fact, it just might push their psychotic leader into doing something that is actually illegal...and then he can be jailed and hopefully left in a cell as somebody's b--ch. All without any coverage by the media, of course, so that the slack-jawed followers of his homophobic paranoia get nothing out of the martyrdom of their leader.

There are several articles in the local paper (www.rockymountainnews.com), but I really don't want to link to them and give anyone the misguided notion that I support this psychopath. Search on google if you're interested.

I need to go take a shower. Just reading about this guy makes me feel slimy.

Most Annoying Modern Conveniences

For those of us who can't stand the incessant beeping of cell phones, the fact that there are 900 channels on cable, or the plethora of other "time saving devicese" -- a righteous rant on the Top 9 Most Annoying Conveniences.

Of course, other than the bloop!-bloop! of idiots with walki-talkie cell phones, I like most of the things on the list. I'm a freak.

It's easier to go out

Americans can't cook. Well, that's not quite true -- but when they do cook they need explicit directions and organizations are "dumbing down" recipes by removing any actual cooking words. Can't say 'saute', or 'cream' or 'dredge' because people just don't understand them. So, instead of assuming that people are smart enough to learn the required words to cook, recipes are just deconstructed to the lowest common denominator.

"Thirty years ago, a recipe would say, 'Add two eggs,' " said Bonnie Slotnick, a longtime cookbook editor and owner of a rare-cookbook shop in New York's Greenwich Village.

"In the '80s, that was changed to 'beat two eggs until lightly mixed.' By the '90s, you had to write, 'In a small bowl, using a fork, beat two eggs,' " she said. "We joke that the next step will be, 'Using your right hand, pick up a fork and ... ."

I can't decide if this is funny, or sad. I hate anyone assuming that we're all so stupid we can't be relied on to perform simple actions without fifteen-step directions. But, there are a lot of people out there who don't understand and are apparently too stupid to look things up. Lazy. If you don't know how to cook, wouldn't you assume that you needed to learn? And if you came across something you didn't understand, you'd look it up? It's not that hard, people!

There was the person who didn't have any eggs for baking and asked if a peach would do instead. One man railed about the fire that resulted when he followed instructions to grease the bottom of the pan — and slathered the pan's outside.

There is a different between genius and stupidity....genius has limits.

Eavesdroppers Anonymous

If you, too, get a laugh out of eavesdropping on inane restaurant conversations, you'll love Overheard in New York.

There's also Overheard in the Office.

DVT

Bit of a scare this weekend -- my mother headed into the emergency room on Friday night because of severe leg pain, swelling, and discoloration of her right leg. She's had this sort of thing off and one since July, but she's been in denial about any sort of problem and refused to see a doctor. It got bad enough on Friday that she went to Urgent care, where the doctor said he believed she had a blood clot and should go to the ER.

My mother argued with him. Apparently the statement that finally got her to the hospital was, "Fine. You can either go to the Emergency room and have this treated, or you can go home and it will kill you."

She has Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), and a 3-4" clot in her right leg. My sister, a nurse, told her months ago that this looked serious and she should have it looked at, that it was probably a clot, and it could migrate to her heart or lungs and kill her; but no, your kid can't ever actually be right about anything, and she was ignored. This is the stuff they warn you about on planes -- a clot forms, and goes to your lungs where it becomes a pulmonary embolism and people die from this. Apparently quite a lot of people.

She's on injectible blood-thinners right now, and will go on Coumadin for however long it takes for this to dissolve. They didn't check her into the hospital, which I found a bit odd. She's ok, but scared spitless at the moment. The Adorable husband, also a nurse, and my sister both lit into her about how serious this was and she couldn't ignore it. We're hoping they scared her into compliance with the doctor's orders.

From a website talking about DVT:

The symptoms for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) may be subtle and difficult to detect. When DVT is spotted early and properly cared for, it may often resolve itself. When left untreated, it may cause severe complications, some even fatal. Complications from DVT kill up to 200,000 people a year in the U.S. — that's more than AIDS and breast cancer combined!

Fun. The complications they talk of are pulmonary emboli. And she ignored this for SEVEN MONTHS. Because, you know, she knows more about things than a medical doctor. All of us deny things, and many of us do not go to the doctor as often as we should, but I think she may change her behavior a bit. I hope!

More here
and here at Wikipedia.

Padraig

I meant to post this yesterday, what with St. Patricks Day and all, but time got away from me. First off, the practice of drinking green beer all day and galavanting about pretending to be Irish is rather funny.

But, if you're going to do it -- it's not St. Patty's Day (if you must abbreviate). It's St. Paddy's Day. His name is Padraig (or Padraic). We've anglicized it to Patrick, but Patty is a woman's name, not a shortening of Patrick, and any Irishman I know would be annoyed beyond belief to be called Patty. Pat is an ok nickname, but Patty...well, no.

There IS a Word for it

kak·is·toc·ra·cy, n. Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens. [Greek kakistos, worst, superlative of kakos, bad.]

The Bush Photo Op Curse

There is a long history (joke? horrible consequence?) that when Bush publicly praises a group, has a photo op with them to make himself look good...it's the death knell for any program related to the photo op.

Did he praise veterans? Cut the VA medical budget! Did he get his photo taken with top teachers? Funding dries up. And so on. The correlation is quite striking.

So, last week, Bush had a lovely photo op with the autistic kid who scored three baskets in a high-school basketball game. He made some inane comments about how it was wonderful, would he play more games, didn't let his problems slow him down.

Well, the Curse of the Photo Op struck again.

- In his proposed budget for next year, Bush has cut all funding for the National Children’s Study, a project that planned to investigate the causes of autism, asthma, and other serious illnesses.

- The President’s budget will eliminate Medicaid reimbursements for schoolchildren with disabilities, denying them “access to medical services they need to fully participate in school and learn to their greatest abilities.”

- The number of children diagnosed with autism and served by schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) increased by more than 500 percent in the last decade, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The President’s FY07 budget, however, will fund IDEA at $6.3 billion below the amount Congress recommended.

It's the MO for Bush to provide a positive photo op that gets all the coverage, then quietly undermine the project, which doesn't get mentioned in the media. Apparently it's ok to say that you're doing something That makes you a good guy. That means you are, right? Never mind that you never put your money where your mouth is. Hypocracy, at it's best.

Dog Flu?

A rather virulent strain of dog flu has hit Colorado -- and since one of the beasties is coughing, I'm a bit concerned. It's just viral flu, but can become pneumonia pretty easily, and the beasties are getting a bit old.

Snopes notes that the rumors of "deadly dog flu" are true and that seven states have recorded cases. Definitely check out the snopes site for more info.

Dr. Crawford describes the contagion as producing in dogs "a moist, productive cough that ends in a gagging response, that will persist for one to four weeks, despite treatment with antibiotics or cough suppressants. Some dogs develop a thick, yellow discharge from the nose. A very few dogs will spike a high fever, between 105 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. They become lethargic and weak, with rapid, shallow breathing. This is likely to progress to pneumonia."

Basement FInishing

Well, got the first estimate on the basement finishing. Ouch. It looks like the cost per square foot can start as low as $35 here, and doesn' t seem to have an upper limit. From what I can tell, the lower end is a "standard" finish, which is pretty much run-of-the-mill carpet, framing/wallboard, standard interior doors, 3" trim, can lighting. As you run up the cost, you get better carpeting (which I think is a requirement over a concrete floor), the same framing and wallboard, doors that match upstairs, trim that matches upstairs, etc. Again, ouch.

I want the basement to match the upstairs, as much as possible. I hate basements that look like bad 1970s panelling jobs that are completely out of synch with the rest of the house. I really do want the same woodwork and doors, and, well -- anyone who knows me knows that I have a) expensive tastes, and b) I'm very picky. This does not bode well for the basement refinishing or my sanity.

We're thinking of refinishing about 900 square feet into a home theater, a fairly large wine cellar, bathroom, a "family room" and exercise room. Really, what we're talking about is putting a framed wall inside the concrete all and adding a bathroom. Nothing really fancy, except that we have uncommon doors, and more detailed woodwork than most new houses. Maybe 900 square feet finished -- and the first estimate came in "somewhere between 35K and 50K". Um, that's a bit too large a gap for me, and it was explained as "it depends on what you pick for fixtures and finish". I asked them to try again, with a bit more detail. I'm impressed with their design service, and we might cough up the 1500 bucks to have the architect do the design and get bids on that. I'm not sure.

I do know that smaller basements cost more -- the cost per square foot is roughly $45 if you include a bathroom (the most expensive room to add to a basement) and that it goes down as you finish more than 1200 sq ft, for example. But...ouch. I mean, it's a worthwhile investment (espeically the theatre) but that's a bit painful.

Then again, based on what we spent on the kitchen remodel in the other house, I shoudln't be surprised. We figured less than 50K for the basement, which I think is more than reasonable for what we're looking for, but I think we may have to change the scope of our job a bit to get there.

I guess the biggest question is whether we really need to do the basement at all -- it's entirely "fluff". No one needs a home theater with a 115" screen. No one needs a winecellar. It seems a ridiculous expense, but we both really do want the "fun" parts. I keep having second thoughts because I think that, my god, this house is way more space than the two of us need and we're going to expand it? We do watch a boatload of movies, and having the big screen is something that both of us want...but I keep thinking that there must be other ways. We're used to doing the work ourselves...hiring someone to do the whole things smacks of laziness or something. I guess crossing the "more money than time" line is very difficult for us. Neither of us are good at framing or wallboarding, but the rest of the finish work? That's always been something we've done ourselves. Having someone else paint, for example, is a bit hoity-toity for the likes of us.

But we are total DINKS. We have the cash, we can swing the remodel. We wwant to watch Stanley Cup hockey in cinematic glory. The Adorable Husband assures me we can do it even with me not working right now (I go back on 4/15). I'd like to start the work before I head back, so I'm here when things get rolling. Beyond that, it's a matter of getting quotes from reputable builders. It's harder than you think.

Unlike the painting contractor -- he never showed up to give me an estimate. Yeah, I'm likely to hire him, you think? The guy doing the 3M window stuff was prompt and I fully expect the work to be painless.

I've got another contractor coming tomorrow, and a third on Monday. W'e'll see what comes of things. We may scrap the whole plan right now, or we may be figuring out how to give workers access to the house while we're at work for 6-8 weeks. More to follow...

Turning Water into Beer

A woman in Oslo, Norway, turned on her water taps and got...beer. Talk about a bad plumber!!

"I turned on the tap to clean some knives and forks and beer came out," Haldis Gundersen told Reuters from her home in Kristiansund, west Norway. "We thought we were in heaven."

Beer in Norway is among the most expensive in the world with a 0.4 litre (0.7 pint) costing about 50 crowns (4.3 pounds) in a bar.

Gundersen said she tried the beer but that it tasted a bit odd and was not fizzy.

It turned out that a worker in a bar two floors below had mixed up the pipes on Saturday evening, wrongly connecting a new barrel to a water pipe leading to Gundersen's flat. The bar got water in its beer taps.

I bet the bar patrons were a bit more put out!

Snow Snow Snow

Unexpected and great trip skiing up in Steamboat this weekend. My company does a quarterly team-building thing (and don't think it's one of those horrid, you-must-go-and-be-happy-about-it situations, TUSC actually does some pretty fabulous stuff like skiing, evenings out at the theater, that sort of thing.)

I had not initially said that I'd go; since I'm not working at the moment, it didn't think it would be kosher to go along on the fun stuff, you know? But when I met the group for lunch on Friday, not only was I told in no uncertain terms that I should have rsvp'd, but that there had been a cancellation so I had better come.

Called the Adorable husband at noon, and by two he had gotten off early from work, packed, and dropped the dogs off to be kennelled. Think he wanted to ski? Naah!! We still had to wait around for the 3M window-film guy to give us an estimate, but we were out of the house at 4 and into Steamboat by 7:30 or so. Not too bad. Some dumb schmuck on the way into the ski area decided that SNOW = SCARY and drove 30 f-ing miles per hour the whole way down...with about seventy cars behind them. Yes, drive carefully, but that was ridiculous. If you're that afraid to drive in the (barely blowing) snow, STAY HOME.

Skiing was great -- eight inches of new powder. I know this only by second hand testimony, as I do not ski at all. I spend the day lounging about the hotel and warming my feet by the fire, waiting for everyone to come back off the slopes. The whole group met for dinner in the restaurant at the top of the gondola -- and then were stranded up there when the wind picked up and they closed down the gondola. THey were tranporting people down the mountain in open sleds pulled by the Sno-Cats (a half hour trip in the howling wind!), but we waited long ehough that the gondola re-opened and we got down in a few minutes without freezing to death. I rather wanted to go down in the sled, but no one had brought up appropriate clothes (most people didn't even have hats) and we'd have been bloody cold!

The Adorable Husband took a snowboarding lesson Sunday morning, and I was quite put out that I didn't have a camera. First lessons are supposed to be pretty hairy and most people spend more time laying on their faces in the snow than actually boarding. He did pretty well, though, and thinks that this might be a better long term snow sport for him than skiing. Easier on the knees. I spent the morning getting my head rubbed and being massaged with hot rocks. Lovely.

Nothing much else to report. It's sunny again today, and what remains of the snow is quickly melting off. Gotta love Colorado.

Different News

I usually page through Time magazine when it arrives, reading the quotes, the political cartoons, and the Numbers column before tackling anything else. This immediately caught my eye:

72%: Proportion of US troops in Iraq who say a total pullout should occur in the next year.
85%: Proportion who say the main mission in Iraq is to retaliate for Saddam's role in 9/11

I'm not surprised at the first number, I've seen the results of the Zogby poll. Zogby does good work and has been a consistent source of data for years.

But the second? Can 85% of the soldiers actually believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11? Was it a badly worded question? Are they just 'toeing the party line" and giving the answer they are instructed to?

What are they being told?

Wait -- add to this the reports that there are websites being blocked from computers in Iraq (offficial computers, but it's not important which computers are being affected, but which websites are being blocked -- and more importantly, which ones are not.) and it suddenly seems plausible that most of the troops in Iraq believe this:

Bill O'Reilly's show, Rush Limbaugh, and the G. Gordon Liddy websites are not blocked. Air America, Al Franken, Wonkette are blocked. The message from Air America?

“Forbidden, this page (http://www.airamericaradio.com/) is categorized as: Internet Radio/TV, Politics/Opinion.”

And Rush Limbaugh is not 'Internat Radio/TV, Politics/Opinion'? Looks like someone is carefully filtering out any information that doesn't fit what the administration is saying. That certainly might account for the fact that 85% of troops believe that Saddam was involved in 9/11 -- when that particular "fact" is utterly false and clearly proven to be so.

It's a Neck Massager! Really!

Two bits of stupidity today:

Two legislators have proposed a bill in Tennessee to make sex toys illegal. I really have no idea why, except that there seems to a be large group of people who want sex of any kind except procreative to be illegal and are squicked out by the thought of the whole thing. Methinks that these two legislators really have no idea how many good, married christian women have vibrators.

I can only believe that the Tennessee legislators are in the same camp as the bizarre and completely WRONG "facts" that are provided by the abstinence-only crowd. A recent congressional study found that abstinence-only classes are intentionally misleading teens. No, misleading is a much too tame a word. What they are doing is either making shit up wholesale or lying outright. Pick one.

The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins.

Sure, teach abstinence, it's the only sure-fire way to prevent pregnancy and STDs. But it is only one option available and -- let's face reality -- one that is ultimately ineffective. I think that refusing to teach kids about sex and birth control (because it might convince them to have sex? Is that the reason? ) is criminal.

And let's see just what they are teaching teens (other than "facts" that directly contradict actual scientific findings. Remember science? The testable stuff?). Oh, yes - women are supposed to be dumb and submissive and rely on men. Yup:

Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."

Abstinance is not the issue here -- it's this backwards, mysogynistic view of women that the right-wing seems to want to enforce. Women must be secondary to men and are not supposed to actually feel desire or want sex. Don't actually express an opinion or show any power, or men won't like you. Is that the message we want to teach girls? Of course, if it's stupidity and compliance that they want from women, and this causes them to be chosen as sexual partners, don't you think that we should be encouraging girls to use their brains and be independent. According to this logic, they'd never get laid, so it's even better!Gah.

Drivel

Long, boring weekend. The Adorable Husband is on call this weekend (as he is on 2-3 each month) and so we are limited in our escapades. We can only head north (we live on the very southern boundary of the 30-minute recall limit for the hospital) and since we have a tendency to lounge about on the weekend doing nothing until noon, our days are a bit slow.

I made the mistake of consulting the Adorable Husband on paint colors for the guest bedroom. I picked out a half-dozen shades of mustard yellow and he dutifully looked them, hemmed and hawed, held them up to the light, and made appropriately supportive noises. It's not fair, of course. As he's said many times before, men only see in 16 colors.

"Yellow." He says with a frown. "Yellow would be good. Nothing too bright, though." (Translated: Ah-hah! A color I recognize. Sort of.)

"It's not really yellow. More gold-ish. Do you like Gourd or Deep Cowslip?" I ask, holding up only two of the little yellow squares. It's much easier if it's an either-or decision.

He squints at the cards, turns them to the light. "Which one do you like?" (Translated: These are different colors? )

"This one is more muted. I think it will go better with the other colors." At this point, I should just give up and pick on myself.

"Yes." he says, peering at the two colors like a curator looking at fine paintings. "It is." (Translated: Pick one. I have no idea.)

I finally relent and hold up one of the colors. "I like this one." Relief blooms on his face.

"Yeah. I like that one better, too." He really is a good sport about all this.

I learned after the first try at painting a dark color that just blue painters tape to protect the baseboards is not enough. Paint manages to slither under the tape and the edges look horrible. Every time I look at the side of the window in our bedroom, I wince: the dark green is all over the side of the window trim and it makes me nuts.

So, once the tape goes up I go through and caulk every edge. The idea is to put down a bead of caulk and then wipe away as much of it as possible, just enough to seal the edge of the tape against the wall and give a clean line. My painter friend usually tapes, then paints over the tape with the trim color, then pains the walls. The white paint then fills the gaps between the trim and tape and the edge comes out clean. Caulking is easier, I think.

So, two days painting. I still need the Adorabel Husband to do the ceiling, since even on a 6' ladder I'm too short, but it looks lovely. Bright. Not as bad as the Big-Bird Yellow bathroom that I painted in our first rental. I bought a gallon of cheap, yellow paint to brighten up the dingy bathroom and painted everything (the trim, the door, the walls). I did it during the day, it looked pretty good.

The poor husband came home after dark, walked into the bathroom and flipped on the light. And screamed. With the four 100-watt bulbs over the sink turned on, it was retina-burning neutron-star yellow. I'll never hear the end of it.

Stamp your feet

There's a rumor that Bush is going to send a proposal to Congress to get them to grant line-item veto powers. Because he needs to be able to fine-tune legislation, you know?

What part of the Supreme Court decision that ruled that congress does not have the authority to grant that kind of power to the president does he not understand? Line item veto was revoked by the supreme court on those grounds when it was (illogically) granted to Clinton.

Mayhap the king is planning on calling in favors, now that he's got two of his hand-picked guys on SCOTUS?

But, I don't want to actually do the job!

Here's a hint, people -- if you REFUSE to do the job, you can't be a pharmacist. If you can't bring yourself to provide the legally, dr-provided prescriptions for birth control, morning-after pill, or RU-486, then DON'T GO TO PHARMACIST SCHOOL. You are not qualified to do the job. You don't get to decide which drugs are ok and which are not, based on some fantasy you have of "morality".

The Missouri proposition is:

SB 609 - This act protects the conscience rights of pharmaceutical professionals. Such pharmaceutical professionals shall not be required to perform, assist, recommend, refer for, or participate in any service involving a particular drug or device that they have a good faith belief is used for abortions. In these instances, the pharmaceutical professional shall be immune from civil or criminal liability and will not have their license suspended or revoked. Employers cannot refuse to hire, discriminate against, segregate, or terminate a pharmaceutical professional because of their opposition to any service involving a particular drug or device that they have a good faith belief is used for abortions. Colleges and teaching hospitals are also prohibited from discriminating against any person who refuses to participate in any service or training which involves a particular drug that they have a good faith belief is used for abortions. In addition, they are prohibited from requiring a student or teacher to pay fees to fund these activities.

The people proposing these narrow minded, bigoted laws are beneath contempt.

"Oh, I shouldn't have to do anything that I find uncomfortable or difficult. The world should revolve around me and my views. " What next, doctors refusing to treat people who smoke? Turning people away from the ER because they are muslim, because a nurse has an issue? Sorry, charlie. The world doesn't quite work that way.

Why is it that women are innocent, hapless victims who are cruelly exploited by the availability of abortion while simultaneously being selfish, slatternly sluts who deserve the punishment of forced pregnancy? Do these people even understand the concept of hypocracy?

Which version?

David Sater, a state representative in Missouri has sponsored a bill making 'christianity' the official state religion of Missouri.

The resolution would recognize "a Christian god," and it would not protect minority religions, but "protect the majority's right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, "a greater power exists," and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, "justified recognition."

Oh, great idea. Now the easy question: Which Christianity? There is no ONE view christianity that everyone agrees with. Does his version give priority to the new or old testament god? salvation through faith or works? eastern or western orthodoxy? biblical literalism? child baptism or adult? Jesus divine or not? support gay marriage? ordination of women? which bible? how old is the earth? Quite a few of the evangelical sects think that Catholicism is not Christian. There are literally hundreds of basic, fundamental questions that differentiate the hundreds of different sects of christianity. If you visit ten churches, you'll get ten different versions. Of course, this guy means his church, of course. Which will be the official version? When will we have the Defender of the Faith outlining what is required to be a good citizen?

And let's be perfectly clear: This is a completely manufactured issue. No one is saying that you can't express your christian beliefs. Please do. You just can't force them on anyone else and you can't have the government do that enforcing for you. Simple. Some christians apparently want you to believe that denying them the right to "enforce" their view, that they then are then persecuted and that they are oppressed. They are just getting a little bit pissy that we aren't giving them special treatment anymore. We've realized that there are other views in the world and we no longer give automatic priority to their view. What they want is to legislate that "special treatment" for themselves.

So, "only christianity" gets "justified recognition" -- what does that mean? Are you going to enforce christmas? Refuse to acknowledge other religions' holy days? ban expression of any religion but the christian one? Then we can give priority to christians for jobs, and ensure that their prayers are forced on everyone in school and no other beliefs can be expressed. What absolute, unmitigated arrogance.

Think that isn't what the 'religious right' wants? Keep a close eye on their proposed laws and tell me that they don't want a theocracy. Because, you know, the enforced state religion of medieval europe surely worked so well. (Think I'm sounding a bit hostile? This is pretty toned down, for me).

I think that amendments should be proposed to the bill to a) identify exactly what 'christian' means and what details are supported, and b) identify non-christians in some way, and c) outline how non-christian religion is to be treated. It would also be nice if the church leaders in the state would be required to approve the "official" version. That last bit? That will be the stick that breaks the whole movement's back, I can guarantee it. Each group has to believe that they are the ones who are right and everyone else is wrong, if only slighly. How else can they be special?

When I lived in Glennville, GA, oh-so-many years ago, there were a round dozen churches in the tiny town. Two that stick out in my memory were the 'Ebeneezer Baptist Church' and the 'Old Line Ebeneezer Baptist Church'. Members of each church did not socialize with the other. The difference? As far as we could see, the Ebeneezer Baptist Church allowed women to wear pants to church and didn't forbid dancing. Yup, these two groups would be able to agree on an official standard. I'd like to see that.

Don't Pay your Bills

Yet another thing that is being monitored, apparently. Paying "too much" on your bills is getting flagged to Homeland Security? From Scrippts Howard News Service:

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.

This is because of changes to banking privacy act, which I'm trying to track down. One more bit of privacy down the tubes. Oooh. I feel so much safer now. Feh.

I'm me! I'm me! I think.

Ah-hah! I think I have finally tracked down some sort of certified documentation as to who I was in 1989. It took about a dozen phone calls to finally track down what hope will be an acceptable document for the SSA. SOcial Security initial suggested a college transcript -- easily available certified copies, right?

Well, not so much. Because of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, the U of M no longer includes either social security numbers (because the law says they can't be used as identifiers) nor birth date on any day school transcripts (because of age-ism). There is no way to get them added, it's a violation of their privacy policy.

Note that I said day school, though. The extension (night) class program has not yet been entirely rolled into the regular transcript. So -- with the help of a lovely woman in the records department, we discovered that the original microfiche of the few extension classes I took in 1986 would still have all the info. I need a copy of the microfiche to be certified and that should do it. Cross your fingers that this works. I have no idea what to try next!

I still think I should go with the Adorable Husband's suggestion to demand an investigation into my identity.

Poe Would be Proud

The rapid spread of bird flu that is currently nearing Europe (it has reached France) has done what bombings and blizzards have not been able to do in 350 years: the famous ravens of the Tower of London are being sequestered inside for their own safety.

Not only are they in seclusion, they are only visited by hazmat-suited humans careful to protect them from any outside pathogen:

Four times a day, Coyle dons a full-body bio-suit, steps carefully into a disinfectant foot wash, and brings food and comforting words to Branwen, Hugine, Munin, Gwyllum, Thor and Baldrick in the Brick Tower, "one of the castle's roomier" spaces. He said the suit is for the ravens' protection. Given the speed at which the flu seems to be spreading around the globe, Coyle said, one can't be too careful. (Toronto Star)

The reason for all this? The legend that says that if the six ravens ever leave or if they all die, then the kingdom of England will fail.