Old-guy jogging, hallway lighting, ‘Apocalypto’, ’10 Items or Less’, ‘Half-Nelson’
(posted from home)
(this post covers 28 May-2 June)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 2 June –
Today we painted the foyer. This project wasn’t as easy as it should be. The foyer landing is small, oddly shaped, and cluttered by a large stairway. The wall is 15 feet tall in this area and the overhead fan/light is both large and barely reachable from the ladder. The fan has also been wobbling a bit lately so I needed to stabilize the mount. After a half-hour of frustration about being unable to reach and remove the fan/light, we finally found we could put the extension ladder on the lowest step and use a concrete block for one leg. That allowed the ladder to move over enough to make it all easy. I disassembled the lower light, removed the fan blades, and removed the fixture entirely to give me access to the box. Two long screws run up through the bracket into the cross-beam stabilized the mount. After we painted the ceiling in this area I remounted and re-assembled the fan/light and all turned out well.
That evening we watched ‘Half Nelson’ with Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps. Gosling is very (and frustratingly) believable as a crack-head teacher and young Miss Epps is a wonderfully-understated 13-year-old. I see this one ranks way up there in the 90’s on RT and I think I know why. It doesn’t make the predictable move. Highly recommended.
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Friday, 1 June –
Today I spent the day running errands. I drove in to York Transmissions to discuss the noise I’m hearing in the Miata and also to make arrangements to service Mocha Joe’s tranny. After a test drive of the Miata the tech told me the noise sounds like gear noise (as opposed to a bearing problem) and it’s not indicative of an imminent failure. Unfortunately a fix would be expensive--- $1000 or more depending on parts availability. So that’s not in the cards this year. Maybe I can find a used one somewhere.
After going over the symptoms of Mocha Joe’s problem with the tech I decided to go ahead with a routine trans service. I also elected to use synthetic oil to (hopefully) extend the oil’s breakdown time and for its low-temp fluidity. I’ve been a fan of Mobil One synthetic engine oil for my cars and motorcycles for years and will try AMSOIL ATF synthetic in the trans.
I then took a tour of the York bike shops looking for a more comfortable seat for the road bike, without much luck.
That evening we watched ’10 Items or Less’, a wonderful little low-budget film with Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega. This film was made in 15 days and the ‘Making Of…’ featurette is the key to understanding what an accomplishment it is. Recommended!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 31 May –
This morning I climbed up into the attic yet again, this time to install the three housings for the new hallway recessed lights. Labashi drilled the ceiling openings from below (after I had checked clearance above) while I wired up the housings. Because our ceiling trusses are 24 inches apart, the housing support bars flex a little too much. This allows the housing to ride up when we install the lights from below. I ran a piece of metal utility strapping over the housings to tie them down more securely to the trusses. After finishing up in the attic, I went down to the basement and wired the supply line into the same junction box I had used for the living/dining room recessed lights.
That afternoon I went jogging again at Rocky Ridge. This time I had my watch along and see I completed the jog in 1:27, a surprisingly good time for a 90-degree day.
That evening we watched the new pirates show on tv and enjoyed seeing the American Chopper guys in Australia. Then we turned on the new hallway lights to check them out. They look great!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 30 May –
This morning I started on another recessed-lighting project, this one in our hallway. The three new eyeball fixtures will wash light onto artwork and we’ll finally be able to see into our hallway closet. Today I ran the two wiring segments-- one from the basement, one from the attic--- and then cut in and installed a new two-gang box for the dimmer switch and the existing hallway switch. Tomorrow in the I then moved to the dining room and wired in a new three-pendant fixture to the pancake box I installed yesterday. Looks good!
That afternoon I took pulled my mid-90’s road bike out of the barn to look it over and see what it needs to put it back on the road. As the summer heats up and the horseflies start chasing me down the jogging paths I want an alternative for exercise. I loaded the bike into Cherry Larry and took it into Gung Ho Bikes for service. New tires and a basic lube-and-adjust should get it back on the road. I’ll pick it up next week.
That evening we watched ‘Apocalyto’, the Mel Gibson film. We loved it! Mel did a great job of introducing us to a completely different world. The storyline is a bit too predictable and exaggerated but we didn’t mind at all given the fantastic locale, costumes, and characters. Can you imagine what it would have been like to make this film?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 29 May –
This morning I took down our dining-room chandelier and cut in a new electrical box. Labashi’s rehab plan for the dining room replaces the chandelier with a modern three-light pendant fixture. For that I needed to relocate the electrical box. The new location is right under a ceiling truss so that meant I had to use a ‘pancake box’ which is an electrical box only ¾” deep (the depth of the drywall). I made yet another trip to our claustrophobic little attic to relocate the feed wire but that turned out to be easy. All I had to do was remove a cable-staple and then swing the old wire over to the new location and feed it into the box and then beat a hasty retreat from the rapidly-heating-up attic.
I then finished mowing the lawn for this week before riding into town for a well-deserved Starbucks break. Afterwards I thought I’d try my favorite Rocky Ridge jog in the 90-degree heat. That went okay but toward the end I was quickly overtaken by some young college girl flying along effortlessly. We said hi as she passed. A few minutes later here she came the other direction. As she fluttered by she chirped “Hang in there! You’re almost there!!!” Great. A pretty young chick taking pity on the obviously-suffering old coot (who actually WASN’T near the end—he still had a half-hour of jogging left to do today). So it goes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 28 May –
Today is Memorial Day. The weather’s hot and sticky and I need some recovery time from my hot-weather jog yesterday. I spent the morning blogging and then late in the day I mowed the ‘lower 40’ portion of our lawn.
(posted from home)
(this post covers 28 May-2 June)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 2 June –
Today we painted the foyer. This project wasn’t as easy as it should be. The foyer landing is small, oddly shaped, and cluttered by a large stairway. The wall is 15 feet tall in this area and the overhead fan/light is both large and barely reachable from the ladder. The fan has also been wobbling a bit lately so I needed to stabilize the mount. After a half-hour of frustration about being unable to reach and remove the fan/light, we finally found we could put the extension ladder on the lowest step and use a concrete block for one leg. That allowed the ladder to move over enough to make it all easy. I disassembled the lower light, removed the fan blades, and removed the fixture entirely to give me access to the box. Two long screws run up through the bracket into the cross-beam stabilized the mount. After we painted the ceiling in this area I remounted and re-assembled the fan/light and all turned out well.
That evening we watched ‘Half Nelson’ with Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps. Gosling is very (and frustratingly) believable as a crack-head teacher and young Miss Epps is a wonderfully-understated 13-year-old. I see this one ranks way up there in the 90’s on RT and I think I know why. It doesn’t make the predictable move. Highly recommended.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 1 June –
Today I spent the day running errands. I drove in to York Transmissions to discuss the noise I’m hearing in the Miata and also to make arrangements to service Mocha Joe’s tranny. After a test drive of the Miata the tech told me the noise sounds like gear noise (as opposed to a bearing problem) and it’s not indicative of an imminent failure. Unfortunately a fix would be expensive--- $1000 or more depending on parts availability. So that’s not in the cards this year. Maybe I can find a used one somewhere.
After going over the symptoms of Mocha Joe’s problem with the tech I decided to go ahead with a routine trans service. I also elected to use synthetic oil to (hopefully) extend the oil’s breakdown time and for its low-temp fluidity. I’ve been a fan of Mobil One synthetic engine oil for my cars and motorcycles for years and will try AMSOIL ATF synthetic in the trans.
I then took a tour of the York bike shops looking for a more comfortable seat for the road bike, without much luck.
That evening we watched ’10 Items or Less’, a wonderful little low-budget film with Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega. This film was made in 15 days and the ‘Making Of…’ featurette is the key to understanding what an accomplishment it is. Recommended!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 31 May –
This morning I climbed up into the attic yet again, this time to install the three housings for the new hallway recessed lights. Labashi drilled the ceiling openings from below (after I had checked clearance above) while I wired up the housings. Because our ceiling trusses are 24 inches apart, the housing support bars flex a little too much. This allows the housing to ride up when we install the lights from below. I ran a piece of metal utility strapping over the housings to tie them down more securely to the trusses. After finishing up in the attic, I went down to the basement and wired the supply line into the same junction box I had used for the living/dining room recessed lights.
That afternoon I went jogging again at Rocky Ridge. This time I had my watch along and see I completed the jog in 1:27, a surprisingly good time for a 90-degree day.
That evening we watched the new pirates show on tv and enjoyed seeing the American Chopper guys in Australia. Then we turned on the new hallway lights to check them out. They look great!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 30 May –
This morning I started on another recessed-lighting project, this one in our hallway. The three new eyeball fixtures will wash light onto artwork and we’ll finally be able to see into our hallway closet. Today I ran the two wiring segments-- one from the basement, one from the attic--- and then cut in and installed a new two-gang box for the dimmer switch and the existing hallway switch. Tomorrow in the I then moved to the dining room and wired in a new three-pendant fixture to the pancake box I installed yesterday. Looks good!
That afternoon I took pulled my mid-90’s road bike out of the barn to look it over and see what it needs to put it back on the road. As the summer heats up and the horseflies start chasing me down the jogging paths I want an alternative for exercise. I loaded the bike into Cherry Larry and took it into Gung Ho Bikes for service. New tires and a basic lube-and-adjust should get it back on the road. I’ll pick it up next week.
That evening we watched ‘Apocalyto’, the Mel Gibson film. We loved it! Mel did a great job of introducing us to a completely different world. The storyline is a bit too predictable and exaggerated but we didn’t mind at all given the fantastic locale, costumes, and characters. Can you imagine what it would have been like to make this film?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 29 May –
This morning I took down our dining-room chandelier and cut in a new electrical box. Labashi’s rehab plan for the dining room replaces the chandelier with a modern three-light pendant fixture. For that I needed to relocate the electrical box. The new location is right under a ceiling truss so that meant I had to use a ‘pancake box’ which is an electrical box only ¾” deep (the depth of the drywall). I made yet another trip to our claustrophobic little attic to relocate the feed wire but that turned out to be easy. All I had to do was remove a cable-staple and then swing the old wire over to the new location and feed it into the box and then beat a hasty retreat from the rapidly-heating-up attic.
I then finished mowing the lawn for this week before riding into town for a well-deserved Starbucks break. Afterwards I thought I’d try my favorite Rocky Ridge jog in the 90-degree heat. That went okay but toward the end I was quickly overtaken by some young college girl flying along effortlessly. We said hi as she passed. A few minutes later here she came the other direction. As she fluttered by she chirped “Hang in there! You’re almost there!!!” Great. A pretty young chick taking pity on the obviously-suffering old coot (who actually WASN’T near the end—he still had a half-hour of jogging left to do today). So it goes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 28 May –
Today is Memorial Day. The weather’s hot and sticky and I need some recovery time from my hot-weather jog yesterday. I spent the morning blogging and then late in the day I mowed the ‘lower 40’ portion of our lawn.
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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