Today I arranged to have the Miata repaired. (Replace the RH fender, repair the bumper cover, repaint, and clear coat) The car is in queue and should be complete in about three weeks.

One of my favorite things about going on vacation is losing track of the day of the week. The kids are on Spring break this week and so am I.

Today J' asked me "What day of the week is it?" All I knew for sure was that it was not Sunday. At least two of us are really enjoying Spring break.

The Next Obsession

Spring break started today at 3:00 pm. While I do have a lot to do in the next week (related to school), I should have adequate time to have some fun as well.

I have been planning a garden this year. I believe the last time I planted a garden was 10 years ago. Prior to the last garden, I had seen a segment on Square Foot Gardening on PBS. (I even bought a book on the subject.) This seemed interesting to me at the time and I ended up with a 12 square foot elevated garden. The garden consisted of two 3'x4' boxes set on platforms about 2.5 feet off the ground. In this small garden I planted two types of tomatoes, squash, okra, eggplant, bell peppers, water melon, and onions.

This year the garden will be in the ground. It will probably consist of four 4'x4' plots about three feet apart. My last garden suffered from limited sunlight. This will not be an issue as the intended garden location gets full sunlight.

I have not yet determined the complete list of crops this year, but it will certainly contain tomatoes, squash, and okra. Any requests?

As you can see, I have decided to recycle a previous obsession this year. Does this mean I am running out of new and original ideas. No way!

U2 - No Line on the Horizon

The new U2 album hits the stores on Tuesday. I am looking forward to it. Time to empty out a spot in the CD changer.

I'm Not Quite Dead Yet. (Part II)

I was catching up on my blog reading when I came across this post. For just a second, I thought I was reading my eulogy. Then I remembered I was still breathing. I wonder if he realized he wrote that on my 40th birthday.

(Danny gave me a box of laxatives for my birthday. Oddly it did not appear to be a gag-gift. I now have plenty and I am willing to share.)

I guess it is time for me to get out the guitar and start practicing again. It seems Danny and I are starting a band. Look out Flatt and Scruggs.

My List of the Top Ten Albums of Rock and Roll

Ken put me up to this. Originally the list was supposed to be 15 albums. His list was twenty-five. I have limited mine to just ten. It is a slippery slope from #11 to #50. The truth is adding another five would repeat a couple of the artists. Oddly this list does not include the first couple of albums I ever bought (one of which was Petra - More Power To Ya) which I listened to non-stop for over a year. Nor does it include the album that I have probably listened to more than any other album (U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind). I actually left this one in the CD player of my trucks for two plus years.

1. U2 - The Unforgettable Fire - This one seems to top everyone's list. I walked to Wal-Mart with my buddy Matt Ramon (before we could drive) to buy this one in cassette form. This was also the first CD I ever bought (1987). Every song on the CD is good and the sum is greater than the parts. "Dirt dry bones, sand, and stone."

2. The Choir - Chase the Kangaroo - I was introduced to this one during the summer of 1987. My friend, Preacher-Man John, whom I have know since kindergarten, had just gotten a bass and started a band along with Wade and Jeff. Their original music was definitely influenced by The Choir and U2. Actually The Choir was also influenced by U2. (Thinking about this reminded me of a road trip we made to Atlanta to see U2 and the rocking flying through my windshield on the way home. Also John's little incident at the parking deck, but I digress. Good times!) "November whispers and shakes a fist, leaves fall down with promises." But who rakes the leaves?

3. The Alarm - Strength - Another John (Thrash man) introduced me to this band back when I was flipping burgers at the golden arches. I had a hard time deciding whether Strength or Declaration should fill this slot. Ultimately Strength got it. Barely. "Who will light the fire that I need to survive?"

4. Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles - This one was introduced by my imaginary friend Mike. Moon Over Bourbon Street and Shadows in the Rain are timeless classics for me. I continually use both to prove to others that I can't sing. And I shall continue to for a long long time. "Woke up in my clothes again this morning. Don't know exactly where I am."

5. Rush - Power Windows - This one comes complements of yet another John, Mr. Leeming. I heard this one for the first time while 'working truck' at McDonald's. This was totally unlike anything I had ever heard. "All the powers that be, and the course of history, would be changed for evermore..."

6. Van Halen - 5150 - I bought this one at Sound Warehouse on the way home from school one day. John Thrash was probably with me as we car-pooled for several years. Unlike may others, I liked Van Haggar. To this day I believe that Eruption from Van Halen I is the reason my hearing is not so good. Can you imagine what that must sound like in of a Chevette with 10 speakers including two 10" subs being pushed by 200 watts (peak :). "Summer nights and my radio, that's all we need, baby, don't cha know."

7. Triumph - Sport of Kings - This one is again courtesy of Mr. Trash. That guy had good tastes in music. "Is it fate, or random chance, how can I decided? Are we victims of circumstance when destinies collide?

8. REM - Document - Mr. Leeming again. John taught me how to play the first few notes of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" on my electric guitar. For all of you I have tortured with this, he is to blame. Unfortunately I didn't have any inate musical talent. John, John, and I (and maybe John) went to see John's brother's band "My Three Sons" play at a club near TCU. They dedicated Electric Co. to me. "World serves it own needs, regardless of your own needs, feed it up a knock, speed, grunt no, speed no..."

9. Electric Light Orchestra - Time - As a kid, I heard "Out of the Blue" and "Discovery" time and again at Blair's house. I don't recall hearing "Time" back then but it is definitely my favorite ELO album. I will credit David E. with this one. "I met someone who looks a lot like you, she does the things you do, but she is an IBM." "...And she's also a telephone."

10. Boston - Boston - Flashback to the 70's and credit goes to Blair again. I think we nearly wore out his older brother's eight tracks. This was the first CD I listened to when I bought my first brand-new-car. Open up the sun roof and turn it up. "He smoked a big cigar, drove a Cadillac car, and said, boys, I think this band is out of sight."

So how would I fill out the next 40 or so? More U2, definitely The Joshua Tree, and The Alarm, probably Declaration and Eye of the Hurricane. And more Choir, especially the live one specially mixed to listen to in the car with the windows rolled down. Also throw in The Church's "Under the Milkyway", some Everclear, a few Barenaked Ladies, more Sting's Soul Cages (and The Police's Synchronicity) , and Pink Floyd, Green Day, and maybe the Offspring. And more Rush!

Now it is your turn to make a list. Let me know when you get it done so that I may check it out.

For the past few weeks I have been focused on school. It is amazing how one can be so focused that several days or weeks can pass without giving much thought to anything else. I believe the most difficult part is behind me now, though I still have plenty to do. Over the next couple of weeks I hope to have more free time and thus have some mildly mundane topics to speak of.

The contractors finished up repairing the garage either two or three weeks ago. I still have not moved the tools back in. I am eager to do so because the Miata has been parked in the driveway for the last couple of weeks. (This is the only time the Miata has been left outside overnight since I bought it however many years ago that was.)

The precision machine class has been very interesting. We are primarily working with a vertical milling machine, an E-Mill I believe. The project for the class is to mill a c-clamp out of a solid piece of aluminum. We should begin cutting threads in another week or so.

The Big-4-0 was completely painless. Especially since I got a box of laxatives as a gift. I have extras and I am willing to share.

"It has been a long time..."

First of all, my hand smells like tooth paste. Not as refreshing as you might think.

I have been busy lately. Real busy. The kind of busy that keeps me up past my bedtime busy. One, two, and three AM busy. All good things will pass. Eventually.

Most of the business is a result of doing my student-teaching internship. Some is also as a result of signing up for the precision machines class at the vo-tech school. The machines class is really cool. I am after all a kinesthetic learner.

Fear not, for I have not abandoned you (for Facebook), both of you, the two of you who read this blog from time-to-time. Once or twice a month. I shall return. Though it might be another seven days before you see another post.

Do you smell brownies?

Oh, yeah! Tomorrow I will be 40 and I am feeling pretty good about it.

"...since I rock-and-rocked." [power cord] [ power cord]

Crack Pipe

Today I repaired the pipe that froze last weekend. I decided it would be easier to go ahead and do the job myself rather than try to schedule a time for a plumber to come by.

After a quick trip to HD for supplies (solder, flux, 1/2" copper pipe caps, pipe cutter), I came home and learned a new trade. All my plumbing work in the past has been limited to PVC. Now I can included sweating copper pipe on my resume. I am currently looking to take on an apprentice.

This evening I invented the instant play feature for Netflix on TiVo. OK, maybe I didn't invent it but I did discover it. OK, maybe discover is a strong overstatement. But I did setup it up. Well that is not exactly true either. G' punched the code into the web browser to activate the feature. But I did pick the first thing we watched on the Tivo via the instant play feature at Netflix. Well technically we didn't watch all of it, but we did watch the first ten minutes before the kids interrupted the show. OK, maybe it wasn't exactly ten minutes, but you can't prove it can you!

We ended up watching Psych on the Tivo instead.

The instant play feature is pretty cool. Check it out.

MLK

School was out today so I had no place to be. Gotta love the extra holidays. I spent some time preparing for the school week but mostly I spent the day hooking up a new dual tuner Tivo and doing more cleanup work in the garage.

Our old Tivo was purchased in February of 2003 I believe. Yesterday it started making a horrible screeching sound. I believe one of the hard drives was ready to go. I unplugged it last night (to silence it) and today when I plugged it back in, it just didn't work. Unfortunately I had just recorded about 35 hours of Barrett-Jackson. I guess I missed it this year.

In the garage, I plugged a few holes in the ceiling with insulation and got the heater back online. The drip pan in the HVAC unit was full of water. There is a float switch in the pan which disables the unit when water is present. I vacuumed the water out of the pan and then turned the thermostat up to 50 and set the fan to on. Hopefully the constant flow of air will help dry the walls and stairs. Someone needs to change the air filter!

I also spent some time drying the grade-8 bolts that managed to get completely submerged in water this weekend. After drying them with a heat gun I packaged them in sandwich bags and labeled the bags. They are ready to go when I get another chance to work on the GMC. Drying washers/nuts/bolts with a heat gun is a zen-like experience.

And speaking of weather (someone did mention weather didn't they?), shortly after lunch some white stuff started falling from the sky. At first it looked like snow, then ice, and finally snow again. I made the little people come outside for a few minutes so they could look at a crystal-like shape of a few snowflakes. They were not impressed.

It is almost tax time. Yippee.

It's Raining in the Garage

As the garage door opened on Sunday morning, I noticed something was wrong. It was raining in the garage.

After twisting the water cut-off value, I went into the garage to investigate. The entire place was a mess. A large part of the ceiling had collapsed over my '72 GMC and the workbench next to it. Everything on the bench was soaked. Across the room, water was rolling down the face of the cabinets that I had recently built onto another workbench below them. Many tools were lying in the torrent of water. Water was close to an 1" deep on the floor at the lowest spot in the garage.

The last few days have been really cold. I had heard this was the coldest winter we have had in 6 years. I spent several hours in the shop on Saturday just generally cleaning up. (And I finally got around to putting door handles on the cabinets as well as touching up the paint) The clean up effort was in vain, the place was a mess.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon dragging stuff out of the garage, and sweeping and vacuuming up water. After removing most of the water, I setup a box fan to assist in drying out the garage. (I took several photos before the cleanup effort began for the insurance company. )

It appears that a copper pipe in the unfinished upstairs area had frozen. The pipe has about a one inch split that runs lengthwise. After splitting, water sprayed upward. Some water went down the stairwell but it appears most ran across the floor and down into an A/C vent. The duct-work filled with water and the ceiling collapsed under the weight. When the ceiling collapsed, the duct was ripped in half above the ceiling. At this point water was running across the top side of the ceiling and downs the walls.

Upstairs, most of my hardwood supply got wet. I store the wood standing upright to save space. The bottom end of every board has soaked up water. About six to nine inches of each board is swollen. The boards will not dry back evenly. Hard wood is fairly expensive and my stash is all wet. This discovery made me sad.

Back down stairs, I noticed that my planer and chop saw had been subjected to the flow of water as well. I also had a soggy box of truck parts. On the truck, the new bolts had already started rusting. This was frustrating. For about three years now I have been working on the truck - taking it apart, sandblasting the parts to remove all rust, painting them, and putting it back together. It was discouraging to see some rust forming on the truck I had worked so hard to remove it from. I realize the truck would have eventually gotten wet, but my plan was to finish it first.

While cleaning out the garage, I was glad I had sold the 1925 Chevrolet. The ceiling caved in right above where the truck was normally parked. I am not sure that truck would have ever recovered from that much water.

Precision Machines

I am taking an evening adult education class at the local vocational technology school. The class started this evening and meets for fifteen weeks.

The class I chose this semester is Precision Machines. In this class I will learn how to operate and effectively use a milling machine, metal lathe, metal shaper, and possibly a few more. These are skills I thought might be useful, interesting, or entertaining.

The first class met tonight. We covered the usual - safety first, followed by a brief tour of all the machinery as well as a description of what they can do.

One can never have to many mad skillz!

Push Button, Get More Bacon

The bacon explosion. Mmmm.

I started my teaching internship this week. Monday was orientation, Tuesday was the first class of the semester, and the rest of the week involves ARI training (strategies for incorporating content literacy in the classroom.)

The internship involves 75 days in the classroom. I have to teach at least 20 of the 75. Ten must be consecutive. I will be teaching Algebra II and Pre-Calculus during my internship.

The first day in the classroom went very well. I believe this will be a very positive experience and I hope to learn a lot. I just hope to not have to learn a lot the hard way.

Happy New Year and Other un-related Superflous Foo-Foo

On Tuesday December 30, we boarded a plane headed for Disney World. This time we stayed at Riverside in Port Orleans. I returned home on Sunday January January 4. The rest of the family stayed until Monday. (I had a school obligation on Monday.)

We managed to shut down almost park every night. Most nights at least one of the parks stayed open until midnight. That generally got us back to the room by 1 AM. The first night we were there, the Magic Kingdom was open until 3 AM. We split the scene around 2 AM.

If you can handle it, late night at the parks is a good idea. We generally managed to ride more rides in the last two hours than we had all day long due to the decreased crowds. A good plan is to head out early, return the room for an afternoon rest and then back at the park for the evening and late night hours.

While there I rode the Tower of Terror 5 times (in one night), Expedition Everest 13 times (over two days). Thunder Mountain seven times (over two days) , Spash Mountain twice, and Space Mountain twice. I also rode the train in two parks (yippee!), Pirates of the Caribbean (no wait), and many many more. We only rode Spaceship Earth once this trip. My favorite show was again Mickey's Philharmagic in the Magic Kingdom.

I got to see three complete fireworks shows (Epcot/Magic Kingdom/Epcot), the other nights we missed them while queued up for roller coasters.

My favorite Dining experiences this trip were Le Cellar (Canadian section of Epcot), Coral Reef (Epcot), and the BoatWright (Riverside at Port Orleans). I missed the trip to Ohonua (in the Polynesian Resort) because I returned home early, but it was fantastic the last time we were there. We also dined at the Mexican restaurant whose name I can't recall (Mexican section of Epcot) and The Wave (Contemporary Resort). The last two were good, but I would be willing to try something else next time.

January at Disney World provides primo weather. Sunny and 70 for the entire trip. Excellente!

Just like our last trip to Disney World (January 2007), I managed to lose track of what day of the week it was on this trip. That is the true sign of a great vacation.

Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine

I will be offline for a few days. Better things to do than hang around here writing mundane blog entries. We are heading down to see Mickey and Donald for a few days.

When we made the trip a few years ago, I took my laptop with me. The only time I took it out of the bag was at the airport. This year I will leave it at home rather than lug it all over the southeast. Surely I can last a few days without internet access.

See you in the funny papers.

The Elves are dressed in leather ...

So my seester has run out of room on the old HD and wanted to replace it with a larger one. The current was a 60 gig-ger. We went to Best Buy on the 24th and obtained a new 250 gig-ger to replace it.

Her computer had been acting up so I decided a clean install on the new HD was the correct route rather than attempting to backup/restore the existing image.

After dropping in the new HD and booting the Win-XP-Home CD, the thing booted installed a few drivers and then BSOD'ed. Something about 'pci.sys' yada yada yada. Google was fine enough to tell me I needed to install XP SP2 (service pack 2 for the mere mortals) and all would be excellent.

Having no SP2 disk, I spent a few minutes reading up on slipstreaming SP2 and proceeded to make a new Win XP Home SP2 disk? This requires using an real XP disk, downloading the SP from MS, and downloading a few more utilities to extract a boot image from the XP disk, and create a bootable disk from the existing disk with the SP integrated into it. I got most of my useful info from a site called "theeldergeek" or somethink like that. Very useful that site was.

The truth of the matter is I tried a few things before I took the slip stream approach. None worked. Very frustrating at times. When I finally got around to making my own disk, the first disk would not boot (due to a parameter in Nero Rom which should have been a '4' being a '1'). My bad.

Messing around with computers can certainly be trying. There are several times during the whole process I was reminded of a song by Spinal Tap. Christmas with the devil, in this case the devil is Terry's computer.

Things are now rapidly progressing towards various stages of completion. Next comes the hunt for all the required drivers to get that laptop back in shape for the Happy New Year.

Happy Christmas

We had an enjoyable Christmas. Christmas eve consisted of a short service followed by dinner with the family including my sister and in-laws at our house. After dinner we continued our tradition of opening all the presents. Not to worry, we still have stocking to go through on Christmas morning.

Christmas Days consisted of a trip to Albertville to have lunch with G's father's extended family.

Tomorrow I will be heading over to Atlanta with my sister and my brother's two sons. We are going to load all of T's stuff into a U-Haul truck and drive it back to HSV. That should make for a nice short day.

Merry Holidays to everyone.

It got cold again!

I am still working on painting the cabinet doors. Twelve doors total. I decided to paint them before hanging them to keep the paint off the hardware. One coat of primer, two coats of paint was the plan. I have finished the primer and the first coat of paint. I plan on making more progress tomorrow.