Rehab

This is what we found hiding under our faux bricks. What you barely see is the real masonry hiding
in the area near the stovepipe. The glue didn't stick too well to the wood/paint. But it sticks better to the brick than the brick sticks to itself.
We started early--noon? I added an outlet in the living room (and it worked!). Beth and I started to sand the walls to prep for painting. Then I noticed the top left brick peeling away from the wall when I pulled some edging trim (also faux wood) away. Everywhere else it had been nailed to the wall, but here it was held by the brick glue. It was all downhill from there.
But we called it quits at 9:30, have only a little sanding to do, the wall is now a project screaming "find a better way to fix me."
Not sure how to cover the masonry. Personally, I would be happy with a 2'x2' piece of stainless steel flashing. We'll see what to do.

You said it, sister!

The Oglala tribe are planning to open a planned parenthood within their nations borders, near South Dakota.

Congratulation

Happy day to Elena, who has been accepted for residency in a Psychiatric program at the University of Minnesota Hospital.
Congratulations to Buzz on her safe arrival in Ireland. Good luck in finding a path, and an hotel.

Should we talk about Africa, or about Baseball?

Ah, Hemmingway! What a guy...

You have no chance to survive. Make your time.

Good things are going on in my life right now. It snowed twice
yesterday, never sticking for more than a few hours. It was light and
patchy by sunrise, and by ten AM the rain had dealt with last of it.

I have had two off days in a row... things are not so bad, n'est?

I have local work next week in Belleview, and there is nothing on
Monday... Beth has that day off, and then I have a 10AM appointment
in Tumwater, but should be finished beffore 1PM...

Now I need to go to the Bank... deposit my fat check. Visit the folks...

Fun...

Dan

Reno

Leaving Reno is a slow process... I have a ticket for a 330 flight to seattle... it is the last flight on alaska out of Reno... so I understandable made sure that I was done on time. However, there are no flights after 940 until 330... I had no idea this was a backwater... I rather would have liked to try a 1200 flight out of Sacramento if there had been one.

It was colder here than I anticipated... there is no snow in the city, but the hills are still clad in white. I woke to 28 degree chilly air, and went to the new mall to do my job. A brand new mall is a strange place. The parking lots are empty, the signs for many of the stores are not installed yet, and there is craft paper covering many of the storefronts. I walked for a while before I found the Apple store. It had bare cupboards and emtpy countertops. When I was in LA at Beverly Center, it was just before the opening (days) so the team in their joiner t-shirts were buzzing about, having little meetings, and setting up displays. This was just a man with a putty knife and a bucket of putty, a couple electricians, and a PM with a laptop... it was obviously a few weeks away from move in. The whole mall was just late phase construction workers. Strange.

I have been at the airport for hours, since after taking breakfast at 920, I had no imagination or desire to visit Reno. I wish I had followed I Know Somethings advice and researched the cultural history of such a colorful city...

In more important Matters, Michael from Saturn called because my blower came in. My car is going back to the dealer on Friday at 900AM for repairs! Go warranty! Go me!

Saturn and me

I successfully took my car to the dealership, enjoyed a number of free replacements (warranty issues), discovered that I have a service warranty until 50K miles, and got the fuel filter changed out. The one thing I really wanted, to have the blower for the heat and A/C fixed, will have to wait, parts on order... at least I didn't need to have someone tell me it was a fuse.

Usefulness, and Human Nature

Headlines in the BBC today include a study that 18 month old human children from diverse backgrounds will uniformly offer help when they understand that it is needed, and that they understand it better than chimps. It also suggested that 18 month olds would not fetch an object if it looked like you meant to drop it.

In the spirit of usefulness, I have been keeping my otherwise idle cpu very busy chewing on some climate model data. It is fairly altruistic of me, but it seems slightly wasteful of electricity. Perhaps it seems more glamourous to be part of the analysis of the problem that to just turn off the unused computer.

In the spirit of idleness, I have been working 40+ hours per work. Oh, idleness... well, there are always weekends... this one will be dedicated to signing a large packet of paperwork for my second mortgage... to pay for the siding. Which was nice, and will take ten years to pay off... (doubt that), and had better be nice years from now. The windows are already good.

I will also be taking my Saturn to the dealer for maintenance, 30K checkup, replacement of very hard to get to rear break lights (above the rear windshield--does anyone know how to get these out?) and to see about replacing the blower for my heater/air conditioner, or be made fun of for checking the wrong fuse...

I have a chip in my windshield from a wayward rock thrown at me by a trucks rear tire on the way home from Vancouver... I wonder what that may cost... I'm sure they will try to give me a stern lecture on the dangers of having a partly chipped glass in front of my face... it seems more dangerous to be the passenger.