That was a really good book. I like how it followed linearly in time like it was a biography and the turk was a living thing. I also enjoyed the parallels between the turk and modern chess playing machines. You don’t even have to know or like chess to enjoy this book.
Mar 222005
Mar 222005
Last night Nicole asked if I was going to paint. I said I might. Then she said I should do something like play video games since I’ve been wanting to play lately. I know that really she was afraid I was going to mess up the paint already done or not do a very good job, but that’s ok since I liked just sitting for awhile.
Mar 222005
So I learned that my slow reps aren’t as slow as the very slow reps that people say are good. I also read about a study that showed that all were good and the ones who trained for slow were better at slow motions with resistance and likewise for the other speeds, which makes sense. Well I don’t want to just get one kind of strength so this morning I tried out a new routine…
Set 1 – 5 reps at 10 seconds up
Set 2 – 10 reps at 5 seconds up
Set 3 – 20 reps at a more normal speed
When I hot that goal in a given weight I’ll up the weight. I can say that it is hard and I don’t know what I’ll do for ab stuff except may increase the reps for now. I feel good and tired all over.
Mar 212005
It was hard but I completed an hour on level 7. Level 8 here I come!
Sunday we decided that would need to rip out all the moldy smelly carpet, which means we need to pull out everythign in the room. While everything is out it’s the perfect opportunity to paint the room something that isn’t yellow.
We went to OSH and picked out some paint and ran other errands before returning home. I got out the shop-vac, converted it to wet mode, and started trying to get all the water I could out of the carpet before I we tried to rip it out. I covered all the area I could and got about a gallon out of it. Then we went back to OSH for more painting supplies and a utility knife so I could cut the carpet. I decided removing small pieces would be easier and it was.
So I cut rectangles in the carpet and start pulling it and the foam out (yuck!) and find the concrete until the carpet used to be painted green. That makes sense since long ago this used to be outdoor carpet in an area connecting the house to the garage (which is now the tv room). However, it is not what we were expecting. We were thinking we would just leave it as concrete for awhile but now we’ll have to actually do something with it whether it’s paint it another color, or have a better floor put down.
Anyway, most of the visible wet carpet was removed and then we started moving the furniture and stuff from atop the furniture to the tv room (former garage). Then we moved the wood cabinets which exposed the wettest of the wet carpet, then the computers and desks. Finally I pulled out the rest of the wet carpet and carpet tack strips.
Then I was really tired and it was midnight and we’d been going at this all day so I set up a box fan to blow on it and help it dry and I went to bed.
This morning I got up and pulled out the rest of the dry carpet and carpet tack strips, dusted all the walls, removed all the witch plate covers, removed the smoke alarm and heat register, and pulled off the lamp fixture (but left it wired for extra light). Then I used the converted-back-to-dry-use shop-vac to pick up all the junk on the floor.
Today Nicole with the help of Julie will pain the walls and ceiling.
Mar 212005
On Friday afternoon a wet spot was on the floor of the computer room. At first it was thought that one of the dogs had peed in protest since the other one did so earlier in the day. But that night we saw the wet spot grew. Then we saw that the carpet was wet elsewhere and that various paper things on the floor had absorbed a lot of water.
You’re probably wondering why I have movie talk as a category for this. Well A number of laser discs I had waiting to be recorded to DVD were on the floor (including the Star Wars ones) and the jackets of them got pretty wet! I haven’t looked inside yet but they have plastic-lined sleeves so I think they are ok, but this is interfering with the Star Wars project.
The only source for that could be the water heater. So I went outside in the rain to access the water heater closet which is on the same slab as the computer room but divided but some dry wall. In the closet the concrete was wet but that could be from the rain. Then after a few minutes I saw a drip from the temperature and pressure relieve valve. After putting a pot under the outlet fo rthat valve and watching during Nicole’s shower I saw the drip rate increase.
The next morning the concrete was dry but the pot was completely full. Since the pipe from the valve extended in to the pot some got sloshed on to the concrete in the process of dumping it out. From this little bit on the dry slab I could see the water running in the direction of the computer room.
We went to OSH and got a new valve, waited until everyone showered, and then shut off the hot water, turned down the burner on it, and drained some water out of it so it wouldn’t spew hot water out of the side when I pulled the valve off.
I then took off the outlet pipe (easy), and put the pipe wrench on the valve and foun dit was stuck. Then I saw there was putty stuff that was used to seal it in place. I called my parents to ask for advice (since I sisn’t want to bust the whole water heater). My mom answered and she said it sounded like I wanted to talk to my dad, and I agreed, but she was disappointed that she wasn’t getting asked, so I asked her first. I explained it was stuck and had putty stuff and I wasn’t sure how to proceed. She suggested a bigger wrench (I only have a 10 inch pipe wrench).
Then she passed me off to my dad who pretty much suggested the same thing except also suggested cutting away the putty with a utility knife and putting a pipe on the end of the wrench for more leverage. He recommended against whacking the wrench with a hammer to break it free because the wrench is springy and would fly off and cause damage.
The cutting away the putty suggestion reminded me that I have some nice picks for doing that sort of thing and using them the putty came off pretty easily. The valve was still stuck without the putty so I wrapped my hands around the wrench, hunched up, and slowly too kthe weight off my feet. That did it and the valve moved!
I put the teflon tape on the new valve and installed it and then I put some on teh drain pipe and put that in.
Still to do is to change the drainage to it goes to the outside instead of straight down since there is no drain except for the computer room. Also is to find a way to channel water to the outside in case something else fails (like the whole heater tank.
Mar 162005
I got another flat tire on my scooter today. The mile push home was a pretty good work out at least.
The problem is that the tire is rated for 330lbs. I’m about 200 and the back part of the scooter is about 70-80 lbs. That’s all fine until you hit a dip or somethign and the instantaneous pressure is higher and you get pinch flats.
I tried EZ-Seal from Monkey Grip to help seal and prevent future problems, but I think the tire was too far gone. I’ll try it on a fresh tire instead of on an already flat tire like the last one and see how that goes. If it still doesn’t work then I’m going to try a foam sealed tire.
EZ-Seal is similar in concept to tire slime and fix-a-flat except it washes away with water so no nasty mess, it uses kevlar to help seal, and it stays liquid. I think it might work on a new tube.
Mar 162005
I’ve always had allergies. My parents thought abotu getting me tested but I was getting close to puberty and the allergists said that it’ll all change then so don’t bother. After puberty we never thought about tests again.
I knew some people got allergy shots but I didn’t know that they purpose behind them was to make you immune to those allergens. I thought they were like some super antihistimine. “What was the point?” I thought.
Then last year I head that ansi’s fiancee, Dave, was getting allergy shots to make him immune and after asking about it I wanted in. I went and got tested and I was allergic to almost everything they stuck me with, majorly allergic, even before the 15 minutes were up. The doctor said I was the winner of the week!
Anyway, shots started twice a week at a very low concentration. Then moving up and slowing down to once a week. Well after 9 months of this (shots started in August 2004) I have finally hit the maintenance dose which is the highest concentration and the largest volume allowed. Not only that, my allergies are a lot less severe already and I don’t have to take allergy drugs every day and I can almost always breathe out of both nostrils!
Mar 152005
I own the original (pre-special edition) Star Wars movies on laser disc. These are the remastered and cleaned up ones done by Lucasfilm in the early 90s. I have a goal of being able to record these to my hard drive and then to a dvd.
Along the way, I’ve upgraded my capture card to one that does compression on board, I’ve installed Adobe Premiere Pro, and I’m cleaning up space on my hard drive. For not only so I want to record the old version, I want to put back some of the old things that were just better for my private use.
I think I’ll be able to get this done without too much more trouble before the last Star Wars movie opens.
Mar 152005
My pirate name is:
Roger Vane
You tend to blend into the background occaisionally, but that’s okay, because it’s much easier to sneak up on people and disembowel them that way. Arr!