Lawn Mowers...

Our Murray mower (Briggs & Stratton 4.5hp rear bagger / mulcher) has finally packed it in. I did a marathon back and front yard mow and towards the end of the front yard the mower began stalling. I would wait a few minutes, then re-start it, it would run for a few minutes, stall again, then I would wait a few more minutes...

A ten minute job ended up taking more than 30 mins; and the sun was going down.

A day or two later, I got a call from Grant. His mower had died. Our two mowers are very similar...so I suggested that we both call mower repair shops in our neighborhood and then get together the next night and send out the mowers the following Saturday to whomever had the best price. That ended up being Fraser Valley Equipment on King George Hwy and 72nd ave. However, the plan went slightly awry afterward...

I had to work that Saturday, and Grant was told by FVE that his mower had a seized crankshaft and wasn't worth the cost of overhauling it. Curiously enough, after Grant got his "dead" mower home; he tried starting it...and it started.

He may need to do what I did: A Briggs & Stratton seasonal overhaul.

B&S has some basic manuals and procedures listed on their corporate website. A seasonal overhaul (yearly service?) involves cleaning the air and fuel filters, treating the fuel and treating the carburetor with cleaning solvent. Also checking and replacing the plug (if necessary) and checking and replacing / re-adjusting the ignition module (if necessary). Top it off (so to speak) with an oil change. Add a thorough scrub of the mower deck and wheels, and you have a mower that looks good, starts with the first pull, and runs like new.

So I did all that.

AND...as usual, something went wrong.

This seems to be a trend lately; especially when I'm working with something un-familiar. This is the first time I've gotten my hands dirty over the lawn mower.

With the engine rebuild on the Cavalier: forgot to plug the fuel pump back in...took half a day to figure out.

The replacement engine mount: forgot to jack down the front of the car and remove the lumber dunnage from under the engine.

The re-built bicycle wheel: well, not really my fault, I actually had no business even attempting to re-do a wheel with a rim that badly out-of-shape.

The Lawn Mower:

I got finished all the fluid exchanges and the re-adjustments. I couldn't narrow down what air gap to use on the ignition module so I just used a playing card as a shim. Worked fine.

The mower started and ran...but very slowly. Now I figured that this was because the carb was still full of crud and I would only have to wait awhile before the carb cleaner and fuel treatment did their respective jobs and restored fuel flow to the engine.

I played with the throttle. On our Murray, the throttle lever is actually pre-set to midrange with a bent metal tang and is not actually adjustable unless you un-bend the tang. I tried it; no dice.

That should have clued me in...

Finally, I did what you are absolutely NOT supposed to do: I removed the air cleaner and observed the carb underneath.

Then I saw that the throttle wasn't moving...'cause I had put it on backwards...

sigh...

At least I spotted it before giving up and sending the mower to the FVE guys. I'm sure they would have had a good laugh at my naivete.

The mower...runs very well now, thankew.

And I finally got to mow the front lawn...just in time for the city to dig half of it up next week.

sigh...

Good Samaritan time...

I found a Motorola Timeport "flip-phone" by the side of the road a few km east of the Tswassen Ferry Terminal.

The phone was in a puddle, but was otherwise intact and apparently un-damaged.

Hmmm. I need to back up a bit. I was down in Tswassen to see my good friend the eye doctor (pun intended); Dan Davies of Iris Optical. I had made the appointment with Dan mostly to get a signature for my Passport Application; but I found soon after that I could get all the necessary signatures and attestations at Church. After all, the people there know me, and my Bishop is actually qualified (on a couple of counts) by Immigration Canada's criteria. So I didn't actually have to keep the eye appointment.

But I did anyway; I haven't seen Dan in a while, and this gave us an opportunity to catch up.

As I was riding my bike that day, I figured out a way to keep the appointment by riding my bike from work in Richmond down to Tswassen.

The only hitch was that the appointment took a bit longer than I had anticipated, and I cheated a little: I grabbed a community shuttlebus from Ladner on the way back.

It was on the ride back from Tswassen to the Ladner bus exchange that I found the phone. I find a lot of stuff on the roadside...before this phone it was a pair of Foster Grant "Patriot" sunglasses (I already found - and lost again - a pair of FG "Ironman" shades two years ago). I think this tendency for Found Items is another simple advantage of cycling: you're not travelling so fast that everything goes by in a blur. You have time to see things.

Anyway, back to the phone.

It was dead. My first inclination was to just leave it where it was, but even though I already have a basic cellphone (which we no longer use, and hardly ever used), I am an unrepentant packrat and cannot bring myself to throw away things that might be usefull. Besides, this phone was much nicer than our old one.

Here's a pic:

Now, that's not really it...that's a photo I pinched off of Ebay. The Timeport I have has the "BMW" logo where this example has "Mercedes". I just didn't feel like hauling out the digicam to take a picture. My bad.

After about a week, during which I all-but-forgot that I had it in my backpack, I took the dead phone to one of the few used cellphone shops in Surrey that deals in old Motorola handsets. I managed to talk the counter rep into loaning me a new battery to see if the phone would power up and - surprise! - it did. There was only one number in the "phone book", and it was an inactive number. Several of the numbers in the "last 10 dialed" were a little...scrambled, but the shop rep used the "master clear" feature to clean 'em out. The phone's own number, however, still came up; so I wrote it down and (somewhat reluctantly) gave back the loaned battery.

By sheer coincidence, Laurie and I were shopping at the Talize thrift shop in our neighborhood the next day. The kids had been shuffled off to Camp Squamish and grandma Trudy's house and Laurie and I were enjoying some "us" time. I found a Motorola StarTAC car charger...for 3$.

I didn't buy it then, I was waiting until 6PM so I could again try to call the Alberta number that came up on the phone. However, when I finally got through, the person at that number could not recall ever losing a cellphone, so that was a bust.

So I rushed back to Talize before they closed and bought it...used it to give the phone a full charge.

I did a little research on the Timeport. I visited the Motorola website and DL'd a manual for it. I read some old review articles on the StarTAC, which was the model preivious to the Timeport. (the Timeport takes StarTAC batteries and uses the same charger). Did you know that PCWorld rated the StarTAC #6 on the list of the "50 greatest gadgets of the last 50 years"? Other reviews were just as positive: "you can drop it, drown it or freeze it and it almost always comes back".

With a full charge, I felt no qualms about messing around with my new toy...I didn't actually make any calls; unless and until I registered the phone with a service provider, it wasn't technically mine to use.

That's when I ran across the free helpline number.

The name on the phone came up "Han"...well, it did before I erased it. When I dialed the "free helpline" I got a recorded message from TELUS; in English...and Chinese. Telus in BC doesn't use the Timeport (Bell mobility does?) according to the phone shop, and their rep couldn't find the owner in either Telus' or Bell's BC client database from the serial numbers on the back.

Hmmm...Telus phone, Alberta number, missing for almost three weeks (the last number dialed was june 10th) and a Chinese voice message programmed in for a user named Mr. "Han". Hmmm...

So I sent an Email to Telus in Alberta. After a couple of days emailing back and forth, I sent their rep all the ID and model numbers I could find, and he matched one of those ID numbers to the "403" number that the phone had listed as its own.

And put me in touch with the owner.

The original owner...

Mr. M called me this evening to explain that the phone had been a bonus included with the purchase of a BMW car a few years ago. The car had been sold again, and the phone was sold along with the car to a new owner. This goes along with what Telus told me about the phone's original owner having cancelled their service contract in 2005. So the phone has changed hands at least once since then. I don't know why the phone's new owner didn't register the phone with Telus...if he even used the phone at all. I admit it puzzles me: why would Mr. "Han" bother putting his name into the phone if he didn't actually use it? Why wouldn't he inform Telus that he was the new owner if he was using it?

Mr. M says he will make some inquiries with the BMW dealership and see if he can find out who the car (and phone) was re-sold to. In the meantime, he and his wife technically are no longer the "owners" of this phone.

And I still don't know who is.

Sooo...

What have I been up to lately?

Remember that bicycle wheel I built?

Had to re-build it...

Honestly, I could not get that bent-up rim to roll straight. Laurie took Coral to the Okanagan on April 27th for the yearly Square Dance Festival and so Colin and I had the house to ourselves. I decided on a "guys day out" and took myself & son down to Our Community Bikes on Main st. downtown. They had a 27" aluminum rim for a reasonable price, and so I brought it home and re-re-built that back wheel. Turned out pretty well, considering I'm working with "homemade" and jerry-rigged tools.

Here's some pictures of the new bike; which I have named "Bender".

Turned out pretty well, eh?

Bender's story begins last October. I was going on an errand on the weekend, and noticed a bicycle stuck in the hedges in front of St. Cuthbert's church near our place in North Delta. I walked back and assesed the bike: obviously abandoned - missing a couple of cables, shifters and chain were rusted, and the rear wheel was completely trashed.

In the meantime, Freddy Fender suffered a catastrophic front tire failure.

Bender got most of Freddy's parts swapped directly from one frame to the other; although I did have to overhaul the rear derailleur. No carrier or rack on Bender yet...I have to figure out how to mount the new one I bought, and I don't want that grotty wire rack from Freddy.

What am I gonna do with all these spare bike frames?

One final note about Bender: it's fast, - scary fast, to be quite honest about it. Bender is at least 10-15 lbs lighter than my ATB; and although the sidepull calipers work just fine, I have to remember to use them a little earlier on than the center-pull brakes that were on Freddy. This ought to make things interesting when going down Nordel Way or the Alex Fraser bridge.

Come "fly" with me!

Check it out: the Sport Star simulator.

I'm pretty sure this version is a beta...with the final version going to Evektor aircraft as a promotional tool.

Flies pretty much like Microsoft Flightsim v.10. But only the one aircraft...

Now, typical of a "real" aircraft response; if you put a total newbie behind the stick, it will crash in no time flat.

With that in mind, how do you suppose I did?

I took to it like a duck to water.

I've always been an aviation buff. I've been reading about planes and flying since I was a little boy. First time I ever got to apply all this knowledge I've accumulated.

Mind you, the old saying is true; "Flying is easy...it's the landing that's the difficult part."

This led to a series of phone conversations with my Father. My Father, by the way, is a pilot, AND an ex-CAF fighter pilot, AND an ex-instructor...there is no-one I would trust more behind the controls of an aircraft. The first conversation went something like; "this may sound like an unusual question, but is it better to land into the wind, or with the wind behind you?" Other conversations followed, like; "how high up should you be when you turn onto the final?"

I eventually got the landings down. I also made a rather disconcerting discovery about the simulated aircraft: it lacks the wing flaps of the real plane. You can land this aircraft without flaps, but it's tricky...come in too high or too fast and you can either plant the prop on the tarmac, or overshoot the runway entirely. Come in too "low 'n slow", and you can end up stalling the aircraft over the runway and coming down rather hard and sudden-like...in the real plane, this is hard on the landing gear. Without flaps, the ideal landing speed is just over the stall speed, it can be tricky keeping the aircraft straight and level...bleed off too much airspeed, and you can find it difficult to keep the nose up without stalling...too much airspeed, and the plane will just "float" over the runway, and overshoot.

Hmmm. I make it sound much more complicated than it actually is...

The simulator has two different camera placements. One is in the cockpit, right up in front of the instrument panel -- the gyro compass, attitude indicator, airspeed, altimeter, and engine RPM gauge all work, by the way -- and the other camera view is just above and behind the tail of the aircraft. As you can't see much from the cockpit view (unless you pan the camera around -- unwise since the mouse you're using to pan the camera is also what you use to move the control stick), I refer to the "in cockpit" view as IFR flying. The view from behind the tail would be VFR flying. I am presently working on mastering IFR.

Man, do I ever want to buy my own plane.

If this is my midlife crisis...well, I can think of worse things to get obsessed over. After all, I've already done the "Italian Sports Car" thing...

Global warming.

Perhaps the greatest single example of colossal Human Egotism in recorded history.

I don't mean the fact that it is happening.

I mean the fact that most of the "experts" are assuming that we caused it.

Lemme explain:


First, a question: how and why did the science of Climatology get its start?

Well, the study of climate over a particular region of the Earth has been noted as early on as the late 17th century work of Sir Edmund Halley (yes, the astronomer for whom Halley's Comet is named) in charting the trade winds of the Southern Hemisphere, and also Benjamin Franklin's 18th century work in mapping the Gulf Stream. The study of global climate and changes therein started sometime around the late 19th century after it was hypothesized that catastrophic events, such as volcanic eruptions, were observed to co-incide with temporary variations in climate patterns. Most dramatically and specifically, the eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883.

It became important to be able to predict exactly what the long-term effects of such upheavals would be on the Earth's climate. Also, how long those effects would last. About the same time, discoveries were being made that seemed to indicate that there had been serious changes in the earth's climate throughout its history. Ice ages, for instance.

The general consensus was that climate change in the short term (months or years) could be effected by a cataclysm such as a major volcanic eruption, but long term alteration to the global climate would be more likely to be caused by factors external to the Earth itself. Like collision by an asteroid, or large comet, or perhaps even a minor variation of the motion of the Earth through the heavens.

That last one was taken on by a Serbian geophysicist and mathmetician named Milutin Milankovic. In the late 1930's, he took all that was then known about the Earth's motion thru the solar system: axial tilt, axial orientation, orbital shape and inclination; along with the variances, precession, and eccentricity of all of the above.

He constructed a mathematical model that predicted the Earth had regular climatic variations; specifically, that Ice Ages were a cyclic phenomena. Every 20000 years or so, the precession of the equinoxes would result in an overall cooling, from longer winters, and shorter summers. After 5 or so of these precession cycles, a 100,000 year ice age cycle would come along in which things got very cold.

Milankovic's model wasn't perfect...there were, for instance, certain astronomical phenomena associated with the Earth's orbit that were not widely known in the 1940's. The fact that Earth's orbit has variations outside the plane of the ecliptic and that stellar dust in the ecliptic plane could interfere with the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth when it's orbit corresponds to one of those variations.

Milankovic's model has been worked on since...

At the time, the hypothesis (supported by the model) that the Earth was regularily plunged into an Ice Age caused no small stir; in fact, the popular press of the day reported that human civilization was doomed to perish slowly as temperatures dropped, growing seasons shortened, arable land froze over, and cities were buried under miles-thick sheets of advancing glacial ice...

Hey, whatever sells papers, right?

A more recent development has been attempts to match the model with what's happening now. We already know the model's cyclic nature provides a prediction of the future...but where in the cycle are we at present?

Enter the science of paleoclimatology.

We can't just look up 20,000 year old meteorological records. There aren't any. But there are lots of things that were around 20,000 years ago that are still around now and can be dug up and studied. Things like: Ice cores, ocean sediment cores and petrified trees.

Don't ask me how they've managed to match up the evidence that's been dug up with Milankovic's model, but they have. His model predicts cyclic climate variations, and cyclic climate variations is what those core samples have shown. The match up isn't perfect; but then, as I mentioned, neither was the model.

So here's the crux of the matter: Milancovic's precessional cycle has a "hot" end and a "cold" end. According to such climatic record as we have, we are a little ways past the "hot" end and headed towards the "cold" end. No need to break out the long underwear just yet; we won't actually reach the "cold" end of the cycle for several thousand years, at least. But what this means is that global temperatures either ought to be remaining steady, or even cooling by a fraction of a degree, in the last few centuries for which temperature records have been kept.

Of course, the records show that global temperatures have not, in fact, been static or even cooling ever-so-slightly...

They've gone up...ever-so-slightly.

Now, there are three possible reasons why this could be happening; against the predictions of the model.

1.) We've failed to take one or more factors into account. The model, after all, is still being refined...

2.) We broke the planet. . .I mean;" human industrialization and it's accompanying pollution has altered the atmosphere and, by extension, the climate of the entire globe".

3.) There has been a subtle shift in the Earth's motion thru the heavens and we haven't noticed it yet...

Number one is kind of irrelevant, even if the model were further refined to include the possibility of what's being observed now...I don't think it would explain why.

Number three is the possibility no-one wants to contemplate: if the Earth has, in fact, shifted subtly in its orbit, and that is what is causing Global Warming...well, there ain't a whole lot we can do about it...

And that, dear friends, brings me to option number two...and a colossal case of human arrogance and egotism.

I leave you with one final thought:

Inuit hunters in Canada's high arctic have been reporting for the past several years an unusual observation of seasonal change.

Now, you may think those living above the arctic circle have only two seasons: Winter, and Hard Sledding.

Har Har.

No, the seasons referred to are the Dark...and the Light. As you may know, above the arctic circle, it stays light for 24 hours a day a good portion of the year. It also goes dark for a similar portion of the year.

The Inuit have claimed that the Dark is ending earlier than usual. Moreover, that the sun has been rising at the end of the Dark season "in a different place". These reports were finally sent to Canadian government scientists in Ottawa.

Their conclusion?

What the Inuit have been observing is being caused by...Global Warming.

DC 507 is a union shop.

Our Employer, HBC Logistics, is pushing cost-reduction in a big way.

How, you ask; since a wage increase is almost certain to be among the first of our demands in our new collective agreement?

By enforcing the letter of the law in regard to lateness and absenteeism...

...oh, and they've started firing people.

Randy Squires, Alaina Cain, and Clara Vermullen were all dismissed last week. Rumor has it there are more firings to come.

Clara I can explain: it was her "watch" as H.R. officer when the union vote went thru. Corporate in Toronto evidently took a dim view of her performance.

Randy and Alaina are more difficult to explain; although rumor has it that they were let go for a "lack of vertical osculation skills".

I was on the first new crew ever hired at 504 way back in Feb. 1994. I am now the only member of that crew still employed with the company. With Randy's dismissal, there is now no-one left of the crew that was hired the week following my hire. Wow...one hundered percent turnover in less than 15 years; a whole new job market, indeed.

"Rumor has it there are more firings to come"...further bulletins as events warrant.

Blogger is pissing me off.

Yes, I can use the word "piss"...it's in the Bible; along with "hell", "damnation" and "Raca" (whatever that means).

Idiots.

I'm using the "blog this!" feature on the direct-linked page. When saved as a draft, the entry automagically takes me to my homepage. From there, I can edit and view posts just as if I had successfully signed on as before. Perhaps it's just me, but I prefer to be able to view the last few posts I've made when writing new ones. The Gooooogle sign in procedure is stupid, and didn't even work when I had finally gotten everything typed in correctly after the umpteenth try. None too secure, especially if I can use the direct link (tagged with a scripted ID number) to go around the sign-in procedure.

If you can't beat 'em, ignore 'em...only on the internet.

I think that somewhere, somehow, I have been cursed...

I did the brake pads on the car today. Pretty simple job; and the brakes work just fine now, thank you.

It started to snow. Very lightly, and it melted almost immediately as the temperature is *just* at the freezing point.

So where's the curse?

This marks the fourth year in a row that I have been 1) Working on the car outdoors 2) In Winter 3) During a snowfall.

My kiddies had another birthday.

Coral is going to audition for her school talent show. She is going to use her "sonjee bongs" (foam nunchuks) to some asian-themed techno-muzak. Should be cool. She's becoming quite the spunky little "tween" there.

Colin is painfully learning to EAT what is put in front of him. This has meant a couple of nights going hungry. He's just so pitiful...but there doesn't seem to be any other way to convince him that he's gotta eat what Mommy makes for him.

My Mom came thru with presents for the kids: Gift Certificates to the other gaming store in our neighborhood. We'll see...if I can ever find the store.

***NEWS FLASH***

I am now a card carrying member of the Teamsters Local 31.

To anyone who actually READS this 'blog (besides me...): So Sorry...had to keep the whole "union drive at work" thing under wraps until the vote went thru. So now HBC Distribution Centre 507 is a Union Shop. The proverbial straw was a new compensation package with which we were informed that top-of-scale wage earners would no longer be getting COLA increases...instead we would be recieving a once-a-year "lump sum".

Ummm...sorry, but a once-a-year payment does NOT work the magic of Compound Interest.

It does not help my monthly Pension Contributions, nor does it increase the matching funds the company also contributes to my Pension.

It does not at all increase the extra monies I make from working overtime. At 507, we work lots of overtime.

Finally, the unionised associates at our unionised facilities in Ontairio and Quebec are still getting their COLA increases...and our management here has already pointed out that it is unalterable, set-in-stone policy to pay wages and compensation to our unionised and non-union associates exactly the same. Except for now, that is.

Irony: the new compensation package came about (I presume) as a result of a directive from HBC corporate in Toronto to come up with some way of decreasing the Payroll costs for this facility. For the "once a year payment" is certainly a good thing...for the Company. Now that we are unionised, the first demand from our bargaining unit is likely to be a pay increase to compensate for the deduction of union dues...AND our COLA increases back. Payroll is gonna get more expensive 'round here...

Aggg...

I awoke the morning of Jan. 19 feeling a little stuffed up. I headed to work anyways as THIS WAS THE DAY...

...I was finally getting re-instated as a Machine Operator.

More on that in a moment.

So I took the qualification test between 10 and 11 am and passed. I then started straight in on a clamp truck on the xdock (after Bill ensured that I was OK to resume operating that) helping Cal to offload some display pallets of summer sandals. Cal himself has yet to regain his qualification as a Machine Operator.

We finished about 1 PM. After break I realised just how peaked I felt; and the fact that my sniffling and coughing had only gotten worse during the day led me to beg a favor from our First Aider, Dave Thompson.

I asked him to take my temperature.

Don't get excited. Our first aid room has a perfectly good, re-usable, digital, oral thermometer.

I figured it this way: either I was having some sort of allergic reaction, or I was genuinely sick. Allergies don't usually involve a rise in temperature, so I figured if it was still 98.6 then I would stop *itchin' and get back to work.

It was 100.2...and rising. Dave also took my wrist pulse, just to be sure. My heartrate had gone from a normal rest of 68-72 BPM (I know, I'm out of shape...) up to 92 BPM. Swollen glands, too.

So I went home.

I've spent an absolutely miserable weekend with what wikipedia tells me is a low-grade flu. Fever, aches and chills, dripping sinuses and chest congestion/irritation. Dave was worried I might be coming down with pneumonia. My stomach has been...unsettled...for the last few days, but so far I have managed to keep what little I've eaten down. Still have the inevitable by-products to deal with, tho'. I am still at this hour debating whether or not I'll be at work on Monday. I am heavily medicated.

The Test: to fudge or not to fudge?

I pointed out to Bill that the test could be administered as written in aisle 23-09; as the racking there is only on one side of the aisle. Ditto for 24-02 and 24-19. We needed to avoid aisles like 24-13; according to my measurements, there was less than 5 inches of clearance to work with in that aisle...

So, guess where I got to test?

Uh-huh...

To Bill's credit, he did offer to spot me for rearward/forward clearance while performing the test manuevers. I certainly took him up on that offer. "Nerve Wracking" doesn't begin to describe it...took me two attempts for each lift in the test. Luckily I was permitted three attempts at each...

Lessons Learned:

Always follow correct procedure. Not only does it make for a safer workplace, it also COVERS YOUR ASS.

The Hyster reach trucks will, in fact, perform the manuevers required in the test HBC uses to certify our operators. The margin for error may be just over 4%, but they CAN do it!!!

The Hyster's steering point is off-center...you have much more clearance turning into the rack from the right hand side than from the left. I actually had to re-position the machine a couple of times in 24-13 just to make sure I didn't whack the racking behind me...I was almost certain that turning from the left was going to require more space than I had, and I didn't want to find out for sure the hard way. Did I mention this was nerve wracking?

Next Post: my. kids. had. another. birthday.

And another year passes...

The Tree is Chipped.

The Fall Trash has been sent to the landfill.

The Xmas Lights are down.

We've moved a heap o' stuff out of the downstairs TV room and into Opa's bedroom. I have taken over his "tailoring shop" as my new "computer shop". KWY has, coincidentally, recieved a job offer from the US of A and will likely be leaving us soon. I have been persuaded to store and/or sell his excess stock...on Ebay.

This means, of course, that I finally have to settle up with Ebay...

I am undecided whether to have the old account removed and start over...or keep it.

I don't have a problem starting anew...I have hopes of turning some $eriou$ coin for myself and KWY...OTOH...this may turn out to be more work than it is worth. We shall see.

Happy Xmas!

Merry New Year!

Humbug...

We've dispensed with christmas. Got a call from Karen at five to eight this morning. Possibly she forgot that we're one hour behind them. Anyway, the kids got up straightaway and headed for the prezzies. We all unwrapped. I got new socks (whew...the old ones are getting a little threadbare), and an mp3 player. L got me some good earphones to go with. I also got a very nice plush terry robe...curious because that's the same thing I got Laurie! I had no idea.

The tree is down, the decorations are stowed, the pine needles swept up. I go to take the tree to get mulched next week.

I am going on vacation next week. But I gotta work three days this week first.

Hopefully, I'll be reinstated as a machine operator sometime soon.

Hopefully, I'll get the stairs done this week...now that I have figured out how I'm going to do it.

Hopefully, I can start working on my New Years' Resolutions...

Hopefully...

I'd like to endorse this product:

It's the cat's pajamas. Really just a telescoping gaffer's pole with some specially molded plastic clips...but Brother, I'm telling ya: the EASIEST way to hang Xmas lights I've ever SEEN.

No ladder needed.

Plus, the pole itself (with threaded friction clamps on the joints so it doesn't collapse while in use) folds up to about 1 meter length when you're finished with it. We bought the genuine article...there are cheap knockoffs out there that are worse than useless. You pay the same money, but forget about using them for their intended purpose. Somebody oughta sue the unscrupulous trolls who are making these inferior copies.

We put up the tree tonight too...this is by far the tallest Xmas tree we have purchased (shades of Clarke Griswold). This sucker is almost 8 feet tall. The Angel's head is almost scraping the ceiling; this after we trimmed the top with shears so the Angel would fit!

The missionaries stopped by to say hello and "what's up?" and return that copy of FLEEP I printed up for them off Jason Shiga's website. I don't think much of Shiga as an artist, but MAN can that guy write a gripping story! FLEEP messes with your head. More specifically, the author messes with his protagonists' head...and takes the reader along for the ride.

Speaking of being taken for a ride. I've been "off the Machine" for three weeks now...and it's getting old. I've already written the theory exam for re-certification (and I'm not too upset about that...I would have had to write it in another few months anyway...) -- I aced it.

Owing as how Bill Mason (our newly minted machine trainer) has some issues with an apparent non sequitir in the manual, ie: recommended procedure for picking a load out of the rack requires turning the machine square with the racking before inserting the fork boom or lifting the mast to the shelf height. Trouble is, the Hyster lift trucks won't turn into the rack in some of our more narrow aisles -- without hitting the racking on the opposite side of the aisle.

Carlos Siferra has "taken charge" of machine operation safety. He's the one who decided I was to re-certify to get my licence back. I am the first operator to do so on the Hysters with Bill Mason as Instructor.

Bill dropped his aforementioned issues squarely in Carlos' lap. He told me that unless the manual - recommended procedures are altered, he'll basically have to flunk everybody...and we don't want that, do we?

Carlos is caught between a rule book and HBC Logistics senior management; who all insist, by the way, that there is no problem at all with the Hyster trucks. The Hyster Trucks are built EXACTLY to the specs we gave them and our complaints about them are baseless.

sigh...

The Hysters are:

-Heavier than the Raymonds.

-Without linked steering gear. Surprising since (see above) a machine of that size ought to have linked steering.

-Under-powered. Their ground speed is comparable to the Raymonds, but the lift capacity is about 1250lbs less.

-Longer overall by about 8 ". Our racks are placed with about 14 inches clearance for a Raymond. The Hyster's extra lenth cuts that margin in half. With a load on the forks, the end-to-end diagonal profile is actually longer than the aisle is wide. Apparently, no-one thought of sending the overall diagonal length of the machine to Hyster, or mention that putting a standard 40x48 pallet on the forks would increase that length a further 4-6 inches.

-A trip hazard. With a step up height of over a foot; most of our guys got tripped up by these things for the first few days that we had them.

-Equipped with TWO safety switches. Full interlock switches that kill ALL the power (lift included) to the machine unless one of them is engaged (usually the deadman). You can't step off and observe the fork carriage from the "outboard postion"...you have to get another operator to stand next to your machine and spot you.

-Using a backrest that is 4 inches taller than the Raymond. This has resulted in several rack bars being hit. I had one such incedence in which I pranged the bottom of the shelf bar hard enough to knock out the locking pin! No damage to the bar, and I wasn't removed from machine operation for that one. Hyster has probably claimed that the backrest height is exactly the spec we gave them. If measured from the floor, the top of the gaurd is indeed 52"; as specified.

However...

It is necessary to raise the forks 3 to 4 inches in order to pick up a pallet with them. The Raymond backrest was more like 48 inches from the floor, and just under 52 inches when raised sufficiently to pick up a pallet. After lifting with the Hyster, we're trying to cram a 56 inch fork carriage into a 58 inch rack bay. Sometimes it's a poor fit; especially when there's more than 20 feet between the operator and the target shelf. You really need 20/20 vision to pull that off...

Barry even suggested painting the fork tips bright yellow so they were easier to see...

Maintenance DID just that...but lowering the backstops by cutting them and re-welding? Nope, still sitting on that one.

Oh, I do hate to go on about it...but according to the operation manual, there are things that these Hysters are supposed to be able to do as part of their "normal" operation...and they can't.

I go on vacation last week of December; what the hey, I couldn't get any vacation time from May until September...I took Spring Break off, then saved the rest for square dance festival week and a final week at Xmas.

My daughter is developing a bit of wit.

Or...she's just being a wise-ass.

The Grrrl-ige is well on her way to a fine career as a teenager. She's still a 'tween' -- for now.

Examples from the "kids say the darndest things" file:

I was sitting here putting around on the computer when my insistent daughter came down to ask a favor. As her pleas fell on lazy ears, she stepped back a pace and said (hands on hips); "C'mon dad, don't make me use the CUTE voice!"

I came in thursday after work; to a super-clean walk and bare-to-the pavement driveway. We had the only clean walk and drive on the block, at that time. I boasted; "We have the ONLY clean walk and drive on the block! Do you know what that means...?"

And Coral piped up; "You're obsessed?"

ZING!

Lotsa fun.

I had a minor "rack bump" at work. Owing to the presence of multiple witnesses, and the fact that I am basically honest; I reported it as per company guidelines.

Big mistake.

I have been off the machine for TWO weeks now. The hold up was primarily that my boss, my boss's boss, and the senior dept. member responsible for "re-certifying" me apparently couldn't get their schedules to co-incide.

There was no damage in this particular incident...So why am I "certifiable"?

I also took some flak from one or two of the guys, but only in a joking manner. Most of the dept. staff wonder why I seem to have been singled out for such shabby treatment. Marv joked that I was now a "level 0" employee. I pointed out to him that while I may be a pedestrian, I'm still getting paid as a machine operator. From one point of view; I'm getting all the benefits with none of the inherent risks.

Gloria M., friend and confidante from my singles days...is getting divorced.
She needs all the friends she can get and has rekindled our acquaintance. She's got an unlimited LD plan, so I had my first LD phone call in about 12 years last week. We caught up. She'll be fine, in time.

Kwy appears to have dropped off the face of the earth. Should give 'im a ring and see what he's up to . Donovan too.

Found something interesting recently:

Alma 46: v24 - "...let us remember the words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he saw that a part of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed. And he said -- Even as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment."

One of the recent arguements against the authenticity of the Book of Mormon as scripture has been a study which claims to show little or no similarities in modern Jewish DNA and modern DNA from North and South American aboriginal peoples. It's being trumpeted as the death-knell for the LDS church.

Personally, I think the whole premise is flawed.

Now, I don't know anything about mitochondrial DNA analysis, or haploid combination comparisons, or statistical relevancy vs "contamination". I do hope the scientists who published this study didn't decide what they were going to find before the results were in.

In any case, the results came as no surprise to the anthropological community. The DNA analysis shows that most, if not all, North and South American aboriginal peoples have primarily Asian ancestry.

No Jewish DNA found.

Okay...let's look at this a little more carefully:

First of all, Lehi's descendants did NOT cover all of North and South america. Their civilization most likely fit rather comfortably in Mesoamerica. Somewhere in Mesoamerica. That covers from as far north as Mexico to as far south as Colombia and perhaps even Ecuador and Peru. The assumption that they did cover the entire western hemisphere was naivety on the part of some of the early leadership of the church. This assumption did not last (at least among the early church leaders) much past the 1840's. If you are trying to prove or disprove that American aboriginal peoples had Israelite DNA; and therefore were or were not the Nephites and Lamanites spoken of in the Book of Mormon, looking outside of Mesoamerica would be somewhat pointless.

Secondly, Lehi's descendants had been living in Mesoamerica from about 591 BC (when they made landfall) to about 279 BC (the chronology markers in Omni say "between 279 and 130 BC") when they encountered the people of Zarahemla. These were the descendants of Mulek (last and only remaining son of Zedekiah, King of Judah) and those he brought with him after escaping the Babylonian conquest of the Kingdom of Judah. Lehi's descendants were israelites of the tribe of Joseph and it wasn't until about 300 years after their arrival that they could have started to intermarry with Mulek's descendants - whom I presume were of the tribe of Judah.

The nephites and lamanites eventually intermingled, to the point where the designation "nephite" and "lamanite" denoted more ones political and religious affiliation than actual ancestry. Those espousing the "nephite" banner (whether actual descendants of Nephi or not) were destroyed about 385 AD. This left the lamanites, who were a hybrid of mostly israelite blood from the tribe of joseph, and some admixture of joseph and judah. The Book of Mormon also states that after the Lamanites had wiped out their rivals the Nephites, they then went on and began destroying each other. As they didn't leave any records (those inclined to keep and preserve them were all dead at the time), we have no idea how much of the Lamanite civilization was left between 400 AD and whenever the first Europeans showed up in Mesoamerica.


IF (note the big if) we are to take the Patriarch Jacob's prophecy literally, then I don't see how a comparison between modern day descendants of the lamanites (mostly tribe of Joseph) and modern day jews in Israel (mostly tribe of Judah) is going to prove or disprove anything...

To wit: according to Jacob's prophecy; there aren't any descendants of the tribe of Joseph left in modern-day Israel to make a comparison with. It's a simplistic view, I admit...but sounds an awful lot like "apples and oranges" to me. Personally, I'd be surprised if the study found any correlations whatsoever...

Getting old sucks.

I estimate I've got about another 20 - 25 good years left in me before something (current favorite candidate is Rheumatoid Arthritis) comes along to spoil my fun...

I'm building bikes again.

The Apollo is working out, but is coming along rather slowly. I find I may actually have to BUY a part to complete it. hmm? Oh, a 175mm LH square-taper pedalcrank in generic aluminum.

Long story...

I traded the 2 ring crankset to Dave F for a low-profile Sugino ovaltech 3 ring set. Problem is; the Sugino set was mismatched on the bike Dave took it from. I had planned to use the 2 ring set on the Schwinn World Sport I'm planning on restoring - there is a brisk trade in old Schwinn 10-speeds on Ebay - but instead I'm going to use the Sakae set from the ATB. The Beast (ATB) is currently sporting a reconditioned Shimano Biopace crank. I will likely have enough parts left over to leave Big Red (hybrid roadie I'm currently riding) as is; or, I may restore it also to its original state as a cheap dept store 10-speed.

Score:

One lightweight Apollo 18 speed, equipped as a commuter.

One Schwinn World Sport 10 speed, with upgraded parts.

One "TOUR DE QUEBEC" 10 speed, with whatever junk I have left over.

I keep the Apollo. The Schwinn gets sold for 100$ to someone with a taste for nostalgia. The TDQ gets sold for whatever (20$? 50$?) I can get for it.

The Beast will get a motor...as soon as I can afford one. Mebbe one of these:

I should mention that I still have the Marinoni...currently halfway through a conversion into a cyclocross bike. Would be a FAST ride...if it were actually rideable in its present condition.

The wife and I were talking about the need for another (motor) vehicle. I am thinking motor scooter, or perhaps motorised bicycle as a stopgap measure. At least until we get the last few thousand of our debt paid down. Will be sometime next year, most likely.

In the meantime, I'm keeping busy.

Projects for Next Spring:

- Strip and paint the deck. This now includes dismantling part of the railing nearest the garage and replacing some rotten timber. One of the steps on the stair needs replacing too. T'ante pis!

- Laundry line. I know, I know - I've been promising THAT one for several years. Will finally be able to do it. How? Hint: we're getting rid of Granpa's sattelite dish. That 20' pole oughta be good for something.

- Finally finish the stairs and railing. The wife may not let this one alone. Could be I'll be finished BEFORE spring. Not holding my breath.

- Get MY shop cleaned out and set up. Had to include one just for me, eh?

I found an old Apollo 12 speed in the bushes by St. Cuthbert's church.

Abandoned.

How can I tell?

Two flat tires (one with the valve stem ripped out), a REALLY bent back wheel, and the brake lever bent inward to indicate the bike had been picked up and dropped again several times.

Spotted it while on a grocery run with the kids. Brought it home.

That back wheel has been the most difficult part of the project thus far. I've just (re)built my first wheel!

With a steel rim, once you release the spoke tension, the rim will assume the classic "taco" shape. An aluminum rim, however, will hold its shape and cannot be bent straight while under tension.

So I had to dismount the rim off the hub. Whacked the heck out of it with a mallet (among other things) to get it more-or-less straight, then had to re-assemble the wheel. First time ever.

Turned out pretty good. Wheel now rolls straight, but it's not "round" enough; I have to re-do the tension in a couple of points because there the rim is off centre to the hub.

Did I mention that I made an improvised wheel truing jig? No? Well, money is rather tight right now, so dropping 150$ on a wheel truing stand like this is out of the question. A little Googling found a plan from one of Sheldon Brown's devotees to rig up an old fork as an impromptu wheel stand. What can I say? It works! Remember the random act of kindness from a recent post? Uh-huh, guess which fork I used?

Ok, that covers the bike shop; what else is there?

Work:

Lotsa overtime. Am working Monday for 55$ per hour. If not for the money, I wouldn't bother...

I mean, I don't like being there when I DO have to be there...

Colin.

Is Ok, thanks. He's got an inhaler now. A precaution, as the MD's still can't tell us whether or not his attack was some kind of fluke.

Now he's bugging me to feed him a late dinner...so I will have to sign off now.

Got Lice?


Coral had a headful of the little suckers...picked up at school on the 1st day. We've cleansed all the bedding, tried chemical shampoos (twice)...

...and thus far, Coral is the only one who's got nits.

Thus far.

Wish any of the local hair places would cut her hair, this would make dealing with the nits much easier. As for myself, I can always shave me own head by my lonesome.

Homebrewed a battery pack for my bike light. Works no worse than the one it came with. I have light for the majority of my trip. Guess I have to make do for now.

Nitehawk Pheonix: Came with a 5 cell NiMh battery pack, and a fader switch. Cost: about 200$ retail. 1st year: the fader switch shorted out, I cut it out and bridged the cable. 2nd year: battery pack began to lose burn time, and the connector plug tore loose. Re-did the connector and the waterproofing. Third year: battery pack runtime is reduced to less than 30 mins.

I may have to play around with the homebrew battery. I have it rigged with 4 AA cells in series to supply 6 volts. I may put together another one and wire 'em both in paralell. In theory (and it's been years since I studied that!) this should supply the same voltage; but for a longer time.

I hope.

The other issue is the cells themselves. They're rechargeable alkaline - hence the limited burn time - and the charger I have for them only charges two at a time. I have a charger for NiCad cells, but NiCad is more expensive.

Speaking of bikes: I comitted a random act of kindness over the weekend. It's getting much more difficult these days to commit a genuinely random act of kindness; what with peoples' general lack of trust for helpful strangers.

I was riding home on saturday after work, climbing up 84th ave. I met a young man named Bobby, who had run his bike into the back end of a car a few days before. As it happens, (and as I may have previously mentioned here) I know how to field repair that particular mishap. I told Bobby so, and then thought further and invited him and his girlfriend Rebecca to follow me the two blocks to my place; where I had the parts and tools to do a proper fix.

So I fixed it. Replaced the bent front fork with one just like it. Fixed the front brakes too...

A touch I particularily enjoyed was re-seating the bearing cup on the lower end of the head tube with a piece of solder wire. Impromptu, I know, but it worked.

Colin scared us yesterday. Wound up in hospital too.

He was playing at Darnell's house when Darnell's dad called L to report that Colin was coughing up a storm and his nose was running something awful. L suspected something might be wrong, and her instincts were right: by the time she got Colin home, he was wheezing and struggling for breath and his nose was blocked completely. I don't know...but it looked like an asthma attack.

L called 911. As the paramedics are just down the street at the EMS hall, their response was almost immediate. Colin got oxygen and a ride to the SMH ER. After a series of tests and some observation time; the MD's could tell us...nothing.

Anyway, he's not wheezing now but he IS really sick...and still stuffed up. L kept him home from school today. We'll see what happens.

Floyd Landis:

As I write this, I have no idea whether the final verdict is in or not. I do hope he's vindicated; but either way, the credibility...or perhaps "purity"(?) of professional cycling may be damaged forever.

Three reasons why I don't think he cheated:

1. Synthetic testosterone doesn't have that kind of performance enhancing effect...that I am aware of.

2. I don't trust the UCI...or the "independent" agency responsible for regulating banned and controlled substances .

3. He didn't have to cheat. Floyd was one of the first pro riders to use the powertap(tm) device in training and in competition, and the telemetry for that entire stage is available. The physical effort required for that day's performance was well within his known physical limits. The result only looked "superhuman" in comparison to: (1) his awful performance the previous day and (2) the fact that nearly everyone else in the peloton was as tired as he was. Also: no-one else used the same strategy that day as Floyd and team Phonak did.

I could be absolutely wrong about this...but I'll presume innocence until absolute proof shows up that Floyd wasn't bushwhacked by some sort of misguided euro-centric zealot working for the UCI.

My new nephew Jacob was born 10 days ago (Aug. 30). I have seen him, he's a beautiful baby boy. As only newborns can be, he is just so darned cute. Grant will probably give his son a name and a blessing today. I've been skipping church lately...I'm a bad boy.
L is going out with her folks and Granpa to the Delta Town'n Country Inn. They serve a decent brunch. Mom-in-law Trude is having kittens over the possibility that Granpa will make a scene at the restaurant.

Coral wants to take guitar lessons...and borrow mommy's "axe". No dice. She's already into the Tae Kwon Do dojang for 500$ clams, thankewverymuch.

Colin is now reading at his level. Maybe a little above. L is still working with him daily, and she says that he surprises her sometimes.

I...still have to lay another coat of paint on the deck. I've been using Bob's paint gun to speed the process somewhat. Portions of the deck rail are beyond hope and will have to be dismantled and re-done. Thus far, I only have to re-secure one post and re-build one section of the railing. This round of painting is to try to keep ahead of the rot.

Rode the bike this week. Five of six days means another 100+ km on the clock. I am feeling pretty good. Still haven't finished the cyclocross bike, but I have figured out a way to re-mount the original brakes so they won't break loose.

We really need to make another run to the dump. Renovations will pick up again once we have some spare ca$h again. The Tae Kwon Do lessons were a major hit to our monthly expenses.

Ah well, at least Coral is happy (for now). The Grrrl-age is in training to become a teenager.

The following was posted 10 days ago at a.r.m.f. No reply has yet been seen to this post. Either no-one has read it...or nobody cares.

I wrote it in response to a couple of "anti-bots" we seem to have...traffic from these individuals seems to have slowed somewhat since I posted it. I wonder what I'll do for an encore?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian"
Newsgroups: alt.religion.mormon.fellowship
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 1:57 AM
Subject: Look at it this way...please!
> Ok...lemme say up front that I am LDS.
>
> I read the Book of Mormon...daily.
>
> I went on a mission...to the Bible Belt, of all places.
>
> I won't say I've "heard it all before"...but I've heard most of it at
> least twice.
>
> In the interest of keeping a peaceful, rational and informative dialog
> going; I'm going to remind some of our non-LDS group members that they
> need to be certain of which side of "blind, irrational, hidebound,
> robot(ic), unhearing, unthinking, controlled, sheeplike...etc, etc, etc."
> they are ON.
>
> Yes -- I know there's very little commonly accepted evidence for the
> Historical Authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
>
> Yes -- I know there are seeming contradictions in the BoM and in LDS
> doctrine and practices. I realize we vary (sometimes widely, sometimes
> not) from "accepted Christian doctrine and practice".
>
> Yes -- I know there's been a lot of "authoritative" writings by learned
> scholars showing "beyond refutation" that Joe Smith was a liar, the BoM
> was a fraud, we're all "spiritually enslaved" dupes...as you can probably
> guess, I've even read quite a bit of it. Granted, I haven't read any
> "anti" for almost 20 years. Quite frankly, it gets boring after a while.
> (you listening, Nancy?)
>
> Mind you, I didn't know until recently that the BoM had such a colorful
> and convoluted publishing history. (thanks Craig!) I mean seriously;
> translated and published in the 1830's...and we had to wait until 1981 to
> finally have the definitive edition? Oy.
>
> Now...my point:
>
> You might stop for a few moments and consider...Atheists.
>
> They too have their websites, their tracts and pamphlets, and their
> crusaders...
>
> --and what, do you suppose, might they be crusading against?
>
> Well, some seem to have a jones for organized Religion in general...but
> here in the western world their efforts seem to be focused mostly on
> Christianity (and yes, they lump US in with the rest of ya).
>
> Well...if you're going to attack Christianity, you have to attack the
> Founder.
>
> ...and everything that's been written about Him.
>
> So consider this:
>
> Every arguement, EVERY arguement you might use against the BoM about
> its origins, accuracy, integrity, language, grammar, doctrine,
> consistency...whatever.
>
> These arguements have been used and ARE being used today against the
> validity of the Bible. After all, if the Bible isn't true, then the
> Christian Religion is a fraud, see? Discredit the Bible (and yesyesyes
> that is precisely what the Atheist movement in the US believes it has done
> and is doing) and the whole Christianity Myth goes away like smoke in the
> wind. Then the people will be FREE!
>
> Yah, whatever...
>
> So:
>
> If you're wondering what's going on in the hidebound, sheeplike,
> irrational, controlled, "spiritually enslaved" mind of the average (but well
> read, I grant you) LDS member of this group...I invite you to spend an
> hour or so reading from this site: www.atheists.org . Start your hour
> with their onsite google search on the word "bible".
>
> I'm serious people! Your faith is not so shaky that you're going to
> re-think "accepting Jesus as your personal saviour", is it?
>
> Probably not.
>
> Now ask yourself:
>
> Did this change your beliefs in any way?
> Would reading MORE of it change your mind?
> You might be surprised to find that you have already heard some
> of the arguements the Atheists have made. You might even find
> arguements for which you have no ready response. You may want
> to seek out a "Christian Apologetics" site for some "anti-anti Christian"
> viewpoints on those...
>
> Ok, I'm kidding about that last one...
>
> But you see my point, right? You've read the Bible, you know it to be the
> Word of the Lord. You know He lives. You know He willingly gave up His
> life at Calvary for the sins of the whole world. Reading some
> "authoritative" atheist writings on why this is all just a silly myth
> (yep, they use the word "myth") isn't going to budge you one inch. Unlike
> the Atheists, your knowledge of the Truth of the Bible has far more to do
> with your relationship with God, and much less to do with what "learned
> men" have to say about the Bible, or God, or our Saviour.
>
> I've read the Book of Mormon. I'm still reading it. I know it to be the
> Word of the Lord. I know it was translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith by
> Divine direction. I know we have a living Prophet at the head of the
> Church today. My knowledge is NOT based on what you or anyone else (pro
> OR anti) has to say about the Book of Mormon...my knowledge stems from
> personal witness and a daily acquaintance with the Book. To be blunt:
> God told me it was true. As I study, He is still telling me. His voice
> is heard in the Scriptures; in the Book of Mormon, and in the Bible. It
> is the same voice.
>
> It's not that we aren't listening, or that we don't/can't/won't
> understand...It's just that, like you, we find what the "learned and wise"
> critics have to say about our Scriptures is, well......irrelevant.
>
> Thanks to all for your time and thoughts.
>
> B.

Grant had a car accident on Saturday last.

As near as I can tell from not actually being an eyewitness: He was waiting at the intersection at Scott & 72nd when the car in front of him stopped suddenly (it's a very busy intersection). He and his '92 Pontiac firefly 5 door were not moving very fast, so he stopped with plenty of room to spare...

...the BMW following him did not stop.

Nothing against the driver of the other car; these things happen. Personally, I think talking on a cellphone may have played a part somewhere...but that's just me. Grant may not see enough compensation to replace the firefly. ICBC will only give him "fair value"...which is somewhat reduced at present as there was previous damage to the front end of the firefly. ICBC will probably write off the car, but there is almost no way Grant can afford to replace the car for what their claims adjusters will give him.

He spent most of the night at Delta hospital; in considerable pain but without obvious spinal damage. Evidence of soft tissue damage 'tho; he's going to spend an uncomfortable few weeks or months. He's already been through a few rather painfull days thus far.

The capper was the new job he started this week. AND Kathy being 10 months pregnant.

He's being tested...ain't it obvious??

Kinda puts my own (comparatively minor) problems into perspective, no?

The Sanderson Family Garage Sale:

Was a fair success...

We made about $100 bucks.

Laurie is REALLY committed to this financial responsibility thing...

She left the house with 100$ in her pocket and DID NOT splurge...

She bought school supplies for the kids instead. She reasoned that 1) we were going to have to purchase school supplies in a couple of weeks and 2) we have the money on hand now, so...

I am proud of my wife. I ought to follow her example more often.

Grant is Elder's Quorum president...again.

They don't usually call people to the same calling twice in successive years. The Delta Ward EQ needs a lot of work. Grant no less than any other Elder in the ward. We got off to a good start by going to visit Greg Kervin this morning before church. Was a good visit.

I still "heathened" and left early...

This evening, I got to impress my daughter's friends with my bicycle wrenching savvy; I took a few minutes to patch a tire on one of their bikes, while delivering an annoted lecture on bike tire repair. They eventually got bored and started a game of "ma-fia" on the lawn...by which time I was finished. My daughter is moderately impressed.

Getting my son to eat a full meal is becoming a chore. He's at the age where the menu of foods he will eat has actually got shorter, and getting enough food into his tummy is becoming a real game 'o strategy. Coral has progressed to the point where she will at least try new things. She will be a teenager soon, and then we can stop worrying; teenagers will eat anything.

Colin heads off to day camp tomorrow...boy! keeping that kid supplied with outlets for his boundless supply of energy is getting to be a chore...

Man...have I been thru the wringer.

Lessee...we'll start with the highlights:

I hit the conveyor at work...

This was NOT one of those "stuff happens" episodes...this was one of those "HEY! you were NEGLIGENT, you TWERP!!" No excuses here...and although I've now been re-instated, I still feel like I've "lost my mojo".

I said as much to Mike L, and surprisingly enough, he understood what I was talking about. This was a good thing...because I have no idea what I'm talking about!

Needless to say, my stress level is going to be thru the roof tomorrow...Although I can't say that being a pedestrian for the last few days has been any picnic, either. Tuesday went OK, but I spent all of yesterday and most of today as everyone's personal Go-fer. I vividly recall Grant G telling me during yesterday's morning standup meeting that; "all the low picks and priority are done so there's really nothing for you to do"...I tell ya; for not having anything to do, I have NEVER been so freakin' BUSY. There just seems to be a lot of minor scut jobs that accumulate whenever we start ramping up our traffic; which we're in the process of doing now. Add to all the above the fact that my #1 pair of work shoes are coming apart (ouch), and you have "interesting times".

I will continue to cope...somehow.

Freddy Fender continues to flatten tubes on the rear tire. I thought I checked out the new wheel thoroughly...but evidently I missed something. I'll give it one more try tonight and see if we can get it right this time. The front seems to be holding air OK, despite having been patched about 4-5 times now.

Computers...what a pain in the butt.

Ours has a piece of mutant "comet cursor" spyware that is acting as a digital "door jimmy" into our system and allowing all sorts of interesting activity. Mostly to do with being kicked offline and shutting down spontaneously. I'd get rid of it if I had the time...or the expertise.

I'd get legit copies of Windoze and Norton (or AVG) if I could afford them, too...

Computer woes and debt reduction have dovetailed. TELUS finally expanded their DSL coverage area to our neighborhood! Concurrently, they are also offering a shiny new DELL desktop system to anyone who signs up with a TELUS homephone/litespeed DSL package. L actually didn't have a problem with this...until................................

The TELUS package actually saves us money over what we're paying to our current home phone provider (Rogers) and our current ISP (DCCNet). There is, however, a clause in the package that levies a penalty if you cancel your TELUS service without cause any time in the 36 months following the time you sign up. Laurie calls this being "locked in" to a "contract"; and she doesn't like it. Mostly, I think she just resents the fact that I am the one who signed up for it without asking her.

...Mind you, I share her distrust of all things TELUS...these are the people who kept us waiting FOUR YEARS before they got off their collective @sses and built up their network to finally cover all the holes (one of which we lived in). L's main arguments against are: 1. TELUS is going to load us up with a whole bunch of services we don't need (so cancel them). 2. If we wait awhile...another 3rd party ISP is probably going to be offering discounts over TELUS's rates. This is actually a pretty telling arguement, as that is exactly what 3Web Broadband did about 3 months ago. I gotta say, I would LOVE being a 3Web subscriber again. If we wait, we probably miss out on a new computer...but the promo MIGHT be run again; and, as L pointed out, we already HAVE a computer. Speaking of distrust, just TRY to get through to TELUS's customer service line...really, these people all need to get on the same page. I just hope I don't have to call my MLA, or something.

So...on the whole, I am inclined to agree with L. I ought to cancel the new TELUS package (new computer, et al)...mebbe sign up for their DSL only...and wait to see if something better comes along.

Coming up next:

THE LEGENDARY SANDERSON FAMILY GARAGE SALE!!!

STAY TUNED!!!

Wow...two posts in a week...what next?

I am spending a LOT of time lately...

...fixing things.


Such is the life of a poor suburban Squire. The latest project was fixing the 13" TV/VCR combo that had started eating tapes. Found the culprit right away: a broken shuttle that had become disconnected from its armature. It was held on with a plastic peg that was molded into the piece and broke off. I heated a twopenny nail and melted a hole clean thru where the peg was. I then found an appropriate sized screw in the parts jar and used it to re-attach the shuttle. It works...but this fix probably won't last. It will allow the kids to watch their VHS videos, as long as they don't forget to shut it off afterward. The machine will probably break again if it is left unattended and tries to re-wind a VHS tape. If it does break...I may not be able to kludge it back together again.

My bike.

I'm actually riding my ATB to work. It has issues. The Maxxis "semi-slick" tires are not nearly as robust as advertised...I may switch back to generic knobbies. My roadie is out with TWO flats...yes, the front is flat again after I laid THREE new patches on it. The back is flat for no apparent reason I can find. I need two new tubes, two new tires, and sealant...and I'm broke again.

I mentioned issues with the ATB? The super-keen custom frame went to the landfill last year, as I had no way to replace that pressed-in bottom bracket. The Raleigh basher frame I put the parts on isn't quite wide enough to accomodate an 8-speed cassette...so the wheel sits slightly off-center. I had to off-center the brakes, as well. This has the predictable result of the wheel coming out of the dropouts if there is too much pressure on the chain. The tire snubs up against the left hand wheelstay, and the bike stops moving...and I fall off. This happened saturday when I tried to stand up to climb the short slope out of the local mall parking lot...most embarrassing.

What else? The shifters don't work. The brakes rub. I've already had one flat (today, from a broken bottle). It's annoying. I need to lay those parts on a frame that can actually accept them. Mebbe build on that big green ATB frame that Dave F gave me. I can build a "super junker" on that frame (what else would you call a dept. store bike with 24 speed gearing?), then build a decent 18-speed ATB on the Raleigh frame.

I definitely need to make a landfill run. We still have yard waste, and some scrap steel (mostly bike parts) as well as a couple of carpets to go.

We finished moving all the "toyroom" stuff downstairs into what was Granpa's TV room. Colin has his own room now and he was really impressed with it when he came home from camp today. He had a great time at camp and was easily one of the most outgoing kids there. I love my son. I'm glad he's back.

I did get the window on the car fixed. Next will probably be to overhaul the brakes. If it ain't one thing...it's two things. Also, some minor interior stuff needs attention. DS seatbelt needs to be replaced, and the front-seat console needs a new latch on the cover. I don't know why I'm going to the trouble of keeping the car in good condition...L tells me she is determined to drive that sucker into the ground. I think we should trade it in for a '00 or '01 model sometime in the next three years. Some other cavalier or sunfire 4 door with the same type of engine. Problem is: there aren't too many of them left out there that don't have engine issues...you know, just like OURS had!

I fixed up the flower beds...again, I don't know why I bothered: there's no flowers in them and probably won't be any time this year. I still have to paint the deck rail and stairs. Barry K at work recommends renting a paint gun from Home Depot. I like this idea.

I spent part of Saturday and half of Sunday hanging blinds and curtains. We now have blinds on the DS windows to discourage burglary. L believes if they can't SEE our stuff, they won't have any motivation to break in and steal it. I don't have the heart to tell her that isn't quite the way it works. Well, at least the room stays cooler with the blinds in place. The window in Colin's new room got a similar treatment; save that I custom-trimmed the blinds to fit the inside of the window. This was necessary because we used a simple telescoping rod to hang the IKEA curtains L got for the boy's room.

I am now so proficient in installing vinyl blinds I feel I could offer my services professionally.

Wow...is it "that time of the month" already?

What a day I had today...

Ever had one of those days that features a perfect dovetailing of misfortune AND serendipity? You are left hanging in the middle wondering "what next?"

Lessee...

Woke up late. Slept thru the #1 alarm and was awakened by the Not To Be Ignored #2 alarm. Spent 20 mins on the pot enjoying severe cramps and rampant trots. Showered just after 5:30 and still somehow managed to make my departure window at 5:50. Sky was dark and foreboding, so I wore my shell and used the cover for the A.W.S. Was still dry at the time tho'.

My rear tire popped halfway down 84th.

I didn't even try to pump it back up this time. I confirmed that there were no holes in the tire, and walked quickly back to the Shell at 112 & 84th. I used the hi-pressure air hose to confirm what I already suspected: that slit someone put in the tube stem with an X-acto knife had finally worked its way thru and the valve stem had delaminated from the tube nipple. Air was rushing out just as fast as the hose pumped it in...

...things like that just make ya wanna BEAT on someone, ya know??

Nyway, I swapped the (sealant-treated) tube for the spare, and rode back home. Took the car to work (6:31 departure) and arrived in sufficient time to clock in at 7AM precisely.

I ran out of patches yesterday while trying to fix all the holes in the treated front tube...had to call on Greg K at 10:30 PM to borrow some more! Note about slime sealant: you still have to patch the holes...you just don't have to patch them right away. Note II: holes in sealant-treated tubes tend to accumulate over time. Arrgh...to spend all that effort shoring up the front tire and then have the back one let go on me. That valve stem cut nonsense is the WORST sort of tire sabotage you can pull on a bike...worse even than slashing the sidewall (and I've had that happen as well). It renders the tube USELESS...sealant-treated or not. Also, it's SNEAKY. The tire won't lose pressure all at once, and the damage is such that most cyclists (even savvy DIY wrenches like me) won't notice it at first. This is the second tube I've lost to this vandalism...and on a different wheel, as well.

--Some of the wrenches in the audience will claim the slit in the valve stem came from abrasion against the hole the stem passes through in the wheel rim. Wrong: first, the slit was cut at an angle; second, the slit was a few mm above the base of the stem...abrasions occur further down; third, this has happened on two separate wheels. One wheel can have burrs near the hole where the valve passes through; but wheel #2 doesn't...I made certain.

Anyway...I got to work on time. IT RAINED THE REST OF THE DAY. Ever feel like life is trying to tell you something? Tomorrow or Friday I've got to try to fix the window on the car, and I need it to not be raining when I do.

I may ride tomorrow...rain or no. I need to develop some more cohones when it comes to braving the elements.

Work was weird too...lots of hassle, yet things automagically seemed to work out anyway.

Laurie has decided, in usual Laurie style, on a unilateral move into Granpa's (former) suite downstairs. We CANNOT actually move any of his stuff out of the house (yet). So we're moving it into the back corner of the downstairs TV room. About where the "office" I've been dreaming of would have been if we were going with the "landlord" plan. Apparently we aren't going to be renting out the suite any time soon. The kid's toyroom is moving into the downstairs TV room and Colin will be moving into the former toy room (actually our third upstairs BR). My computer is already moved downstairs and I am enjoying an internet connection that DOESN'T pass thru a flaky wireless dongle with poor signal pickup. I need to ask Keith if connecting directly to the modem is a good idea, or if I should hook up the router and connect thru that. We'll see...

This is gonna be soooo embarrassing if Granpa actually makes a miracle recovery and gets sent back home for a while...

I think this is post number 98 or 99...not sure which.

Ok, mea culpa.

Some of you out there with Google Earth have used the measurement function to point out that my commute by bicycle is NOT, in fact, 10+ miles...but closer to 8.5 miles.

Sad but true.

The route by car is about 17.5 km (10 miles+), depending on which variation you take, but my route by bike (with considerable refining over the past couple of years) is a lot shorter.

Hey, as the crow flies, work is only about 5 and a half miles away from here...but bikes don't fly, unfortunately.

Lotsa stuff coming up, many decisions to be made.

L finally got her mom to admit that it is unlikely that Granpa, even should a miracle occur and he moves back into his head, will EVER use the machine tools in the shop again.

I don't want to keep storing them.

I don't use most of them.

Nick (his son) is only interested in what tools he can hock for cash (or so I am told), as he himself already has a workshop full of tools.

So...what to do with a full workshop? What to do with a basement suite full of furniture and assorted household goods? Granpa is getting 1st class medical care at the Home...he may be around for a number of years yet...but unless and until he regains his mind, he won't be coming back here...and probably not even then.

L likes the idea of renting out the suite and making some extra ca$h off of it. She does not like the idea of having to store all of Granpa's stuff until he's dead. The practical upshot of all this is that 1.) Getting the suite ready for a tenant is going to mean clearing out a lot of Granpa's stuff to make room. 2.) We don't have anywhere to store said stuff except the suite itself...unless we get permission from Trude to actually get rid of it.

I would love to use the shop...but it's wayyyy to crowded in there with another man's bric-brac and unfinished projects...It is all I can do just to get some work area cleared in the garage.

I have managed to figure out how we can arrange a private entryway for the suite...

Ok, this is what the layout downtstairs looks like now:






This is what I propose to do to make a private entryway for the suite:


The "office" idea is not set in stone, but I sure would like a place to keep the computer. The kids would probably inherit Granpa's, since I can't imagine anyone wanting it. It's kinda outmoded...
Anyway, this plan calls for our access to the Laundry to go through the entryway. The Suite has it's own (locking) door, so this is not really an issue. It's basically the same situation as two apartments sharing a common hallway to the laundry room. Each has a locking door, and they share a common access hallway to the outside. The "emergency exit" out of the suite is thru the garage (not shown in the drawing). We would probably keep the door locked off, and put an emergency key box next to the door in case someone had to get out of the suite but could not use the entryway.

Today, I'm going to tell you all about my commute:

First I start from:49 09' 14.67" N x 122 54' 27.95" W...

Then I ride thru the schoolyard and past the church out onto 84th avenue, here:



I head west on 84th, to where it curves 'round and meets Nordel Way. I then ride down the Nordel Way Hill:
Quite the thrill ride, huh? But not nearly so much fun having to ride back UP this sucker during the afternoon heat. It's the bane of my existence...

Oh, and there's this really interesting hairpin turn at the bottom that takes you underneath the Nordel Way hill. The trail runs paralell to some railway tracks (out of frame to the left) before turning west underneath Nordel...

From there, I head across the Planet Ice Sports Centre parking lot and onto...

THE ALEX FRASER BRIDGE.

Sorry...It's not really that big a deal. The slope isn't even that steep, it's just really, really, really, reallyreallyreally long...

Boy, that's a long way up, eh?

Quite the view from up top, eh?

Annnd the view just keeps on going...

...and going...

...and going...

Eventually, I reach the other side of the bridge...so I take a break for a couple of minutes until I reach the bottom...

Then, a quick dash across Annacis Island and over the channel on the other side of the Island...

...nice view, huh?

Here is where I dice with death on those mornings when I'm running late. I hop over the concrete barrier and ride DOWN THE ON RAMP onto Westminster Hwy. Oncoming traffic has very little visibility of the top of the ramp, so I have to time my descent carefully and start down when there's a break in traffic...

If I DON'T feel like living dangerously, I'll ride down the bike ramp, past yet another hairpin turn at the bottom, and head west on the dike road. This leads me out onto Westminster hwy about 1.5 km further west...here:

BTW, this corner smells really good during the summer...

A beautiful clear morning sky, as seen from the side of the Westminster hwy. My destination is that white blur on the horizon:

Here we are. Mine is the red bike. The yellow one was abandoned there about two months ago.

Total elapsed time: @ 45 mins.

Distance: 17.6 km (10 miles +)

I know, I know...I'm cutting my "one per month" deadline a little close here.

What be up?

Lessee...I'm currently suffering from "a touch of concussion". A 150lb box fell on my head at work. I had no immediate effects then, but MAN is my head feeling funky now! I also discovered the static grounding on the new Hyster clamp truck(s) HBC has acquired is somewhat less than 100% effective. My fingers are STILL tingling...

All in all, minor misfortunes aside, it was a most productive day. Our lead hand Grant G prooved he can be quite a disturber when he came by the container Michael and I were working on to claim than Sunni and Satnam were "kicking you guys @sses!". Uh-huh. Guess who finished their container FIRST? Yep...we did.

Sunni is a good driver. He's not accustomed to driving the clamp the way we use them in Xdock - yet. I figure it will take him a couple of days to get up to speed. As for me...well, I pretty much have the new machine in hand; but I still have to focus rather intently on what I'm doing. The Hyster control system isn't as precise as the Raymond, so it takes a little more "fiddling" to get the truck where you want it. The control also requires a pretty light touch: any inadvertent hand movement on the throttle can result in the machine and/or load doing something unintentional...and possibly unfortunate. (ie: the lift control is activated using the X-axis and the throttle is activated on the Y-axis of the stick. Do Not get the two confused.)

My Father In Law Bob.

He's awesome.

Give ya the shirt off his back.

Remember how I mentioned previously that Bob had noted that our tub needed to be re-caulked? He was right about that; and I got it done in a timely manner, thanks to his warning. He also helped me move about a TON of junk (much of it Granpa's) out of our garage and shop. We have now achieved the Impossible Dream of every Canadian homeowner: we can actually park our car in the garage. No, it's actually true! I may have to post pictures...

One of the last things Bob did as we wrapped up the garage clean-up was to check out the north shop wall. This is the wall directly below the join between the garage roof and the deck. This is where all the water was coming down from the leaky garage roof; before we had Brad and Classic Wood Restorations replace the garage roof as part of the deck repair job. At the time, Brad pointed out that there was probably enough water infiltration to cause the wood to rot, and he warned us that we shouldn't wait too long to check the wall for damage.

Well, we finally did.

We found dry rot...lots of it.

I start hyperventilating when I see stuff like that. I thought for certain that we were going to have to call Brad again and drop a couple of Gs on getting that wall torn out and replaced.

Bob and I got it done for about 50$. Took two days. I now know that I could have undertaken this project myself...but it would have taken ME forever to finish. Bob doesn't like to putz around with a project. He prefers to get things done. He also has a lot of really GREAT toys...

Nailing up all that framing would have taken a lot longer...so we didn't use any nails. Bob owns all of the following:

-A compressor (portable).

-A wire brad nail gun.

-A heavy staple gun.

-A light staple gun.

-A high torque screw gun.

Boy oh BOY! Did all that save a lot of time! We found that about 4ft of the beam supporting the deck and the garage roof had rotted away. The beam was cobbled together by the house's original owner, Mr Fred Biollo. Fred used a 12' 2x8" plank for the facing of the beam on the garage side...and 2x8 scraps nailed to the face plank with 4" framing spikes on the shop side. Those scrap pieces were what rotted (thanks to Fred's masterful job of roofing the garage), and Bob and I found five joists across the deck which were sagging because the joist ends had NO support. We cut out the rotted sections of the beam, and replaced them with fresh 2x8" plank. The wall header was 3 2x4" s, which we replaced with a section of 2x6". A single 2x4" header and two 2x4" bases formed the top and bottom of the new wall. All the framing is held together with 2 1/2" deck screws. The joists were re-hung with new hangers and 2" deck screws. I did the joist hangers myself just to save Bob the trouble. I had only one good #2 roberts bit...so I had to be carefull: I started each screw with the ratcheting driver...sunk it almost all the way with the drill...and tightened each with a 1/4" ratchet wrench. 50 screws...took me only 90 minutes. I WISH Bob had left me that screw gun...and some extra bits.

I snorted a lot of dust during the two days of that reno project.

It bit me on the ass come Monday.

I had some minor sinus and throat irritation on Monday.

It progressed to sinus infection, cough and mild bronchitis on Tuesday.

Today is ear infection and laryngitis on top of the previous.

I'm still going to work tomorrow...why? Because I have the week of May 7th off. Call me crazy, but I would feel...stupid...taking sick days 1 week before a paid vacation. I'm fully medicated at the moment, and coping adequately. However, I'll still bail out of work and come home if I start getting feverish. I should be so lucky...