I love stories like this. There’s something about the popping of stuffed shirts that I find appealing I guess. Really, they are stories about hubris, and the clever interloper who comes along and exposes it- “the emperor has no clothes” moments.
The second half of the article, linked at the bottom of the above story, is longer still but just as much worth a read.
The Wife has decided it’s time to update the lass’ room. With the exception of rearranging it and changing the curtains a couple of times, it’s been largely unchanged since she was born. We’ve begun the process of repainting the room and that’s afforded me the opportunity to address the crappy drywall we’ve got.
I say we have crappy drywall because it does not take kindly to wall anchors. Or, more correctly, wall anchors tend to ruin the drywall. The paper seems to be a sub-par variety that tears easily, the drywall itself, once compromised by the hole that any anchor requires, crumbles over time to the point of making the anchor useless.
This is most evident where the curtains are hung.
The Wife doesn’t want the curtain rod supports attached to the casing surrounding the window, which means we have to anchor the curtains in the drywall on either side of the window. Curtains are a double whammy because they are an active load on the anchor- they are always being shifted and moved and the stress on the anchor wears out the drywall that much quicker.
Here’s what the wall looks like after removing the curtain rod supports:
That area is now basically unusable for when I need to replace the supports.
So I’ve taken to fixing the problem by installing a backer-board behind the drywall. It’s just a rectangular piece of wood that goes behind the drywall that I can screw into to secure the curtain rod supports. Thus, eliminating the need for drywall anchors.
To start, I cut some pine boards that are roughly 3″x10″ and trace the width onto the wall. I locate the cutout an inch or so away from the widest part of the casing:
The length, or height, of the rectangular cutout should be about 1/2 the length of the board. This gives enough space to insert the board behind the drywall while also allowing for anchoring it in place.
Now, it’s pucker up time because we’re going to cut a square out of the drywall, which means things are going to be temporarily worse before they get better.
Surprise! Turns out there was a stud right to the right side. No matter, we’ll just extend the cutout so so we can slide the pine board in next to the stud. We’re already committed to patching the drywall, another inch or so isn’t going to matter.
This is the piece of wood I’ll be inserting behind the drywall, a simple piece of pine. The screw will serve as a handle and position setter when we slip it up behind the drywall. It’s a little detail because without it, once we get the wood behind the drywall, the screw may well be the only thing that keeps it from falling down and disappearing behind the drywall.
Here, the wood’s been placed behind the drywall. Notice how the screw help to keep it in place. On the right side, I’ve also slid the wood back towards the window a bit.
The next step is to secure the wood in place with some drywall screws, like so:
And now, the job turns into a drywall patch job. I cut out some pieces to fit into the cutouts:
The pictures don’t show it, but I did tack the drywall patches in place with a couple of screws. No need to go crazy, just a couple will do. Anything we hang here will ultimately served a similar purpose.
Then it’s just straight up tape-and-spackle. For the patch on the right, I was able to cover the cutout entirely with 2 vertical strips of tape:
With the left side patch I first place 2 horizontal pieces of tape, allowed the spackle to dry and then placed 2 vertical pieces of tape:
A more talented spackler could probably place all 4 pieces of tape at once and get it to look nice.
Now it’s just a matter of finishing the spackling and a little sanding.
This isn’t the most complicated drywall job in the world, especially since the pieces involved are small. For that small inconvenience, I won’t ever have to worry about wall anchors for the curtains again. Also, should the Wife decide she doesn’t like the curtain rod supports anymore, I can just patch the holes without worrying about the surrounding drywall being compromised. I could even install something into the exact same holes.
I’ve done this in quite a few of the rooms and it makes a big difference. In fact, if I was building a home, I’d probably just request the builders throw some kind of two-by up there between the studs on either side of the window to serve the same purpose. That way, I wouldn’t have anything to worry about when it came time for the window treatments.
Heck, doing that I could install a chin-up bar without worrying about compromising the wall. Not that I would, because doing chin-ups in front of a window like that would be silly. I’d just like knowing that I could, because there’s no way the curtains would be coming down, even with some runt hanging on them while playing George-of-the-Jungle.
The lass was unyielding when she rendered her judgment this morning: “Dad, you cook better bacon than Mom.”
The Wife had little choice but to concur. She had attempted to cook up some bacon last night for BLT’s and the results weren’t quite the same as mine this morning for breakfast.
The boy was in absentia this morning due to him sleeping over at a friend’s house. Thus, he wasn’t able to cast a vote, denying me the unanimous decision.
This is an important distinction and could well be the pinnacle of my fathering career. I’m not quite sure where I go from here. I’d like to be able to pass on this sort of critical life-knowledge, but I fear it is the sort of thing that can only be won through experience and the many hours spent over a hot, grease-spitting cast-iron griddle.
Perhaps one day I will be able to guide the children in their quest to become baconators themselves. If nothing else, I’ll be in position to save many a piece of bacon from a horrible, over-cooked (or worse- undercooked!) fate.
UPDATE: When I originally posted this, at the end I noted updated accumulation forecasts for 6-10 inches, which was incorrect. They are 4-8 inches as noted in the weather statement I quoted. We’re already sitting at 9″, so even the update was incorrect.
I never took down the measuring stick after the Blizzard of 2013.
For everything the forecasters got right about the Blizzard, they seem to have gotten this storm entirely wrong. First, it was supposed to start snowing on Wednesday and last into Friday. We were going to get 6-10 inches of snow. Then, it was supposed to start Thursday and last into Friday and we were only going to get 3-6 inches of snow. We started with a “Winter Storm Warning” and were downgraded to a “Winter Weather Advisory.”
Here’s the latest:
…WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW…WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON. THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
- LOCATIONS…NORTHERN CONNECTICUT…INCLUDING CENTRAL AND WESTERN PORTIONS OF
- MASSACHUSETTS AT LOWER ELEVATIONS IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY.
- HAZARD TYPES…HEAVY SNOW.
- ACCUMULATIONS…STORM TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 4 TO 8 INCHES.
- TIMING…HEAVY SNOWFALL TO CONTINUE INTO MIDDAY FRIDAY.
- IMPACTS…UNTREATED ROADS WILL BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY. ANTICIPATE
- IMPACTS TO THE FRIDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR.
- WINDS…NORTH 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH.
- VISIBILITIES…ONE QUARTER TO ONE HALF MILE AT TIMES.
- TEMPERATURES…AROUND 30. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER STORM WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN AN AVERAGE OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD…OR FOR 8 OR MORE INCHES IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. TRAVEL WILL BE SLOW AT BEST ON WELL TREATED SURFACES…AND QUITE DIFFICULT ON ANY UNPLOWED OR UNTREATED SURFACES.
Here’s a radar snapshot:
So, back to a “Winter Storm Warning” and accumulations of 4 to 8 inches. It’s 9:15AM as I type this and we’re sitting at 9 inches or so and, looking at the radar, the block of moisture doesn’t seem to be letting up. We’ll be lucky if the upper limit is what we end up with.
Obviously, the kids have no school today. The boy is happy about this because it interrupts the standardized testing they’ve been doing this week. But this is one more day to makeup and the Governor may have to decide whether to allow for a shortened school year.
Winter isn’t giving up without a fight.
I’ve been sporting a full beard for the Winter this year. I don’t normally do so, but for whatever reason this year was different. Honestly, I had a feeling in my bones this would be a cold Winter. It wasn’t the coldest Winter we’ve had, but it was pretty good.
As far as quality beards go, mine is OK. I’m not one of those guys who shaves and then has 5 o’clock shadow a couple minutes after completion. But given a month or so, it fills in pretty good.
But I’m not a year-round beard kind of guy. When it hits the point that in the mornings I feel like one of those fuzzy-topped pencils that have just spun-up a few times, it’s getting old. Mine had hit that point a couple of weeks ago and coupled with Spring only being a couple weeks away, I finally decided it was time for a change.
Results below the fold.
All I did was ask her to feed the dogs this morning.
A bystander might have thought I’d asked her to sacrifice a finger.
Pint sized hissy fits would be cute, if they weren’t so blisteringly infuriating. To me, it’s the mindset I figure the kids assume when they embark on this path- one of entitlement. Apparently, they should just ipso facto have uninterrupted cartoon time simply because they, the couch and Netflix exist. How dare I interrupt her with so trivial a thing as feeding the dogs.
Because I’m practiced at dealing with these things, she was in the corner almost as quickly as her attitude flared up. One second, I’d asked her to feed the dogs, the next moment I told her to go to the corner and stand there awhile. She complained the whole way, stomped a bit for good measure, then folded her arms across her chest with a “HARUMPHH!”
I waited a few seconds, then I mosied on over to the corner, fixed her with a good stare and gave her The Speech:
“You, have no right to complain about being asked to feed the dogs. Your Mother and I feed you, give you rides to school, buy you clothes, take you to dance lessons, wash your clothes, clean up after you, pick you up after school, take you to Girl Scouts, help you with school work and that’s just what I can come up with off the top of my head. I’m sure if I actually thought about it for a bit, the list would get much longer. So I will not stand here and listen to you complain about being asked to do something so simple as feeding the dogs. Do I make myself clear?”
She broke eye contact with me about half-way through the list. She didn’t break down and cry (nor was that the object) but her demeanor changed noticeably. Humbled, is the word I would use- she appeared humbled. As I walked away, she muttered an “OK, I’ll feed the dogs.”
And that was it. It was all done.
Somehow, I think I’ll be using variants of this speech for awhile.
Coming home from martial arts lessons tonight, the boy was talking about cars.
Initially, he was wondering how to tell if rare cars are old cars or just new cars that haven’t been around for long yet. He uses the term “rare” a lot lately. He seems to be fascinated by the concept, always wondering what the most “rare” thing might be whether it’s a car or an animal or a food or whatever.
He figured a kid like himself wouldn’t be able to tell the difference because he hasn’t seen enough cars to know what’s knew versus what’s old. I got him to think a bit about characteristics of old cars versus new cars. He seems to think old cars are boxier than new cars.
Then he was wondering if “horses still towed things” when I was a kid. He quickly corrected himself: “Oh, no, cars were around in the 1800’s so horses probably weren’t pulling things when you were a kid.” I paraphrase, but that’s the gist of what he said. I went on to suggest that his grandparents might have grown up with horses still towing things. I know my Grandfather delivered milk using a horse-drawn buggy of some sort.
Then he asked if things always “evolve,” which seemed like a million-dollar word coming out of his mouth. But he used it correctly. I told him how cars have changed over the years, how radios weren’t always digital and the like. Finally, he said “I think cars will be different when I’m grown up. I think you’ll just have to push a button to start them and I think that you’ll just have to say things like ‘Air Conditioning On’ to make them happen.”
He might not have to wait that long for that list to come true.
It struck me then that was the first time I’d had such a conversation with him. It was less about me answering questions and more of an exchange. It’s not like we were discussing philosophy, but we were having a talk about, well, nothing in particular.
If I play my cards right, it’ll be the first of many.
Well, OK. It’s not a willow and it doesn’t whomp anything as far as I’m aware. At least, not the Wife who got pretty close to it for a couple of pictures. Still, it’s a neat old tree and it just so happens to sit on the grounds of one of the local private schools.
I penned a similar in spirit post last year when hockey ended, but this year’s post will be nothing like last year’s post.
Last year, when hockey ended, the boy was done with hockey. When I say “done” I mean like I was sure he would never play the game again.
Oh the difference 8 months can make.
While both kids are glad to have their weekends back, they’ve both stated their intent to play again next year. It will be a year of change for them both, as they both will bump up to the next level of play based on age. Should make for some interesting weekends for us. But that’s all in the future.
As far as today goes, both kids finished their respective seasons well. The boy and his team rebounded from yesterday’s bitter defeat to finish their year with a win and an overall 3rd place finish. The boy had a goal and, after a slow start, played well in his final game. I didn’t think it was as good as yesterday’s effort, personally. His coaches disagreed. Winning tends to smooth over a lot of rough edges though.
The lass finished her season with a tie against the other team at their level of play. She didn’t score any goals this year, but she hustled, kept after the puck and gave herself a number of opportunities as a result.
Her game was hugely entertaining. The stands were packed with friends and family of all the players. Parent’s were urging all the kids on, cheering the goals, the shots and the nice defensive plays; laughing at the zaniness that comes with 6 and 7 years zipping around on a slippery surface with sticks in their hands; enjoying the culmination of a long season. When it was all done, the coaches had the kids give the families a well-earned bow.
Now, for a time, we get our weekends back. Even when baseball season starts up for the lass (the boy has declined to play), the mornings will be a little easier to deal with. Plus, the weather will be a bit more pleasant. But in the meantime, we’ll enjoy not having to do anything or go anywhere we don’t want of need to on Saturday and Sunday.
Today was the 2nd to last day of the hockey season. Once again the Wife and I were up too early to fix breakfast for kids, also up too early, so they’d be ready to go for hockey.
For the lass, it was another practice. She spent her hour doing drills she won’t have to do again until next season. For the last 20 minutes or so they played a game. She’ll play in a final game tomorrow.
The boy will also play in a final game tomorrow, but not the one he wanted. They had a semi-final playoff game today against the “Blue Team.” There are only 4 teams in the league, thus the semi-final designation. They were playing for the right to play the “Green Team,” whose been nicknamed the “Green Machine” because they haven’t lost all season. The “Green Team” had beaten the “Orange Team” in the hour prior to the boy’s game. The boy’s team is the “Red Team,” just to complete the color ensemble.
The boy’s game was, simply put, a gem of a game. Neither team ever led by more than a single goal. It was well played, as these things go, and even better contested. In my not-so-unbiased opinion, the boy was a star for his team today. He scored their first goal less than a minute into the game where simply outskated everyone else on the ice. It was a shot of adrenaline for his teammates and they all played fantastic for the remainder of the game. The boy also had an assist and was involved in a couple other scoring possessions. It was, by far, his best effort to date.
Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. They ultimately lost 5-4. They couldn’t tie it up, even with pulling their goalie in the final minute or so.
Kids aren’t interested in life lessons, but that’s what this day will have been for him, in the scheme of things. He cried when it was over, and we let him. When he finished crying, we told him how well he’d played, as did some of the other parents of his teammates. We told him we were proud of how much effort he’d put into it and I told him that if he kept giving that kind of effort, he was certain to have days with better endings.
When last we’d checked in on the boy’s martial arts training, he’d ended up on the short end of the testing stick and hadn’t advanced to his next belt. My assessment at the time was that he would just have to suck it up and make sure he did what he had to to make sure he passed this month.
To the boy’s credit, that’s what he did although it wasn’t as easy as all that.
He tested with the head instructors this past week, and they took him aside and worked a little extra with him on his stances and his form in general. It must have paid off since he got the go ahead from them to proceed to the red-black level- the last level prior to becoming a junior apprentice.
He was all smiles tonight after his graduation, as well he should be.
I wrote a blog client a couple years ago and have been developing it on and off ever since. One of the reasons I hadn’t done anything public with it is I needed to take the time to organize it appropriately for something like pypi.
I’ve finally taken those steps and have put it out into the wild. The source code is on github, here. I’ve also used python’s setuptools to publish it on pypi, here.
It works with my self-hosted WordPress blog and I’ve used it almost for all but a handful of the blog posts I’ve written on the blog, so I consider it reasonably well tested for those purposes. It won’t support all of WordPress features, but I plan on changing that as I migrate some of the functionality over to using more of the WordPress API. When I originally wrote blogtool, WordPress didn’t have its own API for posting, so that’s why that shortcoming exists.
There are a couple of nice features to blogtool that I thought I’d mention here. One, it uses python-markdown to mark-up post text. It’s proven very capable for my style of blogging, which is 90% text. It handles pictures as well, and I’ve added a little wrinkle for that purpose. Rather than supply a URL or some such for markdown's syntax, simply supply a file path to the picture. Then, blogtool will take care of the rest.
The other nice feature is that posts can be retrieved and edited from a blog. When retrieving, it will reformat the HTML into markdown style format. This is useful for editing comments as well as posts.
So, there it is. My first published code project.