Month: November 2013

Categories
DIY

Backsplash Tile Job

It turns out installing tile is a lot like every other project I do. Tons of prep work followed by 5 minutes of payoff work. My Dad and I spent the day installing some mosaic tile for our kitchen backsplash to replace the previously painted drywall.

The hard part was deciding on how to deal with the pattern. It’s hard to explain without seeing the actual tile sheets, but each sheet covers a square foot, just not in a square. Because of the mosaic pattern within the tile sheets, the edges are designed to interlace with successive sheets so that it’s virtually impossible to tell where one sheet ends and the next begins. The edge forms a pattern that repeats every 6 courses of tile within the sheet and in order to maximize tile usage, we took some time to figure out how to work with that.

Once we figured that out, we started cutting. Since it’s a kitchen, there are light switches and outlets all along the wall. All hail the electrical code! Actually, it’s nice when you’re using the kitchen, but cutting tile around all those outlets and switches is a PIA. We had to pull the individual tiles off the sheet to cut them. We managed not to screw up a single cutout for the outlets, certainly that defies some law of probability.

So after all the layout stuff was finished, we’d butter the wall and place the tile which, as I noted earlier, is the payoff part and took less time than any other step in the project.

So, with all that said, here’s the before and after results:

Now, they get to sit for a bit while the mastic sets. Then, the grout job begins, probably on Sunday.

Categories
Misc

Of Hobbits and Things

I’m sitting here watching the final 30 minutes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and trying to figure out if I like the Azok story line. In a nut, it’s a subplot within the movie, and I suspect the next 2, where an old enemy of Thorin son of Thrain’s tries to settle old scores. It’s also entirely the creation of Jackson, as far as I’m aware.

I suppose something like this was made necessary when the decision was made to create 3 movies, instead of 1. The Hobbit as told by Tolkien is a short book and pretty fast paced as I recall. There just isn’t 3 movies worth of material there.

But I suppose there is the framework for that much if enough “seasoning” is added to the plot, and the Azok storyline certainly fits that bill. I might even be tempted to say it fits it well. The final confrontation in this movie is certainly riveting.

It’s certainly a less offensive modification than Jackson’s epic blunder in The Lord of the Rings where he completely hosed the Ents. I can’t speak for the rest of the LOTR fans out there, but the Ents were one of my favorite characters from the source material and seeing Jackson completely screw them up was a pretty shocking offense considering all the other things Jackson did so well.

How did Jackson screw them up? For starters, he made them seem stupid and they were anything but in the book. Treebeard’s line to Pippin in the movie when Pippin tricks him into going by Isengard with “The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm” is “That makes no sense, but then you are very small.”

Say what? A being that has lived for centuries is tricked like that?

Also, for a keeper of the trees, how does Treebeard not know that Saruman has been strip mining that area? Worst of all, in the books Treebeard and the other Ents recognize that the war is there business and that if Sauron is allowed to return to power there will be no where safe for them either.

Jackson uses a cheap emotional trick to get them to fight and repeatedly makes the Ents seem oafish and foolish. How long did it take to call the Entmoot in the movie? Then, Treebeard sees the desctruction Saruman has wrought, screams, and just like that Ents are crawling out of the forest? Where’s the consistency?

There are other modifications that I thought unfortunate as well. He changed Aragorn’s character from a confident “My time has come” king-to-be to a hesitant and troubled man whom almost seems afraid to act. The book’s version of the character was clearly superior, in my opinion. The love story modification also soiled the Elves, I felt. Elrond isn’t the sort to play the “you can’t marry that guy ’cause I don’t like it” card. It’s behavior that doesn’t fit the character. And the scene in The Two Towers where Frodo is almost turned into a snack for a Nazgul? What the heck was that about?

I suppose that, overall, it says a lot about the source material that in spite of these transgressions, and there are others, the story is still awesome to behold. The scene with the Balrog in The Fellowship of the Ring is absolutely perfect, right down to “Fly! You fools!” I didn’t mind some of the made up confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf prior to Gandalf’s becoming “The White” either.

Perhaps all this means is that, somewhere down the road, we’ll get a remake where they fix some of these poetic license decisions. While I’ve enjoyed all 4 movies immensely, they aren’t perfect.

Categories
Bread Family

The Kids Are Baking

For whatever reason, the kids came home today and decided they were going to make bread. Not my bread, mind you. Their own bread. They were just going to use the same ingredients I use: water, flour, yeast, salt, butter.

For the next 45 minutes or so, they kept walking over to me with bowls full of dough asking my if they were done yet. The first couple of times, the “dough” was more like flour soup. They started adding flour to it and eventually got the proportion of flour to water into a workable area.

Then they wanted to know if they were done mixing it. Their arms were hurting from all the mixing. They kept bringing me lumpy looking bowls full of proto-dough that weren’t anywhere near ready. They started getting mad at me because I kept sending them back for more work.

Finally, I told them that it was good enough. The lass added some kind of chip to hers, possibly a butterscotch chip, possibly a peanut butter chip. I’m still not sure what. The boy wanted to add chocolate chips. I didn’t want to deal with chocolate chip bread, so I told him that probably wasn’t a good idea. Thankfully, he let it go.

They were both pleased as punch when I told them they could let their dough rise. They were both concerned it “wouldn’t work.” But I assured them if they used the yeast and didn’t use too much, it would turn out OK. By the time their would be ready to shape and cook, they’d be in bed so I promised them I’d take care of that part. They both wanted me to shape it into a ball, but the dough was mush to loose to hold that kind of shape. Instead, they got the disc shaped loaves you see above.

No idea how it tastes at this point. That will be for them to find out.

Categories
Family

Parenting and Doubt

The boy came home with homework. The work comes with good and bad. The good is that he sat down and worked at it tonight, rather than leave it until tomorrow. If it had been me, I’d have left it for tomorrow. Wait, that has been me and I have left it for tomorrow. The bad is having to sit and listen to him get discouraged about it.

Tonight, it was over money combinations. Given pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters; how many different combinations could he think of to total 30 cents?

He came up with a bunch on his own, then asked me if he’d missed any. He told me all the different ways he’d come up with and wanted to know if he’d missed any. I thought about it and there were a couple. He then started to get upset because he started realizing there were some combination he hadn’t thought of, mainly involving pennies. He sat there for a bit and finally stated, “There are too many and I don’t want to think of them all.”

I tried convincing him to make a game of it; but, he wasn’t having any of it. He flat out didn’t want to spend the effort to think about it anymore. He’d decided the combinations he’d come up with were enough.

My preference was to try to convince him to put more effort into it. I know it’s just a silly homework assignment, but it’s the “good enough” attitude that gets me. What’s wrong with sitting there and persevering through it to come up with more combinations? Wouldn’t it be better if he developed the mind set to always do his best? Not to give up and just let “good enough” win the day?

But then, he’s 9 and this is 1 homework assignment out of many. It isn’t even particularly challenging homework- more like novelty work. I once was worried about his reading, but now he’s a spectacular reader. He completed The Lord of the Rings way earlier than I ever did. Even his reading comprehension has improved remarkably. So maybe I just have to let things ride. After all, there’s still tons of maturing to go.

But then, what if this is one of those bad habits that we could have nipped in the bud? Maybe he needs the kick in the butt at this moment just to help him down the road? What if this is one of those teachable moments that pays dividends for years to come? Obviously not this one moment, but the accumulation of many moments like this.

Should I? Shouldn’t I? What’s important and what’s the stuff that parents just have to let slide?

Where’s the instruction manual when you need it?

Categories
Family Notweet

Hockey Season Again

The hockey schedule this year has a “good news and bad news” dynamic to it. The good news is we don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn to make sure the kids are at the rink for practice. The bad news is that our weekend days are going to be messed up severely for the next few months because the practices are later in the morning. In fact, we didn’t get back from the boy’s practice until almost 2 o’clock both yesterday and today. Tough to schedule things to be done around that.

One of the fun things about the practices is the social aspect. Not for the kids, rather for the parents. It would seem nothing brings a community together more than trucking their kids to a hockey rink on cold Fall and Winter mornings. We buy each other coffee and donuts and share stories of frustration, amusement and everything else involving the kids and other aspects of our lives.

When the kids aren’t on the ice, they’re running around with their pals. In some ways, it’s like a giant day care center for a couple of hours with the coaches playing the part of the staff.

That comparison doesn’t do the coaches justice, though. It’s an all-volunteer staff that gives up a large part of their weekends to teach the kids how to play hockey. Many of them clearly love being out there. It’s hard not to appreciate their generosity considering the amount of effort they give.

It’s just the first weekend though and, by comparison to what I know is coming, it was a mild one. Some of the ice was melting yesterday and, even though it was much cooler today, it really wasn’t too bad out there. Plus, the kids are still enthusiastic about it. The mornings are coming where they’ll “hate hockey” and don’t want to play. Heck, there will be days coming where I won’t really want to take them.

So it goes with hockey season.

Categories
Family

Bathroom Conversations

The Wife beat me to the bathroom this morning.  She was all showered and made presentable like by the time I made my way up there.  I consider myself to be in a state of perpetual-presentableness, but I do need to brush my teeth. Also, a quick shower isn’t bad for getting rid of the sleep cobwebs that coffee does not.  The Wife would disagree on the presentable thing.

As I prepped my toothbrush, the Wife turned to me, looked me in the eye and said “Today, the whip is getting whipped.”

I stared back at her.  Something didn’t seem quite right about that.  Whips getting whipped?  After a moments reflection I replied “You mean ‘the whip is getting cracked’.”

She was looking in the mirror doing that primping thing ladies do with their hair,  trying to make it look made up without it being too made up.  A fine art if ever there was one.  I usually drag a comb through my hair a few times and I’m done.  Still primping she responds “Oh, really?”

“Yeah,” I said with a mouthful of toothbrush.  “You know, like the saying ‘Time to crack the whip’?”

She put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight to one side,  looked at me and said “I know the saying but that sounds funny though, don’t you think?”

Truthfully no, it did not.  Not to me anyway.  Was I prepared to go to the mat over an ambiguous use of a colloquialism?

Yep.

Toothbrush still in my mouth I told her “Well, whips don’t get ‘whipped.’  That’s what the whip does to something else.  The whip itself ‘cracks’ which implies something got ‘whipped.'”

Pause.  For no shower and being in the middle of brushing my teeth, I thought that was pretty good.  A rather devastating opening-salvo-use-of-logic i thought, if ever there was one.

The Wife looked at me.  It was obvious she was considering the same question I had moments earlier:  am I really going to argue about this?

Decision made, she turned to leave. Waving her hand dismissively at me, she said “Whipped, cracked, whatever.  Stuff is getting done today.”  She left me there with my toothbrush.

Dang.  Denied certain victory on a technicality.

Categories
Misc

Driving Pet Peeves

A trip to the grocery store can be a lot more eventful than expected thanks to the fools on the road. Not all of these occurred on the way, but one of them did and I figured I’d make a list of it:

  1. Don’t drive in the left lane of an interstate, freeway and so forth at 15mph slower than everyone wants to go. I know there’s a left exit coming up and you’re just trying to get there. But it’s still several miles away and there’s no reason for you to be in the left lane. Stay to the right.

  2. When on an onramp for an interstate, freeway, highway or whatever, don’t merge with traffic at 35mph. There’s nothing dumber than trying to join 70mph traffic at half the speed everyone else is doing. The ramps are there for a reason, to get up to speed to make the merge easier. It’s not time for a leisurely roll down the road and expect everyone to make way when you finally arrive. The accelerator is the pedal on the floor on the right, use it.

  3. Don’t tailgate. I can’t stand tailgaters. Word to the wise, I slow down when I see you back there. As much as it takes until you get the message and back off.

  4. Don’t do people “favors” by waving them to make a left turn from a stop so you can make your left. I know, you are just trying to be courteous but waving someone trying to turn onto the road you are turning off of is a bad idea. They aren’t expecting you to wave them on, they are waiting for you to make your left, probably so they can then make theirs. If you stop and wave them on, the timing is thrown off. Now, they have to look behind you to make sure they can safely accomplish the left turn. Is that guy behind you slowing down to stop behind you? Or is he slowing down to go around you? And what’s the guy behind him doing? Also, better recheck the traffic coming from the left. Everything is ambiguous and the left just got more difficult. Thanks for the assist.

  5. When making a left turn from a stop onto a busy road, don’t pull out and block traffic while waiting for an opening in the far lanes. If the traffic is that heavy, make a right, then a left a little further down and finally another right. It’s safer and I won’t have scream at you.