what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Nords]

I did have this one parked in my living room in 1975-76. I brought a girlfriend in there and her comment was "Uh, that's a unique centerpiece you have there..."

That seems like a good girlfriend screening tool.

 

[freebird5825]

...Today I had a repair guy over to look at my 22 year old Kenmore washing machine. It no longer pumps out the rinse water, nor goes into spin cycle. He declared it a lost cause and suggested I go to Lowe's and select a new one. I will pay for the delivery and setup of the new machine, including removal of the old beast. We ain't 20 anymore.

Part II of the washing machine story...the plot thickens

I researched Whirlpool washers at Lowe's website, looking specifically for an agitator (not an impeller type), top load washing machine, preferably with analog control dials (not a touch control panel).
I am going on the advice of my friend the appliance repair guy, who knows what types break down frequently and which don't, based on his 30 years of doing this line of w*rk. I found exactly 1 agitator type with dial controls, in stock, with a 10% sale going on and a special offer for free delivery/setup/haul-away until Aug 22.
So off we went to the store. By prior agreement, Mr B had the lead on the customer role. I filled him in on the research on the way to the store. Mr B clearly stated our specs to the young clerk. This young man tried like h*ll to get us to buy an impeller type. I let the clerk go on for 4-5 sentences, then bailed out Mr B by simply saying.."Can we close this discussion and move on to what we are looking for?" with a huge .
Mr B took back the helm and closed the deal, scoring an extra 10% off with his veterans' discount. No, we did not want to buy a 4 yr service plan for $100.
We then hit the dehumdifier display, with the clerk in tow. Mr B and I decided on the 50 instead of the 70 collector size. I grabbed some RoundUp while he and Junior loaded the dehumidifier into a cart.
We spent a lot today, but we needed both appliances in real time.
The discount on all 3 items came up to to approx $70 and we did not have to pay for delivery etc.
AND...I am relieved of laundry duty until Thursday AM.

 

[Gumby]

It was a bright, sunny day, so the young wife and I broke out the roadster this morning and headed north from our home on the shore of Long Island Sound, up through the Litchfield hills, to Great Barrington, Mass. It was a spectacular drive on the back roads of northwest Connecticut. As we drove on winding roads, past hills and valleys and farms and vineyards, historic homes and little town greens, I was reminded again just how lucky we are to live in such a green and prosperous land.

We ate a wonderful lunch in Great Barrington, at a very lovely restaurant called Fiori. The food and wine were excellent, the service prompt and friendly, and the tasteful art deco interior was just perfect. On the drive back home, we stopped for ice cream at Rich Farm Ice Cream on Rte. 67 in Oxford, CT. The ice cream is made daily on the farm. It is by far the best ice cream I have ever eaten.

This evening, we enjoyed BLT's made from Ramapo tomatoes from our garden, and fresh picked local sweet corn from the farm stand.

All in all, a really great day.

 

[Meadbh]

Participated in Day 1 of a golf tournament which is raising money for something close to me. Lots of fun, except that I (a) lost 3 balls; (b) broke my brand new driver, on my best tee shot of the day! The head just flew off after a normal tee shot. I had not had any luck using it all day. Something just felt wrong. I took it back to where I bought it, and discovered that this is the third driver of its type that has been returned following normal use. It's going back to the shop and I am expecting a new one. Meanwhile I have a loaner. I hope to be less of a liability to my team tomorrow!

Which brings me to a beef I have. Why do so many new items have quality problems? I've recently bought some new furniture items, and they have all had some kind of defect, e.g. the desk (made in USA) taken out of the box with a big scratch along the edge; the office chair (made in China) with the arm that falls off; the golf driver (made in China) that falls apart after three weeks of normal use.

My 16 year old Honda looks better every day.....

 

[W2R]

Participated in Day 1 of a golf tournament which is raising money for something close to me. Lots of fun, except that I (a) lost 3 balls; (b) broke my brand new driver, on my best tee shot of the day! The head just flew off after a normal tee shot. I had not had any luck using it all day. Something just felt wrong. I took it back to where I bought it, and discovered that this is the third driver of its type that has been returned following normal use. It's going back to the shop and I am expecting a new one. Meanwhile I have a loaner. I hope to be less of a liability to my team tomorrow!

Which brings me to a beef I have. Why do so many new items have quality problems? I've recently bought some new furniture items, and they have all had some kind of defect, e.g. the desk (made in USA) taken out of the box with a big scratch along the edge; the office chair (made in China) with the arm that falls off; the golf driver (made in China) that falls apart after three weeks of normal use.

My 16 year old Honda looks better every day.....

Oh my! What a shock it must have been when your driver broke like that.

Sorry to hear that your desk and chair had some defects. I guess I was lucky with my desk (made in China), since I haven't discovered any problems with it yet. I had no idea that furniture was getting so shoddy.

 

[Sue J]

Last night we went to a display of a traveling 3/4 size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Very nicely done. Included a display of Vietnam War equipment. It was open 24/day for a 3 day weekend and we went late to avoid crowds and parking hassles. There were attendants available to answer questions, even overnight.

The size of the wall, even at 3/4 size is impressive. Seeing name after name, panel after panel, you start to understand the scale of the loss. I thought about all the families that got that knock on the door with the devastating news and how all those families coped with their losses.

DH looked for 2 names of men he knew had died in Vietnam. One was the son of a family from his church when he was a kid, another was an older brother of his sister's best friend.

The world is missing a lot of people who would have been in their 60's and 70's now. DH was too young to be drafted but my sister's first husband had an unlucky number and was drafted. He got out because of a medical issue.

 

[TromboneAl]

I split firewood today. My neighbor is moving, and offered me all of his unsplit rounds. I thought I might decline, given my recent back problems, but I decided I could split the rounds on his property, and move the split wood to my house. That way I don't need to pick up the heavy rounds and put them into the truck.

I will have to split wood every day for the next two weeks or so, but I should end up with enough to heat our house all winter.

 

[freebird5825]

Let's see...
I divided up and froze 8 boiled half chickens, left over from a fundraiser chicken BBQ we helped at yesterday. I did light duty kitchen tasks, assisting the main cook. It was a good w*rkout, however my large muscles are talking back to me a bit today. Mr B carried a lot of chicken from the kitchen to the outside grill. The total attendance was over 150. The organizers were very pleased with our efforts, and invited us back anytime to help out. Helping out is much cheaper than a gym membership.
Today I moved a corner curio cabinet out of the corner, then spackled a few nail holes, in preparation of finishing the living room painting j*b. No more high 80Fs temperatures forecast for a few days, I will finally be able to open the windows to let the paint fumes air out.
Biggest thrill of the day ? I emptied the dishwasher.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Went for my normal 5K run this morning. Here in the SE part of Arizona August 16th and the temperature at 6:30 was 62 degrees. Unbelievable.

Where is global warming?

It moved to Texas.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Cutting down trees all day. I hope I can pick up the coffee mug tomorrow.

 

[bbbamI]

Not much. Tomorrow's forecast shows a repeat of the same.

 

[braumeister]

Spent nearly five hours using a jackhammer yesterday. First time I've ever played with one, and sincerely hope it will be the last. Impressively efficient tool, though!

 

[bruce1]

Spent nearly five hours using a jackhammer yesterday. First time I've ever played with one, and sincerely hope it will be the last. Impressively efficient tool, though!

"Shakin All Over" (Guess Who and Johnny Kidd) would be transformed to "Achin All Over" for me. The thought hurts.

 

[TromboneAl]

Spent nearly five hours using a jackhammer yesterday. First time I've ever played with one, and sincerely hope it will be the last. Impressively efficient tool, though!

I bet you're sore today, right?

 

[REWahoo]

I will have to split wood every day for the next two weeks or so, but I should end up with enough to heat our house all winter.

I sure hope you have a hydraulic wood splitter.

 

[Nords]

Spent nearly five hours using a jackhammer yesterday. First time I've ever played with one, and sincerely hope it will be the last. Impressively efficient tool, though!

Have you "discovered" any sewage drains or sprinkler pipes with it yet?

 

[freebird5825]

T-minus 6 days until Mr B becomes a full-time student. He went to pick up his books at the college today. He seems to be a little apprehensive about the coming w*rkload. However, he is very excited about fulfilling a dream of his to get the additional accounting and finance coursew*rk he needs to sit for the CPA exam.
I can't be of any help with the accounting classes, but I can proofread his homework before it is submitted for grading.
I have my indoor and outdoor projects all lined up to keep me occupied while he is in class (indoor projects) or studying here (outdoor projects). I am used to and usually prefer w*rking alone. All I need is some good tunes and the right tools.
I may have to invest in a wireless headset so I don't disturb him with my music while he is studying at home during the winter.

 

[jebmke]

Speaking of shaking all over, spent an hour or so surveying the house to make sure today's earthquake didn't do any damage. Fortunately, no. Was a bit spooky though. The cat was not amused.

 

[TromboneAl]

Another truckload of wood split (1 hour about .25 cord).

No hydraulic splitter, just this splitting maul and wedges and a sledge hammer. Most pieces I can split in two with the wedge, then use the maul to finish it up. For a big round, I can move around the periphery, biting off pieces.

The round shown by the arrow here:

Looks like this when halfway done:

and like this when completely split:

It's great exercise -- high intensity with about 300 1 second "sprints."

Then Lena dragged me out on a bike ride with a picnic lunch in impossibly good weather:

Then during the bike ride, unbelievably, Lena and I got separated. It goes to show that it can happen under any circumstances. She said let's go here, I said let's go there, and she was looking down at her bike when I started off. We both searched. She'd forgotten her phone, so I didn't see her again until I got home.

 

[braumeister]

The jackhammer was relatively small (the rental place called it the "35 pound model"). They wanted to give me the 70 pound model, but that looked like a lot for someone my size to manhandle around. The 35 pounder wasn't hard to handle, but yeah, I was sore afterward. The good news is that I forced myself to go out for a run this morning, and by the time I finished all the soreness was gone.

 

[Major Tom]

Had to get up early to go register and wait for emergency dental work at the County Hospital.

You'd think that this sort of scenario would be pretty grim, and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. I got there at 7am and walked out the door just before 2pm, but the experience was quite enjoyable due to the company of 3 lovely and interesting people with whom I shared conversation while we waited. One was an unemployed social worker and the other two were an elderly man and woman originally from Louisiana who shared some great stories of Southern hospitality and how things used to be in the South generally.

When sitting in waiting rooms, I often hope to be able to enjoy a good conversation with the person sitting next to me but more often than not, they are either wearing ear-buds and are locked into their own personal worlds, or are otherwise disconnected from the here and now.

I'm now on a waiting list for an appointment to get a crown and I'm almost looking forward to the inevitable wait when I go back in a few months.

 

[Nords]

I've been working on the book for at least six years now, and writing the blog for nearly a year, but this is one of those days when it's still hard to believe it.

I got an e-mail at 5 AM from Military Times columnist Andrew Tilghman, who's writing a followup on the Defense Business Board proposal to [-]destroy[/-] radically reform military retirement. He'd actually read my blog post (thank you, Google) and wanted interview quotes. I e-mailed him back, a few minutes later my phone rang, and we chatted for 20 minutes. I hopefully didn't babble too badly. I got a chance to cover the points of military retention, financial independence, and early retirement. He'll let us know when the article is published. I mailed him a copy of the book for him to write a review.

And then I went surfing in the 5-7 foot swells brought to us by the ragged remnants of Hurricane Fernanda falling apart into a tropical depression. This is the kind of hurricane weather I don't mind dealing with.

The jackhammer was relatively small (the rental place called it the "35 pound model"). They wanted to give me the 70 pound model, but that looked like a lot for someone my size to manhandle around. The 35 pounder wasn't hard to handle, but yeah, I was sore afterward. The good news is that I forced myself to go out for a run this morning, and by the time I finished all the soreness was gone.

Depending on how much dead-lifting and dragging you care to do from one spot to another, the 70-90 pound models actually seem a bit easier to operate.

The heavier ones must absorb the impact and beat right back down on the concrete, while the lighter ones beat up on the operator.

But the "Cool!" factor wears off pretty quickly, and the next-best thing about renting a jackhammer is returning it...

20 years ago I had the "opportunity" to rent a concrete saw and then follow up with some precision jackhammering. In a bathroom. To reroute the drain for a new whirlpool tub. The mess was simply indescribable, and I was rinsing concrete dust out of my orifi for days.

 

[braumeister]

But the "Cool!" factor wears off pretty quickly, and the next-best thing about renting a jackhammer is returning it....

Very well put!
Fortunately, my exercise was outdoors, so one good shower afterward was enough.
I have a newfound respect for the guys who do this for a living.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Another truckload of wood split (1 hour about .25 cord).

No hydraulic splitter, just this splitting maul and wedges and a sledge hammer. Most pieces I can split in two with the wedge, then use the maul to finish it up. For a big round, I can move around the periphery, biting off pieces.

The round shown by the arrow here:

Looks like this when halfway done:

and like this when completely split:

It's great exercise -- high intensity with about 300 1 second "sprints."

Then Lena dragged me out on a bike ride with a picnic lunch in impossibly good weather:

Then during the bike ride, unbelievably, Lena and I got separated. It goes to show that it can happen under any circumstances. She said let's go here, I said let's go there, and she was looking down at her bike when I started off. We both searched. She'd forgotten her phone, so I didn't see her again until I got home.

You have mighty big "rounds" in those parts. What kind of wood is it?
Neat technique for splitting them.
Nice pics!

 

[TromboneAl]

You have mighty big "rounds" in those parts. What kind of wood is it?
Neat technique for splitting them.
Nice pics!

It's fir and some pine. All from trees that fell down in storms.