Slow progress IS progress...

Soooooo... we started laying the bamboo... finally. My flooring nailer doesn't seat as well as I'd expected because the planks are 5/8" rather than 3/4" or 3/8", which are the standards... I'm gonna rig something, I think. We just used a finishing nailer at an angle on the tongue, every 6 inches or so, with 1 1/2" nails. I'll probably move up to 2" nails before we get too far in. We had to stop because power miter saws running at 9:30 in a neighborhood with kids on a school night, even when the houses are 100 yards apart, is not a good plan. Still...
It looks really cool. I'm a fan.

My life as a construction worker, Part Deux

Unemployment is not agreeing with me. Noticing this, my Vietnamese little brother asked me to help him on a couple of his jobs on Thursday and Friday of last week. See, he's sort of a carpenter, and he gets sent around to build shelves, cabinets, entertainment centers, put up moldings in rooms, etc. No pay, but it got me out of the house.

I'll post some pictures later.

Manual labor is highly therapeutic. I think the need to see the results of our labor is hardwired into us because we used to be hunter-gatherers. Between the two of us we did 5 days of work in less than 2 days. We built two cabinets (pictures to follow), put up crown molding in a walk-in closet (there's a story there), and drove to BFE to install some shelves (picture and story there).

Despite the therapy of seeing the fruits of my labor, doing the manual labor thing also helps me focus on getting my shit back together. Which is good, because I have a second interview next week. Yaaaaay.

Bought a bunch of new tools, including a cool flooring nailer, which I'll post some pictures of. Floor is moving along slowly, but the new tools should change that. Need 48 hours for the construction adhesive to dry on the Luaun, which we should finish tacking in tomorrow. I'll post some pictures so Nic can humor me with feigned interest, and tirelaw can feel guilty for not helping.

The movie killzone REALLY, REALLY sucks, btw.

That time of year again...

Almost makes unemployment bearable. I really like my camera. I'm amazed at what I can get out of it with minimal effort.

First buds:
CherryPear

A pair of cardinals have taken up in my front yard. They're very good at hiding from the camera. The male is bright red, and the female is a bit more drab. She's a bit slower, so I was able to catch her on high digital zoom. Look at this:

When you open a can of whoop-ass, Galactichero jumps out.

Always good for ending a bad mood, everyone... EEEEEVVVVVERRRRYYYYYONE needs some Chuck Norris Facts. And then mooooooooorrrrre Chuck Norris Facts.

Smooth move, ex-lax

Mr. Beebe is a recovering alcoholic. Soon, he will be a recovering prison-bitch.
How is this going to work out?

"How'd they get you in here?"
"Well, as a part of my alcoholism 12 step program I apologized to the woman I raped more than 20 years ago, so they convicted me of rape and I got 18 months."
"Bend over, bitch."

Justice, a dish served well both cold AND hot...

Asteroids... the game.

This blog has a swf of the old game asteroids. Fighting addiction.

In the "no fucking shit" department...

Hmmmm... shoes... with wheels... in a WEIGHTROOM. That qualifies as child abuse in my book... Some kid slams into me while I'm lifting, and he lives just long enough to point out whoever brought him to the gym with wheels on his feet...

RIP Steve Rogers

Did you know that Captain America was assassinated?

What is the world coming to?

Actually, it has to do with the Civil War storyline, where the government wanted to force all the superheroes to work for it and reveal their names. Spider-man publicly announced his identity...

Comics mirror life.

EDIT 3/15/07
Steven Colbert dealt with this issue on the Colbert Report. It's actually a pretty good discussion of the subject.
As Colbert says, pick a side, Wolverine.

Galactichero vs. the poison ivy monster...

Last year I had a nasty run-in with some poison ivy in my front yard. There's this pear tree, and next to it is this huge pine that has so much poison ivy on it that it looks like it's deciduous in the summer. I didn't recognize the huge furry vines as poison ivy until I literally ended up in the hospital.

A few weeks ago I took a hack-saw, put on rubber gloves and a hat, taped my sleeves and ankles, and cut at least 12 inches off of each huge-ass vine. It was pretty funny, because I ended up stripping to my underwear and hosing off to make sure I had no poison ivy on me. It was 38 degrees. I use well-water. It was cold. My neighbors think I'm crazy.


Here is a picture after I cut one of the vines. That is my fist, directly below the vine. I have pretty big fists (particularly in the width - get your mind out of the gutter Nic), and that vine is almost TWICE the diameter of my fist. How crazy is that?
See all those branches? Those aren't branches. They're poison ivy. I'm going to find out if the dendrites on the vines can keep all that vine alive, or if my hack-job kills it. I hope it kills it. I used to be immune. Now I can tell you that poison ivy suuuuucks.

My life as a construction worker...

This is what a room looks like after you strip the moldings and the carpet, and pull up all the carpet tacks, sweep, and vacuum.



This is what 210+ square feet of bamboo strip flooring looks like, while it's airing out.

You needed to know.

305

Today I benched 305. Cleaned it once, got (literally) a 1 finger tap at the bevel point on 2, and my spot did an upright row on 3 [ :-) ] -- but I did the negative. 3 seemed to be the number for me today... 3 at 305, 3 at 295 (twice), 3 at 275 (twice) -- then 245 and 185, which had nothing to do with 3. This would have been a baaaaad day to piss me off. Luckily, I spent most of the afternoon destroying a room of my house, so there was no one around for me to vent my testosterone on, and I had a constructive (destructive? Constructively destructive?) outlet for it.

Incidentally, I go to a gym down the street from a college with a very large female population. I need to nail down the parameters of "dirty old man"-dom...

Redbeard

I grew a beard. It is red. That is all.