Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Halloween costume: Shitty old man. Shave top of head bald for receding hairline, but keep mullet. Shave beard except for mustache. Get plaid pants size 44 that fits over pillow stuffed beer belly. Accessories include coke bottle glasses with chain, cane.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I had a breakthrough in my lucid dreaming experiment last night. One of my reality checks is to see if I can put my finger through my hand; if I can then I'm very likely dreaming. Well, last night I did a check and I could put my finger through my hand! However, I knew this wasn't possible and I kept doing it until I made it my finger not go through my hand. So, although I convinced my dreaming brain that I wasn't dreaming even though I was, the constant reality checks seem to be taking.

Friday, February 12, 2010

So, I've been getting a salad from the cafeteria for the past few days and they charge by the ounce. Then I thought it would be interesting to rank all the food in the buffet by density, to be able to get the most volume of food for the cheapest. Then I thought this would be a good project for another day.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

I switched my work computer to use the Dvorak keyboard layout. I did a quick test to see my typing speeds. For comparison, I can type 60 words per minute using the usual QWERTY keyboard. As of today, I can type 16 wpm on the Dvorak. I'll let you know if it improves.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I finally completed my first case mod. It actually only took about 8 hours (after 5 years of thinking about it). I wanted to put it in a small chest I had, but it was an inch too small for the microATX board I was using. I went to the thrift store and found small box with a removable glass front. After a bit of drilling and sanding, everything seems to be working. I'll have to monitor the temperature to make sure there is enough air flow. It's now sitting on the kitchen cabinet hooked up to a 17" widescreen LCD 720p monitor. Now let's see if it gets used.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

In seems like in most things I do in life, I get to a certain point and quit for some reason. I'm trying to figure out if it's motivation or lost of interest. However, these don't seem to explain it since I usually start seeing the benefits in the projects at the time I quit, which I would think would motivate me more. For example, this blog. I'm able to post quite a bit and then stop, but after reading the history and seeing the point of doing this, I regret not keeping at it.

Another example. Back in high school and then again a few years ago, I was looking into lucid dreaming. I got so far as to recognize when I'm dreaming and begin to control it on a regular basis, but then stopped, right when I was seeing the benefits of all this practice. Now, after somehow being reminded of lucid dreaming again, I'm back to practicing. Let's see if it sticks.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Alright, I think I'm back this time. I have many stories to tell, but I've already forgotten them. I'll start with this ...

Short story, if you have a dripping shower, follow this post.

Long story. The shower head was dripping for a week or two, so I figured I should look into it. For some reason, I assumed it was a bad O-ring on the classic pull out handle. First I turned off the water supply from an access panel. After prying the cover on the handle off with a screwdriver, I took off the handle by removing the single screw. I then banged on the pipes a bit, turned the water supply back on, but surprisingly it was still leaking. Booted up the internet, did some research, and learned I needed to replace the cartridge. That was Monday.

Tuesday, I went to Menards to see what I could learn. I found out that there are many different models of cartridges, and at $40 a piece was not about to buy one to experiment. At the suggestion of a 14 year old, I bought the "universal" cartridge remover, plastic variety. Yeah, that crumbled when I set foot in the bathroom, just as in every other post on the internet. Went back to Menards and picked up a die and tap set. I screwed in the 1/2 inch but had no way to get a grip on the tool to pull the cartridge out. Passed out after a bottle of wine.

After work on Wednesday, I bought a vice grip pliers, a crescent wrench set, and a 1/2 inch hex bolt. When I got home, I screwed the bolt in and used a 2x4 and crow bar to pry the rest of the cartridge out. Celebrated like a predator not greeted by Chris Hansen. Newcastle mini keg gone.

Took the mangled cartridge to Menards today after work and bought one that looked similar, along with some water proof lube. Popped it in the pipe in less than 15 seconds, CLR'd the water spotted parts, and caulked everything back together. Turned the water supply back on and thus far, no dripping. Calling it complete. Finished another Newcastle keg and now onto some Crown Royal and Coke.

At 30 minutes each night, this project took about 2 hours.

$5 - Universal Replacement Kit (worthless)

$28 - Tap and Die Set (used one of the 30 bits and will probably never use the set again)

$11 - Vice Grip Pliers (didn't really need, but padded this project to get another tool)

$11 - Crescent Wrench set (only needed the 3/4 wrench, but that was $4 alone)

$1 - 1/2 inch hex bolt (now in the pile of other bolts)

$15 - Moen Cartridge (the price tag said $40, but I didn't complain)

$2 - Water Proof Lube (probably overkill, but fuck it)

$4 - Beef Jerky (I actually didn't buy any, but after this second Crown, I wish I had)

$77 - Total Cost

At the beginning of this project, I estimated $175 for a plumber to do this. I suppose if I estimated the liquor during the week, it would be about $98. The project plus liquor equals a plumber.

So, somehow, we're even.