David

Loose Screws

dhs — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 13:58:14 GMT

We've all got them. That collection of random leftover hardware from past projects, saved because "it will be useful someday". Well, that day is here!

Yesterday I repaired my bicycle with a screw that needed to be just the right diameter and length, and have an aggressive screw incline (no machine screws need apply). Saved myself the extra hour or so that running out to the hardware store would have cost me.

This entry was originally posted at http://dhs.dreamwidth.org/68252.html. Feel free to comment here or there.

Days

dhs — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 10:13:43 GMT

Saturday:

Woke up way too early. Again. Was almost asleep again when my brain kicked into gear and all the thoughts swirling around in there wouldn't let me get back to sleep. Eventually, persis kicked me out of bed to go deal with things, which I did for a bit. (During which time I found this LJ entry that somehow didn't get posted.) Then I realized just how nice it is outside & persis & I went & soaked in the hot tub for a bit. Now off to bed.

Friday:

Woke up way too early. Couldn't get back to sleep. After 30-40 minutes of laying there, got up and read email & LJ and did desk things for an hour, then was tired enough to go back to sleep. Woke up around 11:00. Made breakfast. Worked on innumerable little things at my desk, mostly involving those TCAN gigs and finally getting in touch with the headhunter who left a message a couple of days ago. Fixed up my resume to be a Word document & sent it out. Spent a bit of time in there trying to make order out of the chaos that is my room. Got out to work on the gutters really late and only had time to chop down a bunch of brambles and weeds that were in my way before dark hit. Then I quick got a shower - if there was poison ivy in that mess, I don't want to find out the hard way.

Thursday:

Worked on cleaning the gutters. Got as far as excavating the ladder from the garage (with help) and then working about halfway around the house. Also got a bunch of puttery things done. Got a call back from TCAN, asking me to light a bunch of their musical performances. I'll be lighting eleven over the course of October and November, in addition to the play there at the beginning of November. In the evening, aelscha came over to work with me on a lighting design for February.. We got nowhere near done, but at least we identified some of the equipment I need to reserve before it becomes unobtanium. Sent the email to reserve it.

Tomorrow:

I want to do the bit of gutter cleaning that involves working around the weeds before I get my shower. Then I need to go buy some Shoe Goo to fix my sneakers. Then it will be back to cleaning gutters. I'll be filling in as an audio tech at TCAN in the evening. Somewhen in there, I want to run all the dirty laundry through the washer and get my room organized. I should check in with that headhunter to see if he arranged the interview for me for Monday after work.

Sunday:

Rest up for the next week. Perhaps dancing in the afternoon?

Early Day

dhs — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:30:52 GMT

Woke up Way Too Early this morning. OTOH, I got to see a really pretty sunrise. (From my desk, while working on two projects at once.)

Paperback Bookshelves

dhs — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:07:32 GMT

I have three bookshelves up for grabs. They are not pretty, having been slapped together from unfinished boards cut at the lumberyard something over a decade ago. They are however, quite functional. Each is about six feet tall and 2.5 feet wide, with the depth and shelf spacing set for paperback books. They have backs, so books don't fall behind.

I can likely drop them off in the greater Boston area if I'm going to be near you. If I have to make a special trip for this, I'll want gas money.

Padlocks

dhs — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:46:43 GMT

Found my cache of padlocks (too late for use in moving or storing my stuff). I think I want to keep them, but I'm willing to loan them out so my friends don't need to buy padlocks for short-term use.

Pretzel Jar!

dhs — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:24:12 GMT

One huge plastic pretzel jar up for grabs.

Just the thing for tossing your pennies or marbles into.

Enlarger

dhs — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:31:17 GMT

I have a Bogen photographic enlarger up for grabs. It is mounted on a nice large piece of countertop material that was cut out for a sink. It has a carrier for 35mm film with it. Somewhere, I also have a carrier for 120/620 film that can be yours when I find it.

Also, I have other darkroom equipment that will come available as I unpack boxes.

[Edit: I can deliver this to locations in the greater Boston area, or other places you know I travel to, with appropriate advance planning.]

Conference Table

dhs — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:22:34 GMT

I have an 8-foot conference table in storage that needs to find a home. Its ends are rounded, but its sides are straight, so it is not quite an oval. It sits on a pair of square pedestals. Pressboard and veneer construction. It would make a fine dining, projects, or gaming table. Or, it could be used as a conference table again. (Not being solid wood (or glass & steel or somesuch) I imagine that Apple would turn its nose up at it, but a company that doesn't make 'image' its first priority would have no problem with it.) I would like it to go out on a 'semi-permanent loan' basis because I would like to have it back sometime in the distant future when I have room again, but this is negotiable as the current priority is getting it out of my storage place without throwing it out.

[Edit: I can deliver this to locations in the greater Boston area, or possibly to other places you know I travel to, with appropriate advance planning.]

Fucking Spammers

dhs — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:03:18 GMT

Spammers, not content to send me crap that I don't want, have taken to forging mail to look like it is coming from my primary email account. For now, email to that account will bounce with a message that says 'unknown user'.

There are several possible responses to this. I've already implemented the two most obvious¹² without much in the way of positive results. I need to research more. I really don't have time for this crap. The candidate who declares open season on spammers gets my vote.

¹ Swearing at the spammers does not seem to have done me much good.
² While disabling my account has stopped the flood of bounce messages, it also stops legitimate email from reaching me.

dhs — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:03:41 GMT

I just had a thought for an alternate universe story that hasn't been done yet.

What if all of the spam & scam email I got were legitimate offers?

On the sadness of letting go

dhs — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:43:08 GMT

It occurs to me that having a May show (see techtheater) is really going to be good, as I have stepped back from having a leadership role at Balticon in favor of people who are in that area. I still plan to go help with Balticon, but I think this will help me not feel like I have lost something.

dhs — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:05:36 GMT

We seem to have a giggle of girls.

Why is it?

dhs — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 23:35:38 GMT

Why is it that the Social Security Card form suggests that you "DO NOT CARRY THIS CARD WITH YOU" (capitals theirs) but the form is perforated so that the card is easily removed from the page and becomes a wallet-sized item?

On Cruft

dhs — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:04:58 GMT

A goodly number of my boxes of stuff are papers that were put aside at some point or another in the past decade and need to be sorted through. I'm hoping that I'll be able to process them through the GTD system over time. I'm thinking that if I grab a stack of things out of the handiest box and drop them into my in-basket each day that is not too busy for that, I might be able to nibble away at it over time. Or perhaps I need to hit a box at a time? That's the kind of thing for which having company might help. I've got six or seven boxes of (mostly paper) cruft here at the house & I don't want to pull any more out of storage until I've dealt with what is here.

It would be good to be able to not have to rent the storage hole come March or April, so I think I'll drop a note into my tickler file to do something drastic if the count of boxes of cruft has not diminished significantly by ... um ... February 15th. Many (most? half? some?) of the paperback books will go on the built-in shelves I'm putting into the room under construction. Perhaps I'll cull the paperback collection down to just what I most want / what fits on the built-in shelves. I'll have to find a place for the larger programming / hardcover books and that raises the question of what to do with the larger things in storage. There are a few random tables (kitchen, conference, sewing machine, printer) my toybox (no, not that kind of toys) and a bunch of shelf units that are built of bare wood.

Downchecking Black & Decker

dhs — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:19:48 GMT

I've called them five times now and been dropped by their call system each time. Next time I'm looking at a Black & Decker tool, I'll remember their sterling support and NOT BUY from them.

dhs — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 05:28:51 GMT

Ganked from number_12:

"Normally, we're rooting against the asteroid. This time we're rooting for the asteroid to hit."

Back from Philcon

dhs — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:04:41 GMT

I'm back from Philcon. I have not read LJ since Wednesday/Thursday. If you've said anything that I should really see, point it out to me.

All those little animated icons...

dhs — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:45:29 GMT

There is a noticeable drop in CPU usage when my friends page is not being displayed.

Call For Chainsaw

dhs — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:20:35 GMT

persis mentioned a couple of weeks ago some need for a chainsaw to be used around here.

I've just heard that a tree fell over in the back yard of the house I'm trying to sell in Delaware. I'll have a couple of spare days in the Philadelphia area just before Philcon, which would be later this week.

Does anyone have a chainsaw that we could borrow this week?

dhs — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:10:44 GMT

Is it still cold pizza for breakfast if you reheat it?

It started off cold. Honest!

dhs — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:20:01 GMT

Hrm.

In jeans where I have blown out a knee, the left knee goes first. I wonder why that is.

I really hate ...

dhs — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:03:59 GMT

... when calling a company and having put my account number & associated identifying information into their system, to be asked for that information again because their system didn't pass it on the the service representative.

Bother!

dhs — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:27:17 GMT

Madeleine L'Engle Died

Yard Sale

dhs — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 13:38:45 GMT

Assuming the weather holds out, we'll be having a yard sale next Saturday. (September 8, 2007) Yeah, less than a week from now. More details to follow.

dhs — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:07:46 GMT

Y'know, if I'm in the middle of imparting information to someone (giving directions, as it happens) talking over me so that you can tell them what I'm in the middle of telling them is NOT appreciated.