10. April, 2004 - pretty table
- My new dining room table arrived yesterday (it also serves as a card-table when you flip the top), and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s solidly constructed, and the chairs are also comfy and solid. And it looks good in my dining room, I think. Now that I’ve actually got it, I can start shopping for the paint for the dining room and the kitchen. I’ve also gotten the first of two estimates for replacing the sidewalk outside, and the focus for other improvements is moving outdoors for the summer. There are weeks when it doesn’t seem like I’m making much progress around here, but I’m feeling pretty good about the house lately. Many of my
must do
projects are either underway or done, and the ones that remain are getting smaller in size (and cost). Being able to look back and see all the things I’ve gotten done since I moved in back at Christmas makes me happy. There’s still plenty to be done, but it doesn’t feel as imposing as it used to, and that’s a good feeling.
- Modern Drunkard Magazine has a fine list of 40 things every drunkard should do before he dies. Aside from
spend a night in the drunk tank
, most sound like worthy goals. [WVSR]
- The new Enlux L.E.D.’s Make for Warm Light but the Bulb Keeps Its Cool, with a floodlamp that produces the equivalent light of a 65 watt lightbulb, using only 25 watts. Sounds cool, but they’re probably too expensive (over $50 per bulb) for home use right away. Hopefully the price will come down over time. [nyt]
- Bill and I were talking about phones yesterday, and he mentioned VerScient Technologies’ Converser, which sounds like a cool phone system, working within the existing phone system. But today’s phones just suck. They’re incompatible with politeness (especially call-waiting), hard to configure (why can’t I easily tell my phone that I want mom to be able to call-wait into other calls, but when I’m talking to her, call-waiting should be disabled, all calls from phone-spammers should be rejected outright, and calls from fundraisers for companies I do want to talk to should go to voice-mail if they call during my business hours?), and just a ton of other complaints about the existing system. It’s understandable how the phones got the way they are, but change is overdue. Even with existing phone-switches, the phone companies could be providing much better service. We both decided that over time VOIP, possibly Vonage will kill off the existing phone system, but I worry about the damage that will be done by the dinosaurs’ death throes. I also worry that there will be too much emphasis on a black-box solution that won’t give me the opportunity to tell my phone how I want it to work. [bill]
- The National Budget Simulation lets you adjust spending and taxes in the the 2004 budget proposed by the White House to achieve a balanced budget. It’s an instructive look at where the money comes from and goes to. [boing boing]
Copyright 2008, Dave Polaschek.
Last updated on Sat, 10 Apr 2004 07:56:20.
