Well, it’s definitely after Thanksgiving now, and I’m starting to feel the crunch. I’ve got two strings of lights that I plan to put on the front of the house, but need to figure out how to get power to them first. I’ve got no tree, and am still wondering whether I’m going to get one this year or not. I’ve got cards to send out, and rather than getting them done this weekend, I still haven’t even gathered the list of who needs to get cards, let alone written the update that’ll go in them. I did get one present bought, but there’s more than one person on the list for presents, so more shopping needs to be done, too. Oh well, at least my to-do list isn’t feeling neglected.
Yesterday I had a successful home-improvement project of my own. The bathroom sink has leaked on and off since I bought the place. The problem is that the lines feeding the faucet were short enough that they were under tension all the time, and would loosen up periodically. I’d just been tightening them when they started to drip, but yesterday I’d had enough, and went out and bought a longer, more flexible feed line, and replaced the old one. Now I should no longer have the special joy of stepping in a puddle first thing in the morning.
While I was working on plumbing, I also replaced the sprayer on the kitchen sink. Easy job, but I managed to jab myself while trying to remove the retaining clip from the old sprayer. That covered my home-improvement injury quota for the weekend.
But I think I’m getting better at this. While I did stop by three stores in preparation for the job (local hardware store, then Home Depot, then Target), when I got home, I actually had everything I needed to do the job, and didn’t have to run out again for one last part or tool. That pleases me.
This morning, the guys from Finer Surroundings will be stopping by to finish things up, so I’m up extra-early so I can be ready when they get here. I’ve also got some phone calls to make, payroll to get done for the first of the month, and plenty of programming work to do, so it promises to be a busy day. For that matter, it’s going to be a busy week — I’m sure I’ll have more to say on that subject.
- One last entry from last Tuesday. After all the other excitement, Bill & I went to the Town Hall Brewery. For some reason, I always forget how much I like the place. The beer is good, and reasonably priced during their 9-midnight happy hour. They keep the music low enough that you can have a conversation. And while smoking is allowed, the ventilation is good enough that the place is seldom smoky.
- People are Tracing two paths to tragedy in the case of Chai Soua Vang shooting eight people in Wisconsin last Sunday and killing six. The story still sounds confused, but some of the details are clearing up. In any case, it’s abundantly clear that someone drastically overreacted to what should have been a pretty simple exchange. [strib]
- The light rail will be going Full Throttle this Saturday when the rest of the line opens and you can get to the airport and the Mall of America. I don’t expect to be on it anytime soon for a couple reasons. The first is that for the first year in a long time, I’m not planning a vacation over the winter, so I won’t need to go to the airport unless a business trip materializes. The second is that the stored value cards that work on the buses don’t work on the trains, which is a pain. [press-patch]
- Speaking of flying, or not, You Have Papers? looks at the TSA and invokes Godwin’s Law. [endwar]
- The GeekWithA.45 has some thoughts With Respect To The Question of The Unwanted Laying On of Hands… and aikido.
Failing to protect the aircraft is not acceptable, but neither is groping, personal x-rays, or the current incarnation of the TSA.
But I kind of like the idea of more people knowing aikido, especially if it could be used toaccidentally
break the wrist of someone who’s doing someinappropriate touching
. Then again, maybe I should just buy a ticket to somewhere. A good groping would be more of a sex-life than I’ve had in quite a while. [endwar] - Schneier’s Behavioral Assessment Profiling offers what I think is a better solution than the current regime: look for people who are acting suspicously, and check into them. [schneier]