Fiat Lux Redux

If you recall, I was stymied while trying to replace a light fixture and had to head to the hardware store to fix wiring that had lost its insulation.

I went to the local hardware store because they
A. Know what they are doing and won't tell you to go to Aisle 36 Double Z to find a hammer and
B. Even though they could, they don't make you feel like a moron for asking idiotic questions.

I explained the crumbling insualtion and they assured me I could just use electrical tape, but my fear of an impending electrical fire must have been evident and they sold me some really cool little tubes that, when you heat them up, they "melt" onto the wire and act as insulation.

Off I went, sure that my project would be completed soon and my hallway bathed in beautiful halogen light. First, I had to scurry back down under the neighbor's juniper, kill the power and then go slip the insulation on the wire. Done! Back up the man-eating bush, turn the power back on, then run the hair dryer for a while to melt the insulation. OK, power back off, and now for the easy part: Attach the new fixture's mounting bracket to the old electrical box in the ceiling.

Nope. Not today. The electrical box is a 3 inch box and the bracket is about 4 1/2 inches!!What?? I tried every different way, sure that I must be hallucinating. It was all too real.Painfully real. My wife took the kids outside with her...they didn't need to see what I was becoming. Back to the hardware store for new electrical boxes. OK, back home, didn't even bother turning the power back on, I'm going to conquer this light fixture! Grab the drill, put in the Philips bit and....there's a nail. It's nailedin!! Who nails these things in? OK, so I can pull the nail right? I ask my wife to hold the flashlight(it's getting dark with no power to any lights in the house)and she reluctanlty agrees.

I pull, pry, twist and push. Nothing..Oh wait, something: The piece of wood holding the box is coming loose. That's nice. My wife and kids are now nowhere to be found. I take out the ladder to get into the attic. Halfway up, the ladder collapses...didn't quite tighten that one brace. OK, no harm done, back up the ladder into the attic. Ugh....attic is a very generous description. If you ever really want to know something about your house, crawl under it or go into the attic. What did they build this thing with? No time for that now...I have a look at the mount for the electrical box and realize I'll be heading back to the hardware store.

Well, now I'm quite well-armed for this battle: An eight foot long 2x4, a million screws, electrical tape, wire insulation, oh and a couple of new light fixtures. Almost forgot those. Sadly, with "The Holidays" officially here, I don't see how I can finish before January. On the plus side, at least I'll have a New Year's resolution.

Vorsicht Hund!

I have a mental dog, his name is Asher. He barks at reflections on the ceiling. When we installed a ceiling fan, he growled at it for 2 days. If I blow bubbles for the kids, he goes berserk and eats them.(The bubbles, not the kids...).We got him from a shelter when he was a puppy and god knows what happened to him before we rescued him.
But he's a great dog...very loyal and nice, unless you're a 'possum wandering through our backyard. He doesn't fall for the "playing possum" trick. (I now search the yard before letting him out).
Ever since our cat died, Asher has become more mental(if that's possible)...He liked to play with the cat and now takes out his sorrow on books. I don't why, but he seems to prefer cookbooks and childrens' books.
Ah well, he's still an excellent guard dog and we overlook his quirks. If you're thinking of getting a dog, consider a shelter animal, maybe you'll get lucky and get a dog like Asher!

A short history of the PC

(Originally posted on Slashdot)
This is a nice article on the history of the PC.I never knew the Altair was named after a planetary destination in Star Trek!

Information at your fingertips

When I first heard of Wikipedia, I was a little skeptical. I mean, if you have tens of thousands of people contributing to this body of knowledge, how can you be sure what you are reading is correct? Well, it turns out a lot of other people feel the same way and the folks over at Nature did a study comparing the accuracy of Wikipedia and Britannica. It's a good read and the results wre pretty surprising to me. It looks like the scientific articles score high for accuracy, but it doesn't say anything about the entries for all the pop culture stuff that appears in Wikipedia...I mean, there are entries for the iPod and the Macarena!

Get your motor runnin'

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of old British bikes. I did have the pleasure though of once riding a Norton Commando (The new ones are incredible to look at)up and down the street by my house. The first thing you notice is that the foot controls are the reverse of what you're used to if you learned to ride a Japanese bike. That is quickly replaced by the awesome, low rumble of the huge twin...
I found this site after stumbling across a Sunbeam motorcyclce for sale on Craigslist. The cool thing is, it's not just old British bikes, but tons more...And yes, there are Sunbeams, which I thought was a company that made blenders! Go to the Tab labeled "Pictures" and select a Manufacturer....have a ball! I just love the Sunbeam S7 It looks like something out of a Curious George story.

Fiat Lux

If you've ever attempted any home improvement project, then you know it is usually little better than a comedy of errors (just look at Tim Allen...he made a lot of money with a show that at least a few people found amusing).

I have found, however, that these projects tend more toward the Tragic rather than Comic. Here is my Tale of Woe:

We have a crappy old house. It will never be on This Old House; Bob Villa wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Since it's ours, we are inclined to do things to it which make less crappy and in this case it happens to be the lighting in the entry hallway. The existing lighting was installed sometime in the 1930's or 40's...It must have been the cheapest they could find, or maybe they built them themselves out of old tin cans and glass shards.They had to go.

Unless you are really handy or a General Contractor, electricity scares the bejesus out of you, or at least it should. I figured that would be the biggest hurdle, dealing with electrical cables, but I was wrong. To get started, I scurried down next to the garage, under the neighbor's juniper bush(don't ask) and killed power to the house. Went back inside, climbed the little step ladder and removed one of the light fixtures. I had to snip the wires because they were actually soldered into the bulb socket! Once that was done, I stood there and tried to look like I knew what I was doing. This was, in theory, a simple task. All I had to do now was attach the new fixture's mounting plate to the old electrical box in the ceiling. I gently moved one of the old wires out of my way so I could make room for the new fixture...the insulation crumbled like feta cheese in my hands. Great...this doesn't happen in the directions in the box. I would have to go to the hardware store and consult the Handyman Oracle to figure out how to fix this.

(More to come...)

"A man needs a pint after that."
-Colm Meaney in "The Snapper".