New Shoes 2

I've known for a while that I'd need new work boots eventually. I don't know how many years ago I went down to Sears and picked up an inexpensive pair of steel-toe work boots. These boots have been out to Habitat countless times, lots of home-improvement projects here, four Mexico mission trips, and who knows what else.

The treads wore off a long time ago. The toe on one wore through to the steel some time back. They're covered in concrete, caulk, a variety of adhesives, and a lot of plain old dirt.

But the final straw was when I went past wearing off the tread and actually wore through the sole. I noticed it when I stepped on some gravel, and could feel the texture with my foot. Hmm, not a good sign. Then one of the laces broke, and it was past time.

I'd stopped by Sears in Oakland, but they didn't have my size in steel toe. Or at least they couldn't find it. Nice people there, but I don't think they know their store very well. So yesterday I stopped by Sears in Pleasanton since I was in the area for a trip to RLC and lunch with my friends Pete and Jim, and got what I wanted with a minimum of fuss for $34.98 plus tax.

I was going to pick up a pressure valve from my friend Rob at church for the DWV line inspection, but I found out that I can do either 5 lbs. of air pressure or a 10 ft. column of water. The latter is easier to find leaks with (not that I expect any with ABS and its gnarly adhesive), and I have what I need, so I'll do that.

Unfortunately the next available inspection isn't until next Monday, the 10th. Quite a bit longer than the first time, and than what I was planning on. There's other stuff I can do to keep busy, like pre-frame some of the walls, but it'd be nice to have that large space of the floor decking to work on. Oh well. There's more work to be done at Camron-Stanford House, apheresis again on Tuesday, and countless other tasks around the house that need doing. Like cleaning up the construction detritus in the basement. Not too long ago I had a nice work space there. Hmm...maybe I can try rescheduling for an earlier time :-) Or maybe I'll go out to Habitat. I haven't been out to the work site for a while, and I've been meaning to go back out.

Yesterday had some interesting other stuff besides new boots and lunch. When I stopped by RLC, I heard the office manager talking to someone about "blah, blah, fire marshal". Fire marshal? Hmm...as a lot of the sound and video equipment there is at least partly my responsibility, and the sound booth has a mess of cords to catch a fire marshal's eye, I asked what it was about.

No problems in the sound booth (I'd wired some new 4 plug outlets there so we didn't have chains of power strips plugged in to other power strips, a definite no-no), but this fire marshal is a bit more particular than the last. Instead of "no flammable materials" in the furnace room, he wants "no materials", period. As storage at church is pretty limited, there was plenty in there: ladders, folding chairs, tables, shelves with random bits and pieces (need some somewhat worn maps of the Holy Land?), and a large pull-down projection screen. Apparently that was purchased back when they started the contemporary service, and they used it for a while for projecting overheads of lyrics. But it had to be off to the side where nobody could see it easily, so it got taken down and stored. Anyways, I spent the next hour finding new homes for the things stored there, and got stuff cleaned up to what will hopefully be the fire marshal's satisifaction. But know anyone who needs a 10' wide pull-down projection screen?

I don't think the cleanup made any difference to safety, but one thing sure did: I found two extension cords in the janitor's closet that were hazards at best. One had the covering torn at the plug, so just the wires were holding it together. The other had the 3rd prong (the safety ground) broken off. Some people do that because they don't have a 3-prong adapter for a 2-prong outlet, but it creates a major safety hazard. The kind where people end up injured or dead. So I threw out those two cords, and bought a new one at the nearby OSH.

Then last night I went to Rooster's Bar in Alameda to take some pictures of a friend's band. Kautz plays guitar at RLC some Sundays and is a pretty good guy, so I took pictures of the band and will be designing a web site for them. Know anyone who has gigs for a talented heavy metal band? They had a gig after the shoot, but unfortunately they weren't going to be on for a couple of hours. And the bar was charging a $7 cover charge. I was pretty sure I didn't want to sit and listen to hours of heavy metal music, even if the bar does have Lagunitas IPA on tap.

And finally, to keep the people who want more pictures on the blog happy, we have a nice shot of the water supply lines. Kat envisioned it, but I took while she was at work. A nice composition for something otherwise pretty mundane.