Happy All Hallows' Eve

I came across these gory but excellent costumes via houseblogs.net that some DIY's put together for a party. What's really scary is the article in the Wall Street Journal that inspired the costumes. In fairness to the people referenced in the article, not all of them were at alcohol-involved events. This blogger, for example, had her picture used out of context and was lied to by the WSJ reporter.

I would never want to use a Sawzall, for example, after drinking. They're dangerous enough sober, because of the "all" part combined with the "sawz" part. And heaven help you if you've got an inexperienced and tipsy friend wielding one at a demolition party. Beer is good ("Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin), but alcohol plus power tools or house demolition sounds like a plain ol' bad idea.

Curiosity and Cats

The other day I when I was putting up drywall, I left the room for a few minutes. I came back to see Star peering down at me, meowing plaintively. True to form ("Wuss in Boots"), she'd climbed up the ladder and into the dining room ceiling below the bedroom loft, but was then afraid to come down. If you've ever tried to pick up a cat that doesn't want to be picked up, you know how difficult it can be. Put the cat into a small enclosed space so you can only approach the cat from the front, and the danger from claws goes up significantly. After puzzling over it for a moment, I finally climbed up the ladder, let her climb onto my shoulders, and then climbed down. So no cats (or me) were harmed in the making of this picture.

It's Alive!

Well, OK, it's not. But the lift is very handy for putting drywall on ceilings. Lately I've been putting drywall and backer board in the new bathroom. I also put some drywall up in the entry hall (it's had drywall on the ceiling, but been bare studs and insulation in the walls forever), and after using up my 1/2" drywall supply moved on to part of the dining room ceiling. It's funny how much more like a 'room' the bathroom looks with drywall on the walls instead of just bare studs and insulation.

I've got a line on the radiant heating system for the bathroom. Katarina is quite excited about it. It should be pretty easy to install. Lay it on the subfloor, bury it in thinset, et voilà -- ready to lay tile over it. It's relatively expensive since we're doing a small area (12 sq. ft.), so the thermostat/controller is going to cost more than the wire grid. But I think it'll be well worth it, especially once we get solar panels for some of our electrical needs.

A Sad Day

It's a sad day for two of my favorite vices. No, not this kind. The "they're not necessarily good for you but you like them anyways" kind.

First I heard that Alfred Peet, the founder of Peet's Coffee had died. Coffee is an acquired taste. Made properly, it has a powerful taste, whether a bit more sweet or a bit more bitter depending on the beans and the roast. I learned to drink it in a predecessor to today's fru fru coffee drinks, the mocha (basically 1/3 espresso, 2/3 steamed milk, plus chocolate; if you were feeling thin as I was at the time, you could get it topped with whipped cream). But going to college in Berkeley where Peet's was founded, I learned the difference between good coffee and the crud that gets served many places, and learned to appreciate a good cup of coffee black -- no sugar, no milk. Now that I'm addicted to the taste, the process of waking up with a hot drink, and particularly the caffeine, I can tolerate lesser coffee if that's all there is. But Peet's still has the best coffee. Not that Starbucks serves a bad cup of joe, but I think Peet's will always be my favorite. And Peet's was the inspiration for Starbucks, so it might not even exist if it hadn't been for Alfred.

Now I've learned that Michael Jackson (no, not that one) passed away. He was known as "The Beer Hunter", and hosted a TV series as well as authored a book by the name. Beer is also an acquired taste, and I admittedly acquired it well before I acquired a taste for coffee in college. I even worked in a brew pub / brew on premises for a while after I left Geoworks.

If I had to choose between giving up beer or giving up coffee, well...it'd be a hard choice. But both the world of coffee and the world of beer have lost something.

It's Good Stuff

I realized I haven't given any updates in a while. I haven't been getting tons done on the house, partly because of other tasks, but largely because of lack of energy. Much of what Kat and I have done recently is cleaning up the yard. The Oakland FD came around the other month to give the friendly reminder that we live in a high risk fire area. The yard was horribly behind in maintenance, so we've been weed-whacking, raking, pulling vines, chopping stumps, etc. to get things in line. Three big green yard waste bins filled, and at least three more to go. Probably four since I've almost filled the bin again today. But it's good stuff, that needs to be done.

I have done some work on the house. I installed an additional light on the front of the addition to help light the pathway at night. And I installed reading lights over the bed. Kat and I read a lot. Even more of late because the TV died. It died a couple years ago, the power supply or a nearby capacitor, or both, and I got it repaired. Given the cost of TVs these days, we decided it was time to finally replace it, as it was pushing 20 years old. The new TV has a gorgeous picture, at least when watching the amazing photography in Planet Earth. It's a 4 disc series narrated by David Attenborough, and has some breath-taking images from around the world. I highly recommend checking it out.

Somewhat less breath-taking, but still lovely, is the view in our bedroom showing the new reading lights. Alas, the one on my side of the bed has a bad switch, but they'll be sending a new one along shortly.