Monday, June 30, 2008

Project, Day 75

One of the original goals of this entire mess was an improved media setup in the living room. This included the sound system upgrade to 7.1, the Blu-ray player (the PS3 actually) and better access to the music server and access to the internet, via the also new DSL. I finally got around to re-configuring the Ethernet to get one more step closer.



Here's Google on the TV. It's all a bit hacked up right now. The music isn't quite available yet, and the WiFi is all wrong. I need some minor additional hardware to get everything right, such as another couple of patch cables. The cabling in the living room is complete though, with a small switch for addition expansion.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Project, Day 74

It's so hot again today that I don't think much more will get done. The heat makes paint dry almost as fast as it comes off a roller. An oil finish soaked and hardened on the oak in minutes.


Saturday, June 28, 2008

Project, Day 73


"You can never have enough clamps"



Fireplace mantle nears completion....



It's probably 100 degrees today.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

MS-Pathetic

http://venturebeat.com/2008/06/26/microsoft-to-buy-semantic-search-engine-powerset-for-100m-plus/

Microsoft is buying a search engine! Ah, that'll do the trick!

"Powerset, of San Francisco, has developed a technology that attempts to understand the full meanings of phrases you type in while searching, and it returns results based on that understanding."

That legendary Microsoft innovation at work once again! Google must be just shaking in its boots... Sure, ya, right, whatever....

"Microsoft's market share in search has steadily declined, dropping further and further behind first-place Google and second place Yahoo."

When Microsoft is finally no longer able to hold back technology, there is going to be a software boom the likes of which we have not seen since the early 1980s.

Project, Day 71


New plaster work, and a fresh coat of dust all over the house, continues...



Meanwhile, I've gone ahead and emailed back a couple of people that have been waiting to get watches restored. It's been way too long, I've got to start doing that work again.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Project, Day 69


More work on the fireplace, and this also required more plaster work either because I damaged it, it it just wasn't thick, flat, square or otherwise good enough (that right hand side "column" in particular as the image shows). That means the house is full of dust again.


I was a little worried that the means of securing the mantel to the wall would not be as strong as I wanted, but that actually has worked out fine. It's "box" construction cantilevered from the top, back edge, with the lower back firmly against the wall make it fell quite solid.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Project, Day 68

Did some more work on the living room and hallway, including this odd-shaped fill-in piece of baseboard. There's some parts of this project that are never going to be quite right.



Also, installed part of the fireplace mantle. Due to an amazing measurement error, which for the life of me I can't figure out how I managed, it's going to need a little more trim than previously planed, to cover up the gap. I'm not going to remake the part in question. Enough is enough.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Project, Day 66

The cabinet in the bathroom is done. Still need to put a handle on the window, fix the glass and paint the door and trim in there... Then the bathroom will be as good as it's going to get. Don't look too close... Thankfully the resolution of images gets cut quite a bit when they're uploaded here.




I had intended to reuse the handles on the drawers. Early on in the project I took both the drawers out and put then away in the dining room so they wouldn't disappear. They didn't disappear, but somehow, somehow, one of the handles got smashed and broken. I had to go get two new ones. Amazing. It's like every corner of the house was damaged in some way...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Project, Day 62

I was out of town all weekend so the project has seen little progress, and nothing worth taking a picture of. The speaker cables are finally all connected with a proper wall plate, the bathroom cabinet has its top trim and a near-final sanding (side trim is still needed), and some stuff is actually put away. I even hung a clock on the wall in the living room. It's nearly livable.
62 days... And many more to go.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Project, Day 55



The stereo and TV are online, I actually watched the news lastnight, which I found that OPB is now showing on channel 10.1 in full HD every evening...

iPhone 3G

Would everyone please shutup about this already? I can't hardly find anything else in the news!

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Project, Day 50


The gout on the "baseboard" tile in the bathroom finally got started on Tuesday evening no work having been done since Saturday, but the grout run out. The contractor was to come back the next day but did not. So it's 90% complete. But that's fine I guess, it just won't get done for now. The living room is enough work.


In the living room two of the three windows have the paint taken off the glass, and the hardware installed. they're done. I put one rear speaker up also, to see how they go, but the wiring isn't connected. It turns out to be really difficult to get these in place as the wire barely fits behind the speaker, and the speaker fits very tightly on its mount. Too tightly in fact, I have to loosen the screws that hold the mount to the wall slightly to get the mount to come out just a hair more so it would hook to the speaker. Maybe I should get some longer screws to hold them more securely.


On one of the speakers the wire comes out from the wall at a different spot due to the framing above the window. That one may be a big problem... There may be no way to get the speaker on the way it is now.



Oddly, the speakers only come with three screws. The mounting bracket takes two, and the safely cable which attaches to the speaker and to the wall should take two also. But they only give you one more. The instruction say to consult your dealer about the attachment to the wall. I suspect they're evading some sort of local liability by not including a screw. Thanks...



There's more to do in the hallway, grout, seal, sanding, paint and the cabinet in the bathroom, and the entry way remains completely unpainted. The living room floor is getting cleaner though. It takes going over with a clean damp cloth, over and over everyday. This project just won't end.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Electric


This brand new electric car appeared just a block from my house. There are three or four of these three-wheeled vehicles in my neighborhood now.


In other news, GM will slow its production of insanely impractical SUVs and trucks, and a says it will produce the Chevy Volt in 2010... http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/gm-finally-real.html, and http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/06/04/chevy-volt-approved-for-2010-production/. File under too little, too late.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Project, Day 47


It seems that no amount of cleaning will get the dust film off the floor. But I did get rid of most of the primer (shown in the image above). And there's someplace to sit at last. It's been awhile.


Sunday, June 01, 2008

Project, Day 46

The paint in the living room is nearly done, and some of the last molding is installed. The floor is in bad shape.



The last of the tile is on in the bathroom. It will hopefully be grouted today.


Jeff Sexton

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