Saturday
- last night, upon getting out of my car in the garage I stepped in a puddle. Sploosh.
Bah, and humbug. Not what you want to experience when you have plans to
get up at five the next morning and it's already after 10:00pm. After a
few choice epithets an inspection determined that the culprit was the
water heater, in particular the water heater flex hose on the hot side,
had sprung a leak. Not much more than a pinhole, but it was spraying
hot water everywhere. So I shut off the feed, but then reconsidering
turned it back on, took a shower, and then turned it off. I'll just fix it when I'm back at the house.
Tim and I replaced that hose not much more than five years ago. Arrgghh.
Up at Dad's. I have money - big money - on the NY Giants, but
managed to wring out concessions. Six points. I think the Patriots
peaked a while back and look forward to gloating over my fifty cents
worth of winnings!
Vodkapundit wonders about the recent spate
of undersea cable cutting. I don't see any need for a
Cusslerish conspiracy. As the attached article points out, the oceans
are indeed big, but the cables only come ashore at a few points.
I am reminded of the MIT professor and solo sailor who calculated the
odds against being run down by a large vessel at sea - astronomically
small. He
therefore kept no arduous night watch and was run down, or very nearly
rundown, twice. Ship traffic, it turns out, often travels in high
density lanes and these in turn concentrate near the shore and
ports.
Friday
- worked until sundown, on a coolish and occasionally overcast day.
There was a nice sunset, with red and gold clouds, and gulls heading
towards the sea. Where do seagulls sleep at night? Do they sleep on the
waves, or some place on shore?
Then it was onto the road, up to Lancaster. Mike and I
are to drive up to Martinez tomorrow, with Duke. A lot of traffic on the I-14.
Wednesday
- back at work. It's cold in the mornings - I have to layer up to keep
warm.
Tuesday 29 January 2008
Tuesday
- one last day off before going back to work. There is always more to
do than I anticipate - cleaning, washing, various tasks & chores.
Setting up a new cat feeder was one of the tasks. The older Archimedean
screw device works well enough, indeed, too well. Too much food for the
cats - even set to the lowest feed level. A friend recently gave me one
of the rotating-cover machines, wherein a clock rotates an opening to
one of six dishes. The amount can therefore be easily set, but it does
require someone to replace the food every three days. I've set it for
about a cup a day, doled out as two half cups twelve hours apart.
Monday 28 January 2007
Monday
- working away, on this and that. Feeling better. I'm enjoying playing
the MP3 library on Gondor,
via Amarok, as
background music.
Sunday
- uh. Can't remember. Did a bit of spreadsheet work, and stuff.
I did watch some Dr. Who reruns on the telly
TIVO.
Talked to my brother about a trip up to the bay area next week, weather
permitting. I don't think I was completely over what ever it was I had.
Finished Book #5,
The
Sea For Breakfast, by Lillian Beckwith. I think I like these
stories better on audio
Bought a fairly decent fluorescent light bulb, 100W, that I can
actually
read by. For less than a dollar - courtesy of Southern California
Edision (which is probably some sort of rebate from the State of
California, if we traced things back far enough). I should buy some
more - at that price they are cheaper than standard incandescents,
though the bulb is huge and will not fit in many fixtures.
The PDA only dropped 10% in power overnight, so it's back to normal, it
seems. Since I left the wall charger down in Oxnard I have to charge it
via the USB cable, which starts up ActiveSync, which in turn uses
power. I just have to remember to kill ActiveSync after charging it..
Picture of
the Week
Photo
Notes:
"Wow...look at all the weirdos
around here..."
