MyE28.com

Got my kid's Civic outta my garage today.

And this is randomly trippy; http://vimeo.com/27986223

Click that, put on some good tunes, go full-screen and enjoy.

1st 5er wrote:Had the septic tanks pumped out today.

I go after the septic tanks and the chimney every three years. '09 was the last time this came up on the home maintenance calendar, and it was a very busy Fall, so I let them both slide.

Superbowl Sunday '10 and we're getting ready for a party. We've got a ton of food cooking, and I get a fire going in the fireplace. I'm wandering around the den, getting snacks and drinks set up and I hear a 747 spooling up at the neighbors house next door. My first thought was, "Damn, when did Dom get a 747?"

Zero-point-five seconds later I'm shouting "FUCKING CHIMNEY FIRE! CALL 911!!!" I grab the fire extinguisher from under the kitchen sink, reach through the fire, jam the thing up the chimney and let it rip. The 747 noises stop....and then start again. Second time with the extinguisher I let the whole thing go while calculating how long it will take me to run and get the one from the garage. But this time the fire goes out and stays out.

At this point, the 911 operator answers the call. My wife says "Um, I think we had a chimney fire, but it's out now, so we're okay." The operator says "Sure thing, we'll be there in a second." They rolled an engine and a tower ladder, and dragged chains through the chimney to get things safe again. No harm to the chimney or the house.

I had the septic guys come on Tuesday to drain the poopy tank. I made it through a chimney fire with an extinguisher, but I did NOT want a septic backup. Now we're three-years-out again, so it's time for another sweep-and-suck.

Public Safety Announcement - If you do not already have one handy, please put a few fire extinguishers in key spots around the house!

MicahO wrote:Superbowl Sunday '10 and we're getting ready for a party. We've got a ton of food cooking, and I get a fire going in the fireplace. I'm wandering around the den, getting snacks and drinks set up and I hear a 747 spooling up at the neighbors house next door. My first thought was, "Damn, when did Dom get a 747?"

Wow, what are you burning and how often that 3 years is doing that?

WilNJ wrote: Wow, what are you burning and how often that 3 years is doing that?

We don't heat with the fireplace, so it really only sees action on weekends in the winter. There was one year in there of fairly green wood, but again, it's not heavy use.

Three years prior to that flare-up, the chimney sweep that did the cleaning job said that we really needed caps on both the fireplace and water-heater stacks. Keep the water out, freeze/thaw breaks down the sleeve, etc. Not my area of expertise and it sounded like a good plan, so I gave him a green-light and paid for the caps to be installed.

After the chimney fire I had to have the chimney inspected to get re-certified. The prior Sweep was not certified by the DOB for that, so I used another guy. The DOB-certified guy took one look at the cap that had been installed and told me that the cap itself was the cause of the fire, and whoever installed it just grabbed whatever was on hand without any real thought to the system. Long chimney with a reduced vent area led to backpressure which led to creosote buildup. He said it wasn't breathing enough and his recommendation was to leave the cap off entirely. I'm just the guy lighting the fires, and, frighteningly, both of the recommendations I got made sense.

The house spent it's first 12 years with no cap and no problems. Three years after a cap was installed, there was a chimney fire, so we are back to no-cap. If there are water issues and the sleeve cracks, I'd much rather re-sleeve the chimney than have another fire.

MicahO wrote:The house spent it's first 12 years with no cap and no problems. Three years after a cap was installed, there was a chimney fire, so we are back to no-cap. If there are water issues and the sleeve cracks, I'd much rather re-sleeve the chimney than have another fire.

Chimney sweeps are typically one of the worst ofenders when it comes to home improvement scams and selling snake oil.

The thing I love about our chimney is that we have a top mount damper, it keeps the chimney liner out of the whether and because the flue is filled with warmed air from the house, we don't have to pre heat the flue before lighting the fire.

Yesterday I'm in the sauna, and this guy comes in and is like,
doofus: "You know you're supposed to have a towel, right?"
me: (remembering sign right by this guy's head that says: Occupants must have either shorts or towel on. I have shorts on.) "Okay"
doofus: "I'm not trying to be an ass, (too late) I just don't like sitting in other people's sweat."
me: poker face.
doofus: "mumble mumble" as he's sitting his fat ass down.

At this point, I have no worthwhile reply, as the guy is obviously a sailor who think's he's important, and will go back to work telling people about the Marine he thinks he locked on. He didn't say shit to the guy who walked in WITH him that didn't have a towel, or the dude next to me who had water (no food/drinks allowed), AND poured it on the rocks when he walked in (also verboten). Besides, I was hot and cranky, and didn't want to tangle with someone who MAY outrank me, as the combination of idiocy and higher rank throws common sense right out the window. Even if I did outrank him, that's not how I roll. He wasn't going to kick me out of the sauna, so I just let him be.

Let's see, you're going to sit in a hotbox with 3 other dudes and expect not to get some sweat on you... hmmmm here's your card, jackass.
Yes, I sweat so much it puddles. MOST times, I have a towel, but it can't possibly keep up. Probably kinda gross, but I'm taking a shower afterwards, so, whatever.

ldsbeaker wrote:Yesterday I'm in the sauna, and this guy comes in and is like,...

Too much information.

WilNJ wrote:The thing I love about our chimney is that we have a top mount damper, it keeps the chimney liner out of the whether and because the flue is filled with warmed air from the house, we don't have to pre heat the flue before lighting the fire.

That sounds like a winner! I typically leave our bottom damper one notch open, all damn winter. Not good for the heating bills..... I have to look into that as a retrofit.....

MicahO wrote:That sounds like a winner! I typically leave our bottom damper one notch open, all damn winter. Not good for the heating bills..... I have to look into that as a retrofit.....

Happy shopping.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=n ... 80&bih=860

Micah,
You're welcome to borrow my chimney probe but shipping might be a killer.

Chas.

I entered a contest with one of the local radio stations last week, and got an email this morning telling me that I had won a pair of tickets to see Garrison Keillor this weekend! And that's not all! I'll be attending a reception afterward where I can shake hands/rub elbows/hobnob with the Lake Wobegon guy! So excited!

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters was wearing a "Slayer" T-shirt tonight at the Grammy Awards. I'm conflicted, but mostly because I was actually watching that show.

Of all the weird shit - I open the hood on the wife's damn-near-new Odyssey yesterday, and the cover for one of the underhood fuseboxes is missing.

I was under the hood a lot when we got the car, making sure I would be able to change the oil myself, as well as lowering the aim on the really bright Xenon low beams (I love the bright light, but I felt bad for oncoming traffic). I KNOW that cover was there. It's really obvious with it missing, as it appears to be the box with the big fusible links in it.

It did not fall off - the thing was held on by 4 plastic clippies, there is no sign of it in the engine bay, and that bay looks nearly airtight. It had to have been removed. But the car has only 3K miles on it and it's never been anywhere for service or even valet parking. So did someone in some parking lot pop the hood and grab the cover? Perhaps someone was trying to make a theft attempt and had to run?

Very....random.

MicahO wrote:... It did not fall off - the thing was held on by 4 plastic clippies, there is no sign of it in the engine bay, and that bay looks nearly airtight. It had to have been removed. But the car has only 3K miles on it and it's never been anywhere for service or even valet parking...

Welcome to...



Any mischievous family members that might be jerking your chain?

davintosh wrote:

That's a possibility in this family. My brother-in-law came by Saturday. He had rented a little Fiat 500 and was telling me how much fun it was. So I drove it up and down the street. It was an automatic, shifted jerkily, made no power but did make a lot of noise, and it steered and cornered as if 110% of the weight was in the nose. I couldn't tell if he was kidding when he told me that he enjoyed driving it.

Maybe when I get home tonight the cover will have been replaced, and my temporary electrical-tape-job undone.....Now that I've spent $10 to ship a $3 part.....

One of my jobs is to run testing on equipment for different things such as experimental parts, new designs, or even defective machines back from the field. About 6 months ago I ran a test to measure the amount of bacteria growth over a week long period in a new production unit. This type of testing is something we do to get NSF approval for cleaning guidelines. I was very particular and organized in my test taking and cleaned everything from the refrigerator where we stored the ice cream mix to the counter where I set my pen. Before I went anywhere near the machine I would wash and sanitize my hands and wiped the machine down with a sanitized rag religiously. The results of my anal retentiveness were very minimal bacteria growth and a pass for seven days of usage withou breaking the machine down to be cleaned.
Fast forward to this week and we have another machine to run the above type of testing on. This time I had nothing to do with the test and the person who did run it wasn't half as cautious as I was about sample taking. Not surprisingly they failed the test after only 2 days. The reaction I got was not "man we really suck at testing" it was more along the lines of "what did you do to cheat"? When I explained how cautious I was about cleanliness I was met with even more oppostiion about "real world conditions". While I admit in the real world the machine will not be taken care of as well as it was under my supervision, we cannot control that and we would have to intentionally sabotage our testing to replicate that. After I made my point to the engineers I was then asked to write a process for how to do this type of testing. I just spent a large portion of my morning writing things like "wash and sanitize your hands before touching the machine".

I walked past a pay phone in the entrance of a store this afternoon & saw a guy dialing a number on the pay phone that he was reading from a cell phone. What's up with that?

I almost stopped & asked, but thought better of it.

Kind of reminds me of the Braille instructions on the drive-up ATMs.

1st 5er wrote:Kind of reminds me of the Braille instructions on the drive-up ATMs.

I dunno, with the way many people drive and park it makes sense to me.

Wife was vacuuming today and knocked off one of the toe-claws from my hand carved mahogany Chippendale chairs WTF.
I'm in the garage taking stock of life. . .

My wife got me this clock for Valentine's Day...



Anyone know what car this hub cap may be from? We were trying to figure that out but I've struck out. I was guessing an E3, E9 or 2002 but couldn't find one identical.

Also, I've never posted pics of my office chairs and I'm sure you guys would appreciate them.



They came out of my parents' conversion van (they had it custom designed new) and I had them redone in black and gray. There are two more on bases at my parents' house that are worn and original and one not on a base that I plan to do something with someday. If I find a car that needs sport seats and has a black or gray interior these are going to go in that and I'll take the worn ones as office chairs. Currently the one with arms is my video game chair. I should properly disclaim that this conversion is not recommended by Recaro and if you sit too far forward you can flip them. I have.

How dorky am I?

rmiddendorf wrote:How dorky am I?

No comment.

I went on a date last night.


With. A. Girl.

Hey, and get this: I didn't scare her away. Se got my humor.
I'm hip to idea...

alijonny wrote:I went on a date last night.


With. A. Girl.

Hey, and get this: I didn't scare her away. Se got my humor.
I'm hip to idea...

Send Kyle your notes.

alijonny wrote:I went on a date last night.


With. A. Girl.

Hey, and get this: I didn't scare her away. Se got my humor.
I'm hip to idea...

Be careful- this is a perfectly good way to go from a cool car collection to a single appliance.

rmiddendorf wrote:

alijonny wrote:I went on a date last night.


With. A. Girl.

Hey, and get this: I didn't scare her away. Se got my humor.
I'm hip to idea...

Be careful- this is a perfectly good way to go from a cool car collection to a single appliance.

She lives downtown Chicago. It could possibly mean going from many cool cars to public transportation.


Pfffffff yeah right, that will never happen. Did I mention she converted from Texas to Illinois?

alijonny wrote:Pfffffff yeah right, that will never happen. Did I mention she converted from Texas to Illinois?

Impossible, people from Texas are Texan for life.

nik77356 wrote:

alijonny wrote:Pfffffff yeah right, that will never happen. Did I mention she converted from Texas to Illinois?

Impossible, people from Texas are Texan for life.

I had lunch today with my wife's brother, who lives in Austin. He said that he's learned to tell Texans who ask him where he's from, "I'm not a native-born Texan, but I got here as soon as I could."

davintosh wrote:

nik77356 wrote:

alijonny wrote:Pfffffff yeah right, that will never happen. Did I mention she converted from Texas to Illinois?

Impossible, people from Texas are Texan for life.

I had lunch today with my wife's brother, who lives in Austin. He said that he's learned to tell Texans who ask him where he's from, "I'm not a native-born Texan, but I got here as soon as I could."

I was born/raised in Houston and now go to school in San Antonio. While the hill country is gorgeous, there's just something about the Houston because as far as I'm concerned Houston IS Texas.

Except for the traffic. Houston traffic is the worst