November 30, 2007

Franklintown Inn

Hidden away in an odd corner of Baltimore City lies the Franklintown Inn, which at one time was probably a hopping place, and most likely was a waypoint for travelers on the west side of town. Now the entry to the bar is around back, which caters to a questionable-looking crowd (I'm sure they're all fine, upstanding citizens) and the front parking lot holds an abandoned winnebago and a sad-looking boat. Today the front of the inn is closed up and dark, and a second-floor porch holds a heap of random bicycles, with no indication of use.

This sign is in decent shape on one side, but the neon on the other has been battered by the branches of an overgrown tree. It's another beautiful product of the Triangle Sign Company of Baltimore, who have been in business for seventy-four years, and who are responsible locally for the Brewer's Hill signage, the Port Discovery signage, and for the new signage at Fenway Park.

Posted on November 30, 2007 11:25 AM | link to this entry

November 29, 2007

New Living Room Floor

Remember those pizza boxes on the back porch? Here's the result. This was the morning after a 1AM installation session, where we had to move all the furniture into the dining room and jockey the white couch (the 4-ton sleeper) around the tiles as we laid them down. The result is a warm, comfy floor that brings a new color into the neutral space, and lightens up the whole room

Now, to get rid of that hideous brass fireplace surround.

Posted on November 29, 2007 9:46 AM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

November 28, 2007

Remote Entry.

Writing from the Panera this morning, because Verizon DSL is slow as dirt and the tech support dude couldn't fix the problem inside the tight confines of his script. We have limited connectivity at the house, which means slow upload is now no upload, and download speed is somewhere around a 28.8 baud modem. Meanwhile, I still can't post pictures to Flickr because it's banned at this location. Good times!

Posted on November 28, 2007 10:21 AM | link to this entry

November 27, 2007

She's Out of My Life.

I'd ordinarily have a picture here, a picture of the Scout on a flatbed truck at the end of my driveway, waiting to make a right turn into traffic and out of my life. I'd have a picture of that here, but it wouldn't capture the ache in my heart at the sight of my girl being taken away, or the sick feeling that I let her down for the last three years because I couldn't afford to keep her under a roof, someplace warm and dry, so that her cancer wouldn't get exponentially worse to the point where both doors wouldn't open. I had to crawl into the liftgate to make sure the transmission was in neutral for the tow truck guy, and that old familiar smell of rubber, vinyl, oil and dirt hit me, the one that made me feel good when I got in and she fired right up, choppy and unsure, until the 30-year-old engine warmed up and flattened to a smooth purr. No picture could capture the feeling of freedom and youth that I felt when coasting down the highway with the top down, barely able to hear myself think over the dull roar of the engine and the whistle of the wind. No picture I took could have described the pang of guilt I felt when I saw that the left rear tire was dragging, leaving a skidmark on the driveway as the guy winched her onto the flatbed, as if to say, I don't want to leave. I've tried to post the last picture I have of her along with the first, but the fucking Internet is slow as dogshit today. I have many pictures of my Scout, and that's all I have left. She's on to a good home, where she'll be restored and loved and treated well, and I have to console myself with that.

Posted on November 27, 2007 11:47 AM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

November 26, 2007

Crabs.

Posted on November 26, 2007 4:38 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

November 24, 2007

Miracle

The lights on 34th Street, Hampden.

Posted on November 24, 2007 10:38 PM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

November 21, 2007

Update: Consumer Affairs Desk.

So, I didn't buy the Vespa. Nor did I buy the Kustom bass amp (which, incidentally, sold for $401 with no reserve on eBay). Instead, I found a couple of deals on Craigslist that I'm rather happy about this morning:

For $35, a HP LaserJet 4000n: After adding a $98 toner cartridge, I upgraded our office printer to an EnergyStar-compliant 1200dpi workgroup printer that both Macs and PCs can use. Our previous printer, a 14-year-old Apple Laserwriter, was showing its age: printing any document, no matter how trivial, took at least three minutes to process and spool up before spitting out paper. It didn't like expensive paper anymore (accordion jams look so good on invoices). It had no provision for PCs, and the only reason we hung on to it was because I found two OEM printer cartridges on Craigslist for $30 last spring.

For $200, I found a 22" Apple Cinema Display to upgrade Jen's 19" LCD—almost doubling her viewing area. Now she can see two-page spreads on her monitor without scrolling. I may need to replace the backlight at some point, but for now, it looks pretty as hell.

Posted on November 21, 2007 10:55 AM | link to this entry | Comments (4)

November 19, 2007

Can You Hear Me Now?

When I was a freshman in college, I decided to build a pair of stereo speakers from scratch. With help from a book I bought, I learned the basic theory behind acoustics and drew up a checklist of parts required. While they were all available at the Radio Shack, I knew I wanted something made with more quality.

Looking through some audio magazines at the bookstore, I copied the addresses of the most local showrooms I could find, and then took the train down to New York City to visit every car audio shop on Canal Street to find a pair of 12" bass speakers. With the spec sheet in hand, I did all the required calculations (yes, the guy who failed math in his junior year figured out algebra, proof that if one is motivated enough, miracles can happen) to get the correct dimensions for a speaker enclosure, and I cut the particle board by hand in my parents' garage. Finding the correct tweeters was difficult, but not as difficult as finding the crossovers, little electrical capacitors that send the right frequency to the right speaker: this was before the internets, when we had to do shit like go to the library to look stuff up.

With a $8 soldering iron, several feet of dampening foam, and a cordless drill, I assembled the cabinets, sealed them up and plugged them into my amplifier. And to my surprise, they sounded good. Really good. It got so that I could crank them up to half my amp's volume and they'd shake the windows without distorting—but, then, the speakers were built to lift the wheels of a car off the road. They came in handy for parties that way.

The only downside was that they are butt-ugly; unfinished particleboard is as aesthetically pleasing as wet cement. My hand-held circular sawing job now just looks like I hired a drunk to build them. So they sit in the basement, where Geneva has been using them as a scratching post (thankfully I have guards over the speaker cones). During the Great Flood, they got their toes wet and a permanent stain set in.

I saw this article on Toolmonger today about DIY speaker cabinets, and it made me think about my project again. I've wanted to buy some quality poplar and put my carpentry skills to use rebuilding the cabinets for some time now, but I've put it on the back burner. Perhaps after Thanksgiving, when I get the cabinet finished, I'll take a weekend or two and show my speakers some love.

Posted on November 19, 2007 3:20 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

Pizza delivery

Posted on November 19, 2007 11:03 AM | link to this entry

November 17, 2007

Have a Coke

This evening I stopped into the Forest Diner for a burger and a cup of coffee. There are fewer things I enjoy more than sitting at a counter and reading a paper with my dinner.

Posted on November 17, 2007 11:19 PM | link to this entry

Curiosity Satisfied.

This afternoon, I decided to check out the Vespa I was threatening to buy a couple of weeks ago. In the time since I first saw it, it had been listed on eBay and failed to meet the reserve—which should have been the first hint.

The sales guy was helping some other folks outside, so I got some quality time alone with the scooter. It was quickly apparent that the photos on Craigslist did not really describe the condition that well. The chrome is all there, but the deck is bent on either side from several accidents. The "paint job" looks even worse in person than in the photos, and the previous owner decided to slap some dumb stickers over top of that. The seat only had a few rips, but there was a lot of rust evident in the bodylines and underneath the deck, and I'm not interested in battling rust again.

It was a nice dream, but I'm passing on this particular scooter. I'll have to spend more money for a fixer-upper that's got fewer fundamental problems, which is a lesson I've learned the hard way.

Posted on November 17, 2007 2:29 PM | link to this entry

November 15, 2007

Desoto Teeth

While I was out yesterday, I spied an older DeSoto sedan on the side of the road that I've been meaning to shoot for months now. Pulling a highly illegal U-turn, I stopped in and took pictures until the battery on my Canon died.

This particular model is a Fireflite, first released in 1955 as the flagship model, and cost $3,544 new. It's a huge four-door sedan featuring a V-8 engine with a lever-controlled automatic transmission. With styling featuring a grille full of chrome and a beautiful hood ornament suggesting a pair of wings bent back in flight, DeSoto sold 114,765 of the model in 1955.

Unfortunately, the DeSoto name did not last beyond the 1960 model year, a victim of Chrysler's machinations (it competed directly with the Dodge and Plymouth brands as a mid-priced offering) and the recession of 1958.

Posted on November 15, 2007 4:31 PM | link to this entry

November 14, 2007

Tuck and Roll, Baby

This afternoon I went out to take a look at a Kustom bass cabinet for sale down the street. Kustom was a company making musical amplifiers from the 60's until the early 80's, and their gear was known for its distinctive tuck-and-roll covering, as well as its powerful sound.

Built in Chanute, Kansas, The Bass 250 was available in black, blue, white, red, green, and silver flecked naugahyde, and put out 250 earth-shattering watts through two separate channels and a matching reflex ported cabinet (where a hole with a specially tuned tube increases the low-range frequency response). Unusual for their day, Kustom amplifiers all used solid state transistors when their competitors were still using tubes.

The seller fired the amp up after plugging in a keyboard, and he noodled around a bit while I tested out the controls. The amp shook my teeth at a volume of 2, so it's a fair bet these go to eleven. The naugahyde is in fair shape, if not dirty, and the grille cloth is stained and has several small tears; the face of the amp head is suffering from some rust or water damage. And last but most importantly, while standing in front of the cabinet, I caught the distinct odor of cat pee. Further olifactory investigation was inconclusive—I couldn't tell if the smell was from the big puffy amp or some of the other vintage gear laying around.

Am I considering this? You bet your ass. Do I know his asking price? yes, and it might be a little high. Some cash and a smile might change his mind...

Posted on November 14, 2007 11:08 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

November 13, 2007

The Replacements.

I like to watch the Home & Garden channel to see house porn and get ideas for our place. It's kind of a spectator sport sometimes, because the people featured on all of those shows have absolutely no taste. Here's the setup: an otherwise normal looking couple has their house on the market for eight months, and they can't understand why it's not moving—could it be the fact that they've decorated it in Early American Frat House? Young couples who would ordinarily throw judgemental looks at me in the Starbucks live in condos that look like the bed of a municipal waste truck.

Then, some expert blows in, forces them to dispose of their stuffed animals and model train periodicals in a humiliating yard sale. Afterward, they throw the remaining furniture out, buy some window treatments, paint the place in colors other than white, and Voila! the house sells. Miraculous!

There are other shows, like the ones that feature flipping (how's that working out for you this year?) and renovation, and I like to see what people have done with basket cases like ours. I steer clear of This Old House, which is made for WASP-y hedge fund millionaires who can afford to hire The Largest Crane In Connecticut to lift a barn over a pond, or install enough solar panels to light a municipality. I also avoid While You Were Out: even if you have the hottest carpenter on TV, a $1,000 budget will only get you cheap-looking custom furniture painted in one ugly color.

Mainly, I like to watch so that I can find solutions to problems that only this house presents. What do I do if I have no heat in my kitchen? How can I replace a slate roof without declaring bankruptcy? Where can I find replacement valves for my radiators?

Usually I'm disappointed because these programs are only interested in answering easy questions, like which end of the hammer hits the nail? But once, I saw something that got me excited.

For the last couple of years, I've been back and forth as to whether I should start replacing all the windows here at the Estate with vinyl, or find some way of making the existing windows better. A few weeks ago we had a guy come and quote on new basement windows, and on a lark had him quote separately on the dining room windows (which are long past saving). Surprisingly, the price was reasonable—much less than I'd guestimated.

As it suddenly got cold outside, I kicked around the idea of going room by room with vinyl. This place seems to have gotten draftier with each passing year, even in the rooms where I've scraped, repainted, and recaulked the storm windows. Where we're losing the heat is in the weight pockets on either side—a 6" deep cavity covered by two bare pieces of ¾" thick wood, hardly an energy efficient solution.

Vinyl sucks, though. It's ugly. I like the warble in our existing windows, which were built in the days when glass was still imperfect and contained lines and bubbles. I like the look of wood. And the two vinyl windows that predated our arrival are cheaply made and already discolored. Plus, some botoxed "realty expert" on one of the house programs said that buyers don't like vinyl, and are looking for natural wood windows wherever possible. This statement got me to thinking, but I took it with a grain of salt, only because the program was filmed in Southern California, where their idea of cold weather attire is long pants and a warm macchiato.

A couple of years ago I saw something on one of those programs, and dug around to find it online: the Pullman Manufacturing Company, who make a product called window balances. Essentially, it's a spring-loaded cord that fits into the pulley pocket used by sash weights. Cut the weight cord, pull out the pulley roller, and replace it with the window balance, then attach the end of the cord to the bottom side of the window, and there's no need for weights anymore—which means the void can be filled with insulation (somehow).

I missed the sales rep this afternoon, but I'm calling tomorrow to buy four. I'm going to test it out in the living room to see how much of a difference there is, before I make a final decision on vinyl.

Posted on November 13, 2007 4:21 PM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

November 12, 2007

A face only a mother could love

Jen and I took advantage of the one sunny day this weekend to get the hell out of town. We pointed the car at the Bay Bridge and visited Easton, MD, which happened to be hosting a Waterfowl Festival, which meant that the streets were blocked off and filled with people. From the website, I would have expected lots of guns, decoys and hunting equipment, but it felt more like a wine festival in New England. The town itself is pretty, and it's filled with lots of fussy shops filled with potpourri and "new antique" furniture—it's obvious there's lots of money there, which I would not have guessed. After walking around the town and checking out the sights, we stopped into the Restaurant Local to get out of the chill and have some cocktails, and stayed for a delicious dinner.

Posted on November 12, 2007 11:55 AM | link to this entry

November 8, 2007

Gloomy.

Jeebus, it's getting so that I can't listen to NPR anymore without getting totally scared out of my head about the economy. Gas is at $100 a barrel, some Chinese government dude mentioned selling off some of America's ridiculously huge debt, mortgage companies are imploding like crack whores after a day in the drunk tank, and our state and federal government are bickering over budget shortfalls. Meanwhile, the President is rattling our debt-leveraged sabers at Iran. I wonder when this country's creditors are going to call in their chips and start repossessing aircraft carriers and national monuments?

It's funny—all this stuff is happening, and there are still twenty or so retards running around the country shaking hands and making speeches, angling to be the next President. I don't know what's going to happen next year, but I'm thinking whoever "wins" is going to get handed a big shit sandwich when they take office. And, if the current talk is to be believed, we're all going to be in a world of hurt by that point. All of this talk is enough to make me stockpile water and ammunition in the basement to wait out the Big One.

What I'd like to see tomorrow is for the Dow and all the financial analysts and the brokers and the Fed to take five, pass around a big fat joint, snack on some Doritos, and agree to chill the hell out. Because I don't want to run a business in the middle of a recession.

Posted on November 8, 2007 8:52 PM | link to this entry

Boringness.

Not much to write about here at Idiot Central...not much that's exciting, anyway. Yesterday I spent about twelve hours at my desk working on various projects, and things are progressing slowly but steadily on most fronts. It suddenly got nail-bitingly cold here in the Mid-Atlantic region, cold enough that I'm praying every night to the Fleece Fairy for more layers. Plans to upgrade some of the windows here at the manse have been put on hold until further checks roll in, at the risk of a mutiny led by my chilly feet. Leaves are changing color and beginning to cover the lawn, which means I have to bust out the blower and start bagging before Christmas. Thankfully, I was able to fix the carburetor on our crappy lawnmower last Sunday, and cut the back half for the first time in two months (you laugh, but with the drought, it wasn't growing anyway). Three hours later, it was covered with leaves again.

Posted on November 8, 2007 10:48 AM | link to this entry

November 5, 2007

Signs The Christmas Apocalypse Is Upon Us.

November 5, 2007: 7:56PM. We saw our first Christmas-based commercial on TV (for a card company hawking a singing snowman on a toboggan).

Let the consumerism commence.

Posted on November 5, 2007 7:42 PM | link to this entry

Sunday Afternoon Project.

Our friends Nate and Kristen just had their kitchen remodeled, and before demolition, they offered us two built-ins that came with the house. Never one to turn down another time-intensive project, we selected the smaller of the two, which was the top of a hutch. This piece has two solid three-pane doors with good brass, and the wood is hard (pine? poplar?) with a nice grain and no knotholes: perfect for a bookcase or even a buffet.

I got the entire outer shell heat-gunned and sanded yesterday, and about 1/3 of the lower shelf to see how thick the interior paint is. Both of the shelves actually come out, so doing the interior will be less work than I'd thought. Then, I have to knock the glass out of the doors and strip them carefully (windowrames are the worst) before we can start testing stains. Hopefully I can get it all sanded by Thanksgiving.

I would have had a 'before' shot here, but I forgot to switch the settings on my camera at first, and they're all blown out.

Posted on November 5, 2007 10:03 AM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

November 1, 2007

Wireless SD Memory Card.

WOW. This is so awesome, it gets a full-page post. An SD memory card with built-in wireless capability, so that pictures taken on a camera can be uploaded to a computer or a Flickr account (or one of 14 other online photosharing services). Still using CompactFlash (like me)? They're testing CF adapters for the SD cards, and expect to have them ready in a week.

That's some cool shit, there.

Posted on November 1, 2007 11:00 AM | link to this entry

It Made Sense At The Time.

We were outside yesterday afternoon, putting some spider webbing on the bushes.

Me: "Oh, that's why we've not gotten any mail today."

Jen: "Why, is there something wrong with our mailbox?"

Me: "No. It's because today is a holiday."

Jen: "Do you mean to tell me that the reason we've not gotten mail today is because it's Halloween?"

Me: "Yes. A holiday."

Jen: "Are you serious?"

Me: "We're out here decorating for tonight, aren't we? There's no mail in our mailbox, is there?"

...

Jen: "Right. I forgot that the founding fathers set forth that the Federal government must remain closed in honor of Pagan rituals and candy sacrifice on October 31 of every year."

Special thanks to my wife for formatting and writing the first edition of this exchange, and then emailing it to a bunch of people yesterday. I love you, shmoopy.