Isabel. We made it through the hurricane pretty well the other day; we're enjoying power again after it cut out on Thursday night at about 8:30. Strangely, the houses on either side of us had power, but our lines go to a different pole than theirs and our transformer blew. We lit Dietz lamps and went to sleep early, and when we woke the next morning the storm was gone. Our neighbors invited us over for coffee and breakfast after our attempts to find some failed; a house behind us was not so lucky and suffered massive structural damage as an older oak tree uprooted and crashed through the bedroom wall. Luckily nobody was hurt. Later in the day Todd and Heather invited us over for dinner and pie, and we gratefully accepted their offer. When we got back, the lights were back on. Thanks to everybody who helped us out!

Meanwhile, Jean-Paul and Sharon are getting married today in Houston, and we are here in Baltimore. I'm sorry we couldn't be with you, JP. All the best to you and your new bride! | link

Sep 18, 2003

*** STOP: 0x00000077 (0x00000000, 0x8175A800, 0xBFCFDCA0)
KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete. Contact your system administrator or
technical support group.

...stupid friggin' Windows.

Looks like we're probably (but not definitely) grounded by the storm, so we most likely won't be going to Houston tomorrow. Dammit. I was really looking forward to meeting the Masso clan and watching our friend JP get hitched (and getting out of town, for that matter.) Sorry, friend. Luckily Southwest has a pretty cool cancellation/refund policy, so we may be able to get our dinero back, or at least get a credit for a future flight.

In other news, that company I ordered plaster washers from, and who sent me a confirmation email, has no record of the order I placed. When the dude on the phone told me this, I hung up in disgust, but will most likely have to call back and place an order over the phone to make sure it goes through. What a hassle.
(Update: Some dude called the house and mumbled something about not having me in their system because the order already went out, or something stupid like that. So I guess the stuff is on its way.)

I was one of the last retards out on the roads this afternoon, picking up some final things before heading home; I got food, beer, and clean-burning propane. I'm going to go dig out my camping gear and dust off the portable grill, just in case. We already have large tree limbs down in the back yard (as well as next to the Scout) and the power has blinked off about four times already—thank god for laptops.

Remember everyone, tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate Day. Yarrrr! | link

Sep 17, 2003

clock, Baltimore County Incident Command Center, 9.17.03

Quick! Everybody! Run for your lives! Run for your lives!

I took a tour of the Baltimore Incident Command Center this afternoon for a new project I'm working on. It's curious installation—given my jaded view of Maryland civil government, I was expecting a broom closet with a rotary phone, mop and bucket, and stack of 1950's era civil defense manuals. Instead we were hosted by quiet, serious staff in a facility that hums with activity and purpose—they are planning for the hurricane and making preparations to deal with the results. | link

Sep 16, 2003

Not much to write about today; I got a bad night's sleep and I'm kind of groggy this afternoon. We have a new washing machine, although the hoses left in the house are leaky—a trip to the store will fix that. But we are celebrating, because both of us have piles of dirty laundry to wash about a mile high. Tomorrow, the BG&E guys should come back out to mark the panel in the basement, so then I can start deconstructing what goes where and updating it.

(spitting my vodka tonic out all over the keyboard.)

This is a great take on the current filesharing bullshit war, courtesy of Orson Scott Card (and /.) | link

Sep 15, 2003

It looks as if hurricane Isabel is going to kick the crap out of the East Coast, which bodes well for our planned flight to Texas for JP's wedding. Time to check on Southwest's weather policy.

In other news, Todd found and told me about the Rejuvenation House Parts website, which deals in new-manufacture lighting for old houses. This stuff is not cheap, but damn, what fine-looking products they have. I'd much rather spend the money on something like this instead of some drippy cut-crystal chandelier at a local "lighting store". | link

Sep 14, 2003

Finding the G-spot. Today I focused on the Pink room (more commonly known by its moniker to the left there) and began to look at the issues to tackle there. Friday I ordered some plaster washers from the maker—and there's a good Sunday project for you: Try walking into a Home Depot and asking for "plaster washers" to anybody in an orange apron. The grizzled ex-plumber guys will keep asking you if you mean "plastic washers" and point you to the aisle of Crappy Replacement Parts For Cheap Faucets; the manly Hardware guys will blink at you, ask the same question, and send you back to Plumbing to bother those guys so they can return to hitting on the hot 19-year-old cashier at the Tool Corral. Turns out you have to go to the The Old House site, find the link to the maker/distributor, and buy them online (at $12 per 120.)

But I digress.

The bulge in the G-spot is pretty huge, so it's probably going to take about 119 of those 120 washers to hold it in place; otherwise there are some minor cracks and small dings to be repaired, but the room isn't in half-bad shape. One coat of Kilz and several million dead brain cells later, and the Pink room is sort of a sloppy off-white. The Anxious room is becoming increasingly less so as we move along; with a coat of white Kilz on the cieling, a sparkling cleaning job on the fixture, and about 20 lb. of patching plaster, it doesn't look half-bad. Yesterday I yanked off all the trim from the kickplates to see what it's like under there; the answer is that they did a decent job of putting the plaster on (contrasted with the half-ass job at 620, where the plaster didn't make it all the way to the floor.) Which makes future installation of electrical lines that much harder. Oh, well.

Meanwhile, the Presbetyrian Church across the street has fixed their bells, so right now, at 6PM, it's pleasantly ringing here in my backyard.

I like it here. | link

Sep 13, 2003

Last night we had our friends Matt and Emily over for dinner and to show them the house (and to give them their wedding present, two years overdue. Bad Bill.) We went to our favorite Thai restaurant and had a few Singhas and then returned home to have a few vodka tonics. This morning I remembered why malt beer and vodka do not mix—it was a slow morning for me.

The Tortoise by a Hare. Today we drove down to pick up the Taurus from my mechanic, who's had it at his shop for a month. Ordinarily that would be a problem, but because we were in the middle of moving hell that entire period, it really worked out for the best. When last we left our heroes, it had broke down on the side of the road on our way down to swap it with the Saturn. At that time, the steering was pulsing at any effort to turn the wheel, the left rear tire had a slow leak, the car was stalling at idle, and the engine was overheating. I drove it home this afternoon and it felt like a new car. The steering is tight and stable, the alignment is straight, and the engine seems to have found a happy operating temperature.

Meanwhile, we started patching the plaster on the walls in the Anxious room, and Jen cleaned the cut glass light fixture (let's face it, its not big enough to be a chandelier). The fixture looks completely different now that it's clean, and it throws beautiful patterns of light when it has a 100 watt bulb. Unfortunately the 80-year-old wall switch broke in the "on" position while we were testing it, so we'll have to wait until the BG&E guys come back to mark the panel before we fix that. | link

Sep 12, 2003

About the only planned attack on America that happened yesterday was the concentrated programming of 9/11 retrospective, first-person, documentary, and "very special episodes" on TV last night. Thank God, at least I can turn the TV off.

BG&E came out to estimate installation of new electrical wiring this morning; they quoted $900 for the ground floor and $2700 for the upstairs. Yeesh. The ground floor would be doable if I didn't have a lot of irons in the fire, but the upstairs is a different matter. That's going to have to wait until spring, unless money starts falling from the sky.

In other news, Mr. Johnny Cash is dead at 71. I think that just about every contemporary recording artist should start a fund to build some kind of temple for him in the desert like they did for the ancient kings of Egypt, and inter him in a sarcophagus of black gold. Or build for him a Viking warship, place him on the deck, and send it off to Valhalla under a full moon. Because they owe him big. Rest in Peace, man. | link

Sep 11, 2003

Glory, Halleleujah. Verizon called us this morning to let us know we have DSL connectivity. After a not-so-quick online setup process, I was able to set the SMC Barricade and the Airport Base Station up to provide wireless access throughout the house. Thank God.

Jen braved the fumes yesterday and put a coat of Kilz on the Sticky room walls before she was overcome; I followed her up there with a coat on the cieling and then on the walls in the Anxious room. Both rooms look about a million times better with an even coat of paint. Next, we patch and sand up the cracks in the plaster, pull the baseboards to upgrade the electrical wiring, and seal the trim. Boy, it's going to suck to paint the whole house with that crap.

In sadder news, this past Monday Renie had to put Bear down for his own good. Everybody say a kind word for the god who watches over dogs.

Stuck in my head this morning (after I forcefully kicked "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters to the curb. Don't ask, because I don't know how it got in there): "These Are The Reasons", by Soul Coughing. Not that I even know that's the name of the song, or what it could be, because the S-C website is offline and the site linked above has no record of this song title.

So sick, it's wrong. Jen has obviously missed broadband connectivity badly in the months she's been out of work. Today I got these instructions from her: "Do an image search on Google for Corey Haim and look at the third picture." Pardon me now, while I attempt to staunch the flow of blood from my burning eyesockets. | link

Sep 10, 2003

Bibliophile.Until the whole chain went belly-up in an ugly case of corporate mismanagement, I used to walk to the Bibelot bookstore down in Canton to grab a cup of coffee and browse the new books. Usually I'd find something interesting, sit in a big chair, and read through the majority of it until either my eyes got tired or the kid came by to tap me on the shoulder at 11:45. About a year before I left the area, the store was emptied and lay silent, and my quiet zen pastime was lost. (and that zen was good to have after I split up with my girlfriend.)

This evening, I decided to walk across the street to the Catonsville Library to see what their selection was like, and to sign up for my first library card in ten years. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection, the atmosphere, and the computer facilities. The new fiction racks are filled with good hardcover books, the library is staffed by helpful volunteers and filled with people of all ages, and the computers are all current, working terminals with dedicated laser printers. In about three minutes, my Dewey Decimal days came back and I navigated to the computer learning section, where I found not only a good Powerpoint book (the reason for my visit—I have a freelance gig tomorrow) but an OSX book I've been wanting to buy, a book on CSS, and an autobiography of Gene Kranz, the former flight director at NASA.

The library also features a historical section with records of old Catonsville, so that Jen and I can research the house to find out what it originally looked like, who built it, and who first owned it.

Speaking of houses, the soulless, brick rancher across the street is on the market for $65K more than we paid for this house. That makes the energy bill sticker shock a little easier to take. | link

Sep 9, 2003

I love our new house. I love the fact that the water is soft, cool, fresh, and clean (not hard, bitter, chlorine-y and dry.) I love the crickets that lull us to sleep each night. I love the space inside the house, where one can find peace in a large, quiet room by themself, or join a group of contented, sleepy cats. I love the light dappled across the back lawn in the afternoon. I love the sound of the kids in the church daycare program drifting across the street. I love the smell of history in the rooms of this house. I love the peeling paint on the windows, because the house is reminding me that it's alive too, and it needs my help. I love the trees towering over the roof, keeping us cool in the summer sun. I love the wooden floors that don't creak under us. I love the waves in the plaster from where the workmen applied it by hand eighty years ago. I love the drawings on the walls, hidden under the wallpaper, from children of long ago. I love our two-tub sink in the kitchen. I also love having three hose spigots outside.

I don't love the fact that the average monthly energy bill for the house was $280, according to BG&E. It could be several things that have run the price up—excessive use of the heating system during the winter (and heating all those empty rooms couldn't have been cost-efficient), excessive use of the 20-year-old air conditioners, use of an ancient electric oven/range, or just having left the lights on all the time. Whatever the cause, Jen and I are going to become experts on energy efficiency this fall.

The update is that roughly 90% of the bill is for gas and the balance is for electric. We have to find out what drove the price up so high and make some improvements to save money. Ah, the joys of buying an older house.

Even better is the news that Verizon won't have out DSL hooked up until the 17th, because of a "shortage of technicians". Thanks. Dammit.

Found this afternoon, via the Rockhaus: Genuine Scooters, home of the Stella. Oh, man, this is cool. Even better are these pictures of a trip two friends took in 1953. Given my love for the design of old Vespa and Piaggio scooters, these are a sweet update on a classic ride. Maybe someday I can afford one. | link

Sep 8, 2003

One Tired Puppy. After that weekend, I'm pretty beat. I ate about three pounds of Jen's homemade lasagna last night and had two glasses of red wine, and slept the sleep of the dead. There's nothing like an honest tired. I posted a new series of photos with some before/after shots of the upstairs bedroom, and some selected shots from around the house.

Hmm. Apple just released a new series of iPods, so now the offerings are 10, 20, and 40GB. The 20 might just be the one for me, if and when I can afford it. Drool.

If all goes well, tomorrow Verizon should be flipping the switch on our DSL service, so we'll have broadband at the house. It's been a very strange experience to go without it for the past three weeks, sort of like losing cable. If there's a question about a movie ("Who's the guy who plays the bad guy in this piece of crap?") or about one of our appliances ("How the hell do we make this thing stop beeping?") or how to garden in something larger than a clay pot ("What the hell do we do with this stupid bush?"), the Cat-5 umbilical is not available. What did we do before the Internet? | link

Sep 7, 2003

backyard, freshly mowed, 9.8.03

I never thought I'd say this, but I have to admit that I enjoyed mowing my own lawn this afternoon. My memory of mowing dates back to the days of high school, when I lived in a house on the side of a mountain and my lawn was about the size of a football field and it took a day to finish the whole thing. My Dad had a commercial mower that dated back to before my birth, and weighed more than a Sherman tank. Generally, Diver Down by Van Halen on my Walkman at maximum volume (that was the only way I could hear it over the drone of that 20-year-old engine) was the only thing that made it feasible. Today I put my new Murray 21-inch mower together and did the front and side lawns in 20 minutes. The back lawn is a mixture of grass, exposed roots, downed branches, and English ivy, so it's a little tricky, but I enjoyed it.

Yesterday Jen and I rented a wallpaper steamer and we were able to get everything of the walls of the Sticky room, the Anxious room, and a large section of the hunting mural in the dining room. The original window showed up in the middle of the mural, covered over with a sheet of drywall and thin skim of plaster. We left the mural in place where it was bonded to the drywall but cleaned up the areas around it in preparation for uncovering the window at a later date. (Say a prayer for us in the hope that the window is still under there.)

Today I ripped about two truckloads of vine from the side of the garage, along the driveway, and beside the property. The tree at the front of the driveway got a pruning as well as the stuff above the garage, and the place looks a lot less overgrown as a result. Jen cooked a huge, delicious lasagna for me, and we devoured our dinner with a bottle of red wine. | link

Sep 5 2003

geneva, teller, obviously upset with each other 9.5.03

So I replaced the Sears lawnmower (the mystery engine) last night with a Murray machine featuring a 4.5 HP Briggs & Stratton. I figure the rest of the unit is steel; I can't see myself wrecking the deck of the mower before the engine. Plus, it was $20 cheaper.

Candidate for Worst F**ing Website In Corporate History Award: Intermatic, the folks who manufactured the in-wall timers installed in my house. No mention of how to use the products, reprints of the user manuals, nothing. And their FAQ is a joke. Thanks for nothing.

Looks like we're going to have to invest in some Kilz for the walls in the house; all of the discussion boards and links I've followed regarding nicotine stains on walls have pretty gloomy forecasts for what can be done. There are some recipes for cleaning solutions that sound like a heck of a lot of work, or the simple sealer route where we wash the woodwork and seal the walls.

Postscript to the picture above: Jen told me earlier that Sage and Teller mixed it up for the first time a few hours ago. There's only so much lovin' to go around, I suppose. | link

Sep 4, 2003

For about the thirtieth day in a row, it's been raining here in Baltimore. Since we've been in the new house, I think there's been about a half-day of sunshine—and that was with about 80% humidity. Ugh. It kind of sucks going from central air to open windows and rain; you wind up sleeping in a bed that more closely resembles warm pea soup. Yeah, you say, boo-hoo, Bill; you could be a Marine in Afghanistan walking around in full combat gear, but the fact is, I'm not. My new house is about to float away down the Patapsco.

Last night I was finally able to get some work done in the house; I ran three new phone lines to the kitchen, living room, and dining room so that we don't have to use the basement stairwell anymore. Halleleujah, amen. Next up is a quick upgrade to the dining room wiring; I'd like to run a grounded circuit to the plug where we have our printer, hub, and power strip so that we don't fry the 1950's era wire job.

In other geek news, it looks like Eudora has upgraded their client to version 6. I have mixed emotions about 5.1 (I basically have to use it because my email server requires a client that supports APOP) and the basic usability of the program, but the new spam filtering in the paid version is tempting. I'm going to wait for a few weeks and then see what the feedback sounds like.

Holy crap. I just found out that my high school orchestra teacher, the guy who taught me how to play bass violin, was arrested on charges of child abuse for molesting 6-year-old girls. For the love of God, that is screwed up. | link

Sep 3, 2003

I went out last night and bought a bunch of crap for the house, the largest of which was a Craftsman 4.5HP 21" lawnmower on sale for $159.99. I walked through the local Sears, which has the eerie ambiance of a sinking ocean liner, until I found the garden center, and bought the last boxed model for sale. Loading it into the truck, I then drove to the Home Depot to compare pricing on some other items (a mixed bag, or at least dead even) when I found a comparable brand-name mower with a better engine for $149.99. D'oh! Luckily it's still in the box and in my garage (hee hee! I love saying that: my garage) so I can return it tomorrow. Lucky also, that it's raining right now and will continue until sometime next week, so I don't have to face my lawn just yet.

No luck with the phone situation; I'm going to continue to troubleshoot the wiring and attempt to get more than one line working in the house. I did buy a geektastic headlamp so that I can see what I'm working on when the lights are off.

Up for bids this weekend: most likely, a steamer rental for the horrendous wallpaper through the bedrooms in the house. We have four:

1. The G-Spot, so named because of its bright pink wall paint and matching carpet (as well as the large bulge next to the door where the plaster has separated from the lathe). This room needs new paint and some window work.
2. The Sticky Room, where the vinyl wallpaper has collected nicotine from the previous tenant and gathered dust. This room also features beautiful green all-weather carpeting. I need to remove the old AC unit, patch the walls, pull the carpet, and paint the radiator.
3. The Library, featuring shelving from the Doctor's home office, a beautiful oak desk, and a woven oval rug. Probably the best one out of all of them. This room needs minimal patching, but a righteous floor-sanding.
4. Finally, the Anxious Room, where the good Doctor made his bed. This room stars an anxious-making red floral wallpaper, which covers the walls, closet, and atrium. It's paper, probably dates back to the 40's, and covers the water damage from the roof leak (now fixed). I'm afraid to see what's behind there. Besides the bulge in the G-spot, this room will need the most patching work, because the west wall has pulled away from the north wall in the corner, and the floor is in bad shape.

I also made arrangements today to pay off the increasing credit card debt that I was hemorrhaging; with one online payment I should be free and clear of a $75/mo. minimum payment and something like a $65 finance charge. That will go a long way to making the monthly bills less of a train wreck. | link

Sep 2, 2003

Ma Bell (got the ill communication.) The good Doctor had a variety of phone lines installed over the years, from old four-wire copper to newer Cat 5 eight-wire stuff; as the phone contractor put new stuff in, they just left the old stuff up in the rafters. There's a mixture of new plastic "network interface boxes" and ancient steel panels with old-school copper nut fasteners. Throughout the house, there are a numbing array of connectors for the phones—all of which don't work. Currently in order to get online we have to stand in the basement stairwell, plug Jen's laptop into the test panel for the working phone line, and balance on the stair and windowsill while we type (thank god for laptops.) The good thing is that we're basing the networking off Airport, so with the exception of the server(s), everything will be wireless, and there's clean signal all the way out to the greenhouse.

Last night I spent about fifteen minutes attempting to troubleshoot one line to try and put a phone line somewhere inside the main house, and had to give up. In my wake I ripped about eight lines out which started nowhere and ended up noplace. I can see this is going to be only the beginning of a long process (the electrical lines in this house vary from Roosevelt-era post and wire to some new and creative uses of Romex.) Big fun.

For all the folks who thought that our cats were going to draw knives and massacre each other, you needn't worry. Jen found her cat Sage laying right up next to my cat Penn, each oblivious to each other. | link

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