Random Thoughts....

Drove the "Road to Hana" on Maui
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I had reserved an Compact/Economy should be Ford Focus or Chevy Cruze they gave me a Chevy Camero in Red...

My review it's not a good car

In Hawaii, no. Post your thoughts in “Rental Car Roulette,” I’d be interested to hear more.
 
Painting balustrades is really boring.

And this is the first coat out of a total of four.
 
Painting balustrades is really boring.

And this is the first coat out of a total of four.

I'm not looking forward to painting one of the bedrooms in my house. Somebody was really artsy and did an underwater sea mural with fish and stuff. Multiple colors is going to take a lot of primer to clear that out. I already did the rear portion of my house around the steps/where you walk in because somebody thought yellow walls and ceiling was a wonderful idea.

I'm having trouble picking the project for this year. Every year since I moved in, I've chosen something to do. First year was the roof replacement (asphalt shingles), second wasn't much besides deck paint and window frames. The same year was foundation leak repairs, 3rd wasn't anything, whole house dehumidifier was replaced under warranty and some heating fittings were replaced due to water leaks.

Now this year I've got a few things. I have to repair a leaky fitting again on the heating system thats before the shutoff for the loop, so I need to drain the entire system to fix this. Coupled with the moron who put in the baseboard radiators had no clue how hot water heat works and so theres a lot that should be fixed or ripped out. I don't want to go to forced air as that would benefit from adding central A/C, but I want to retain hot water heat and instead get it zoned whether that means I get panel radiators or do floor heat with mixing valves and wall thermostats. Along with this, I want the boiler to also take care of domestic hot water so that I have one gas appliance heating water instead of 2 doing essentially the same job but different practices. Gas water heaters are about as sophisticated as a kettle on your stove.

I need to also replace the fence around my yard as the wood is rotting and some pegs are broken in some areas. I'm fine with going to a simple chain link fence as I don't need to keep kids or pets inside since I have no kids and walk my dog whenever he needs to go. This avoids Hank eating turds. Problem is, that would be the sensible way but I want whats called a Gabion fence. Basically a fence with some rocks in it. I think it looks so good and you get the benefit of privacy. If I did that, it would mean I wouldn't have to do my other planned project which is get a bunch of pine bush/trees to give myself some sort of privacy. I have none at the moment and I'd love to be able go outside, fuck around in the yard without the feeling I'm being watched. I'm sure nobody cares but it bothers me. :|

Next is to have the roof on the garage replaced, and have the starting to rot panel on the rear of the garage replaced. Upon doing that, I want to put in insulation and some electric baseboard radiators on 240VAC breakers as the garage panel has space for it. The idea of running a gas line or hot water line from the house boiler seems outlandish and for someone who has fuck you money which I don't have.

The last one is to replace all gutters on the house. every single miter and seam leaks and the finish is deeply weathered. I can install gutters as that was my first job and I still have the tools to do it. I would just need a run off of seamless gutters and downspouts.
 
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Some friends just bought their first house, I've been over helping them to paint for a couple weekends now. Unfortunately the homebuilders used some basic splotchy wall texture troweled nearly flat then topped with a flat off-white paint for every wall and the ceiling.

My friend used to work the paint desk at a Home Depot for several years, so he's very familiar with paint and spent the money for some nice Behr Ultra which they're about 12 gallons into so far. It's a lovely light grey-blue color. Unfortunately when it's put on fresh it's light and glossy enough you can't tell the difference between the fresh paint and the off-white existing stuff. Combine that with the wall texture being just deep enough that rollers don't get into the smaller and deeper crevices in the texture, so it ends up that you can't see the coverage properly until the paint dries and darkens. Then you're staring at a wall with little white low spots scattered all over, so you have to go on with the second coat more aggressively to make sure coverage is good. Then it's just endless touchups. The three of us spent about 6 hours yesterday finishing out a bathroom, a couple hallways, and then a bunch of touchups and edge work.

So in any case, if you decide to do the painting, get good paint to start so you aren't doing 3-4 coats for the same coverage you can get from 1 or 2. And make sure you pick an application method and supplies appropriate for the wall texture. Oh, and surface prep with a TSP wash beforehand to make sure you have a clean surface, especially on the baseboards and trim so the tape doesn't just stick to the dust and dirt then peel off with a slight touch.

What I've learned from this is my future house will have walls with a very smooth and subtle texture. And will pay professional painters to do it, since they can do it much quicker and easier. :mrgreen:
 
@Nabster don't waste your money paying so-called professionals. Just take your time and remember that decorating is 80% preparation and 20% application.
 
Them: "oh I'm from Greenville"

Me: "ok, where is that?"

Them:
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Me:
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Sorry not sorry. Im a bit of a geography nerd too I didnt recognize your state by that city because it's tiny. It's not a northern arrogance either it's not Nashville you live in a small city ok ok ok
 
Thank you! They were looking at me like I was dumb. In looking at that list I'm not sure which Carolina they said to be honest.
 
Thank you! They were looking at me like I was dumb. In looking at that list I'm not sure which Carolina they said to be honest.

the only good Greenville is where BMW is. ;)
 
Whoah, what are the chances of that? I just took a hand full of candys from a bag with two flavors. Usually you would think you'll get about half and half, sometimes just a quarter of one flavor and three quarters of the other, but with this hand full I had only candy of one flavor, and I took 9 pieces out of the bag...

No, this wasn't a serious question, but I'll hazard a guess that narf will show up in a moment and calculate the chances... :p
 
Whoah, what are the chances of that? I just took a hand full of candys from a bag with two flavors. Usually you would think you'll get about half and half, sometimes just a quarter of one flavor and three quarters of the other, but with this hand full I had only candy of one flavor, and I took 9 pieces out of the bag...

No, this wasn't a serious question, but I'll hazard a guess that narf will show up in a moment and calculate the chances... :p

Usually its mostly bad stuff so you try and prolong those candies the most by eating the worst first. :D
 
Whoah, what are the chances of that? I just took a hand full of candys from a bag with two flavors. Usually you would think you'll get about half and half, sometimes just a quarter of one flavor and three quarters of the other, but with this hand full I had only candy of one flavor, and I took 9 pieces out of the bag...

No, this wasn't a serious question, but I'll hazard a guess that narf will show up in a moment and calculate the chances... :p


Just go buy a lottery ticket!
 
I had a half remembered dream of an opening to a shitty tv melodrama like something about a mom or a family with a piano "I'm walking in Cleveland" like living in the rust belt is a cross to bear on its own but she has a family and it's set in a diner idk could be I made it up in my own dream but it sucked yet I couldn't change the channel.


And the mom is played by Allison Janney but not
 
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Happy Leap Day.
 
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