Still Scoutless. The plastic (technically, phenolic resin) main bowl of the carburetor is so old that parts of it have worn away and are allowing fuel to pool after shutdown, making any sort of adjustment impossible. So my mechanic is trying to source a new (used) bowl to replace it.
Verizon Wireless needs to go bite a bag of dicks. They have been spamming me at least five times a day and for some reason their spam makes it through my filters. I DON”T WANT YOUR WIRELESS SERVICE, YOU DON”T HAVE THE PHONE I WANT. Leave me alone, please.
This week is getting out of control, so we’re interviewing a cleaning service tomorrow afternoon to have them work on the house while we’re getting everything ready for the party. I’ll have you know Jen was planning for the party in April (possibly March), and we still feel like we’re behind the 8-ball. Grrr. However, I put the mister together last night, and it works perfectly.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that federal and state-based handgun bans are unconstitutional, nullifying bans in cities across the country. I find myself torn between the two schools of thought here; on the one hand, I respect and appreciate my right to keep and bear arms, and I intend to exercise that right sometime in the future. (Last night, before I even knew about the ruling, I had a dream where I walked into a gun store and shopped for a pistol. I tried out revolvers and small automatics that didn’t fit my hand, finally settling on something that looked like a Glock.) On the other hand, I have several cousins who are uniformed policemen. I have nothing but respect for officers of the law, and I appreciate the impossible job they are faced with daily. Therefore, I do not agree with and cannot abide the NRA’s assertion that anyone should be able to purchase assault rifles, teflon bullets, or other military-grade hardware legally. Furthermore, I think the federal government should man up and write strict country-wide rules for the sale and purchase of guns, so that cities like Chicago and New York, who are struggling with controlling guns purchased out-of-state, can better police themselves.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
From the Karma’s a Bitch Department: Alleged Walmart Parking Lot Baby Salesman Beaten in Jail, Say Cops.
Today’s weather is a little less like being in the moist maw of Hell and more like being in actual summertime, which is a nice break. Unfortunately, our basement humidifier, which has been going strong since about 2005, decided it had finally enough and began to make louder and louder rumbling noises as the compressor cycled on and off. Things started feeling a bit stickier down there, and a recent reconnaissance of the litter boxes revealed some fuzz that doesn’t usually belong there. So I got up early this morning and hit the Lowe’s for a new unit, and picked up some extra parts for a mister I’m going to set up at the parade party. It’s essentially a 3GPM mister head hooked up to a set of 1/2″ PVC piping via garden hose, with a ball valve to turn it on or off. The only thing I haven’t been able to figure out is how to get it standing elegantly; I’ll probably just use a couple of pipe clamps and attach it to a wooden spike in the ground, and then wrap that with some foam pipe insulation to protect little hands and feet.
Wow, I’m totally digging Flickr’s new photo interface—they’ve done a bunch of things that make using it a lot easier. The share menu is so much nicer now (instead of two clicks to get to a chunk of HTML, they’ve made it a DHTML rollover) and the mapping widget is really slick. My Pro account is up for renewal in a few weeks, and even though I was planning on continuing, they’ve made me a happy repeat customer.
It looks like our Scout recovery mission will be postponed until tomorrow. I was really hoping to have it back tonight, but as of 4PM the carb gasket isn’t on yet, and I don’t want to rush the delicate job of tuning such a delicate instrument. As much as I am impatient to get it back, I’m also glad it’s getting worked on by a pro who knows what he’s doing, and who can tell me important details about what I’ve got (would I have known, without any other reference, that the gasket was too thick? That it was a heated choke and not an electric choke?) so that I can learn to do it myself.
I also violated the cardinal rule of buying stuff off of Craigslist the other day, which states Thou Shalt Hasten Thy Hiney To That Which You Might Purchase. (The second is, obviously, Thou Shalt Bring Cash But Leave It In The Car, and the third is Thou Shalt Always Check Out The Address On Street View To Avoid Highwaymen). I found a used trailer hitch for the CR-V for the unbelievably low price of $20 on Monday and made arrangements to see it on Wednesday, but apparently someone stopped by on Tuesday and stole it out from under me. I’ve had good luck in the past with people stacking buyers based on the order of their call, but this guy apparently just wanted his $20 and took it from the first person to stop by. So I’ll have to keep looking.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Scratching two of my itches in one shot: Colin Moulding of XTC discusses the creation and recording of King for A Day, one of my all-time favorite songs. (YouTube link)There’s a wealth of information in interviews with the band about other recordings, people, and history. My one gripe with the MySpace weblog format is that there’s no way to search (that I can see) or list things in any sort of scannable format.
1. We have plumbing in the new (old) half-bath on the side porch! Mr. Scout and his plumber hacked, sawed, and felled a 300-lb. cast iron vent pipe from the side of the house, replacing it with a temporary in-wall unit until after the 4th of July. This morning, after delivering Finn to daycare, I picked up a new toilet and sink from the Gucci Lowe’s. They will get installed tomorrow along with the door and some temporary drywall to make a functional bathroom for the parade.
2. The carburetor on the Scout is being assembled as I type, and hopefully I will get a call this evening with an update and the go-ahead to pick it up. Which is good, because we have new piles of debris to haul away from the house.
3. I made a few edits to the files here on the site in an attempt to speed up pageloads. Let me know if you see any difference (it’s that little link to the left that says “comment”).
4. Plans are afoot for a vacation stay in the Outer Banks in September right around Finn’s birthday. We have a house picked out with a stunning view of the beach and a lovely in ground pool for the girl to splash around in. We are excited to have something fun to look forward to.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Wow, this is an incredible find: a Japanese site featuring a huge collection of Blue Note album covers in order of their catalog number. It’s like a virtual school in excellent graphic design from the late 40’s up through the 80’s. Ten years ago there was a website selling large blowups of famous Blue Note album covers, but they’re long gone now.
