The time I normally use for posting updates here has been consumed today by dealing with spam. Over the past 12 hours, someone has been trying to hijack the feedback form on my site to send spam. My feedback script is hardcoded to send messages only to me. So the spam they tried to send through it all came back to me. I’ve been deleting thousands of messages from my inbox. So I’ve removed the feedback form (and script!). Hopefully I can figure out a spam-proof way of rewriting it. Until then, you’ll just have to already know my email address if you want to reach me (or post a comment here in the blog - the comments are emailed to me).
Kai in the kicthen cabinet I had to temporarily take down, to run the new electrical line for the spotlights
Maria is in Montreal this weekend for a conference. Whenever Kai and I are alone for any length of time, he always says “it’s just the boys.” Unfortunately, I came down with a cold on Friday, so it’s been slowing me down. But I’ve had just enough energy to keep him entertained and get some more work done in the kitchen too. It’s the last 10% of any project that’s always the hardest to get through, but I’m trying to stay focused.
After I put in all the new electrical wiring, and all the painting, etc. was done, then we realized that just one overhead light was not enough. There was no way I was going to start cutting new holes in the ceiling for new fixtures. So today I came up with a less drastic solution. I put an outlet above the wall cabinets, and placed it directly over the light switch, so it was easy to run a line in the wall down to the switch. From there it was just a question of mounting a couple spotlights on top of the cabinets. Unless you’re 9 ft tall, you won’t see the cords.
Tonight I put what creative energies I have remaining after a long day into chipping away at finishing our Route 50 travelogue: Day 13 (6/10) - Denver to Garden City, Kansas. This was a day of sensory overload, so it’s a good story with lots of pictures.
The Shamrock Maria made for Kai to wear to school on St Patrick’s Day
The Shamrock Maria made for Kai to wear to school on St Patrick’s Day
After living in CA for so long, where the Irish are just lumped in with the rest of the white folk, I forgot how seriously people take St. Patrick’s day here on the east coast. There’s more than one house in the neighborhood decked out like it’s Christmas - they’ve got big plastic shamrocks with green electric lights in their windows. Maria made this clover for Kai to wear to school today. In case you’re wondering, the sliver of Irish in him comes from me 
The other thing I did this past weekend was some stop-gap electrical repairs: we had a bad outlet, and a couple of lights that weren’t working because of worn-out switches. In the process of replacing them, I learned - much to my chagrin - that all of the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor are on one circuit. We’re talking about 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms here. That’s just nuts.
On top of that, the breaker for that circuit is bad. I had to flip it half a dozen times to get the circuit to shut off. When we bought the house, the seller had the service panel replaced, and it looks like they put in all new breakers too, except for one: this one. So I’ve got to replace that breaker ASAP - it’s quite a fire hazard.
The 3rd floor is not original to the house, so my guess is that, when the house was built in the 1920s, one circuit for the 2nd floor was probably considered ok. Back then bedrooms just used electricity for lights and radios, right? Then when the 3rd floor was added, I bet they were just lazy and tied into the closest circuit, rather than running a new line to the service panel in the basement.
This will complicate my plans for replacing the wiring. As I go room-by-room, I’ll have to be careful to not mess up the existing lines, otherwise we’ll end up with no power in most of the house. It’ll be a pain when I want to put a new outlet in the same spot as an old one. Grrr.
It was dumb of Kerry to say he had met with foreign leaders who told him that he really had to beat Bush. It’s a statement that gets him nowhere - he can’t say which leaders because, either A. he didn’t really talk to them, or B. even if he did, it’s understandable that they would not want their names revealed, as they probably don’t want to further sour their relationship with the Bush administration (particularly if Bush is reelected!). But yesterday, Spain’s new PM said, “Mr Blair and Mr Bush must do some reflection and self-criticism… you can’t organize a war with lies.” When have you ever heard a Western European leader speak of an American President that way? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that kind of comment from one. Regardless of whether Kerry’s claim is true, the sentiment expressed certainly seems believable.
Today’s Krugman editorial is devastating indictment of Bush’s approach to counterterrorism: Weak on Terror
As promised, my 45 second tour of the new kitchen is now available. Enjoy!
I spent a good part of the weekend wrapping up some work in the kitchen. The windows and doors still need to be replaced, but other than that, it’s just about done (the only other significant task remaining is for me to build a cover for the radiator). Here are some before and after photos. I also created a 45 second video, which I will upload tonight.
BEFORE: Kitchen - with the sink, dishwasher, range, and fridge crammed into a tiny space, the original kitchen was almost unusable
BEFORE: Pantry - the previous residents were using the pantry room as a computer room (and yes, that is the back of Maria’s head)
AFTER: Kitchen - moving the fridge out and rearranging the other appliances made the space much more comfortable
AFTER: Pantry - we moved the fridge into the pantry, and put in some more cabinets and counters. The pantry has a window facing south, so even though it’s small, it’s a nice space
There are new Kai pictures: Spring 2003 - these are from about a year ago. There are big gaps in Kai’s online photo album, so I’m starting to fill them in. There’s also a video from the same time period, of Kai dancing on the dining room table. It’s a .mov file, and for some reason my browser wouldn’t play it, but it played ok when I downloaded it. If it won’t play in your browser, right-click the link and select “save target as…” - this will allow you to download it and play it independently of your web browser.
Someone recently forwarded a URL to me, at which I learned my last name is an insult in Klingon:
“WHAT! You incompetent toh-pah! You were supposed to be prepared!”
“You dishonorable toh-pah!”
See http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8853/curse.html and look under “toba”
