Last weekend, a beautiful 3 day weekend, I had hoped to finish the club house. Instead I was programming. This weekend I thought I would take up some slack. It’s now 1:30 and I’m just getting away from the computers. Here’s hoping I can get those hip rafters on!
What do you do with a city that needs a lot of paint?
Old buildings? Beach front property? Rusted Water towers? Make an animation with graffiti of course!
BIG BAG BIG BOOM – the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
53 Years of Nuclear Bombs
How many nuclear bombs have been exploded? Many people would say, "One, over Japan" when it fact it was two, one over Hiroshima and another over Nagasaki. Would you believe that Britain has exploded a nuclear bomb in the United States? Would you believe that in 53 years 2053 nuclear bombs were exploded around the globe? I find the following video unsettling. It left me feeling hollow in my chest and subtly angry.
Happy Independence Day!
It’s a beautiful day out there! If you are in the United States, get out an celebrate the day. Try not to wear your politics on your sleeve. Just enjoy your family, your neighbors and the strangers you see while out and about. If you aren’t in the United States, celebrate the day too! We should always look for reasons to be happy and party.
A 3 hour lunch.. a 3 hour lunch…
The programmer was feeling stressed
He had much to get done
If not for the forgotten iPhone charger
He could skip lunch
He could skip lunch
The battery was draining fast
A power cord must be bought
The Apple Store was lots of fun
But too close to home
Too close to home
At the house the Internet went out
Comcast kinda sucks
A technician was called out
We rewired the house
Rewired the house
The Internet came back up
Not by skill but by luck
My temple pulsing with anger
A 3 hour lunch
A 3 hour lunch!
What floor should be inside the clubhouse?
The kind folks at Woodmanor.net usually leave the inside of their clubhouses the bare plywood. They have seen people put down outdoor carpet, linoleum, and wood flooring. I am inclined to think of the plywood as a subfloor and to install some kind of flooring. If the fllooring ever became damaged, I could easily pull it out and replace it. If the plywood ever became damaged, repair or replacement would be difficult. The people at lumberliquidators.com said their flooring is not rated for outdoor use and did not recommend it for the clubhouse.
What kind of flooring should I use inside the clubhouse? What about on the porch?
Weekend Project Day 10 – Rafters Secured
I’m programming today but gave myself a milestone reward and took some time to secure the rafters on Amy’s clubhouse. There are two hip rafters that will have to be cut and secured before the roofing can be added but now the house can be tarped and the children can play in it until work continues.
Projects like this make me in awe of our pioneering forefathers who had to cut and mill their own wood, make their own nails, and build their own homesteads. What a life that had to be!
Weekend Project Day 9 – Rafters begun
Weekend Project Day 8 – last wall done
The last wall is secured and the sizing and cutting of the rafters have begun. The plans were a little unclear on some of the rafter cuts so I had to do some math and thinking. It’s been a pleasure having my geometry bone tickled. And I’ve regained an appreciation for my tools. The power of a square! (pun totally intended). I am short on a tool. For 16 cuts I really require a band saw so today I hope to impose on a friend for the use of his workshop. This is my favorite movie of the project so far:
flickr iPhone app 99% upload then fails
My iPhone refuses to upload a picture using the flickr app. It gets through 99%, reports complete, then says "Upload failed. Try later. Try again." Not much on The Googles about this. However, I believe the answer is in Flickr’s monthly upload limit for free accounts. After upgrading to Pro, my upload worked flawlessly. To the flickr iPhone app developers, your error message needs to be altered to encourage the purchase of a pro account.
View pictures mainly from my iPhone at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccaughan and see excellent photography from Cathy with a real camera at http://www.flickr.com/photos/domesticpsychology.
Of Grasshoppers
Student: Why do we go on?
Master: Why stop?
Weekend Project Day 7 – 2 more walls complete
I made my first cutting error. A sheet of T111 is 8 feet by 4 feet. I needed one to end up being 72 inches which leaves a 24 inch piece. I had two other pieces that were supposed to be 13 inches and 12½ inches totaling 12.5 inches. I cut those two pieces from the piece of T111 that was supposed to end up being 72 inches. That left me 1.5 inches short. Cost of a new sheet of T111 = $40! For 1½ inches! In the long run, I won’t have to route any of the siding to make it fit so this is probably $40 well spent.
Of Grasshoppers
Student: So much I haven’t done.
Master: So much you have.
Weekend Project Day 6
This is the second weekend of Amy’s birthday present. Sarah’s birthday is this week. So after making a little progress on a programming project, I allowed myself a milestone break to get the upper half of the second wall in place. My weekend goal had been All walls complete and rafters begun. Once the second wall was in place, we whisked over to the inlaws to celebrate father’s day. Upon return I convinced myself that I should do a 3rd wall before returning to programming (you can program in the dark). The materials for my 4th wall are a full 1½ inches short. How that happened is beyond me. So after the 3rd wall, progress came to a grinding halt. Tomorrow I’ll pickup another sheet of T111 and that will give us enough material to finish the walls in short spurts during the week. Hopefully before the next rains come we can have the rafters in place to support a tarp or perhaps even the roof done.
Weekend Project On Hold
Today would be a perfect day to make great progress on a club house. Unfortunately, duties call and I must produce code.

















