I had to write a piece this morning on the Phoenix water tasting, and I’m getting ready to fly to LA on Sunday for a new (badly needed) consulting gig. I also have to go out and buy a new laptop this afternoon, so posting may be light.
Category Archives: Administrative
Slow Weekend
Yesterday morning, a dump truck lived up to its name and deposited dozens of bags of mulch (malaleuca–I know you were dying to know), top soil, potting soil and sod in the yard, in a large high-entropy pile. We are still dealing with the aftermath of this event (which was not only planned, but cost us a few hundred bucks). Also, I’m working on a piece for Popular Mechanics on the fate of ISS after Shuttle.
Comments Hygiene
I’ve banned a moronic anonymous commenter that seems to have nothing of value to contribute, and is so illiterate that it can’t even manage to spell my last name right. Just in case anyone was wondering. I grow less tolerant of such juvenile nonsense as time goes on. If the creature persists somehow, I’ll just delete the posts as well (probably should anyway).
Test Post
I’ve been having trouble with MT getting it to publish a post. I want to see if this will force it.
Hello, Dolly
We’ve had four named storms already, and it’s not August yet (and a good chance for one or two more before it is). That may mean a busy season. I just hope that southeast Florida isn’t in the bore sights. We’ve gotten off easy the last two years.
Job Bleg
I’ve been running my trap lines with my contacts, but I might as well see if any of my readers know of anything. The blog doesn’t pay the bills, and I’m kind of at the end of my financial tether, so if anyone is aware of any jobs out there in the industry, I’d appreciate a tip. I can relocate, but my preference would be either the Denver area or southern California, due to existing housing.
[Update a while later]
For those interested, a brief version of my resume can be found at my personal web site. I’m looking for work in space systems engineering and management, preferably manned space. I could also do temp work, though that’s kind of hard for the big companies under the FAR, unless I come in through a job shop, which skims a lot in overhead for no value added.
[Friday afternoon update]
For those suggesting that I try to make a living writing columns, I’m already doing that as much as I can. There’s no way that it will pay my bills, even if I did it full time. It just doesn’t pay that well. I have to be earning on the order of several tens of dollars an hour to keep ahead of them. The only place I can do that is in the space industry.
I do appreciate all the kind thoughts, though.
[Friday evening update]
Several have commented that I should put a tip jar up. I’ve had one up for years. Unfortunately, it’s not Paypal but Amazon, but I think that you can use any form of payment with it. Is it not appearing in the upper left corner?
Not that I’m asking for handouts, but the thought is appreciated.
Landscaping And Barbecuing
…and taking a break from blogging. Hope you’re enjoying your holiday weekend.
Yeah, I Know
I have a lot of work to do, and I’m not in a very bloggy mood today.
Crunched
Probably light blogging. I’m on a schedule crunch for a deliverable.
Busy Weekend
Slow posting because I’m finishing up painting and starting a new project–reguttering the front where we removed the gutters over the garage, and putting them in on the rest of the front of the house where there was never any, but now we have new landscaping to protect from the rainy season which starts in a couple weeks.
The challenge is that it turns out that the roof fascia board slopes in the direction opposite the one that I want it to in order to put one of the down spouts at the end of the house. In fact, the whole house seems tilted slightly toward the east three inches or so end to end (probably settling toward the intracoastal, since it was built on fill). So it works fine for the east spout, but not so much for the west one. Which means an ugly angle on the westward side to force the water to run uphill, so to speak. Still not sure what to do about that one, but now I know why the old gutter never worked very well…
The other joyous part of the adventure is that the fascia isn’t vertical, as the hangars expect–it’s seventeen degrees off with a slight overhang. So I get to cut a bunch of wedges from two-by-four to make up the difference. Which is where our new Craftsman double-bevel mitre saw, that we got for crown and base molding installation (which I haven’t started yet) will come in handy.
I’ll also add that laser levelers are well worth having. It would have been a real PITA to figure this out with a standard bubble and tacked string.