Teleidoscope

Mon, Jun 29, 2009

Grinder

Posted at 8:59 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

In Connecticut, where I grew up, the kind of sandwich they sell at Subway and Quizno's was not a sub or a hoagie, it was a grinder. Don't ask me why they were called that: I don't think anyone really knows.

Today we bought lunch at Quizno's. I ordered a small Classic Italian on wheat, no cheese (God, I miss mozzarella) and more or less kept my fingers crossed for the next few hours. I wouldn't have dared try this 10 days ago when I was having major coughing and swallowing problems because of allergies, but I've been doing pretty well for the past few days.

The verdict, after about 8 hours, is that Quizno's does not seem to use stuff I'm allergic to in their wheat bread.

My throat was a little scratchy for a while, but I think that was the lettuce (which I am not officially allergic to, but sometimes react badly to. I wonder if that's partly agricultural chemicals rather than just the actual lettuce).

It's nice to know that I can probably count Quizno's as an allergy-safe, inexpensive place to eat.

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Sun, Jun 28, 2009

Water Softener

Posted at 3:59 pm MDT to Technology

I have a new water softener. Not an expense I really needed right after I contracted for the retaining wall work, but the old unit lasted nearly 24 years, so it's hard to complain. This new one should last the next 20 years.

The new water softener has some nice features.

The new controller has valves made from modern composites (fancy plastics) instead of brass, so it should be corrosion-proof.

The new salt tank has a float valve shutoff instead of an overflow hose, so I won't need to worry about tripping over it when carrying baskets of laundry.

And the control mechanism is smarter than the old one, which cycled automatically ervery 3 days regardless of how much water was being processed. The new unit tracks the water flow and should cycle only on the first night after 800 gallons have been processed since the last cycle. This means that it should use less salt, and it will not cycle (and use up its salt) when I am out of town and not using water. This will also decrease the salt that ends up in my septic system -- also a good idea.

The new installation has a more sensible plumbing layout in the basement, too, and is more compact and tucked into a corner than the old water softener was.

On the whole, I am very pleased with the new system.

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Cell-Less Gig

Posted at 3:59 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

This has been a hectic week.

Monday morning I verified the landscaping contract.

Late Monday afternoon I learned that I was starting a new gig on Wednesday, at a work site where cell phones are forbidden.

Tuesday I had a plumber check my water softener, which had been misbehaving, and learned that 24 years of my horrible well water had actually corroded the brass valves. The plumber went away to investigate options.

Also on Tuesday, I had lunch with my business partners and a real estate agent: our office lease is up in October and we need to decide what to do about it.

Wednesday I started the new gig. In the secure building with no cell phones allowed. I contacted the plumber and landscape guy, since the numbers I had given them would no longer work during working hours.

Thursday evening we had a meeting of CRUG, the Colorado Rational Users' Group, which our company sponsors.

Friday, the plumber came back and installed a new water softener. I also got in touch with the landscaper: his projects are running behind -- probably due to the violent weather we have had amost every day lately -- and the work on my retaining walls is now tentatively scheduled to start on Monday July 6.

Saturday I worked the farmers' market, and the weather, for a change, was beautiful.

Today I'm cleaning everything in the utensil drawers that the mice invaded while I was in Mobile: I need to use enough hot water to clear the untreated water out of the hot water heater before I try to do any laundry. There is so much iron in the untreated water that my clothes will be ruined if I use it to wash them.

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Sat, Jun 20, 2009

Retaining Wall

Posted at 8:21 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Starting to track the latest phase of home improvement/repairs. I have hired New Creation Hardscapes to fix the stairwell to the basement door, where the dirt-slide happened last week.

Their bid was reasonable, and their design proposal showed that their rep had been listening to me. Unlike the other bid I got from a landscape architect who did not pay attention to the preferences I expressed during our conversation.

It remains to be seen how long this project will take to get started and to be finished, of course. I just faxed over a copy of the proposal with my signature Friday afternoon.

I don't know whether to hope they will be able to do the work immediately (which might suggest they are desperate for work) or that they are busy (which would probably be a good sign for the economy).

When they are finished, I should have usable steps down to the basement entrance and a paved walk from the front porch out to my driveway, which will be nice when the weather is wet and makes the clay in the soil all sticky.

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Thu, Jun 18, 2009

Allergies

Posted at 9:13 am MDT to Miscellaneous

I have been having a miserable time all week. My old coughing and swallowing problems seem to be back, full force. It is really annoying (and a little scary) to have problems swallowing chicken noodle soup.

Taking my morning meds, with water, set off serious coughing that seems to be a reaction to the physical act of swallowing. My fingers seem to be swollen, too, so my whole system is reacting, badly, to whatever is going on.

I don't think I have been eating anything I shouldn't -- though just to be on the safe side I am going to try taking eggs and goat's milk back out of my diet for a few days. I think the problem is actually the wet, rainy weather we've been having, which has caused an outpouring of pollen and mold in the environment.

I would prefer normal hayfever symptoms, though I have some of those too: puffy, watery eyes and occasional sneezing.

I'm going to take some Advil to try to knock down the inflamation so I can actually eat some breakfast. I should probably try taking an antihistamine, too, though I'll need to buy some.

At least I'm better off than I was last spring in that I know these are allergy symptoms.

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Wed, Jun 17, 2009

Charity of the Month -- Planned Parenthood

Posted at 3:31 pm MDT to Technology

Planned Parenthood is having a funds-matching drive this month, which I agreed to take part in even before Dr. George Tiller was murdered.

Their website is here. Clicking Donate takes you to a secure site.

They would probably have become this month's donation after the murder even if I hadn't already scheduled this payment. I'd consider making a specific donation to the Boulder Abortion Clinic (Dr. Hern is apparently just below Tiller on the wingnut hit list) but it looks like they don't take direct donations.

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Wed, Jun 10, 2009

Cashew Chicken Salad

Posted at 12:31 pm MDT to Technology

It just recently occurred to me that I can have this again because I can have mayo now that I no longer react to eggs. When I regularly took lunches to work I ate this a couple of times a week, carrying it in small thermos containers. At least it adds some protein to my diet, which is way too carb-heavy, especially now that I can't live on cheese the way I used to.

One batch makes about two lunches. The second day tastes even better because the flavors have had time to meld.

Dinah likes to drink the broth from the chicken can.

1 12 ounce can of chicken, drained and the chunks broken up

1 11 ounce can of mandarin orange slices, drained

a few ounces of salted cashews, broken up

soy sauce

mayonnaise

This is a Costco meal: most of the ingredients are cheap, by the case, from there. It would work with leftover roasted chicken that wasn't cooked with herbs that conflict, of course.

My other lunches were a modified Waldorf salad made with yogurt, apples, grapes and celery (I could probably make that with goat yogurt) and a salmon salad with ranch dressing that will take more modification: ranch dressing has buttermilk in it, so it is out of my diet.

I wonder if I can find a recipe for ranch dressing that I could modify to use things I can eat...

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Forever Stamps

Posted at 11:21 am MDT to Miscellaneous

I need to run some errands later, including mailing the few monthly bills I still pay with paper checks.
I don't need to buy stamps to mail them.

I won't need to buy stamps for a long time. Even allowing for special events like sending Christmas cards, at my current rate of stamp use, I won't need to buy stamps again for at least a couple of years.

A few months ago (before the postage increase) I picked up 100 forever stamps at Costco, where they were even discounted from the official price. Since they are now worth 44 dollars instead of their 42 dollar original value or the 41.50 I paid for them, I have made over 5 per cent on the transaction already.

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Tue, Jun 09, 2009

Noisy

Posted at 4:45 pm MDT to Weather

It's been cool and cloudy -- almost misty -- most of the day, but things got
noisy a little while ago.

Lots of thunder, some very close, and pings and clunks when little hailstones
hit the stovepipe and vent covers. When I looked out, I saw one of the bunnies
taking shelter under the truck.

Now the sun is trying to come out for the first time today.

The lights blinked once as the cell passed by. I'll need to reset the microwave
clock, but the stove clock is OK. The computers and AV stack are fine.

I wonder why they make the clocks in microwaves so sensitive? It seems like
they start flashing 8s or hyphens (depending on the clock) at the slightest
excuse.

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Mon, Jun 08, 2009

Basement Door

Posted at 6:56 am MDT to Miscellaneous

Dinah Kitty is freaked out. Her pupils are very dilated and she sort of prowls around lashing her tail.

First we had a guest in the house -- my brother Larry arrived midday Friday and I drove him into Denver Saturday evening for a professional conference he's attending. Then some time yesterday the French doors to my basement were forced open by a combination of wind and a minor avalanche of the dirt that was loosened by the powerline excavations last year.

I didn't notice the door being open until this morning. Dinah had not slept on my bed last night at all, which is very unusual, so when it got light I went looking for her.

When I found the open door I was very worried that she had gone outside and gotten lost or been eaten by a coyote or something: she is an indoor
cat who does not know how to handle herself outdoors. Fortunately, she was hiding in the basement. I'm not sure why she was hiding in the basement when it was something in the basement that was upsetting her, but that's OK. At least she is safe.

I used a spade to clear enough dirt to mostly close the door. It doesn't latch properly (I need to do some more digging to get the second door to close all the way) but the biggest gap is at the top. I have the spade braced under the doorknob to keep the door from swinging open before I have time to work on it some more.

Dinah ate a little of her breakfast and then went downstairs again. Maybe she thinks she is guarding her territory, but I'm not sure how she thinks she can do that from her hiding place in the far end of the basement.

I think the urgency of getting those retaining walls replaced has just increased considerably. I wish I believed there was such a thing as a reliable contractor. Neither my experience nor Nanette's is very encouraging.

They say that there were severe storms in the area yesterday afternoon, including some tornadoes. I don't remember hearing anything here, but I suppose a gust of wind might have helped push the door open. There are more storms forecast for today. I'll have to pay attention to things.

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Mon, Jun 01, 2009

VMWare and Ubuntu 9.04

Posted at 9:27 pm MDT to Technology

VMWare is being flakey. I'm not sure whether the problem is actually the interaction of VMWare with the new version of Ubuntu, or whether my problem is internal to one of the Windows images.

In either case, one I bring up the virtual machines on the laptop something hammers the drive and sucks up a lot of processor time.

I need to recheck some DNS settings that got muched during the Ubuntu upgrade, and tweak some network settings that can be different now that I'm back on my home network (I had to adjust a few things when I was in Mobile connecting through Comcast). But I don't think either of those is related to the resource hogging.

I'm going to try some troubleshooting tomorrow.

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