planet snewpy

surface transmissions (2011):

Handy Storage For Christmas Lights

2011-01-01 18:15:54 -

Looking for a good way to store your Christmas lights and don't want to spend a lot of money? If you have any of the cardboard boxes that they use to ship Florida citrus, they are an excellent storage solution. Each box has three removable cardboard trays that will keep your lights neatly organized -- so they don't come out of the box next year looking like Clark Griswold's. You can write the location of the lights on the bottom of the tray, and even keep a portion of the original box in case you ever need to replace the lights. So don't throw away or recycle those boxes! Reuse'em!

More Sketchup

2011-02-03 18:17:22 -

Last year I wrote about how I was learning to use Google Sketchup and that I was planning to use it for some home improvement projects. The first project is a basement bar that I have been planning ever since we moved into our house. I have found Sketchup to be extremely useful in transferring the rather vague picture in my mind into more concrete terms.

Garden 2.0

2011-04-09 21:10:58 -

Last year's garden was a big success, but it didn't take us long to realize that it wasn't big enough to produce all of the food we wanted. So we started this season by expanding it to twice the size. Our success with the garden last year has also led us to expand the number of crops as well. I look forward to more bountiful harvests.

How Is AT&T Still In Business?

2011-06-18 17:21:57 -

I just had another horrible experience with AT&T customer support, and I know I'm not alone. They have to be one of the most hated companies on earth for this reason. I just tried logging into their website to make changes to an account and since I do this so seldom, I could not remember my password. Against my better judgment, I attempted to reset my password online -- to avoid having to call them, which is an even more painful experience. Twenty-five minutes later, after struggling with the user interface of their site, I get to the point where I click a button to have a temporary password sent to me so I can login. Upon clicking said button, I get a message informing me that the "My AT&T" site is down temporarily for maintenance. It's tragically comic. Or comically tragic. I can't decide which. But I do know that if I had another option available to me for DSL service, I would no longer be an AT&T customer. But since they are a monopoly, I'm stuck complaining about their crappy service to you, my dear reader. Thank you for listening.

I Am The Lorax

2011-06-11 20:38:10 -

I am not a fan of Ameren. Ever since I spent seven days without electricity in the throes of a St. Louis summer, there is very little that company can do to find favor with me. I'm sure I'm not alone. That incident in July 2006, where a half million residents lost power for days following some severe storms, actually gave Ameren enough of a black eye that they started to at least pretend that they cared about their customers. In response to the public outcry, Ameren launched an initiative to make their service more reliable. What they actually launched was a War on Trees.

I Bought A Cow

2011-06-22 20:55:07 -

I challenge anyone to watch the documentary Food, Inc. and not be influenced to make at least a few changes in the way you eat. More than likely, you'll change a lot. You'll look at that half-pound chicken breast and wonder if the chicken was still able to walk, supporting its unnatural weight. You'll wonder what dose of antibiotics you're receiving in that burger you just ate. Most importantly, you'll wonder if cheap food really is the blessing we all assume it to be, when you take into account the hidden costs associated with eating it.

I Speak For The Trees

2011-06-12 20:48:23 -

After meeting with the contractor that Ameren dispatched to walk my property line and mark trees, he invited me to walk the line with him. I was glad I did. Not only did this give me an opportunity to recalibrate his understanding of easements, but it gave him a chance to come clean and admit that he had already marked a half dozen of my trees with orange spray paint -- designating them for removal! These trees were nowhere near the easement, but he said that they look for trees that will become a problem in the next few years and remove them as a preventative measure. He was very reasonable, and agreed to cover up the paint so that Nelson Tree Service would not touch them. (If it were only that easy!)

Mmmm... Beer

2011-06-13 06:14:53 -

Rule #1 in home improvement projects: everything takes longer than you think it will. This past winter, I started building a bar in the basement. When the cold outside prevented me from doing anything else, progress was swift, and I was actually thinking I would be done with the whole project by springtime. Well, summer's here, and there are a lot more things competing for my attention, so now it's a game of inches. I made a small amount of progress this weekend (the first in weeks), so I wanted to document it. I finished the framing on the bar by adding a display case to the front of it complete with LED lighting and a custom-made glass shelf for displaying my favorite beers. More photos from this project are in my album.

President for a Day

2011-06-06 05:46:05 -

I came across an interesting bit of trivia this week that I'm almost embarrassed to admit I had not heard before, but my guess is that residents of the western side of Missouri are more prone to have heard of Senator David Atchison than us easterners. Historians dispute the claim, but many believe that Atchison was Acting President of the United States for a 24-hour period in 1849 when Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn into office on a Sunday. At 41 years of age, this would have made him the youngest president in US history as well.

Projects Aplenty

2011-06-29 20:57:38 -

Summer is always busy, but this month has seemed especially crazy with plenty of projects keeping me busy. Today we had our friend and concrete expert finish the patio we started two years ago by adding some steps to the face. Between that, adding the finishing touches to my daughter's play table, and working to complete my basement bar project, I don't know if I'm ever going to have a chance to sit and relax again. Summer is going to fly by, and next thing I know it will be winter again, and I'll have a new set of projects to work on.

Reading and Writing

2011-06-26 22:18:58 -

I envy people who view reading a book as a way to kill an afternoon. It usually takes me months to read a book. Part of it is I just don't read that fast, but mostly it's a matter of finding the time to sit down and read. The time that works best is bedtime right before I fall asleep, however, reading puts me to sleep faster than a double shot of melatonin, so I usually end up reading a page, maybe two, before I'm out like a light. At a page a day, you can see that even a magazine could take me all winter to get through.

Ready, Set, Blog!

2011-06-01 06:26:00 -

It is time once again for the Running of the Blogs! This is my fourth year participating, and it seems to get harder every year. The idea is to post something every day for 30 days. It's harder than it sounds. Although it's a lot easier than writing a novel in 30 days. I have a few interesting topics lined up to talk about this month, but the rest of time I'll be winging it. So, let's see how I do, shall we? On your mark. Get set. Blog!

Stop Draggin' My Car Around

2011-06-07 20:29:46 -

Last year I wrote about the state of the electric car market, so I wanted to revisit the topic and provide an update. I'm still planning to buy an electric car one day, so this is something I have been following pretty closely for years now. I previously wrote about how GM started advertising its electric hybrids in 1969, and given that a New York City taxi driver was jailed for speeding in his electric car in 1899, I think it's important to note that electric cars are not a new technology by any means. Cars that run on batteries are as old as cars themselves. So, as I lamented last year, what is taking so long?

That Time Of The Month

2011-06-30 05:59:42 -

Thank goodness that's over. The thirtieth day couldn't come quickly enough for me. I think I say this every year, but this was by far the hardest month so far. We had so much stuff going on this month, just finding the time to write was enough of a challenge, but I also struggled to find topics that I thought would be interesting. I hope I didn't bore anyone to death with my ramblings. I'm pretty sure all of my friends have blocked me on Facebook because they are tired of hearing me rant. Well, if you're still reading this, thanks for coming along for the ride and more than likely I'll be punishing myself again next June and we'll do it all over again. In the meantime, I will return to my regular schedule of once or twice a month when I have something important (or at least not completely tedious) to say. Thanks for listening!

IOGEAR Wireless Keyboard

2011-07-16 13:26:37 -

Last year, I wrote about the Lenovo Keyboard I bought, and that I wasn't a fan. It has its good points, but overall the lack of backlighting is a deal breaker. But I've found a keyboard that I can definitely recommend for the Home Theater PC enthusiast.

Stone Soup Cottage

2011-07-29 14:40:27 -

Having made reservations a full five months in advance, I had a long time to anticipate my wife's birthday dinner at Stone Soup Cottage in Cottleville, Missouri. Prior to attending the Chef's Tasting Dinner last Friday, I had read that St. Louis Magazine had given them the Best New Restaurant award when they opened in 2009, and had named them Restaurant of the Year again in 2010, so my expectations were pretty high. Chef Carl McConnell and his culinary creations did not disappoint. However, I did find a few aspects of the overall dining experience that could be improved.

Progress Report

2011-09-25 17:29:20 -

It has certainly taken longer than I had planned, and it is still a ways from being complete, but I wanted to offer an update on the basement bar project. A big thank you to my wonderful wife who has allowed me the time to work on it. You can see the progression in my album, but here's the latest shot. I still have a lot of trim to cut, some staining left to do, and then granite tile for the top, but I can conceivably be done with all of that before winter. Maybe.