Monthly Archives: August 2006

The City Of Rio Rancho Updates Web Site, Finally

The City of Rio Rancho has finally updated their website. with all the broken links and lack of purpose, It was badly in need of a update. They still have a while to go to catch up to Albuquerque’s website. Also, no RSS feed.

This Observer article has some more information. What this article seems to leave out, which seems to me to be important, is a link to the website. Also, the Observer doesn’t have a RSS feed. Why is this so hard people!

Lawnmower Zen

I need a lawnmower. Despite the fact that I haven’t been able to actually water the lawn, nature has conspired to provide me with weeds. No no. It couldn’t sprout grass, it had to sprout all manners of plants that are not grass. Although my Black & Decker CST2000 12 Volt 12″ Cordless GRASSHOG Trimmer / Edger does a good job, it’s not up to the task of mowing my lawn.

I have no desire to deal with the tomfoolery of a gas powered device. I’m a modern man, and I’m willing to accept the limitations of a electric powered lawnmower and allow the power plant to do the polluting far away rather than generate the pollution in my back yard. Lets then, stick to what I know, Black & Decker.

At first I looked at the Black & Decker MM875 19″ Electric Mulching Mower. I gotta have a mulcher to fill my compost bins, otherwise don’t waste my time. The reviews seem positive, and it seems to meet my needs. Although it may test the limits of my needs, I’ve already said I know going into this that there will be limitations and at about $200 I can handle it. This, however is a corded mower. I can’t bee seen mowing my backyard with a cord hanging off my mower. What am I, some kind of jerk?

Moving on to cordless models I find the Black & Decker CMM1000 24 Volt 19″ Cordless Rechargeable Mulching Mower. Yes yes, I know i read the reviews. I can handle the limitations of a electric mower already. I’m willing to go over the lawn over and over again to get it all cut. One thing I failed to initially notice was the price, at $400 – $500. That’s in US dollars.

I guess I won’t look like some sort of jerk pushing around a corded mower, for that matter any kind of mower. At least for now. By the way, looks like iRobot is going to come out with a Robotic Lawnmower. Oh sure, it will be just as cheap. I will buy two.

Master Bedroom And Bathroom Remodel Progress

I know what I said, that the sprinkler system is going to be my priority. Give me a break thought, the back yard is sitll pretty muddy and now full of weeds. I’m now sure that the sprinkler project will have to wait till next year.

IMG_7627.JPGIt’s on to indoor projects, the first of which is the master bedroom and bathroom. I had a demolition party scheduled for the end of August, where I invited some of my friends over to demolish the house. Surprisingly, most of them didn’t show up. Enough did to get most of the work done.

For the bedroom the goal was to take the closet from the neighboring bedroom to create a bigger overall closet. This was accomplished.For the bathroom the goal was to remove the framed in shower. Both of these were accomplished. After the demo was completed, with drywall and crap all over the place, is when I questioned what I have done. After two trips to the dump and probably 6 hours of clean up I’m not sure I did make the right decision.

The framed in shower was not usable. It had been leaking pretty badly for quite a while. The lower framing was rotted, the water had leaked into the bedroom and there was even plant roots growing about a foot up the interiors of the wall. One doesn’t expect mold in a dry state such as New Mexico, but there was plenty of mold in the walls.

Picture 15The next step is to plan for the rebuild. Since it’s a small room, 7 foot by 8 foot, I’d like to put in a corner whirlpool tub with a shower. I think I can get a 54 inch by 54 inch corner tub to fit. I also plan to put in a electric radiant floor heating. The plan here shown is from Warmly Yours.

Can anyone loan me a few thousand dollars?

The Drought Is Over, For Today

John Fleck points out that the US Drought Monitor has large parts of New Mexico lightly colored, meaning that there are no drought conditions in those areas.

I say, wait till the election. You can expect most of the drought levels to be raised to orange, or elevated. It’s quite likely that al Qaeda will increase the drought in the United States to try to keep the Republicans out of office.

Guess We All Have Bad Days

Saw this comment at apartment therapy and just couldn’t help but think that I feel like this some days.

our contractor did such a sh*t-ass job that it our small, romanesque tiles actually look like they were, in fact, done in roman times. godamned train wreck in our godamned train wreck house and my godamned train wreck life

Overpriced Designer Crap

Check out these coat racks. Described as:

Structure painted plate white with 5 satinized semi-transparent plastic hooks. Attaches to the wall with regular screws.

There’s nothing fancy about the materials or the design. How much would you expect such a thing to cost? Say under $30 at the most? No, $250! I’ll wait for the Target version.

Found via BLTD

Aluminum Wallpaper

Aluminum wallpaper

After seeing this done on Jonathan Wong’s site, I knew it was something I had to try. The thing dislike the most about this house is the rough wall texture. Not only because it’s ugly but because it holds all the dirt grime of the years. This was a good way to cover at least one wall without scraping and paint.

I used aluminum flashing that was 20 inches wide, a 50 foot roll cost about $30 at Home Depot. I didn’t quite have enough with the first roll and had to buy another. Overall the project went quickly and easily, but I had a few issues. I used liquid nails to glue the panels on the wall but I had an issue with the panels slowing sliding down after I though they were stuck on. About half way though I starting used scotch tape to hold them in place temporarily. There’s also a few dents where the glue and wall touch.

The next step is to move this along the wall where the front door is. I want to make the door invisible from the wall, but I don’t intend to do the whole wall.

KRQE 5.1 Audio

Having spent a lot of time and money on home entertainment equipment and set up, I’ve been pretty bummed that the local CBS station (KRQE) doesn’t seem to broadcast in 5.1 audio, just stereo.

Greg, It is not you, Currently we do not broadcasting in 5.1 audio. We do have improvement plans in place that will include the purchase of equipment to allow us to broadcast in 5.1. Look for this shortly after the first of the year.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE/KBIM/KREZ

It’s cool that they answered my email