Closing the Gap

The pieces for the shelf are cut and primed.

Assembled.

And after the first coat of paint is applied and the 'new tool' is used to enlarge the space, installed. I expect The Geek will nail it into place, but it is such a friction fit, that may not be necessary.

Just an Excuse for a New Tool

The problem.

One of the two 'headers' is 1/2 inch lower than the other. The shelf was made to fit the higher of the two.

The goal. To make the shelf fit where it is intended.

The outcome. There is now room for the shelf!

The implementation. No, the lighting hasn't changed. That is sawdust.

The instigator, covered in tiny wood chips.

The tool .

A woodcarving blade for the angle grinder.

Thanks For The Warning, But...

Why does the door have a grill?
I try to limit my time in the hallway outside this door.

Know Your Subject

The subject of cupboard doors comes up frequently. I think the kitchen cabinets need doors to keep the dust and other environmental greeblies off the contents. Whether The Geek agrees is debatable, but in the three+ years the cabinets have been up, she has yet to make the doors.
I don't blame her as it won't be an easy job. The house is not square, no two cupboards are the same, and she has yet to decide on a design she likes. Someone even suggested curtains, which I promptly vetoed.
She apparently remembered my aversion to curtains when she was building the shelf for the bathroom. She mentioned that once she was done, it wouldn't take me long to whip up some curtains to hide the contents of the shelves. I said no, absolutely not. It was doors or nothing. She grinned at me, agreed to the 'nothing' and skipped merrily on her way.
I've been had! Again.

After Effects of the February Rain

The driver side door of my truck has been freezing shut. I'd have to get in the passenger side and shoulder or kick it open.
Until today, when a big piece of ice fell out, I hadn't noticed the ice lodged in the space near the hinges. I guess when I am driving the ice melts enough to form a thin film of water, freezing the door shut yet again.

Super-human Strength

The Geek was trying to install a couple of hooks in the bathroom but she is such a brute, she twisted the head right off the screw. Twice.
I will have to show you how the hooks look when she finds screws strong enough for her to use.

Baseboards? Check.

Stripped

Stained
Varnished
Installed

When Pigs Fly

One of the other things we saw on our Friday night shopping excursion was a little statue The Geek thought would be perfect for her desk. If someone asks her when a preposterous idea could be implemented, she could just point at the statue.
However we were both too frugal (pronounced cheap) to buy it.


Judging by the amount of dust on the table tho', it has been there for awhile and really should go on sale.

Shopping For Bathroom DayKor

The Geek and I are horribly behind the times when it comes to fashionable home decor.

We had no idea that toilet paper/magazine racks were so 'in'.

The one on the right must be feeling a touch insecure, judging by the need for a '!' on the tag.

I guess it had been a slow night because when we were in the second store, a clerk came up and asked " Can I help you! Please!!!!" We were certain she was a little punchy when we suggested that the Eiffel Tower statue could be used as toilet paper holder, and she thought that was a wonderful and funny idea. She wandered off to help some real customers shortly after.

We were then taken with the idea of multiple rolls of toilet paper being stored in one place.

With a bit of sand in the bottom, this (?)bottle could hold at least three rolls.

And this certainly could be the grand-daddy of multiple roll storage!

(Seriously, do people really buy this stuff?)

They Were Coming to the Bunny Jamboree

Using the bunny super-highway in the back yard.

Intricate Cuts

There were some 'special' spots that needed tiling. This is where the 'special' tools come in.Luckily it was warm enough that The Geek could do the cutting outside.

I thought I had to take a picure before the grout went in so as not to lose the detail.

This end isn't quite so specialized, but it still takes time.

If You Can't Buy It, Make It

This has been my policy for years when it comes to trousers, especially since they don't make trousers or skirts for curvy girls. Now that Michele, who appears to be a curvy girl, is the new leading lady, maybe things will change.

But I digress.

The Geek could not find a brass strike-plate for the bathroom door. So, using a piece of brass she bought at the U0fM bookstore, of all places, she made this one.

When 'Tom' is the Chauffeur

I suppose I am very easily amused but riding Transit Tom has provided me endless entertainment.

I am amazed at the people who will get on and ride only for a couple of blocks. Admittedly, with all this ice I have been taking the bus for shorter distance than normal, but I usually don't have the patience to wait for the bus when I could walk there in five or ten minutes.

There is an elderly fellow who arrives at Confusion Corner early in the morning on the Grant bus and then gets off after riding a block on the Corydon bus. I can't help but wonder where he has been and where he is going so early. Is he coming back from an assignation with a lady friend? Has he been at an all night gambling den? The possibilities are endless.

One of the 'two-block' people wears the same clothes. Everyday. I wonder if he just wears them to get to-and-fro' and changes into some uniform when he arrives at work?

Then there are the different driver styles. The driver who usually pilots the bus I take to University on Tuesdays and Thursdays drives at a sedate pace so he is always properly hitting his timing points. Yesterday, there was a different fellow. First of all, he was wearing shorts (some people do crave summer!). We sat at the corner of Pembina and Stafford for at least five minutes, no doubt impressing those people waiting behind us, while I suppose an appropriate amount of time had passed. Then we were off, zooming down Pembina, careening around the corners and sending huge sprays of water onto the sidewalk.

All these people with their ears plugged with earbuds? Are they really listening to something (the answer is yes in some cases since I can hear their musical selections plainly) or is just a way to distance themselves from others who may want to make casual conversation?

Who needs TV? This is way more fun.

It's a Slippery Slope

I was driving at a snail's pace in the lane last night when I came home from school. The truck decided it might like to park in the neighbour's garage, never mind that the door was closed and the neighbours car might very well have been inside. Even at the slow speed, I slid quite a way before I stopped, thankfully just short of discovering whether the nieghbours have a sense of humour.

Then this morning, the bus got stuck on the approach to Dunkirk after letting me on. He backed around the corner and took a run at it forcing the fellow who was trying to catch this particular bus zip up to the corner. He had seen the bus spinning so he could understand why the driver hadn't wanted to stop for him.

I was also very glad I had my cleats and Gortex boots today. There were some deceptively deep,slippery,puddles out there. One doesn't need a cold bath that early in the day.

And out on Hwy 3 people were skating on the closed, ice covered road.

"February" "Winnipeg" "Rain"

These are three words you do not want to hear uttered in the same breath, let alone have happen at the same time. So far today, we have had about 20 mm of the 'rain' stuff.

Harrassing the German

Subtitled: The Dopey Canadian
The Geek has nearly accent-less English. She does tho', occasionally, mix up a few letters, leading to some very interesting conversations...

(the exchanges are written as I hear them, not necessarily as Tina says them)

T: We should get some wheel shanks.
S: (thinking they are some sort of bicycle part)Really? What are they? What are they used for?
T: All sorts of things. They are very good.
S: OK, if you say so. Where do we buy them?
T: At the butcher.
S: The butcher?!?!?
T: Isn't that where you buy meat?
S: Do you mean 'veal shanks'?
T: (mutter, mutter, mutter)

T: It's the barn with the veatherwane....
(The biggest problem is this. I am now no longer certain whether it is 'veatherwane' or "weathervane". )

T: We should check that on Vikipedia.
(For ages Sema and I, who learned from The Geek of this on-line reference, didn't know it was 'Wikipedia'.)

And even tho' I should be used to this by now and not get confused...
S: I can drop you off at the meeting place for your trip to Portage. Where is it?
T: (who is in another room) You will.
S: Yes. Where are we going?
T: You will.
S: Yes!! Where?!?
T: You will and St Luc's.
S: Youville and St Luc's?
T: Gah!!

For the Cognitively Impaired, Perhaps?

How will knowing where you are help if you don't know where you are going?

Do you know where your children are? Check Google's maps
By: Michael Liedtke, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 4/02/2009 8:50 PM
SAN FRANCISCO -
With an upgrade to its mobile maps, Google Inc. hopes to prove it can track people on the go as effectively as it searches for information on the Internet.The new software released Wednesday will enable people with mobile phones and other wireless devices to automatically share their whereabouts with family and friends.The feature, dubbed "Latitude," expands upon a tool introduced in 2007 to allow mobile phone users to check their own location on a Google map with the press of a button."This adds a social flavour to Google maps and makes it more fun," said Steve Lee, a Google product manager.
It could also raise privacy concerns, but Google is doing its best to avoid a backlash by requiring each user to manually turn on the tracking software and making it easy to turn off or limit access to the service.Google also is promising not to retain any information about its users' movements. Only the last location picked up by the tracking service will be stored on Google's computers, Lee said.The software plots a user's location - marked by a personal picture on Google's map - by relying on cellphone towers, global positioning systems or a Wi-Fi connection to deduce their location. The system can follow people's travels in the United States and 26 other countries.It's left up to each user to decide who can monitor their location.The social mapping approach is similar to a service already offered by Loopt Inc., a three-year-old company located near Google's Mountain View headquarters.Loopt's service is compatible with more than 100 types of mobile phones.
To start out, Google Latitude will work on Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and devices running on Symbian software or Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile. It will also operate on some T-Mobile phones running on Google's Android software and eventually will work on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iTouch.To widen the software's appeal, Google is offering a version that can be installed on personal computers as well.
The PC access is designed for people who don't have a mobile phone but still may want to keep tabs on their children or someone else special, Lee said. People using the PC version can also be watched if they are connected to the Internet through Wi-Fi.Google can plot a person's location within a few metres if it's using GPS, or might be off by several kilometres if it's relying on transmission from cellphone towers. People who don't want to be precise about their whereabouts can choose to display just the city instead of a specific neighbourhood. There are no current plans to sell any advertising alongside Google's tracking service, although analysts believe knowing a person's location eventually will unleash new marketing opportunities. Google has been investing heavily in the mobile market during the past two years in an attempt to make its services more useful to people when they're away from their office or home computers.

Not a Brain Surgeon, I Hope.

The joint smoking fellow was not in the bus shelter this morning but I had a brief chat with a bus driver who was waiting there as well. Apparently this bus driver was waiting for the work bus one morning around 0500 when he saw Mr Pothead in the bus shelter with his morning coffee and 'smoke'.
Jeepers, what does this guy do for a living? And if he does this alot, I'm sure his habit isn't a secret to his wife or his neighbours, or from whomever else he is trying to hide it.

Early Morning Miscreant

Except for the paper carriers, I rarely see anybody out and about when I walk to the bus early in the morning, and there is seldom anyone else waiting for the bus at that time of the day.

Today, as I approached the bus stop on Dunkirk at Kingston, I noticed someone in the bus shelter. As I got closer, I noticed the guy was smoking (for Pete’s sake, smoke outside, you idiot, someone may want to wait inside). As I crossed the lane to the bus shelter, said idiot finally noticed me and took the last few drags of his smoke. He then scuttled slowly away, looking back over his shoulder the whole time. Since there was very little wind, and I dislike standing in bus shelters, it took me a few minutes for me to notice why he was acting so furtively.

He was smoking dope.

Is It Another Language?

My sister's niece, recently defended her masters thesis in math.
I feel I have a fairly decent grasp of the English language, but the title of her thesis "The search for an excluded minor characterization of ternary Rayleigh matroids" left me scratching my head. The woman definitely has more math smarts that I ever will!

Go Granny!

Another article from Saturday's Winnipeg Free Press
"Seniors engage in high sticking By: Kathy Haight COMBAT isn’t the first thing you think about when you see someone walking with a cane. But older adults learned they make good weapons at recent Combat Cane classes at Atria MerryWood senior living centre in North Carolina. Cane self-defence -- or "cane-fu" -- is the latest trend to hit senior centres in the United States. Retirees practise whacking bad guys with walking sticks, while building self-confidence and muscle tone. In the Charlotte, N.C., area, the classes are still novel. While most seniors will never raise a cane against attackers, experts say the workouts increase heart and lung function as well as mental acuity. And as MerryWood residents learned, it's fun to wave sticks around like the Three Musketeers. "Do you mind if I knock your head off?" a grey-haired woman in a red dress asked a classmate wearing a hearing aid. The two squared off in MerryWood's dining room as martial arts experts taught 30 seniors how to go for the groin, throat and eyes. "Dot the eyes!" instructor Rob Hunter told his students. "That's our little figure of speech for 'poke him in the eye."' As some seniors sat beside their walkers and watched, more than a dozen others paired up for mock battle. "Oops," said Maud Kidston, 87. "You almost got me in the mouth." "Well, you'll want to do worse than that if you're in a fight," replied her partner Janet Fee, 72. Kidston is confident she could do damage with her cane if necessary. But she especially liked other tips, like shouting to show attackers you're no pushover. "I can have a very foul mouth on me if I want to," she said. Senior cane classes have grown in national popularity in recent years, says Nevada martial arts expert Mark Shuey, a pioneer of the discipline. He started teaching cane techniques to seniors in 1997. "People think a cane is a crutch," said Shuey. "But it's a great self-defence tool." -- The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)."

The Geek is Extremely Patient

She is using a scraper to remove all the old stain and varnish from the baseboards.

She certainly has more ability with mind-numbingly boring tasks than I ever would.

The baseboards that have been scraped are on the right and the ones that have had a rough sanding, but still have to be scraped, on are on the left.

I Dont Think This Will Work

This was an article in yesterdays Winnipeg Free Press

"British citys law shant, cant, wont allow apostrophes
By: Meera Selva
On the streets of Birmingham, the Queen's English is now the Queens English.
England's second-largest city has decided to drop apostrophes from all its street signs, saying they're confusing and old-fashioned.
But some purists are downright possessive about the punctuation mark.
It seems that Birmingham officials have been taking a hammer to grammar for years, quietly dropping apostrophes from street signs since the 1950s. Through the decades, residents have frequently launched spirited campaigns to restore the missing punctuation to signs denoting such places as "St. Pauls Square" or "Acocks Green."
This week, the council made it official, saying it was banning the punctuation mark from signs in a bid to end the dispute once and for all.
Coun. Martin Mullaney, who heads the city's transport scrutiny committee, said he decided to act after yet another interminable debate into whether "Kings Heath," a suburb, should be rewritten with an apostrophe.
"I had to make a final decision on this," he said Friday. "We keep debating apostrophes in meetings and we have other things to do."
Mullaney hopes to stop public campaigns to restore the apostrophe that would tell passersby that "Kings Heath" was once owned by the monarchy.
"Apostrophes denote possessions that are no longer accurate, and are not needed," he said. "More importantly, they confuse people. If I want to go to a restaurant, I don't want to have an A-level (high-school diploma) in English to find it."
But grammarians say apostrophes enrich the English language.
"They are such sweet-looking things that play a crucial role in the English language," said Marie Clair of the Plain English Society, which campaigns for the use of simple English. "It's always worth taking the effort to understand them, instead of ignoring them."
Mullaney claimed apostrophes confuse GPS units, including those used by emergency services. But Jenny Hodge, a spokeswoman for satellite navigation equipment manufacturer TomTom, said most users of their systems navigate through Britain's streets by entering postal codes rather than addresses.
She said that if someone preferred to use a street name -- with or without an apostrophe -- punctuation wouldn't be an issue. By the time the first few letters of the street were entered, a list of matching choices would pop up and the user would choose the destination.
British grammarians have railed for decades against' signs advertising the sale of "apple's and pear's." In her bestselling book Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss recorded her fury at the title of the Hugh Grant-Sandra Bullock comedy Two Weeks Notice, insisting it should be "Two Weeks' Notice."
"Those spineless types who talk about abolishing the apostrophe are missing the point, and the pun is very much intended," she wrote."