http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/ A journey beyond the bounds of urbania. Here be dragons. en Copyright 2008 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:46:38 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Usually I self-paralyze by setting up dominoes and then refusing to knock the first one down. "Well, I can't do A until I do B, and that can't happen until C..." etc. In this case, I had the communications gear sitting on the floor of the utility room and the shelf + brackets on top of the laundry. But I finally got a bug up my ass and attacked mounting the shelf to the wall Pulled out the stud finder, which seemed to output some close, but not identical, data. The center of some of the studs seemed to float a little. It's very possible that this was due to the collection of lines in the wall, drifitng left or right, and it was picking them up instead of the studs. I marked off the areas that most consistently registered hits, and then positioned the first bracket. I leveled it, and marked out the screw holes in the wall, and then grabbed the drill. I quick prayer that there weren't any current-bearing lines behind the bit head, and I had three neat holes to hammer drywall anchors into. Once I had the bracket mounted however, I discovered that it was leaning about a quarter inch to the right. Being not quite sure how to deal with that, and unwilling to let that derail my attempt to finish, I quickly advanced to the second bracket. It was slightly off-camber, so I'm not sure what's happening between marking the wall and mounting the bracket. It's not unsightly, for sure. I placed It's certainly not the most amazing or ambitious home improvement project, but I think it kinda counts as the first thing I've "built" for the condo, so I consider it a win. Remaining: * Screw shelf to the bracket * Find shorter CAT-5 cables to pretty up the wall a bit * Cable-tie all the cords together, for the same reason. http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/utility_closet_wall_shelf.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/utility_closet_wall_shelf.html Home Improvement Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:46:38 -0500
Primer After looking at it for almost two weeks because there wasn't enough time to deal with it, I finally went back to the Eco-Green Living store in D.C. and got them to mix up some SafeCoat paint to match the Valspar Chocolate Raspberry. Slight hiccup in getting the paint, as we went in on Saturday, and were told that they'd contact the manufacturer and get the formula on Tuesday, and call us back. Didn't hear from them by Thursday, so I called back, and it was finally Friday before they said they had the formula and Saturday before I could pick it up. On Saturday I re-primed the wall where I had painted on the Cordovan, and tackled the first coat of new paint on Sunday. In all likelihood I picked the absolute worst two days to paint, as it poured buckets nearly continuously from 8 AM on Sunday until some time Monday night.]]> http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/why_do_you_think_i_have_this_o.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/why_do_you_think_i_have_this_o.html Paint Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:42:14 -0500
Welcome to Stoupsy's Athens Diner]]> http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/accent_wall.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/accent_wall.html Paint Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:11:21 -0500 pain it was to get it up here) or to possibly get new parts. She didn't sound enthusiastic about that second one, though. We'll see what she comes back with. UPDATE: Nikki at C&B was very helpful, and secured a new crossbar and legs for me. However, they were drilled - or not - the same way. Either the entire shipment was screwed up, or the instructions were wrong. But this is where the Tyson's C&B staff went above and beyond. From the floor model, it was impossible to tell if the legs were drilled, or where the crossbar screw exited. They tried to track down who had assembled it, and when that failed, Nikki and one of the stock room guys tried a couple different times to put the pieces together, until it got to a point I was happy with. It wasn't perfect, but they were straight, not under a lot of pressure, and there was a small gap at each end of the crossbar. Took the assembled piece home, slapped it into the leg mounts on the desk frame, and finished the rest, righted it, and slid it into place. It definitely feels big, bigger than I thought it would be, even with measuring it. But I think it's going to be a great workspace. Now to find a chair.]]> http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/deskus_interruptus.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/deskus_interruptus.html Decor Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:34:05 -0500 desk without some muscle was a major, major mistake. Got it inside a friend's loaned Blazer, but the box was about 5 feet high and 3 across, and elicited the following dialogue at the Crate & Barrel loading dock: Me: "I'm picking up a Bungalow Desk." Stockboy [staring]: "You are an evil, evil person." So I trundled home, and roused Jenn for some help getting it upstairs. Unfortunately, she could only manage from the car to the bottom of the steps. Great effort, though. I couldn't sling it on my back but finally managed to push it up the stairs, end over end, with Jenn providing alignment and landing guidance. So now there's a giant box standing in my bedroom. Hope no big trucks drive by tonight.]]> http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/desk_sisyphean.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/04/desk_sisyphean.html Decor Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:13:38 -0500 Remove plate, put in foam, return plate. Couple bucks for the foam, couple minutes of time, and supposedly I'll get a return on my energy bill. I dunno, though. They still feel pretty cold.]]> http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/03/feeling_a_draft.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/03/feeling_a_draft.html Energy Home Improvement Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:13:23 -0500 Went to Crate & Barrel tonight to check out the coffee table, and ended up taking it home. Paid for the desk too, though there's no way it would fit in the car. Put it together while Jenn made cupcakes for Easter dinner. Things progressed much more expeditiously with the screw driving bits for the drill. It can be rather difficult to keep from over-driving them into the unit, and cracking the wood. Even though we measured out the height, in the living room, it still looks taller, when you see the mass of it. But I like it. Now begins the challenge of keeping crap from collecting on it. http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/03/feet_up.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/03/feet_up.html Decor Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:37:53 -0500 Installed the programmable thermostat yesterday evening. Went very well, on the surface. The screw driving bits for the drill made quick work of the fasteners. When I went back upstairs to turn the power back on, however, I found that maybe I never turned it off, after all. Oy. Set the programs, things seem ok - except for the fact that the temperature still reads 72. I wonder if disconnecting the thermostat while it was still powered, stalled the furnace or something. http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/03/the_heat_is_on_maybe.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/03/the_heat_is_on_maybe.html Energy Home Improvement Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:54:13 -0500 ]]> http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/02/last_shots_across_the_city.html http://www.rupture.net/~shawn/condo/2008/02/last_shots_across_the_city.html DC Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:38:30 -0500