Getting Handier by the Day

I have blogged previously about how moving to NC has made me handier, both out of necessity and increased interest. I have started taking on more projects as my skills and collection of tools grow.

For my birthday recently, my wife got me a few woodworking books. I guess she figured they'd a be a good gift after I made 2 raised bed vegetable gardens in April. I had always been interested in woodworking, but never had the tools / space / skills to really tackle it. I saw the books as a good opportunity to pursue this interest.

I choose 2 projects for immediate work - a sandbox for the kids and a workbench. These are really closer to carpentry than fine woodwork, but seem to be a good place to start and quite practical.

So I ordered the lumber and even found a decent table saw on Craigslist. The saw seemed good enough, but actually ended up needing a few things. I had to actually fabricate a small part for the table from junk I had lying around. This was major accomplishment #1 for me, and I was quite proud of solving a real problem with tools and skills.

In cutting some 4x4s for the sandbox yesterday, I had another problem with the saw. I will spare you the details, but suffice to say that by the time I had fixed the broken crank mechanism this evening I felt like an invincible handyman. I'm sure this feeling will pass once I break something beyond repair in what is sure to be the near future.

So project #1 is the sandbox. I first created some cool plans using Google Sketchup, which I also had to learn to use. I did a good bit of the work today (despite starting my morning in a childrens' museum and not having my table saw). After doing all the measuring, cutting, dry fitting, drilling, sanding, and putting the kids to bed, I fixed the table saw.

Man, it feels good to get stuff like that done! Bragging about it here is almost as good. Just wait and see how I brag about it once the thing is actually built!

Cinco de Mayo Lunch

Did I ever mention that I am the king of leftovers? Well, in the spirit of the holiday, here is what I improvised for lunch, almost entirely from leftovers:

Vegetarian Soft Tacos

1/2 fresh avocado (recent leftover)
lemon juice
hot sauce
fresh cilantro leaves (1/4 of a plastic box, leftover)
1 or 2 oz diced mozzarella cheese (leftover from last week's chicken parm)
1/2 cup (leftover) cooked brown rice
2 (leftover) whole wheat tortillas

Mash and mix avocado, lemon juice and hot sauce to a faux-guac paste. Heat up the rice. Spread faux-guac on warmed tortilla, add rice, good helping of cilantro, and half the diced cheese. Fold, eat, and repeat.

Please Stop Talking About Swine Flu!!

Can we please - PLEASE - apply some common sense here. Swine flu is less like to kill you than almost anything. Take a look at this from the CDC:

Causes of Death in US Last Year:

• Heart disease: 652,091
• Cancer: 559,312
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 143,579
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 130,933
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 117,809
• Diabetes: 75,119
• Alzheimer's disease: 71,599
• Influenza/Pneumonia: 63,001
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 43,901
• Septicemia: 34,136

Now, here's the latest stats on Swine Flu, also from the CDC: 141 cases in the US, 1 death.

Did you notice that Influenza/Pneumonia (that is the good, old fashioned human kind) killed 63,001 people last year? Are you afraid of it? How about Septicemia? Do you even know what that is? Yet is has killed 34,135 more people last year than Swine Flu has killed this year. While you're at it, better not do anything that gives you cancer (i.e. everything). Might also want to drop that hamburger too, as it is likely to cause one of the top 3 causes of death.

I have read that Swine Flu is actually milder in its symptoms than regular flu. Milder than a plain old flu... and yet all we hear on the news day and night is that Swine Flu is on the verge of turning this planet into a scene from of a Mad Max movie. I believe Joe Biden actually said something like, "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!! RUN, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!"

Can I tell you how much I hate the mainstream media? I already hated them a whole lot, but this Swine Flu thing is pushing me into a borderline violent frenzy of hatred. In fact, I think "Media-Induced Frenzy Related Death" will probably exceed Swine Flu in the body count for 2009.

The Score

Yard sales are great. Sure, there are always going to be lame ones, but overall a morning spent hunting through local yard sales will yield lots of good stuff. You should also expect one really great deal - the score.

So last Saturday I took the family around to a few community yard sales in the area. We got lots of kids books, a few shirts (tags still on them), DVDs, a couple of toys and games, etc. There was nothing, however, that constituted "the score" until one of the last houses we hit. It was there that we came upon a 1.5 Qt Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. The no-haggle price for this very lightly used ("just 2 times") piece of gear - $10. SCORE!!! And yes, that includes all the parts, the instruction manual, and even the box.

So yesterday I made my first batch of simple vanilla ice cream. It is delicious! It's just 4 ingredients (heavy cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract) and requires to cooking, but it is so very good. You can bet we will be experimenting with flavors and getting fatter throughout the summer.

Liberty and Pipe Smoking

I was inspired by one of my forums to create this flag for pipe smokers. All I did was add the pipe, but still I'm pretty proud of it.

Why I Don't Use Facebook

It sure seems like I am the last person without a Facebook account. My wife and her friends are addicted to it, and even my mother-in-law has given in to the peer pressure and setup a Facebook account. So why I do continue to hold out? Here's some thoughts on that:

- If I haven't spoken to you since junior high, there's probably a reason.
- Did you just finish making breakfast for your kids? Yeah, so what? I'm not that interested in your status.
- I have 3 phone numbers, 4 email addresses, and 5 instant messaging accounts. If we have something to say to each other, there are already plenty of good ways to do it.
- I don't want to take any more personality quizzes, play trivia games, or participate in other nonsense.
- I once saw my wife feeding a virtual puppy in a Facebook app that a "friend" had sent her. I promised myself that I ever did anything like that I would have to kill myself.

Look, I use LinkedIn now and then. There is value to social networking when it has an actual purpose - i.e. staying in contact with former business associates in case I need another job. But Facebook takes it too far. I proudly remain the last holdout.

Things I Saw Julie Do Today

My 1 year old daughter did 2 funny things today:

1) While going through an age-appropriate pictorial board book about animals, she saw a picture of bunny. To show me what sound the bunny makes, she felt it was appropriate to growl like a fierce beast.

2) After dinner she pulled her hair, then exclaimed, "Ow!!" Then did it again. Repeatedly.

See a trend here?