Wednesday, February 18, 2009

To buy or not to buy

I have a new tool lined up! Of course Im excited, but Im trying to rationalize the purchase. Partly due to funds. Do I reallyyyyy need it, or is this just something I want. I am a recovering tool addict that used to go out on whims and buy stuff, especially shit I didn't need one bit, but they all proved useful in the end. Ie - Stud welder, mig welder, 2 air compressors, those are the bigger items but the list goes on.

For $100 after my 10% off coupon and with a stand, I suppose its worth it.


Im sure with a full renovation underway it will be good when I have to do flooring, kitchen cabinets, casings, filler strips, cutting 2x4s longways, in fact it would have saved me a $30 door when cutting it to size rather than using the circular saw which I NOW know the base of it was bent. This led to trying to cut the end of the door down 5 times and wondering why it wasn't square.

At the same time I think I want the 4 piece Ryobi Lithium tool kit more (drill, sawzall, circular, flashlight) for $200 marked down from $300. I should have bought this from the get go.

Friday, February 13, 2009

PSEG


Don't mind the totally random picture of a ultra cute puppy that reminds me of my baby girl.

Anyway, PSEG = Public Service Enterprise Group = Piece of Shit eating goats.

You guys are impossible, and everyone knows it. This is a monopoly! My acronym makes no sense except the PS, please ignore the goat part or fill it in with something that makes sense. I couldn't get it to flow.


BRING ME MY GAS!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Venting

While this may be the first post of venting you've seen on here, I assure you it isn't the first, nor the last. In fact this is the most passive venting I've done so far. Usually venting involves either a hissy fit and wanting to go home to a stable, non dust filled environment, or drinking whatever Natty lights or Steel Reserves I can scavenge, or cursing and sitting atop a ladder (it seems to lift my spirits when I sit up there).

If you are in a similar situation or ever have been in a similar situation (read - working on a old, decrepit house) you know that one thing leads to another, and everything depends on something else. That "something else" is usually something not in your control, albeit you can sometimes make it in your control if you want to take 5 steps back (not 2).

So this was the situation yesterday:


In the picture I attempted to box out where the heating/cooling duct goes, and unfortunately it had to be dropped down like that. The joists go perpendicular to the furring strips, and we decided not to rip down the whole ceiling to fix this. The real problem (besides using Microsoft paint with its super pixelated lines, and in-ability to "undo" anything past one step, which yields the big white mistake of a text box) is that corner of the room is way off in terms of being level. The other half of the duplex is to the left in the picture and im sure has to do with the sagging.

The problem -
I get to work on the house 3-4 hours a day after work. My mind is usually clustered with crap, I can never think straight. Then take some electric that needs to be done, heating and cooling that needs to be done, additional framing, and sheetrock, a dash of planning ahead and rushing, put it in the bowl, whip it up, and you get a lot of incoordination. I know this can be easily solved, but there are reasons things are being done like this.

The duct went up before we could level that out. It didnt look to bad so we threw up the sheetrock. Then we realized the overhead light ideally had to be moved from the center of the kitchen to the left side where the table would be. The sheetrock was up anyway and I don't want to deal with 5/8ths above my head anymore than I have to. So the dilema is to take it down (I can't even tell you how often stuff like this happens) or keep going and hope for the best. My lack of experience here doesn't help, but I do know I want to keep moving ahead.

Too bad, Im going to keep on going on.